Transcription

Hey, hey guys, what’s up? Yuri here, welcome back to the show. Hope you’re having a great day, hope your weekend was awesome, and today we are going to be talking about leadership.

We’ll be revealing five truths about great leaders. Five things that great leaders have in common. And whether, you want to look back in the history books, the people like Winston Churchill, or whoever your leader idols are, I think you’ll find some really common themes in what I’m about to share with you. If you’re okay with hit, let’s jump right into this.

 

1. Leaders creating leaders

The first traits of a great leader, is that they create other leaders, not followers.

Now, if you look at different leaders over history, Mussolini, Hitler, a lot of these dictators, what they tend to have developed, at least it seems like this from the outside, is they develop a lot of followers, right? They develop a lot of people who are obedient. Who don’t ask questions, who just get stuff done.

If that’s the type of leadership that one is employing, the problem with that is number one, it doesn’t really empower people. I think it’s a fear based approach to leadership, which is saying, “You’re doing it this way, or you’re dead.” More, or less. And, I think in today’s day in age, in business, it doesn’t really help you if you are the sole dictator of your business.

Yes, it’s important to delegate things, and outsource things, but you also want to be able to lift people up within your organization. And if your organization is only five people, or two people, that’s totally fine.

One of the things that I’ve recognized over the years, that I really enjoy doing, is building teams. And, this goes back to my days in soccer, when I was playing at the University of Toronto, and actually even prior that with a lot of my club teams, and subsequently at the pro level. I was very often the captain of my team. And I think part of that was because I was a goalie, so naturally goalies have a bit more perspective of what’s happening. They have a bit more of a leadership position, and they can direct everyone.

But, what I really enjoyed doing was, elevating other people and bringing them towards a common cause, and saying, “Hey guys, we’re doing this together, it’s about us, it’s not about me, it’s about us, and we have this common goal and we’re going to make this happen.” And, that’s a really great feeling that I’ve been able to transfer into business.

I’m super grateful for my team with Healthpreneur. I’ve got some of the best coaches on the planet, helping our clients with their mindset. Keeping them on track, helping them overcome different obstacles and self doubt.

Whether, it’s from a copywriting side, or a Facebook advertising side, or the mindset side. I’m super blessed that I have these amazing people on our team. Because what that allows me to do, is it gives me freedom to not have to do everything myself. So, if you want freedom in your life, you have to develop other leaders around you, who are in some ways better than you at certain things. And as a result, they’re going to free up your life to do the things you love to do most in your business, or if you want to take a trip for a little bit, you can do that and the business doesn’t dissolve. So, it’s important to build other leaders.

 

2. Focusing on the what and why

The second trait or truth of awesome leaders, is that they focus on the what and the why, not the how. We talked about this in one of the previous solo rounds, where I talked about how it’s important not to get stuck in the weeds. It’s important not to spend a lot of your thinking in the minutia. Because that level of thinking, most of us, and maybe you’re the same as me, we’re very airy, visionary, creative thinkers. We don’t like to think about the details. We’re very high level thinking, and we just like to get stuff going. As soon as we start thinking about the granular details, it drains our energy. And so that’s why it’s important to focus on what you want, and why that’s important.

The how is ideally for somebody else to figure out, and that’s why it’s important to create other leaders. So, if you want to say, okay listen, so for instance, I’ll give you an example. I want to grow my Instagram following to 100,000 people within the next five months. Now, that’s a very ambitious goal. Most people don’t even do that over the space of three years. I don’t know how to do that, I really don’t, I have no clue, so there’s a couple of things I can do. I can try to figure out on my own, and that’s where I would say, “How do I do this?” Or, I can focus on the what, which is that goal. I can focus on why it’s important to me and the business. And, just so we’re clear, that has nothing to do with me looking cool because I have 100,000 followers. It’s some very specific reasons that, that’s important for our business.

Instead of my looking at, “Okay, how do I make this happen?” It would make a lot more sense for me to find other people who have done that. And then ask them how they’ve done it, and if it’s something that’s a systemizable, predictable process type of thing. I can hand that off to someone else, or maybe I’ll hire someone to help us out with that. That’s important as a leader, is to focus on the what and the why, not to get stuck in the how. Now, the how, is important, right? You still have to have a process, a strategy in place, but you should not be the one trying to figure this out on your own. You should not be the one paving your own way. It takes a very, very long time. So that’s the second thing.

 

3. Being stubborn on vision and flexible on strategy

Third is great leaders are stubborn on vision, flexible on strategy. Let me give you a great example.

With Healthpreneur, when we first started, it was three years ago now. We started Healthpreneur, it actually started four years ago, but not really officially. So, this is kind of how it started. I started Healthpreneur, as a really behind the scene, underground, paid newsletter. And I basically sent my email list, I think it was like a semi email list, like a special offer for, try a free month of this newsletter out. And, I was writing newsletters every month, and it was like six or seven dollars a month. I think we had maybe about a hundred or so, subscribers. And it was a physical newsletter that was sent to your front door. So, I did that, and I did that. And I was basically divulging stuff we were doing in the business and here’s our YouTube strategy, here’s this, here’s that. And then I did that for nine months and I realized I hated writing newsletters. I was like, “My God, if I have to do this again, game over. I’m not doing this.”

I shut that down, I said, with a hundred subscribers, I’m like, “Hey guys sorry, I’m not enjoying this. I’m going to shut it down.” A year later, we resurrected Healthpreneur more officially. And this time, started teaching what had really worked, obviously in some large way, for my health and fitness business, which was very heavily based around content marketing. So we did a couple of workshops, and we had the whole lead magnet, $5 offer, triple all your funnels, and all that stuff. Then I very quickly realized two things. Number one, is that our clients were taking forever to see results from that. Because it’s like, “Hey, you have zero following, let’s build a content platform. We’ll see you in five years.” Right? That’s pretty much what it was.

Second, is that we had all sorts of convoluted funnels, like lead magnets, and $5 things, and 49, I don’t even know. It was like, “What are we doing this for, it’s such a waste.” We were getting customer service emails like, “Hey, I didn’t get my download for this $5 product.” And I was like, “Screw this, this is ridiculous.” So this is an example of being flexible on strategy. I was stubborn on the vision, like I knew what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to help a lot of health entrepreneurs. I wanted to help them build more successful businesses. But then, I just said, “Hey, whey don’t we teach one core workshop, instead of having different workshops and different strategies.” “Why don’t we just do, what we’re doing, to build Healthpreneur?” Which is exactly what we teach our clients now, how to do, in our Health Business Accelerator Workshop. That’s what we pivoted toward, or close to two years ago now.

And that’s all we do. We got rid of all the lead magnets, all the stupid funnels, all that garbage. That’s why on our website, there’s nothing. There’s no lead magnets, there’s, no books. We had a book that we ran for a bit, a free plus shipping offer, but I was like even with that, I’m like, “What’s the point?” So, there’s nothing, we got rid of everything. And what’s that’s allowed us to do, is just focus so much more on what actually matters, which is getting our clients results. And so we’ve got two offers, we’ve got our workshop and our mastermind, and that’s it. And then we have our live events, Healthpreneur Live. It’s such a simple business. I love it, it’s awesome. The vision didn’t change, but the strategy did. The strategy can change based on a change of heart, like, “Hey, I don’t think this is really the right strategy for us philosophically.” Or, the strategy can change based on changes in the market. New technology, new disruptions, stuff like that, okay?

I think the challenge becomes when you’re stubborn on vision. Or, not even stubborn on vision, you can change your vision, but you’re stubborn on strategy. I think that becomes dangerous. Because, you become too enamored with what you’re doing, but if it’s working well, that’s great. But, if it’s not working and you’re stubborn on like, “Nope, I got to do these free challenges. They’re doing great.” Or, “I’ve got this book, I’ve got to get it out there.” And the strategy is not working, you have to have a long or a short look in the mirror and be very honest with yourself. “Am I enjoying what I’m doing? Is this bringing me joy? Is this bringing me money? Is this bringing me the fulfillment, the results that I want?” If the answer is, “No.” Then, you have to change your strategy. Okay? That’s the third thing.

 

4. Decisiveness and speaking with the word “we”

Number four, is that great leaders are decisive. This is a big one. If you want to be a more authoritative person, a better leader, whether, it’s your family, your business, anything, make decisions more decisively.

Now, I don’t necessarily mean make them faster, because there is a lot of research to slow thinking, which means that sometimes there is benefit, in terms of the long term benefit of taking a little bit more time to think through something. Now, we have to be very cautious of that. That doesn’t mean take months to think through something. That might mean take a day, or a couple of hours, to really spend some time thinking through pros and cons, whatever you want to do. And some people like myself are very impulsive.

You just feel that this is the right thing to do, and you just make the decision. Because the worst decision is not making a decision. Procrastinating, because you have to think about, what does the opportunity cost of not doing this? If I’m not making this decision because I’m delaying some type of pain, or something. There’s an opportunity cost, meaning,  there’s something that’s going to cost you just from not moving forward.

You have to be decisive. And decision comes from the Latin word “decivere”, which means to cut off all other choices or options. “Decivere” or “decidere”, one of the two, I don’t even know. I didn’t take Latin, but it comes from the Latin derivative. Which basically means again, as I said, cut off all other options. So being decisive is like, “This is what I’m doing, no other choice.” Great leaders have that ability.

 

5. Being the best leader

Number five, is great leaders lead without title. You don’t need to be called a CEO, to be a leader. You don’t have to have attended a leadership conference to be a great leader. There’s so many examples, and I wish I could bring them to you on this show. But, I guess I forgot to research this part of it. There’s so many great examples, I think in everyday life of people, whether, they’re young, old, unemployed, employed, doesn’t matter. Where they’re showing up as great leaders, just because that’s who they’ve become. I don’t think leaders are born, I think it’s something that we develop over time. I don’t think I was a natural leader. I’m probably more of an introvert, than anything else. But, I do over time have realized that in order to do the things I want to do, and create the impact I want to create, it’s going to take leading people on a common path to a bigger goal.

And this is the other thing, too. I never, very rarely, do I refer to I. In my business, I’m always talking about “we”. And people are like, “Who’s the “we”? Like, what are you talking about?” And, that’s just the way I operate, it’s never the “me”, and “I”. Or, “I’ve done this.” Or, whatever.

Even in our Facebook ads, I just recognized this, I use the word “we”, instead of “me”, a lot of times. Which, is weird.

A funny way of thinking about this, have you ever ordered at a restaurant? And the waiter’s like, “Can I tell you the specials for the day?” And this drives me crazy. Because this is like, “What are you talking about?” And then they go off to say, “Alright, so our special tonight, I’ve got a split pea soup, I’ve also got a rack of lamb from New Zealand, garnished in a beautiful mint sauce.” I’m like, “You have that? Really? You’re the waiter serving the dish, you’re not even making it. Why don’t you just lose the word “we”?” I never understood why they … And it’s like every single restaurant, I’ve ever been to, it’s the same thing. “I have this.” It’s almost like an industry norm. Anyways, a little bit off topic.

You don’t have to be the head of the organization to lead. Lead your division, lead your life. If you’re in a job, be the best leader you can be for your clients, or the people you serve. If you’re a trainer, or a coach, or a practitioner, lead your clients. Right? Be a better leader. Show up for them, be decisive, right? Show them the possibilities. Show them hope, inspire them, empower them, build them up. Make them better leaders of their own lives. And, that’s what’s so great about the health industry, is that naturally I believe we, if we’re doing things properly, are making our clients better leaders of their own life. We’re showing them how to eat properly, how to exercise properly, the value of living a healthy lifestyle. They then take this and live this, they lead by example. Their family now sees that. And their family now benefits from that leadership. That’s why leading without a title is so important because every single one of us, can and should be a leader in some capacity. At the very minimum leading our own life, leading our families, leading our businesses, leading our countries, whatever that is, right?

 

Yuri’s Wrap Up

Those are the five common traits of great leaders, there’s obviously many, many others, but those are the five things, I think you can really take in and apply to your own life. So, let me just recap those.

Number one, great leaders create other leaders, not followers. Number two, they focus on the what and the why, not the how. Number three, is they’re stubborn on vision, flexible on strategy. Number four, is they’re decisive. Number five, they lead without title. Make sense? Awesome.

Now, if you’ve enjoyed this, here’s what I want you to do. Number one, subscribe to the Healthpreneur Podcast on iTunes. We got tons more amazing episodes, interviews, solo rounds, sessions with our results coaches. We’re talking about mindset stuff every Wednesday, now. Lots of great stuff coming your way. So, you can subscribe on iTunes.

Second is, if you’d like our help to move your health business forward, so you can earn the income and the freedom that you want, while really impacting your clients at a deeper level. Then I’d like you right now, if you haven’t already, is to go through our 7-Figure Health Business Blueprint training.

It’s a free online webinar, it’s only 70 minutes. I promise you it will be some of the best time you’ve spent on your business, in terms of the insights about what not to do, what you probably should be doing instead. And then if you want our help, we can jump on the phone and discuss how we can help you move your business to the next level.

You can attend that for free over at Healthpreneurgroup.com/training. And do that now. Do that now, if you’re sick and tired of not being where you want to be. And let’s make it happen. Okay?

So thanks again, for tuning in. Continue to go out there, be great, do great, and I look forward to seeing you in our next episode.

Transcription

Hey guys, happy Friday. Yuri here with you. Hope your day is going great. Today we’ve got another great guest, his name is Ryan Glatt, and he has a really interesting take on coaching, and it’s all about brain health, pretty cool stuff. So without any further ado, we’ll get into the interview in just a sec. I want to give you a bit of background as to who he is, so a bit of context. Ryan develops curriculum for the health and fitness industry on health neuroscience, and coaches individuals towards optimal brain health

He has completed programs from the Amen Clinics, the Neuro Coaching Institute, the Neuroscience Academy, and many, many others. Really furthering his mastery of the topics of brain health, sleep, and mindfulness. And what we’re going to talk about in this episode are two things.

Number one, why his approach, and I’ll talk about this in the interview, why his approach to what he’s doing. He’s very, very smart from a positioning standpoint in the marketplace, but also for you as a health coach or a health provider, how furthering your skillset, adding things to your toolbox, like what Ryan teaches can be a very, very big value add for your clients.

So without any further ado, let’s welcome Ryan Glatt to the show. Ryan, what’s up? Welcome to the Healthpreneur podcast. How’s it going?

Ryan Glatt:                          It’s great, man. Thanks for having me.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And you are welcome. It’s good to have you here. Always good to connect with some new peeps in our space, doing some awesome stuff. You have a very interesting and unique approach to helping people. You have a great brain health coaching program that you work with a lot of different professionals through.  I’m very interested because from what I saw, I didn’t really get a perspective about how you got into this because I think a lot of people in our space get what they do because of their own challenges or someone close to them that was suffering with something. What was your pivotal moment that made you go down this route of really mastering brain health?

 

His inspirations, journey, and mission

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah, it’s a great question. I don’t think it was a pivotal moment. I think for the sake of stories, there should be this pivotal moment, but for me I feel it was really about this kind of consequentially building event towards moving towards this and more of an avalanche. So, things just built up and I was just seeing more information that convinced me more and more to go this route with brain health, and I didn’t really start out interested in brain health, although I did start studying animal behavior. I was trying to study animal behavior to learn how to train and manage exotic animals before I was a fitness professional.

I don’t want to go too deep into it, but it was basically a training animals for movies and TV was my life dream and then I didn’t get into my dream program.

I had recently lost a bunch of weight, became a personal trainer about 10 years ago. I was figuring out I was not very good at the weight loss and muscle gain crowd, but I was very logical and very investigative and so this whole pain management and helping people figure out why they were in pain type of thing really became my calling. And that kind of transformed it to physical therapy several years later. I got multiple certifications in biomechanics, corrective exercise, soft tissue therapy.

Physical therapy school did not work out for me. I had a visa issue. I am going to school in Scotland. It’s kind of a long story, but I ended up being put in jail for seven days and deported back to LA. It was kind of weird. So, that wasn’t for me, but I figured out a way to get a license to touch in the state of California. I took the Anatomy Trains Bodywork seminars from Tom Myers and became what’s called an anatomy trains instructor, which is a fancy way of saying I am a soft tissue therapist.

I got my license to touch and I was doing what a PT might do. And I was not diagnosing people but working with a lot of people with pain successfully. And there were several instances where neuroscience kind of came across. One of which was starting with the animal behavior type of content, which is all psychology and behavior change. Learning about Skinner’s pigeons and Pavlov’s dogs and learning how the brain relates to behavior change. All that was super fascinating to me. And then how behavior change relates to what we do with our clients every day. Whether you’re trying to show them a drill or a stretch or you want them to do later on or you’re trying to get them to adhere to a whole new diet. All of that has to be with behavior change and that includes the brain.

And then there’s this huge movement in the pain neuroscience crowd now where we’re learning and the neuroscience of pain, knowing that it’s not all physical, which is super important for our profession. And that introduced me to a lot of neuroscience, and then just in my PT internship experiential realm, working with people with concussion and cerebral palsy and these neurological conditions that really got me interested.

I think one of the biggest things that stood out to me is for about two years I was in a dark room from almost 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM just doing soft tissue and corrective exercise sessions with people. And I would just notice that these individuals were stressed out. They really weren’t paying attention to what I was saying, not because they were not interested, not because they didn’t have a problem, they just didn’t seem to have the attentional capacity. But what I really remember, what I would show them. And I started to think these are pretty basic cognitive processes that these people are really struggling with. I wonder why. And if I figured out why, I wonder if I can help them with the tools that a manual therapist, personal trainer and health coach has.

I’m working with sleep nutrition, health behaviors movements and the nervous system. And I wonder what I can do to help that individual. And so, it was kind of these cumulative experiences that really said, okay, I want to know more about the brain because if I know more about the brain, I’m gonna empower myself to change the brain of my client and I’m sure I’m doing that already, but I want to know more.

And so, I started to pursue a bunch of different certifications and really just started with exercise interventions and looking up the research on that and looking at the effects of exercise on the brain because they were so myopic in terms of periodization and how to create this workout for this outcome. Then I was wondering, well, that’s all physically based. I wonder what we could do if we look at different modalities of exercise in different ways we could tweak those variables to actually understand how to make different changes in the brain because different people with depression or anxiety, those have different patterns of the brain. I wonder if we could take things like exercise and different modalities, understanding what they do to the brain or understanding what they do with neurotransmitters and really put two and two together.

That really became a constant research question for me for two years. I pursued different certifications and why I really enjoyed learning what was out there and getting a nice base of knowledge, I’m still not satisfied by my quest for knowledge. And so it’s kind of been self directed. I’m going to be pursuing a master’s degree in neuroscience in October, but really my education and my drive has been kind of self directed with the help of mentors and other people who are also interested in brain health and neuroscience. But really just diving into research and seeing can we solve a problem with science? And if science backs up the tools that I use and the strategies that I use that health professional, who can we help with that?

The type of population I typically work with now are individuals with dementia. People who are afraid of getting dementia, people who have said, oh, I don’t have dementia, but I feel my memory’s slipping. That’s what we call subjective cognitive decline. People with stroke, people with post concussive syndrome or a sustained concussion or a traumatic brain injury. These are all populations that I really feel confident in working with and I have been able to help just with the tools and resources I have as a health professional.

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s awesome. So, I love this. You’re committed to mastering this universe of the brain, which is arguably bigger than the universe, right?

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah.

 

Ryan’s business model and how its structure evolved

Yuri Elkaim:                         Pretty amazing. And we know so little even though we know so much about it. Give us a sense of what your business model looks like now because you started off working with clients as a more of a trainer and a lot of kind of manual therapy, physical touch. How did you go from there to what you’re doing now? What is now look like for you? Because I want to give our listeners a bit of perspective because we do have know massage therapists, manual therapists, physical therapists listening to this who sometimes feel that they’re limited to clinical work because it’s one on one manual touch. How have you been able to take your expertise and bring that online?

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah, it’s interesting because I didn’t really think I go back to something more of an exercise intervention or a movement intervention. I thought I was really specializing towards the manual, and we see a lot of this when massage therapists are also personal trainers and they’re trying to provide this comprehensive service and they’re also health coaches or any combination thereof. And I think what’s interesting is that we’re at an age where we can do that. And what was inspiring for me is to be able to say, well, you know what? I’m going to get the out of manual therapy and start doing movement again. But also get a certification in behavior change and health coaching, and be able to do that process as well. Because my whole idea was to create a business model in which I had coaches certified under my method, but I was also having a coach who practice for individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, post concussive syndrome.

And these were people that were usually referred by a mental health professional. So I wasn’t overstepping my boundaries, they thought that exercise or health interventions would be good for them. We may have very specific to their, their use case. And so I was getting a good referral network from psychologists, but there was something about the coaching business. Well, I don’t know if it was my personality, I’ve just never been good at sustaining the one on one practice, like really, really, really well.

The first business model was create some sort of an education or certification and then have coaches under me, but first establish a strong coaching practice and I had quite a few clients. I wouldn’t say it was the easiest practice, but it was definitely a productive one, a lucrative one. And I felt like I was making a significant impact. I just wish there was a better curriculum out there that would have prepared me, but I’m either helping them to other people do that or creating that curriculum right now.

And where my business ended up shifting is I started prospecting different clients for consulting. So I found a technology company called Smart Fit or rather they found me through my Instagram, which was very surprising and said, “Hey, we have a technology that can train brain and body at the same time.” Which was my area of research and still is, which is combining cognitive and physical challenges together for an enhanced effect which is more effective for your brain that doing either of them alone. And so basically they, they found me on Instagram putting all these posts out because I was trying to educate people about this concept and flash forward a few months and I’ve been consulting with them.

It’s my first ever consulting contract, a legitimate consulting contract. And so I was making significant income from that for a while. And then I was really hoping to find a way to start a brain health gym, like a way to have a valid fashion of assessing individuals and their brain function, gathering their goals. These are typically people, they’ve been all over the place. Nobody can help them and using exercise, sleep coaching and nutrition coaching specific to their goals to really help them neurologically. And it was a struggle to do this. I was collecting a lot of equipment I would need, but I was very hesitant to open a gym on my own.

Sure enough, one of my mentors who’s a neuroscientist at UC San Diego and studies combined cognitive physical training for individuals with schizophrenia and dementia and mild cognitive impairment ended up being hired as the director in Santa Monica for a place called the Pacific Neuroscience Institute, which had quite a significant amount of money to create what’s called a brain health center, which is exactly the center of that I was describing in my vision.

And so whether it was manifestation or good luck or I have no freaking idea, but now I’m working for them full time while consulting. I went from this very a weird phase where I’m like trying to make this reality in which brain health coaching and using exercise for brain health was a reality in a valid one, not just one that people like, oh, that’s cool. That’s kid, this kid is passionate, but it’s not really valid. It’s kind of a one off concept. I really wanted it to be something that was accepted and valid and progressing. And now I’m at a point where I have this consulting position. I’m starting this position that at this brain health clinic next week and I’m projected to make my first six figures, which is tremendous for being able to … Being in this model, doing what I love. I wasn’t really attached to what it looked like and it’s this kind of process of constantly reiterate, constantly prototyping your career.

And I think people are really attached to the models that other others pitch to them. And I was, I was attached to a coaching model or the way people have launched a course before, but eventually I just had this mentality of, well, let’s see what works. Let’s see what doesn’t. And I just ended up in this position and I’m not stopping there. I’m creating a certification with the Functional Aging Institute to certify personal trainers who are interested or already working with older adults to use exercise and present all the research on what different modalities of exercise do the brain aging and how to really program to prevent or slow cognitive decline or dementia. And so those are kind of my three things is his consulting, working in this brain health center and creating education so other people can do it. It’s just now coming to fruition after a couple of years.

 

The strategies Ryan teaches for brain health

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s awesome. Good for you man. So when we talk about an exercise program for someone to lose weight versus an exercise program for somebody with cognitive decline, what does that look like? Like what is the actual … Is there, what types of exercises? Can you give a couple examples of exercises or differences between the two and what that might look like? So our listeners have a better sense of visually of what that might represent.

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah, I’m happy to do that. So let’s say we have an individual that’s 60 years old that say, “Oh man, I’m starting to lose my memory. I don’t have dementia, but my parents had dementia and all of a sudden I’m very frightened. They’re already working out, but they feel like they’re still declining. What is going on? How can I help my brain?” And so what you can do, as a fitness professional is understand, and I’m trying to make this easy for people by creating these courses and putting content out there. But understand what the science says about different modalities. So what do we have at our disposal? We have strength training, we have resistance training, we have a robotic training, we have motor and coordinated training, things that require coordination and learning a new skill or new movement. We have stretching and mobility. We even have graphed work. We can facilitate mindfulness for people if you have that education.

These are all the things that we have at our disposal as modalities. And then we can also prescribe or suggest physical activities like swimming, hiking, martial arts, dance, all of these things. You can either get certified in, refer to you or have people go to do somewhere else, and if you take the role of authority as a health coach and really start to identify, which each of those mechanisms, and those modalities do to the brain, which I’ve been studying, and I’m happy to help any of you or any of your listeners figure that out after the show. But basically each of them have a different effect. Whether it’s on the effect of on the neurotransmitter level. Some release more dopamine. Some release more serotonin and some release more acetylcholine in response to novelty, which accelerates Corticol plasticity of the brain, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So there’s all these different neurotransmitters that are kind of themed per each modality. Then there’s different parts of the brain that are activated during these modalities. And over time there’s adaptations just like muscle tissue that occurs to the brain tissue from these adaptations and from these modalities. And so there’s also a change in brain function. How fast the neurons fire, which neurons are firing. How many neurons are there? Do we create new neurons? And then there’s a usually a change on a cognition, which is your ability to interact with the day to day, so your abilities to memorize, to plan, to think, to organize. Those are all of your cognitive functions and so exercise has an effect on a variety of these structures and functions of neurotransmitters. And we just want to understand, which each one uniquely does. What effects does it have just like we understand physically.

And so once you understand that, you can kind of organize a program saying, okay, I want you to do resistance training at this intensity, but this specific type of resistance training where you’re learning novel movements not going in the machines, and you’re doing more functional movements three times a week. And then I want you to do 60 to 75 percent of your aerobic capacity by running twice a week. Or I want you to go hiking twice a week. Or I want you to pick one activity like dance that you’ve never done before once or two times a week. We start helping them program, what activities they’re doing throughout the week as well as when they’re in the session. If you are facilitating movement for that individual let’s work on novel movements or let’s do some sport like movements that combine reaction time and hand eye coordination and all those cognify or enhance through cognitive stimulus.

These exercises we’re already doing with them, but giving them also a cognitive benefit, a brain benefit during the personal training session as well. And that ends up being super engaging and let’s start with mobility and breath work and the end with mindfulness. Those are our wide variety of the strategies we employ as brain friendly health professionals and personal trainers to be able to deliver that. And the reason that’s important is because most of these individuals will find, okay, what’s the best modality for brain health? Okay, I’m going to do aerobic exercise and that’s all they do.

But the reality is there’s an individualization requirement for a lot of this because everyone has a different brain. At the same time there’s also this requirement to have variability because there’s an aspect of novelty, that the brain really loves and when we have that same routine for 10 years, the brain has kind of gone to this automatic processing and really what we want is to bring it back to the critical processes that are used to processing new information, novel information, always adapting. And so we hear all the time these mnemonics of, “Oh learning something new. It is great for the brain.”

Well, where does that reflect in our exercise regimens typically. It typically does not. It’s typically something that is focused on a physical outcome, but if people have a brain pain point, which everybody does. We’re not just … We’re not prepared to cater to that yet because of a lack of education. But on a high level, that’s what a brain health program might look like. We’re making all those considerations, and we haven’t even talked about the sleep considerations. We haven’t even talked about the nutritional considerations. There is now an emerging field of nutrition called nutritional psychiatry where there are protocols for individuals with dementia, anxiety, depression.We need to learn those and employ those strategies

In addition, if you don’t know the how to coach sleep, not just knowing that eight hours of sleep is beneficial. It’s like telling someone vegetables are good for you, congratulations. But we need to know how to coach sleep. How do identify an individual circadian rhythm, how to coach their individual circadian rhythm so that they can have optimal brain health.

All of those things are critical, but I don’t mean to be overbearing to the professional. However, these tools are there. They exist. The information is there and what I’m trying to do is make it accessible and comprehensive for individuals, but the information is out there. You just need to be reminded on, okay, I care about this problem. Whatever the problem is, it could be mental health, it could be cognitive decline. It can be a very underserved population like a post rehabilitative stroke or concussion. And serving that population and using the tools you already have, not overstepping your scope or even expanding your scope by seeking out more education to serve those populations, which would be entrepreneurial, solving a problem in huge populations that no one’s really solving a problem for.

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s pretty awesome. And it’s exciting that you are teaming up with Dan and Cody from the Functional Aging Institute because one of the most inspiring videos that I’ve seen is one of the videos that they have on their website of 85 year old women throwing kettle bells around, doing the ropes. And I’m like, that is what’s possible. I think when that’s combined with what you’re talking about, it’s amazing of what we can do as humans and not fall into these limiting beliefs of life after 60 or 70 has to go down. So it’s just really cool to be able to expand horizons, and really bring this, these ideas, the information, but also maybe a new mindset about what’s possible as we get older, which is pretty amazing.

Ryan Glatt:                          Absolutely. And part of that mindset is people think that they didn’t think that we could slow physical decline. Dan and Cody are doing an excellent job of bursting those myths and they still have a lot of work to do. But we also used to think that the brain couldn’t change, but fast forward several decades and now we know neuroplasticity is this very proven concept. And so the idea is with these older adults or just individuals in general or with us, how can we maximize neuro-plastic change for brain health while they are with us?

And we can do that through exercise, but while they’re in this physiological state, we have the sensitive window where we can also add cognitive stimulus. Whether you’re getting them to pay attention to a piece of stimuli very intensively or you’re giving them a novel movement or I’m treating these older adults like athletes and giving them an eye exercises and having them react to things. And what if that individual that was swinging a Kettlebell that you saw in the video was also using both their hands to alternatively catch tennis balls while standing on one leg and their hand eye coordination is like a teenager. That is possible, but we’re not … we’re treating people as if they were fragile.

Two, we’re not taking the opportunity to maximize this window that we have with people to not just maximize their bodily health but their cognitive health.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, totally. It’s actually a lot of fun because I do this. I do quite a bit of this stuff with my kids who are four, five and seven because I have a background in soccer and I was a goalie. So, a lot of hand eye coordination type of exercises. A sort of like reaction time. So we do fun things like we’ll have a tennis ball with different numbers on it and I’ll throw it at them. I’m like, “Hey, tell me what number you see as it comes into your hand.” And doing all sorts of cool things. But it’d be fun to do that with someone who’s in their seventies or eighties because-

Ryan Glatt:                          And we can do that in the gym. And the power of that year is I don’t think we’ll assess you on the podcast, but it would be great to assess you and say, “Hey, Yuri the areas of cognition that you’re really struggling with? Is it attention? Is it memory? Is it processing speed and give you soccer like drills that you implement, while your heart rate is up later in the gym that you can replicate on your own or with a partner that can help to maximize or improve those areas of cognition. And if you’re like, Ryan, my issue is a working memory and I can’t memorize the tasks that I was working on or this person I was supposed to reach out to. Or the names and that’s affecting my business. I can say, “Yuri, you’re already working out. Just do these drills while you’re working out. Do it for two to three weeks.”

And if you see a significant difference, that’s fine and that’s not for aging, that’s not for concussion, that’s for Yuri. Maximizing his abilities and his potential and not really though in a scientific way. Through modality, you’re already engaging in what you already love. And as you’re with your kids, this ends up being playful and fun and that’s a mentality and an experience that I think people are missing from the gym nowadays and missing from exercise altogether. So I think we can really bring some light literally to this this industry by making this concept happened.

 

Marketing yourself within your niche, creating good habits, and stress

Yuri Elkaim:                         So I want to shift the focus to a business application for this in two ways. Number one, for everyone listening. What I get excited about when Ryan’s talking about this is number one, the fact that this is so novel to the way that most people coach others with their health becomes very attractive to potential clients, to want to engage in this.

Ryan Glatt:                          Absolutely.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And that’s really important. If you’re selling a product, how is this product different from another one? This type of protocol, when you can introduce this to somebody they have not this before, they have not engaged in this before. That gives them, I think a huge sense of hope and optimism for better results, which I think is a health coach or a practitioner of any form. Having this type of skillsets, in your arsenal becomes a huge value add or value proposition to your potential clients or existing clients.

Second thing I want to ask you, Ryan, is we talked about novelty in neuroplasticity. For instance, me learning to throw with my left hand instead of my right hand doing things that we’re uncomfortable. Doing and developing those new neural pathways. How do we as entrepreneurs, because we’re so indoctrinated in the development of habits. Morning routine or get into specific habits because your life becomes a reflection of your habits, blah, blah, blah. How do we balance the seeming importance of habits with the importance of adding new things that we’re not used to doing, doing things almost completely the opposite of our habits to continually grow those neural pathways and helping us grow mentally.

Ryan Glatt:                          That’s a great question. So I’ll start with the first one, which I don’t know if the first one was a question but just to speak on the marketability of this. I would just say to add to that, to my journey, what I found to be most successful is find other professionals, organizations, people who understand what you’re talking about, are aligned in that mission. Mental health professionals, doctors, other trainers that would help to refer people to you for this type of outcome. And then be able to really market yourself in that niche. And if individuals might come to you and say, “Well, you’re a trainer, what do you know about the brain?” Just start that conversation by adding value, sending them education, Hey, here’s what exercise does the brain, I have tons of resources on my website you can send.

I’ve had a lot of trouble kind of differentiate myself between the physical guy and the  brain guy. And sometimes you do have to pick one, but being able to almost preach to your audience, to your niche about the unique value of this has been, has been really beneficial. And if it’s troublesome, you will find your, your niche. Maybe it’s a group, it’s a community of people in your local area. Parents and kids that struggle with autism or concussion or dementia. I mean, you got to really find your niche, but once you do it is extremely profitable in a very impactful and ratifying way to work with your practice and maybe even change your practice completely.So that’s what I would say for that.

For the second piece there Yuri, I’m talking about habits. I would assume that question is changing habits if that was beneficial for the brain. Is that right?

Yuri Elkaim:                        Yeah, I’m not too sure if it can go both ways, I guess like … we know we want to be developing the right habits, but at the same time do we want to get so stuck on our habits that we no longer allow flexibility for new learning. It’s like new formations to be happening in our brain.

Ryan Glatt:                          Well, it’s almost as if the trend I’m seeing now is not don’t just create good habits, but here’s a book on 100 habits that make you successful. That’s information overload and that’s not really a good way to go about it. I think everyone’s really obsessed with what are the habits, but habits take time. It takes energy, it takes glucose, it takes attentional resources and it’s stressful. I would say the first thing for entrepreneurs, and I think this very much applies to me too, is regulate the autonomic nervous system. Figure out how to manage your stress response and sometimes the stress load, the amount of load that you’re taking on that causes stress is not relative or below your stress capacity. And even if it’s just a little bit, people are doing above their capacity for stress and whether you’re excited or whether you’re saying it’s for money or whether you’re driven, it doesn’t matter.

Your nervous system doesn’t care. What your nervous system cares about is what is your stress capacity and your stress load. And the reason I mentioned that is because if you’re stressed out and your autonomic nervous system is up regulated and you’re going beyond your stress capacity, your cognitive processes. So your learning abilities or abilities to create new habits, take in new information, be flexible, regulate your emotions. All of these things that are critical to entrepreneurs will not be effective. And this is why people who are stressed out usually have explosions of behavior that are not desired or they fail in business or they have anxiety attacks. Like if you listen to it, Craig Valentine Story. And all of these things are our Palette. And if you look at some of the biggest mistakes in business, I can’t remember, I think it’s Exon making an oil deal and it was the worst decision ever.

All of those people were sleep deprived. And so their decision making abilities were impaired or your ability to control your impulses. Or not listen to your gut feeling. All of those cognitive and embody cognitive processes will be limited if you are stressed. And I’m not saying don’t be stressed, eat your vegetables. I’m just saying, take an honest look at what your stressful inputs are, and write them down and rate them on a scale of one to 10. 10 being the most stressful, one being the least stressful. And look at your relaxing or your parasympathetic inputs and rank those on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the most relaxing, one being the least relaxing. And see where your score is.

If your parasympathetic score is not double the sympathetic score, the stress load inputs, you are not succeeding at balancing your stress load. And that is the reality. You either need to cut down your stress load where you need to add more ways of decompressing and giving yourself a way to get out of that entrepreneurial mindset. And as you do that you will be more creative, experience better cognitive processing. All the things that you want to have done by trying to incorporate these habits, you will be getting done.

And so I think when it comes to habit development, we have to ask what position or what benefit does that habit serve? How’s does that habit serve us? And sometimes you’re better off eliminating habits or not having those habits at all. Or just saying what’s the one habit that will allow me to manage my stress loads. If it’s having a morning routine where I’m planning my day so I don’t get stressed out because I have ADHD, like tendencies and then making sure I work out later in the day so that I get all of those associated cognitive, physical benefits.

Let’s just stay at that and why does there need to be more? Why does there need to be more? If you have a structure around your day that allows you to be productive, great. Do I need to throw in the cold shower and throw in the gratitude journal and throw it? Yeah, I know all those things are beneficial, but if it causes me more stress to manage that, manage that, what am I doing? And I feel that’s the position we’re in nowadays. It’s more and more and more and more and more if we’re not in the information overload of her actual job or actual work. We’re looking to information overload ourselves in terms of self development and it’s not always effective and so that’s what I would suggest for individuals.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Oh, that’s good. It’s the 20 pardon morning routine, right? It’s just too much.

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So let me ask you this one final question then we’ll jump into the rapid five. Social media, smartphones, lack of attention in adults, as well as an adolescence. Is this a real problem and obviously these, these platforms, whether it’s Facebook or Instagram or kind of built trip out our dopamine response and so forth. But is this a real issue for entrepreneurs to worry about in terms of their maybe receiving attention because of these types of platforms and the amount of time we’re spending on them. And if so, what’s one simple way we can start to kind of work against that and become more focused in what we do and how we live?

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah. It’s a great question and I think the answer is yes. It’s also a continuity of that stress load versus stress capacity and so every time you switch from task to task. I switched from the computer when I’m working on a business related task to my Instagram and my email. I’m switching back and forth. You are wasting attentional resources which are finite. You don’t have an infinite amount of those and you are increasing the amount of time it takes to refocus back on that past. So you are in effect being more or less productive rather, and it does have a negative effect on brain function and structure and we live in this distracted world.

Adam Gazaley is a neuroscientist who wrote a book called The Distracted Mind all about this concept. And all the general self care tactics like getting nature, exercise, sleep, eat well, all held with remediated that, but it doesn’t get to the core of the problem, which is I have an issue with switching from task to task. And my phone was a big part of that. I noticed these individuals, entrepreneurs that have a high stress load, will be up regulated. And when you’re up regulated, observe your own I-behavior and how you feel. Your heart rate’s up, your eyes are darting back and forth. So it’s almost perpetuating this. Jump on my call, jumped back and this misbehavior that seems like you’re like a squirrel basically.

I think the first thing you have to do is regulate that nervous system response. Recognize that what you’re doing with your task, switching behavior is not serving you. And then do something environmentally with your phone, whether it’s putting it on airplane mode and putting it somewhere else for an hour, scheduling that. The whole thing of putting it in a drawer or something hasn’t really worked for me, but putting it on airplane mode and keeping it face down is effective for me.

And then just single tasking. If I have multiple tabs, open drag on tabs. So it’s a single tab. So I’m focusing on one task, go by checklists. All those things have really helped me because I’m a guy who struggles with that stuff whether I studied the brain or not. And so I would say in addition to that, entrepreneurs seem to attach their value to their image, to the amount of emails that check. And so there is a justification going on psychologically of this is my relationship to my phone, social media and email on a mobile device. And so when I convinced myself as an entrepreneur that my value is there and I’m going to continue to check it rapidly or obsessively. And anytime I tried to convince myself out of it, I say, “Well, I got to do this for work and I got to have value.”

But ask yourself, how much money do you really get from doing that? And usually not very much. And so be a good entrepreneur and invest in the things that bring you income. If Instagram arguably can or does bring you income, then say, all right, well how much time do I need to invest into Instagram to get that? What’s the minimum amount of time? And so now you start to use the part of your brain that is driven by your motivations to out convince obsessive behavior, but we really do need to change our relationship to our phones.

And there’s some good companies out there helping with that one’s called Brick, B-R-I-C-K. They’re creating an app to kind of give you points and reward you for the amount of time you’re not on your phone. And then giving a different strategies to reform your relationship to your phone. All that is crucial even for me because some of these processes have become automatic.

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s awesome. Good stuff. We’re going to shift into the rapid five, in just a second, but what is the best place for our listeners to follow you online?

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah. So you can follow me on Instagram. Follow me obsessively and follow me every second of the day. That’s really good for your brain. You can follow me at glatt.somatiq is G-L-A-T-T.S-O-M-A-T-I-Q. Or you could go to Somatiq S-O-M-A-T-I-Q.C-O. So Somatiq.Co. So Somatiq.Co. Somatiq.co, Somatiq with a Q not a C. IQ was cleverly placed in there.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I like that.

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah. So you can go there. I have a free training on how to combine brain health and cognitive health with exercise and what you do as a health coach. There’s a free three part training on there. I do this really popular weekly email called brain bullets where I summarize all the research on health and the brain and I send it. I summarize it to you in three bullet points and send it out every week.

That’s really, really popular. And that we’ll also be announcing to our email list that, that new course that we’re launching with FAI, Dan and Cody when that comes out. So those are my main mediums there. Yeah. So happy to help anyone that wants to reach out directly. Because I get a lot of great messages like, “Hey, I’ve struggled with depression. I’m a personal trainer. I’ve really thought about working with mental health professionals. Thank you for talking about this.” So I know people are out there that have thought about this concept and are looking for mentorship and I’m happy to help anyone.

 

The Rapid Five

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s great. I will be sure to link up to all that in the show notes for you guys. So, Ryan, are you ready for the rapid five?

Ryan Glatt:                          It sounds dangerous.

Yuri Elkaim:                         It is. It is very dangerous, but honestly it’s whatever comes top of mind. First answer is probably the best one. Exactly. Alright. So here we go. Number one, what is your biggest weakness?

Ryan Glatt:                          My biggest weakness would be ego, and the need to always be right. And seem smart.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Number two, what is your biggest strength?

Ryan Glatt:                          My biggest strength is my ability to connect ideas and back it up with passion and be motivated by passion drive.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Awesome. Number three, what’s one skill you’ve become dangerously good at in order to run your business?

Ryan Glatt:                          I create what I have.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I’m sorry. So, those that you have developed.

Ryan Glatt:                          Okay.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah.

Ryan Glatt:                          I would say that’s a great one then. I would say the one skill that I developed to be dangerously good at my business is learning how to rapidly monetize it information.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Nice. That’s a good one. Number four, what do you do first thing in the morning?

Ryan Glatt:                          The first thing I do in my morning is I write down what I have to do for the day and review it.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Awesome. And finally, complete this sentence. I know I’m being successful when …

Ryan Glatt:                          I wake up with a big smile on my face. No, I mean, I am making a huge impact in the lives of others.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Awesome. Love it, Ryan Glatt. Thank you so much for joining us on the show. This has been a lot of fun.

Ryan Glatt:                          Yeah Yuri. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed this.

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Yuri’s Take

So one of the things that I really want to highlight from this episode is the fact that when you’re entering into a marketplace … I’ve talked about this before. There’s really no competition, you are unique, your messages, you’re the messenger assuring your authentic voice matters. Really providing and focusing your marketing and everything you do and produce results for your clients. That’s really how you separate yourself. But what’s cool about what Ryan’s done is that if, let’s just look at the example of ensuring that our clients resUlts is our number one priority.

If you’re working with clients in a capacity where they might be served by adding in some type of neuro brain training, then really furthering your skillset, adding things to your toolbox that you can then deploy with your clients can really be a smart move in some cases.

Now I have no affiliation with Ryan’s program and I don’t get a commission or anything like that. But when I went to see opportunities like this, I think it’s interesting to be able to look at complimentary skillsets that you can develop in and really helped your clients to a great level. So, there’s no shortage of certifications in the health and fitness space. It seems like health and fitness experts are on drugs and the drugs being certifications. I think that’s a good thing in some cases because it shows that as an industrY, we are very growth oriented, which is great and we want to better serve our clients. We want to better improve ourselves and I think that’s awesome. So whatever you can do that’s going to really help your clients all the power to you. That’s the one thing I really want to kind of leave you with here.

The second thing is how from a positioning standpoint, as we talked about, I said, listen, like Ryan, what he is developing is very unique. There’s no shortage of health coaches, right? There’s no shortage of health coaches coming out of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition or anywhere else and a lot of them are saying the same things. And yes, you’ll be able to resonate with different people, but when … and I had a lady asked me about this on Instagram the other day, and by the way, if not following me on Instagram, what are you doing? [inaudible 00:43:42]. That’s where I’m at. So anyway, she was asking me, she asked, does it make sense to narrow down and focus on one perfect client when you can serve a whole bunch of different demographics?

And I said, well, it depends if you want to succeed or fail in business. So if you want to succeed in business, I would strongly recommend you narrow down and focus on one niche or niche, Harvard said. Because what that means is when people think of you, they’re going to think of, oh, so and so. You’re gonna occupy it a shelf or a drawer in someone’s mental closet and their mental cabinetry. And you want them to think about when they think about brain health, they think about Ryan Glatt for instance. When you think about X, Y, Z. When they think about whoever it is you want to be known for, that’s what you want them to think about.

So for me, for Healthpreneur, when you know a health or fitness expert is, if they’re thinking, how do I build my coaching program? How do I build out a coaching business? Their number one thought is Healthpreneur. That’s the embedding type of marketing we want people to have. We want them to know us for one thing, and I’ve made a very, very clear, distinction the past couple of year to move away from a lot of the stuff we were doing before and now it’s just this. That’s it. If he wants to grow a coaching business, a successful coaching business, we are your best stop assuming you’re health and fitness expert to do so and in a great profitable and predictable manner without one on one coaching.

So for you, what is the one thing you want to be known for in your marketplace?

And if you can build your business around that, you’ll have a lot more success and don’t worry, you’re going to alienate a lot of people. It’s all good, but there’s also a lot of people who are going to resonate more with specificity.

So if you need help with this and you haven’t yet gone through our seven figure health business blueprint training, what are you waiting for? Do it today.

Go to healthpreneurgroup.com/training.

Go through the free training. It’s a 70 minute training. I guarantee that it’ll be some of the best time you spent on your business.

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Transcription:

Hey guys, Yuri here. Welcome back to the show. Today, we’re going to be walking you through five truths about online marketing in 2018 and beyond.

This is an important one, okay? I’ve been online since 2006. I’ve seen a lot of things come and go, and I’ve seen a lot of things change.  I want to share five important truths that I want you to understand if you want to succeed in business.

This is important because I don’t want you to struggle. I don’t want you to have subpar results, because I really believe that you have an amazing ability to help the people you serve. And it’s my goal, my mission, to help other Healthpreneurs like you succeed. Because in doing so, two things happen. Number one, you get to help people at a very deep level, and really transform their life, which is great. Second is you get to live the life you desire. Earn the money you want. You enjoy a lot more freedom. You can travel, you can spend more time with your family, whatever is important to you.

And those are the two big reasons why I do what I do. Because I want you to be able to enjoy life and enjoy your business and not have to struggle.

I continue to see so many health experts struggle and suffer because they’re doing stuff that simply doesn’t work any longer. So, let’s look at what these are, okay?

What you need to know to succeed and the importance of marketing

Let’s talk about online marketing for a quick second. What is marketing?

Here’s my definition of marketing. Marketing is simply the process of building a relationship with people who don’t know you to the point where they know they can trust you so that selling becomes unnecessary.

That’s what marketing is. It’s a bridge between where your clients are and you. And the bridge is helping them to get closer to the result that they want. Marketing is also sharing your beliefs, and we’ll save that for another episode. But marketing is not evil. Marketing is necessary, marketing is education in most respects. With that said, let’s look at the first truth.

Number one is build it and they will come, does not exist online.

The good old Field of Dreams movie, that was a great movie, I loved it, very inspiring. And that might work if you have a physical location on busy streets. You set up shop, people walk by, they see, oh, cool, new shop, new restaurant they pop in. That does not happen on the internet. You set up a website and nobody will know about it, no one. The likelihood of your website being found on Google is slim to zero.

So, you have to understand that just because you’ve got a pretty website nobody even cares about that first of all.

Second, they’re not going to find it unless you put a massive amount of work into SEO, which is going to cost you a lot of time and money. Believe me, my blog gets a million unique visitors a month. So, I can talk from experience on that.

Paid advertising is a must and email marketing is dying

What do we do instead? Well, instead of build it, and they will come, you have to build it and then you have to put stuff out there that’ll get in front of people. That basically means paid advertising.

The only way I believe to really succeed in business in a way that you control is by paying to acquire your perfect clients or prospects; Facebook ads, YouTube ads, whatever.

Just understand the consequences of not doing so. If you don’t master that process, you will be at the mercy of any kind of Google algorithm changes. Well, we saw this with Facebook, right? We saw this with Facebook even a year ago. Facebook was favoring live video. So, it’s like Facebook Live this, Facebook Live that. And now, Facebook Live gets zero traction.

Even before that when Facebook was a thing let’s say five or six years ago, you could post something on your wall, on your Facebook fan page, not your personal profile, on your fan page. And let’s say close to 100% of your followers or fans would actually see that post organically.

Now, because Facebook understands in order to play you need to pay, organic reach on Facebook is less than 2%, which means that if you put up with some cool quote or image on your Facebook fan page, and you’ve got 10000 followers, excuse me, less than 200 people are going to see that. So, if you don’t understand how to advertise, and when I say advertise, I’m basically saying putting together a message or a piece of communication that’s going to be valuable to your ideal audience. If you don’t know how to do that in a way where you can spend $1 and make $2, you’re going to have a very hard time growing your business.

I say that with as much love and empathy and sincerity as possible. Because I’ve done both. I’ve built at the organic content way, and its taken 10 years. So, if you’ve got 10 years and a lot of runway, go for it. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have results yesterday, right?

For Healthpreneur, 90% of our revenue comes from paid traffic. And we’ve got a really good ROI from the money we do spend on Facebook ads and YouTube ads. We do have this podcast, we have Instagram, but a very small percentage of our business is generated from these activities at least in this current day and age, where we are right now.

So, it’s the first thing, build it and they will not come, okay? That’s essentially what I want you to understand.

Number two, email marketing is dying. Email Marketing is dying. If you were to say to me, “Okay Yuri, I’ve got 100,000 people on my email list or 100,000 followers on Instagram that are obviously relevant and engaged, which would you rather have?” I would definitely take the hundred thousand followers on Instagram.

The reason for that is because, I don’t know about you, but when I look at my email metrics, it’s downright depressing. Sure, open rates are decent, but click through rates are tanking. We’re seeing click through is like less than 2%, where maybe two years ago, when we started to see a major shift happen, it was close to 20% click through rates. Which means when someone opens an email, what is the likelihood of them clicking on the link to the eventual destination page?

If you’re running a business that’s solely depend on email marketing, every single person I know who has a list, big list, whether they’re multiple seven figure eight figure businesses, they’ve all said the same thing. Two years ago, something happened and I don’t know if it was a technology thing, or if it was just the market in general just stopped paying attention to email, but things have changed.

There’s so much clutter in our emails nowadays. And there’s a huge opportunity which is called your mailbox by the way. So sending stuff to people in the mail is a great opportunity. We talked about this with … Well, we’ll definitely talk about it in the future, for sure.

Anyways, there’s a lot of clutter, so people pay less attention to it.

Instagram right now I think is a great platform for engaging with your audience. Right now, organic reach is still pretty good. But again, because Facebook owns Instagram, they’re going to want to monetize the platform to the nth degree. So organic reach is only going to go down, which means you’re going to have to learn how to pay to play. So, that’s the second thing.

Email Marketing is dying.

You have to be using Instagram messenger, right? Facebook Messenger. These are the platforms; instant notifications, instant messengers types of platforms that is where mostly communications are going to happen, and that should ideally be moving people towards getting on the phone with you if you’re offering a higher end coaching program.

Sharing your beliefs and creating content for your tribe

Okay, third truth, share what you believe more than what you know.

I talked earlier about marketing is sharing your beliefs. I really believe this to be true. If you’re going to do any kind of content, you’ve got two options, okay? You can do the SEO game, and you can create content that someone has a blog post about 101 ways to use coconut oil. You’re going to create a better blog post that’s going to be 121 ways to use coconut oil, and it’s going to be 10,000 words with beautiful pictures, and then you’re going to drive a ton of back links to that blog post, and it’s going to cost you a lot of money to do that.

And then if people land on the blog, hopefully they’ll spend maybe more than a minute reading your article because most people don’t. And then they’re done.

So, that’s one way you could do the content marketing game. The other way is saying, who cares about SEO? I’m going to create content for my existing tribe, which is growing as a result of my paid traffic, okay? And you create content around what you believe. Yes, there’s obviously some helpful stuff in there, but you have to share what you stand for, what you stand against, because that is how you’re going to start to really polarize people and tracking the right people into your world, who are like, yes I believe this, I totally drive with that, let’s make this happen. Let’s do this. You have to share what you believe more than what you know.

This is not going to be a blog post that’s going to get a lot of SEO traffic. Who’s typing in five truths about online marketing? No one. People might be typing online marketing, but in order for this to get found as a blog post with the keyword online marketing, good luck, right? That’s massively competitive. I don’t care. I don’t even care how many people listen to this episode. Because I’m only speaking to the few who are already in our community who are drinking our Kool-Aid, who are resonating with this.

And if the people that are listening to this, or there are certain people that resonate with this and others don’t, that’s fine as well. But I’m sharing in this, and a lot of different solo episodes, a lot of stuff that I believe to be true not necessarily the five ways to get better email open rates. Some of that stuff can be helpful. But in all honesty, that’s information, it’s not transformational.

Okay, so share what you believe more than what, you know.

Spending time offline to build your presence online

Number four, is spend more time offline to build your online presence. I know, how does that make sense? How does that make sense? It makes all the sense in the world. And we actually had a previous episode, and I can’t remember which episode it was, but it was several weeks ago, we talked about how to build your online business by spending more time offline. What this means is, hey, get away from a computer, meet up with people for lunch, start going to events, get around other human beings. It’s the single fastest way other than paid traffic that you can not only build your mindset and really expand your thinking, but getting around other people who are doing long business is the potential for collaborations there, and partnerships and whatever else is infinite. That’s one of the reasons why we have our annual Healthpreneur live events because we want to bring together amazing people in the health and fitness space, and collectively things can happen that we don’t even know might ensue.

From last year’s events in 2017, I didn’t even know half of the stuff that went down in casual conversations over dinner. Business partnerships were created, amazing collaborations we’re developed, all sorts of cool stuff happened because these people were in the same room together. It’s the single biggest decision I made that moved my business forward, back at the end of 2009 after having been online for three years, and really not getting any traction. I said, “Listen, I got to start going to some events and meet and hang out with people.” That was the single biggest hockey stick inflection point in my business. And if you’re not going out to events, you’re missing out big time. So, that’s important, okay?

Mastering the fundamentals of direct response

Number five is, you have to master the fundamentals of direct response. We’ve talked about how the online world is changing, email marketing is dying, social’s becoming huge, already is huge.

Here’s the thing that’s never going to change, human beings. Human beings, human psychology is never going to change in the foreseeable future, right? Its been the same for thousands of years, maybe in a million years it would become more evolved AI, who knows? But anyways, for now, the drivers that drive us now are going to drive us next year; scarcity, urgency exclusivity. Different markers of what makes us do what we do is always going to be true.

So, you need to master the fundamentals of direct response. What is direct response? Direct response marketing is essentially putting together a message where you can track the outcome. Let me give you an example of what direct response is not. You’re driving down the highway and you see a billboard on the side of the road, that’s not a direct response ad, unless the billboard says call this number and use this promotion code. Where they can now directly track, oh, this came from this billboard on this highway. Facebook ads are an example of direct response. You pay $1 for Facebook ads, it’s put in front of a specific audience, you have pixels and tracking codes, and you know exactly that this lead or this customer came from that ad. That is direct response.

So, that’s the kind of mathematical side of it. But you have to understand the psychological side of it, which is how do you craft messages that are going to move people to action? Understanding the frustrations and fears that they’re going through, and being able to put together a communication where your prospects are like, “Wow, this person completely gets me. Oh, they’ve got this cool thing, all right, maybe I should check this out.” So, you have to study, and I say master the fundamentals, I didn’t say dabble with the fundamentals. This is, whether you want to call it copywriting or direct response, they’re very similar. You have to spend time developing this skill. It’s the single biggest asset you can develop very much like public speaking. Again, a public speaker, there’s two different types of speakers. You’ve got a keynote speaker who gets paid tens of thousands, $120000, whatever it is to go speak for an hour, and they just give you free content. Great, awesome.

But for most speakers who have to make a living outside of their keynote fee, because they’re not the clouts to command that type of keynote fee, they have to be making some type of offer. So, how do you put together a really valuable talk that motivates people to jump out of their seats, run to the back of the room and you know the whole thing, right? I can’t stand that stuff, but you have to be able to captivate people to take action. And if you don’t understand how to do that, you will always have challenges in business. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling hot dogs on the side of the road or you’ve got a physical gym or you’re seeing patients in person, or you’re building out a coaching business online. The fundamentals are the fundamentals. Humans are humans and you have to understand that.

What to do if you need help predictably bringing clients into your business

So, those are the five truths about online marketing in 2018 and beyond.

Here’s what I can say, is if you want to help with this stuff, and specifically I’m going to talk about number five.

If you want to help understanding, and not just understanding but deploying successfully direct response marketing, that is extremely valuable for your audience. And as a result is able to predictably bring clients into your business like clockwork, then we can help you.

What I’d like you to start off with is attend our free training called The Seven Figure Health Business Blueprints. You can do so at Healthpreneurgroup.com/training. It’s a 70 minute presentation, I’m going to walk you through the old way of building a business online, which is dead, and the new way of doing things that are going to help you just get such better results moving forward.

If you enjoy the presentation, if you jive with what I’m talking about, and if you resonate with it, then we’ll basically give you the opportunity to book a call with our team and we’ll jump on the phone with you and we’ll really figure out the best path for you in your business.

Now, the reason that I’m not suggesting you book a call with us directly is because I don’t recommend our clients do that either. And the reason for that is because we need to make sure that anybody we speak to is qualified and is a good fit for us to speak to. So, that’s the reason why we have a webinar on online presentation there to give you that content, that priming to see if you’re even a good fit for us to have a chat.

Just so we’re clear, the phone call is not a sales pitch. It’s a coaching call. That’s essentially what it is. It’s about helping you get to where you’re at, towards where you want to get to and crafting a plan together. And yes, obviously, if you’re interested in having us help you, we can talk about that. But it’s very important for myself and my team that we only spend time talking with people who are really on the same page as us. So, that’s why we have you attend the free online webinar first.

Again, that’s over at Healthpreneurgroup.com/training, and that’s what I’d like you to do right now if you need help to move forward with your business. If you’re sick and tired of not getting the results. If you’re sick and tired of spinning your wheels, posting 1000 times on social media and nothing’s happening. If you’re sick and tired of hoping that some of your clients will give you a word of mouth referrals. If you’re sick and tired of not knowing how much income you’re going to make next month. If you want more predictability, more stability and a lot more profitability as a result, a lot more freedom in your life, then let’s start now. Why wait? If not now, when? How much longer can you allow yourself to not enjoy the results that you say you want?

So, it all starts with the free training. Go through it at Healthpreneurgroup.com/training. Do that now while this is top of mind.

In the meantime, if you have not yet subscribed to the podcast, you can do so on iTunes, Healthpreneur Podcast is the name of the show.

Thank you once again for joining me, Yuri Elkaim here signing off. Continue to get out there, be great, do great, and I’ll see you in our next episode.

Transcription

I’ve got another great treat for you today. It’s my good buddy Jonathan Goodman who’s actually, it’s amazing how many health and fitness professional live within a five or 10 minutes drive off my house. It’s phenomenal. And we’re very, very blessed to have this proximity to people like him and Vince Del Monte, Eric Wong, and a lot of other good friends who are doing great things in this space.

Jon is a great person and a unique and big thinker. That’s why I’m excited about our interview today because the way Jon thinks is very different from what you’ve heard on this podcast. He’s a deep thinker, he’s like a renaissance man, he really enjoys the craft, the art of building a business, the art of doing things at a high level. And you’ll get a sense for that in this episode.

Our theme for this conversation, I mean, every conversation is very organic and does this thing, but our theme in this one is really about how do you love the crap out of your existing customers and clients to the point where you don’t even need more new clients, and still build an amazingly profitable business? And that’s the theme of what we’re gonna talk about.

We’ll obviously talk about a few other things, but I think it’s a  great conversation for you to start thinking about in your own business. And just in case you don’t know you who Jon Goodman is, let me give you a bit of background.

He’s the creator of the largest collaborative blog for personal trainers, which is called The Personal Trainer Development Center and it’s over at The PTDC.com,  He is also the  founder of the world’s first certification for online trainers called The Online Trainer Academy. He’s authored seven books including Ignite the Fire, Viralnomics and the central text book on online personal training. He’s been featured in Men’s Health, Forbes, Entrepreneur and many other magazines, and originally from Toronto he spends most of his time traveling abroad in the winter. We actually went to the same high school together. Although he was a couple of years younger, we didn’t really cross paths too much.

Jonathan is a great friend doing some amazing stuff in the online fitness space. And this is somebody you definitely want to pay attention to. So without any further ado, let’s bring Jon onto the show.

Jonathan Goodman, what’s up buddy? Welcome to the show.

Jonathan G.:                       Hey, it’s good to talk to you even though you’re like 15 minutes away from me.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Seriously, I know. We’re like literally next door neighbors. I mean, in terms of a big city, we are next door neighbors within a couple of minute drive which is pretty awesome. Dude what’s going on man? How has the summer been for you?

 

Jon’s lifestyle, travel, plans, and mindset around success

Jonathan G.:                       The summer has been great man. My son is 25 months now. So he’s old enough to be walking around and playing around. He loves the water, so we’re just enjoying every minute.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, that’s awesome. You guys live down by the lake in Toronto. You guys travel a lot in the winter time, give our listeners a bit of perspective of what your lifestyle looks like because it’s really interesting.

Jonathan G.:                       Yeah it is, and it’s fun, and it’s getting to be more interesting. My wife and I have traveled the last six winters. So, I’m a red blooded Canadian who hasn’t worn hockey skates in six years.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And travel, guys, not like they went on a week vacation. Maybe elaborate on that.

Jonathan G.:                       Right. Yeah, okay. So, we generally leave beginning of October and come back March or April. We skip the really bad months. And we  go and live in places like at least two months at a time, usually three to five. We’ve lived in Costa Rica twice, Thailand twice, we’ve been in Hawaii a few times, I lived in Uruguay, spent a bunch of time in Brazil.  I’m just scratching the surface, but we’ve had a lot of fun, we’ve had a lot of adventure.  I don’t even know if you know this Yuri, but all of next year we’re leaving in December, we’re going to be gone for an entire year.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Wow.

Jonathan G.:                       I always had this dream to spend three months in four different cities.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool.

Jonathan G.:                       So, we’re going to be in Sayulita – Mexico, each of these for about three months at a time, Sayulita – Mexico, Athens – Greece, Montenegro, Kotor – Montenegro, and Tel Aviv – Israel.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Those are some sick places.  That’s one of the things that we’ve wanted to do with our kids is take them out of school for a year, and do exactly that. We’re just trying to figure out how we want to do that in terms of home schooling or have a tutor with us. You know the old guy is still young enough to still be able to survive.

Jonathan G.:                       The little guy is still young enough. We thought about bringing an au pair with us for the whole time and we decided against it. What we’re going to do in most of the places is try to find a local nanny. Kelvin had a nanny in Dominican Republic and Costa Rica last year in both places and it was cool because they didn’t speak a lot of English.

So, not only did it force us to speak with Kelvin in Spanish, but I mean Kelvin responded to Spanish. How amazing is that to give to a young child growing up. Just that experience. So, we’re gonna try.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And they take it up so easily at that age.

Jonathan G.:                      A nanny wherever we go. Even local day care, as in local programs and stuff like that just not to get him away from us, but it’s just new culture, new experience. So, I mean it’ll be fun. It’ll be a challenge. Yeah, he’ll be two years old.

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s cool. That’s awesome. I mean, what I love about you as a person and this translates in the business is you do things that are a bit against the grain. You don’t really do the traditional stuff with how you’ve run your business. And you started off as a trainer, and very quickly over time realized that you wouldn’t be able to live the lifestyle you have now if you were still training clients in person, right?

Jonathan G.:                       Which I didn’t desire. I definitely knew that I wanted to have a family, and I definitely knew that training the way that I was training was fantastic when I was 23. But when I had a family, starting at 6:00 in the morning and finishing at 9:30 at night probably wasn’t going to lead to the most stable family life. I was wise enough in my young adolescent days to know that. But I had no idea that I liked traveling and living abroad so much that it wasn’t even anything I ever thought about.

 

Making more, going bigger, and recognizing how that impacts happiness

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. That’s pretty cool. So, talk to us about what that initial transition looked like from offline to online, and what were some of the challenges either internally or externally that you had to overcome to get things going.

Jonathan G.:                       Sure. I like this question. It’s a good question Yuri. The biggest challenge for me is trying to combat the North American go bigger, go bigger, go bigger, go bigger mentality. And we live in a society where it feels like making more money is winning and it feels winning is the point. And I don’t think that winning is the point.

I don’t make as much money as I could, and I’m happy to say that. And it’s right for me and it might not be right for everybody, but I’ve hit this point where the business is sensational. We extract good relationships with our customers, we build things that I’m so unbelievably proud of. I take so much pride in the art of what we create. Down to the paper stock and the typography and the ink quality — I take immense pride in it,  and absolutely love it.

Like the debrief of going materials and our newsletter because we put out a print newsletter. So, going over the newsletter each month when it comes out and making it up and thinking about how we’re going to improve it moving forward. I love that. I truly deeply love that. And at the end of the day I’m having fun. And I’m making more than enough money. And our business is growing really, really nicely without paid ads, just through word of mouth. And I keep going back to this mindset that’s become so important to me which is just like as long as you’re having fun, as long as you’re doing things that are very purposeful, I think make as much money as you can. But the second that stuff stops, it’s too much.

Yuri Elkaim:                         For sure.

Jonathan G.:                       And I feel like a big burden in this ecosystem that we live in where you have to make more, you have to go bigger, you have to scale as much as you possibly can, as quickly as you possibly can. And we review men and women who do this.

You and I both know a lot of people who have gone vegan, and who have made a lot of money, who are absolutely positively miserable. And so, I think that’s the biggest, I wouldn’t even call it a mindset shift I think that was always how I thought, but I keep becoming more and more clear in that. I think because I have a little bit more success, and I have a little bit more success, and I have a little bit more success, I realize just what success truly means to me and the company, and the importance of keeping the vision of the company intact.

 

Protecting your reputation and caring for people

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah that’s awesome. We had Jeff Ruja on the show a couple of episodes ago we were talking about this whole idea of success versus fulfillment. Which is a huge epiphany that he had which is like he was miserable, he was doing well, and then he just got to a point where he was like, “Dude what I love most are people. And I’m gonna just do more things that are people-centric.” and he feels much more happy and fulfilled because of that.

So, I think it’s an important lesson because as you’ve said, money, success, winning are revered in our culture. I mean, if we look at especially when we look at prominent figures in the entrepreneurial space people like let’s say Grant Cardone or people of that nature where it’s all about kill, kill, kill in the sense of just go after the prey, hunt it down, close the sale, make the money. I get that, that’s gonna resonate with some people and that’s fine. But I think for everyone listening you really have to find your thing. What’s the most meaningful to you because there’s nothing worse than chasing a path or following a path that you feel terrible about at the end.

Jonathan G.:                       And it’s not, it has nothing to do with nice sounding buzz words like how it’s centered. Like those types of superficial terms really don’t mean anything. It’s great language to market with if you’re selling to other people, but like as you alluded to there are certainly folks out there who should be pushing as much as they possibly can. And shouldn’t be making as much as they possibly can. Now, I would argue that the whole mentality of kill, kill, kill and I haven’t studied Grant Cardone, so I don’t know really much about him, but the idea of there’s always gonna be another customer.

So, sell hard today and if somebody doesn’t take action that’s their fault. There’s more people, there’s 8,000,000,000 people in the world. That’s right for some but I would argue that, that’s a really poor long-term plan for no other reason then, you can’t hide today. There are closed groups communities review organizations that exist that you don’t even know exist, that if you do a good enough job on a big enough scale will talk about you and you have zero control over it. The only thing that you can do is protect your reputation at all costs.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And then that goes back to what you said about putting stuff out that you love, that is like arts and not bending corners.

Jonathan G.:                       There are people who do exceptionally well, like we have this saying with our customer service team and the saying goes, “It might not be our fault, but it’s our problem” and because we do so much physical fulfillment, a lot of the time it’s not our fault. Stuff doesn’t arrive, or we ship to 80 counties. Stuff doesn’t arrive, poster service doesn’t deliver it, people get upset, it takes a while for things to get there if they do get there, we have to reship, we have to refund sometimes because we’ve just decided that there are some countries that we just fly or can’t get stuff into.

And we make it right. Even if it’s not our fault, we’ll make it right. We’ll go above and beyond and we have this whole formula that we follow for that. But I think that, that’s important, I mean, one person who might feel like they’ve been wronged by you, is a problem. And it’s a much bigger problem than it ever used to be especially when it’s becoming more and more difficult and expensive to acquire customers than it ever has been. And it’s continuing to get more difficult and expensive every day. Your only chance is to have an enthusiastic huge base of previous customers who love you, who shout off the roof tops how great you are.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So, how does somebody get there? Because there are people that are listening that are maybe on the, they’re right behind the years with the way things are going, they’re not sure if they’re gonna be selling products or coaching, maybe they’ve done so offline, maybe they want to do so online. And obviously there are listeners who are more advanced. So, I mean, you guys have really done some amazing stuff with your business, how does somebody go about following those types of footsteps?

 

Recognizing the little things that impact your customers the most

Jonathan G.:                       Well, whether it’s on a small scale and you have 5, 10, 15 customers or whether you have thousands I think that the same principles apply. It’s understanding that your existing customers are the most important people on your planer. And how can you A: maximize every touch point with that customer? When they sign up for you we were talking before about both of our friend Joey Coleman who wrote a book called Never Lose a Customer Again.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Guys read that book. It’ll change your business, for sure.

Jonathan G.:                       It’s brilliant and it doesn’t just talk about some of the stuff that I’m gonna talk about. We’re actually featured in the book for a couple of pages because of what we do, but I learned a lot from the book about understanding the customer journey after they purchase. What’s the first engagement that you have with a customer right after they’ve purchased? Usually it’s sending them an email with a receipt. So, that’s a touchpoint that you have to send. How can you not? How can you make that a remarkable experience? And you can.

All that that email needs to do is that email needs to basically confirm their purchase, introduce them to where to go if they need something ideally with the team, tell them what’s gonna happen next. You can also surprise and delight them with that email, you can also entertain them with that email. And we do, and I can send you an example of that if you want to post in the show notes, but we signed up our marketing newsletter that we put out. We had a 100 of responses when we first launched it to the initial email. How many responses have you gotten to an initial email welcoming somebody to your service?

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, for sure.

Jonathan G.:                       It’s incredible what you can do. If you’re selling digital stuff. If you’re in the service industry or anything like that then send post cards. It’s the easiest thing. My assistant has a job. I think I told this at your event last year Yuri. My assistant has a task, has a weekly task where she follows a host of our best customers, she has a Facebook account connected to them. So, on a smaller scale I mean, you’re just connected with your customers. And she sends me each week a list of five people to send a post card to, a link to their social media account or wherever they mentioned something that they’ve done, you know like they got a black belt or they opened up a gym or something like that, and their mailing address.

I sit down once a week on Friday afternoon, and I write a postcard to those five people from wherever I am in the world.

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s awesome.

Jonathan G.:                       It’s a postcard, like your grandma used to send you. I go to tour stands and kiosks and buy post cards wherever I am. And if I am in Toronto I use custom stands. Because again every touchpoint matters. When was the last time you ever got a postcard with an interesting different stamp? Like my stamps have, I guess they can’t see me because this is on a podcast but my stamps are, I have people whose kids collect my stamps.

Yuri Elkaim:                         They’re good with stamp collection.

Jonathan G.:                      It’s completely ridiculous and stupid. It’s just like my face waving or a cartoon version of me, or me pointing at you something like that. Just idiotic and insane but it’s a couple extra pennies. It’s a disco push and it returns retirement money invested which is I think what we always want to look for in business.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah I think this is such a, this is a huge, huge thing for people to understand. And this is something that I’m 100% guilty of not doing to the fullest who extend in my health business. And I’ve always believed that because it’s such high volume, low price points. And then in terms of man power and doing all that stuff, but I really believe that we’ll be a lot further ahead if we did those little things. Even if someone bought a $10 eBook with Healthpreneur it’s very different. Because people are paying a lot more, we do things like every single touchpoint whether they enroll in one of our workshops or getting personal videos from me, thank you cards, all sorts of stuff. But it’s such a good, like one of the questions I used to ask myself is what would have to be true for our business to grow, let’s say, profitably if we never acquired a new lead or customer again?

So, it’s almost like you have a force field or a bubble around your business. Like what would have to happen? How do you, and it’s just like that constraining question force you to think about things like these. Like how do we better love our clients? How do we better serve them? How do we help them get better results? And I think so many people are and maybe this is just a human instinct is we’re so much more focused on what’s next? Who’s the next customer? Who’s the next sale? Instead of okay let’s appreciate what we have and appreciate the shit out of that person.

Jonathan G.:                       I think that’s part of it Yuri. I just wanted to say how much I love that question with the bubble analogy and if we need to get another customer how could our business grow? I love that question. I’m gonna go for a walk and think about that a little bit today.

Yuri Elkaim:                         There you go.

Jonathan G.:                       You blew my mind on this podcast. I think the other part of it is, the other part of that idea is we put, we’re just over-rational beings. We put entirely too much emphasis on things that can be measured and too little on things that can’t. And yes I understand that long term customer value can be measured but be honest with yourself how many people listening in here have ever measure that or have any way to ever measure that?

So, what you’re doing is, what you’re doing when you’re taking care of existent customers is A: You should be in a good person, B: You’re having fun and isn’t that what business is really about? Like once you reach a certain level of success it’s like fun and fulfillment. Which some people would argue with me on but that’s fine they’re but the right customers for me anyway.

And at the end of the day what really matters are the things that can’t be measured. And I am very careful with what I measure, and I don’t measure much. Because I truly don’t believe it matters, but if you were to break down the number, I mean, you talked about your health business. So, if I send five postcards out to people every single week. Let’s say not over the holidays that’s 250 postcards a year, that’s a 1000 postcards every four years. That’s a 1000 people that I’ve now made a very impactful personal connection with that no other business in the world has ever done for that person.

And that’s scalable, you talked about sending videos. So, I track hashtags that have to do with my name and my product and anytime anybody posts anything, pictures of a book, purchase my book, or anything like that, I not only like the picture but I go into that account, I follow that person and I’ll send them a video on Instagram saying thank you.

This is what I do when I’m walking to my office for 10 minutes in the morning. Those are the little things and those are the gloriously unsexy, unscalable, manual things that grow a business overtime.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, and as you said it’s the things that you can’t measure that matter the most. And that’s the dilemma is everyone is focused on ROI, which is fine, but at the end of the day it’s relationships, it’s love, it’s happiness, it’s all that stuff that is most meaningful to humans. And I think this conversation is so valuable because I think for the listeners it’s really like being able to step back and understand okay yeah you have to make money in your business. At the same time though how do we make money?

Jonathan G.:                       That’s but a tool.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, exactly.

Jonathan G.:                       That is nothing but a tool to make more impact to create more things, to improve and create more transformations for other people. And the marginal value of a dollar continues to decrease every day. You need to use that money, you need to make that money work for you.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And I think it’s a mindset shift too because there might be people listening, “Oh this is a great idea, and I’ll get to that when right after I’ve achieved a certain level.” But I think part of the objective here is to get people to think about this from day one. Even if they just have one client or one customer. Because it’s like the famous saying of like if you can’t save 10% of a dollar you’re not gonna be able to save 10% of $10,000,000. Right? It’s the habit of being able to start that from day one. And I think guys if you’re listening to this, obviously you are, what Jon is talking about is super, super valuable and impactful. Just think about any businesses that you’ve ever done business with, how often you’ve been blown away by that experience

I don’t know about you Jon but for me it’s been very rare. I’ll give you a prime example.

 

Being genuine – or not

Jonathan G.:                       I was in a room, it was an event that I was speaking at and I was listening to one of the other speakers and they put up their, they said some things to the audience. And they were like, “How many people here have ever gotten a hand-written card from any company they’ve ever done business with?”

One person put up their hand, and they were my customer. And there was over 200 people in the room. It’s just stuff that’s not done. And the other piece of it is when it’s done, and I see people like bragging about this in entrepreneurial groups like, “Yeah, I sent everybody a postcard. There’s this awesome service that you can write and scan in your handwriting and it makes a font with your handwriting. And then they’ll print it on the postcard for you and mail it out to your customers.” I’m like if you’re gonna be genuine, be genuine. If you’re not, don’t.

There are so many reasons why that makes you look worse than not doing anything at all. Pretending like you’re doing something personal for somebody, but obviously not is so much worse than not doing anything.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I actually just got an email yesterday from somebody who I would know well. I was actually on their podcast maybe about a year ago and we’d kept in touch. He sends me an email and she’s like, “I love what you’re doing with The Ultimate Health Podcast.” I’m like, “That’s not my podcast. That’s another person’s show.” That’s an example of little things like the details matter.

Jonathan G.:                       They’re not even emailing you right?

Yuri Elkaim:                         Totally. Exactly. That relationship now has been somewhat severed because of that lack of attention.

Jonathan G.:                       Well, that’s it. It’s a lack of attention but it’s almost like I get what you’re doing, you’re trying to play the game.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, exactly.

Jonathan G.:                       You’re trying to play the game of being genuine and building in a real relationship with me but you’re doing it in such an obviously fake way that now you’re just trying to climb a ladder. And I don’t want to be one of the realms on that ladder.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Totally. I mean, there’s a restaurant in Toronto I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Marcelo’s really good Italian restaurant opposite St. Claire and Deferen. . We used to go, so before kids, so BK, Amy and I used to go to it like once a week. It was amazing. Really good Italian food and we’d always get tiramisu for dessert and we’d been there like every single week. I don’t even know dozens upon dozens of times.

Never once did they say, “You know what? Tonight dessert’s on us.” And it’s not that we’re expecting that, but those are like little things that don’t cost the business pretty much any money, but that little gesture will have turned us into raving fans for life. And since then we really haven’t gone back to that restaurants for seven or eight years.

Jonathan G.:                       Well how funny would it be if you walked into the restaurant and they saw you and before taking your order they walked out with a thing of tiramisu with the menus.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Exactly, right?

Jonathan G.:                       And they gave it to you before you even had your soup.

Yuri Elkaim:                         We got this, this is so much fun in business because it just allows you to be creative.

 

Business plans, future endeavors, and Jon’s café plans

Jonathan G.:                       Listen, I’ll tell you a secret. I’ve never told anybody this before but when we get back from our trip, one of the things that Alison and I will probably do is buy a building downtown and open up a café that turns into a private restaurant at night. So, no other reason than I’m so fascinated with customer service, and I think that the model the bubble tea/coffee shop model is good. I think somebody who understands the basics of real customer service and pricing strategy can freaking knock it out of the park. And it’s just like you have these things, I mean, bubble tea blows my mind because you’re charging like 8 bucks for freaking tea like. The mock-up on that stuff is insane and when you have a mock-up on something like that it’s the same as coffee, right?

The mock-up is crazy. When you have a mock-up like that the things that you can do for your customers the space that that gives you is really quite interesting. And it’s not just the mock-up, it’s understand that when somebody is paying a premium price for a drink like that, they’re not a price sensitive consumer, which opens up so many more opportunities for automatic billings, getting them signed up for subscription type programs for your café to ensure they’re coming back, ended-proof cashflow. For up sales add on to cross sales.

Yuri Elkaim:                         For social events with existing like all sorts of stuff.

Jonathan G.:                       Become a member of a coffee club and you get access to all special phone to table restaurant that only has four table once a week where we bring in a chef. It’s not open to the public.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Exclusivity.

Jonathan G.:                       The only way that can get in here is if you’re a member of our monthly club.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, it’s great.

Jonathan G.:                       Like you can just, there’s so much that you can do. So, anywhere you talked about a restaurant that brought that up for me like I want not a restaurant but café check in for no other reason than, I don’t need to make money with it. And it would just be such an interesting playground to try out all of these things that I see working so well online that I can only imagine would work many, many folds stronger.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Be it like it’s a big social experiment.

Jonathan G.:                       Yeah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, that’s awesome. I was at, we went to the VIP theaters last night, at Cineplex. I don’t know if you’ve ever been.

Jonathan G.:                       What? I didn’t get it.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So, I haven’t been to VIP for 20 years and the first time I went I was like, “Meh.” We went to see Mission Impossible.  What’s that?

Jonathan G.:                       You went to the Eglinton one?

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah.

Jonathan G.:                       Yeah, I’ve been there. Yeah, yeah, okay.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So we went to see Mission Impossible last night and I’m like you know what? We walk into the theater and there’s no one there, but it’s late, it’s chilled, there’s like a bar/restaurant, the popcorn area is like no line up and then we get into the theater and it’s like big cushiony leather seats, people are coming up and taking your orders. If you wanted to order wine or food, not popcorn but legitimate menu items. And I’m thinking to myself, “This was two extra dollars per ticket for a better experience.”

I mean, they could have marked that up $20 extra dollars per ticket and I’m sure some people would have paid for that. But it’s just like as you said like there’s always gonna be people who want that level of care and attention.

Jonathan G.:                       If you look into that whole model that they did. That’s actually been more or less a failure, The VIP cinemas. And it’s because it’s probably because they didn’t mock it up enough.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah totally.

Jonathan G.:                       They went from the stand point of wanting to take away business from restaurants. They were like, “well, people are coming to the movies on a night out, and they’re going for dinner first somewhere else. And then they’re going to a movie. Well, you can replace the dinner but you can’t replace the movie. So why don’t we bring the dinner in here and we’ll get that business in addition to the movie?” So, that’s what they did. They have a full restaurant and all that kind of stuff. The problem is, nobody wanted to replace the dinner. They wanted to have the two separate spots. They didn’t want to go to one place for everything. And so they read, it seems like Cineplex read the situation where they offer this premium service that’s VIP which is good. You go through separate doors, it’s really nice you have people greeting you, you have big cushioned chairs. They should have charged much more for the experience.

Yuri Elkaim:                         100%.

Jonathan G.:                       Versus just a couple of bucks more in the hopes that you would then go there for everything else.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, no I told Amie last end of my vision.

Jonathan G.:                       I would never have known that in building it, but that just shows you how powerful it is to have to charge for this special experiences and understand that the experience is what you’re charging for. That people will pay for. Put a velvet rope, a bouncer at the front of it. “Oh, let me see if you’re on, oh you’re on the list, ring a little bell outside.”

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, welcome. Good to see you again, Jon. What are you watching tonight?

Jonathan G.:                       Sure.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Like little things that these guys, and I think this is where Starbucks got it right. For regulars they got to know you by name, they’d greet you by your name, they know your drink, not everyone behind the bar is the same. But I think they got that pretty good in terms of the skill of their business. But there’s still so many opportunities there.

Jonathan G.:                       Like if you ask a customer what they want, they’ll all say that they want the best service at the lowest price. And then you watch how they act and people buy Starbucks coffee. It’s like, oh no we’re gonna give you mediocre coffee at the highest price, and you’re gonna line up at the door for it. So, clearly customers aren’t able to articulate what they actually want. I mean, we know this.

Yuri Elkaim:                         We didn’t know we wanted an iPod before it came out.

Jonathan G.:                       Sure.

 

Finding what people want before they know they want it

Yuri Elkaim:                         And that’s where entrepreneurs, that’s where the genius come in. If you look at as an entrepreneur, as a creative visionary you’re like, “Here’s a gap, an inexperience in the market place or whatever here’s an idea that I think would really meet people’s needs or it doesn’t,” but, because there’s two ways of looking at it. Some people say, “Get all the market research, find out what people want, give that to them.”

Which I think can work to a certain degree, but I think the real breakthrough is that when you can identify what people want the way that they can’t even express it themselves.

Jonathan G.:                       I think you need to really, really deeply understand your market. I’ll give you a prime example just here. I’ve done multiple bouts of a 100 plus phone calls with personal trainers, fitness coaches, nutrition coaches around the world. Well, I’ve spoken with many of them for 9 to 15 minutes basically I ask them what frustrates them about the industry? What are their goals?

In addition, we’ve done hundreds of thousands of data points, probably millions, at this point I don’t even know, we stopped counting, of surveys, of data point of observational data. And overwhelmingly we were told by fitness professional I just don’t want to post on social media, or like I’m overwhelmed. I feel like I should be posting on social media all this time but I can’t come up with stuff or I don’t have these ideas.

It was often stuff like that when it came down to marketing. And so the obvious solution to that would have been to do a done for you posting service. Here’s a batch of posts that you can copy and make your own and copy and paste and put them up. Here’s a VA service that will post on your behalf. That would have been the obvious solution there, but that’s not the problem. The problem isn’t social media. The problem is overwhelm, the problem is you have this huge batch of fitness and nutrition and holistic health professionals who deeply want to be marketing their business and know that they need to be doing something, but are overwhelmed with all of the things that they think that they should be doing. The internet has given us infinite content. And when there’s infiniteness, there’s no finality.

When there’s no finality, there’s no permission to take action. You’re never done. There’s always one more thing that you need to know. And so, because we spoke to so many people, because we have all this data, realized that that was the real problem. That there was this frustration bubbling under surface. That people were never given that permission to take action, and so they never would.

You and I both know that if somebody takes action even imperfect action, they’re probably gonna have results that they’re happy with. But is that permission to just do the damn thing, that’s needed. And so I took a step back and I created an analog newsletter called Fitness Marketing Monthly that we literally print and ship to your house. Now that’s crazy. And it’s unbelievably complicated to put together as a project. But the sale for this is not that this information and content is unique or you can’t find it anywhere else. Occasionally we get behind the curtain stuff, like the editor in chief of Men’s Health gives us the top headlines and changes to headlines that have ever performed for the entire company.

That’s pretty cool and that’s stuff that you can’t get anywhere else. But for the most part it’s not. And I’ll be the first to admit that, but what you get with this and what our sellers with this is in two to three hours a month we will send to your doorstep everything that you need to know so that you’re confident that you’re learning enough about marketing and business development that month.

We teach you how to go through it with two highlighters: Highlight for take action now, highlight for revisit later. And when you close the last page, and this is like an analog status bar, right? All of the pages on the right side of the book go to the left side and it’s a status bar. So, when you shut that last page you finished and it’s time to take action. So, that solves the problem. And this thing exploded out at the gate. And nobody knew that they wanted it. Nobody would have ever said that they want more information that they’d be willing to pay a premium for, delivered to their house in print. Nobody would have said that to us if we ever asked them.

We understood the market well enough.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And I think, I mean, if you understand the market and the current time in which we’re living, which is the digital age and the huge opportunity is sending physical stuff to people’s door steps because I love getting newsletters. I love reading physical stuff because it gives me a chance to step away from the internet. It gives me chance to sit down on a chair in a focused manner and I think there’s a perceived value that this is more important to pay attention to.

I think all of that combined is I think for everyone listening, not that you have to do a newsletter, but sending stuff to people in the mail is a big opportunity.

Jonathan G.:                       Yeah, I mean, think about your own experiences. It hit me like probably three years ago, it really. I’ve been thinking about doing something like this since 2013, but it really hit me about three years and I remember the point, it was, this is when I was on a whole bunch of people’s email-list and stuff like that. And I had a whole bunch of books that I really wanted to read. I had a whole bunch of eBooks on my computer that I was interested in. I was subscribed to a bunch of newsletters and people that I actually wanted to hear from who sent interesting information and other stuff that they write or links to stuff. And I really wanted to know these stuff.

I get home and there was this flyer from this company that I never heard of, that I don’t care about that arrived in my, it’s chuck. And I’m sitting there at the damn kitchen table and I’m flipping through this flyer. It completely usurped everything that I actually wanted to be going over. Everything that I wanted to know, everything that I wanted to be studying.

This flyer from this company, I don’t care about, about a topic that I don’t care about is what I was sitting there reading. It’s like man there something there.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, totally.

Jonathan G.:                       There’s something there.

Yuri Elkaim:                         It’s bigger. So, while on this thing what’s URL they can subscribe or check out the newsletter?

Jonathan G.:                       The newsletter well if you go to fitnessmarketingmonthly.com it will redirect you or the PTDC which is my website THE PTDC.

 

The Rapid Five

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool, we’ll be sure to link up to that in the channels for you guys. Jon this has been awesome buddy. Always great insights from the renaissance man. Are rapid for the rapid five?

Jonathan G.:                       Yeah, but I’m never good with these because I always talk too much. I’ll try to be quick.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Okay. Whatever, it’s all good. It’s all good. All right, so here we go. Number one what is your biggest weakness?

Jonathan G.:                       My biggest weakness, wow, I think my biggest weakness is getting sucked into new projects too quickly. And the way that I offset that biggest weakness is surrounding myself with an incredible team to take an idea and run with it.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Nice, that’s awesome. What’s your biggest strength?

Jonathan G.:                       Coming up with new ideas.

Yuri Elkaim:                         True entrepreneur.

Jonathan G.:                       Do and do. Like personality test are hilarious. Every single one that I’ve ever taken and gotten assessed shows so clearly that I should be coming up with ideas and not managing anything ever.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So this is, I’ve actually recorded a solo podcast around this; ideas versus execution. And there’s are this whole discussion we can talk about forever, but I really believe that ideas are where the money is at. It’s not in the execution because you can have anyone or technology pretty much execute anything. So, if you have perfect execution the only thing that makes it better than what you currently have is a better idea.

So, ideas are infinite in terms of the impact they can create versus the impact the execution can create. Do you agree?

Jonathan G.:                       I think I’d like to have a much deeper conversation. I agree with some parts but I don’t agree with some parts though. I think that execution is what sets a lot of people apart. I think execution is hard, execution takes work. Ideas are sexy, ideals feel good, ideas are dreams and dreams are dopamine hits and we’re addicted to dreaming. And then the actual execution is the whole painful part where we have to actually map out the behaviors and do the day to day work.

No matter how much of an ideator you or I are, and I think we both very much are ideators, no matter how much you are as an ideator you still need to set up the processes for execution if you’re not doing it at the beginning.

And that takes time and that can be unbelievably difficult. I think that’s why a lot of people with good ideas don’t ever really make much of them, it’s because they’re not able to set up that structure around them.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I think the whole conversation is predicated on the idea that your execution has to be in place already, because if you’re just daydreaming, it’s never gonna happen. But anyways maybe we’ll do a follow-up episode on this conversation.

Jonathan G.:                       I’ll just go for a walk along the water and talk about it.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Exactly, and we’ll just record it.

Jonathan G.:                       Okay, you’re the content guy, man. I just like talking with people.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool. All right. So question number three here, what’s one skill you’ve become dangerously good at in order to grow your business?

Jonathan G.:                       Writing.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, and he’s an amazing writer guys. Just I think just being a subscriber to the newsletter you’ll see that. And fourth.

Jonathan G.:                       I think writing is the number one most valuable transferable skill in business today.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, cool. Number four, what do you do first thing in the morning?

Jonathan G.:                       I look over to my wife, I ask her if she died overnight, and then if I smell poop, I clean it up.

Yuri Elkaim:                         If she died overnight?

Jonathan G.:                       Well, like this is the funny thing whenever anybody is talking about like your morning routine is that anytime any, anytime you ever hear about this spectacular morning routine it’s always by a single white male. And it’s just like, “I wake up and I sit up in bed and I meditate for five minutes to make sure my thoughts are clear. And then I write in the journal to get all the bad ideas out of my head and then I take out my next journal which is my gratitude journal, and I talk about what I’m grateful for the day. And then maybe I’ll get up and I’ll start mixing my matcha green tea, in the traditional way because it has to be purposeful, of course, you have to start your day with purpose. And every morning I make my bed, because you don’t know what you can’t control over the course of the day and if you make your bed then you’ve at least started your day with something you can control.”

It’s like no, I got a baby. I look over to my wife and I make sure that she’s alive, and how many times she had to be up in the night to look after the baby. And then there’s probably poop somewhere. Like that’s my morning. And that’s a realistic morning, and I think we need to put it into perspective and understand there’s nothing wrong with those absolutely ridiculous glorified morning routines but it just isn’t the reality for a lot of people. And it’s basically always single white men who are talking about them.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Well dude, I can say for me having a morning routine if I don’t get up before my kids when I, so my goal is to get up at 5:00 am every day. It’s for the last couple of weeks it’s been a shit show it hasn’t really happened. That’s more out of laziness on my own part than anything else.

Usually I find myself a better person when I have my morning time for myself where I get up, not that I do a 1,000 things but it might just be something like I have an hour to work on my most important stuff, I’ll do some basic movement stuff or whatever I have to do before that. And then I think when it comes to gratitude I think a lot of people I’m all for gratitude journaling it’s not, but sometimes gratitude is just like lying in bed looking at your wife and just feeling that, right? There’s nothing wrong with that.

Jonathan G.:                       We’re both good friends with Eugene Alex who created The five Minute Journal and really, I mean, I would say that they’re the ones who pushed forward the gratitude movement in entrepreneurs and more than anybody else. One thing that I got from Alex in training with them is gratitude walks. I mean yeah go for a walk and speak with your wife about what you’re grateful for.

I think that’s very important. I mean, Yuri like I joke in an ideal week I would do the same thing as you. I would wake up before them every single morning Monday to Friday. Monday Wednesday, Thursday I write for 30 minutes, Tuesday and Thursday I go for a work out. And then I’m back at about the same time that they wake up. And I do breakfast with them and stuff like that. That’s my ideal week.

How often that happens five days a week? I don’t know if it’s happened yet.

Yuri Elkaim:                         It’s all good.

Jonathan G.:                       But that’s definitely an ideal week.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah awesome. All right, man fifth and final question, it’s not even a question actually, it’s just basic complete this statement. So, I know I’m being successful when …

Jonathan G.:                       When I’m energized out to finish over the course of my day.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Awesome.

Jonathan G.:                       And that comes down primarily to preparation. When I find that I’m sitting there and I’ve got a cloudy brain and I’m low energy, it’s not for lack of things to do, it’s not for lack of interesting things to do, it’s a lack of preparation of my work, and prioritization of what I should be doing in that moment. My schedule now start to finish of the week every 30 minutes is scheduled. And it’s not necessarily scheduled with calls or meeting or something like that it’s these 30 minutes I’m gonna be working on this project, and I do it. Two, three nights before that day and I’ll map out two days, three days, and when I’m doing that mapping out process, I’ll take an hour at night one night after my kid goes to bed, and I’ll arrange all of my notes for all of the different blocks of time.

What that does is a few things; one I can sit down and get right to it. I don’t need to sit down and spend 10 minutes like, “Okay, what notes do I need for these? Okay, blah blah blah.” But the other thing is there’s no FOMO, there’s no fear of missing out. If I know that if I’m working on this thing now that in an objective state is what I decided was the most important thing for me to tackle at that time, knowing that the other important things to tackle are still going to get done. And I think that’s made the biggest difference for me.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, that’s awesome. There we go guys. Jon Goodman in the house. Jon again the URLs for people to, I mean other than URLs or URLs and best place for people to follow you online?

Jonathan G.:                       The best place for people to follow me online if you want my personal blog onlinetrainer.com. I spent way too much money on that domain so use it. And then The Personal Trainer Development Center. If you’re a personal trainer, fitness professional, if you’re interested in fitness marketing newsletter then it’s theptdc.com or you can just do fitnessmarketingmonthly.com and it’ll take you there.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool. Awesome buddy. Thanks so much for being on the show night it’s always great to get inside the brain and have you share your wisdom with us.

Jonathan G.:                       You bet man. Thank you.

***********************************************************

Yuri’s Take

All right. So, I hope you enjoyed that conversation. I mean, so this is the cool thing Jon is, he spoke at Healthpreneur last year and obviously as part of the Healthpreneur tribe people like to hang out with him, and not just see him from stage and then take off. Like he was with us for the whole screen half days, and he was just an amazing. So cool to see what everyone was talking about as a reflection of their conversations with him. And that’s the beautiful about being able to spend time with entrepreneurs and thinkers like this, there’s just you just surround yourself with them and it’s just, they’re so valuable.

So, one if the things that I want to leave you with as an action step today I think this will be a good practice for your business, is one simple thank you card. I want you to write one thank you card to a customer, or a client we’ll keep it business focused and just let them know you appreciate them. You appreciate their business, whatever it is.

No special offers, no anything else like that, it’s just a simple thank you card with your handwriting, okay? Not typed into a computer, your handwriting saying, “Hey Bob? Just really wanted to let you know that super proud of you and all the works you’re doing. So grateful to have you as a client, and I look forward to more awesome stuff together.”

Literally something as simple as that. And giving them a bit of acknowledgment for maybe something they’ve done well or the very fact that you just appreciate them. And if you make this a practice throughout the rest of your business journey, I guarantee you this will be probably one of the most impactful activities that you do as the business owner and this is something you can’t delegate, okay? This is not something you delegate to somebody else to write on your behalf as we talked about it in our conversation. It’s like if you’re gonna do it, do it genuinely. Don’t pawn this off, don’t delegate this, don’t let the scale this and systemize it and send it off to a company who’s gonna just you and your penmanship write a card to someone, okay?

That’s going to be my action step for you today. So, hope you’ve enjoyed this one. If you have remember to check out Jon’s stuff online really, really good. And at the very minimum remember to subscribe to The Healthpreneur Podcast, lots more great stuff coming your way. And you know what? Yeah, it’s a, by the time you’re listening to this we will be in the talking about Healthpreneur Live. Like this will be day one by the day that you’re listening to this is day one at Healthpreneur Live 2018.

I’m looking forward to giving you a synopsis of how the event went for this weekend. We’ve brought together some amazing people again this year and one important announcement that I will make for next year’s event which will also be at some point in September is that we will no longer be opening it up to the public.

If you missed out this year, sorry to say that you’re never going to be able to join us again and the only way around that is actually to be a client of ours. And the reason we decided to make this shift is because moving forward we want Healthpreneur Live to be only for our clients and for it to be a big family gathering.

More on that later, but hope you’ve enjoyed this interview. I’m going to finish off on that note. And hope you have an awesome rest of your day, looking forward to bringing you some awesome recaps and interviews next week, and we’ll talk to you then.

 

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Transcription

How’s it going? Yuri here. Welcome to the show. Today’s guest is a good friend of mine. She’s actually a skiing buddy. Not that neither one of us really skis, but we’re … Oh, I’ll tell the story when we get into the interviews. I’m not going to spoil the surprise. But we had a lot of fun together a couple of months ago, and we’ll share part of that story with you in just a moment.

Her name is Cassie Bjork. And this is going to be a really telling episode.  Cassie is going to share some things with you that are somewhat disturbing, if you are any kind of licensed practitioner. If you’re a dietitian, if you’re a naturopathic doctor, if you’re anyone who has letters behind your name, this is going to be a very disturbing episode, because Cassie has gone through some major Schiza, and you’re going to discover some pretty shady things that are happening in the dietitian space, but also this translates over into the naturopathic space as well.

Cassie is going to share with you exactly what she did with her dietitian RD, I guess nomenclature, if you want to think of it that way. But really, really interesting stuff here. And we’re going to have a really good discussion about this. So sit tight. Let me give you a bit of background to see who Cassie is.

Cassie Bjork is a globally recognized industry leader in weight loss, a highly sought after speaker, and the number one international best-selling author of Why Am I Still Fat: The Hidden Keys to Unlocking That Stubborn Weight Loss. For over 10 years, she’s helped tens of thousands of women and men achieve their bodies and lives that they want, not by starving or skimping, but by eating foods that fuel effective and sustainable weight loss.

She speaks widely and contributes a regular column called Real Talk With Cassie, in Paleo Magazine. She has contributed virtually to every major media outlet as well, including CBS, ABC, Fox News, CNN, Time, Cosmopolitan Magazine and much more.

But most importantly, she’s just an amazing person. She really, really is. Such a great person to hang around with. She’s a lot of fun. And I’m super excited to have her as a guest on the Healthpreneur Podcast. So without any further ado, let’s welcome Cassie Bjork to the show.

Cassie, what’s up? Welcome to the Healthpreneur Podcast.

Cassie Bjork:                       Thanks, Yuri. I’m so excited to be here.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yes, because you’re officially my skiing partner, so it’s good to have you on the show now.

Cassie Bjork:                       We are good ski buddies, aren’t we?

Yuri Elkaim:                         We are, yeah. For all of you listening, Cassie and I were invited to a trip in Park City earlier this year. And neither one of us really skis, and we, thankfully were guided down the mountains by one of Trevor’s awesome colleagues. And it just made the day really enjoyable.

Cassie Bjork:                       It was so fun. You were cruising. I was just trying to keep up with you the whole time, is really what that scenario looked like.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Well, I don’t know. I had a pretty good day until that last wipe out. And then I was like, “You know what? I’m happy I don’t ski more than I do.

Cassie Bjork:                       I wish I had that on video. I wish we could show the listeners. That wipe out was epic.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Oh my God. I’m still replaying that in my mind. I’m like, how are my legs still on my body?

Cassie Bjork:                       I just can’t believe you didn’t break any bones. It was amazing. You just stood up and walked away from that.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, it’s … I don’t know, we had a lot of fun. It was a good time. And just kind of great catching up, and I’m excited to have you on the show, so bienvenidos.

Cassie Bjork:                       Yeah, great, awesome. Let’s dive in.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Let’s do it. So let’s talk about some stuff. I mean, just top of mind, we kind of talked about this a little bit before we started recording. I think this is an interesting topic, for anyone who’se a practitioner, especially maybe naturopathy, dietitians, probably anyone.  I was a certified kinesiologist and I gave that up years ago. So you recently decided to say, “I’m no longer going with the dietitian nomenclature.” Can you talk about that, and why you do that?

 

Why she stepped away from the “dietician” and what she’s doing now

Cassie Bjork:                       Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, the Board of Nutrition & Dietetics, they were coming after me for a while. And it was a really, really big deal. And I was fighting back. I didn’t want to give up that license because I worked so hard for it, and I was so proud of having it.  The day that I earned my certification as a licensed dietitian was probably one of the most important days of my life. I worked so hard for that credential and the authority that I believed that it gave me. And I was just so excited to have that.

So yeah, I’ll share my story, and I just kind of want to preface it too, by saying that I do think the situation of mine demonstrates significant problem in the industry, and in the credentialing process, and maybe in the governing boards. And I also don’t think every dietitian is going to run into what I ran into. I think mine could have been one of those outlier situations. And, you know, it could also be the beginning of more of this. I’m not really sure. I’m happy to talk about what happened to me. And I also don’t want to scare anyone, but I think it is an important thing to bring up because this is the reality of just kind of what’s going on out there.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Well, let me ask you. As a dietitian, I think a lot of people can relate to this. It’s like, you have the letters. You put the time in. There’s a level of ownership with that, that it’s almost, it’s tough to disconnect from that, right?

Cassie Bjork:                       It totally is, yeah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So if you’re listening to this, and you’re like an MD or someone similar, and you’re thinking, “Oh, I can’t give up my license. There’s no way I could do that.” What was the realization for you, where you said, “This just isn’t worth it anymore.”

Cassie Bjork:                      It’s funny, it happened in a coffee shop in Santa Barbara California. And it wasn’t just like a spur of the moment decision. I’d actually been fighting to keep my license for five and a half years. And it was pretty intense. It was a huge fight. It was a huge lawsuit. I mean, I was in and out of court, and going through this interrogation process, and attorneys, and all of the works for almost six years.

I don’t know, Yuri. It was just one of those moments where I was sitting here in California, and my attorney called and said, “You know what? I want you to come in on Wednesday. We got to go through some more stuff again.” And I just said, “I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to fly back to Minnesota. I’m having so much fun out here.” I’d just gotten to California and realized, I was  rearranging my life and my energy and important projects that we’d been doing in the business, and I wanted to be there for my team. And I was just so torn, and just trying to keep this license.

And here’s the biggest thing. The license didn’t even align with what I believed, and what I was seeing to be true in my practice. And that’s actually the reason why the board was trying to fight to take away my license. Because everything that I teach, every piece of information that we teach in our weight loss coaching program really bucked the very rules that I was taught in dietitian school. And that’s actually why my approach works. That’s why our clients lose weight and get more energy, and heal chronic ailments, and tap into these new levels physically, mentally, and spiritually. It’s because I’m rejecting the outdated quote-unquote “rules” of traditional dietitian training. And these very rules are the ones that I was obligated to uphold, as a licensed dietitian.

So the board, basically,  didn’t want me to teach my holistic functional medicine based approach. They didn’t think I should be really talking about supplements, hormones, thyroid, anything other than low-fat, low-calorie, blah, blah, blah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         It makes me sick to my stomach just hearing this.

Cassie Bjork:                       I know. I know. So then after a while, it’s kind of like, “Why am I fighting to keep this thing that, it doesn’t even align with what I believe and what I know to be true. This is why my approach works, is because I’m not teaching what they want me to teach to keep my license.”

And the thing is, with the licensure laws … I mean, licensure exists to protect the public. But when they’re so highly regulated by the government and big food funding and the sugar industry, and there’s all these other influences that are involved. I think it can get kind of shady too.

I should also say that the timing was really perfect, or kind of kismet for me, in a way, because I didn’t need my license anyway. My businesses had really grown to the point where we were scaling so much more than we had in the past. And everything that we’re doing, I don’t need a license to do it.

So if you’re working as a practitioner in a clinical setting … I used to work as a dietitian in a hospital setting. I would need a license to do that. But with what we’re doing now, after over a decade as a dietitian, with our business growing like gangbusters, it was interesting that this was the point when I had to make this decision. The timing just seemed really kind of interesting and peculiar because I didn’t really need it anymore.

At that point, it was just a matter of pride, I think. And also, Yuri, you know, my branding was dietitian Cassie, for 10 years. That’s what I branded myself as, and that’s what people knew me as. So this was also interesting, because it was very closely tied to my identity. My brand had been me, and based that on having this license. So once I had that phone call with my attorney when I was in California in that coffee shop, and I said, “You know what? I’m not going to come back. I’m not going to keep fighting for this. I’m done.” You know? And it was like this interesting moment where I was giving up. It’s like I was shedding this identity.

It felt really empowering. Like some people could probably look at that and say I just quit. Because the thing is, I didn’t lose my license. I might have won the fight. It was more like a liberating, freeing moment, to say, “You know what? I’m not even aligned with this. It’s not serving me. It’s not serving my clients. I’m just going to shed that layer, and take my energy and take my focus, and finally just really put all of it into the things that matter and what I know and believe to be true.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. That’s awesome. At the end of the day, it’s about helping people. And I don’t agree with the dietetic approach, for the most part. Because it’s very quantitative, not necessarily qualitative. I mean, not that I’ve been to American Dietetic Association events, but I’ve heard that they’ve been sponsored by Coca-Cola and companies like that, which just seems really weird. You know, it’s like … I don’t know. It just seems a bit of a disconnect.

And at the end of the day, if you’re helping people, who cares if you have the license or accreditations with that. Right, I mean, you know what you’re doing.  Nothing has changed in terms of how you serve people, right?

Cassie Bjork:                       Nothing has changed in how we serve people. And that’s the exciting thing, because of course, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, it was kind of scary.  I didn’t really know what would happen. I didn’t know how my following, and how our clients would react. And I didn’t know if anything would change. And thankfully, what’s interesting is the feedback that we got the most was our following and our clients just said, “Well we can’t believe you didn’t just give it up sooner.”

I’ve kind of been known for going against the grain, or being the dietitian who recommends butter for weight loss, and kind of all of these out there points of view. And even from the beginning, about a decade ago, when my business really started growing, I started getting all of these TV segments and radio, and it was because of this “out there” message.

Nowadays, I think people are more familiar with, you know, healthy fat doesn’t make you fat, and it’s good for you. And you know, coconut oil and avocados and even butter are actually healthy for you. But a decade ago, not a lot of dietitians, not many at all, were talking about that. So that’s really what kind of propelled my businesses in the direction of really being able to influence a lot of people.

 

Some of the strange things and relationships in the industry

Also to your point, I do want to mention, what you said is so true about … I remember when I attended my first dietitian conference. It was called the Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo in Chicago.  When I walked in, I was shocked to see an entire tent set up by Pepsi. And they were sponsoring this calorie-counting campaign.

Yuri Elkaim:                         It’s crazy. I know.

Cassie Bjork:                       And I couldn’t make sense … I was like, “Why is Pepsi sponsoring this event?” And then I saw Splenda. And then I saw McDonald’s giving out little yogurt parfaits. And all of these … You know, General Mills. All of these big food companies, all at the annual meeting of food and nutrition professionals.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. It’s like the Twilight Zone.

Cassie Bjork:                       Totally. Totally. And I think … You know, anytime there’s something that doesn’t quite make sense, and especially when it has to do with business, and especially when it has to do with bureaucracy. I think the answer usually lies with, “Follow the money.” And that’s a big deal. And once I started to see the intertwining of big food industries, sugar industry, and just how their presence played more of a role than I realized in the past. This was a really big ‘aha’ moment for me.

Actually the relationship between big food and certifying boards, is really frightening as well. Because they’re sponsoring … Like a lot of these, you know, the governing bodies who certify nutritionists and dietitians, to this day, its very board is sponsored by Splenda, the Dairy Council, sugar producers, a milk company. And dietitians have to complete 75 hours of continuing education units every five years, to maintain their credentials. And these companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, General Mills, and McDonald’s, they’re the ones offering the continuing education courses that are approved by the board.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Ah, man.

Cassie Bjork:                       It’s really crazy.

Yuri Elkaim:                         The only thing better than that … I don’t even know if it’s better than that. Just maybe almost as close, is in Toronto, every summer we have a bike race. It’s called Ride for the Heart. So it’s a ride for raising money for heart disease. And they shut down the highways, well one of the highways in Toronto. It’s a really big thing on the weekend. And it’s sponsored, the main sponsor, is Becel Margarine. I’m like, “Are you serious? It’s called the Becel,” or however it’s pronounced, “Becel Ride for the Heart.” I’m like, “Seriously? That would be like Marlboro Ride for Lung Cancer.”

Cassie Bjork:                       Seriously.

Yuri Elkaim:                         You know, like … “Are you for real?” So yeah. It’s pretty ironic.

Cassie Bjork:                       Yeah. It’s very ironic. Totally.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So the frustrating thing is, I know, in Ontario, which is the province in which I live, with naturopathic doctors, the regulations are so strict that they have a tough time even having a website that has any kind of information on it. And really, it shackles a lot of them. Because they want to be able to serve clients maybe beyond the four walls. You know, maybe virtually, or look at doing some more stuff online.

But just like with you, a lot of them are being hunted down, if they’re still using that MD nomenclature. And my thinking is like, why do you have to have the MD? I mean, I understand you went to school for a long time and you have all that stuff, you’re a doctor. But I’m like, screw it. You’re going to still do your same stuff. You’re going to still have the same protocols for your patients, for the people you serve. Why not just say, “Screw it, I’m going to do my thing.”?

 

Discovering who you are and what you stand for – but the journey isn’t easy

Cassie Bjork:                       Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, like for me, I think that when I was building my business, it did help … I think it’s something that set me apart from just somebody who just started a blog and is talking about food and weight loss, like being a dietitian. But also, yeah, I mean, because of the nature of My business, and because we are a nationwide and worldwide service, we’re still able to serve our clientele. So nothing changes in how we serve our clients right now, which is exciting, that my scope of practice doesn’t actually require licensure.

But I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s just a tricky thing. I think that credentials can matter, and they’re very respectable. And I also think a couple of letters after someone’s name, it doesn’t just set them apart and mean that they’re better because … I mean, there are so many dietitians.  I’m not bashing on dietitians. I just want to mention that dietitians aren’t all cut from the same cloth. So there are a lot of dietitians that are still teaching the outdated “Calories in, calories out, just exercise more and eat less, and that’s how you lose weight.”

And a lot of people that do that … Well, anyone who’s done that, has felt like there’s something wrong with them. And it turns into this really shameful thing when you’re starving yourself, and then you’re gaining weight. I mean, sometimes that happens, or at least they’re not losing weight. So these women come to us, and they’re like, “We’ve seen a dietitian before, and I felt super shameful because I did exactly what she told me to do, and I didn’t lose weight.” And you know, that’s just because they’re not looking at the big picture. They’re just looking at the calories. And we know there’s so much more involved. And that’s why our approach works. Because we’re looking at hormones and supplements and sleep and stress and all of these other factors, the big picture.

But there are dietitians that aren’t looking at any of those things. And I think that’s where it gets confusing. Because just because someone has Registered Dietitian, or Licensed Dietitian credentials behind their name, it doesn’t mean that they’re successful in helping people. It doesn’t. And then there’s people that don’t have any credentials, and they’ve just learned all this stuff. There’s so much information out there. They read the blogs, and they followed the right people, and they’ve applied it to their own life, and they’re just sharing it in blog posts, and their information might be way more helpful than the hospital dietitian who’s just telling you to eat less and exercise more, you know?

Yuri Elkaim:                         I agree. I think you’ve actually just inspired a new post of some sort. I’m going to call it, “You Can Be Regulated, or You Can Be Rich. You Can Be Licensed, or You Can Be Liberated.”

Cassie Bjork:                       Ooh. That’s good.

Yuri Elkaim:                         It’s going to be very controversial. I’ll tag you on it.

Cassie Bjork:                       I like controversial things. Oh, and I like the word “liberated” because you know what? Somebody asked me the other day, because I just gave up my license earlier this year. And the said, “How do you feel now?” And I said, “I feel light and free and liberated.” And it just feels so good, and so right. It’s like I didn’t even realize how much it was weighing on me. It’s almost like when someone has weight to lose, like physical pounds, they know they have weight to lose. But until they lose that 50 pounds, they’re like, “Oh my gosh. I didn’t even realize to what extent it was affecting me, and how it was weighing me down.”

Cassie Bjork:                       And that’s how I feel. I feel like there’s this weight that’s been lifted off of me that now allows me to put 100% of my time and focus and energy into this practice that has proven results, rather than fighting this system that does not. Just feels so good and so right, and I love the word “liberated”.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And I think if you’re a true entrepreneur, you’re like, “‘F’ this. I’m done with …”  I think we have an issue with authority in the first place. So any kind of constraints like that, we’re going to rebel against the system in some way, shape or form. So, yeah.

Cassie Bjork:                       But I think my biggest regret, not that I like to even have regrets. I think I did the best, the whole time … I think we’re always doing the best that we can. But I kind of wish I would’ve just given that up sooner. Like, why did I fight for five and half years, for something that I’m not even aligned with?

And I asked myself that. And I don’t know. I really don’t even know. I don’t know why. I think because I built my brand on being a dietitian. I think there was fear in that. Like, “Are people going to think that I’m a fraud?” Or, “What’s going to happen?” And yeah, I think it’s one of those things where you just know when the time is right, and it was one of those moments where I was just like, “You know what? Screw it.” Just like you just said. And I think that’s one of the … I think being an entrepreneur in the first place is super brave. And we have to face situations that other people never have to face. And this was, honestly probably one of my biggest fears, that basically came to life. Because I think what’s interesting is that when you start putting content out there … Like when you’re an entrepreneur, and you start putting content out there, and putting your heart out there, and getting vulnerable in what you’re sharing, and posting with these random people on the internet, you’re just putting it all out there. A lot of people fear criticism. And that was definitely one of my biggest fears, was criticism. That somebody would attack me, and say what I’m saying isn’t right.

And that happened a lot. You know, the bigger you get, the more influence you have, that happens. And everyone has to overcome that fear. And in my case, this worst fear of mine really exploded and came true. And I got through it. And that’s what you do, right?

Yuri Elkaim:                         Exactly. Totally. Yeah, it’s something I was just going to use the comparison of a relationship that you know you shouldn’t be in, but you kind of stay in it because you’ve invested so much time, and you don’t want to start over. But at the end of the day, you’re like, “Thank God I got out of that.”

Cassie Bjork:                       Yeah. That’s a really good example too because then what happens, when you get out of it, is you are a different person. You have more confidence, and you’re braver, and you learn more about yourself. And that’s what happened to me in this process too, is I had to really check in with, I guess with my heart, with my intuition a lot. And it brought me closer to myself and what I feel like I’m here for. And who do I want to be? And what do I want to stand for?

And ultimately, I think that’s what’s really cool about some of the most challenging of situations, is you discover who you truly are and what you truly stand for, and what you want to stand for, and what you don’t want to stand for. And then you come out of it a different person.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, I completely agree. And that’s why I really believe entrepreneurship is one of the best spiritual journeys, personal growth journeys, you can be on. Because you learn so much about yourself. I think a lot of people who get into having their own business shouldn’t have their own business, because I don’t think they understand the extent of the persistence and, like, “never stop” that is required to succeed.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And I think in today’s day and age, there’s so much  “Oh, this looks so perfect,” and all this nonsense. And they don’t see what’s happening beneath the surface a lot of times. You know, so we see these great pictures on Instagram, which is awesome. But that’s not the reality of everyone’s life, and the reality of everyone’s business. They go through shit that people are not even aware of. And I call it, like, you have to be delusively optimistic. You have to be able to take a … Almost like Rocky. You have to take one punch after another, keep getting knocked down, keep getting back up. And if you’re not able to do that, I don’t really believe having a business is a good idea. Because it’s tough. I like to set the intention that things will be easy. But I’m also realistic, that it’s like, “Listen, I’m not going to expect things to happen overnight, and if they don’t I’m not going to cry about it.”

 

Delegating what you don’t like and keeping what you do

Yuri Elkaim:                         But what advice would you give to somebody who is either starting their business or growing their business in our space, based on your journey and experience?

Cassie Bjork:                       Gosh, I love everything that you just said, and that is such a good question. I think one prayer that I pray every morning, is to be brave, and be able to show up in whatever way I need to show up in whatever way I need to show up for the people that I’m serving, included my team, our clients, anyone that I interact with throughout the day.

I think showing up as your best self, and being brave, these are super important parts. Because like you said, there are so many challenges. Like entrepreneurship is like holding up a mirror. It’s probably like marriage. I’m not married. So I don’t know. But I know people say being married is kind of like, you know, brings out all this stuff that doesn’t really come out when you’re single.

I’m excited for that someday. But maybe I’m not ready for it yet. But yeah, entrepreneurship is kind of like that. And you know, you overcome these huge things that, people that don’t do this, that aren’t living this life, they don’t have to, but they also don’t always see that. I’m glad that you brought that up too because I was actually talking to this woman when I was in line at the post office. We were just chatting a little bit. I had just come from this big speaking event that I did, and she was kind of asking me what I do. And I mentioned my book that I wrote, and that I travel around the world and speak, and that we’ve got this vitamin company and this weight loss coaching program. And she’s like, “Wow, how did you just do that? How did that just happen?”

It was such an interesting way, how she phrased the questions that way. Because I just laughed, and I said, “It didn’t. It didn’t just happen. It was actually like 10, 11 years in the making. And it was a lot of blood and sweat and tears, and a lot of 80 to 100 hour weeks. And I basically gave up the decade of my 20s when all of my friends were getting married and having babies, I was building these businesses. And I was working so hard.” And it’s just something that, yeah, you don’t always see. You go on Instagram, you see all the pretty photos, and people are getting these professional photo shoots and videos and all these things done. What they don’t see is the slaving that you do behind the computer. And sometimes there’s all-nighters. I’ve had all-nighters. And I am a huge proponent of getting a good night of sleep because of the fact, your health, and your weight, and all of the things. But there have been a few nights that I’ve had to pull all-nighters, just because I had to, because I had to put out fires and work with our IT team, and website stuff was happening, and this rebranding thing after I gave up my license, that was just a huge ordeal.

I don’t like to talk about it a lot, because I don’t like to complain. And I love that you do shed light on this on the show. Because it’s not all easy. And some people really do think it’s going to be just easy. And people will comment on just how amazing my lifestyle is. I travel all the time, and I just got back from a month in Bali, and I get to do whatever I want all day long, right?

Well, a lot of what I do is sit behind a computer. And I’m on calls. And I’m working a lot. And it’s great. I love the lifestyle that I created for myself. And I do have more free time than I’ve ever had in the past, which is also amazing, and it’s also because I’m making it a huge priority. But it didn’t just happen. It was so much work, and so much building. It can look so easy and so pretty when you see all these people that are just doing all these fun things during the day, and they’re traveling and they’re just living their life. I bet they’re still working a lot. And if they’re not, I bet they spent years getting to that point they’re at right now.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. Or they’re thinking about what they should be doing while they’re taking time off.

Cassie Bjork:                       That’s another thing is, honestly, sometimes I almost miss … I wouldn’t go back to it, but occasionally, I’m jealous of my friends who have a nine to five job. And I never thought I would say that. And I never thought I would say that, but I think what I’m jealous of is that they leave their work at work. And then at five, they’re done. And I’m like, “Man. I always have this stuff on my mind.” And it really because I love it, and I’m really passionate about it. I’m not complaining, but I think it’s just one of those things where it’s a change in lifestyle. Especially if you have more of a lifestyle brand, it just infiltrates everything you do.

 

How Cassie used social media and content to grow her business

And then you bring social media and Instagram stories and like, you know, I do Instagram stories throughout the day because people like to kind of see what I do, and what I eat, and how I live, and get to know me that way, and it’s super fun. And, you know, technically that’s work. I’m kind of like working all day long.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Totally. Yeah, I actually just got back on Instagram a couple of weeks ago. Because I’m like, “You know what? I think it’s time. I think it’s time to kind of come back into the real world a little bit.” It took me a long time to come to that decision, I guess. Because I’m like, I know the rabbit holes I can go down with social media.

Cassie Bjork:                       I know, yeah. And it’s one of those things, too. What I love about Instagram is it’s real, and the Instagram stories, they’re actually the person. I’ve been really good at delegating the last couple of years. And I used to be really bad at it. Because I kind of like to just take control of everything. But I realized if I wanted to live the life that I want, I really want this lifestyle where I’m not working all the time, and I get to travel. And I get to actually nurture relationships with family and my closest friends. And if I actually maybe want to have a family someday, and if these are my real dreams, then I’ve got to stop working all the time. I’ve got to just live my life. And the number one thing I had to do was start delegating. So giving up social media was something that I delegated, and my team runs all of our social media, and they respond to all the Facebook messages and post and things like that.

But the one thing that I kept was Instagram. Because there’s something about it that, just connecting through the video, and … I don’t know. It’s something that I actually really like. And I think that’s another thing that it’s important to look at, is when you’re delegating,  it is a skill, and I think it’s a necessary one, to grow and to scale. But look at what you actually like to do. Because there are certain things that I delegated … Like, we had hired these copywriters to write all of our blog posts. And one day, I was like, “You know what I miss? Writing.” I love writing. That’s how I started this whole thing.

So I said, “I actually want to take back some of that writing.” It was kind of like this opposite problem. Or not really a problem, or not really a problem, but just where I’m like, “You know what? What do I actually want to do?”

Yuri Elkaim:                         Well, that’s the thing is, I think most people at the head of a company, the visionary, the thought leader … The name thought leader means we should be sharing our thoughts. And this is a big realization I had a while ago. And I think part of reason I wasn’t as active on social is because I was delegating everything. I’d systemized my whole business so I don’t have to do anything.

And we got a great process, like we got our Facebook ads running, our webinar, our results coaches. All that stuff is great. I don’t have to do any of that. So now I’m thinking to myself like, “What do I really have to do?” And I realize, the only thing we can’t delegate is what’s between our ears. And when you talk about Instagram, the thing that excited me about Instagram, when I really thought about it, is it’s a platform to share your thoughts. And initially, I was like, “Yeah, I’m just going to have someone else write the captions.” And we did that in the past. And I’m like, “That was shit.” Because it was just generic, like two sentences, no life behind it. And I’m like, “Maybe the best use of my time is spending time sharing my thoughts in a well-thought out caption or video.” And that’s what I’m doing with Instagram. I know that it’s a long-term play for us. But I also know that it’s a great way to really create that engagement with your audience.

Because they’re going to read your stuff, they’re going to see your stuff, and they’re like, “Oh, there’s something about this person that just clicks.” And I think it’s dangerous to just like, “All right. Let’s just get some people to take care of our blog posts.” And we’ve done this in our health business too. Like I had all my stuff that was taken from my videos, to turn into articles, and then all this other, like spun a thousand ways. And it’s like, it loses its essence, I think.

When you look at guys like Richard Branson, a lot of these really successful CEOs, are running their own social. They’re running their own Instagram accounts. They’re sharing their own stuff. And I think that’s important because that’s what people want to see is like, “Yes, you’ve got this great business. But maybe this is a platform to connect more deeply with your audience.” And that’s just the way I see this. So, yeah.

Cassie Bjork:                       And people love it. They love the rawness, and they love the realness.  I keep learning this, and re-learning  over and over, is we’ll post pretty pictures and graphics. My graphic designer makes these awesome things I kind of mix in there on Instagram, with just my random posts that I’ll just upload during the day and not really edit. And it’s when I post a picture … This happened I think it was a couple of weeks ago. I took a picture of my dinner. And it looked so gross. And it was so good. It was like this fish dinner with sweet potato, and … I don’t know, it was delicious. But I just … it never looks as good as it tastes. I thought, “You know what? I’m not going to post that. It doesn’t even look good. It’s not colorful.”

And I had all these reasons why I wasn’t going to post it. So I posted it, and I said, “Here are the eight reasons why I wasn’t going to post this.” And I didn’t edit it. I just took this picture and posted it. And it got hundreds of likes. And it got more likes than any of the beautiful edited photos from my latest photo shoot, from being in Hawaii and from the one that my graphic designer made.  Because people just love when you’re just real and raw. And it’s so true. What’s between your ears, somebody else can’t repurpose that.

And there’s also a balance. You mentioned there’s a balance,  and when I was thinking about the blog post … So we had these copywriters completely take over and write blog posts. And I missed writing. So I found what the balance is, is we had them do some things. But I love writing. So that helps to expedite my process, and also still maintain my voice and my thoughts, is I can write stuff really, really quickly. So I just whip out content. And then we have our copywriters go through it. And they kind of reorganize things as needed, and just clean up my thoughts a little bit.

And what I love about that, is it helps me to just get stuff done, just get content done. Because I can also be kind of a perfectionist. So in the past, I would just write these amazing blog posts. But they were only like 90% done. So they’d sit on my desktop. And I’d literally have dozens, which turned into hundreds, of blog posts, that were just sitting in a folder that weren’t helping anybody.

So now, I can just crank out this content. Because I have a lot of thoughts, every single day, and I have so much stuff I want to share. And I don’t have to clean it up. Somebody else can do that. So that’s what I found, at least for the content production piece, for me, has been super effective and it allows me to still do what I love and be in that creative space, with less pressure to make it perfect.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, totally, and with that said, you guys have a process in your business that acquires and attracts clients outside of the content as well, right?

Cassie Bjork:                       Yeah, I mean, we do the whole webinar thing. We run Facebook ads, and … Is that what you’re talking about? Is that what you’re asking?

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. Because I do want to mention something. Because I want to give people perspective. I’m a huge believer in sharing content and thoughts. But if that is the way you’re attracting clients, just buckle down for the next five years. It’s a long journey. And I think it’s important to have some type of process in your business that gives you a bit more predictability in terms of how you’re generating clients, leads, revenue. So we’re not just talking about spend all day on social, spend 24 hours on Instagram stories. Which, in some cases, may be beneficial. But I do think there still needs to be some core process in your business that is working independently of you, so that you free up your time to be able to be able to share more stuff, like writing content and sharing on social and stuff like that.

Cassie Bjork:                       That’s a good point. And also, actually, my business started with a Twitter account, which turned into a blog. And that is actually how I got clients for probably the first five years of my business, was literally just based on Twitter and my blog. And then what really propelled us to grow more, was when I started getting contacted by a lot of different news stations, and different TV and radio. And then I started getting on different podcasts. And now, I would say, speaking events and podcasts are helpful to bring people in, because people hear my message, and they’re like, “Oh, I tried losing weight, and it hasn’t worked. Maybe I’ll check out what she’s got.” And we’ve got a lot of free content and stuff on our website around that. But we just started, just this year we started … I hired a Facebook ads team. And now we’re driving traffic into one of our free lead magnets, which leads people into our webinar. And then they get into our whole sequence that goes into our 12-month group coaching program.

We’ve never paid for any advertising before. So I’m kind of curious how this is going to work. But before we got to that point, we had to have this scalable business set up. And when we started, it was just me, you know, Dietitian Cassie. And I was just doing one-on-one private coaching. And it took quite a few years to … We hired a bunch of other dietitians, and now we’ve actually got a group coaching program because it’s so much more scalable. So we’ll be able to handle all the leads that come in, and we can just keep building that program out.

So it’s interesting. The whole, you know, marketing and all of that is super interesting. But it is also interesting how I started with just all the content stuff. And I think that’s why it’s still so close to my heart, and I like doing it because that’s what I used to do all the time to bring clients in. And we don’t need me doing that anymore. But I still love it. And it’s good to still keep doing some things that you love too.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, totally. I think it’s important to continue doing what you love to do. Because you’ll gravitate towards that anyway. Because you’ll be sitting on the beach going, “I’ve got my whole business automated. I’ve got nothing else to do. What do I really want to do? Oh, I want to write.” Or, “I want to shoot some videos.”

Cassie Bjork:                       That’s exactly it. It’s so funny. I was literally sitting in Bali a couple of weeks ago. And our businesses are so automated right now, and my operations manager managed the teams, and the dietitians do all their thing everyday. And I was sitting there, and I’m like, “It’s so interesting that I’ve got these two businesses. I don’t have to do anything today. And I want to work. I want to write. I want to be on calls.” And it was a really cool moment. Because, you know, there’s those days when you just … Like right now, I’m sitting inside and it’s this beautiful sunny summer day, and I’m probably going to be inside all day on calls. And it’s moments like that, where I have nothing to do, that I’m like, “Oh, I’m actually doing what I love.”

Because this is actually what I want to be doing. I love connecting with people. I love spreading this message. I love writing and creating content. And it is good to sometimes step back and just be like, “What do I really like? What do I want to do?”

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yep. Totally. And that’s why it’s important to take those trips, right? To have that time away from the computer, and just, you know, have that space. That’s where all the greatness happens, I believe.

Cassie Bjork:                       And you can get excited about it again.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I know. Totally. Exactly.

Cassie Bjork:                       I think that’s important too. I mean, even just like a day. Like I remember when I didn’t take any time off for so long. Then I took like one Saturday, to just do whatever I wanted to do. And honestly, that Sunday, I was so refreshed, I wanted to work all day. And, you know, I don’t always work on Sundays because I think it’s good to have a couple of days of rest. But as an entrepreneur, it can be so easy to just keep working and keep working and keep working. But I find that when I actually take time away, I get so inspired.

Cassie Bjork:                       And like you were saying, Yuri, we were talking about travel and trips before this, you were saying your biggest breakthroughs come from not being at work, not sitting right there in front of the work. I think it’s breakthroughs don’t come from sitting in front of the computer.

Yuri Elkaim:                         No, it’s crazy. I mean, in April, we had a major ice storm in Toronto. And maybe you guys had it in Minnesota as well, I’m not sure. We’re sitting at home on the weekend. And everything’s covered in ice. And we’re like, “Why are we staying here?” So we literally booked a trip for three days later, to go to Mexico.

And I was thinking to myself, “All right. Cool. I don’t really have to be in Toronto. I mean, I’ve got a couple of calls. I can do them from Mexico.” But here I am in Mexico. I’m playing tennis for like three hours. Then I’m lying on the beach. But while I’m lying on the beach, I must have come up with some, I don’t know, a few ideas that are going to generate millions of dollars our company. Because I had this space where I wasn’t in front of my computer, and I was forced to just allow my mind to do it’s thing. And just think and create and all that stuff. And it’s like, on the surface, it’s like, oh, you’re just, you know, whatever. You’re taking a vacation. You’re not doing anything. That’s where the magic happens.

Every big thing that I’ve created, every big idea I think anyone’s generated, has come from that space, of walking in nature, going on a trip. I get some of my best thinking done on an airplane, looking out the window.  I think it’s amazing.

Cassie Bjork:                       And we don’t take a lot of breaks from that. Because, for me, I have to be really intentional about that. Because I love consuming and like … consuming content and information. I’m always listening to podcasts and audiobooks, and just filling my brain. But those breakthroughs don’t happen when I’m filling my brain and when I’m multi-tasking and doing something like that, it’s always when I’m on a paddleboard in the middle of the lake, or surfing with no electronics. I’m just out there by myself. That’s when I get these really valuable insights. It can totally change the game. Like you said, it can make millions, one idea.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yep. Absolutely. So with that said guys, stop listening to this podcast, and just, you know, clear the space.

Cassie Bjork:                       Go for a walk. Clear your brain. Yeah, take a shower.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Exactly. I’m just kidding. Don’t stop listening to this podcast. Because you might get one idea that can make all the difference. And then you have the space to go out and just clear your mind.

Cassie Bjork:                       That’s all you need. One idea.

 

The Rapid Five

Yuri Elkaim:                         Exactly. Exactly. Cassie, this has been awesome, a lot of fun. Are you ready for the rapid-five?

Cassie Bjork:                       I’m kind of nervous. I have no idea what you’re going to ask me.

Yuri Elkaim:                         You should be nervous, because this is more daunting than skiing downhill, with snow blowing through our face. So here we go.

Cassie Bjork:                       That was pretty daunting. Okay then, I’m ready.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I’m kidding. It’s going to be okay. So here we go. Number one, what is your biggest weakness?

Cassie Bjork:                       I already mentioned it earlier. It’s being a perfectionist. I want everything to be perfect. And I had to completely give that up in order to increase my influence, scale my business, and help more people.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Nice. Number two, what is your biggest strength?

Cassie Bjork:                       I think my biggest strength is breaking down really complex information into just simple actionable tips and strategies that people can just do. The world of health is so confusing and complex, and I like to just make it super simple.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, I think most experts are really good at doing that. I think if you’re an expert, you should be able to take complexity and simplify it.

Cassie Bjork:                       True. Yeah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         That just, I think, defines an expert, maybe. Awesome, number three, what’s one skill you’ve become dangerous good at, in order to grow your business?

Cassie Bjork:                       Delegating. Delegating. I mentioned it earlier, and I’m mentioning it again because it’s super important. You can’t do it all on your own. And people ask me that, “How do you do it all?” I’m like, “I don’t. I don’t.” I have a team of 10 people, plus a ton of other help on the side, to get stuff done. And that’s how you can build a business and live your life and enjoy it in the process. You can’t be trying to do everything.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And it’s funny because perfectionism and delegation are kind of two opposite sides of the spectrum, right?

Cassie Bjork:                       I know. Yeah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So it’s cool to see that evolution for you.

Cassie Bjork:                       Yeah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Number four, what do you first thing in the morning?

Cassie Bjork:                       First thing in the morning, I do my morning routine, right when I wake up. And it consists of meditating for 10 minutes, which I’m not good at meditating. I don’t always love meditating, but it’s so good for me, kind of like what you’re talking about, just clearing our head. And I pray. And I say some affirmations. And then I stretch a little bit. And I start my day. And it only takes about 15, 20 minutes. And it’s such a good practice because it sets the stage for my entire day. If I don’t do that, which there are days that I don’t. If I’m trying to get in a quick workout or something like that in the morning, sometimes I skip it. Those days, my brain is just cluttered, and I’m all over the place. And it usually takes me a little while to figure out, “Oh, I skipped my morning routine.” It’s so important to me.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Totally. That’s interesting, because as of this recording, the World Cup’s going on. And I don’t think I’ve missed more than five World Cup games in my life. I’ve put aside my life to watch the World Cup over the past decades. So this year, there’s three games a day. I’m like, “Oh man, I don’t want to miss all these games because I’m working.” So I’ve been waking up at like 3:30 in the morning, getting all my work done so that by 8:00 in the morning, I can just sit on the couch and watch six hours of soccer.

Cassie Bjork:                       That is dedication.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, so-

Cassie Bjork:                       You are a devoted fan.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Totally, because my morning routine is like, that’s where I get my most important stuff done. And I’m like, shit, if the games are first thing in the morning, just this is going to be a write-off. So yeah, do what you got to do.

Cassie Bjork:                       That’s a really good point. And also, what I do right after my morning routine, is I do the most challenging thing that I need to get done that day, that I don’t want to do. There’s that saying, like, “Eat the frog right away.” I think it’s like, “If you eat the frog, then you’re going to be able to get anything done because that’s just not a pleasant thing to do.” But really, I think of it like your brain power is the highest in the morning. And as you go throughout the day, every email you answer, every call you take, every podcast interview you do, you brain … I picture it like this muscle, and it’s just getting tired, and it’s getting tired.

Cassie Bjork:                       Because it is. That’s what it’s like. And then by 2:00 in the afternoon, mt creative juices just aren’t flowing like they were in the morning. And of course, I still have work to do, and I still get stuff done. But I design my day in a way where I do the really important stuff, the high energy stuff, the high brain power stuff, first thing in the morning. And then I get to the other stuff, that maybe isn’t as important. Like emails. I used to start everyday answering emails. And you know what? I was giving away my precious energy and brainpower to other people.

Cassie Bjork:                       Emails are so important, and I still have to do them, but I don’t do them right away. I try to just get one or two projects out of the way first, when my brainpower is at its highest.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Totally agree. Guys, if you get nothing out of this interview, except for that, that alone will change your life. I can’t … I can’t, like I mean, that’s the secret to, I think, achievement, is getting that one big thing done first thing in the morning, and-

Cassie Bjork:                       But it’s easier said than done. Because I thought about doing that, and I thought about doing it everyday. And I was addicted to my email. And I would go straight to my email, and I just started answering it. All of a sudden, it’s like two hours have gone by, and I hadn’t even showered, and I hadn’t … All I had been doing was my email. And that is just not the best use of my time or my brain in the morning.

Cassie Bjork:                       And if you have to check email, like sometimes I do, if there are certain things my team needs. I’ll actually literally set a timer for 10 minutes, sometimes 20. And I’ll just … It’s like a game for me. I’ll just get through as much as possibly can. And then when that timer is off, I’m done. And I’m starting the project that I intended on starting.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. So here’s the thing that I realized, is that our unique genius, the things that we do better than anyone else, require no internet connection. Right? Like the writing, the shooting of videos, the sharing of thoughts, all that stuff can be done without internet. So what I do is, because I know, if I have access to my email, I’ll probably check it just out of habit. So I use an app called SelfControl. So when I go to bed at night, or when I finish my day, I’ll set the timer for like … So what it does is, it blocks whatever sites you want. So it can block Gmail, Facebook, whatever sites you want. I set that for like 16 hours from the time I finished working the day before, so that I can’t even start my computer and access any of that stuff until like 10:00 the next day. So when I get up in the morning at four, I’m like, “Okay, I’ve got no other option but to open a Google Doc, or do something like that, right?”

Cassie Bjork:                       Six hours to, yeah, get stuff done without internet, wow.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, and then I don’t even turn my phone on. I turn it off at night. I don’t even turn it on until the next day at 10:00. And that, for me, because I know that environment trumps willpower. So if I know that stuff is there, I’m going to dive into it. “Hey, let’s see what someone said on Instagram,” or whatever. But when you focus on creation instead of consumption, your life changes and your business changes big time.

Cassie Bjork:                       I love that. That’s amazing. That’s why I get so much done on airplanes. Because I will not purchase Wi-Fi on airplanes. And that’s exactly why, because my best writing, some of my best content, has come from sitting on an airplane. So all I do is I have the Google Doc, blank one, open. And I just write. And every time I fly, I do that. No matter how long the flight is, how many flights I have. And I love those days because I get to be in my creative space. And somehow, some way, that’s where … You saw me. That’s where some of the biggest ideas that I have come from. And if I had internet, I’d be checking my email. I just would.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. I’ve taken trips, I’ve had trips, where there was not like a good direct flight. So I actually connected … I think it was coming out of … I can’t remember what it was. It was like, connecting in San Francisco, which geographically didn’t make any sense at all. But I’m like, “You know what? They’ve got a nice lounge there. I’m going to get some stuff done. Plus, it gives me an extra four hours during the day to get some stuff done. So I made that connection through San Francisco, just because I wanted to make the most use of my time while traveling, instead of doing something else that didn’t make a lot of sense.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So, who knows? If you guys are listening, and you’re like, “Yeah, I totally get that.” If you’re like, “You’re crazy,” whatever. It’s all good. Anyways, let’s get back on track. The last … This has not turned into the rapid-five. Last question. Complete the sentence: “I know I’m being successful when …”

Cassie Bjork:                       I know I’m being successful when I’m living. And to me, I guess what does living mean? To me, living is like everyday, I’m all out. I’m investing in relationships, I’m doing things that I love, I’m influencing people, I’m in my creative space. I’m helping people. I’m being generous with my time and my resources. And that’s what living is to me. And actually, One of the affirmations I say every morning, is I say, “Please God, remind me that I love reading good books. I love being under the sun. I love being outside. I love going to coffee with friends. I love calling people who I love.”

Cassie Bjork:                       I have to remind myself that I love those things because I can get so caught up in my work behind the computer. It’s so satisfying for me, and I can see the efforts of the work that I’m putting in. And you don’t always see that, like when you have like an hour phone call with someone. You might feel good, but sometimes I feel like, “Gosh, I could have gotten so much done in that time.” If I’m being really honest, I feel that way sometimes. And I have to remind myself, “That’s what life is all about.” To me, that’s living. And to me, living my life, that’s success.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Love it. So good. Cassie, thank you so much for being for us.  This has been a really, really great conversation. What is the best place for our listeners to follow your work online?

Cassie Bjork:                       Cassie.net. That’s where the party starts. That’s where everything fun is. And I got lots of good stuff there. So I’d love to connect with you over there. Also, I’m on social media, and it’s CassieDotNet, just spelled out, like D-O-T-N-E-T, on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. But I already shared my secret. Instagram is where I really spend all of my time.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Awesome. There we go guys. Let’s stalk her.

Cassie Bjork:                       Thanks, Yuri. This was a blast. Thanks for having me.

Yuri Elkaim:                       Absolutely. All right. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you so much for being with us.

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Yuri’s Take

So many gems in that interview, right? So many good things. We talked about how Cassie gave up her dietitian’s license, got rid of the RD and had to rebrand her whole business around getting rid of the whole dietitian Cassie thing. But beyond that, there are just so many other nuggets that were shared in this interview. So I’m hoping you got some really good wisdom out of this one. So yeah, if you’re a naturopathic doctor, if you’re a dietitian, if you’re somebody who really clings on to those letters, and it’s compromising your ability to serve other people and grow the business you want to grow, especially online, then I’m not saying what you should do either way. But hopefully this episode has stimulated an internal conversation in your mind, about what is possible. Because I don’t think I even mention this in the episode.

When I graduated from the University of Toronto, I was a certified kinesiologist. And very quickly, I gave that up because I saw that the regulations for doing stuff outside of a kinesiology or physical therapy practice or clinic was very limited in scope. And so I couldn’t do pretty much anything I wanted to do. And I said, “You know what? I don’t really need to be a certified kinesiologist. So I’m just going to drop that.”

And that’s just the way I look at it. It’s like, “Listen, we’re here to serve. Who cares about what the letters are behind our name?” And I know for some people they get fixated on that because they’ve spent so much time and money. They’ve invested in that. And it’s just a great example of human psychology, of this whole commitment and consistency thing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read the book Influence by Robert Cialdini. It should be on your nightstand. It’s one of the most fundamental books you must read, to understand why humans do what we do.

And going through a four year degree, or 10 years in medical school, whatever you’re doing, is a prime example of why it’s so tough to cut those ties. Because we’re so vested in that journey. So anyways, hope you enjoyed this one. If you did, and if you want to connect with some crazy awesome people, I mentioned this before. We’re kind of running down the time here. Healthpreneur LIVE. HP LIVE 2018. September 20th to 23rd in Scottsdale, Arizona. At a beautiful resort. 150 people. By invitation, by application only. Bringing together some terrific health entrepreneurs. Coaches, practitioners, nutritionist, dietitian, naturopaths, doctors, the whole bit. We bring everyone together, and we have fun for three days. We learn, we connect, we grow. We remove the ego. Not that there is ego coming in. But we basically just kabash that.

You know, the speakers onstage, there’s only six of them this year. We decided to go with fewer speakers, to allow more teaching, more sharing, more down time because most of the magic happens, not from the stage to the audience, but in the peer-to-peer. And that’s why we have so much time for round tables, breakout sessions, we got 30 to 45 minute breaks several times throughout the day. Because a lot of that is where the conversations are going to happen. That’s where people are going to connect at a deeper level. And if you want to be able to hang out with people that are doing great things in the business, or help others who are kind of maybe a little bit behind you, that’s what this event is going to help you do. It’s going to bring together some great people in our space. It’s our annual family gathering, where we bring together a lot of our clients, a lot of amazing people in our space, and just really connecting everyone, to fuel them for several months to come.

We want to help you finish 2018 on the best foot possible, with the most energy, and great strategies, great relationships built. And if that’s of interest to you, then the time to act is now. We’re two weeks away from the cut-off. We have to let the venue know exactly, like, “Here are the final numbers.” And we only have a couple of spots left.

So I do want to … Obviously, I’ve been mentioning this the last couple of episodes. I want to mention this, and I want to make sure you know that, that it’s on your radar, and that you’re taking action. If you want to surrounded by great people … Because you cannot build … Hopefully, you’ve recognized this in the podcast already. You cannot, and you will not, build a successful business in isolation. And if you’re not willing to invest in yourself and your business, you will also not succeed. I mean, it might take you a decade. But what you could achieve in a decade, you could achieve in one or two years, with the right people, and the right ideas, and the right strategies. And that’s what this event will help you do.

So if you want to join us, here’s what I want you to do right now. Get out your phone, or go to your desktop, and go to HealthpreneurGroup.com/live. Once you’re there, click on the red button that says “Request an Invitation”. Fill out the questions that ensue, submit your application. We’ll review it , and we’ll get back to you in one to two days, and we’ll let you know ‘yay’ or ‘nay’. Okay?

Now, how do we look … The reason we have an application is because we want to make sure that the right people are in the room. This is not for you if you have nothing built. If you’ve got no business, no website, no way of attracting clients. If you’ve got nothing, and you just graduated from school, probably not the best event for you yet. If you’re a little bit further along, you know, even if you’re not cracking a million dollars in revenue, that’s totally fine. It’s not about that. If you’re a little bit further along, and you want to take things to the next level, hey, great, right? This is probably a good fit for you. And again, we’ve got the whole spectrum of people at this event. People who are a little bit more novice in their business. But we also have very successful seven and eight figure business owners who will be in attendance. And that means a lot of great synergy that can come from that group.

And I look back to the most pivotal decision I ever made in my business was at the beginning of 2010, I attended four events. And those four events were beyond my means at the time. I was a fish, a little fish in an ocean of big players. But it was the most important decision I made. Because I started to … I got to know everyone. I befriended the most influential people in the health and fitness space online. And to this day, a lot of them are still very good friends. That would never have happened, had I played it safe and stayed behind my computer.

So if you’re ready to step out, if you’re ready to step up, and if you’re ready to play at a bigger, higher level, then you have to be with us. So HealthpreneurGroup.com/live.

Do it now, and I look forward to seeing you there. Until then, have an awesome day. I will see you on Monday.

---

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Transcription

Healthpreneurs, what’s up. Yuri here, with our amazing coaches. I’ve got Jackie, Steph in the black box this morning. And Amy is with us as well. So if you’re watching us inside of our group, obviously you can see this. If you’re listening to this on Healthpreneur podcast, you can’t see this. So you can just enjoy the audio. But today’s topic is a big one. We’re going to talking about the notion that comfort is the enemy of growth.

I don’t know when this hit me, maybe last week or the week before. But I was thinking about this, I’m like, you know what, I think this applies to pretty much all there is in life. So I’m excited to jump in to you guys today. Because you guys are on the phone with a lot of our clients, every single week,  you see the roadblocks and the obstacles, and the challenges they’re up against. And this process of building a business is not easy. It doesn’t feel good all the time. I want to give our listeners and our viewers a perspective today about this whole topic. Because I think it’s important to really understand and be okay with.

Okay, so I want to give a bit of perspective here, before I ask you, Jackie. So last night I was watching the Avengers Infinity War. I’m thinking, one of the reason why so many people love movies, is because there’s always this element of courage that these main characters have. They have to fly across space to stop this evil person. And every single protagonist of a movie has that level of courage, where they’re this reluctant hero. They’re called to something bigger than themselves. They go up against all odds. In spite of failures in the past, they keep pushing. It’s just the way I believe we connect to people in terms of quote, unquote, “heroes”.

Jackie, how do you see clients that we work with, or pretty much every day people, as their own version of these superheroes, as it pertains to kind of going out of their comfort zone and chasing these things that are maybe a little bit unfamiliar or beyond what they think is possible?

 

Jackie: Her take on courage… and jumping out of airplanes

Jackie:                   I like that idea of being your own hero.  As healthpreneurs, you know, entrepreneurs, I tell a lot of our clients, if you’re going to be working with us, you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s just part of it, and actually that’s where I thrive.

I love being uncomfortable. I love being challenged, because my perspective and my mindset around it, is growth. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. Look at the cells in our body. From the second we’re born, that’s just what’s happening. It’s inevitable. And being comfortable with being uncomfortable, just gives you that, I can handle this. Right, superheroes don’t stop and freak out, and get stuck in their fear and their thoughts. Like, should I jump off this bridge to save that lady? No, maybe I should do this instead. They just do it, right.

So the cool thing is, you have our community, you have our support. So being uncomfortable is healthy. That means you’re about ready to take a leap and grow as well. But you have to embrace it, and have the mindset around it. Be excited about it. It’s a choice. You could be fearful, which is fake. It’s all made up. Fear isn’t real. That’s usually what stops us.

Or you can stay comfortable in being comfortable. And that leads to laziness, and boredom. And as Healthpreneurs, we don’t go there. We just don’t, it’s not in our DNA, right.

So if this is a new concept to you, that’s all I can really tell you. It’s part of the mindset shift. It’s growth. And getting out of this archaic box. We only know what’s inside this box, right, and we’re comfortable there. Everything outside of this box is scary, and creepy, and weird. And I don’t think I can do it. And all this self-doubt, and fear sets in again. And we jump back into our box.

The archaic brain, that’s not really what we need for survival this day and age. I’m sure Stephanie can go in on this a little deeper. But it doesn’t serve us, because it’s not scary. It’s actually what we need to survive and grow, and develop, and make an impact, and to share gifts.

Yuri:                       So just to give our listeners and our viewers some perspective, you’ve gone skydiving a few times, right?

Jackie:                   Yes, twice. I wish I could’ve gone more.

Yuri:                       You’ve gone skydiving a few times. You’ve traveled all around the world, doing some pretty adventurous types of stuff. You have two kids. Before you’ve done them, you hadn’t done them.

Jackie:                   Correct.

Yuri:                       How do you feel when you … I guess you didn’t push yourself out of the plane. But you were strapped to some instructor.  You’re in the plane, the door opens, then you’re out of the plane. What was that moment like? What did that feel like for you?

Jackie:                   It’s a rush, right. You’re prepared, though. You’re on the ground, you’re going through the safety. You’re understanding that, if we bonk heads with the guy I’m jumping with, who’s done 16 thousand jumps, and we both get knocked out and black out cold, there’s going to be a shoot that opens 500, 700 feet before we hit the ground. Are we going to break our legs? Possibly.

So there’s a lot of things that could happen. But you’re preparing yourself, right. We’re using the tools, we’re using what we know. I’m listening to an expert. I’m not jumping out of the plane by myself, because I trust the expert, right. It’s like utilizing us as your coaches, utilizing the whole program from start to finish, taking action. I couldn’t have jumped out of a plane if I didn’t put on the straps, be tied tight to this guy, walking to the edge literally ready to roll out. You’re just staring at the ground.  I wish I could do it every day, to be honest.

Yuri:                       Did the second time feel more comfortable than the first time?

Jackie:                   Oh, the second time was a breeze. I was excited both times. But there was fear the first time. I’m looking out, and I’m like, oh my god, why am I jumping out of a perfectly good airplane? Because I wanted to do it, right.

And the day before, I went the very first time. I was 18, because that was the law in Ohio. And the day that I was going to jump, I was prepared, I was ready to go. There were clouds in the sky. Legally, you’re not supposed to jump through clouds. So we’re sitting there, waiting for the clouds to go and they didn’t. So we’re like, man, bummer. Maybe I’m not supposed to jump. Maybe this was my day that something bad would’ve happened.

I went back the next day, which was Mother’s day, because my birthday’s in May. I jumped out of the plane on Mother’s day. Something happened on a local jump pad nearby that day, that was a bad situation. And of course, my whole family freaks out. Like, my god, was that your plane? No, thank God it wasn’t. But I wanted to do this. I wasn’t going to let it stop me. I wasn’t going to let fear stop me. I wasn’t going to let my comfort zone stop me, right. And I went and did it, and it was a blast. I did it again, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Yuri:                       That’s awesome.

Jackie:                   And yes, you get more comfortable every time you do it. Maybe one day I’ll do it by myself. That takes a whole nother training, but we’ll see.

Yuri:                       I don’t know if I ever told you. I almost flew into a whole flock … I don’t know if flock is the right word. But a whole troop of paratroopers, when I took my pilots’ license. I wasn’t that close, but I was on route, and I saw these things dropping out of a plane. I’m like, I don’t think I should be heading this direction. So that was fun.

 

Steph: Fear versus Discomfort

Anyways. Steph, I want to ask you. Talking with fear, how do you see fear verses discomfort? Is there a difference? Being uncomfortable, verses being in fear?

Steph:                   I love that question because there is such a huge, huge difference between these two things. So fear is something that is a negative response. This is something that’s beyond the scope of this session today. But we can get anchored, negative emotions. Anchored to different things. So then we’ll get triggered every single time we do that thing. However, if we feel discomfort that is coupled with this idea of purpose, passion, mission,  that means you have a big purpose, you have a big passion, you have a big mission to help others really live the life they truly love, get healthy and live full lives.

And if you can use that as the catalyst that pushes you forward through the discomfort, then you feel empowered on the other side, and have confidence on the other side, rather than feeling that fear still. And then every single time you do that action, let’s just use Facebook Live as an example. A lot of people have fear around stepping out into Facebook Live, and kind of talking about what it is they’re doing, what they’re putting out in the world. You can then get anchored, that every single time you do a Facebook live, your cortisone levels are super high, and your stress hormones are going crazy.

But if you couple that with the idea of the purpose, passion and mission of why you started this in the first place, and this goes with whether it’s recording your webinar, whether it’s making your price points, or presenting your price points to people really confidently, knowing that what you’re providing is a really high level, high caliber service that will change people’s lives, which it will. I know it will, then you can all of a sudden become empowered on the other side.

So you will feel a discomfort. And I know a lot of you guys are in the fitness field. Right, a lot of you guys are health and wellness, and fitness. And if you can just think about a muscle. You have to stress the muscle. Stress the muscle in order for it to grow bigger, thicker, stronger. And that’s exactly the way you are, that’s how your neurology is. The more and more and more you pump it, the bigger, thicker, stronger it becomes.

We always have two paths. One is doom and gloom, whatever is going to go wrong. And one is, oh wait, this is my purpose, passion, mission. What can go right. And we constantly have this choice, whether we’re going to go down that black hole of doom and despair, or whether we’re going to go down this path of light and love, and prosperity and abundance, and all of these amazing things that can happen on the other side, right.

Yuri:                       And it’s always just the choice, right. It’s always just the decision. And I mean, all of us get caught on this. I get caught in fear sometimes.  When you recognize what’s happening, it’s like, I’m choosing to think these thoughts. Why is that. Why am I choosing to think fearful thoughts. And I think fear, as you mentioned, is really not something that’s happened. It’s something we’re projecting, that possibly could happen in the future. So why are we choosing to spend time consciously. We’re aware of it, yet we’re still stuck there.

I don’t know if you have an answer to this stuff, but I think from my  journey, what I’ve recognized, is that it gives us a sense of control. Even though it’s a shitty feeling, we control the fact that we have a feeling about that. It doesn’t make sense at all, I don’t know. I just don’t know why it’s almost comfortable to feel like we’re in control of fearful thoughts verses trying to not do that.

Steph:                   Right. You’ve actually mentioned this, and Jackie just mentioned this. This is all part of our archaic, ancestor brain, that was trained to focus on the negative to keep us alive and safe.  The fact of the matter is, right now, lions, tigers, bears, and feast and famine isn’t anything that we have to worry about anymore. So that’s why our brain will then choose other things as the lion, as the tiger, as the bear. So it could be, oh my gosh, this webinar. Or it could be, all of a sudden, your brain starts to think, my clientele isn’t hanging out on Facebook or any of these things. They’re not going to like what I’m putting out there. Or, nobody’s going to want to pay this price point. Or whatever.

And then that is why you can say, I’m going to stop. I’m going to quit. I’m going to stay in my comfort zone, because X, Y, and Z are possible and going to happen. But really, you do not have a crystal ball. You cannot predict these things, it’s not real, and you have a proven system and a proven path to take. So it’s just important to focus on that part, rather than all of these things that your mind can create.

And we often will go to the worst case scenario. It’s just in our DNA. And again, it’s just that archaic brain. And if we can just remember that, and just keep going, there’s my brain again. And just acknowledge the feeling, and say, “Oh, when I feel this feeling, it’s actually a little red flag that something is off in my mindset.” Instead of letting it suck you down into the whole  feeling, and go, what is that? Is it that I’m scared, is it that it’s this. Do I need to make an appointment with Steph, Jackie, or Amy to clear all this up?

What is it that I need to do right now to clear this up? Because I know this isn’t real.

Yuri:                       Yeah, totally. I don’t know if there’s any humans that are born with the upbringing … We’re all conditioned with no fear. I think we’re all dealing with this in some way, shape or form.

One of the things I sent out on Monday’s e-mail, was this 19 year old tennis player who just made the finals in Toronto. Just an unbelievable run. He beat four top ten players. Lost the round in the final.  After his semi-file,  he looked in the camera and said, it never gets easier, it gets better. I’m like, dude, this is a 19 year old kid. This amazing perspective, right.

And I started thinking. You kind of used the analogy of strengthening your muscles. And the way I see this, is that we get better at all things in life, right. And 50 pounds is always 50 pounds. So if you lift up 50 pounds today, objectively, that 50 pounds is always going to be 50 pounds on planet earth. But 50 pounds today might feel heavy to you. 50 pounds a year from now might feel like a pencil to you. And the only difference is how much you’ve grown in the process.

So if you think of for all of you fitness folks out there. If you think about that, and you think of it, okay. I’m feeling really uncomfortable right now, because I don’t know how to speak to people on the phone. I don’t know how to do this webinar. That is completely fine. You should feel like that, if you’ve never done it. If you came into it mastering already, then it would be a different feeling. And this is what I keep telling you guys, for all of you listening, watching, is that where you are going to be a year from now, I can see your future. I feel like I’m a genie in a bottle. I can see your future, guys.

Great example of Nick. Nick posts his critical numbers in the group. Little bit worried about some of his stuff. I’m like, hold on, hold on. Let me break this down. You spend under $800. You got eight calls booked, which is freaking phenomenal.

Steph:                   Phenomenal.

Yuri:                       That’s unbelievable, right? It doesn’t matter how many people register for the webinar. Sure, certain things can be improved. But eight booked calls for that ad span is incredible. And he enrolled one person. And I sent some feedback on his calling stuff, because he posted the recording. And I said, “Okay, here’s the good news. The good news is that you have one out of eight enrollments, right. The good news, is there’s still a lot of room for improvement in how you speak with people on the phone.” So in the future, that one turns into three or four, out of potentially eight or more.

And this is just the process, guys. It’s the process of continually sharpening the saw. Continually getting better and better and better. And what used to feel uncomfortable becomes very comfortable. And what you’ll find, and this is one of the things I’ve noticed for myself when I started doing a lot of calls. Is my confidence in how I handle difficult conversations with potential clients, became very matter of fact.

There was no wishy washiness. It was very certain, very confident. I think that just comes with practice, right. So it starts off feeling shitty, ends up being a lot more comfortable.

 

Amy: Worry and Wonder – reframing your feelings

Amy, you’re speaking with quite a few people on a weekly basis. What comes up for you in this conversation? What pertains to comfort and growth, and all that.

Amy:                     You know, really, it’s so great to be able to piggy back on all of you. Because all the different perspectives are amazing. And really, what’s coming up a lot is a worry and wonder. So again, it’s not real. It’s what I’m worrying and wondering. People are going to respond. And really, it’s flipping that mindset, and saying, what can I do right now? Reframing that, reframing your feelings.

Stephanie talked about how you can anchor something negatively, and maybe you’re looking at that as fear, but instead of feeling that heart flutter feeling as fear, what if you were to stop and took that heart flutter feeling and said, “This is excitement about my future, and how many people I can help.” So I’m really scared to do my webinar, but actually, I’m really excited to do my webinar, because I’m going to grow.

And I know from just the last several months, and working with the team both as a client, and as a team member, the growth is exponential, if you allow it to happen. So if you’re feeling that sort of, not quite right, there is something out of alignment energetically, and whatever you believe in when you’re not aligned with your true purpose, or what you should be doing, and you’re staying over here in fear, and not doing, you will feel worse. Because you’re not helping people. Starting with you, right. You’re not helping yourself. And we have to make ourselves a priority.

Because everything we’re doing here in Healthpreneur, is a model for how all of us are running our businesses, right. So if we got on the phone with your guys in our initial calls, and how many of you were scared when you got on with us, or when you took the credit card out? And if we just said, “Oh yeah, think about it ’til tomorrow. Oh, and we’ll talk to you next week.” Guess what? We’re not doing our jobs.

So re-frame that fear as excitement. Because that worry and wonder is a time waster. So now you’re worrying and wondering, worrying and wondering, worrying and wondering. And you’re not getting your stuff done. So what I’m seeing though, is as we work through that on the call, people are getting off the call excited. And there are people that have actually done a webinar, and have been like, oh my gosh, my perfect client is something different. And they’re re-vamping the webinar and saying, “This is so much easier. Because I’ve already done it.”

Wow, you know, it’s not going to take me all these weeks. It took me what, you know, a day to re-do it. And so that’s the thing that I’m seeing the worry and wonder, but the excitement about, wait, I don’t have to wonder because why? You’ve waited all out, so simply, that no one has to worry and wonder. Because you’ve taken care of that piece for folks. So now it’s all up to each of us. And there are two other things that came to me.

Mark Twain, I don’t have the exact quote. But he said something like, I’ve lived through a lot of bad situations, some of which really happened.

Yuri:                       I had an idea for the name of these sessions. Have you guys ever seen the Zach Galifianakis show, Between Two Ferns?

Amy:                     No.

Yuri:                       Never heard of it?

Steph:                   I’ve heard of it. I haven’t seen it.

Yuri:                       Okay, so I was thinking about calling this Between two Ears.

Steph:                   He’s hilarious.

Amy:                     Yeah, that’s a good one.

Yuri:                       Little play on that. But that’s not the final title, but we’ll just play with that.

Amy:                     And that’s what happened for us. I don’t know if you guys remember, and I think it was last year. Time is time, and I don’t remember.

Somebody climbed El Captain, right, he did the face of … In Yellowstone, I believe it is. And it’s like, you’re on this face, and it comes out like this. And he climbed the thing. You can’t decide in the middle you’re not doing this anymore. So he went.

And when he was interviewed, and someone said, “What was the hardest part?” And guess what he said. Starting. Walking up, and taking that first step. So it really, that’s what it is. Take that action, and re-frame it as excitement. Because it’s so exciting when you do that. And then get out of your head.

 

Yuri: Changing your Perfect Clients

Yuri:                       So talking about kind of changing your perfect clients, and not having everything perfect, kind of what we talked about the other week. I’ll be very honest with you guys. This is a process that I’d gone through as well. Even to this day. So our Luminaries Mastermind started two years ago. And initially, I started it because people were asking me for coaching. And I didn’t want to do one on one coaching, so I said, “All right, somehow I’m going to piece together a few people.”

And the first year, we had I think half a dozen. Then we had about 20. And what happened over the last year, was because I was a little bit too porous, in terms of allowing a little too much in, if you will. I had to part ways with a few members. Because what I recognized was they were not the perfect clients that I wanted. It wasn’t that I wanted them, it was who can I best serve?

And I recognized that some people may have been a little bit too early. Some people were just not the right mindset. And I mean, to this day I’m still refining this. I think I’ve become a lot more black and white with who I’m going to let into the group. And I think it’s been helpful having this workshop as a starting point, as a launch pad for a lot of future members.

And I didn’t use that to not build up the master mind. It doesn’t matter if your first webinar is whatever it is. Or your first coaching group is with certain clients. Because what you’re going to recognize, is you’re in the trenches, in the working with these people, you’re like, I can’t stand spending time with these people. Or, I love working with these people.

Amy:                     Yes.

Yuri:                       You have to be in it, to understand that. You can’t forecast that initially, with the degree of inclusiveness that you would if you were working with them in person.

So don’t worry about getting everything just perfect before you can get the right people. You’re going to run your thing, you’re going to figure out, okay maybe these are the right people. Okay, I like these qualities, and not so much these qualities, so I’m going to refine my messaging and my calls, and my Facebook Ads. And this is part of the process. This is just like this slow chipping away at a piece of marble that eventually gives you that finished David, right.

Going back to what we talked about last week, it’s not about being perfect. It’s about moving forward. Today’s topic is all about understanding that the only way you can grow is when you’re uncomfortable.

If you’re in the gym training, and you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not growing. If you’re not stressing those muscles to the point where they feel tired or whatever, those muscles are not growing. And if you think of building muscle, the building of muscle is not actually not building of muscle in the gym. Its tearing down of the muscle tissue, that repairs during sleep. So if we think about it in our lives, in our business, it’s like you’re tearing down walls, you’re tearing down fears, you’re tearing down limiting beliefs, or you’re working through discomfort. And these are all things that we kind of have to break down. Because on the flip side, it builds you back up to become stronger, and stronger, and a bigger, better version of yourself.

And that’s what this is all about, is that as we’ve talked about loosely over the last couple sessions, is courage is so important. We talked to … All the people we speak to on the phone, we said, listen. One of the most important things we looked for, is courage. Because building a business is … I mean, at some point it becomes pretty enjoyable. But initially, it’s kind of … Our goal is not to make it uncomfortable for you guys forever.

I don’t know if you guys know Ed Mylett?

I just came across this stuff about a month ago. He’s really, really awesome. He’s got a great show on YouTube. Super successful guy. But he talked about the first five years in his business, as the worst. He was like, every day he was thinking. And I’m sure a lot of you guys can relate to this. Do I really want to do this. Is this really what I should be doing. What if this doesn’t work out? Should I just quit and do something else?

This is the mind freak that’s happening all the time, for quite some time until you start seeing the results you want to see. And you have to understand that that is not your higher self speaking to you. That is that little fear, that little voice trying to keep you safe, as Steph has talked about. Archaic brain, that is looking for danger. And is saying, okay, this feeling you’re feeling, is not safe. It’s not comfortable. We want to keep you safe, therefore just lay on the couch and watch whatever you want to watch.

And I think it’s important to recognize that, because to create and accomplish anything great in life, requires getting uncomfortable. And that is bottom line, guys. That is bottom line the only reason I’m here, the only reason any of us are here. And the only reason any of you guys are in this program, is because at some point, you were uncomfortable with your current situation. You were uncomfortable enough to move forward in spite of fear. Which is terrific. And you’ve done it once. You’ve done it several times in your life. And just use those as reference points to keep moving forward.

Yuri:                       So, I think this has been a really awesome conversation. I mean, we can keep going.

Jackie:                   Hey Yuri.

Yuri:                       Yeah, Jackie.

Jackie:                   I just want to chime in one thing.

Yuri:                       Yeah.

 

Jackie & Amy: consistency and jumping in

Jackie:                   And it’s consistently … You’re not just going to be uncomfortable today, or once tomorrow. You can’t just go lift that 50 pounds today, and go, oh man that was hard to lift, and wait a month or two or three and lift that 50 pounds again. Because guess what, it’s going to feel just as uncomfortable. And then you’re going to look back a year and go, damn it. Why didn’t I just lift that 50 pounds every two or three days, consistently, to get used to that comfort so you can grow or develop.

It’s not just going to happen once. You’re a Healthpreneur. This is going to be part of your lifestyle. You’re going to have to learn to shift that mindset, because your head will talk you into or out of what you know you should be doing, or shouldn’t be doing. So that’s a whole other concept, a whole other probably topic we can talk about. But it will. It will talk you into, or out of.

We’re here to keep you on track. You know, you have a whole tribe, you have tools. You have a proven system. It’s not like you’re alone, trying to wing this. That’s the cool thing. You just have to do it consistently.

Amy:                     I think its so important for people to jump in. Because honestly, as entrepreneurs, Healthpreneurs, you can feel alone in your regular life. So make sure that you do connect with the people in your life that are not entrepreneurs, in a way that works for you to keep those relationships strong. It’s super important. And then jump in the group with us. We get it. We’ve all been there. We didn’t all wake up one day, or were born having confidence and being able to push through these things.

For me, I’m not having a nine to five. I don’t care what’s going on. That’s for me, right. So you have to find for you, what is it. But make sure that you show up in the group, so you can connect with people who get it. Because we get that a lot of people in your life don’t get it. And that’s okay. So just jump in here, and keep going. Because we’re here for you one hundred percent. Make your appointments. And you’ve got to be there for yourself a hundred percent. So awesome.

Yuri:                       That’s why entrepreneurship is the best spiritual journey you can be on. You learn so … Other than having kids, you learn so much about your own shit, and you have to grow. It’s a lot easier guys, to work nine to five, and punch in and punch out, right. Do the minimum. But when you do that, you live a life of mediocrity. You’re a sheep, right. And we’re not sheep. We’re the leaders, the herd whatever. The leaders of our tribes. It requires a lot to step up as a leader. You’re taking on the risk.

You’re taking on the discomfort that a lot of people are not willing to take on. And that is the role you decided to take on. Not even being part of this program, but just who you are as a person. And stepping up into your greatness. That’s just the way it is.

So understand that for the rest of your life, it’s never going to stop. There’s never going to be the time where, finally I can just watch the sunset. I’m just referring to this from Infinity War, Avengers. This Thanos guy … I’m not going to ruin the movie, but he destroys the universe-

Amy:                     Don’t tell us the end, don’t tell the end.

Yuri:                       I’m like, really, that’s the purpose of this whole thing?

Yuri:                       So understand that there’s the whole illusion … At least for me. And this probably pertains to a lot of you guys who are real entrepreneurs. Is the illusion of retirement at 65 and laying on the beach, is B.S. Maybe for some people, if they have enough money in savings. Instead of bagging groceries when they’re 70.

But the key, is to understand that for a lot of us, we were wired, is of service and growth. And if you’re wired to serve and grow, you can never stop. Never. If I’m 85 years old, I don’t know if I’ll be doing exactly this, but in some way, shape or form, I will continually be serving others, and continually be growing. That’s just the way I am. That’s just the way a lot of us are. And if you have to be okay with that, that’s the path you’ve decided to be on in this life. And there’s never going to be the time where everything just stops. There will be days where you can chill out, and lay on the couch and take a vacation.

But I think we are here because we are here to be of service to others. We’re here to grow, and the more you grow … Here’s the big thing I want to finish with.

The more you grow, the more you can give to others. And if you want to make a lot more money, you have to do a lot more growing. If you want to be the best possible healer, provider, teacher, coach for others, you have to grow ten times more yourself, in order to give more to others.

So guys, this has been awesome. Thank you so much, Amy, Jackie, Steph.

For all of you listening on the podcast, if you’re currently not one of our clients, here’s what I want you to do. If you want to join this conversation, first and foremost, subscribe to the podcast.

Second, is if you do want to work with us, and you want us to help you build out your perfect client pipeline, and really help you attract the right clients, so you can serve on a deep level, then here’s what I want you to do, is attend our free training over to healthpreneurgroup.com/training.

Go through the training, go through the presentation. If you like what you hear and see, book a call with us.

And the reason I’m suggesting you watch the webinar first, instead of booking a call with us directly, is because you need to have some context of our philosophy of approaching business. And if you don’t like it, don’t talk to us. But if you like what we’re doing, and it jives with you, then book a call with us. Because just like in your business, yo don’t want to work with people who don’t want to work with you. We only want to attract the right people who get it, and who really value what it is what we’re building and how we can help you in your business.

So healthpreneurgroup.com/training.

Jackie, Amy, Steph, thank you guys so much once again for your insights. This has been awesome. And guys, if you’re watching this in the group, put your comments below. Let us know what you think. All right guys, thanks so much.

Steph:                   Thank you.

Jackie:                   ‘Bye everybody.

Amy:                     Bye.

Transcription

Hey, Yuri here. Welcome back to another episode of the Healthpreneur Podcast. Today we’re going to be talking about how to stay more focused because at the end of the day, focus is one of the most important determinants of whether or not you are going to see the results you want to see not only in your business, but in  any area of life that matters to you most.

So what I want to walk you through here is a four-step process to staying more focused, and I want to give you a great resource as well that I think will really help you stay focused. I’ll tell you more about that toward the end of this episode.

So without any further ado, let me quickly start off by saying if you ever feel scattered, if you ever feel like you’re chasing a thousand different things, believe me, you’re okay.

If you’ve ever been diagnosed with ADHD, ADD, hyperactivity, lack of focus, lack of concentration, you know what? That’s actually part of your superpower. It’s part of what makes us creatives so incredible.

Now, with that said, we have to understand that sometimes our weaknesses can hold us back, and we have to figure out how we can best mitigate them to move us forward. There’s nothing wrong with you. If you’ve been unfocused or you have a lot of ideas, that’s fine. That’s what makes you who you are.

 

Learning from my son how a scattered brain can be channelled into creative thinking

My oldest son, Oscar, is very much like that. He can’t sit still at the table. He’s always moving around. He’s chasing one thing after another. The traditional thinking would be like, “Well, there’s something wrong with this kid.” But I recognized, I think now, knowing what I know now, seeing that behavior, I’m thinking to myself, “You know what? That’s actually going to serve him really well in life because he’s a creative thinker, and those ideas and that creativity, when it’s channeled, can really lead to some amazing things.”

So let’s assume that we’re all creatives here. We’ve got lots of ideas and that’s usually the way we are as the visionary of our business.

 

4 Ways To Stay More Focused

1. Being Clear About Your Vision

I’m going to share four ways to stay more focused. The first thing we need to do to stay more focused is we have to be clear about what the vision is.

You have to be very clear about what you’re working towards and why this is important. As the leader of your business, the two most important questions you should be spending most of your time answering is what and why, not necessarily how.

Let me explain that. A lot of people get really bogged down in the minutia. Right? So they start focusing on all of the how. How do I do this? How do I set up this specific thing? How do I get through this tech nonsense? If you spend your time in the how, I guarantee you, you will very frustrated and if you’re following any kind of path, or model, or whatever it is, eventually you will fall off the bandwagon because when you focus on the details and you’re stuck in the weeds, we lose sight of what it is we’re focused on.

You need to focus on the what it is you want — right — that vision you have, what you want in life and business, and you need to focus on why that’s so important to you.

You need to live in the what in the why. I’m telling you, just that, alone, will make a huge difference in the amount of fulfillment you have on a day-to-day basis.

So you have to get clear about what it is you want, what that vision is, and why it’s important. The why is important because that’s going to give you the energy to move through challenges and obstacles in tough times. Right? As you know, business is up and down, as is life, and if your why isn’t strong enough, if you don’t have enough desire behind what it is you’re going after, it’s very easy to give up or change course. So that’s the first thing is you have to be very clear about your vision. That’s the first step.

2. Identifying Core Values

Step number two is you need to identify your core values. Your core values are, essentially, what matters to you most. What the core values will allow you to do, is they will allow you to make better decisions. They will allow you to basically … They’re a filter that will filter out pretty much all decision making you do. If you’re not using core values to make decisions, here’s a really simple task. Write down three to five core values for your business. Now, it just so happens that those same core values are probably going to be your personal core values because you’re the leader of your business, so the business is always a reflection of you.

Write down those core values. For instance, I’ll give you a couple of ours. One of our core values is to create wow. Right? We believe in creating wow for our clients and that means going beyond just good customer service. A second core value that we have is that our clients’ results are our number one priority. Everything, those are just two, we have eight core values, those are just two of them, but everything, every decision, every big decision we make is going to be filtered through those different lenses. Okay, is this going to create a wow experience? Is this focused on helping our clients achieve the results that they want? If it’s not, then that becomes an easier decision to make, so you have to get clear on what matters to you most. That’s step two, your core values.

 

3. Your Brand Promise

Step three is your brand promise. What’s the promise you make to your customers or clients? Now, what does this have to do with staying focused? Okay, so here’s the thing, is once you’re clear about what the promise is you’re making to the people you’re serving, then once again, that acts as a filter for making the right decisions about what to do and what not to do. One of our promises for the people we work with is to help them see a 2X ROI in four months or less of starting to work with us. That’s our promise. Everything we are going to do now, in terms of the delivery of a program, is going to be built with that in mind. What has to be true in order for them, in order for our clients to see a 2X ROI?

I’ll give you an example from our mastermind. Our mastermind, I work with people who are generating six-figures in revenue and want to get to seven and beyond. One of the secret, I guess, weapons I can bring to the table is we have what’s called this preferred partner program. If a client comes in and they have a product or an offering that will benefit my personal health list. I’ve got  the health and fitness business. We have a list of about 220,000 people on our list, if we have someone come into our mastermind with an offer that I think could benefit our audience, then we’ll mail out for that. We’ll do a full-on promotion for that mastermind member because my priority is to get my clients results as fast as possible, so if somebody is paying me good money to have me coach them, if I can send out a few emails to my list to give them a nice bump in revenue, hey, I’m going to do that, obviously, if it supports my audience.

Now, at the same time, if it does well for me or if I know other people in our space who I think might benefit from that type of offer, I will make those introductions so now these clients coming in, within the space of a couple days or a few short weeks, now have built-in partners to promote their offers. So that’s an example of how I can really stay focused on what we’re offering our clients based on the fact that if our ROI for our clients is number one priority, here’s one of the things we can do. Okay? So what is your brand promise you’re making to your customers or clients?

4. Metrics That Matter

Finally, number four is you need to identify the metrics that matter. There’s a lot of metrics you can be tracking in your business. This is tricky. This is something you’re going to probably, you might modify over time so just allow yourself to be flexible with this.

What I want you to do is identify three numbers that matter most to your business and targets for each one. Let me give you a couple of examples from Healthpreneur.

One of our metrics is number of result accelerator calls booked from paid traffic. That’s one of the metrics that we’re looking at because we know that if we get X number of people on the phone,  assuming they’ve come through our pipeline, they’re qualified, and we know that we’re going to enroll a certain percentage of those people. Right? Without forcing them to do anything they don’t want to do, right? We just know, based on history, that it’s essentially just a numbers game at that point. That’s one of the most important numbers that we look at is how many phone calls are we booking from paid traffic.  That’s one of the numbers we look at.

Another metric that we look at is how many of our workshop clients are generating $10,000 or more per month in revenue. Now, that has nothing to do with our goals. That’s all about our clients, but remember if our clients, if our goal is to help them see an ROI as fast as possible, that should be one of the metrics that we measure. We have ongoing coaching calls with all of our clients. We make sure we know where they’re at in terms of clients enrolled, revenue, and stuff like that, and we want to make sure that a good percentage of the clients we work with are seeing that at minimum because most of them come into the program wanting to make anywhere from, I’d say as a starting point, 10 to 20 to $30,000 a month. That’s kind of where they’re coming in at. Obviously, they can scale from there. If that’s one of the most important things for us. We need to track that.

In your business, you need to figure out what are the metrics that matter. Is it the number of people on your list? As your list grows, does your income grow? In some cases, maybe, maybe not. For instance, one of the big focuses, one of the big foci, I guess, for me moving into the rest of the year and into 2019 is really ramping up my Instagram following.

Now, I’ve talked about how social media doesn’t really make a huge difference until you have a predictable sales pipeline in your business. Now for me, I know that if I have a larger Instagram following based on how we’re engaging with them, I know that a large percentage of those people are going to become clients of ours. For me, what do we have to do as a business to really grow that following because we know that, again, the more followers we have, the more clients we will generate from that. That’s where it’s really important to be able to track what matters most in your business when it comes to metrics.

Once you’re clear on these four different parameters, again, clarity of vision, clarity of your core values, clarity of your brand promise, and clarity of metrics that matter, those four components will help you stay a lot more focused on what matters most in your business.

You’ll be able to say no to a lot of other things that are little more than distraction. Now, you’ll notice that the key word in those four parameters was clarity. Clarity leads to focus. Fogginess leads to scatteredness. If you don’t have clear vision, if you don’t have a clear path, if you don’t have a clear business model, then it’s going to be very tough to know exactly what you should be doing. Right? Then you might be doing a thousand different things mediocrely, and you’re not going to get the great results that you want.

 

Clarity and Resources

I want to give you one great resource. It’s a book called The One Thing. I can’t remember the author, but it’s a tremendous book. It’s a quick read. It’ll take you maybe half a day, a couple hours to get through, but it’ll reinforce this notion of the importance of focusing on one thing.

Now, our one thing, what we help our clients deploy, is called the Perfect Client Pipeline. If you want to see how this all works out for your business, here’s what I want you to do right now. Attend our free training. It’s over at healthpreneurgroup.com/training.

Go through that presentation. You’ll get a really good sense of what we’re talking about how we are not really doing what most other businesses do in the health space.

We’re not selling e-books for courses and stuff like that. We’re showing our clients, and we can show you, how to really take your expertise and the results you can get for clients and really build that out into a very simple, and predictable, and highly profitable, business model that is super-focused.

The nice thing about that is, like in our business, that’s the only way. 90% of our revenue is generated by that one pipeline, and all of that is coming from people we don’t even know. So, yes, I’ve got this podcast. Yes, we’ve got a small presence on Instagram that’s growing, but to be very honest, if I had to rely on this podcast or Instagram to grow my business, I’d probably go bankrupt.

There’s a lot of people that might be listening to this and in our space who are in that position where they’re relying on doing Facebook Lives, or random stuff on Instagram, or having a podcast that doesn’t have the following yet to be able to command any type of response from it.

The thing you have to remember in business is that if you don’t have a predictable sales process, you don’t have a business, or you won’t have one for very long. I need you to be very honest with yourself and just ask yourself like, “Listen, am I getting the results that I want?”

If the answer’s no, then you owe it to yourself to go through this training because you will get some major insights about what you should and should not be doing. If you jive and resonate with what we’re talking about, then the next step that you’ll see from that presentation is to book a call with us. We’ll get on the phone with you, and we’ll walk you through how we can help you, and how you can, at the minimum, get from where you are to where you want to be, and really put that plan together for you and your business.

If that’s of interest to you and you’re committed and serious to really taking things to the next level in your business, then go to healthrpreneurgroup.com/training.

That’s all for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. I know these four ways will really help you get a lot more clear and focused on what matters most in your business. If you’ve enjoyed this, remember to subscribe to the Healthpreneur Podcast because we’ve got lots of amazing solo rounds, coaching call episodes, and interviews coming your way to help you really build an amazing health coaching business. In the meantime, have an amazing day. Continue to go out there, be great, and do great, and I’ll see you in our next episode.

Transcription

Hey, hey. What’s up. Welcome back to the show. Yuri here and hope you’re having a great day. We’ve got a great guest on today’s show as we always do. His name is James Schmachtenberger a really, really cool name. I love German last names, they’re so cool. I love the German language in general but anyways, he’s American, he lives in San Diego. He’s an entrepreneur, educator and social activist in the wellness and technology fields and you may know him or may not know him as one of the founders of the Neurohacker Collective team which is as you’ll discover in our conversation, a pretty amazing company doing some pretty amazing things.

You might be most familiar with their product called Qualia which is a groundbreaking new tropic supplement designed to optimize cognitive and emotional capacity across a broad spectrum of abilities. Now, here’s the cool thing about James. He has a really interesting up bringing. He was home schooled from a young age in Fairfield Iowa which is a hub of transcendental meditation and that led him into an interest in interest for mindfulness and so forth.

He ends up managing a book company in his teens, buys a naturopathic college when he was just 18 years old which he ran for nearly a decade and we’re going to talk about how all this happened and some of the things he had to go through to make that happen and the lessons learned but he’s really, really cool.

A really cool history, a really cool story and what I love about our conversation is that James is very, very focused on building a business and doing good in the world that again, is mission driven. It’s not about profits, it’s not just about money. Yes, that’s important but coming from a place of service and I think you’ll really enjoy this episode to pick up on the lessons he’s learned and the lessons that I think will help you as well.

Oh, yeah and he’s a TEDx speaker so not too bad at all. Anyways, with any further ado let’s welcome James Schmachtenberger to the podcast. James welcome to the Healthpreneur podcast. How’s it going?

James S.:                              It’s going great. Thanks for having me on.

Yuri Elkaim:                         You’re very welcome. I’m excited to dive in because you are one of the founders of a really successful brand and company called the Neurohacker Collective.  Quickly tell our audience what that is if they haven’t heard or seen the ads all over the internet.

 

‘The Neurohacker Collective’, what they focus on, and the products they develop

James S.:                              Yeah. Neurohacker collective is a company that we founded to essentially take a complex system science approach to understanding and addressing both physiological challenges as well as moving in the direction of human optimization. Our focus as a whole modeling new types of science to be able to have greater impact in both addressing challenges and moving people in the direction that they want. Then what we’re most known for is our product called Qualia which a broad spectrum cognitive enhancer which is the domain that we began focusing in.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool. What other products have you developed since then?

James S.:                              The first long period of the company, we really focused predominantly on brain function. Everything we’ve put out today is within that domain but we actually just finished development on new products geared towards increasing energy,  increasing the cognitive function, supporting a better ATP production et cetera for improving cellular overall health and hopefully moving in the direction of life extension and so that product right now is going into testing with plans of coming out around the end of this year and then we’re now in development on products that are gonna be focused on both sleep and anxiety as our next two major domains.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Very cool. That’s great. We’ve had a lot of people on this show who have supplements, physical products, it’s always cool to hear the journey of how that all started or the trials and tribulations of having this type of business. You guys have a pretty cool collective of some pretty smart people on the team and in the company. How did you go about-

James S.:                              Yeah.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Sorry, go ahead. Did we just get cut off James?

James S.:                              Yeah, I lost you audio-wise for just a moment. Could you repeat the question?

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yes, sorry. I was saying that you guys have a pretty cool collective of some pretty awesome experts in this space and when we look at the market of supplements or nootropics or physical products, how did you guys look at … I guess from a marketing perspective, how did you guys look at what was out there or did you guys look at what was out there to look at, “Okay, how do we make this better? How do we make it unique?” What was the thinking process in that with Qualia I guess and is that the same process you guys are now taking with your other products?

 

James tells us the process his company takes when developing their amazing products.

James S.:                              Yeah, that’s a good question. I think for us, part of what’s actually made us successful is that we didn’t think about any of this through a lens of marketing. We didn’t start the company based on looking at where there was a hole in the market or where we thought we could differentiate from that stand point. We really started more from a stand point of wondering how we could be of greater service. Myself and the other co-founders of the company have all spent much of our lives focused on different kinds of non profit endeavors and writing think tanks focused on judging large scale global issues and it was from that sort of place that the company rose.

The experiences that I had a number of years ago, one thing that became very evident were the number of problems that are facing the world are far exceeding the amount of people that are working on addressing them and the amount of resources that are present in that domain and that if we wanted to make a substantial change, we couldn’t just address individual issues but we actually had to increase the number of people who both had the capacity and the drive to wanna address the hard problems and so that brought about the question of was there a means through chemistry, through supporting people’s mind, brain et cetera that we could profoundly increase their intelligence, their capacity, their motivation.

One of the keys that we were looking at is could we increase people’s ability to empathize, to understand and feel interconnectedness so that as they begin to become more intelligent and more capable or motivated, there’s an intrinsic orientation to use that motivation not only for personal gain but also for the greater good. That was the impetus behind why we set out to do this.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I love it. It’s refreshing too because there are people that … not that there’s a right or wrong way to do it but it’s nice to have a perspective of coming from more of a mission driven place, of being of greater service than about, alright, what’s the average order value on this, how do we really hit this out of the park which I’m sure is part of the discussion but it’s nice to have that foundation come from that intention of mission driven.

James S.:                              Right. Yeah, I mean absolutely there’s unquestionably business elements and that always has to get brought to bear. For us, the recognition was that if we were gonna actually deliver on the mission in any meaningful scale, we had to have a lot of resources backing us to do that and that meant we had to build a very successful and profitable company in order to continually advance our research and be able to bring more support and solutions out to the world. The two are for sure tied.

 

Some important factors in his upbringing that helped James with his incredible entrepreneurial endeavors at such a young age

Yuri Elkaim:                         You’ve got an interesting upbringing. Your mid-teens you were managing a book company, and you bought a naturopathic college in San Diego when you were 18 years old and ran that for nearly a decade. Most teenagers are not doing that kind of stuff. What happened? How were you influenced by entrepreneurial parents? You mentioned growing up in the TM, transcendental community in Fairfield Iowa. Was your upbringing an important factor in those entrepreneurial endeavors in your teenage years and then eventually to where you are now?

Absolutely. I would say less from an entrepreneurial standpoint though and more from an education standpoint. I mean, there is no question, I was definitely exposed to entrepreneurial thinking growing up. Both my parents had started their own companies and I worked with them as a kid and I had those exposures, but I think the thing that was probably the most relevant and important was that I was fortunate to come up with a deep for and desire to learn. Both my brother and I went to school part of the time and then we were home schooled off and on. As a whole, I was home schooled more than I went to traditional school and without a formal structure to the education.

We didn’t have periods where we would sit down and study Math or study English. One of the aspects of educational philosophy that came out was the recognition that children have a very natural curiosity about life and if we can tap into that curiosity and be able to support it, then it’ll unfold in unknown and often remarkable ways and so I was really fortunate that whatever it was that I had interest in, my parents started to design ways for me to get more involved in it and to study it and not just increase my desire to learn, but my desire to contribute, and some of the ways in which that showed up early on was that different aspects of what I was curious about also led into activism.

Part of my education as a kid was going door to door, raising money for Green Peace and human rights campaigns and things like that and so that sort of got imprinted at a very deep level and so then as I grew up, I just had this really strong passion to continue to learn and then to use what I was learning to serve and that played into what is now been starting quite a number of companies over the years.

 

How James bought a college when he was only 18

Yuri Elkaim:                         Talk to me about some of the lessons, if you can even distinguish them between the different things I’m about to mention. What are the lessons that you learned from going door to door, asking people for donations? What’s the lesson you learned from running a naturopathic college at 18 years old? What is the lesson you learned and took through life from being exposed and practicing transcendental meditation from an early age?

James S.:                              Yeah, great questions. As far as doing the door to door work, part of it was as a kid, going door to door trying to raise money for the environment, I just thought that this would be a universally appreciated thing that everyone would care about the environment and it turned out that I was wrong and there was a lot of people with very differing view points and they also have stuff that the idea of the environment was just some hippy thing.

Getting exposed to a lot of different ways of thinking and different mental frames, gave me an option to understand the diversity that’s present in the world and to step outside of my bubble and that any time I think something is just a given that I’m likely alienating some large percentage of the population and creating a disconnect that it’s important to actually take the time to understand the world from all its different lenses if you wanna make sense of it. I think that was one of the key things. Then another big lesson there was just that rejection doesn’t matter that much. Going door to door raising money, you get turned down far more often than you get yeses and it can be something that can really be demoralizing or you can recognize that it’s just sort of an odds game and decide to not get discouraged and continue to go and hit up the next door and inevitably make your goals.

Those were some of the key things that I think I got to learn in that area. As far as the college goes, that was unquestionably one of the biggest learning experiences of my life. As you can imagine, buying a college at 18 was sort of a big undertaking and very much shifted the way that the rest of my life unfolded.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Can I ask you how you had the money to buy a college? Were you washing cars from the age of five to save up this money or did you get a lot of people involved to raise those funds.

James S.:                              No, I absolutely had to get a lot of people involved. I was 18, I had my first credit card so I put down a $1,500 deposit on my credit card just to buy me time and it was one of those things where I was just utterly clear that this is what I needed to do with the next phase of my life and there was so much passion around it that not achieving it wasn’t really gonna be an option and so after I had the conversation with the founder of the school, I gave him the deposit, I went home and I just wrote out a list of everyone that I had met in my life that seemed to have more money than they actually needed.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Who was on the list?

James S.:                              And then the next morning I just started going down the list and calling every single person. I was like, “Hey, I know I haven’t spoken to you in 15 years but I’m buying a college and I really need a loan.”

Yuri Elkaim:                         That’s awesome.

James S.:                              As you can imagine, a lot of people didn’t think that was the greatest idea but it actually worked out. It only took about four or five days of just back to back phone calls before I had enough money raised to be able to close the deal.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Can I ask you, what was it about the people that backed you, what was it about them that they saw potential in this for them? Was it something about you or the investment opportunity or both? What was unique about those individuals and that relationship with them?

James S.:                              I think that for a number of them, they were just excited to see passion and they wanted to support that and I think the majority of the people probably didn’t ever expect to see the money back again but they just wanted to encourage and were excited by the kind of passion that was present. There was one person in particular though that kind of stood out. There was a man that I got introduced to during that time who was a retired CPA and he was in his late 70s and I ended up getting him to put up a loan for about half of what I had to get together and not only did he put up a loan but he actually then stepped in and became a mentor to me for the first few years and helped me understand finances and how to balance books and all that.

Again, I think his drive was passion because he was a seasoned financial guy. I think he could probably tell that this wasn’t the best choice from just a straight economic standpoint to give a bunch of money to an 18 year old but it made a huge difference and if it wasn’t for him taking a risk on me and for the desire to mentor, I don’t know that that would’ve become an option so I think that has always stood out to me as an area that I’ve wanted to serve and make sure that when other people were up and coming in entrepreneurship especially around health and wellness that if there is the ability to lend a helping hand or mentor or take a risk on people that it’s often very worth doing.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, that’s awesome. I’m wondering if there would’ve been a different outcome had you been 40 years old asking for the same thing.

James S.:                              Absolutely.

 

Advice that James would give to somebody that is starting their own company

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. There’s something about this like you wanna support those younger people, you wanna support that dream. That’s really cool. A lot of what you do now is very mission driven and what advice do you give to somebody who’s starting their own company whether it’s supplement based, whether it’s in the health and fitness space or not. What advice do you give to them to help them succeed considering that most businesses don’t enjoy the type of success that you’ve enjoyed?

James S.:                              Right. I think the main thing … there’s of course all kinds of business tips and tricks and the best ways to market and all kinds of stuff along those lines and for the most part, I don’t think any of that matters that much. I think what matters in order to have success is to do something that is something you can be deeply proud of and that is really uniquely you. Not to focus on where is there just a hole in the market or where can I label the next product and hopefully market it effectively but what can I do that actually takes the life lessons that I’ve learned that takes into account my unique propensities and how do I turn that into something that can make a difference.

That’s really where I think the success comes from because as most of us know that have been in entrepreneurial ventures for a while, sometimes it can be quite difficult and there has to be a reason to push through the difficulties other than just money otherwise, you may very well push through for the purposes of money but that doesn’t tend to be very fulfilling especially over a long period and so I think what matters the most is find a way that you feel like you can most uniquely contribute and where you can wake up each morning feeling excited and passionate about the way that you get to serve people and then do that thing and do it full out.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Some people talk about … like customers, clients, they don’t care about you, they just care about their own problems and desires and how do you see that fitting in with kind of sharing your message, building a company built around a big why instead of just focusing on problem solution. Are they mutually exclusive or do you think they work together?

James S.:                              No, I think they work together. This idea that clients don’t necessarily care about you, they care about whatever their challenge is so part of the mission is to serve that challenge. Most of the challenges are not entirely unique to a single individual, they follow certain principles that are challenges across large numbers of people and so if you’re serving those challenges you’re giving the clients exactly what they need and able to be oriented around the mission that can be deeply compelling.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. That makes sense. We’ve spoken to a few people in our space who, they kinda … they’re struggling with, “Okay, I don’t want this to be about me, I don’t want this to be about my mission,” which they’re passionate about it but at the same time, they’re like, “Customers don’t care about my story. They’re just care about their thing, their problem, their challenge.” But I do agree with you that weaving the two together is very important and I find that in some cases, some people even go off on the other end where it’s like it’s all about them, it’s all about their story, it’s all about how cool they are and they forget about their customers altogether in some way, shape or form.

 

Social media and why your goal should be impact over ego

James S.:                              If the mission is just to bring attention to yourself and your story there’s probably something off because ultimately it should be about what are the outcomes that you’re able to achieve? How are you able to actually create value into the world and to the extent that telling your story furthers that, then that should be a big piece of it but if you create a company where there’s no individual personality attached to it and there really is just a set of products or services that can make a big difference and that’s what is compelling people then focus on that.

The goal should impact first and wanting to get an individual story out less unless that actually the necessary piece. Obviously, some people who have these deeply inspiring personal stories where sharing of the story is actually what’s creating motivation for their audience but outside of a dynamic like that, let the desire to tell a personal story be secondary to what outcome you’re trying to achieve.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah. I wonder if that’s getting more clouded nowadays especially considering the rise of “the influencer“, right? Instagram and it’s like, “Hey, here’s how cool I look. Here’s a picture of my butt.”

James S.:                              I just said, have you been looking at my Instagram again?

Yuri Elkaim:                         No, but it’s so funny because … I mean, it’s so interesting. If you’re spending a lot of your time obviously within any environment you become a reflection of that eventually and it’s like, okay, this person has 10 million follower and is posting pictures of them in a bikini. In my mind, how is that really … how is that a business? How is that solving people’s problems? How is that inspiring people? I think it’s important to take it in context and just take it with a grain of sand or a grain of salt and really focus on what matters most which is serving people instead of serving your own ego or narcissistic desires.

James S.:                              Yeah, and I do agree it’s becoming an increasingly harder challenge with the fact that social media is such a huge part of our lives and that there’s now a structural orientation from the technology we use around becoming more narcissistic, it’s actually a thing that has to be worked on otherwise, it just seems to occur and it doesn’t really cause any benefit. No matter how many followers you have, if what they’re doing is basically just celebrating you as an individual, that’s not … it can feel good but it’s not clear where that’s gonna actually provide real value to people and I know a lot of people, they get into that space and they’re like, “Oh, I just wanna inspire people to live like me.”

Which is a beautiful concept although it’s actually deeply unsustainable if large percentages of the population were to stop doing the things that they’re doing and just focus on having fun and taking photos of themselves in the process, that doesn’t actually become a sustainable model for the world, that they’re then utilizing a lot more resources than it contributes so I think that letting go of some of the propensities to just wanna be celebrated and instead focus on the ways of contribution and then allow being celebrated for that to just be something that naturally evolves.

Yuri Elkaim:                         A lot of people talk about would you rather be rich or famous? I think most people would rather be famous than rich for the sake of wanting to be adored by others but when we’re talking about being rich, the way I see money is only ever a by product of impact. The more impact you create, the more contribution you have, the more money you make as a result of that and so I agree with you.

Focusing on really being in service needs to be first and foremost with any business because I think that’s the purpose of business is to be of service to a segment of the market in some way, shape or form. Yeah, it’s an interesting time we live in and it’s … I think it obviously can be used for good but it can be like with anything, it can be used for not so good. Yeah.

James S.:                              Well, to what you’re talking to, I think there’s actually … from a financial standpoint there’s a long term sustainability around that approach that doesn’t show up in most of the normal approaches to business. Most of business is oriented around how do you make as much money as possible regardless of the consequence and though that can turn quite a lot of profit in the short term, it isn’t something that tends to work over a long duration very well.

Throughout my career, I’ve focused very much on making sure that the people that I worked with were not only well taken care of financially but that they felt really supported and honored and appreciated for the work that they were doing and one of the things that’s been really fortunate is that as I’ve progressed and done different and larger ventures over the years, pretty much everyone that I’ve worked with regardless of the capacity it was in, has wanted to move forward and continue to work together and that makes the ability to continually progress and do bigger and better things far easier when you have that kind of loyal [inaudible 00:27:49] and that only happens when you treat people well.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Are you a sports fan?

James S.:                              I’m not. I love playing sports but I’ve never gotten around to watching them.

 

Yuri’s quick analogy/lesson about Toronto FC and why it’s better to do things for the long-term

Yuri Elkaim:                         I’m going to  give you a quick analogy that resonates with me. I played soccer my whole life up until I was 25 and in Toronto, we have a team called Toronto FC which were the MLS champions from last year and Toronto has been in the MLS which is the soccer league in North America for 10 or 11 years. They were the worst team for about seven of those years. Dead last, teams would love to go to play them just to get the points and the challenge in those first seven years is that every single year, there was a new coach, sometimes two in the same season, new players all the time, there was no consistency, it was all short term thinking, very much like a political campaign and it’s only like for the short term.

Then the upper management made a decision to say, “Listen, we’re gonna make a decision to have some stability. We’re gonna think about the long term in spite of the short term consequences.” Which may be a lack of results or whatever it might be and they did that four or five years ago. They brought in one coach. That same coach is still the head coach. They brought in a number of key players. Those key players are still there and they’ve brought in a few players who are in there to support them that have been a bit different over the years but for the most part, they have had a … I’d say 80% has been in terms of the personnel and the team has been the same and they’ve arguably been now named as of last year the best team of all time in the MLS.

I think it goes back to what you’re talking about here is really doing things that are better for the long term in spite of the fact that maybe tomorrow you’re not gonna see the results but being that long term vision and sticking to that I usually think in most cases is going to lead to better outcomes for business, for personal welfare or whatever it might be and so I just kind of thought of sharing that as you we’re talking about this kind of longer term vision approach.

James S.:                              Yeah, and I think that’s a great example and absolutely agree that sometimes it can be a bit of a slower burn when you take a bigger picture longer term approach but inevitably, it allows you to create far better results and usually far more profitable companies and it just takes a little bit longer but ends up doing it in much more sustainable and ultimately fulfilling ways.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and I think there’s a lot of people too who start off as starting off with a lifestyle business where they want to live like the Laptop lifestyle and they live in Thailand for a couple of months and they travel the world and probably every single person I know who’s lived that type of lifestyle eventually gets to the points where they’re like, “You know what? I wanna build something more meaningful.” It’s not about setting affiliate traffic to a specific product anymore, it’s about how do I build a culture, how do I build a legacy type of business that is about something I really believe in as a bigger mission? It’s funny how almost everyone that I’m aware of that has lived that Laptop lifestyle eventually comes full circle to be like, “What kind of legacy do I wanna leave.”

Yuri Elkaim:                         I think it is an important question for all of our listeners to really think about. It’s not just about making money, it’s not just about having all the freedom in the world because correct me if I’m wrong James, maybe you feel this too, if you love what you do, you don’t really need to take a vacation from your work all the time. Sure there’s some balance but it’s like if you do what … if you’re in the business doing the stuff you love to do, it’s very different from being in a business doing stuff you hate doing and if you can find that balance, I think that’s really where a lot of the sweet spot happens in terms of personal fulfillment and then obviously the impact you create within the business as well as out into the world.

James S.:                              Yeah, absolutely. Totally in agreement.  I did the lifestyle thing for most of two years worked maybe five hours a week-

Yuri Elkaim:                         Four hour work week.

James S.:                              Yeah, and there’s no question. It was super fun and I was doing spartan races every month and I was having a great time and there was definitely a desire that was building more and more to be able to contribute in much larger fashions and so I considered that a reset period and then dove in.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, and it’s probably important to go through that because otherwise, you don’t have the contrast or you don’t know what you want or what you don’t like and so everything happens for us, right? Everything’s a journey and it’s all meant to be so … James, this has been really, really insightful. Are you ready for the rapid five?

James S.:                              I believe so.

 

The Rapid Five

Yuri Elkaim:                         Okay. Five rapid fire questions. Whatever answer is top of mind is probably the right answer so here we go. Number one, what is your biggest weakness?

James S.:                              Organization.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Number two. What is your biggest strength?

James S.:                              Deeply caring about the world around me.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Nice. Number three what’s one skill you become dangerously good at in order to grow your business?

James S.:                              I’ll say attention to detail.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool. Number four. What do you do first thing in the morning?

James S.:                              Take Qualia. It’s true.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Yeah, awesome. Finally, complete this sentence. I know I’m being successful when …

James S.:                              I wake up excited about what I’m gonna do that day.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Awesome. Wicked. James, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. This has been a lot of fun. What is the best place for our listeners to stalk you online, obviously not stalk you but follow you and learn more about Qualia and the Neurohacker Collective?

James S.:                              Well, personally I can be found on Facebook, James Schmachtenberger but I would say the main place would be to check out neurohacker.com.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool. That’s a great URL by the way. I’m sure that wasn’t just hanging around.

James S.:                              No. That took some hunting and a decent amount of money to get a hold of that.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I bet. Awesome. We’ll be sure to link up to those links for you guys in the show notes. James, once again, thank you so much for being with us on the show and just a word of appreciation for your commitment to just really doing good in the world because I think everyone listening here can really get a sense of the fact that you have a mission of caring for people, for this world and for doing work that is meaningful and being able to have that type of impact so thank you so much for showing up as who you are and doing the work that you do.

James S.:                              Thank you and I appreciate you having me. This was good.

 

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Yuri’s Take

Boom! Hope you enjoyed that one today guys. Fun conversation. I know we had a couple little audio distractions in there but it’s all good. We got the message across and hopefully you felt inspired by James’ message. Again, if you wanna check out their stuff, really, really cool products. If you’re somebody who wants enhanced cognitive function and you’re into the whole bio-hacking and neurohacking improved brain function type of space, check out Qualia. I haven’t personally used it yet but I know a number of friends who use it and really enjoy it so check it out.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, we’ve got lots more good stuff coming your way including some solo rounds. We’re also starting to introduce some more mindset based conversations with our results coaches. These are the coaches that help our clients get great results in their businesses and every week we’re gonna be bringing up discussions about what are some of the challenges that these people are dealing with, our clients but also everyone else who runs their own business and we’re gonna dissect them, we’re gonna give some really cool pointers and some actionable tips and strategies to help you improve your mind, become more unstoppable, more confident to really move forward with your business.

We’re going to be injecting some more of those audios. More of those sessions into the podcast in the coming weeks so don’t go anywhere. We’ve got lots of good stuff coming your way to help you take your business to the next level. Again, be sure to subscribe to the Healthpreneur podcast on iTunes. While you’re there, be sure to leave a five star rating review if you’ve enjoyed this and I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. In the meantime, continue to go out there, be great, do great and we’ll see you then.

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Transcription

Hey guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Healthpreneur podcast, a solo round addition and today we’re talking about seven rules for building a successful health coaching business.

 

My history in this industry, results, and why longevity matters

I’m very blessed to have built two 7-figure, multiple 7-figure businesses over the past almost 13 years now. It’s been an amazing ride, ups and downs, lots of lessons learned. And I don’t want to blow my own horn, but I need to tell you that there are very few people who have been around since 2006 when I started, who’ve had the success that I’ve enjoyed to be able to be in a position to now coach and teach others.

There’s a lot of people and I’m not discounting or putting down anyone, you just want to be careful who you’re getting advice from because there’s a lot of people who have like one great year and all of a sudden are coaching other people how to build a business.

One of the things that I’ve recognized is that longevity really matters. There’s a very big difference between having one year of good results and having 13 years of good results. And what I want to share with you in this episode are seven rules that I’ve uncovered over this time that is really going to help you build specifically a very profitable and successful coaching business.

Now, these same rules will apply if you’re selling a product. So it doesn’t really matter if you’re selling coaching or products, these same rules apply. And without any further ado, shall we jump into them? All right, let’s do this.

 

Solve A Major Pain or Problem

So rule number one is you need to be able to solve a major pain or problem. That’s the fundamental reason for existence for a business. A businesses should only exist to solve problems and make life better, easier for their clients or customers. So if you’re not solving a major pain or problem for people, then you’re not going to be doing very well in business. Ideally a business, a product, a service, an offering should really be a ‘must have’, instead of a ‘nice to have’. And so what we’ve typically seen over the years is that wherever there’s a lot of pain and urgency, you’re going to have better results in terms of enrollments or conversions. So that’s the first thing, is you need to solve a major pain or problem.

 

Provide The Best Solution

The second rule is that you need to provide a unique solution or one solution that’s 10 times better than what currently exists.

There’s a really good book called Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz. I don’t even know if it’s sold anymore, it’s probably like $900 on Amazon, but it’s one of the only copywriting books/direct response books that I have that I strongly recommend everyone devour. One of the elements in that book, and this is something we talk about with our clients a lot, is when you work in a sophisticated market like the health and fitness industry, you can’t just come up with another weight loss offer, another weight loss product, another supplement that’s the same as everyone else’s. I’m still baffled by how some people who’ve been in business for a long time, I’m still amazed with the fact that we come up with stuff that is like, “Why would you do that?” Like it’s exactly the same as this other thing. The only difference is that they have a following, so they’re basically selling the same thing to their existing following.

But for most people, if you don’t have a large established following, you need to be able to create something that’s going to stand out, and when people are exposed to it, they’re going to be like, “Wow, this is different. I’ve never seen this before.” Or, “This is way better than what currently exists.”

So let’s look at an example. Let’s look at Apple. I have Mac everything and just recently bought some AirPods, which are the wireless headphones. Now for the longest time I never understood why apple did what they were doing I think post Steve Jobs. Before I get to the AirPods, let’s talk about the iPhone for a second. I wouldn’t say I’m an early adopter, so I’m not one of those guys who lines up days in advance to get the new iPhone, but my wife bought me the iPhone X for Christmas. And I had a 6S before that. And I was extremely grateful for my wife for buying the phone, but it’s a thousand dollar phone and I’m thinking to myself, “The 6S was honestly amazing.”

I mean the camera obviously is better on the iPhone X, but I like the 6S because it’s smaller, it’s more nimble, it’s lighter. I actually use it still for my workout or if I’m running. I don’t carry around my iPhone X when I’m doing stuff like that because it’s so big and bulky.  I mean obviously they’re a trillion dollar valuation company, so I can’t really speak poorly about what they’re doing, but I’m saying like what they’re bringing out are products that are marginally better than previous versions of the same products. Right? “Oh cool, a unique color with this one.” Or, “This one has a slightly better camera.” Like these are things that you can’t really get away with unless you’re Apple. And you’ve got to come to the market with something that is going to blow people’s minds.

So let’s look at the AirPods as an example. This, I believe is a breakthrough solution. I bought them because I was sick and tired of working out with the frigging wire getting stuck between my shorts and the handlebars on my fly wheel bike and I’m like, “It’d be so much easier if I just had wireless headphones. Oh my God, why don’t I get some AirPods?” And so the AirPods were able to solve that, but they were also able to solve another big problem which is being able to have conversations via Skype or zoom without being attached physically to my computer, and even taking phone calls a lot easier. And I didn’t have to use all sorts of different headphones all the time. So this is an example of a solution that is so much better than what currently exists.

Now, don’t let this dissuade you from moving forward with what it is you’re coming out with, because the reality is most of us are not developing AirPods. The majority of us are selling a weight loss program, some sort of coaching program that is going to be geared towards a specific outcome and it might very well be similar to other things that are out there.  Don’t look at the competition, don’t worry about what they are doing. Don’t copy them, don’t try to do anything in relation to what they’re doing.

You have to have a general understanding of what’s out there in the marketplace, and without getting caught in the weeds and analysis paralysis, you need to figure out, “Okay, I know my clients, I know my audience. What would best serve them?” Or, “If I am my perfect client, what would I want?” And create that. So either you’re providing a unique solution to the marketplace or you’re making something that’s currently out there better in terms of the ability to get results for your clients. So that’s the second rule.

 

Commanding A Higher Price

Third, is you need to price for coaching or products higher than anyone else. I really believe you have to become a Rolls Royce,  or The Four Seasons Hotel of your business, of your marketplace, if you’re selling supplements, sell them three times higher than what everyone else is selling them for.

If you’re selling coaching, don’t ever, ever discount your time, because it’s not going to be worth it. You cannot sell a coaching program for less than a thousand dollars. It’s not worth it in the slightest. If you’re walking people through, supporting them, holding them accountable, and really making sure they get the results, you should be charging a minimum of $3,000 for whatever the duration is. And the duration should ideally be less than three months.

Do not make the mistake of comparing yourself to what other people are pricing at, and using that as, “Okay, I got to price that around what they’re doing.” There’s always going to be a segment of any market, whether it’s dog stuff or workout stuff or sex toys or travel. There’s always going to be a percentage of any market that wants the best.

And usually a higher price means the best. Because you can’t get away with ripping people off if you’re coaching them. If you’re charging $5,000 to help somebody overcome years of emotional eating and you don’t produce results for people, we’re not going to be in business very long, right? So you need to price your coaching based on the results, the outcome that you can get for your clients. So you should be premium priced all the time.

 

Showing You Care

Number four is show your clients that you actually care. What I love about coaching is that it’s all about going deeper with people not wider. It’s not about acquiring 100,000 customers and hoping that like 100 of them get results. It’s working with let’s say 50 clients and all 50 of them get amazing results. And when you’re charging a premium price, that’s pretty lucrative, right? If you’re charging $5,000 a client and you’re working with 50 clients over the course of a year, that’s a $250,000 business. And acquiring 50 clients is not impossible. It’s actually very feasible if it’s done properly. Now attracting 100,000 customers, buying a $10 ebook, very different proposition. I don’t recommend that at all. So show your clients that you actually care by helping them. Work closely with them. Send them ‘Thank you’ cards. Do things that are just kind of showing them that you’re thinking of them, that they feel appreciated. It’s not rocket science, but this is a big place most businesses drop the ball.

 

Make Your Clients Your Number One Priority

Number five is tied back into pricing, which is make your client’s results their number one priority. Here’s the nice thing about how we help our clients, is when you have a predictable marketing system that can almost automatically bring in new clients on a daily basis if you wanted, you don’t have to spend as much time on the front end attracting new clients. Which means most of your time is now spent on how can I help my clients get a better result? And the more you improve things, the more you make your program better, the more you get results for your clients, the more you can charge as well. So if you’re increasing the price over time in your program, it’s not because you want to add an extra zero, it’s because you’ve now figured out a way to make it better and by better I mean it helps your clients get better outcomes. So you have to be focused on getting your clients results, otherwise you’re not in business.

Use Simplified Frameworks

Number six, coach using frameworks that simplify complex ideas. I think most people who are experts have the ability to take complex ideas and simplify them. That’s my superpower. That’s a lot of people’s super powers who are health and fitness experts. How do you take this amazingly complex organism called the human body and help people understand how to make it work in a very simple manner? Most people don’t care about the physiology, they don’t care about how things were working, they just want the results. So you need to figure out when you’re coaching people, put the complexity into very simple frameworks that a six year old could understand.

Frameworks are going to give people a fundamental understanding of the building blocks that go into creating a result. And they should be duplicatable stuff. One person follows this framework, it should be the same as somebody else who’s following it as well. So I’m a huge believer in using frameworks because frameworks empower people. When we give somebody the fish, we rob them of the ability to figure things out on their own. But frameworks, we help people learn how to fish, and that empowers them and makes them a better version of themselves, which is what a whole coaching relationship is in the first place. It’s not about doing the work for them, it’s about preparing them for the world ahead, the challenges, the obstacles, the mindset. Really building them up to be better humans.

 

Ask more, teach less, and ask prompting questions

And finally, along with that is number seven. The seventh rule is ask more and teach less. This is a big mistake that I’ve made and I continue to make, if I’m very honest with you, is I like talking. I think most of us love to hear our own voice and we’ve got so much stuff to share. So if you’re doing a coaching call, a lot of times people are coming up with a problem and we tend to jump in with the answer. We tend to jump in with the solution, “Okay, here’s what I think you should do.” And that’s a very, very strong tendency for almost all coaches that I’ve ever worked with and helped. And this is something I’ve had to catch myself even as recent as yesterday, is instead of me jumping in and giving the solution, it’s let them speak for a second and then ask them a question that’s going to help them figure out the answer themselves.Because if they can figure out the answer to their own problems now, that’s cemented in the nervous system a lot more effectively than if we just tell them what to do.

Again, there’s a great book, it’s called The Coaching Habit and I wish I could remember the author’s names. I can’t, but it’s called The Coaching Habit. Another quick read. It’s a really good book. It gives you seven simple questions and powerful questions really to ask your coaching clients. And one of the questions that I love from these seven questions goes along the lines of this, “What specifically do you need help with?” Just that question helps clarify where they need help. Because a lot of times people are just like rambling and say, “Okay, what’s the specific issue? What specifically do you need help with?” Now let’s say they clarify that and they give it to you. “All right, I’m not too sure how to get up in the morning, get motivated to workout”, whatever it is. Instead of jumping and saying, “Well, here’s what you should do”, you might ask a probing question like, “Well why do you think that is?” And then they can go on and go and talk about it and then you can ask him another question which might be like, “And what else?”

So all we’re doing is we’re asking prompting questions that are going to help them kind between the two of us, but mostly on them facilitate an answer that they’re coming up with. And obviously in certain cases, there is a time where you jump in and you kind of give your advice, but really try to reserve that and let the client really figure things out. It shouldn’t be easy all the time for them. They need to go through this work.

 

A recap of the rules and how we can help map out your path

So those are the seven rules to building a successful coaching business. Let me just recap them real quick. Number one, solve major problem. Number two, provided unique solution or something that’s 10 times better than what exists. Three, price higher. Four, show the clients you actually care. Five, make their results number one priority. Six, coaches and frameworks. Seven, ask more, teach less. Cool?

Now, if you want help building out a coaching program and a business that’s successful for you, once again, you know where to go. We’ve got a great training called the 7-Figure Health Business Blueprint. We’re going to walk you through the whole thing.

Just go to healthpreneurgroup.com/training.

If you like what you see, you’ll be able to book a call with our team. Now we can get on the phone a few and really map out the best path for you and your business. Okay? So that’s what I’d like you to do right now.

Thank you so much for joining me. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, we’ve got lots more coming your way. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes to the Healthpreneur Podcast. In the meantime, thank you for joining me. Continue to be great to do great and I’ll see you on Wednesday.