Exiting Career After 25 Years and Living Internationally, with Rob Murgatroyd EP 1

In this episode, I talk with Rob Murgatroyd about how he left his medical practice after 25 years, lived internationally four months, then relocated to his dream home in California.

Rob Murgatroyd is a former doctor turned lifestyle entrepreneur. On his top-rated Work Hard Play Hard podcast, he interviews fascinating people on the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment. He also creates experiences around the globe for 6 & 7 figure entrepreneurs that get them out of their day to day and 10X their businesses. He lives in Hermosa Beach, CA with his wife, daughter, and surfboard.

More On Rob
On Instagram: @robmurgatroyd | @kimmurgatroyd
Experience: workhardplayhardexperience.com
Podcast: workhardplayhardpodcast.com
Coaching: https://workhardplayhardpodcast.com/coaching/

Mentioned in Show
Chris Harder: @chriswharder
For The Love Of Money Podcast
Lewis Howes: @lewishowes
Autumn Calabrese: @autumncalabrese

More On Thor
On Instagram: @thorchallgren

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Thor Challgren  00:04
Welcome to the Course Change podcast. My name is Thor Challgren. And every week I love sharing with you stories of people who have made a dramatic career change. We talk about the challenges they faced, the lessons they learned and the success they found on their own unique journey. Over the course of my own life, I've worked in multiple industries, from startups to corporations. The common factor in my work experience: the ability to adapt to change. If you're looking for insights and inspiration to thrive during change, you'll be glad you listened.

Thor Challgren  00:37
You know your mindset determines your success and happiness. If you win each moment, then you win your day and win the week. To maintain that success mindset, I've created the Win Your Week guide. It's a 7-dday plan with daily pages to plan with purpose, affirm your goals and celebrate your wins. The Win You Week guide is free. Just go to ThorChallgren.com/win. That's ThorChallgren.com/win. All right, let's dive into today's show.

Rob Murgatroyd  01:08
You are going to come up against roadblocks and obstacles. And if you are not passionate about what it is that you're doing, and you wouldn't do it all day for free, then you're not likely going to knock down the walls that you need to knock down to be able to accomplish the goals that you're after.

Thor Challgren  01:27
That is Rob Murgatroyd, my guest today on the Course Change podcast. Rob is the host of the Work Hard Play Hard podcast and the Work Hard Play Hard experience, where he curates once in a lifetime travel experiences for high performing businesspeople. Rob was a chiropractor for 25 years living in Atlanta, but over time, it just didn't light him up anymore. He'd always wanted to live in California, but the dream kept getting deferred. We talked about the mindset Rob developed to push through doubt and the specific steps he took to ultimately realize his dream. I hope you enjoy my interview with Rob Murgatroyd. 

Thor Challgren  02:10
Rob, it's great to speak with you. Thanks for being on the show today. 

Rob Murgatroyd  02:14
Dude, I am so freaking excited to be here. And I'm honored that you asked me.

Thor Challgren  02:18
Well, thank you. You know, I've been a longtime listener to your podcast. I love the work that you've done. It's really inspiring. In fact, I feel like if there's one person in the world that's responsible for my podcast besides me, it's you. So I really appreciate everything that you've done for me and excited for our conversation today.

Rob Murgatroyd  02:38
Man that makes me so happy. I'm so excited because I love- you have one of those brains. You're like, you're smart, you're calm, you're collective, and your ideas- It's like, I view you with this giant toolbox of ideas that you're constantly putting your hand in and pulling them out with just great gems. So, so thank you.

Thor Challgren  03:00
Oh, that's awesome. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, you know, as we talk today with the spring of 2020, obviously, we're in the middle of this unprecedented crisis that everyone in the world is dealing with. People are challenged, they're looking for hope, a better future, and you are someone who's made some dramatic changes in your life. So my perception is that your story is really going to be valuable to people who are looking for opportunities in their life to advance where they are. So I'm super excited for the talk.

Rob Murgatroyd  03:32
Yeah, me too. Me too. We can get get into any part of it that you want to know about. 

Thor Challgren  03:36
Perfect. Well, so you are in California, now. More on that later, but I thought I'd start by taking you back. 3000 miles, if you're okay with this to go back to the Atlanta area for a little bit. 

Rob Murgatroyd  03:47
No, it's sunny and beautiful here. No, not to Atlanta. But for the most part, it's been pretty darn nice.

Thor Challgren  03:54
Yeah. Well, you had a chiropractic clinic in a small town named Buford, if I'm correct, and this was the Sugar Hill Wellness Center.

Rob Murgatroyd  04:03
Sugar Hill Wellness, Yeah.

Thor Challgren  04:04
Nice. What originally inspired you to want to be a chiropractor?

Rob Murgatroyd  04:10
You know, I wish I had this amazing story of wanting to heal people. I just don't I just I'm always embarrassed by it. And everybody asked me because every chiropractor has these amazing stories of wanting to heal. I just didn't. I was- I grew up in in Queens in New York, my brother was going to law school, he was getting ready to graduate. And I said, You know, I don't know what I want to be. And he's like, Well, you know, why don't you be a chiropractor, they- you're into health, you're into fitness, they don't work that many hours, they make a ton of money. You know, if you're good at it, I think you'd be good. A lot of the chiropractors seem to have big personalities. I just feel like this would be a good profession for you. So I looked online, and I saw that there was a chiropractic school in Atlanta, Georgia, and it's called life- now it's called Life University at the time was Life Chiropractic College. And I flew down there to go check it out. And when I came from my parents' crappy two bedroom apartment in Queens to something- where they paid, you know, whatever $2,000 a month for. And then I went into this apartment, when I was going to the college there was like this little apartment community near the school. And it was brand new and it was big. And it was $300 a month and it was overlooking the swimming pool and everybody's fit. And I was like, Hell, I don't want to go back to Queens. Like I would way rather be here, because everything in the south is, you know, substantially cheaper than New York. And before I knew it, I was living down south and going to chiropractic school.

Thor Challgren  05:42
So the lifestyle really appealed to you compared to where you would come from.

Rob Murgatroyd  05:47
Yeah, that's exactly right. It was more of a lifestyle play than it was anything else. And it was just like in- you know, look, hindsight is always you know, 2020 and that's the time it was- You know, I'm 53 now. So I was, you know, whatever 20, my late 20s at the time and, and my head was just in a different place, I just, I didn't think I had the academic prowess to be a medical doctor. But I certainly wanted to have the significance of having the MD next to my name. At that time, I didn't feel like I could be a good dentist or podiatrist or one of the fringe guys. And I felt like even though chiropractors are sort of no knock to any chiropractor listening, but they're sort of sort of the redheaded stepchild of the medical industry, that I just felt like I could graduate to be a quote unquote, Doctor, you know, or at least have that in front of my name, and it'll give me the significance that I was looking for. It'll give me a nice career and I could just, you know, get an office in a retail location and just start my life and, and it was exactly what I asked for. I got I got the degree. I got the office. I got the money. I got the time. It was exactly, you know, be careful for what you wish for because it was exactly what I wished for. 

Thor Challgren  07:08
Right. And you were there for a while. And you started- if I understand, right, you started to look west. I gather you had an audition for a TV show on NBC-

Rob Murgatroyd  07:18
Yes.

Thor Challgren  07:18
Which could have resulted in you moving to California. You didn't. But I'm curious for a kid from Queens who lived in Georgia. What was your impression of Los Angeles at the time? What was the appeal of that destination to you at that point in your life?

Rob Murgatroyd  07:35
Well, I think I have to back up slightly because I've had a new realization as we're in that-  My wife and I are writing a book together called, "Stupid Idea Time" and as a as we're writing it, it's a very interesting cathartic process because it forces you to go back to different periods of your life and the more you go back, and your subconscious starts to work, it starts to trigger different memories of your life. And I had a memory years ago, where I was probably in my last year of high school, maybe first year college and I was dating a girl from the right side of the tracks, I was on the wrong side of the tracks and her dad did AV production. I've actually never told the story to anybody because it's brand new in my in my mind. Her dad did AV production. And he kind of took me under his wing. He was the father that I never had. And, you know, he said, hey, I've got an event in Beverly Hills where I'm going to be doing the audio for the Mobil Oil shareholders meeting. Would you like to come? And I was like, (joking) "No, I'd rather stay in my crappy apartment in Queens with my parents." No, yes, I want to go I'd love to go. And I went, and it was- it opened the world up in my mind. And I remember sitting on a little bench in Beverly Hills with him and we were next to- we were outside a restaurant. It was like an out of body experience. I go into the restaurant, sit down to the table. And next to me is Dean Martin, like, you know-

Rob Murgatroyd  09:03
Dean Martin. And I'm like, this is unbelievable like that, like I made it. I've made it. I'm in Hollywood.

Thor Challgren  09:09
You're rolling with the Rat Pack. 

Rob Murgatroyd  09:10
I'm rolling with the Rat Pack. This is incredible. And it was quite literally out of a movie. And when we left the restaurant, we sat outside on a, like a little bench and right in front of a traffic light. And he said, I said, these cars are unbelievable. Like, I've never I never saw that collection. You know, it's like you've been on Rodeo Drive.

Thor Challgren  09:28
Sure.

Rob Murgatroyd  09:28
You know what it's like.

Thor Challgren  09:29
I had a job working as a valet on Rodeo Drive.

Rob Murgatroyd  09:32
While they were there you go. So you drove some of the best in the world. And he said to me, he said, I bet every light we'll catch a Mercedes, a Porsche or a BMW. We sat there and must have been an hour. There was not a light that went by that didn't catch some high end car. And that moment for me, really was pivotal in my life because I linked up the father figure, California, success, possibility. And it was really one of those moments that was sort of very deep in my DNA. And I think that I have always- when I went back to Queens I think I was always trying to bring that picture more in focus in my life, if that makes sense.

Thor Challgren  10:18
It does. So I mean, to an extent you sort of got there circuitously.  You first went to Atlanta and got a little bit of what that life felt like, the warmth anyway, and eventually made it I had. I had a similar story where I came out here, simply because back in- and I remember this so clearly, 1976 watching the Rose Bowl game where UCLA was playing Ohio State and you know, at that time I was in Virginia was freezing cold. And watching the Rose Bowl game with the cheerleaders and the sunny skies and everything and I just that point on I said, that's where I'm going to college and that's where I ended up.

Rob Murgatroyd  10:57 
And you went to which college? 

Thor Challgren  11:00
UCLA.

Rob Murgatroyd  11:01
Oh, you went to UCLA. Wow. Interesting, interesting. Well, you know, this- there's a lot of buses that pull up from Kansas with a lot of people who come out with big dreams when they get to LA.

Thor Challgren  11:11
Yeah. Well, and we're going to talk a little bit about how you make those dreams into reality a little later. But so you're living in Atlanta in the early 2000s. And you and your wife created Jet Set life, which you basically traveled around the world and shot video and created a digital guidebook. So you had some success with that early on. Did you think at that time, like, this is our Four Hour Workweek exit strategy?

Rob Murgatroyd  11:35
I did. And I wrestled it to the ground, to my detriment. It was a stepping stone, as I now understand life to be. It was a stepping stone to get to where I am, but at that time, we were all in on it.

Rob Murgatroyd  11:49
So, so to set the stage I was probably practicing for 15 years, and I had a little bit of money in the bank, but I was a little growing weary of the profession of- the monotony of the profession of the insurance industry, of dealing with neck pain and back pain 24/7. It was just- it just started to become flat. So the way that I, you know, quote, medicated myself was to travel. And I would bring another doc in, who would not take care of the practice as well as I would, but it wouldn't completely break while I was gone. And Kim and I would just jump on the plane and we'd say, hey, let's go, let's go to Saint-Tropez, and we go to Saint-Tropez, and let's go, you know, to Marrakech or wherever and so we had these very organized trips, and it was around the time that I read the Four Hour Workweek. And Tim Ferriss, as many of your listeners will know coined the phrase, you know, create a muse. Right? The muse is the business that throws money off. So it's like, Okay, well, I love to travel, I am traveling, there's this new thing called YouTube that's out now, how do I create a muse and there in lied a thousand iterations. It started with doing a video travel show with, at the time, the state of the art, you know, video camera, which looked like a giant boombox from the 70s that was on my shoulder, right? It started with that. And then eventually it moves, you know, to a phone, like an iPhone, but we wound up shooting, I guess 30, quote unquote, travel shows. And we started developing a real name for ourselves. In fact, you know, there wasn't a time where we would take a trip to somewhere in Europe, because that's mostly where we we did our filming, where it was really surreal, where somebody would walk up on the street and say, Ohmygod, you guys are the Jet Set Life people. I follow you guys all the time. Can I take a picture with you? And it wound up being this very strange thing where we got a tremendous amount of acknowledgment.

Rob Murgatroyd  13:54
Our mutual podcaster, Lewis Howes, was a friend of mine at the time and you know, he was reaching out to me for advice on what he was going to do and- but we just hadn't figured out- I mean, we had exposure, but we didn't have a lot of money. And I was still having to do the chiropractic stuff. And it was like a little bit, you know, of a sham and the sham was, I'm making money in chiropractic, but I'm passionate about the Four Hour Workweek. And I'm spraying champagne in Saint-Tropez and people are reaching out and go, Well, how are you doing this? But I never wanted to say chiropractic, because then then they would draw the line, you know, oh, well, that makes sense. You're making money from chiropractic. And I'm what, you know much and you spend it. So they were reaching out to me, and they're like, Well, you know, how can I do this, but I wasn't really making enough money to be able to afford the hotels and the hotels we were getting, that we were getting were comped and it was like this convoluted, misaligned thing, where, on the surface, the videos looked incredible. The experiences looked incredible, but there was an authenticity to it that people could sense I believe, and they, they just they couldn't understand what they can do. 

Rob Murgatroyd  15:06
So then they started something called Jet Set Money, where I interviewed people about how they had muses, and you know how they threw off. And that started doing well, that was like, I don't know, 100 bucks a month or 200 bucks a month, something like that, where I started a membership site. And that started to do really well. And I said, Okay, well, so they want to learn how to do this. And so I don't want to keep going on and on. But that's that's sort of like what that stage of my life was like.

Thor Challgren  15:31
Right. And you mentioned, you're still at the chiropractic clinic during this time. And you had an idea to another way to sort of exit from this, which was to open 10 offices in 10 years and- and sell them and then live off of the income from that. That- I'm curious because you've said that idea was sort of you work that out with a chiropractic coach, do you see I mean, as you look back at that now, and you realize it wasn't the right path for you how if someone's working with someone, how do they know when advice they're getting is right for them?

Rob Murgatroyd  16:08
Well, that's a really, really great question and great research on your part. Yes. So let me tell the 10 offices in 10 years story quick for context. I was trying to figure out how I can get out of chiropractic. And that was like, Well, the only way I'm going to be able to get out of this is to be able to have enough money in income to be able to get out of this. So the coach that I always believe in coaching, and so I had a chiropractic coach at the time. And he said, Well, a lot of my clients just buy and sell offices. So you know, just open up, you know, the goal would be 10 offices, you sell them for this amount of money and you take that money, put it in the bank, and you'll get that much interest and you'll be able to replace your income. And so I was like, Okay, well makes sense for me, except for one thing. I hated chiropractic.

Thor Challgren  16:51
It wasn't your dream.

Rob Murgatroyd  16:52
It wasn't my dream. It wasn't what I wanted to do. And when- I don't care what you're doing. It doesn't matter if it's a podcast or if it's opening up 10 offices, you are going to come up against roadblocks and obstacles. And if you are not passionate about what it is that you're doing, and you wouldn't do it all day for free, then you're not likely going to knock down the walls that you need to knock down to be able to accomplish the goals that you're after. And I was so- I was so dispassionate about it, that when I would bring an associate doc into the office, and the way it worked was the associate doc would come in, they'd work with me for a little while, then I would, I would train them and then I would open another office and I'd move them to the new office. That was the plan. I was so uninterested in training them that they felt it I felt it and whenever we got to the point of buying the moving them into the other office, they would say, you know, I don't know if it's for me, and it just kept happening but every other doc who was doing this plan had no problem. And I'm like, why is it my location? Is it my coaching ability? Like, why am I not able to make this thing happen? And it wasn't until probably, I don't know, maybe three, four years of it, where I just got beat up enough where I said, just screw it. Like if this isn't happening, this isn't my destiny. This is not what I need to do. I need to do something else. And that led into the next part of my life.

Thor Challgren  18:28
Yeah, and you guys did- you, once you had a child, you guys started looking for a way to bring in extra income, allow more time for Kim to spend with your daughter, and you guys got involved with network marketing. Do you think that you'd be where you are today without that?

Rob Murgatroyd  18:49
No way. No way. And I resisted network marketing for my entire chiropractic career. As you can imagine a chiropractor is every network marketer's dream. They're generally charismatic. They- if they're successful, they, they have tons of patients that come in, it's around health. They're always looking to make extra money. It's like a perfect storm. So I was approached weekly when I tell you weekly, sometimes five times a week. This is my noni juice, these are my gummy bears, this is my protein shakes. It was one after the other. And I just had a blanket No, I don't do it. I focus on chiropractic. I want no part of it. 

Rob Murgatroyd  19:30
And then when my wife ran into a friend who was doing network marketing, she asked me if I would do it. And I was like, Kim, like, whatever you want to do do it, but I want no part of it. And you're not bringing it into the office. And she's like, Rob is not having this. And I just said, No, no, no, but I had a friend and his name's Chris Harder. He's got a great podcast. If you want to check him out. It's called For The Love of Money. And he was doing network marketing. And I was like, Dude, are you really making this kind of money? Cuz he had- Well now- Okay, so back to the California story. He moved from the Midwest to LA. And it went from, you know, he kind of like moved into like an apartment. And I was like, well, I got this big house here in Atlanta I'm making- I'm making much more money than him. He's doing network marketing. Yeah, great. He made it to California, but he's not exactly crushing it. And then that- that crappy apartment turned into a bigger apartment on the ocean, which then turned into a house, which then turned into a really big house, which then turned into a Ferrari, which then turned into a million dollars, probably $2 million a year now in income and it just got my attention. And I call them and I said, Dude, I'm dying here. I don't want to do network marketing. I don't want to do chiropractic, but I am watching what you're doing. Would you be willing to coach me? And he said, Yeah, I would. And he coached me every week for the better part of a year and I did chiropractic and Kim and I did- well, Kim and I she ran my office. He was the office manager. So we would in the morning, we would go into the office. And in the evening, we would do network marketing. And we did that for the better part of probably two years until I reached the next stage, which is to get out of the practice entirely.

Thor Challgren  21:16
Right. It's interesting, because I've talked to a lot of people in the last couple months with the whole COVID thing. You see so many businesses now where people are beginning to understand how precarious their situation is. And we never would have thought of typical retail or restaurants or products that are sold as things that are at risk. But now you see how they are. So I imagine there's a lot of people coming out of this situation that if they're looking for the opportunities, they're going to say, hey, I need that other stream of income so that, you know my life is not dependent on one and for a lot of people, network marketing is a great way to go.

Rob Murgatroyd  21:55
It's a great way to go. I mean, look, we can go on and on. Network marketers tend to talk a lot, you know about how incredible network marketing is. And probably 80, or 90% of the people do not do well, to be perfectly honest. And by "well," I mean enough where they can replace their income, but the 10 or 20%, that do, they crush it, and we thankfully, are in that 10 or 20%. And we're not in the top 5% by no means, but being in the top 20% has allowed us to completely take care of- more than take care of our monthly expenses here in California. So, but the best part is that I'm not cracking backs to do it. I'm not having to deal with employees to do it. I'm able to work on other things that I'm more passionate about other projects that I'm interested in, and the money keeps rolling in. Like we just did four months in Italy. And while we were there for- well not Italy, we went everywhere, but four months in Europe. While we're there, the money just kept coming in and we really didn't work that much. I mean, we did some Zoom calls here and there, but not a lot, so the residual aspect of it is pretty high.

Thor Challgren  23:03
Yeah. So I want to talk about Europe and California, get into that more. So that- maybe three or four years ago, you've got the network marketing business. You still at that point had your clinic and you're doing the Work Hard Play Hard podcast, which now has, what, over 250 episodes I think.

Rob Murgatroyd  23:20
Yup. 

Thor Challgren  23:21
Were you at that point specific about, "Okay, we're gonna get to California." I know you've said that's been a dream but at that point, how real did that feel to you, that possibility of getting out there?

Rob Murgatroyd  23:30
It had been so unreal feeling for so freaking long that sometimes now even after being here for five months, I still wake up and say, am I really here? I mean, it was- there were so many false starts. "This year is going to be the year I'm getting out of the office." "This is the year we're moving to California." "This is the year..."  And it was year after year after year of feeling deflated and let down and like a fraud every time, you know, we would talk to somebody, we tell him, you know, next year we're going to be in California at this time. And then we'd like, bump into him we'd be hiding, like, yeah, we didn't do it again. And finally, we just stopped talking about it. I was like, it's embarrassing. Like, we just keep talking about going, but we're like, where we can get our shit together to be able to do this?

Thor Challgren  24:18
Well, this is interesting, because, so a lot of people, I think, have this issue where they talk about stuff, they talk about stuff, but they don't have a specific, actionable strategy to make this happen. I think you guys did. In the fall of 2018, you created a joint vision board of what this dream would look like of, of Italy, of California, and you were super specific about it. And you had this up in your house. You could see it every day, your friends. And at that point, once it became a vision, did you feel at that point that it was more certain to happen now?

Rob Murgatroyd  24:53
Yes, but there was a couple of key components to that. So prior to that, Kim, and I did not Have the alignments the way we needed to have the alignment together. So there were like- You gotta- it's tricky when it comes to big significant goals that you're really- like a big goal of like moving across the country leaving a career or starting a new country, enrolling a new, a new state, enrolling a kid in school, choosing where you're going to live. These are like any one of those things are big decisions. But when you put them all together, they're giant freaking decisions and one little pebble in your shoe cannot make it work. 

Rob Murgatroyd  25:35
And there were things when we had a vision for what we- I had a vision for what I wanted. Kim had a vision for what she wanted. They were close, but they weren't close enough. And let me explain what I mean. So I wanted to be in Southern California and I wanted to be two to three three blocks from the ocean. Kim said that's great, but I I need a backyard. And I need schools that are a "10" for Sophia. So we had to find where we could find the schools that are a "10" with a backyard. And if you're in the, you know, sort of like Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach area, there's- meeting that criteria was not so easy. 

Rob Murgatroyd  26:24
So we had to get super clear of what we- what our order of priority was. What was most important to us. So what was most important was being in LA and we went back and forth between LA and San Diego. And then when we got to LA, it was like, okay, in LA what's most important, we don't want to be in Santa Monica because we went out there and we just too many homeless, it was too many drugs. The school wasn't great. We went okay, we don't want to go there. So where do we want to go? And then we had to make trips back and forth until we went, Hermosa or Manhattan? Then we went okay. Now we want a backyard. So now we want to find something with a backyard and it was not easy. I mean, everything we did was like, this was too expensive. And these houses like when you rent a house, because we rented the first year, when you rent a house here, it could be $20,000 a month, you know, to get the house that you want. And we're like, that's like- so now we've got to find something that was in budget. So all of these things were blocks, because we were very, very unclear about what we both wanted and how we both wanted to do it. 

Rob Murgatroyd  27:28
And then once we got clear, and we did this, like, almost every other week, we sat every Saturday, every other Saturday, we sat down and she was like Nope, that's not what I want. Yep, that's what I want. And then I went, Okay, all right, this is what you want. And so we crafted a vision board, and we're like Hermosa Beach, backyard, $5,000 a month, next to this school, which is a 10. And then we got really clear and then we took pictures of the yoga studio. That was across the street from the house, we took pictures of the park that Sophia is going to play in. We took pictures of the electric bike, which by the way, I bought yesterday. Of what I wanted to have, and we crafted exactly that. 

Rob Murgatroyd  28:12
Then I said, What is there anything else you want? She said, Well, if you're going to leave chiropractic, then I would love to try and experience living in Florence, Italy for an extended period of time. So we took pictures of exactly the Airbnb, which is beautiful rooftop next to the Duomo in Florence. We got really clear pictures and we put them up. And we here's another key piece, we took that vision board, and we put it in the kitchen, and every single night with a bottle of wine and a glass and we sat there at the table and we looked up at it. And we said okay, that's where we're moving. This is where we're going. And then things would come up and then she'd say, trying to get the Airbnb. I'm having trouble getting an answer from him. I'd say I'm working with the real estate agents still haven't found the one with the backyard yet. But we were so clear on what it was going to be. 

Rob Murgatroyd  29:08
And then the last piece of the puzzle was, no matter what happens, no matter what happens on December 31 of this year, we're walking away from the office, we're going to put a gone fishing sign on the door. And I still had a lease on the practice for two more years. So we were willing to find the way to continue to pay out our lease, walk away if we did not sell the practice, walk away from 25 years of building that business. Because we knew that we couldn't do it one more year. And we knew that if we didn't actually say it's over, not another minute, not another second, that we would never do it. So we had the combination of the clear vision board with the clear date and absolute faith and then we got to work to mitigate. And the mitigation was okay, I don't want to give this practice away. What can we do? Because we're- as of right now- we're on the clock, and we're giving it away, and then we got creative. 

Thor Challgren  30:05
And I love that story you- you talked about once you guys said, It's either we could sell the clinic, we could close it, or we could give it away. You said within like two weeks, you had a deal and an offer to sell the clinic and it worked out. 

Rob Murgatroyd  30:19
I did. I did. And what's important to mention about that deal was it was something that I would not have done, but it was the insight of my wife, where, you know, she said, Why don't you talk to the chiropractor across the street, and just ask them to say, hey, look, I'm we're closing our doors, you got 25 years worth of patients here, we're moving, the patients are either gonna go find somebody else or we can be intentional about it. And we negotiated the deal and the deal we negotiated pays for a significant amount of our monthly overhead for three years. So every month for three years, he gives us a check. He's never missed a payment, and everything started to align. Back to your earlier question about 10 offices in 10 years, nothing aligned. I couldn't make anything work. I couldn't hit my ass with both hands. Like nothing was working. This, when we got clear, it got really clear. And things started to pop. The real estate agent showed up. The house showed up, the sale of the practice showed up. Like it was literally dominoes. Like it just fell. It wasn't hard. We didn't have to wrestle anything. We had to do the work. But it wasn't- like it was good work. Right? It was like, you know, like a good workout. You know, you're sore, but it but it felt good. Like you did it. It was like that kind of thing.

Thor Challgren  31:37
I wonder if it's- at a certain point, you make the decision and say it's gonna happen by this date. It's almost like a burn the boats mentality where you say it's this or there's no other option. And so then at that point, the universe essentially says, Oh, that's exactly what you want. Well, here, let me give you this idea or align you with this possibility. And then things start to happen in a way that they didn't before.

Rob Murgatroyd  31:59
Yeah, because I think the universe is there to serve you. But you're also- you're also going to be tested. And you're going to be tested to make sure that you're serious about your goal. And I had to be willing- Chris Harder- actually you're making me think about something. Chris Harder said to me, he said, Look, here's the problem. You got it too good now. And I said, What do you mean? He said, it's like, you got a 25 year practice, its- you're making good money. You can travel whenever you want, but you don't love it. And you're- you have to be willing to make the sacrifice to go backwards. To go from this income to a new startup in a new location in a very expensive location and make this work. And you have to be willing to do it. 

Rob Murgatroyd  32:45
And it was when I said, Okay, okay, I'm gonna get rid of a car. I'm going to lower my overhead. I am going to take the kid out of private school, and I literally started chopping away at it and I said, said I don't care if we have to eat dinner home every night, we are going to find the freakin way to get our asses to California. We are going to do this and we found a way to take our cushy overhead in Atlanta and make it bare minimum in California, but to make it match economically, does that make sense?

Thor Challgren  33:18
It does. And what I'm hearing too is that you probably looked at and said what really matters to us? Was it the- the lifestyle or the cushy lifestyle? Or once you were clear about the vision that you wanted? Then you said you know what all those other things we can sacrifice that because we have the beach we have the things that we love. We have time in Europe and that's ultimately what mattered to you more than the lifestyle things that you had. 

Rob Murgatroyd  33:19
Can I tell you something? That's exactly right. And I was right. I was right because my life right now. I wake up I'm in shorts and a T shirt at whatever time- I get up at 5am, but at whatever time I want to get up at. Kim's schedule is whatever she wants it to be. I get on my bicycle. I ride down to the beach when we're not dealing with COVID. I do it now anyway, but I just walk up to the line. And it is precisely, precisely the people I wanted to surround myself with, the weather I wanted to be in, the sports activities I want to be in. I have never ever been happier in my life. You know, this could have gone the other way. I could have came here. Oh, my God, what did I do? Like I had it so good in Atlanta. I was just- like I was what was I complaining about? But I was right. I was right. This is exactly where I want to be. And I'm so happy I'm here.

Thor Challgren  34:40
If you could jump in a-, you know, a time traveling DeLorean and go back to any point in your life in the last 15 years. Is there anything that the 2020 version of you could have said to younger Rob to convince him to make this move sooner? 

Rob Murgatroyd  34:55
Hmm. well, yeah, but he wouldn't have listened. And the- the thing that I wish he listened to, would have been trust that still small voice inside of you. Listen to it, take daily action on it. And know that beyond the shadow of a doubt, in the same way that you have never been forsaken, where you have never been left where you have never gone without food. You've never been in the street, you've always found a way you've always been provided for. Take a little bit of a risk. Stop focusing so much on absolute certainty, because life is uncertain. And I wish I would have listened to that.

Thor Challgren  35:41
Yeah, that's beautiful. Well, in 2019, first day of January, you wake up and you're now retired from being a chiropractor. What was that first month of retirement like? Did did it take some adjustment?

Rob Murgatroyd  35:54
No, it didn't take any adjustment, but I didn't believe it either. I kept waiting and still do waiting for somebody to call me and say it's a dream, and there are patients waiting for you in the waiting room.

Thor Challgren  36:05
So you're retired now, your new career, your second career is a month away, because you have your first mastermind experience that you put together, you recruited the people, you designed the entire experience, which is your dream. You're in Boston in February of 2019. When you're in those moments, did you look around at that experience? And you say, Oh, my God, like I did this, this is my dream I made that happen. Was it kind of surreal to see that come to that point? 

Rob Murgatroyd  36:31
Beyond surreal. Like out of body, this isn't really happening, you know, just for context I for the people, for your listeners, I was able to take the idea that we had 15 years ago for experiences around the world and be able to monetize it by taking high end entrepreneurs like chiropractors and dentists and you know, people who are building big companies and stuff, television people and authors, things like that and put them together and take all of the work and all of the training and all of the lessons and all of the relationships that we had traveling around the world and be able to plug it into creating an experience for high end entrepreneurs who would not otherwise take a break, if I didn't grab them by the collar and force them to do it. So that's what the Work Hard Play Hard Experience is. 

Rob Murgatroyd  37:27
Now to answer your question. Yeah, I mean, like when I'm sitting there, you know, one of the experiences we had in Boston, the one that you referenced, is at Fenway Park, and like to have Fenway Park batting cages rented out for my mastermind and taking entrepreneurs from all over the country, 20 of them, and do batting practice there. And then taking them over to Alex Guerrero, Tom Brady's trainer, to train us, shutting down TB12 and to train us there and all you know. We had museum curator teach us about art and we had a wine person teach us how to taste wine. And, you know, we have all these different experiences for these entrepreneurs. And it's a little bit like drinking off of a firehose, when you first do it, because you're scared, you're nervous. You don't know what you're doing. Like, you know, I've got people that, you know, in my mind how I thought it was going to go. 

Rob Murgatroyd  38:21
And then all of a sudden, there I am at the first night's dinner, and I'm on. I'm the guy at the front of the table that is doing the toast. And I'm, you know, I'm thinking in the back of my head, are these- are they gonna like each other? I think I picked the right group of people, you know, are they going to like the experiences? Is everything going to go the way I wanted it to go? And, you know, of course I planned and over planned and, but I didn't know. So it's a little bit like you're in the midst of crazy, of anxiousness of confusion of hopefulness. But then when everybody- when it's gone, and you look back at the video of what happened in the relationships. 

Rob Murgatroyd  39:03
Like I'll give you an example. One of the girls, I just had one this morning. One of the girls in my mastermind, her name is Autumn Calabrese. She's a Beachbody trainer. She's actually outsold Tony Horton's P90X, 2-1, which is insane, right? Not to be confused with Insanity but insane. And she's one of my mastermind people. And the one we mentioned earlier, Chris Harder. He's another mastermind guy. This morning, Autumn started a new podcast. And she had never known Chris Harder before. And if you listen to the first five minutes of her new podcast with Chris, she said to him, you know, my business manager said to me, there's this experience. And the experience is called Work Hard, Play Hard. And she said they have- they have a couple of spaces that are open, and you have been working your tail off. I think you need something like this. 

Rob Murgatroyd  39:54
So she called me and I didn't know who she was. I had no idea who she was. But when I followed her on Instagram saw she had over a million followers, I went, Okay, she's somebody big. And she came to the Monaco event. She met Chris Harder there. And they talked about how, you know, she said "I was nervous." I had never done anything like this before. I'm much more introverted than people think I am. And I was nervous to get on the plane and fly halfway around the globe to a country that I've never been to before, to meet people that I've never met before. It's not in her wheelhouse to do that even though she's extroverted on TV. She's not that way in real life, which is the way a lot of them are. And she sat down next to me and Chris, and in Monaco, we just had a great conversation, they became friends, and now she's on his podcast. 

Rob Murgatroyd  40:46
So if somebody would have said to me two years ago, the number one girl on Beachbody and because I did P90X for a lot of years, so I'm very familiar with the brands, and Chris Harder would be in Monaco at my event, and that would then lead to them doing a project together, I'd be like, you're- like, that's a dream. Like there's no way that that could happen. So having the faith that you're being guided, the way you're supposed to be guided, really is something that I think you got to pay attention to.

Thor Challgren  41:22
It's amazing, when you think about all the things that are forward in your path. And you can see a little bit there's a- I member teaching story of- in the ancient Egypt, they would have to travel at night because it was super hot. So they would wear little lamps on their feet. So when they were walking at night, they could see one or two steps ahead. And I always loved that idea to say, you can't see the whole path in front of you. But you can see one or two steps ahead of you. And if you just take those steps, then all of these other things that you just described, these ways of people connecting and benefiting each other, that will all work out in time.

Rob Murgatroyd  42:01
Absolutely. Absolutely. And can I tell you something funny? I just got a text from Chris Harder. He said, By the way, I just mentioned you in Autumn's podcast, as literally, I'm telling the story, a text just came through. 

Thor Challgren  42:11
Well, we'll put that in the show notes.

Rob Murgatroyd  42:15
Really funny.

Thor Challgren  42:16
So last summer and this- I just find this fascinating because you guys are in Europe. And if I'm correct, at that point, you didn't have the exact house yet. You were looking at it. And you had- you were negotiating, but you didn't know where you were going to live in a couple months when you came back to California. 

Rob Murgatroyd  42:35
No clue. No clue. So we're literally in Florence. And we're like, we still haven't found the house. And the way- here's the way it works. You're lucky in this little South Bay area that I'm in, you're lucky to get a rental, right? Because we wanted to rent first. You're lucky to get one. If you do get one, they're on the market and they're rented like in a week. Like fast. So there's no such thing as me being in Europe and saying, hey, when you got this house coming up four months from now, I'm going to take it. That's not the way it works. You have to get something. 

Rob Murgatroyd  43:13
So now how are we supposed to look at a house when we're in Europe? So people thought we were crazy. They're like, dude, like, there's no way you're gonna find a house from Europe in this area. Like if you go to Nebraska, Yeah, fine, but not here. And it was not easy. We were every single day and we were at the point where we were like, okay, we may have to go- Like all of our stuff was in storage, because we left Atlanta to go to Europe. We may have to go live with some friends in Atlanta, or we may have to come to California, stay in an Airbnb, which would have been very expensive. Or we would have to choose a different area of California and it was- just was not going great. 

Rob Murgatroyd  43:52
And then about two weeks before we were due to leave the real estate agent called me and she said I got a place but the owner is super skeptical of you guys being in Europe and he just would like to meet you. I was like, FaceTime, we could FaceTime. And so he went, Okay, so now the owner is like looking at, we're on FaceTime the owners looking at us sideways, the real estate agent who I didn't even know, was looking at us, like, you know, are these guys legit? The time change is 10 hours. So Sophia is like- our five year old is just about to go to sleep, she's crawling all over us. I could barely have a conversation, you know, with the guy. And the real estate agent is trying to walk around the house, with the phone showing us the backyard and everything with pictures. You know, we're Google mapping. And we said we'll take it. And the owner said okay, let me think about it. And she messaged us back and she said, He's reluctant because you're not here in person, but he liked you guys. And he's gonna say yes. We wired him the money. We then got on the phone with moving companies, coordinated a moving company from Florence, Italy, to go to Atlanta, pick it up, drive it from Atlanta, move our cars and you know, I can give you a thousand other things we had to do but you get the idea. It was pretty crazy. 

Thor Challgren  45:17
Well, you're someone I think, who appreciates structure in your life. How was a situation like that where it's so much uncertainty- How did you get yourself day to day when you'd have obstacles or setbacks come in? How did you deal with those mentally and keep moving forward?

Rob Murgatroyd  45:34
Um, more structure, more structure. So for me, everything I do is around structure. I just I had a really chaotic upbringing and I had no structure so I'm always looking for structure. So when I start to feel like I'm spinning out of control and I'm not getting the structure I need, then I will very often force myself into time in the morning for journaling, time for meditation. Time to do Zoom calls with people like Chris Harder and say, Look dude, I'm dying here, I'm spinning out of control. I can't, can't seem to make this happen. I feel like I'm close, I feel like I'm on the right path and you know, get good guidance from people. So I would do it the way I needed to do it, to be able to get my head around it. And once I can get advice from others, then I can create the structure I need, the format I need, the checklist I need and then I can start hacking away at a different plan at a new plan. 

Thor Challgren  46:37
Hmm. So it's interesting looking back- I mean, you accomplished a lot of significant goals whether it was you know, starting your podcast, living in Europe for four months, moving to California. You, as I understand it, you're now have you been out on your surfboard yet?

Rob Murgatroyd  46:54
I did two lessons and COVID got me. They shut the beaches down.

Thor Challgren  46:59
Well you'll get get back. 

Rob Murgatroyd  47:01
Yeah, I get it back up. Look, everything has its challenges. Like the week before I got the surfboard, I slipped in my bathroom and I broke my big toe. So while I was surfing, every time I popped up, I got the shooting pain up my leg because of the broken toe. So my toe is healing. Obviously, during this whole period of time, it's much better. That's number one. Number two, in the limited time that I had doing surfing, I realized that at 53 years old, I don't quite have the "pop up" that I used to have. So I am doing a lot of specific work to change my training from just heavy weight lifting, to more functional training to give me a little bit- a little more spring in my step. And I'm starting to develop relationships with other surfers now who can't surf, who you know, I was like, how am I going to practice like I can do one lesson a week but I don't want to be out in the water by myself because if I get into trouble the boat that- I'm not a great swimmer, the surfboard hits me in the head. I really need to be out there with somebody, but I don't you know, like, I don't know anybody. I'm new to the area. But now I do. Now I'm starting to meet friends who said, Yeah, don't worry about it. Like I went to a chiropractor here the other day. And he's like, I've been surfing- I grew up here. I've been surfing for 20 years. I'll take you out. We'll go together. So yeah, yeah, it's, it's been great.

Thor Challgren  48:16
Well, I think it's fascinating to see what you've done in terms of how you set goals, because- you've talked about when you start with a vision, and you would say, I've got a vision of myself on the surfboard, but then you started to make it very specific in terms of the sensory experience. And you would get to the point where you could really feel yourself on that, that surfboard. And I think this is a great perspective for any kind of goal. How important do you think that vision and that sense and that feel is for someone who's trying to accomplish a goal?

Rob Murgatroyd  48:46
Well, I think there's two sides of it. There's the one side that you mentioned, but the other side of it is that whatever, whatever sport or whatever non-work activity that you're trying to accomplish, I believe should contain a component that is fully immersive and you can't be on your phone while you're doing it. Like you can go to the gym, but you can be on your phone, you can be on the treadmill, but you can be on your phone. You know, you can be stamp collecting and you can be scrolling Instagram. I don't know who stamp collects anymore in a way, but you get the idea. But with surfing, you're all in man, like your phone is in the car. You are in a wetsuit, you're on the water, you have a full sensory experience, it's 360 degrees. And especially when something is new. You're trying to figure out all of the mechanics you know like you would if you're trying to shift the car. How do I paddle? How do I jump up? How do I keep myself up? How- you know all of those things. And plus it's- it's a very communal thing. It's like- I sometimes feel like I'm in like a Beach Boys movie, because like everybody's- the Volkswagen vans are like lined up with surfboards. And surfer dudes are out surfing and there's a- there's a brotherhood and sisterhood, a community. There's, I don't know, I just I'm I'm buying into the whole thing. I feel like I'm in the Sunkist commercial. I love it.

Thor Challgren  50:14
So does that experience when you have that as and you're able to go down to the beach, has that made everything that you've got to get to California worthwhile?

Rob Murgatroyd  50:23
Oh, 100% there's not I don't think there's a day, that seven days a week, no six days a week, I take Sundays off. Six days a week that whether I'm surfing or not that I'm not at the beach, looking at the ocean, whether it's on my bicycle, or whether it's doing exercises on the beach, there's not one day where I'm not there. And it is torture, to pull me off that beach when I gotta come home.

Thor Challgren  50:47
Hmm. So you mentioned that you're coaching people now. What does that process look like in the beginning when you're working with someone new and how do you see your job as a coach based on the kind of experience that you've had in your life?

Rob Murgatroyd  51:01
Well, you know, I'm a reluctant coach, I didn't want to do coaching, it was not on, it was not something that was in my plan at all. But so many people kept asking me questions that related to how I was able to do what I did. There were people who have been in corporate careers for 20 years that wanted to get out of them. There are people that wanted to move across the country, there are people that want to start a new career, there's all kinds of people that saw themselves in my story. And then, you know, I was like, Well, why not? I mean, like, I learned a lot doing this, I certainly can help people doing this. So I started to formalize it, and I created a little coaching business and that coaching business has grown really, really nicely. And I love it. So to answer the question, it just depends on who the person is that needs to be coached and what they need to be coached. I mean, I'm not, you know, if you're a big business guy and you want to scale, I'm not your guy.

Thor Challgren  52:07
Right.

Rob Murgatroyd  52:08
I'm just, I'm not gonna be able to help you, I got 10 other people I can send you to, but I'm not going to- I'm not going to help you find funding, I'm not going to help you 10 X, I'm not going to help you grow, per se your business. In that way. What I could do is I could help you if you have no idea what it is that you want to do. Brainstorm with you to figure it out. And then I can work with you to create what that infrastructure looks like. I could help you to take the business that you currently have, that you feel like is consuming your whole life. And you need to find a way to have some more play. Like one of the girls I'm coaching now, ironically, is a chiropractor, and she's like I'm really successful. I've got three offices. I'm doing really, really well. But my marriage isn't so good. The health, I haven't worked out in a long time. And I'm definitely not traveling the world with with, you know, like you guys are. And I just feel like I'm so one sided, that it's all business and there's no play, that I am willing to pay you for accountability, I'm willing to pay you to help me to balance quote unquote, this side of my life. And we're digging into everything but business in her life. And like Peter Drucker said, where something is measured, it grows. And so that area of her life is being measured, and she's growing and she's having more fulfillment. 

Thor Challgren  53:37
That's fantastic. When you guys have spoken about possibly living in Italy, part of the time living in California, you have your mastermind this year, you're doing coaching, what's next for you? I mean, you have like another- California was a huge dream, but do you have another sort of big dream or experience that you're pointing to now?

Rob Murgatroyd  53:57
Yeah, I mean, there's nothing as big,  let's say, as that one for me. It's more of tweaking of where we want to go next. So, you know, the next vision looks like an apartment in Florence, a villa in Tuscany, a home in Hermosa that is facing the ocean. That's sort of like, you know, the next- the next iteration turning Work Hard Play Hard into a multi million dollar brand. And that's enough to keep me busy.

Thor Challgren  54:29
It sounds like a pretty compelling vision too. 

Rob Murgatroyd  54:31
Yeah.

Thor Challgren  54:32
I love the view of the ocean and especially Tuscany. That would be beautiful. Well, Rob, what's the best way if people want to reach out to you? How can they best find you?

Rob Murgatroyd  54:41
All things Work Hard, Play Hard, you can go to workhardplayhardexperience.com. I'm sure you'll link it up in the show notes. And if you have more questions on coaching, just click the coaching tab. If you're interested in the experience, click the experience tab. 

Thor Challgren  54:54
Well fantastic. Any final advice you have for listeners or anything that you'd like to ask of them? 

Rob Murgatroyd  55:00
No, no ask. Final advice would be, Believe in yourself. It's very, very easy to beat yourself up. It's a lot harder, takes a lot more balls to believe in yourself. Because beating yourself up is actually the easy way out. Because you don't have to try. You know, "I can't do it, it's not gonna happen." Well, then guess what? You're not. But you can also believe in yourself. And when you believe in yourself, that means you have to try. So believe in yourself.

Thor Challgren  55:24
That's awesome. I love that. Rob, thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today. It's been great.

Rob Murgatroyd  55:30
My pleasure. And I'm so excited about your podcast. I can't believe that this time has flown by the way it has. I think you have a natural gift for this. And I think you're going to be one of the top podcasters in the country before long.

Thor Challgren  55:42
Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate that very much. Take care. 

Rob Murgatroyd  55:44
You're welcome. Bye bye. 

Thor Challgren  55:48
All right. Thanks for listening to the Course Change podcast. If you liked this episode, I would be incredibly grateful to you if you'd jump over to iTunes and leave me a five star written review. This one simple act will help others find the show and build a community of people who support each other. You can always find me on Instagram at Thor Challgren. Send me a DM and let me know what you thought. Thanks again for listening and until next time, Namaste.