The Reset: How Cavan Valance Rebuilt His Business (and Himself) From the Ground Up

In this episode of Palm Harbor Local, Donnie sits down with Cavan Valance, founder of MPF Collective, for a real conversation about burnout, identity, and what it actually looks like to rebuild with intention. Cavan opens up about closing a successful fitness business, the year he took off to reset, and how he and his fiancée built something new from that clarity.

What You'll Learn:

• Why Cavan closed a thriving business at its peak — and what led up to it
• How to separate your identity from your performance
• A simple framework (aware, aligned, organized, implemented) for handling setbacks without overreacting
• How Cavan uses AI daily to save time without losing authenticity
• Why physical health is the foundation for everything else

About Cavan: Cavan Valance is the founder of MPF Collective (Mental, Physical, Financial), a mentorship and coaching community for founders and entrepreneurs. Before that, he built and closed Hidden Summit, a fitness and wellness coaching business, after five years running CrossFit gyms in New York City.

Connect with Cavan: Instagram @CavanTV | mpfcollective.com

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Transcript

Wellness, Identity, And A Reset

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to Palm Harbor Local, the show about the active outdoor and healthy lifestyle that defines life here on Florida's Gulf Coast. I'm your host, Donnie Hathaway, and today I'm sitting down with Kevin Valence, who is the founder of MPF Collective, and we're having a real conversation about wellness, identity, and what it actually looks like to step back, reset, and rebuild your life with more clarity and intention. A perfect conversation to kick off the midway point of 2026. Let's dive in. Kavin, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Thanks for having me, dude.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Yeah. I'm excited to chat with you. We had a great conversation our our first time we we chatted. Um and we have a lot of similar interests and stuff, but let's let's start with your your current business that you have, MPF Collective. And for the people, for the viewers, listeners, what is that and and how did you get into that?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

For sure. Well, first of all, thanks for having me. Um I feel like we should have just miced up our last conversation at the coffee shop if we could have, but we'll do our best to bring it back around. Um MPF Collective, mental physical, financial collective. Um, this is a new business that my fiance and I started in November. We launched, and we brought in our first round of partners. We onboarded them in December and went live Q1 of this year. And the the purpose was to help founders, entrepreneurs, business owners, side hustlers, creators uh find their vision and their voice by looking inward, putting themselves first, their identity before their business. And the reason why we were so adamant on that being one of our pillars in creating this mentorship, this guidance group, this collective was because we had both built uh multiple six and seven-figure businesses where we were burnt out, anxious, filled with overwhelm, lost uh a sense of who we were and ourselves inside of the business. It was always push and grow and do more, and we never stopped to really check in on who we were and who was the engine and operator of that business along the way, where we felt so disconnected that we didn't want to do it anymore, whether it be in the industry or that field. Um and we took some time off, uh, about a year, both of us, and we were working on different side projects, but all along that way, looking inward to figure out who it is that we were, what it is that we wanted to do, and how we could bring that together. So um I asked Lacey, hey, do you want to do a business together? And she at first said, No, I don't. And I was like, well, we're going to, you just don't know it yet. And I brought up this idea of, hey, you have the experience with your uh financial business, you have the experience with your life coaching, your neurohealth, you've worked in health and fitness, you've coached people on uh fitness performance and nutrition, you've been through it yourself. And then I've run a seven-figure business, had 30 people on my team, saw the you know, how people dealt with burnout, lost 100 pounds myself, been on my own fitness journey. Um, and I wanted to bring the best of both of what we had to offer together to create this ecosystem where people could feel like themselves. So, in a nutshell, MPF Collective was our way of saying, hey, we believe in the individual so much that we wanted to actually show the the business owners who were doing well but struggling that they could use systems, use a self of self- uh sense of self-identity to move themselves forward and actually enjoy the process of growth instead of feeling frustrated with growth or the trying to keep up nowadays because social media and the AI, the rate of change, what people are saying, the comparisons that people have along every single day when you open up social media and everybody's doing so well and you're struggling to get by. We wanted to push all that aside to put them at the the center of their business once and for all so they can actually enjoy growth again.

MPF Collective And The Person First

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I mean the like putting the person first, I think you know, a lot of times like we as business owners, like you get into business because you have an idea or something you want to do, a service you want to provide, or a product you you came up with and want to want to sell or whatever. But you I it goes back to like another conversation we're having and I was having earlier with like the work-life balance, or like you know, you've got to figure out like what brings you joy as the individual and make sure that work is bringing you joy just as much as your personal life is.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Yeah, I mean it one we have different mechanisms that we use in our business day in and day out to make sure that we're running the business the way we would teach others to run their business. And I'm never gonna say you have to do it exactly this way, but the frameworks that we've created allow them to look inward and always become aware of what's going on. So our all aligned ethos starts with awareness. So if why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you stressed out right now? Why is your business not making the money that you want it to

Sponsor Message From Valley Bank

SPEAKER_01 4:59

make? Why are you struggling to before we continue with today's episode?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

I want to take a quick moment to thank Valley Bank for supporting Palm Harbor Local. I recently moved my business banking over to Valley, and what stood out to me right away was how relationship-driven their approach is. You're not calling a hotline, you're working with real people who understand local businesses and make decisions locally. This episode is supported by Chad Britz, a first vice president at Valley Bank's countryside branch, who works closely with individuals and business owners throughout our entire community. If this kind of local relationship-driven banking matters to you, you can learn more at www.valley.com or email Chad directly at C B R I T T S at Valley.com.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Have conversations online. Why are people not connecting with your posts? And it's actually pushing them to ask those questions versus emotionally reacting to the situation that is at hand. Right? If you look at, and this could this could work when it comes to health or business owners, how you feel in a certain situation, eventually leads to how you identify with your business. And if you're identifying in a negative light instead of a positive light, it's gonna be hard for you to get excited and fired up about what you're doing with your business. So we always start with awareness, right? And after awareness, we does that lead to alignment with how you feel or how you want to feel. Are you aligned with that? Does is it aligned with who you are, what you want to do, the the your your why, right? Or you're gonna be able to battle through all the different hows and the struggles that happen along the way. And after we become aware and aligned, now we can organize and arrange. Once we organize and arrange, now we can go into implementation. How do we implement this into our day-to-day? How do we integrate this into the systems that we create? And then from there, that's where we see nurture, growth, and nurture. We can evaluate and evolve, and then we can find a new direction or a continued direction moving forward. Because I mean, I'm you've you've interviewed several people, and I'm sure that uh a large percentage of those people have tried something, it didn't work, so they pivot and do something else. Instead of asking why it didn't work and going back to the drawing board, which is one of the most simple business entrepreneurial uh you know frameworks that there is, is to question why or why not something worked or didn't work, and then go back to the drawing board and try it again and give it the time that it needs to develop. Yeah. So you know, aware of yeah, the the systems in place to or to step back and like analyze your business, you know, to to understand like what's going on, or is this actually working, or did I just am I just making an emotional decision and moving on from it because it didn't work in the first two weeks or something uh I I did a lot of consulting in that down year, that year off, the year I wrote my book, when I the year after I closed my fitness and wellness business and before I opened up MPFC, uh, I wrote a book and then I did a lot of consulting with online uh coaches and entrepreneurs, and that was one of the main things. They would do something, it wouldn't work, they'd beat themselves up, they would emotionally overreact, and then they would just try and do something different.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Instead of going back and asking why and becoming aware of that, right? There it because we live in a day and age where you can open up Instagram, and if you're in the business world, um, I mean, this is what my feed is flooded with is everybody who is a successful business coach is doing so incredibly well, and there's nothing wrong with everything that and I was like, this is such BS. Like this is all of you are liars. Yeah, this is hard. Um and it doesn't mean that we can't have both things going on, but everybody's gonna show their best side on social media. More so now people are starting to show the the both sides, both sides of the equation, which I love. Um but still sometimes you just see the positive stuff and like you get your or or that's what you see, and then maybe you react to it instead of you know worrying about you know having a system in place and sticking to that system. Yep. Um so it if you know I had a nut put in a nutshell the different things that we do. It's helping people find alignment by becoming aware of who they are, um, getting into a scheduling rhythm, because most people just wake up and they're like, I guess I'm gonna do this today. I actually saw a real some one of my clients sent it to me. They're like, This is how I feel. And they're like, if you're an entrepreneur and you don't know what to do, just put all of your tasks into like a spinning wheel on the internet and hit the button and then you're gonna do that today. And I was like, that's what most people wake up and they're like, I guess I'll do this today because I've I I want to or I don't want to, versus having a structured plan and rhythm and knowing when you have the best energy levels to be people facing or doing deep work or doing content creation, and then actually going back and and measuring the success of what got done and what didn't get done. Um so that's two. Three would be um a cis, a quick decision-making framework to decide what is it that you want to get done, what is it that you do not do in that time where you want to get that thing done, and what's the very next action step you need to take to move that forward. So a decision-making framework of do I do this now or do it later. And then fourth would be finding your vision and your voice, like showing up as your true authentic self and not being embarrassed or scared or shy to show up every single day because, like what you just alluded to as well, people are starting to show up more authentically. The world needs more of that. Yeah, with all of this AI slop and automations that are out there, like keyword this and do that, and you you you're not talking, even now, Claude can go on and to your many chat and have full-on conversations with somebody. You don't even have to show up anymore. But I feel like, and this is my personal opinion, that those who show up and send video messages and voice messages and address people by name and have the time and space or a team even to follow up with real human connection are going to be the ones that actually see success long term. Yeah. I'm not anti-AI, trust me, I use it every day. Right. But I think there's a time and place for it.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Correct. Yeah. Um, yeah, we'll we'll dive more into that here here shortly.

Burnout, Pivoting, And Closing A Business

SPEAKER_00 10:52

But I want to go back to um like the year that you took off and and like talk through like that process for you, like what was that like? What were some challenges that you you had to uh you know kind of overcome or work through, and um like why did you decide to take a year off? And you said you were working and stuff too, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

I mean, I so I'll go back a little further. Yeah. Um when I launched Hidden Summit, which was my fitness and wellness business, uh, I did it because the gyms that I had open and grown, and I was partial owner and operator of the CrossFit gyms that I was running in New York City uh shut down because of COVID. And my, you know, I was still collecting a salary and the gyms weren't making any money because the members couldn't come anymore. So the owner of the gym said, Hey, we're gonna furlough you um so give you some time off and we'll have you back in a month or two. And I just took that as a kick in the butt to say, okay, I meant to go do something different. And uh I had been doing a lot for the members and some people online because my social media has grown at that point uh for free. I just created a community, the Hidden Summit Group, to host uh what was just one-on-ones for the most part. I mean, I remember in the beginning I was on one-on-one calls with different people from like 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, and I was like, okay, this is a lot of time, and I was doing it all for free. Yeah. I was like, okay, maybe we do this in group calls. And then I started doing group calls on Monday, mindset huddles on Monday, and then nutrition talk Tuesday, and then fitness on Wednesday, and then you know, critical thinking on Thursday, and we had all these different calls, and that got helped me get into a rhythm, but then I got furloughed and I was like, okay, I need to make money. So I just started asking people. I took two weeks, I went away, I flew to St. Louis because I was a first form athlete at the time and uh you know had some friends there I could stay with just to get out of the city and figure out what I wanted to do. Uh and I just started asking the people who were on the group calls and taking part of my my workout classes online, like, do you want to work together? Because it seems like you have more things that you want to handle mentally, physically, and I'd love to work with you. And I was able to uh supplement my entire salary within two weeks getting people to sign up with monthly recurring payments. Like, and then at that at that point, I was just like taking Venmo, you know, like yeah, I wasn't like I'm gonna grow a business right now. I was like, how do I make sure like keep my head above water? Yeah, um, and it worked out so well that when they asked me to come back to the gyms, I I said, hey, like I'm just gonna I'm not gonna come back. I'm gonna lean into this thing and see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

How long have you been part of the gym at that point?

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Uh we five years, yeah. From the and from that's for like Zia's. Yeah, we had one gym and we were six gyms in five years in New York City.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

So that's a big decision to be like, yeah, yeah, I'm good.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Well, yeah, and and the my my friend uh and the the owner of the gyms at the time was like, hey dude, like I've started my businesses before, I get it. I believe that you'll do well, go do your thing. Yeah, nice. And I did. Yeah, um, so that was uh 2020, uh from tw uh probably probably trying to think of the dates mid-2020 uh to late 2020, and then 2021, 2022, 2023, the business grew. I had brought on some a couple coaches of friends who just wanted to help coach clients, so they would bring in their own clients at first, get them on the calls, do the workout programs that we would program together. 22 uh hired a business coach and spent a what at the time was like an absurd amount of money on a business coach, but we went from 30k months to 100 plus K months in three months, and I had to bring on more people, so it was just this rate of growth and change happened so rapidly, and I was like, I'm figuring this out and building this plane while I'm flying it, and we're gonna just do our best, and that's what we just kept trying to do every single day. But over the time, there was a couple loose wheels, and I made a couple of bad decisions in bringing in some people who weren't 100% in on uh the mission, so the mission sort of changed, and we tried to pivot too many times. So 222 to 23 kind of hit our peak, and at one point I had a couple key players leave just like that. People started a business underneath me while they were coaching. Oh, yeah. I had someone just uh one of my my my right hand person left me with with like a very corporate email, someone who spoke to every single day, like who I considered a good friend of mine, emailed me like, hey, like uh I'm gonna start my own business, but if you need me, I'll work until the end of the month. I was like, Let's get on a call, and they just reiterated that, and I was like, No, you're done by the end of the day. Like because then the next day they launched their own business and started posting about that. So it had been something that they were planning. Yeah, so all these different things started to happen, and I just I felt burnt out by the process at that point where I was like, I could try and save this thing, but I don't know if I want to, and I don't know if you've ever felt that way with any of your businesses. So that was like 23 to 24, just kind of kept it afloat for you know uh three quarters of a year, and then the 24 Lacey and I went to Paris and got engaged, uh, and I was just the happiest two weeks of of you know our adult lives and just you know being in a different country and with no worries in the world. And then I remember the day before I came back, I had a panic attack. I was like, I'm coming back to this burnt burning down business and I don't know what to do. And I was like, I don't want to do it anymore, but I have all these responsibilities, I have people I need to pay, and all this different stuff. And I thought about it on the plane ride home, and I I let all of the coaches gave them 60 days because I'm another, you know, I was just like I care about people and I didn't want them to be like at a loss. I was like, you have 60 days to figure out how you're gonna collect payment from your clients, and if you're a salary employee, you have 60 days to figure out what you're gonna do next, then just shut it down. Shut it down, yeah. And then I was like, I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Do you think that's because like that business kind of started? There was no like, I'm gonna start this business, like this is it, this is what I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

It was just kind of like started to kind of you know, I I I I don't and I I could consider that like a North Star. And I don't know if we had one. I think I just made one up with like a belief sounded good. I was like, we're gonna have a hundred coaches, yeah, and we're gonna help this many people, which means that everybody's gonna be able to make this much money. And it was just kind of like building the dream while building the business, which now looking back, is not the way to do it. Yeah, it's like you need your North Star, and this is the mission, and this is the data point we're gonna track, and that's the one thing that you need to focus on to get to where it is you want to go. When you get there, then you can pivot and grow. But I didn't really have that. Right. I was just like, I love helping people, I'm really good at helping people, and like, oh no, like there's a leak in the boat, let's fill it. And I'm like, oh no, yeah, the thing is falling off over there. Like, we gotta fix it. And it was just kind of like that one felt fine when we were doing it. And look, when you're making money and like you're yeah, you have like a thousand leads coming in a month, it's like, okay, this is amazing. This is great, yeah. Um, but then you look back and you're like, okay, maybe we shouldn't have pushed so hard and kind of just stayed and done what we got like amazing at the one thing we did really well, and sort of instead of starting to do all these different things. Look, I'll say it this way in at its peak, uh, we hosted events like where hundreds of people came and we hosted four or five day events and brought in speakers and filled the room and worked out together and sauna and ice together and did hard things together, and that was amazing. And a time and a thing that started from like we can't leave our houses during, I mean, in New York especially, right? That's where I was living at the time. Um, leave our houses to to go out and get fresh air, nevertheless, like work out and be together. We were able to bring people together who didn't know each other to bring them together online, to bring them together in person. That was something I'll I'll never forget. And I would love to get to a point to be able to do that again with MPFC because I think in-person events are the best. Yeah. Yeah.

Building In-Person Events Without Breaking

SPEAKER_01 18:36

So that was super cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I do like the in-person stuff. I mean, obviously, like so my podcast, like this the whole in-person thing. I've I've tried it online before, but it's just better when it's in-person. And I started doing this year, you know, beyond the mic events where it's like, let's get a small group together. Um, and this we did the second one uh a few weeks ago. And like after doing that one, for first of all, I I think putting on the events is not something I've done before, not something I I enjoy like the one-on-ones and the connection time and everything with people with people there. But that whole like putting on event is something new to me. So there's a big learning curve and whatnot. But the second one, the second event that we did, I was like, oh, this is this is pretty cool. Yeah. Right. It was a cool experience to have you know those small group of people that that um were able to make it show up and and be there and find value in it too.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, I mean our our first event was in 2021 or two, 2021. Yeah. Was our first event, and it was just uh a local gym in Brooklyn, and we had people come from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, we people fly in, we just did a workout and then hung out at one of the bars I was a minority investor in afterwards. It was amazing. Yeah, it was just like, oh, we haven't been able to work out with people in person in such a long time. The gyms are open, let's do something. And people loved it. Then the next year we, you know, invited a few people, like, hey, like we're gonna do this thing. Like, I got a hotel. Um, all you gotta do is fly in and we're gonna work out together, and we're gonna do little like mindset sessions together, and we'll sauna and ice together. We'll go tour the city, and we had like a group of 10-15 people come in to do that the next year. And the next one we had a hundred plus people show up, and then the following year we pulled back because I got so sick after that four-day event. I just like stressed myself to I was like, you know, we're running on energy, and it's like whatever, like not eating, just going at a million miles an hour all day, and then everybody left and I got deathly sick. I was just like dreading, yeah. Uh, so we pulled back the next year and we did like 30 people, rented Airbnb's, made it a little bit more intimate, like set up the sweat tent and the ice barrels at one of the houses, and just that was probably my favorite size event because I was able to have this connection with everybody that was there and not run around like a madman the whole time and actually participate. And the the the the chats were smaller, but everybody got to you know be a part of it versus just a participant in it. So that was that was cool.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

That was that is cool.

Losing 100 Pounds And Finding Purpose

SPEAKER_00 21:02

So so go back, let's talk about like your health and fitness journey. How did you get into fitness?

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Sure. I mean, I've always been an athlete. Yeah, you know, I'm one of four, I'm the eldest of four children, and we always played sports, so I played everything growing up, but uh fell into playing lacrosse uh growing up on Long Island, so that was my favorite sport. And then uh after I graduated college, went on a non-health journey, um, experimenting with drinking and drugs and failing out of college almost, and just put on a hundred pounds and lost my way for a little bit. But I'm fortunate to have an amazing family around me. Uh I had a uh an episode um and this is posted all over my YouTube and and Instagram uh on Thanksgiving, where I drank a little bit too much, got into an argument with my dad. Um probably just told me to stop drinking. I can't really remember.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

But ran outside just fuming. Uh and I punched a hole in my own car window. I was twenty two years old.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

And And just like blood all over my arm. And I walked into the backyard and my aunt was there and she was looking down on me and she was like, Look, we love you, but you gotta figure out what you're gonna do with yourself. Yeah. Because this ain't gonna work. You know, like, yeah, this isn't gonna work. So that was a wake-up call for me. Like nobody got mad at me that day. Yeah, they were just scared.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

They're like, is he gonna figure it out? She was like, We've all made mistakes before, but we're we're good.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Right?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

It's not perfect, but we're good. So you need to decide who it is that you want to be. And that was like a little smack of reality that I needed. So started training again, uh, was trained enough to lose 40 pounds, went back to school, got my grades up, got all A's the next semester, was able to transfer from a community college to another college, started playing lacrosse again, became captain of that team, graduated a few years later with honors, so whatever that means on that piece of paper, Magnum cum lade. Woohoo, I did it. Yeah. Uh, and then found um CrossFit after that. Okay. And it was exciting because it was still had a team environment. If you were going to take a class, you could challenge yourself in new ways every single day. There was always something to get better at. You're not great at everything, so you work really hard at the skills uh if you're smart, or you can avoid them like I did in the beginning and then try and figure it out later on. Um and it was just it became a really big part of my life. Uh, where I didn't join a CrossFit Gym for a while, but I was just doing it in the park or was doing it at the YMCA, and then I would join I would just follow like a strength training program the whole entire time, and I would start running to train for half marathons and just enjoyed fitness and that outlet. Um, I I would imagine people would say I have a pretty addictive personality, and I just shifted away from the uh you know, the drugs and the alcohol and you know, not going to school, and changed that to like getting good grades and working out and eating good and just had more information and I knew I loved the way I felt. When I I would say that when I really got into fitness and teaching fitness was uh around the time when my father passed away. Uh so 2014. Um, he was 59, out of shape, overweight, overworked, probably depressed. Um we don't know exactly what happened, but I would say he probably had a heart attack in his sleep because he was just overweight. And uh my brothers and I came together and said that's never gonna be us, and we're gonna take care of ourselves no matter what. Yeah, because we didn't, you know, we just didn't know what to do. So instead of like turning back to drinking and eating like a jerk, I was uh, you know, I would leaned into fitness. So that's when I was training for my races, and I joined a CrossFit gym and I was at the gym by work and the gym by school, and I was like, this is an investment in my health. And it's not like it was like when I can go to the gym by home, I'd go there. And if I wanted to work out on my break at work, I'd go there. So I just was able to do that, learned a little bit more about food along the way. But uh, when I was running my first half marathon, um I was on a record pace. You know, I was a big dude, probably a little lighter than I am right now, so probably around right around 200 pounds, um, running seven minute miles for a half marathon. I was like, I feel amazing. Yeah, and then uh the last mile, I just started breaking down crying. Like I lost my shit. Like in pain or no, because I lost my dad like a few months earlier and he wasn't there. And I was like, there's not like there's nothing I could have done to help him. Look at me. Like I mean, I changed my life around.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

And I realized in that moment that I couldn't, and I came to terms with that. And I said, if I can't help him, I'm gonna try like hell to help somebody else. Wow. Whether it's a son or a father or daughter or mother, I'm just gonna start sharing my story and what uh what I'm doing. And that's really what started like my social media career and putting myself out there, just what I was doing. And I'd have people reach out, like, hey, I went on a run today. I appreciate you sharing what you did, or like, hey, I tried that workout you shared, thank you so much. And I was like, okay, maybe there's something here. Yeah. And that's what really shifted me from like the retail career I was in to wanting to work in fitness to shifting to uh being at full time at the CrossFit Gyms to eventually opening up Hayden Summit, which got me to you know, now uh starting MPFC and doing what I'm doing to help other people in a different light. Um, so that was you know, I've always been an athlete. I lost my way along the way. And yeah, when you lose somebody close to you because of health reasons, it it affects you. Um and if I could share anything with anybody listening to this, like whether you're a successful entrepreneur or or not, is that we lean into mental, physical, and financial health because they're all equally as important. And I believe that when you put yourself first, it means that you're gonna put yourself first for mentally be well, physically be well, and then that will lead to you being more financially well. So I think physical health is super important.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Yeah, but I mean at the end of the day, like if you don't have your your physical health, like what it would it doesn't matter how much money you have or whatever, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:56

You know, yeah, and I think the other side of that too is I mean, you know it as well. Like you walk into a room, you're a fit guy, like you demand attention. Like you're like, hey, like this guy takes care of himself. He's probably a little bit more organized than a lot of people that walk in and look like a slob. Yeah. I think that's important too. And that might sound you know cocky or or in you know in vain, but I I do think it's really important.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

You know, I know when I walk into a room and I'm like I'm fit, I'm a bigger guy. I do I know I carry a lot of muscle. Or it's like people are gonna look at me differently than if I walked in and I was 50 pounds overweight and my clothes didn't fit the right way. And so I mean, I think it's important for a number of different reasons.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So the fitness is I mean, that's a big part of like what we do every day, like what you guys are doing with all your clients and stuff too, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Absolutely. I mean, uh what people are like, why do you have a fitness program in your your business coaching mentorship? And I was like, Well, because I think fitness is really important. Just because I'm a super fit business owner doesn't mean that you are, right? My cousin's in our program and he does mental health counseling, he's a full-time educator, uh, but he's starting his uh you know mental health. He has a degree in in counseling and he's starting a business and trying to get more clients and help more people, but he doesn't take care of himself. He used to, and then he just quit. So we are working on how we can build habits physically because he's has admitted that when he trains regularly, he feels better in the conversations that he has with the clients because he carries himself with more confidence. He feels better at home when he's talking with his wife because he knows that he's more fit. He feels better being a dad because he can keep up with his seven-year-old more. So it's the little things like that that matter. So just because I'm fit and I'm a business owner, I know that most aren't. And I think having that aspect where if you just opened up an app and you had a workout to follow that was included in your membership, that would be huge. Or you take the SFF course. The name of my book is Stay Fucking Fit. I kept it really simple. Don't know if we can curse on this podcast, but I'm going to curse. So I gave have the SFF starter course in there. Yeah. Right. And we touch on these physical, it's not just physical in the sense of working out, but physical habits, scheduling, making sure that you're doing the things that you're saying you're going to do every single day. Physical health goes beyond just what you do in the gym, but it's based on your environment as well, how you communicate with other people, like getting out into the world. Those things are super important.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Yeah, I like that. That's um I've always been, I've started to lift more weights recently than I used to run a lot.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Um Aaron says hi. I was with him this morning. He was like, bring them on by. I was like, I'll let them know. He's gotta come work out with us.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

I've been to uh WestJase. I think I did um Caleb took me down there for um the Murph workout.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Sure, that's coming in eight weeks. We just started a Murph prep this week. So come Thursdays.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Maybe I'll join you one time. But um, but yeah, we built so we um I started going to the Y for a little while, and then um at one point we we decided to put like a little um gym in our garage and we built a rack and stuff in our in our garage because it was like I have two young girls, the time you know I gotta go to the gym and then come home, you know, just it shortened that that sure we didn't have a lot of time to be able to work out and stuff. So we knew there was something that was important to us and wanted to do for a long period of time. So in order to do that, we we put a gym in our garage, and it's been it's great because now if I if I miss my morning workout, I can just easily hop in there in the afternoon or go home after this and and and go work out, right? So it's like just the the convenience of it. So whether it's like in your you know, in your garage or having a gym nearby like you did, you know, it's like you've got to have something, some outlet um to be able to take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Yeah, I always say something is better than nothing. Yeah, and I'll go back to the example with my cousin inside the group who's one of our partners. We call people them partners because we you know we don't want to be clo coach client relationship. We're both we're all adults and we're running businesses. Um I was like, hey, what's what can you do on your worst day? He's like, Well, I know I could do push-ups and squats. I was like, cool, how many? And then he gave me a number and that's what he's gonna do. I said, How many days a week? He's like, uh, at least three. I was like, great, just do that for two weeks and let me know how you feel. And then he's posted in our group or community um his updates and how he's going about it and how it's making him feel and the confidence that it's bringing already. So and I said, one day you'll open up the app and you'll you'll do a workout because I know you have dumbbells at home. Or one day you'll go and find a gym or a rec center or work at the gym at work out at the gym at school. But until then, do what you can. Something is always better than nothing. Yeah, and you know what he brought up to me? He was because he was a fitness client of mine, and this is when he got into fitness, and then he stopped the coaching program. Yeah, a lot of people do, and then they're like, I'm gonna be able to continue to do this, and then they don't. He goes, Um, so he goes every year to Atlantic City with his buddies uh that he grew up with. Okay. And I mean he's sober, he doesn't drink or anything any so he just goes down there and you know has you know, plays some cards or whatever, and then comes back. Um, and he was in the middle of this program, and he texted me and he's like, Cav, I don't I don't know if I get a workout in, man. Like these guys are up late, I'm tired. He's like, we gotta go do this thing. And I was like, You got seven minutes? He's like, Yeah, I got I have seven minutes. Why? I was like, okay, just set a timer for seven minutes and do as many burpees as possible in seven minutes. So he's sitting there doing burpees, and his buddies like wakes up, he's like, What are you doing? He's like, I don't know, but my cousin just told me to do this, and this is the hardest work I have ever done in my life. And I was like, You don't need a lot to get a lot done, right? You just need a vision, you become aware of what it is that you would desire, why are you doing this, get aligned, and then do the work. Yeah, start. And if it doesn't work out, go back and review why. How can you get better? It's not that you're failing, it's that it's challenging. So, how do we pivot and make that easier for ourselves the next time? How do we become more efficient in it? Right? The more we can question things, the more we can learn and grow from them.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Yeah. Do you think people have a hard time like doing that? Like kind of that self-awareness, like questioning.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

Yeah, people are so reactive.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

There's it's super reactive. And if it's hard, they don't want to do it. Right, right, right. But our mind can handle so much more than our body can, physically speaking, right? But it's the same if like you are trying to close clients and you have all these sales calls and they're saying no and no and no, you start to believe that you're not good at sales, right? Right, or your business isn't worthwhile, or like you, your product sucks. Yeah, which isn't true, but we're emotionally reactive to that moment because we're not getting exactly what we want. But if you take away the desire and have the intention, right, you can actually go into that more positively each and every single time. Yeah, same thing with you know lead generation for DMs or engagement on social media. Like, we're looking at all these numbers and like what other people are getting likes and comments on versus what I am. So, like, I'm not as valuable as they are. When the truth is, is they probably just have more of an alignment issue than they do a posting issue. And if you can become more aligned with who you are, you're probably gonna be able to actually connect with the right people versus trying to keep up with the metrics that you think you need to have to be successful.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

So, yeah.

Using AI For Better Systems

SPEAKER_00 33:58

So um you you I want to I want to dive into like AI a little bit because you use it a lot, right? Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

I would say a decent amount.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

What daily?

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Multiple times a day.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Yeah. Um, how has AI changed your business or or you know the people that you coach, how has it changed their business? And like what are what are some ways that you're using AI um to help people improve their productivity and and improve their business overall?

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Sure. So um first and foremost, I think AI for ideation is is huge. Um I mean I drove over here with Lacey today, but if I was by myself, I'd have a chat open with the mic on on my phone and just have a conversation with AI to ideate on a thought that I had or an app that I wanted to build or a website I wanted to design or or or something. And then I can save that and go back and reference our conversation versus trying to keep all the thoughts in my head. So I think ideation is huge because especially, I mean, I did it with I've I've just switched over from ChatGPT to Claude, which I've I've actually it it has ups and downs. I I do think it is, you know, I think chat GPT is gonna be looked at as the MySpace of AI, and then Claude will be more of the Instagram or Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

So the Instagram's coming, I don't know what that is yet.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Um but I do think ideation is is key. Uh organization and arrangement is key, meaning that I record all of my Zoom calls using an AI called Fathom. So I have the video and I have the summary and I have the transcript. And Fathom's free, I don't have the paid version, but I can take that uh for every one of my onboarding calls or every one of my one-on-one calls or every one of my group calls, and take the information that not only what I shared, but what the clients or the leads shared to dump into a database to reference to put into a content creation. So these are the things that they're saying, and these are the things that they're talking about, and these are the hooks that you should use because they've said it this many times, and the percentage is this many times and that many times. So I can take all of the conversations that I'm having on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and dump that into a GPT or a project on Claude, so now that I'm accumulating information, I can take that information and put it into marketing. Right? So I have my clients do that too. I'm like, or if you're not recording every single sales call and every single client call on every single win and every single loss and every single question and every single opportunity, and then dumping that into some sort of AI to at least organize a range and track so you can reference it, you're just guessing at what content you should be making. Yeah. So there's two ways right there. Go for it.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

On that real quick, are you dumping it? Are you just dumping it into um are you dumping it into like a spreadsheet or a uh a file?

SPEAKER_01 36:52

So I'll take the transcript and put it into, let's say, a Google Doc, right? And then I'll just call like You're uploading that like the person, the name, the topic as in in in in the the tab, yeah, and then I'll take that whole tab, bank it into a PDF, and then upload that into the project. Okay. Um and then I'll ask you. And you just tell your prompt PDFs. Exactly. So it's been really been really helpful for me in shifting from the health and wellness industry to the entrepreneurial mentorship industry. Um as I know what I'm doing works, but I do like a lot of uh entrepreneurs, founders, creators overthink, um, which is one of the key ways that AI has helped me help more people, is by not having to overthink where you can reference a set of topics or pillars to your business, uh, systems to to to use regularly, and then take that and utilize that information versus trying to overthink of what I should do today.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Um but yeah, I would take that into a document and then drop it into a project or a conversation, and then from that I based up what it is I'm trying to accrue, whether it be a lesson or a post or a carousel or you know whatever I can I can then go and create. Yeah. So ideation, creation, and then what I'm getting better at um is and I'll I'll jump ahead, I'll come back to like the the creation process. That's probably my favorite um the reviewing process, right? So you have the I we have um system PDR planning, doing, reviewing. So in AI you can utilize this too. So planning is kind of plugging in and ideation, and then doing is the actual creation process and what you can do with the that information, and then what a lot of people skip is the reviewing part. They just try and jump to the next planning session instead of looking back on what worked and what didn't work. Um so with Claude, there's three different main areas to Claude, and at the way I see it is that you have regular Claude conversations, you have Claude Code where you can create, and then you have Claude Cowork. So with Claude Cowork, I can collect connect that to my Google Drive or my Gmail or a number of different platforms, and then when um information comes in, I can set it to run a certain data set or prompt at a certain time and then send me information every single day. So if I were to create um, let's say if I were to put it in a prompt and create something, then after that information comes back, I can have Cloud Cowork run that automatically and deliver that to my phone so I don't have to worry about what had happened, and I just get it delivered to me right away, which I think is was huge. So um, for instance, one of the things that I am excited about to do with AI, I do check-ins with my clients every single week. Yeah, uh, I think it's really important. You know, they're on calls, we do one-on-ones, they come to the office hours, but I think it's important for them to review how they're doing personally and professionally. What went well, what didn't go well, where are they at with their goals, and then send that to me so I can give feedback and then help them plan for the next week. Yeah. That's what I'll be doing after this. That's my Friday afternoons. I love it. Um, but I think what I can do, and I thought about this just before I left the house today, is that with Cloud Cowork, I can have the titles of those emails in the subject line be like uh like dinged automatically so that it can review what they said in comparison to last week's and then write a response automatically, send that to me, and then on based on my approval or not, it could send it back to them without even me sitting down and doing the reviews. So like that, and I can give it like a set of parameters on like what to look for and because we do this in uh 12-week cycles quarterly, then like where are we at in comparison to week one, et cetera? So like if I set the parameters correctly on Claude Cowork, then it could read the email, write the response, send me the response, I approve the response, and then it drops it in their folder and gives them the notification that the responses come in with a minute within a matter of minutes, instead of me sitting down for two hours, three hours to go through all the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

That's pretty sweet. Are how like how much time have you spent with AI just learning it and and thinking through different because I mean I feel like a lot of it is uh I mean it's like the ideas are or just like understanding like what you can and can't do, right? I use it daily as well. I've I've done kind of some of the different aspects of of you know, a lot of it is is ideas and and running through ideas, but even like show notes for this. Like I I pull um uh either conversations we've had, like your websites, Instagrams, um, plus the uh the forums that we that you you guys fill out before and and sure and to create like some show notes, and then I go through the show notes and be like, okay, yes, here's some things that I want to talk about. And it just kind of puts me in the right frame of mind for the podcast episode, right? But how much time have you spent like learning all of that?

SPEAKER_01 41:53

Um I would say I mean it's a decent amount of time, but not as much as others. Yeah. Uh I I'm learning as I go. So I do follow a lot of accounts that are way more ahead than I am when it comes to AI. Right. And I have been overwhelmed by the amount of information they put out because they're like, this is the best thing, and that is the best thing. So you have to what I I posted about this the other day. I said you really need to know where your gaps are in your business. What do you enjoy doing and what fires you up and where are you having trouble following up in your business awareness again, right? What do you want to continue doing? What do you not want to do? Can AI help you do what it is that you don't want to do? That's where I would focus so that you can do what it is that you love to do, and then have AI do the rest of it so that you can grow your business. That is what I see most you know mid-level entrepreneurs utilizing AI for. If you try and do everything, you're never gonna do anything. Yeah, right. Yeah. And the other side of that is become a master of one. It took me a while to get away from Chat GPT because I was just so used to it and comfortable with it. But then as soon as I tried Claude, I was like, okay, I see the benefit here, right? And I have my ups and downs with it, where it's like, oh, I'm on the pro plan and I'm paying $20 a month, and I'm two hours into a session, and it's like you used all of the blah blah blah for right now. Come back at 8 p.m. And I'm like, oh my gosh. So it there's a bit of a money grab there, and I don't think I want to pay the max, I don't need it to pay like $100 plus dollars a month now. But what I'm making with Claude, what I'm going to be able to share with my clients via Claude is beyond what Chat TBD is on. And I So you're a fan. I am a fan, yeah, especially because of like the Claude conversations, the Claude co-work, and the Claude code.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Um, so just before last night, um, I I'm hosting a uh a workshop on Monday um on my power uh framework, right? Which is the engine that helps the infinite content engine go.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Um and uh you have my THM GPT. This is gonna be the next level of that. So calling it ICE Infinite. Content engine, probably not a great name these days, but hey, content is content, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 44:06

Get the message out there.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Um, however, the what I was able to make, which is a prompt, because I'm developing an app, essentially. I'm building an app on Cloud Code. I don't know, I do not know how to code. I'm just vibe coding and talking with it. Yeah, building out an app that allows you to open up your phone and then open up today's date based off of your pillars and your ICA and what your clients say and what you've done and your wins and what you're trying to do, is saying, like, this is what you need to post today. And then it gives you endless content based on who you're talking to, your relationship with them, top of middle, bottom of funnel, what type what do you love posting about? Are you a carousel guru? Are you talking head? Do you like the edited stuff? It's gonna be able to do all that so that slowly and surely, like, you don't you could just wake up and you'll have uh a day's worth of content. Or if it's like you it you schedule in like this is your recording day, this is your recording day. But it takes away the ideation day because it's already done for you because you put in the f the the the the foundation and then you could just update it every 30 days because you I'm gonna run it on a 30-day calendar. Okay. So I mean, before then, that it didn't take more time to build. That's not built yet. But what I have done is uh created just a a a code, a link, or if um a a why am I blanking on the word a prompt for you to fill out with all of that information so that when you do plug it in, it just presents you a really easy trackable calendar to open up and you get X amount of posts, like three different types of posts per day, so you don't have to think about it and you can move through the month with a little bit more ease to get rid of the overthinking anxiety part of posting. Yeah. Now I can't show up and be like, say that with more enthusiasm today, Donnie. But like you can learn those things as it on uh more easily when you're not overthinking like what you want to put out there.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Yeah. So just like here's here's content ideas, pick one, run with it, and go.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Yeah, just put it out there. Yeah. And I was just telling you before, I mean, I didn't I don't do much health and fitness coaching these days. I am running a uh a jacked by July challenge by popular demand, which I'm having fun with, and we got a couple people signed up, and that'll be cool. But um, Lacey and I went to Whole Foods and bought that family meal, yes, and it was $35 for four meals, and I just called it a week of meal prep, and the internet lost its mind. It was a perfect post. But I think if you just show up and you you're authentic and you could do that every so often and lean that like this is why I'm so passionate about health and fitness and simplicity of food uh and and training that when I do talk about that, people are like, why are you not doing fitness coaching anymore? Well, and I enjoy it. And then, like, when I get into the the business side of coaching, it I I I'm a little bit more educational, a little bit more tactical, and and it's not as loud and passionate, so it doesn't get as much engagement online, but I know like it's there. My my point in saying that is the post that went viral about Whole Foods meal prep, uh, and then the rant that I'd put up there after when people were yelling at me because of seed oils being in their foods got a lot more engagement because it just effortlessly came off the tongue. And it's authentically me. And now people are learning about the business side of me more, which is a little bit more calm, a little bit more collected. Yeah, I don't I mean there's less to get like up in arms about when it comes to identity.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Yeah. Um the health health stuff is definitely a hot topic.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

Yeah, exactly.

Authentic Content That Actually Connects

SPEAKER_01 47:26

So I mean, I and I think what's really important if we're pause and talk about posting and content creation, that you regularly talk about your story, like why you do what you do and how you got here, what it is you're passionate about. So like I will never stop posting about fitness and nutrition. Right. Because it's such an integral part of who I am. Yeah. And then just your skills, right? Like what makes you different than anybody else. Yeah. So like if you're not talking about those things, just start there. And like more people will the right people will start connecting with you. Yeah. And then everything else about your business and all of that come afterward.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

Yeah. I think that's great advice. And I think that's like one thing I've noticed, and probably why I started following you uh whenever I did, but like you you show up as this, like on online, right? Like this is this is that's who you are, and your content is very uh like you said, it's just like simple, right? It's just like you just put a camera down and just record for a minute or something.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

Yeah, I mean, look, I mean sometimes it it it comes across great, other times I'll use it's why there edits in the videos, is because I messed up and I'm like, well, I don't want to say that. Yeah, and I just don't care anymore, dude. Like a million posts go up a minute. Yeah, you know, the 90,000 people that follow me, like and the 20% of those people that maybe see my stuff because the algorithm is the algorithm.

SPEAKER_02 48:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:44

Um I just if it does well, great. If it doesn't, I'm gonna post something again in three hours because something will happen in my life that I want to talk about, or I'll just follow my content calendar.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Yeah. How often you're posting what three times a day? Did you start when you started with Instagram? Like how many how many times were you posting? Have you always been pretty consistent?

SPEAKER_01 49:02

One to two times a day. There, I mean, then there are seasons where I would be on it and others where I wouldn't be on it, you know, just like anything else. Um, but I finally feel good after making THM GPT, yeah, and like just one of the things that I have is like post something, yeah. Right. So after this, I'm gonna go in my car, I'm gonna put my camera on, and I'm gonna talk about the podcast. Yeah, and if I want to post about it, it's there, right? Versus like me trying to remember what it is that we had a conversation about and how I felt in that moment. Yeah, everything is content. So, like before I, you know, and we'll go to Whole Foods, maybe I'll make a part two and continue the trend. We're gonna go get our dollar oysters today, and people are gonna be like, oysters are bad for you. Yeah, you can't have that many. Yeah, isn't the right month? Yeah, exactly. Um but I mean, like, that's the thing. Like, you can there's something to make content about. Yeah, and because you become better at talking to the camera, you become a better storyteller, and that's that real authentic contact that people want to connect with, or at least the people that want to follow you and get to know you more, might be able to purchase what you're doing, you know, they're gonna be there.

SPEAKER_00 50:06

I think that's what I think social media has changed in a good way in that that you don't always have to post like my page, it doesn't always have to be real estate content, right? No, yeah, it can be whatever, it can be health and fitness, it could be you know real estate, it could be all of that mixed in, like whatever makes me me. It's just sharing that.

SPEAKER_01 50:24

Yeah, you could you're post dad content, you know what I mean? Like you you are a totally different person than I am, and you're talking to a totally different audience, but there are other uh entrepreneurs, podcast hosts, fitness people, and dads out there that can post about all of those same things, and they're gonna sound completely different because they're not you, right? And if you don't share all of those things, you're never gonna connect with the people that want to connect with you if they only see real estate Donnie, if they only see fitness Donnie, right? That's the difference.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

So you uh would agree that um every business owner needs to have social media and be active on social media, you think?

Founder Visibility And How To Reach Kevin

SPEAKER_01 50:57

I don't see a downside to having it. Yeah, I don't think I don't think need is important. I mean they might have a if their business has a social media that could supplement that. Yeah but I do think that there is something to the founder being a part of the story that allows the brand, the business to be that much more successful. Um and again, I don't think it doesn't mean you have to be this extroverted founder, you could be a completely introverted founder and and bring in the right people for whatever it is you're doing. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I do think there's a benefit to it. And I don't want to say need again, it's not a hundred percent. I don't think anything's a hundred percent. Um but yeah, I think you'd you'd do well to to to to lean into that creative side of things and go forward and see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 51:49

Yeah, I like that. So where can people um where can people get more information about your your coaching and and um just connecting with you?

SPEAKER_01 51:58

Sure. So easiest place is uh DM me and let's have a conversation about it. To be honest, you know, I everybody's different. Um so at Kavin T V C A V A N T V underscore on Instagram, uh mpfcollective.com uh is our website. Uh we just Lacey just designed our new website, so excited to put that up in the next day or two. Um and that's where to find us. It's just easy. I'm always so that's me. I'm trying to keep the social in social media. Um, my favorite part is always, you know, I'll do a keyword automation type of post. And I'll be like, DM me post for my infinite posting prompt. Yeah, yeah. And then I'm just gonna shoot you a video message and not do an automation because I just people are waiting you just use my name. I'm like, yeah, I want to have a conversation with you. Yeah, and like that's amazing. And I think we can always do more of that.

SPEAKER_00 52:47

Yeah, for sure. So yeah, cool, man. Well, thanks for being here. Yeah, I appreciate you having me. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Palm Harbor Local. Now, if today's conversation made you think differently about where you are, where you're going in life, and what you might need to change, then leave a comment below and share this episode with a friend. You can follow Palm Harbor Local for more conversations like this around wellness, lifestyle, and growth here on Florida's Gulf Coast. We'll see you next time.