Gerard (“Coach G”) Burley’s mission is to reinvent the way we think about inclusion, fitness and wellness. He’s the founder of Sweat DC fitness studio - and so much more - and his “fun, inclusive, build you up from the inside out” approach to fitness has made him a bit of a local celebrity, both in Rome, Italy and now in DC. But getting there has been a deeply personal mission and journey for Coach G, with a lot of leaps along the way. In Ep. 10, hear about Coach G’s:
Follow and learn more about Coach G at @coachgfitness and https://www.coachgfitness.com/, and Sweat DC fitness studio at @sweatdc at https://sweatdc.com/.
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Have guest ideas? Can't wait to hear what leaps will be next?
Subscribe to Life Leaps Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow, rate and review us - we're *brand new* so, it means a lot - and be the first to know when we launch new episodes each week:
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Gerard (“Coach G”) Burley’s mission is to reinvent the way we think about inclusion, fitness and wellness. He’s the founder of Sweat DC fitness studio - and so much more - and his “fun, inclusive, build you up from the inside out” approach to fitness has made him a bit of a local celebrity, both in Rome, Italy and now in DC. But getting there has been a deeply personal mission and journey for Coach G, with a lot of leaps along the way. In Ep. 10, hear about Coach G’s:
Follow and learn more about Coach G at @coachgfitness and https://www.coachgfitness.com/, and Sweat DC fitness studio at @sweatdc at https://sweatdc.com/.
***
Have guest ideas? Can't wait to hear what leaps will be next?
Subscribe to Life Leaps Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow, rate and review us - we're *brand new* so, it means a lot - and be the first to know when we launch new episodes each week:
*ACCESSIBILITY: Transcripts are available for each episode here. (Just click your episode of choice, and then click the "transcript" tab! And if you have any issues at all don't hesitate to reach out.)
Coach G: [00:00:00] I think this time everyone's life where you gotta look at yourself in bed on yourself.
Welcome to Life Leaps Podcast. Hear inspiring stories of ordinary people who made extraordinary life changes. What drove them, what almost held them back. Insights for the rest of us considering life leaps big or small, because hearing someone else do it reminds us that we can too.
Happy Wednesday, everyone today are with Gerard coach G Burley, whose mission is to reinvent the way we think about inclusion. fitness and wellness. He's the founder of sweat, DC fitness studio, and so much more. And his fun inclusive build you up from the inside out approach to fitness has made him a bit of a local celebrity, both in Rome, Italy, and now in DC. But getting there has been a deeply personal mission and journey for coach G with a lot of leaps along the way.
Today, we'll hear about coach. G's extremely [00:01:00] unique approach to fitness and wellbeing. A life mission that was shaped by personal tragedy. His leap for love, which far beyond the love part changed the course of his life. His approach to doubt and uncertainty when it inevitably creeps in during times of change.
And so much motivation. He is a coach after all.
Life Leaps Podcast: when I look at you now, and it's no secret, you're like this big jacked, very tough looking dude.
You are. Come on. And, , he's making faces at me over the video. but when I read these articles where you said that you, when you grew up, you were overweight and kind of insecure and had,this different self-perception or persona, that surprised me.
Coach G: Yeah. it's like, Becoming the butterfly. a lot of people don't see the caterpillar stages and some of that takes time inside your cocoon and that cocoons dark and may not be the most fun place, but it [00:02:00] is where you're transforming. it's really important to me cause I've spent so much of my life not presenting my most authentic self I think growing up overweight and, gay, so you're in the closet there not really knowing who I am, having my mom pass young, things triggered me to move forward in a way that, helps me be a little bit stronger and more, present now. it allows me to be very empathetic I can kinda sense when people have insecurities, I try to give a pathway forward and say, Hey, who you today is not who you have to be tomorrow.
I kind of of think of it as my job to we need the smart people and the good people and the kind people that feel just as confident as the mean people and the people who are just thinking about themselves. So if I can help the world be a little bit more confident in their skin, that's my goal and my mission in life.
Life Leaps Podcast: I love it. And you mentioned your mom that she had passed, I think you told me [00:03:00] when you were 18, like a week before you went to college outta state.
Coach G: Yeah. Yeah. It was kinda crazy. I always can remember the visualization of what happened, but, I just remember I used to play basketball a lot, growing up and whatnot.
And like pretty much every day I was playing basketball. But, my mom was sitting in the bed and she'd had some spout where she was passing out probably over the last two years. But when they ran all the tests, nothing came back, anything wrong. So they were like, everything's healthy, I stress, And when I came home, I remember seeing. pulling up to the street and lot of people, my neighbors, my dad, my brothers were in street, but my wasn't understand what happened
but she pastoring congestive heart failure, which, knowing more now is something that is very prominent. like our country's not really healthy and it's not, it's kinda like a sleeper disease. So you might not be super overweight something like that, but like your heart is a muscle and if [00:04:00] you're not continuously working on it and eating the right stuff, like it can happen to anyone and could be genetic stuff.
Coach G: So that is just something that I try to. Keep more awareness to people, they're like about their health. And even when I think about like my work at swbc, like I find extra joy and extra passion with women's health and women's fitness. Cause I see like our rule atbc one, if I hire you, it's like I, this is just the easy way we judge people.
Would I let you train my mother? And just a easy way. It's not just a workout you have someone's and health in our handsDo you
Life Leaps Podcast: think that your mom's passing and the way that she passed and the fact that you talk about health issues and how that brought that to the front of your life at that time, is that what you think ultimately led you to be in the space you're in with personal fitness?
Coach G: Yeah, I think it's a big catalyst.
[00:05:00] I'm very spiritual and I think the universe kinda works at us from different angles and whatnot. But yeah, I think even when building out sweat, I try to think of a space that, a place that could have saved my mom. that could be a place that people could go to who've never worked out and feel included and get a great workout, but yet somewhere that someone right next to them could be at a high level and work out and feel included and have a community and feel supported.
I wish there was a sweat DC when I was growing up. Maybe my mom would still be around, you know?
Life Leaps Podcast: Wow. what is your, sweat DC philosophy? I know it's an extremely inclusive gym I've seen you say look, if you don't fit a certain profile, the boutique gyms have really blown up in recent years but they're not really an equalizer in terms of fitness.
They tend to be for people who look a certain way, people who make a certain amount of money. And you were like, I wanna bring that customized, like tailored, special, personalized gym experience to everybody. And not just everybody, but [00:06:00] specifically to the people who've been or feel excluded from those other gyms.
is that,that's your philosophy, right? Or am I putting words in your mouth? Did I just say it for you? ?
Coach G: Yeah. , yes. Lemme write that down. Say it again.
Life Leaps Podcast: I'd like to be your spokesperson if the podcast doesn't work out. Yes,
Coach G: we got an official spokesperson now. no, I think you hit the nail in the head, right?
I think everyone needs a space in the community. one thing that I just remember, even as a trainer, I would go to these spaces and I didn't feel included, and I was like, and I'm in shape.
Coach G: Imagine all the people who aren't in shape and feel intimidated, or the people who maybe can't afford a thousand or $2,000 a month. so I'm constantly we can't just say we're inclusive, right? We have to have systems that walk around that. Like, how do we train our staff? Ability is a inclusion that people don't think about. we've had one of my old staff members, was a hearing, and some his to event and he said, Hey, [00:07:00] he had a cochlear implant so he could kinda hear some stuff, but some of his friends didn't have that advantage.
So we sat down and I said, what can we do? We talked to some people, we were able to get an interpreter there and once we figured it out, it wasn't hard. It just takes you like leaning in just a little bit, listening first, and then all businesses is problem solving.
Key thing to me at Sweat is we are very values forward, right? our core values are devotion, inclusion, fun, challenging, inspirational, Understand some economic barrier.
Sowe do intentional free, community workshops, the mayors,
Life Leaps Podcast: I was gonna say, I saw that you did an event with a local school nearby, like a fitness day and it's easy,
Coach G: literally. It's a call, it's an email one of my coaches actually works at Dunbar High School, and we do have a lot of educators that work at, sweat.
So we did a cycling class with a bunch of these kids and [00:08:00] they never, they cycled outside on bikes before, but they'd never been to an indoor cycling class. Like I'd never been to one till I was probably 28 or 29. I didn't even know that existed. So it was kinda cool just to get them in there and it was a brand new spark in the studio and it really just was like me calling a friend who's another studio owner saying, Hey, we got these kids.
When's the time that we can bring them in? we all have those memories as a kid, especially that were like maybe minor to the people putting it on, but lasting. So I think it's really important that community wise, we utilize our spaces, we utilize our power to create space where people can just, maybe people just wanna come in. Sometimes we just wanna come in and say hi.
Life Leaps Podcast: I love it. so you have obviously created both a fitness studio, but also a huge important community space, I think it's amazing and I want to now drag you backward, . And I wanna ask you, what, [00:09:00] how in the heck did you do all this? I, like when I've talked to you personally, you're like, look, I'm a man of many leaps.
I don't know if you said that exactly, but that's what I heard. it wasn't like you woke up and you were like, this is what I'm gonna do with my life. But you maybe knew you'd wanna do sports related stuff all along, cuz for college you did. I think it was sports medicine, right? you went to Chapel Hill, right?
Coach G: Yeah, sports medicine. when I was 16 years old,my dad made me go to like a health science camp. And I learned about athletic training. Athletic training combined. Two things I really liked, which was sports and science. and I remember coming home and I was like, dad, thank you. I know what I do now. Schools did it, school in.
And I learned that getting in Chapel Hill from outta state is very hard. So I took the s a t I think six times until I got the numbers that were needed.
Life Leaps Podcast: Wow. Wow. That's impressive. Keep taking that
Coach G: Soon as they just take your top numbers. I was like, whoa. Why don't people just keep taking that.
Life Leaps Podcast: I love [00:10:00] it.
because we're lazier than that. Okay. .
Coach G: Oh, I was, I'll just keep taking, I'll just keep taking that. Oh, got it. Cool. and that's where, I learned a lot. And after that, came back home and actually got a job as a head athletic trainer at Bowie State University.
So I was there for almost five years. I really got to build up that program there. became one of the strengths and conditioning coaches at Buoy while I was also a halfway trainer. when most people talk to me, I never talk about, this is the most I've talked about, My degree in education and certifications.
I never talk about that. Cause the older I've gotten, the more I'm like, that stuff doesn't matter. I'm all about the human and the emotional side. but I do know what I'm talking about. I But as I've gotten older and as I started training people, I think a shift kinda happened there.
Cause I thought I only wanted work with high level athletes and I started working with general population, just doing personal stuff. Oh, that's
Life Leaps Podcast: own big pivot. you started out training these like elite high level athletes and now you're kind doing [00:11:00] the opposite. You're like, I'm trying to create a space for all the people who would never even dream of trying to make that cut And that's okay.
We're gonna celebrate that and instead create a space for you guys to be healthy. I'm excited in saying that cause I have my own realization in the moment. Don't you know, don't mind me. no,
Coach G: I love that. I loved it and I really saw that people were even more appreciative and whether it was a physical change or emotional change or whatever. And I really just got hooked and that's when I just leaned all the way in. Once we, once I went to Italy, .
Life Leaps Podcast: I was gonna say, at some point you decided to go to Rome. you, I think you said you'd never left the country at that point. What's up with. What happened?
Yeah. So
Coach G: I met a boy, , and at this point, don't we all, the power, Yeah. and at this point I just to remind people, that like the version of me you see today is not who I was and I'm ing and I hope next year you see a better version of me or a different, or more evolved version of myself.
But at that point, I was [00:12:00] super closet. Like at that point, I hadn't come out to my family. maybe a few of my friends knew. I remember I lived in Baltimore, but I would sneak down to DC because I was hoping no one would know me. And like I would go out there and try to run back up to Baltimore and stuff like that.
at that point, one day in DC I met a boy who now ex still friends we met and he was a State Department person, so you know, those people bouncing DC and bounce out. And we started hitting it off and he was like, Hey, I like how this thing is going, but, and at that point he was living in Pakistan actually.
Coach G: Wow. so it was long distance. Came back to DC for a little bit and was like, Hey, my next tour is in Rome I this going to this and I want you to come with me. Wow. And it was a really hard decision for me cause one, I was at that point where I'd gotten everything I had worked for.
I literally. I'm at year five at Buoy, but this is work that I've done from college [00:13:00] to be able to get into a position, to be a director level role. I just hired an assistant. I just bought a house. Oh, wow. Yeah, I just bought a house in DC I just bought a car. Like everything that, like we look at Success, So I had everything that you're supposed to want.I had benefits. My dad was like, you got benefits, you made it. Right.so quote unquote, success was there.
And I checked all those boxes, but. Something told me that it was time to do something different. And I remember sitting at my kitchen table, I put out a piece of paper and I wrote a line straight down the middle. I still make decisions today. And I wrote out pros of Leaving, leaving, and I wrote 'em all out.
Coach G: And the biggest thing that made me go was the what if. And I said, can you really live with the What if if you stay here in the comfort zone and say, what if I would've went to [00:14:00] Italy? What if I would've moved overseas for two years? what would my life be like? And I couldn't. And I told myself, and this is where I think my entire life changed.
Cause my attitude when you, the thing about a leap in this way, I love this podcast. leaps are about growth. It's not about the destination. So yeah. The leap is about who you have to become to do the leap. That's people talk about skydiving. It's not about you pulling a parachute.
It's about who do you have to be to jump out of a plane, like a crazy person, you know? It's crazy. Everything in your brain is gonna say, safety is over here. House job benefits, retirement plan, everything safe is here. It would be insanity to leave safety and go over here. Literally insane. Your brain is literally protecting you.
what are you doing now? Mention, my dad was like, what? In one month I told him I was gay and I'm moving outta the country.
Coach G: [00:15:00] A big month for dad. Most people live scared. They're so scared of like the unknown that they miss out on so many possibilities that it could be their life. so long story short, I took the jump, took the leap, you went, condos can be rented out, cars can be sold, jobs will be here when you get back, or maybe another thing, whatever, I finished out the football season, made sure I brought in, personal assistant who could take over everything for basketball. I made sure everything was better left than what I found, and then I left Wow.
Life Leaps Podcast: When you made that decision and you were like, all right, I'm doing it.
what was your biggest fear in that moment? Obviously you had. Your dad who it sounds like you had a good relationship with telling you and maybe you listen to him, maybe you don't, you tell me. he's sitting here telling you like, what are you doing? You're giving up this life of benefits, and you're gay and what, what, all the things Exactly.
Life Leaps Podcast: Like what, what kept you going [00:16:00] in that moment? It sounds like you answered honestly was just, you were like, I can't live with the what if was that? it was like, I'm scared of all these things that are on my cons list, but I'm scared More of the what if being unanswered.
Coach G: Yeah. I think that was it. The what if, and then also I think this time everyone's life where you gotta look at yourself in bed on yourself.
like everything else that has happened in my life. I've come out on the right side. Like we have, dips in the hills or whatever, but like most of the time we don't ever fall in our face all the way. And if you do, you got back up. , right? So at a certain point I have to say look, worst case scenario I go over here, I hate it.
Coach G: Me and this boy don't work out. Where am I? I'm back on a flight over here. I have a degree, I have some experience. I'll just literally be right back where I was. yeah. So when you think of things that way you, what are you risking? Worst [00:17:00] case scenario, you're back where you were. So if that is the worst thing that's gonna happen, and for most of us, that is the worst case scenario, right?
Like even, we talked a little bit about covid and stuff like that. Like worst case scenario, your business is all gone, yada. You're starting at square one where you were, but you're not. Cause now you're a different person. , you've been through experience. and I think that's the stuff that's hard to tangibly.
relate to or how do you write out that I'm a more resilient guy now. I can't show you. How do I write that on resume? Hey, I'm pretty resilient. I leap went over here, figured it out, did that, did this, and I'm still standing. And a lot of us have that in our lives.
Coach G: We, we talked a little bit at our dinner, right? Like a lot of us have been through some stuff and life is always cyclical. Like this is one of those times, during the time was like a peak. And then I've had some valleys too.
so you took this risk, you moved to Rome. Did you, had you never been outta the country before? I think you told me you hadn't left the country. What [00:18:00] happened? I think you said you started a job that was gonna be the safer version. You took one look around and were like, nevermind. You were openly gay for the first time in your life.
Coach G: so I remember, I distinctly remember being on the plane. Looking out the window like, what am I doing? Because once you're on the plane, you're up. And it's a one way ticket. , you're, it's jump, it's cel, right? Oh my God, am I doing And what am I do? But it worked out.
So Rome, yeah, it was that period when you are nervous and when youre a little scared or whatever, we tend to wanna go back to safety. So the first thing I did, I tried to see what type of jobs they had, embassy for, likes or whatever. So they, oh yeah. Jobs, in the room. And there's a mail room in the basement and it's supposed to be like secret mail or something.
So the mail room is in the basement and it looks like a vault. And the lady said, this is where you would work. And I'm like, who else works there? Oh, you're here by yourself, me? Gerard Treant Burley who [00:19:00] got put outta class all the time for talking too much. Like I can't be by myself.
Like what? in a dark space with no window
Life Leaps Podcast: handling other people's secret mail in a basement. .
Coach G: Yeah. That's not what I wanna do. but it was a safe route. And so I said, you know what? I've always thought about kinda doing some training, like really fulltime. And one of my mentors when I worked at the gym said, you can't really be great at anything part-time.
And I distinctly him saying that and I said, opportunity. I'm gonna start my own training business. So I remember telling my ex, I said, Hey, I'm gonna start this training business. And he was like, you won't really be able to be successful.
That's the close to me, I'm like, why wouldn't you believe in me? It's me. And I remember him telling me how much I could charge he was like, he would pay 20 for it or something like that.
[00:20:00] but it's not for him to get. and I say this to hopefully anyone who's listening who has that idea and that fire, if the people around you can't see your vision, it's not cuz they don't. Love you. It's because they can't, the division wasn't for them.
And it fired me up. I said, I'm gonna prove to you and I'm gonna kill this shit.
I started training, I started writing. didn't you say,
Life Leaps Podcast: didn't you say that you went you were trying to see if you could go to different sports teams in a town.
Oh yeah. Yeah. And they were like, but you don't speak Italian. This isn't gonna work. And you were kinda like Wamp, wob, . But then you realized how to make it your superpower, but you were like, I'm the English trainer. was there some I'm the I
Coach G: speaking trainer. Yeah. Yeah. It was, A lot of you got me remembering a lot.
But yeah, I was trying to work with, different sports teams and they were like, Hey, you don't speak Italian. And I said, I'm gonna make my problem, my solution. it's not that I don't speak Italian, it's that I'm the English speaking trainer.
So [00:21:00] that's all I talked about. And I said, this is my niche. I'm the English trainer, I'm the English trainer, I'm the English trainer. And up opening the first English speaking personal training and bootcamp in Rome, started training a lot of our ambassadors. I started training a lot of, people who worked at other embassies, A lot of people also, especially Italians, One to work on their English or just like speaking English and like the idea of having an American trainer. it really worked to my advantage and I started training in different hotels.
Embassy by the time had five different trainers who were working for small groups, bootcamp and personal training. I was writing in three different, publications. I was part of the American International Club Room. It was great. I was like a kinda a little celebrity there. And that's where like coach was born.
what was it that caused you to rebrand in your mind from being like, hitting a wall [00:22:00] with trying to fit into the, Italian speaking paradigm, it wasn't happening.
Life Leaps Podcast: What did it take? Was there like a moment when you were suddenly like, oh wait, Here's how I can use that my advantage here here's how I can pivot, rebrand, whatever. Because it's brilliant.
Coach G: I wish I had some brilliant answer. I've always been someone who's like, how does it work? Not how does, it doesn't work. What you focus on grows, right? So if you focus on this part, then you'll see this part, but focus on, you got a whole nother part over here.
And I just focused on, Hey, I can speak English and I can train and I can write. just started writing a lot. That helped tremendously. I wrote
Life Leaps Podcast: that down after you and I talked last week, earlier this week before this interview. I wrote down that you'd said, trust something trusting in the universe.
The universe has been around for a while and trusting in that and what you focus on grows. I like had that written down. Okay. All right. So you make end your superpower. You do all the amazing things. your time in Italy, two years in, comes to an end [00:23:00] and this amazing clientele and, name you've built for yourself.
Now you're like, oh, I gotta start that over again in new territory. wait a minute. because like relationship ends, Italy ends and it's now you're rebranding, but you got this
Coach G: experience. Yeah. and again, we go through, right? Like you could look at all these tangible things are gone, but your education and your experience is so different, right?
One, I'm, I came there being someone who never left the country and I left. I've been to almost every continent, I traveled almost every month. I ended up also while I was there, and I thought, this is my renaissance part of my life where I just was saying yes to stuff and just doing it. I ended up playing professional basketball while I was there in league for two years in Italy.
Yeah. So didn't know that part. .
I was playing basketball with some guys I didn't know, but they played on a professional team, but like a lower level professional team. And they were like, yo, you're pretty good. You should come try out. Okay, [00:24:00] cool. So while I was there, I played pro ball, started a started my own business. and I ended up speaking Italian. I learned a lot and I just became a different person and I became, I think so much of life is also, what's called momentum, right?
So if you can, if you can get a win, it's kinda like playing a sport right? if none of your shots are going down, they say get to the bucket and get a layup, make a steal on defense. You just need some type of positive thing to happen and the momentum will happen. But I was in flow of all these good things happening, so I felt very confident myself.
So that's why I went, I came back, as much as again, my mind said, Hey, let's start looking for some jobs and do this traditional thing that we do when we feel unsafe. Let's go back to safety and security. My other side of me said, Hey, you just built all this. Hey. Hey, did you forget your bad bitch?
Hey, bad bitch calling you. You just built this right? in a space where no one spoke the language, like where all the odds were against you, you showed up and did [00:25:00] it. So let's not fall back into not doing what bad bitches do, right? . So let's go back home, run the same playbook.
Which is how I built my business here in less than a year. Getting, over six figures as a personal trainer is tough. especially in a new city, being able to do that, and it basically was just the same playbook. Write about it, talk about it, and have the philosophy that is fitness is more than just fitness.
It's about wellness. And it just worked out. Wait,
Life Leaps Podcast: so you get to DC . And there must have been some kind of comedown, you're like, I gotta start again. I'm back here. I gotta build a clientele. you know, when I was coming back through trying to rebuild up my self-confidence and stuff, one thing that my therapist had me do was he said, go home and write out all the shit you've done. Cause he's listening to me, Like, why you've done so much stuff. And he was like, just start writing out and when you started writing out everything you've accomplished, everything you've been through, everything that was [00:26:00] supposed to break you that didn't, you gotta get a fire.
is, if something comes in, you're like, damn, I'm a bad bitch. Are we allowed to curse?
Life Leaps Podcast: You can curse, you can curse all you want. ,
Coach G: it'll be motivational.
Life Leaps Podcast: This is not a children's podcast .
Coach G: But yeah, And we all need that. We all need a coach. because we're human and we're gonna go down. I'm not this, I'm not that. And it cycles in our brain sometimes, but it feels good just to be like, Hey, I'm doing it. I did. I did that. I thought I was gonna be broken and I wasn't.
Life Leaps Podcast: I love it. so you weren't broken. what are you doing to even like when you hit everything hit the ground. Okay. . Okay. Okay. at that point I was writing every week. I wrote a blog called Coach's Corner. I had that in Italy. So I already had my mailing list
Coach G: I wrote in the embassy newsletter and then I wrote for another newsletter out there. And then when I came back, I kept writing and then I went to every apartment and condo complex and [00:27:00] said, Hey, I write this little blog about health and nutrition tips. Can I write this and put it into your newsletter, into your elevator or post it up?
Oh, how much free. I'm just giving out information. Who doesn't wanna learn about health and nutrition? Everyone wants to learn about it. Also, the way I write is very, I write like a talk. So I definitely, I've had editor before tell me like you'll never write anything great cuz you don't do it.
You don't use, I said whatever. and I ended up writing. Were writing. Yeah. They were wrong. They're all wrong. You're right. Everyone else wrong. Yeah, so I ended up writing for the Washington Blade. I asked him, probably the guy, I think editor's name is Kevin naf. I probably asked him 50 times, could I write for him?
he said no, 49. I. I popped up at their holiday party and I said, Hey, it's me. I'm the one who's been emailing you and calling you and telling you like I wanna do this thing. He was like, alright. He was like, ok, . . So he just let me start writing. So my blog turned into articles for that.
oh my gosh, that's amazing.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. So you [00:28:00] literally just what do they call it? politely, relentless, . You literally just kept after him and then he was like, okay, fine. for us. Yes. And you do.
Coach G: Exactly. Yeah. Okay. And the opportunities just kept come like that. And a lot of stuff in my life has been like that. So while I was doing that, was writing there, I asked all my clients and everyone I knew in Rome, do you know anyone in DC.
and can I get a connection? out of that, I think I got two or three connections. The biggest one who was, my friend now and first client Daniella. she always is no matter how big you get, I'll always be your first right . so her sister and I became good friends in Rome, and so when I got here, I took her out the coffee and just Hey, I'm new in town, just trying to meet some people.
This is what I do. yada. No intent for me to train her, but the energy just flowed and it worked well. And then she became my client. So six in the morning. Two days a week I go to her house with my book bag, be in the basement and we do workouts and she probably [00:29:00] still has a sweaty mark on her wall from the amount of wall sits and stuff we did.
But turned out she worked for the Obama administration was very high up. I didn't really understand that cuz I'm still not a Politicy person. . So like people are like, you're training Daniela? And I said, yeah, Daniella, no that's Daniela. I was like, oh, is she like, oh, I didn't know she was Daniela.
Yeah, I didn't know she was that. So then started training some more people, started training.
Life Leaps Podcast: So she connected you to other folks within the Obama administration.
Coach G: Okay. Yeah. just snowballed.
And pretty quickly, I had a decent clientele and I started shooting videos way before it was really easy. And to do it on Instagram or on your phone, I shot a
Life Leaps Podcast: video for yourself. I told you I can barely do a reel, but
Coach G: go . We're gonna learn how to do a reel together. We're gonna do, a little course or something
but yeah, I started shooting video. three a week, so it was, the way I shoot it, you shoot like 30 in one time, but I would shoot, motivational Monday, Fit Star Friday. And then nutrition tip on Wednesday, like me cooking itself.
Coach G: So if you ever go back on [00:30:00] YouTube, I have a lot of videos of a younger girl. Spelter coach me saying, Hey, fit stars. And that was like my brand. I didn't think of it as branding as like how I would teach now cause I teach some entrepreneurship stuff.
But it just was like, how do I get the message out about what I want and how I see fitness and health And, it just worked. And more and more people started pouring in and I started, personal training, small groups, and then eventually started sweat .
Life Leaps Podcast: Whoa. Okay. So you It's a lie . No, I mean it's, so you're pulling in, you're finding everyone who you work with before, who you knew from Italy saying, Hey, who do you know in dc?
you kept with your blog, which you'd been doing. You started a YouTube channel that you basically, yeah. pu you were just pumping your goodness out into the world and stalking editors like at the Washington play and stalking in a very nice way.
in a very legal way. . Yeah. and you took the 49 nos until you got the Yes. And that's how you built your name. [00:31:00] and at some point you get the idea to create this personal, sorry, this permanent, more physical space for sweat or like what happens next?
Life Leaps Podcast: Why didn't you just stick with that?
Coach G: Yeah. At some point I. , I recognized that I wanted to expand. I like how you said pumping. My goodness. Cuz that's how I just saw it. I really didn't see training even as like work or whatever. I really just enjoyed it and I wanted people to feel strong and powerful, but I noticed that my clientele was limited and you had to be, personal training is expensive.
Even the small groups are pretty expensive. It wasn't really accessible for a lot of people. And if I wanted to touch more people, I wanted to make something that was bigger than me. I also thought that you are not gonna be young forever. And now I'm at now forevers now, but like you, you're not gonna be able to like train and run around and jump and do that stuff all the time.
So I wanted to really focus on creating a brand that was bigger than Coach G. , one thing I did learn, this is something that we, for, I, we skipped over, but when I came back to DC I still had [00:32:00] Coach G Fitness operating in Rome and I was trying to go back and forth and make it operate and it really didn't operate without Coach G.
and I learned a big lesson there that like when you name something after yourself, you gotta be there, . so that's when I developed Sweat, and Sweat started as just like a workout party. it was like circuit training. We had a DJ there and our first sweat ended up being, it was a fundraiser for my, gay basketball team.
we were trying to get some jerseys. I was like, I got this concept. I think people would pay for it. Let me try it out. I think we had 10 people show up. So that was great. And then from there we just kept doing it. I monthly, and then biweekly and then just kept growing and growing.
where'd you get the space?
Life Leaps Podcast: Like what?
Coach G: So I worked at a place called Stroka. It was like, Restin Peace Stroka was one of the yoga studio studios, But, yeah, I talked to the owner, and I was like, Hey, I will teach some classes here, but I need a place to do my own thing and can I [00:33:00] rent out your space between the time, like between your classes?
Life Leaps Podcast: Can I bring in some clients? I'll pay you some money on it, And he allowed me to do it. I'm always very grateful that he allowed me to do that So you started hosting these Sweat DC basically like fitness parties, right? That's
Coach G: exactly what it was called. Okay. Sweat DC Fitness Party. we had a DJ there and after every class, we all went to get drinks afterwards. it was about building the community. all our t-shirts and tank tops and stuff were like bright pink and neon colors It was just like a good time. and then unfortunately stroke is shut down. So that was, another period where I was like, Ugh. Like things are just kind of getting good.
So now I had to find the new space. I was able to move my clientele. I always have good relationships with people. I try to go to every space that opens and I introduce who I am, talk to the management, just say hi. Cuz I think, again, we can just say hello to people and it goes far. but I had good relationship with, the owners of Off-Road.
They were at ninth and U Street for a while. and then they were [00:34:00] also gracious enough to allow me to bring my clienteles in during their off time and make some money also. So that, is that another gym? Yeah, it's another studio.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. Studio.
And then, In a random meeting at some networking event, I told people I was looking for a space to relaunch my sweat party. And somebody knew someone who knew somebody. And then we ended up training at the Wonder Bread Building, asked some more of my friends that helped me with making it look a little more professional. And now we got this logo and it looked more like a real studio, but it was a office space. And I remember the guy telling me, the guy Andrew, he was like, Hey, you can utilize this office space, but it is gotta look like a office after you're done.
Coach G: And you gotta take all these chairs and tables. It's 20 tables and 40 chairs. Take 'em all out, move 'em to the back corner, bring all my equipment. We did that. We were there 90 minutes before me and my team, and team was like me and one other person, or [00:35:00] two other people.
that's a team. hey, I needed 'em. I love 'em. yeah, so we, we did that and that's where we had the dj and that's where we, that's where I feel like sweat really started to grow. we went from doing something once a week to twice a week to three times a week to really having reoccurring customers.
And that was to me, a proof of concept. It was like, all right, this thing actually works. People are buying packages. I remember the first time someone bought like a five pack. I was like, they think they're gonna come five times. I'm so excited.
love it. Yeah, cuz that's, that's like a milestone of someone like trusting you.
They trust you with their money that they're buying in advance, right? yeah. So it was amazing. And then during that time I started looking for a permanent location and that took a long time to have that because I
Life Leaps Podcast: can't believe y'all, you said 90 minutes before and after each time y'all used this space, you had to transform it from an office to a studio space.
And I think you said like your, clients were none the wiser. [00:36:00] Yeah. And you guys were working your butts
Coach G: off. Okay. It was a lot. And it's funny, you just, sometimes in life you just go and maybe that's just a trait of mine.
maybe I didn't think I just was doing,
Coach G: So it was a lot, needless to say, we were very excited when we were able to get our own spot where you just walk in and everything's like how it's supposed to be. but even that was a journey and a another leap. And I think I told you, getting financing was really hard. I asked a lot of people, probably 40 people I knew to invest people I knew who had a lot of money and I wasn't asking for a whole ton of money, and they all were saying no.
and I get it now on this side of it, but I was so pissed. It felt like when my boyfriend told me, , I wouldn't be able to train because I was like, you don't believe in me. But a lot of people were saying, you, you've proven to me you can personal training in a small group, but you haven't proven to me you can run a studio.
Coach G: And they were completely right. I [00:37:00] hadn't, but it's me. Why would they doubt me? , totally . yeah. So that was tough. I had one friend gimme a little bit of money, and then I had I got a loan. I went to every bank I went to, probably like 20 some banks and one said yes. And the story is really crazy because.
The bank was getting bought by another bank, so it was their last day as that bank. And in that merger, the lady who was approving the loan, she, I guess she lost her job and I think, I can't know for sure, but I got the impression that she was like, I'm just gonna prove everything today, because that's what I would do.
you fire me, everybody's getting approved. . So she called me and she was like, Hey, I'm approving everything today. You gotta come right now. And I was with a client and my phone rang and I was like, Hey, I gotta go right now. So drove straight to McClain, signed the paperwork with one bank. The next day it was with another bank.
got that loan [00:38:00] was $400,000. Which, oh my gosh, in the world of building businesses and gyms is not a lot of money. But, we're able to utilize it, make it happen, and we're able to open our first location up on Georgia Avenue. know, what I think
Life Leaps Podcast: is. wild and awesome and all the things is that each point in your journey you identify stuff that could have very easily have been a dead end that could have very easily for anyone else, or even for you, have been like, I guess this isn't just, just not gonna work.
I'm leaving Italy. I guess I better, just find something new or different. stroke is closing. I guess this isn't gonna work. Or, this is just too hard to figure out how to move these office spaces in and out. You had to keep moving spaces. no one wants to lend me money in my community.
Life Leaps Podcast: No one believes in me. Yeah. And can't get alone. at any point, anyone and people might not have blamed you in the moment.
Yeah, It's that was a dead end. That was just too tough. Now he is gonna pivot. and you could have, life would've been fine, whatever, but you didn't, you kept going [00:39:00] and you found new opportunities that in the end ended up better than the doors that closed. And I think that it's such a lesson and it's such a cool thing to hear.
And yeah, I just think that's a really big takeaway that I wanna flag for myself. I want a flag for anyone else listening. I'm sure this has occurred to you, but I just, I think that any of these things could be like a person could. that's just too bad. Or that's just the universe showing me that the answer is no glass, half empty kind of stuff.
But you show that's not the case. And if you keep thinking like, no, no glass half full, how do I pivot? I can be bummed. I can have all the human emotions. you're not a, you're not a saint, nobody is. saints would be very boring. I wouldn't wanna interview you, but Yeah.
and you probably wouldn't wanna be on this podcast, but look, I think it's awesome. I wanna flag that cuz I can't not flag
Coach G: it. it's funny when you say it like that because maybe one of my, Ibest qualities is I don't think that much , I, cause sometimes when you think long, like you start letting things settle in, this doesn't happen, maybe this won't happen, maybe this won't happen.
Like you, action is the [00:40:00] best thing you can do in life. Act on it. Act on it. Go like when this thing closes, okay, cool. Go here. And when I'm always thinking kind of action forward, you're right. Until you said it like that, I never thought oh, I guess I could've quit . I never even thought about that.
I was like, oh, they're close. So obviously I have to find another place. obviously we need to find this. obviously this has to happen. Okay. Alright. Obviously,it's a mentality even going to, with Covid, right? I remember I had a business coach and when Covid happened, my business coach told me to go to file bankruptcy and I said, you're fired.
Oh, wow. No. And systematically it wasn't the wrong decision, but that's not who I am internally. No, there's always a, another navigation. And, we ended up taking on business partners and we, I was gonna say
Life Leaps Podcast: one Chelsea, during
Coach G: Covid, everything, we made a online app.
I made an online app overnight. People were like, you were the first one out the gate with online stuff. I was like, because my brain doesn't sit [00:41:00] in the problem. I'm like, all right, what's the solution? What's the next thing? and we were using this app for communication for some of our challenges but I noticed on the app, I was like, there have video on this.
Hey, we're allowed to get a lot of people on here. Hey, test this out. I'm gonna go live. Can you see this? Cool. All right, this is what we're gonna do. And I just don't think, I'm just like, I'm guess it's thinking, but it's, you
Life Leaps Podcast: are thinking, right? you are thinking, but you're not stopping yourself.
You're not stopping your ideas, it seems. I don't know.
Coach G: Yeah. There's no, yeah, I guess I'm not thinking, I'm not thinking to find the problem. I'm thinking to find a solution. You're thinking about the right thing. You gotta be, yeah, you gotta be solution oriented. And there's always a solution. . And sometimes I think, as I've learned in the, when I do coaching of other, like entrepreneurs and other coaches and stuff, is sometimes you only know what you can see, right?
I think it's really important that you have coaches or have people that can widen the lens and widen the frames so you can navigate through some stuff. And, yeah, had some friends that helped and mentors, I [00:42:00] used to own a hundred percent of my company. I don't anymore. And I brought on some business partners to help me navigate that.
it was a kind of a tough decision pride wise. But it wasn't a tough decision business-wise or what I needed really. we all have that kind of pride of I'm the guy, I'm a hu I own the whole company. that's stupid. . How about really?
Life Leaps Podcast: Cuz you did that guy really well. You chan, you know that guy? Like you channeled that
Coach G: guy. Yeah, I've been that guy too much. so ask for help. the people who get the furthest in life is just people who ask for the most help and brought in some people that, like I knew I was at a point where Hey, I can't navigate this by myself and.
Covid also hit me. I think about, we talked about Covid at our dinner, but our friend Scott asked me, he said, what? Cause I get emotional about Covid, but He said, what good came from Covid. I literally was killing myself working. , running sw sweat was gonna kill me. I was gonna have a heart attack.
though people saw the external, I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't eating well. I [00:43:00] wasn't like working out like I needed to. Cuz you can't do everything. You literally can't. So it forced me to sit down, bring in help and trust some other people to run it and make it happen.
Coach G: And though the product is different in some type of ways,the team that came on to help, they saved me in a lot of ways. So it was. again, the universe comes to us in different ways and we learn different lessons at different points. But,it was a good learning experience for me and we've been able to navigate, we did it.
We taught classes outside. We taught classes online, we started a whole new program,
I had to bring on, the people I brought on were like gangsters cuz they, during a gangster situation in life, you can't bring on people who are like, Hey, how do we do this? No. I brought on, chase, Brandon, and Demi, who are three hustlers. they're the type of people that say, Hey, we gotta get to the other side of that wall.
They're gonna knock down the wall and get there. . Now I would probably say, Hey, there's a door right there, . [00:44:00] You could have just opened the door, but those are the people I needed during that time, To be able to like make some stuff happen. And I also had to have a realization that like I didn't have the physical energy to sustain this or sustain it by myself, and I had to bring those people in and I think we've come out stronger Way better built for growth than we were before and we totally had to navigate and pivot and change. what worked pre covid those days changed.
We used to do 30 people in our small space.
And with the regulations, the city said we could now do five. Oh wow. . if you look at the landscape of DC right now, most of the small businesses in fitness are no longer here. Do you see through Covid became a Orange Theory, big box F 45, it's all franchises.
Coach G: Cause they had backing and [00:45:00] money and could navigate all that stuff. but yeah. we were able to navigate we had to change and we had to adapt. We opened to a new studio across the street. Again, hustler mentality. I was walking down the street, there was a for police sign, It used to be a bookstore, on now our studio. And it had a four sign, and this the smack middle of Covid.
And so I called them and I said, Hey, I don't have any money. I'm just gonna start the conversation like this. But it doesn't look like you're gonna be renting this space out anytime soon. What's the chances I could come run my fitness classes here? Because with the city's regulations, I could do 10 here.
versus five at my place. Ok. So I could double my capacity, double my revenue. It also had doors in the front, doors in the back, so it's airflow. at this point people were really like, if I'm gonna do anything, it better be aired out and bleach better be everywhere. so I said, what's the chances of that?
So they were like, we'll take some money. I'm very [00:46:00] grateful they were able to get me into a lease, but it was a month to month. and then people liked the new location. We ended up building it out and got into a longer lease, and just in July we were able to come into some type of reconciliation with our landlords from our first base, which I'm still paying on.
think it was this year, I said, our theme has come back stronger.
I remember many a times during that time where I had to fire people.
Coach G: I had to let people go. it was a rough time and I said, Hey, I'm gonna do what I can. But like I had to take on two jobs. I started working at Call Your Mother. I started working at SoulCycle People. It wasn't like random, like I had to work. . Yeah. but I tried to get in situations where I knew.
they knew that my ultimate goal was I'm an entrepreneur at heart, right? So I'm like, Hey, I'm still here at Sweat, but I'm working over here. I'm working here. It also was the opportunity for me to learn, But then it was also time,became a time period when I was like, Hey, I gotta go back to what my calling is.
Yeah. I think sometimes when you're going through a situation, even if you can't control it, I think it's[00:47:00] cool to optimistically look about who I, who you're gonna be on the other side.
It's kinda like the lessons we learned through a workout, right? yeah, it sucks. None of us like to do it. No one wants to do this weights or these lunges or anything, but who am I gonna be on the other side of it? So that is the reason to go through the shit. , let's go through, let's go through the shit and let's go through it together.
Because on the other side, we get to be the, a greater version of who we are. I think sometimes if anyone's listening who's going through something, like that's the only way you get through it. And that's a way that like we can. Navigate and focus on what we need to focus
Life Leaps Podcast: on. I always try to wrap up every interview with saying what advice do you have for the rest of us considering life leaps changes, that kind of growth?
And I don't, you might be tapped out like you have given all the advice , I don't know if I can ask you that question with a straight face because there's so much gold , but I'm gonna do it . Alright.
Coach G: I
I love it. I think the biggest thing we gotta learn is just listen to your.
Your [00:48:00] gut.
I think more people need to listen to their gut and their intuition.
Coach G: I think we are given that from the universe for a reason. As much as like economics and stuff do matter. We're never gonna say that money doesn't matter or whatever. But what would the world look like if everyone was moving in their passion, And that's relationships, that's careers, that's moves. trust that you're more resilient and you're stronger than you think you are
Gerard coach G Burley, everyone find out more on him and sweat DC and the show notes for this episode.
Life Leaps Podcast: Thank you all for being here. We're a brand new podcast, so if you enjoyed it, go ahead and follow rate and review us in your podcast app so that we can know what you liked and others can find us. It would mean a lot. Last but not least, we'll keep you posted on brand new episodes each week when you follow us on Facebook or Instagram at you Guessed it like LEAPS podcast.
Till next time.[00:49:00]