Unmasking Greatness
Join Fitness/LifeStyle Expert & Mentor Chris Kakouras talk about maximizing your health, business, mindset, and overall life! Let's get better together as I bring on amazing guest to interview and learn from!
Unmasking Greatness
Mastering Business, Mindset, and Faith with Jeremy Holbrooks
Jeremy Holbrooks shares his journey from mowing lawns as a teenager to building Holbrook Outdoor Solutions, a successful grading and land clearing company, while balancing family life and personal growth. His evolution as an entrepreneur demonstrates how proper mindset, mentorship, and faith have helped him create sustainable success and change his family's trajectory.
• Started entrepreneurship in seventh grade cutting grass with just a push mower
• Transitioned from landscaping to bigger equipment after identifying his passion for "dirt and big toys"
• Early game-changing project was spreading 300 yards of mulch, providing financial stability
• Business success suffered when personal life was unbalanced – "When you're not good at home, business is not good"
• Learned to set boundaries with clients and work hours to protect family time
• Implemented "Championship Day" routines – daily practices that make you better without a paycheck
• Returned to faith practices after initial resistance, finding guidance during difficult seasons
• Core values: showing up for family, faith, good mindset, intentionality, vulnerability
• Emphasizes surrounding yourself with people who want to see you win, not "energy vampires"
• Most important lesson: "You're one phone call, one decision away from changing your family tree"
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Welcome to Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, a lifestyle fitness coach and mentor. This podcast is about unmasking your greatest potential, finding your purpose and crafting a life worth living. Health and fitness has been the gateway drug to all of my success. My continuous drive to keep learning and surround myself with other high achievers forces me to level up, which has developed my mind to something I never thought was possible. This podcast is here to share what I've learned and continue to learn with all of you. This is your sign to take back control of your health, mindset and personal environment. Strap in as we are recharged and always find value in the show. Please subscribe and share, as we can all get better together. Let's go. What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of Unmasking Greatness. I'm your host, chris Kikoris, and I have a very special guest, and this one, specifically, is a good friend, longtime friend, client and also super successful business owner, entrepreneur, and we have Jeremy Holbrooks with us here today. Appreciate that man.
Speaker 2:Appreciate the intro. Yeah, super excited to be on the podcast, man, and it's a. It's cool to see it full circle from when we first started to now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's. I mean this is really cool because we have a lot of evolution in both of our lives and we kind of been able to see each other's growth, so it's been really cool to have that. But Jeremy has Holbrook Outdoor Solutions, which you guys do grading, land clearing. He plays with the big toys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know the big stuff. I've always said like I'm just, I'm still a kid at heart, playing with bigger toys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a fun job, it's a fun job.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:But, but yeah, there's a lot of value that we're going to be getting from Jeremy, from being a successful entrepreneur, a family of well soon to be three very so about to have three kids.
Speaker 1:You know you're juggling a lot on top of the fact you're in the gym, you're hammering it, you're focused on your health and a lot of that, I think, has been a progression over time. So I really want to dig into that, especially if you're out there and you feel like you are juggling a lot of things in your life. You're going through some ups and downs. Maybe you're trying to start a business. This episode is for you. You're going to get a ton out of this. Even though I train him, we talk a lot and even I get a lot from Jeremy. Let's reel it back. Let's start. How did Holbrook's Outdoor Solution even start?
Speaker 2:Well, I think me being a young entrepreneur at heart. Just I wanted to do something in the outside world. It started with cutting grass, hardscaping dumpsters, and I found out I like that stuff, but I really like getting my hands dirty and I like dirt.
Speaker 1:I like the smell of it I like the toys that come with it.
Speaker 2:I like everything about that side. So, and I like cutting trees, I'm using a chainsaw and um, but kind of verse it back. I started my entrepreneurship in like seventh grade, just cutting grass and you know, pushing, push mower, weed eater. The backpack blower didn't have a truck yet. And then, as I progressed to high school, I could drive, got a truck, put my push mower in the back of the truck and just had at it and and then I wanted to do be a firefighter. I didn't think I would. I knew you know firefighting world, you know you work like 48 on 96 off, yeah. So I thought in that time I could start a business. You know, in that time I was off so I could get the insurance and make money.
Speaker 2:And so I went to the academy, did that for a while and I just got married and I was like man, I'm going to take this 100% to just work on my business.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And here I am.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what year was that when? Well, let's say this what year was it when you were just doing the push mower? No real equipment, yeah it was 2015.
Speaker 2:Well, seventh grade, 2012, in that range, but I would say really, entrepreneurship, 2014. And then I graduated in 2016 and got married the same year. Okay, so big year for me. And that's kind of when I got the LLC, got my boots on the ground, said I'm done firefighting, I'm going to take it to 100%.
Speaker 1:Got it. So when you were acquiring clients back then, when you were first starting knocking doors or networking with just people, you know it was just people I've known for, I guess, the years that I've cut their grass.
Speaker 2:It was the same clients. And then they would know somebody in the same neighborhood and as I grew, obviously with a push mower you only can do so much. So as I grew I got a riding lawnmower, got my foot in some more doors.
Speaker 2:And so at that time we were living on Lake Lyman, so I kind of only serviced the lake, so I kind of had a niche there, yeah. And that's where it turned into okay, we can do your mulch, do your flowerbed stuff, like that, and that's kind of like where I'm like shoot, I think I can take this to another level and add some more services, yeah. And that's where it all began.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just more value, yeah.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:So I always ask like you know, because you'll hear a lot of I won't say a lot there are a handful of like big entrepreneurs that are like you got to go all in, burn the boats and to me like it sounds great and I think that makes you fully commit. But when you have bills to pay, when you've got you know things that are going on in your life, how do you do that if your business isn't even making enough money to pay that? It can be really stressful. So I think you doing that firefighting thing was that kind of the time that you acquired enough income from those jobs doing landscaping to be able to pay bills. Was that when you were like, okay, I'll go all in now, or were you still kind of scraping by and like, no, I'm just fully committing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, scraping by writing what I was doing. My wife when we graduated she's a year older than me she was already in college, so she obviously wasn't working at the time. So I was still the breadwinner trying to make ends meet. I already had an apartment lined up and I had to work somewhat of another job just to get by. Somewhat of another job to just to get by, yeah, you know. But um, eventually, we I was about six months into it I was able to quit that job and go full-time.
Speaker 1:Thank you, when did you? I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs, they, as you kind of grow, you kind of start opening a new lens of like the opportunities. Kind of like you were just cutting grass and you're like, oh, but I can also do mulch, I can do these other things to increase your income.
Speaker 2:Was there a time that you had a really big job that was like oh, my god, like this is, this is almost life-changing money yeah uh, in the grass not really, I would say, as I added more to that um, like mulch beds and um, like hardscaping stuff. I got into more of that like mulch beds and hardscaping stuff, I got into more of that. Wow, that's the biggest check I ever put in my bank at the time. But I would say one of the turning points of that part of the business the landscaping stuff. I had like a 300-yard. I got lucky, not lucky, but I kind of just in the right place at the right time. 300 yards of mulch to spread and a yard of mulch, that's a lot, yeah. And when we were done with that, we're like wow, kind of like man, I can kind of like relax for a day or so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's just not my genes. You know I got to go back to it the next day.
Speaker 2:You know I got to go back to it the next day, but that was probably like, okay, I can pay my bills for the next month and not have to worry about it. You know, and barely early on, and I didn't have a lot of debt at the time, you know lawnmower, so it was just life changing money. I would say like that was probably eight months in you know, wow, yeah, so I was very um.
Speaker 2:And again, these are the clients that I was cutting grass before, yeah, and that walked me into the next phase of the mulching landscape and stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, okay. So yeah, man, I mean I think there's a lot of growth in that. But I think that opportunity people want that. Yeah, I remember the first time that I had kind of that experience of like more money than I've ever made before in my life and I was like, wow, this can really be something. It just kind of opened your eyes up to opportunity that you may have not seen, because, coming from a small town, people know what they know and so it's hard to be able to see a vision a lot bigger if you've never been exposed to that. Because what did your parents used to do for work?
Speaker 2:My mom was a single mom. She was in the orthodontist world like braces and stuff like that. So I always seen her struggle, man, and I didn't want to. I just hated seeing her like that and I just knew, like whenever I saw that I think that plays a lot in the role, like why I want to change my family tree so bad is because I've seen that growing up and you know we still ate and like you know, we still had a good life. It was just that she struggled and I think that was a turning point. When I was young, like okay, like I'm going to want to change that, yeah. When I was young, like okay, like I'm going to want to change that. Yeah, and I love the quote from Ed Ed Milet is like it's crazy what a little winning would do back, reverting back to that job, like changing the directly of your mindset, yeah. And I think I think, looking back at it, that's what it. What it did for me is like wow, I can actually do something with myself and this isn't just a fling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's super cool man. Yeah, I mean think even with your wife. I'm sure she saw that and was like wow, I mean first off to be married and you're building something from scratch. Your wife loves you to death, man, yeah, Mine too, you know.
Speaker 2:I think it's like she's been with me through the thick and thin and we've been some up and downs and we're not, you know. I wouldn't say that I got it all figured out, yeah, but she has been a great, great influence in my life as well and she's very smart and she wants, she wants, she wants the same value that I want in life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what makes a team, for sure, I mean, that's the same. My wife is very supportive in what I do and you know, when you're getting into this and we're going to touch on this too as far as, like mentorships and how you started to learn more about the business to be able to, you know, continue to grow and scale. But you know, if you've never hired a business coach before, it's a good bit of money. You know you pay a decent chunk of money to somebody with no real guarantee. Right, you don't like, oh, if this doesn't happen, you get your money back.
Speaker 1:Like that's not how that works, because it all comes down to implementation. You know it's like someone coming to me and saying, hey, I want to lose 20 pounds, but if I don't lose 20 pounds, you need to refund me all my money. I can't guarantee you're doing the workouts. I can't guarantee you're eating the food like you're supposed to, right, like we're guiding you, we're giving you all the tools, we're giving you the strategies, but then today it's up to you to put in the work. So when you're getting into that kind of field where you're wanting to hire somebody and invest that kind of money, it's a big chunk and your wife has to trust you. Yeah, put a lot of faith in that saying okay, because whatever amount that coach is, maybe they're thinking that's a really nice vacation and some you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:You know for them. So to you know, go to them and say, hey, like I'm investing this into a business coach, because this is what we're trying to do, they have to have a lot of faith in you. So I feel like that you've built that, but what was that? Okay, so let me this is the question for you then, the very first mentor that you had when you told your wife, how did she react to that?
Speaker 2:I think she was at a point and we've talked about this like she knew I needed help, like I was at a place where it was either get help or close the business. You know it was that it's a point where my marriage was in a bad place. I wasn't showing up as a husband and father as I should, and it wasn't necessarily about the money at the time. It was about getting help and my first coach was local so I was able to have weekly calls with him and really help me.
Speaker 1:Let me back it up a minute because all right business is doing well, right. I was able to have weekly calls with him and really helped me. Let me back it up a minute, because all right business is doing well, right. You kind of hit a pinnacle where you're like, wow, this is really something. At what point did you now start seeing a little bit of struggle and setback? Was that more financial, personal, combination, combination, combination.
Speaker 2:One of my core values is evolve. You know Like I'm always trying to evolve, to become the best version of myself, and I had to come to the realization that I wasn't in that combining like being the best version of myself at home and because of that, my business was failing on the back end. And, as you asked, ask the hardships I think it was just me learning that there's so much more than just owning a business. You have to have um standards, you have to become the best version of yourself and when you're in that mode mindset, your business is going to do way better. I had no guidance in that. I didn't. It took me. I was about four years in five years into my business while I realized that okay, something's, this is not working. Yeah, so that's when the mentorship me reaching out and I started to see people winning.
Speaker 1:You know yeah, and I wasn't winning.
Speaker 2:I looked like I was. You know how the internet is, yeah, yeah I have all this flashy stuff and like I'm winning. Yeah, but in reality I wasn't winning. I looked like I was. You know how the internet is I have all this flashy stuff and I'm winning.
Speaker 2:But in reality I wasn't. I was so attached to those physical things and it took me a while to let it go. So I was probably a year in to my coaching that I was fighting him. I didn't want to sell my stuff. I didn't want to. I didn't want to sell my stuff. You know, I didn't want to get rid of my stuff. That's me you know that's, that's me like I cannot get rid of it and he's okay and uh it's either that or I quit.
Speaker 2:You know like I'm firing you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:he's firing me like I'm coaching, I'm paying him. How's he going to fire me?
Speaker 2:So I was like okay, okay, okay. So I sold the equipment and again that's back to. I thought I had to look a certain way to get business and to be again I felt like I had to look like I had it all figured out. And that's another piece I would say like give advice to our listeners is just being vulnerable with yourself and then, like the combination of like at home life and in your business, your reflection of your home life definitely comes out on your business side.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I agree. When you started your business too, was it? I think a lot of people when they start, they just want to make money right too, was it? I think a lot of people when they start, they just want to make money right. But did you have a vision at that point in time, or did it start to develop over time?
Speaker 2:Develop over time. I mean, like you said, small town. I was just trying to not work for somebody you know I wanted to have, like, my own schedule.
Speaker 2:I wanted to have my own schedule and I think I had just a moment where I like this freeness and I've learned money is just a tool now to get you to that freedom and to get you to do what God made you to be. So at the time I'd say no, I didn't have a vision. But as I progressed in business, it definitely came, came to fruition for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, cause I think you said I mean, we've we've had conversations in the past too where you know again, we've known each other for a long time. So I kind of saw the progression as your business was growing and then you had some struggles at home with your relationship that you've talked about as well. I have as well, you know, because you know, when you get into work mode and you're hyper-focused and you see things going well, we really kind of lean all into that, like we really go hard because we're like, oh my God, this is working and then everything else kind of takes a back seat.
Speaker 1:You know, unintentionally, Relationships, family events, anything yeah because you're always thinking I need to get ahead. You know that's something that I've learned to where you know, when you work for yourself, there's no such thing as getting ahead. You're always working towards something You'll never be done. You know there's no end to it. So setting some hard boundaries for yourself can really create more of that clear-line vision that you really want. So when you kind of went through that, I'm assuming you kind of took a step back, obviously having the mentor to kind of reel you back hey, get rid of this, you need to focus more here. I feel like that. Once you kind of got that back in place, let me ask you this what kind of boundaries did you start setting yourself at that point in time?
Speaker 2:I was the guy that would rather be, and it sucks still to this. Like what kind of boundaries did you start setting yourself at that point in time? I was the guy that would rather be, and it sucks to still to this day, because I've said this over many podcasts, like it sucks to even say this today. But I was the guy that would rather be working nine o'clock at a job site than going home and facing the reality that I wasn't being the man I was supposed to be. My kids don't want nothing to do with me. My wife sure didn't want nothing to do with me.
Speaker 2:But, again back to that. I thought in my head I'm doing this for us. But I came to a realization one night when my wife came to me and she was like you're not doing this for us, you're doing it for yourself. And ever since then my mindset has shifted to where okay, when all this business stuff goes away, who's going to be there your family when shit hits the fan?
Speaker 1:who's going to?
Speaker 2:be there, your family. So how did I? What boundaries have I set? First of all, I didn't have any standards for myself, meaning like when am I supposed to go home? Like when do I time block? When do I have family time being present at home?
Speaker 2:I still struggle with that now yeah because your phone rings, you're like it's like an addiction, like, oh, I can't miss that call. Yeah, but I catch it a lot faster than I used to. Um, so setting boundaries, like being home, don't miss your base. Your your son's baseball game? Yeah, you know, if you're not going to finish that 5 30, and you know you're not going to finish that job's going to be there tomorrow yeah go to go to your son's baseball game.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, um boundaries is just being present, going home at a decent time and being present in the moment with your kids and setting time for your, your, your family, yeah um you have to be, and honestly, home life business.
Speaker 2:It all has to be structured, as you know yeah, we talked about that many times like, yeah, if you don't have structure and standards and like you wouldn't think like I used to, I didn't think I used to have, I didn't, I didn't need to be time blocked at home, you know, yeah, what you know. But in reality, like if you sit back and think that makes a lot of sense, like to be structured at home yeah, you know it's.
Speaker 1:It's really cool to hear that from you. But as like we're doing more of the podcast and bringing more like entrepreneurs on specifically too, but even through my past working with other entrepreneurs, time blocking is like the golden rule that we need to live by, because it sounds so absurd to think, well, I need to share a time block for work, but you need time block for home and spending time with your kids and your wife and like it sounds crazy to some people, but that's how we're hardwired and, honestly, like when you start doing that and you probably realize, you start to notice there's more time, you know there's more time to work, there's more time to spend with your family, be present, so it's not like you're at home on the computer making calls, like that's not being home, you know. That was when I first started back, when you know 2020.
Speaker 2:The grinding days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't have an office, I just had a laptop and I would sit at the kitchen table and that's where I would work. And subconsciously I started developing this habit that when I sit down at the kitchen table work, my mind was working. I totally can see that. So when you start trying to have dinner with your family or even have a conversation, I'm like my mind is somewhere else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're like yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's workflow, for sure. And I want to go back to what you said too as far as escaping in your work, dude, I feel like that's very common with everybody because and you've got to think your wife is a stay-at-home mom. You know my wife same thing stay-at-home mom. Now she does a little bit of Pilates too, but for the most part she's a stay-at-home mom. When you get in an argument because everybody gets in arguments, you know, everybody gets in arguments but, like when you get in an argument, it's a lot easier for us to just go work and consume and forget about what happens. But imagine not having that, imagine not having any sort of escape. Dude, that boils, you know, I'm sure their minds just boil, get even more upset, more angry. They start thinking, you know, intrusive thoughts, whatever you know they're thinking. But I can imagine that you know just being very uneasy for someone that can't escape. And then when we come back, we're like why are you so mad?
Speaker 2:We've already like ah move on to the next thing.
Speaker 1:So that was something even myself I had to work on. Is, you know, making sure that I'm communicating, having those hard conversations? What can I do to make us better? Because I know when we're not good, my business is not good, right? You know, I feel like my mind is kind of the same way, like I can get hyper-focused and then I can also be very, like, distraught because I'm I'm going home to someone that's not happy, I'm not taken care of, because when we start business, I feel like that's why we started business too is we want to take care of them, we want to provide protect.
Speaker 2:We want to change our family tree.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:I would say, on that to bounce off of that is when I got coaching they were like why don't you think you have time or why do you have that scarcity? If you're going to miss that call, is there a grading emergency? And when they said that like a light bulb went off, I'm like, wow, you're right, probably not. Is there in your line of work? Is there an emergency where you have to answer that call?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you start putting those perspectives in. It's like, wow, that makes real good sense. I have noticed with you back when I was young and didn't understand, I would text you 9 o'clock at night and now I had an iPhone. But now I can see you can set do not disturb or whatever, and I've noticed you do that iPhone. But now I can see you can set do not disturb or whatever. And I've noticed you do that. And like when you've talked about many times, like you're not going to get me after 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock, but I'm up at 5 am, probably before you and I will get back to you, and that's what we've talked about too. Is, you know, like client experience, like getting back to them at a decent time and like setting standards not only for yourself but also your client experience and you in your sense. So just full circle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, I mean 100%, and I think that's part of like setting the expectations we now have. Like, when clients come on and I would say we developed this two years ago I would say we came out with something we call a clarity checklist. Anybody that signs up with us, you know they get an onboarding call. We break things down, get all the details to build a plan, but we have this very specific list that myself or one of our success coaches read verbatim, word for word. I tell them that, like you, read this all the way through. So the expectations are set.
Speaker 1:So clients know exactly what they expect from a coach, what we're going to do, how we're going to communicate. This is what we expect from you to be successful in our program, and we need to be aligned and we always tell people this is the standard. We'll meet you where you're at, but this is our baseline, this is where we go and ever since we've done that, it has been a game changer, because you know if I didn't tell someone, listen, you know a lot of these coaches. You have 24-7 access to me. Well, you don't sleep. You never sleep. You don't have a family.
Speaker 2:You don't have a kid Like you don't have a kid Right. You just Total misalignment. Yeah, and.
Speaker 1:I think when you say that it sounds good, oh, I can message them anytime, but in reality, like these people aren't going to be messaging you back, one or two in the morning, and then what? Are you going to be mad Because you told me 24-7. You're not messaging me back right away.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know. So now that's kind of like a far extreme, but you know there have been occasions. You know clients will text me 9, 10 o'clock at night and I'm glad that I told them hey, listen, I'm up at 5.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You won't be, but I'll message you at 5 then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's so cool because you set the expectation before they onboard as well. And I've learned on the stack back is like not every client is your ideal client. Oh gosh, yeah, uh like talk about that with your core values and and if you already done a discovery call with them and you ain't vibing like, you're probably not my ideal client, bro yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is, it is. I mean, this is why you know the calls are important. You know you can't just sign up with us. You know you can't just sign up with us. You know you can't just like here, swipe your credit card, you know, fill out some form or something, we get on a call. And, more specifically, I always push for some sort of Zoom FaceTime so I can. You know, I can see you kind of get a feel, because if we don't vibe, it's going to be a very awkward. Next, you know, 16 weeks, six months, whatever you sign up for and I learned this actually, where it hit me first is funny, dude, we used to train at the firm and I was training a handful of clients there in person and there was this one guy.
Speaker 1:He was a little like a little strange, but you know he was okay and he would. I'm cool with people asking questions, like, ask questions, I want you. But I felt like he was debating me when he was questioning what I was telling him to do and I was like, why are you paying me when I'm trying to teach you something? And you're like saying, well, what about this? Why don't we try this? You should have done it yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:Right. But there was one time, so that was kind of boiling in me. I was like, ah, it's whatever, you know. Um, we were doing shoulder press. I remember dude, this is like embedded in my brain, it made me so mad but he was doing seated shoulder press. He wanted to go heavy and I'm all for going heavy, you know what I mean Like, let's push it. And he went a little bit heavier than we normally do.
Speaker 1:So in my mind I can gauge pretty good, he's probably going to get like six to eight somewhere in there. Eight was going to be a stretch and he picks him up, presses one or two, and I was like, okay, yeah, he's going to be struggling here in the next two reps or so. Got to around five or six. And the sixth one, I was like, okay, I don't think this is going to get up. And I went to you know, kind of support him around his wrist. I was about to grab his wrist and he yelled in the whole gym don't touch me like loud. Thank God that gym was empty. You know what I mean, because that's like embarrassing. But you know, and it ended up he couldn't get it up and he just dropped it on the floor and I took a step back and had to just like calm, calm, calm.
Speaker 2:Yeah Like calm myself.
Speaker 1:Cause he kind of scared me too, cause he screamed it and uh, I just remember I'm like, look man, I'm be completely honest with you. That's like unacceptable for me. You know, it's one thing that you want to push, but my job too is to keep you safe and not hurt yourself. I've done this long enough to know if somebody needs a spot or not. I will never intentionally start picking the weight up for you, you know. But where I see you struggle or can't get it, then I'm going to give you that extra couple pounds so you can get that last rep and he was like I just I knew I could do it myself and uh, so timing wise in itself, he only had two more sessions after that and when he was finally finished I didn't resell him. I pretty much told him hey, man, I appreciate you working with me, I think you're good, you don't need me anymore and I think it's best off you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ideal client.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that brings back to you having a process. Now to knowing if that's going to be. You can kind of catch those things now that you've been through it. This is not in my ideal client.
Speaker 1:Especially if you love what you do.
Speaker 2:Don't let one person tarnish everything You've already worked this hard to create these systems and you're at a point now where, if they don't align, it's your job to catch that early and you know the consequences going into it. It's your job to catch that early and you know the consequences going into it. If you don't, then you're going to suffer on the back end and, like you said, boil and get mad and have a bad client experience. So I think being up front and having standards and SOPs to follow, you can really find your ideal client.
Speaker 1:For sure. I remember my last mentor that I had a year ago. We were having dinner because he was throwing this basically a three-day event down in Orlando. We were sitting down, we were having dinner and we were talking and he looks at me. He was like Chris, I want to ask you something. I'm like, yeah, he goes, how many clients is too many clients? And I was just like, I was looking at him.
Speaker 1:You know, dude, there's we're rooms with like like big time successful, like you know, online coaches, and I'm just like thinking I'm looking around, I'm like how many? I was like I guess it depends how big your team is. You know how many coaches you have on staff and all that. You know, I'm thinking technical. He's like he's like one. And I was looking at him and I was just like dumbfounded. I was like one. I'll run a business with one client. You know I was like one. He's like you let me finish. He was like one mother effort and I was like he was pretty foul at the mouth. I will say but anyways, as we said, and I was like what? And he's like, yeah, you only need one person to ruin your experience, ruin your passion, ruin the love for what you do to make you want to shut down. He's like. You don't need to coach everybody. You don't need to train anybody.
Speaker 1:Going back to, like you know find that ideal client dude, and that's stuck with me hard ever since.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that and people come into your life at the times you are the time when you need it the most. The times you are the time when you need it the most. Maybe it's around that time frame. You possibly are going through something like that or it was coming up and you remembered that and that's why you have systems now and like that's the same thing with my mentors. Like everything that I'm saying here now, I had to. I was in the trenches and learned and I have some experience with that, so I feel comfortable now catching those little things to prevent me from having a bad experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, man, that's cool, though. All right. So let me shift gears a little bit, because I know you're pretty faith-driven as well and we've talked about you have a routine. I guess you do in the morning as well. Let's kind of talk about that. Were you always very faith-driven, or have you grew into that as you got older?
Speaker 2:So I grew up in the faith world. I struggled with that. Growing up I was kind of in it 100% and then I kind of got out of it after some events in my life and when I first got my coach, he was really heavy on that and I kind of like, look, bro, I'm not into that, like just coach me, you know, I don't need that. But about six months in he kept like his consistency was like bro, you got to do it, man, like it's going to help you. And I was like bro, you got to do it, man, it's going to help you. I was like you know what? I put my hands up Okay, I'm going to go back into God's Word, download the app. It was full circle because what I was going through I didn't have like, okay, I'm going to read Genesis, start from the beginning, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I was like I just flipped that thing open and went on a whim you know yeah.
Speaker 2:And what I was going through that day, or like what was happening in my life, was like it was like right there, and I was like, ever since then I have really, just really been into it because everything I was going through was right there in front of me and telling me how to get through it. It was just confidence or kind of explaining how to overcome what I was going through, and so that led me into what we call our championship day. What leads into? What are things that make you tick without a paycheck? What makes you better without making a paycheck?
Speaker 2:Daily devotion, eating healthy food, going to the gym, get my cardio in. It could be four things. It could be one thing. We have that regiment and then we have it for us, our business and for someone else. I'm going to text this person, I'm going to text a random person to give them motivation or, on the business side, I'm going to upload three pieces of content a day. So, having a regiment, but we call it a championship day, and that's just really setting standards and setting the tone for me to get my mindset right to be the best version of myself through that day.
Speaker 1:That's awesome man. Yeah, I think as I get older too I've touched on this on a couple podcasts too I feel like the older I get, the more I'm leaning into it, just younger. I mean, I was raised in a church, but it was Greek Orthodox and I have no idea what they were talking about because they were speaking in Greek. I don't speak Greek, so that's my defense in that sense. But we my mom used to take me every sunday, every sunday, and I used I hated it because I was like, why am I coming?
Speaker 1:You know, um, but like, as I've been getting older and again through certain events in my life, I feel like something's tugging on me and, uh, I, at first, you know you kind of like you don't really know what to look for. You're like what is? That's weird, you know, yeah, um, and here recently it's just been like really like almost staying. Like you, I haven't really been like opening up, like a bible, but when you did, it was like this is speaking to me right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now, like things are like in my everyday life, even on social media, dude, like things are like in my everyday life, even on social media, dude, like things are like pulling me in. I'm like you know, get digging doing some research, so I'm not, I'm not uh, I can't say I'm fully in cause. I don't know everything, but it's definitely been something I've been doing more research on and I've always believed don't get me wrong, I've always believed, um in in God and Jesus, but I don't think I've ever been able to really build that one-on-one relationship with yeah, you know what I mean. I challenge you, man.
Speaker 2:I challenge you in that and then to dive in deeper in that and really take the bull by the horns. Yeah, and I struggle with it too. Not all day is a championship day. Sometimes I don't feel like reading, but I make sure I get it in, no matter what, and some days I will not want to do it. But as soon as I do it it's like man, I'm really happy I did that. It helped me Full circle. That challenged you to dive deeper. Help me. Or or full circle, yeah, and that challenge you to dive deeper in that and in the audience, like if you're in a spot where you're, you know you're lost or you're kind of like don't know where to go, like I, I challenge you guys to, to, to just just download the bible app, um, and dive deep and you can.
Speaker 2:You have plans in there, like even like when I was going through, they have one like praying for your wife, like different passages and different verses. That kind of connects with that and kind of gives you devotions. What I like to do is, when I'm reading in the mornings, I like to go through it and then take my takeaways through that and post it online because, again, we never know who's watching or seeing your feed. You never know who you're going to hit and it might remind them hey, I may need to get in the Bible today or whatever it may be. So I challenge you in that man to kind of dive deep in that. Obviously, if you've got something pulling on your heart, that's real. And my favorite term is like God's not random.
Speaker 2:So us having this podcast today may be the initiative for you to do that. And also, too, going back to events in your life. You've had some events in this past year come up and maybe that's pulling you in. Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Two weeks ago. It's funny Two weeks ago, I think it was, we were doing a session and you said it Because you have kind of like your daily devotions in the morning and your routine and you were like the last day or two I haven't been doing it and I can tell like it's my days don't feel like they're flowing like they used to, and uh, it's funny Cause we're like we're talking about that now.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I think there's like a handful of things that help my day flow and part of that, obviously, is like me eating healthy, taking care of my body, exercise, and part of that, obviously, is like me eating healthy, taking care of my body, exercise, my morning routine, my rituals. But you know, doing a little more of you know digging, leaning into that, I think again, man, it's just been something this past year has been. Carly Jones from Clean Heats is funny. We were talking, we had the podcast last week and you know she's got her, her mom, who's going through cancer. You know my father had the cancer passing. I have these other things going in my life as well and, uh, she called it a country song. She's like you're just going through one of those country songs right now Cause you know it's like they're talking about like the dog dying, it's raining and like you know, but it's going to the song will be over, you know.
Speaker 2:So it's just pushing through and you know sometimes that has to happen, you know I call it seasons, like you're in a different season in life, and that season may be two weeks, maybe three months.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know and I've learned like you evolve through every season, for sure. So that's why I add that to one of my core values just because you may be in a rut now, but don't give up now. Yeah, you've already come this far. Let's get past this season and your season. Like I said, maybe three months, three weeks, three years, yeah, whatever it may be, but we need to get you out of that season on the next, yeah, and realize that it's just a season and, like you said, a country song, it'll end, yeah and you'll be on the next one.
Speaker 1:I made a post to telling people, um, because I was just going through one of my days. You know what I mean and I was just like you know, listen, if people are, if you guys are going through something hard, difficult, you can't see the end of the light at the tunnel and you just feel lost. The most common thing people will tell you is, you know, find something positive to focus on. You know, focus on, you know, something good that is going on in your life. It's really, it's easier said than done and sometimes you know, when you're in that little pocket where things are really dark and dim, I just tell people like, don't look for anything, just keep going.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just keep going, you know, and that even transitions into anybody that's successful in whatever field they are. I notice that there's some assertiveness to them to where they will put themselves in situations not knowing 100% that things are going to work, but know they're going to figure it out. I feel like that's where people's confidence really drives from is. I don't know it all, but I'm going to find a way to figure this thing out. Like I feel like that's where people's confidence really drives from is.
Speaker 1:I don't know it all, but I'm going to find a way to figure this thing out and so that if you can start to be a little more assertive, knowing that that's what's coming, it might work, it might not, but you just keep going. You know, and that's where a lot of you guys will start to feel more confident in your ability to take on bigger tasks. You know, if it didn't work the first time, don't stop. There's another path.
Speaker 2:For sure, and reverting back to when I was in the beginning, it's crazy what a little winning would do. Oh yeah, You're in another. I love it at my. Let You're one phone call, one decision away from changing your family tree. Change your trajectory in your business.
Speaker 1:Let that sink in man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. It's true One decision, one phone call, one meeting for changing your life. Like you said, if it didn't work now, maybe tomorrow it will. And that's what has grounded me, because I may have, like this week it's rained all week, bro, I ain't bringing no money in yeah yeah. And I'm going on vacation next week, so I've got two weeks.
Speaker 2:So it's like but now we got some work on the books. When I come back, everything's kind of shifted. So I'm talking about mindset here, like your mindset could like oh crap, you know this, you know sucky week and I made a post about who thinks I can sell fifty thousand dollars worth of work this week. And it gets me going when I talk about that because it's fun. I and I used to be the guy like twiddling my thumbs like man, like why are they not calling me like I'm screwed, you know? And we're talking about seasons.
Speaker 2:I was in a season of that, yeah and that mentorship came in and it's like content, cold calling, networking and and it's just changed the whole mindset and I was literally one phone call, one decision, one meeting, one podcast away, yeah, from changing the whole, the whole scenario. Yeah.
Speaker 1:One mind mindset bro.
Speaker 2:I love Ed Mollett man and you guys need to listen to that and um, he has some great motivation on there and his story is amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. No, ed Mollett's great. I mean I know you've got to meet him in person. I met him in person once he is His is the first one, because he is kind of broad but also very on all personal development right. But he has really good guests and I tell people like you, get in there. This is how I started too. Like you find that one person you're really invested into and they'll have guests on that you listen to and you're like man, that dude or girl was really smart, inspiring, and then you get down this rabbit hole, you start listening to that person and then you just down this rabbit hole, you start listening to that person and then you just have like this cycle.
Speaker 1:I have probably like 10 different people that I listen to on a regular where it just keeps me focused, motivated, whether it's, you know, relationships or personal development or business. Like I have my pockets of people that I listen more to. But I heard this interesting hack. I was listening to this guy, brendan Burchard. Interesting hack, I was listening to this guy, brendan Burchard, who has a book out called High Performance Habits. It's actually a really, really good book, but he is now. I just listened to a podcast where he was talking about he is coaching four or five billionaires that pay him a million a year to coach. You want to talk about that's? I mean that's serious, you know, but he was. I mean a lot of the stuff he says. Obviously he's a big-time motivational speaker, super successful, but he was telling me or telling me I was listening to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah he was telling me, because I was in the room but he was saying you know, we can, as humans, get really caught up in our emotions and sometimes we can trick our brain by creating those small wins, kind of like you were talking about, whether it's like just get to the gym, just drinking a glass of water. You know just little things that start to show us we can actually commit to what we're saying. So if you feel like that, you know you're lost, you can't figure things out, you're a failure. Start really small, those little things will compound over time it will add up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so your mind can. Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy, you know, I was, I was and I know you were too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know you. We care about how we look and how we show up right and when we're not.
Speaker 1:We may have a little bit of insecurity like yeah, you know, like I always do my arm's looking small.
Speaker 2:What the hell, Let me get a pump. But yeah, I love that. And it verts back to seasons and getting out of that season it always makes you better and stacking those little wins, Even, like you said, showing up at the gym Obviously I didn't want to get out of bed at 5 am to come to the gym. But I'm here, let's fucking get it Hell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what's up.
Speaker 2:And that's what gets me going is motivation speaking, I love going out to networking events too, but also getting to meet the speakers. You never know what their topic is or what they're going to say and what's going to hit you, yeah, and what you take from that and what you go home with. We just had an event last week with Winrate. I'm local, but just taking away those two days is really impactful and we do that four times a year. So we have four events and just those two days make a big impact on how you're directly for the next quarter. Thank you, and just stacking wins, man, stack wins, stack wins and learn from them. And then don't be and also, like let me say this, don't be so hard on yourself if you don't get something in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're really busy, like maybe okay, maybe that's a sign, catch it. I need to work on my time block. Yeah, there is no question. Like I mean, when I like signed up for one-on-one coaching with you, I was with Will and our workouts were at like 6 am. So, yeah, um, and then we did that for a for a year and he got, you know, he left for the, his wife, marines or whatever, and um, then we just recently signed back up and then I forgot what question you asked me and it's like there's no question I'm gonna like. I think you're asking me like, is this gonna work for you? Like, are you going to sure?
Speaker 2:you're going to like come here three times a week or twice a week. I'm like, bro, it's, it's not an option yeah, I'm going to be here like, uh, it's so setting those, setting the standard and the tone for yourself. Yeah, and hiring a coach you like I'm one of your mentees, like I need that accountability as well and having someone push you but also see it through you know what I mean. Sometimes it's not debatable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everybody needs that little extra support to bring you back on the line, because right now, jeremy is hyper-focused, like we got everything like dialed in everything from like his hormones to his workouts, to your nutrition, like we're really spending a lot of time just being super focused on that to get the results that we're looking for in the next you know, 12 weeks or so, but when and this is funny because now that you're talking about that when that hurricane Helene came through, that was a huge tragedy but also developed a lot of business for you, because trees are knocked down, people need to clean up, and during that time I remember Jeremy was like he was fading. I could see it because he was just over consumed with work, just working constantly, jobs, nonstop. And then your sleep was suffering. And then we finally we got on a call and you're like I don't know, dude, like I've never been this busy in my life and I'm going to bed super late and waking up super early. And I was like, dude, you got it.
Speaker 1:We got to set some boundaries again, you know, because I get it when it's a season. It was a season that happened, so we had to go back to. Ok, this is you need to go to bed at this time and I gave him the hack with the alarm clock, like put the alarm clock across. Yeah, you cannot read the hack with the alarm clock. Put the alarm clock across If your alarm your phone is in arm distance from you. It's too close. You need to get back on your feet to go turn it off, because I always tell people when you get up and you walk over to turn that alarm clock off. You have a conscious decision to either go back to bed and let all your dreams back in your dreams or go back to sleep, right, or you can just put your big boy pants on put your boots on and get after it and make it a reality.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:And I remember doing that and talking to you, and that was all I had to say.
Speaker 2:It was pretty much like it's just someone needed to say it. Yeah, and again, I was in a season, man, and like sometimes your coach is just there at the right moment you know yeah.
Speaker 2:I was over-consumed with work. And again that's where, like coaching, and like you're not seeing it, like you see it but you're not doing anything about it because it's you, you're your biggest critic, yeah, and like dang dude, you good, you ain't showing up like you're supposed to, and I'm big on that. So you having the vulnerability to have that phone call, and like he's right, man, I'm failing, I'm in a season, man, I need to handle it. And again, that was a tragedy and I hate all that happened and all the people the houses like went away.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but people needed your help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, north Carolina is still struggling pretty bad, but we helped everybody that we could. I was just in a—I look at it now like no excuse. I should have made time yeah, for sure. Now, like no excuse, I should have made time yeah, for sure. Um, so I've learned to delegate. Yeah, try to um, just customization.
Speaker 1:like I, I can't do everything, you know, yeah yeah, well, I know it's like you're gonna you're gonna continue to evolve. I know we're gonna be, you know, client friend. Whatever you know, we're still gonna be connected. So I I enjoy seeing you win and and learn. You know learning the new you. You know strategies, sops like we're talking about that now and just things that you start to put in place that help you climb the ladder. You know more and more. So you know, I know we're about to go crush this leg workout here in a minute but, for the listeners.
Speaker 1:You know, from the time that you started your business, to you business to this moment right here, what are some non-negotiables that you have put in place, that you live by right now?
Speaker 2:Showing up for your family Faith. Got to read the Bible. Got to get in it, man. Got to stay in your mindset, having a good mindset and being intentional. You also have to be vulnerable. That's my top five things.
Speaker 1:I love it, man, I love it.
Speaker 2:Stay in those. Have championship day, like have your day figured out and what makes you tick without getting a paycheck. Cause that, cause that. That'll help you find your wine. For sure you know I love that and um, so develop that. And then, once you find your, why, your vision and everything that you do, it's going to push you to like, want to be better.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's me, man, getting real honest and vulnerable with yourself. Get a coach, talk to us Me and you have so many conversations Like I bring my coaching calls to our workouts. Sometimes, bro, like I'm learning a lot and I like that because I can have someone to talk to. Obviously, if I'm going through something and then it may be something you're going through and we kind of got to like talk about it together and collaborate with people that want to see you win, you know like, don't surround yourself with people that's like bums, you know I hate to say that, but just like got nothing going for them because they don't want to get up and do like work for it.
Speaker 2:You know, surround yourself with people that want to see you win. That could be family, that could be your friends. But don't hang around people that's just going to sit there and like, be negative all the time, like don't hang around people that want to be positive man.
Speaker 1:No energy vampires, dude. They just suck the life out of you, it's a serious thing. That is.
Speaker 2:I hang around people like just didn't want to go to the next level. You know and I'm like I had to weave them out, because it's just a point where, like I can't stay in this mindset and be where it take me, where I want to go, yeah, and I'm sure you've experienced that, and like your friends are going to disappear because they're not they're not on your level.
Speaker 1:They're not aligned with your vision. Yeah, you know, I think there's. I heard um, there's. There's three pockets of friends.
Speaker 1:Right, there's the one friends that were from your past yeah you know, and that's where they should remain, because you're starting to evolve, you guys aren't aligned. And then you have friends that you guys may, you know, communicate here and there, just enough to keep a friendship going, and then you have that pocket. That's like let's help each other grow, let's talk, let's talk about growth, let's talk about business, let's talk about family. So just think about the people you're surrounding in when are you putting your people? What pocket are you putting them in and where are you spending more time? Because if you're still hanging out, if you're trying to do something like me and Jeremy are doing, and you're hanging out with people that are still drinking every single weekend and just you know la-di-da-ding through the week, drifting, then you know.
Speaker 2:You're going to pick up on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and why would you? Why do you think you're going to progress? Because not only can you not carry them up, because they're not willing, they're going to start holding you back. They, they're going to start dragging you down to their level. So that whole thing of you are the sum of the five people you hang around. That's a real thing. That's a real thing.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry to go off script there, but that was just something that hit my heart. Surround yourself with people that want to see you win and that's what I would leave to the listeners and be vulnerable and learn from your mistakes, your seasons is just seasons.
Speaker 1:You're going to get out of it facts. So thank you, jeremy. Let the people know where you're, I guess where the business at, where they can find you, contact you yeah, so holbrooks outdoors solutionscom um.
Speaker 2:Facebook, instagram, youtube, um. We try to upload content daily, so you'll probably probably see me through Tik TOK, you know here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, sometimes we do some content at the gym, so anytime um you guys need anything, dm me, you know, and we'll maybe circle back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. I'll leave all the links in the description so you can contact Jeremy If you guys need anything. Um, he's the man right now. Yeah, climbing the ranks. So the ranks, baby, let's go all right. So hope you guys have a good rest of the day, get some value. We're gonna go crush this workout. Let's go see y'all.