Maven Marketing with Brandon Welch

Change Your Body, Change Your Business ft. Jeremiah Dalton

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If you’ve ever told yourself, “I’ll get healthy when work slows down,” this episode might change your timeline.

In this Maven Monday, Brandon sits down with Jeremiah Dalton (investor, husband, father of three, and host of Long Island Legends) to unpack how a radical health reset transformed his energy, confidence, and profitability.

We’re not handing you a fad diet or a hero montage. We’re exploring the few levers Jeremiah pulled that turned burnout into momentum—and why they compound in business.

Inside this episode:
The breaking point that forced Jeremiah to rethink what “success” really means.
How small, repeatable habits built the discipline.
Why confidence doesn’t come from affirmations.
What happens when you start saying no to the wrong things in life and work.

This isn’t a fitness story. It’s a reminder that the habits you build in private are the ones that decide your results in public.

Watch more from Jeremiah on Long Island Legends. youtube.com/@LongIslandLegends

For entrepreneurs wanting to grow without wasting money, join the Maven Marketing Mastermind → https://www.mavenmethodtraining.com

Our Website: https://frankandmaven.com/
Instagram: /frankandmavenmarketing
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LinkedIn: /frank-and-maven

Host: Brandon Welch
Co-Host: Kyle DeVries
Executive Producer: Carter Breaux
Audio/Video Producer: Nate the Camera Guy

Do you have a marketing problem you'd like us to help solve? Send it to MavenMonday@FrankandMaven.com!

Get a copy of our Best-Selling Book, The Maven Marketer Here: https://a.co/d/1clpm8a

Brandon Welch:

Did you realize that 87% of small business owners are currently struggling with a mental health issue? Did you realize that a third of us are burned out and admittedly ready to quit? And did you realize that nearly half of us admit high stress every single day? Welcome to the Maven Marketing Podcast. Today is Maven Monday. I'm your host, Brandon Welch, and I have a special guest with me today, Jeremiah Dalton. Jeremiah is going to share a transformation that happened in his body and his business and how those two things were so closely related. I've had the privilege of working with him for the last several years. In addition to being a very proud husband and father of three, he is a seasoned businessman and a lifelong student of high performance. But even though he's one of the most studied and well-read guys I've known on the topic of getting more with less and discipline, I noticed a major change in him a few years ago. And I've asked him to be vulnerable with us and come on and talk about what life before and what life after this transformation has looked like and specifically how it's going to impact you and I think inspire us all to grow our businesses by focusing on something different than maybe the metrics and tactics that we focus on every day. Jeremiah is also the host of the Long Island Legends podcast, which is something you should definitely subscribe to if you like hearing about the success stories, strategies, and legacies of high impact people. We're going to jump right in with Jeremiah and he's going to tell you about his journey and how the lessons he's learned can help you grow your business now and in the future. We just started working together and you were in town doing some video. And I remember we grabbed uh grabbed some time out on the lake. We're sitting in the middle of the lake, and here you are, like this guy I, you know, totally respect. I've seen what you've done in your industry. You're like uh like the version of real estate investor, like I would say everybody wants to be. Uh, and you're doing, I don't know, dozens and dozens of deals um every month. There's multi-millions dollars in revenue. And and here's my new friend Jeremiah. And I got uh I got a bit of a a surprise um glimpse into what you're actually going through. And I would describe that as uh overwhelmed, um maybe low energy. Um I won't say depressed, but definitely uh definitely not the version of somebody if if they looked at you on paper and then saw what you're actually going through, there was a disconnect. Would you agree with that?

Jeremiah Dalton:

Yeah, I mean, frustrated. Um you could say depressed, uh, maybe not clinically, but certainly felt that way. Uh I definitely had uh at the time uh lost a lot of confidence in myself, my ability to be a good husband, father, business owner. Um, you know, I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn't like what I saw. Just kind of felt like everything was sort of crumbling around me. It was just, you know, sometimes you go through periods in life where just nothing, nothing works right, right? And to be fair, like I've always had a good marriage. It wasn't like my marriage was was on the rocks, right? But it was just, you know, as I was struggling, you know, I was becoming more disconnected from my family, right? Um, I had a son, uh, my oldest son who plays hockey uh at the time was going through these terrible behavioral swings that were just making things so hard on my wife and myself. And like I said, that was affecting our marriage. Um, I was getting audited by the IRS. The market had shifted a bit because interest rates shot up. And so there was a lot of projects that I really shouldn't have bought that I was taking really, really big losses on. So there was that. I had title claim uh issues on houses that I had purchased. And so all these things just kind of happened at once, and it just you know hit me like a ton of bricks, and it was all around the time that you know I went out to you, and I even remember, you know, before I came out saying, like, I don't even know if I want to come out, right? And and shooting, yeah, shoot these videos. Like, I don't even know if this is you know a smart move on my part because things are getting really, really rocky. And you said, well, you know, come out, you know, let's work through it. And so I did, but reluctantly, I was, you know, you know, I definitely had my doubts of of whether I should be there or not. But I said, okay, well, you know, I've committed to it, let me do it. And yeah, um, and it was a it was the summer of 2022, and it was a very, very tough couple of months, to say the least.

Brandon Welch:

Well, I remember hearing some of the things you were saying, you know, of yourself, and one of those was you know, concern about how you looked on camera. And I'm like, dude, you look you look great. You look like everybody we bring in here. You're fine, you did awesome on camera. Um, we may link to some of your ads because they were they were it's a great ad ad campaign.

Jeremiah Dalton:

If I look a little different there, but yeah, they were still good ads, you know.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah, and uh and you referred to yourself as like fluffy Jeremiah. And I'm like, Yeah, I don't know. I think you kind of look like me, and I I I don't think I'm in that bad a shape, but turns out I was because um uh I'm not even kidding you, like three or four months later, our calls, I saw a freaking new dude on those calls. And um, and that's that's that would start like why I wanted you to wanted you to be on the show, which is like I just saw that transformation in such a short amount of time, and then uh and then we begin to see it in the mirror and on the camera. And so um you kind of talked about uh where you were, but what was the beginning catalyst uh for you to start making that transformation?

Jeremiah Dalton:

So I had started to contemplate it in early 2022. Uh, a real estate investor that I was Facebook friends with but didn't really know, had posted a before and after photo of himself, and it matched a photo that I had recently taken of myself as I was about to start um a different fitness journey altogether that uh I ultimately stepped away from and you know wound up um redirecting myself to what I do now. But I saw that the photo of myself in the mirror, you know, and he had a photo of himself, and next to it was a photo of a complete transformation and our body types were very, very similar. And uh I was like, wow, like he looks like that, and I I want to look like that. And I felt, you know, if I could do that, right? If I could, you know, get myself to look like that, um my my um my life will get better. And like I said, those thoughts and those um those feelings that I had were were really coming to the surface at the time that I was having all these challenges. And like I said, I I remember seeing that photo in the beginning of the year before things got you know really difficult. And it really stuck out in my mind. And I kept going back to that photo, and it really just you know started to become a a lot more dominant in my mind as I was facing these challenges. And like I said, luckily enough, he uh he can't he uh tagged his trainer in it. I friended his trainer, started to follow him. And as I was, you know, working through these challenges and just really disappointed with just kind of how I was not mentally, physically, and emotionally prepared to deal with them, um, I had this thought in the back of my mind, like, if I could just get myself into shape, like things will just start to iron themselves out. And to this day, I really can't tell you why I felt that way, right? But I can tell you there was a severe lack of confidence. And because of that lack of confidence, I knew I had to do something to get myself back on track. So when the summer ended in 2022, it's like Labor Day weekend, I reached out to that trainer and said, Hey, you know, I'm all in. And from September of 22 through May of 23, um, that was when, you know, I had made, you know, this big transformation, uh, lost a bunch of weight, went from, I don't know, 40% body fat down to like 8.7 body percent body fat. Wow. Best shape that I had been, uh, the leanest that I had been. Uh, and then from there it was, you know, about building up the physique, building up the muscle. And uh, you know, I weigh more now, but you know, the same body fat percentage roughly um as when I got really lean, but you know, a lot more muscle. And um, it right now I can, you know, confidently say this is you know the best shape that I've ever been in at 40 years old. Wow.

Brandon Welch:

Um, my wife often says there's there's three stories there's the story they tell, there's the story you tell, and there's the story of the truth.

Jeremiah Dalton:

True.

Brandon Welch:

And and um what I've seen uh you know on paper, the story we would have told is like, dude, that guy's killing it. Everybody wants to be that guy. And it's so funny the contrast of what the story you were telling yourself was, which is one of you know, doom and I'm not great, and none of those things matter. And I think the truth in the middle is that um without a sound body, um, all of the other stuff just suffers, right?

Jeremiah Dalton:

Yeah. So and and to be clear, it's like you put yourself in a very vulnerable state. So like I was not happy about how I was physically, but I was kind of chugging along because other things in life were kind of just working themselves out and operating, you know, not say like they should, but better than maybe they should have, right? And then, but that's not life. Like when things get off track and you get, you know, you get jammed up, how are you gonna handle that? Right. And that was the part that I was like, well, this is gonna happen again. So I need to not only boost my confidence, but I need to prep myself, right? Be prepared for battle, so to speak, because what happened now is gonna happen again. Um, and I think that was really a big point because you know, since 2022, three years later, like a lot of bad stuff has happened, you know, and I'm not happy about it. I'm not jumping up and down about it. Um, and I'm not saying it doesn't worry or concern me, but at least I'm able to work through it a lot better than I did three years ago.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah. Um I I mean I've seen that just in just in our dialogue. But um, you know, in in grade school, there's a there's plenty of people who will call you fat if it's true. Um as you as you rise in the ranks of business, you know, 70, like 71% of Americans are overweight or obese. And so it's just like the norm, and nobody wants to hold that mirror up to themselves. So the very few people, maybe not even the people closest to you, will call you out on that. Um and I think there's a a micro lesson in there is like, what do you need to call yourself out on? Because what you did is not only vulnerable, but it's it's just it's just a rare mark of performance, and um very easy to blame everything else except for the real problem. And what I'm hearing is you you found you found a uh a centralized anchor that was causing you harm in other areas, and what a cool lesson. I think if we stopped there, that would that alone would be a takeaway. Um what I what I want to know more about is so you not only said, Hey, I need to change this, I'm gonna get a coach. And what role did having that coach play um in your journey? And do you think you would have done the things without getting outside help that you that you did?

Jeremiah Dalton:

No, I so first of all, I think what we have to understand is that our bodies are all unique, and everybody kind of throws mud at the wall and says, Well, you know, I'm gonna do the keto diet, right? I'm gonna do paleo, I'm gonna do intermittent fasting, right? You know, there's all these things that are out there. The reality is that everyone's body's different, everyone processes things different. So the first thing this trainer did was do blood work and kind of figure out, okay, based on everything I'm seeing and who you are, this is the diet that fits you, right? Um, so we found something that worked for me. If you were to start tomorrow, you would your plan would look different from mine. And so I think too many people um are trying this one size fits all approach, and it it's not applicable, right?

Brandon Welch:

Mind sharing like just a couple of things that were unique to you because of your blood work and genetics that may not be.

Jeremiah Dalton:

Yeah, so one thing that was unique for me was um, believe it or not, um, well, first of all, we had to fix my sleep, right? And one of the best things to do was, you know, to stop eating late. Okay. To stop eating late, you had to figure out a way to satiate yourself as much as possible from an early time. So, like one of the biggest takeaways was actually loading up carbs for dinner um around 5, 5:30, eating all of that, right? Um, and then stopping. And what I learned is if I had the certain type of meal, right, that allowed me to kind of feel full, that by the time I went to bed at like 9:30, I started to feel just a little bit hungry, but all the food had kind of at that point processed itself, right? It was sort of not out of my system, but fully digested. And so I was sleeping better. And because I was not going to bed on a full stomach, um, that alone was creating better habits because I slept better, I had better energy, and because I had better energy, I was going to the gym. And because I went to the gym, I was more motivated to eat better, and because I was eating better, I was looking better. So then I was going to the gym even more. And it, you know, we have what with these failing spirals, but you can also have upward spirals too, right? And so a lot of it went back to just kind of figuring out the right diet that kept me from overeating, because a lot of times I was snacking, I was eating, um, and it was death by like a hundred snacks. It wasn't that I was necessarily eating um bad food or um uncooding. Yeah, it wasn't that I was overprocessed. And yeah. Yeah, I I was I was eating a more than I should have, but I wasn't eating the right foods for me. And so unfortunately, I found myself kind of oversnacking, eating too much too late, which was hurting my sleep, which was affecting my energy level. And so right there, you know, was a big fix. Um, I also found ways to um systematize my eating. So meal prep was a big deal for me. I found meal prep companies that I really liked. Their food was good, it was simple, it was easy. Um there's a couple companies local to where I am um I am on Long Island. Gotcha. On Long Island, by the way. On Long Island, yeah. On Long Island. Um, I found some companies who were local to me. The macros were right there. I was able to systematize it and just have the right meals at the right time. And again, I wasn't perfect. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that like I was counting every single calorie. There were times I got a little bit off track, but I've developed systems that allow me to stay on track. You know, I wear this, this Fitbit charge I've had since day one. Well, not this particular one, but yeah, uh, but I've been carrying a Fitbit around, tracking my steps, right? Knowing that, hey, like you got to get your activity level up. So once I realized, like, hey, as long as I follow this diet pretty closely, it doesn't have to be dead on, and I do X amount of steps for day. For me, it was about you know 12 to 15k a day with the right supplements, with the right hydration, going to the gym, making sure I don't eat too late, getting the proper sleep. All of a sudden, the body starts working for you and not against you. And then it was funny because it was like I wasn't perfect in the beginning, but as time went on, my body was just operating a lot better. That actually became easier over time. The hardest part for me was like the first two months. But once, but I realized like I can I can make this work, and I'm not even being that tight with it right now. If I can actually start to tighten things up, it's gonna actually get a lot better. And that's what I did, and it just kept going and going and snowballing, but in a positive way.

Brandon Welch:

Love that. A little bit better makes it easier to get a little bit better, right? Um man, I love all that. You you actually you took took us to a place of uh that I was gonna get to at the end. Um, but while we're here, like you mentioned the Fitbit, you meant you mentioned 12 to 15,000 steps a day. Um, you know, we all know there's no magic pill or bullet or anything like that. But what are what are some of those things on the list that like became tools that leveraged for you?

Jeremiah Dalton:

Um I mean, one of the things really was um, you know, in business we track things, right? So again, tracking my steps, tracking my food, um, taking pip pictures every almost every single day, snapshotting myself in front of the mirror because it's hard. But then it was like, well, well, let me let me think about this. Let me look at this photo from September, let me look at this one in November. Oh wow, I I do see a difference, right? Um, and so over time, um, I think the biggest thing that I could really say is, especially as business owners, um, you know, we have systems and processes for our business. It's the same thing with your health and fitness. Do you have certain metrics that you have to track? Um, and it doesn't mean that you have to be perfect, it doesn't mean that this has to be spot on all the time, but you have to be able to look at yourself and say, okay, well, I did 9,000 steps today, but I did 16, right? Today, you know, yesterday. That's 25. That's 12.5 a day. You look at it for the week and are you hitting what you're supposed to be hitting? You know, you look at your macros and say, hey, you know, I tracked my food five out of the seven days, and the other two days, you know, I had a little bit of enjoyment. And guess what? The scale's continuing to go down. Okay, then keep doing that.

Brandon Welch:

You know what I mean? I love I love what you just said because that I think that is uh I think that's a gap. Um we don't do everything perfect in our business every day, right? And but we, you know, if you do things on the trend, you're gonna end up better than the average, right? And you just think I think that's just that's a that's a simple but uh really useful metaphor.

Jeremiah Dalton:

It's like well, yeah, and I think it's important to note. I mean, you know, my trainer, right? My and I want to give him a shout out, Marl Star with six-pack CEO, right? He's the guy that got me in the shape that I'm in. He'll tell you that like the biggest killer that he sees with people is they have this all or nothing approach. They get off track a little bit and they're just like, ah, screw it. Yeah, you know, uh, the day's gone. I'll just uh I'll blow my calories, but that's not the case. It's like I've learned to not beat myself up over taking a slice of pizza, right? Or grabbing the donut, okay? Because I know in the grand scheme of things, it's not gonna change things. Um, I developed discipline to say, okay, you had that, you wanted that, fine. Let's make the rest of the day good. And so I think too many people in fitness take this all or nothing approach that they they've either got to be perfect or if not, they got to sabotage themselves. And that's not really what it's about. You actually have to give yourself a little bit of forgiveness. You have to have some discipline and some self-control to not go off the edge, but you also have to give yourself a little grace because you you should be able to take those foods when you here and there when you want.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah. So so even for the person who's not um as tenacious as you were in August of 2022, uh, I would just say 10% better is 10% better. And that compounded.

unknown:

Yeah.

Jeremiah Dalton:

And to be fair, like you don't have to go from 40% body fat to 8.7. And to be honest with you, I don't even think it was the smartest idea. I just got like so crazed about it. I are you making progress? I've watched people kind of like, listen, if you're the same person you were two years ago, you got to do something different. If you're losing, you know, two pounds a month, that's okay. So maybe you may not get there in six months. Maybe it'll take you 18 months. You know what I mean? But but that's okay too, right? Um, I think it's just why looking and seeing a trend, you know, a positive trend that is indicative that you're constantly having success, but that doesn't mean it has to be uh every day. You're not gonna lose weight every single day, you're not gonna be perfect every single day.

Brandon Welch:

Love that. Um so I saw you talk about this in um in a on a stage. Um you said talking about learning to say no in both diet and business. Yes. I want to transition this into like okay, the physical impacts, honestly, for any of us who are who are dads or or spouses or sons or friends should just want to do this for that sake. I I believe that. Um, but there's a real, like if you are just looking at this from a spreadsheet, there's a real impact. Um, first talk to me about saying no and like what you had to learn to say no to. I heard you know, eating late was one of them. Um, but then is there a time that also directly applied to business where you learned to say no to certain things that were maybe unhealthy?

Jeremiah Dalton:

So the the problem was is you know, I was saying yes to everything in my business, right? I was like, I gotta make this higher, I gotta do this marketing channel, I gotta take this meeting, right? I was just saying yes to everything. Um, and it's like Warren Buffett, right? He's like the difference between successful people and really successful people is really successful people say no to almost everything. Uh, and so for me, I've learned to say no to things that don't serve me. Doesn't mean that I'm across the board, but I'm much more discerning with where I spend my money, where I spend my time. Okay. That came from learning to say no. I didn't need to eat every piece of food that you've put in front of me. Every once in a while, sure, I do. But at the same time, when you learn to say no to things that don't serve you in your body, you're gonna start to say no to things that don't serve you in life and business as well. It's and it's a it's just built, it's just building that habit.

Brandon Welch:

Wow. It's almost like a mental tenacity, like the decision making is in and of itself a muscle, right? Yes, and it can get worn out. We can we've talked heard a lot of people talk about how when you make too many decisions in a day, you lose your power to do so effectively. Uh, but within that is the same, I think, tenacity and and muscle mass you build in your resolve, I guess. That's really cool. Um so bring me forward to like Jeremiah 2022 in business and then Jeremiah 2025 in business with this with this health style uh underneath you.

Jeremiah Dalton:

The difference in the Jeremiah in 2022 in business was um every time, you know, if you look at the chart, right? The day in the life of an entrepreneur, right? It's like this. This is just like a day. You feel great, you feel bad, you feel great, you feel bad, you feel great, you feel bad, right? And and that still happens, right? Um, you have a great morning, you have a terrible afternoon. The thing I like about fitness, right, is you know, if you put an X, you get Y. So you could see, maybe slow, but a slow upward trajectory, right? Um, or downward trajectory, right? If we're talking about the scale. And when you could see that progress day after day, that's a very comforting aspect. That gives you kind of stability, gives you sort of a baseline, um, a zen, so to speak, that when great things happen, you enjoy them and you appreciate it. When bad things happen, you understand that like you kind of shake it off, you laugh it off. It doesn't mean that you're impenetrable. It doesn't mean that certain things won't bother you. But I was too much like this riding that uh uh, you know, entrepreneurial roller coaster. Uh now I tend to be a little bit more in the middle, a little more stoic about the things that happen. Okay. Um, and that happens because I've got this, I'm grounded in the stability of handling myself and seeing how I'm progressing on a daily basis. And that gives you comfort at a time where everything around you might seem like it's a disarray. I love that.

Brandon Welch:

Uh Victor Frankel talks about the the moment in between stimulus and response, and then there lies our freedom. Yes. Um, would you say that you know, this improved body, this improved really a chemical and and brain um equation got better. Would you say it's easier to take that stimulus, set it aside, and have more freedom in how you choose to move forward?

Jeremiah Dalton:

Yeah, I mean, listen, a lot of it had to do with self-confidence, right? And you know, there's a lot of influencers out there, right, that will uh, you know, tell you about these, you know, doing these morning affirmations, right? And I like morning affirmations. There's nothing bad about it. But to me, real self-confidence doesn't come from shouting affirmations in the mirror, okay? I actually heard this from Alex or Hormozy. Real self-confidence comes from giving the world irrefutable proof that you are who you say that you are, right? So when I get up in the morning and I look at myself and I realize, like, hey, this is a guy that keeps his promises to himself, this is a guy that does hard things, this is a guy that respects himself. There's no better way to start the day. And so from there, that to me is better than any other affirmation that you have because you can't fake that. You can't fake that, it's real. And so when when you have that staring back at you, you've already started the day off right.

Brandon Welch:

Amen to that. Holy smokes. Um you said repeat that Alex Ramosy quote one more time.

Jeremiah Dalton:

I want to Real self-confidence doesn't come from shouting affirmations in the mirror. Real self-confidence comes from giving the world irrefutable proof that you are who you say you are. Wow. Yeah. And I'm, you know, let to be fair, if people see me, they're gonna say that's a disciplined guy. That's a guy that puts in the hard work. You know what I mean? And then you know that. And you know that about yourself. And you know that when you walk in, right, like after this call, right? I'm gonna go give a presentation. I know when I walk in the room, people are gonna see a fit guy that automatically is gonna set the stage because I know how I'm being viewed. And that's not being cocky, right? That just comes from a confidence. But when you can have that confidence every morning, when you look at yourself, when all the bad shit gets thrown at you, you can handle it a lot better. I'm not saying like I said, I've said this many times. Like, I don't want to pretend like I'm Superman and then I'm impenetrable, but I can handle it a hell of a lot better than I once did.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah, that's awesome, dude. Uh so on that, talk talk to the sales guys, talk to like the achievers, the um the people who love you know, a gain in business. Uh, can you think of a time that either you're you're you're sure just just either the people you were around or what you attracted in the room, like open the door to a relationship or a sale or an improved closed sales rate or some sort of metric in business, and you're like, yep, uh unhealthy me wouldn't have accomplished that.

Jeremiah Dalton:

So, you know, I I think obviously at the end of the day, right? Um people were to walk into a fancy house, right? There's automatically a penthouse, a mansion. There's automatically an uh an implied perception of value, right? Sure. When going back to what I was saying before, when you walk into a room and you're fit, right? And you know, you're in shape and your jawline is, you know, tapered, whatever you want to call it, right? And like everything looks just so, like you're automatically giving to the other side an implied perception of value, right? And so you're already ahead of the game. Sure, so the people in sale, yeah. So people who are in sales, like one, you can go in there knowing that that's how the other side's gonna take it immediately. And then again, that one puts you at an advantage already, and then on top of it, your confidence, knowing that you have that going in is going to give you an edge.

Brandon Welch:

Love that. Uh Paul Dresler said good health is good business, and I think you're just I think you're just embodying that and uh and showing how it's true. I happen to know your business is uh massively more profitable. It was already a spectacle, but you are absolutely murdering it. Um I don't know a guy who does I truly like I know a lot of people in your space. I don't know a guy who's for a lot of intents and purposes, you have a good team, but it's a pretty small team, and it's carry a lot on your shoulders.

Jeremiah Dalton:

It's a very efficient business, yeah.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah, it's very efficient business. Um and what you were talking to me about in 2022 is like, man, I just need to go down to 10 deals a year, and you were you were trying to shrink your way to I I I would say comfortability, right? A way to deal with it all. And now you're like I know you're doing a lot more than you were then, with way bigger headwinds in the industry for sure. And uh and and and to boot, you are I know you're giving more time to your kids, I know you're running around, I know you are not crashing at uh four o'clock every day. Um so I think like that, there's the other there's the other micro lesson of like like if you truly want to be valued as a good leader, as a good husband, as a good um steward of finances, like you will take this seriously. Like it's this is not just a vanity thing. This is not just a it feels kind of good thing you should do it because everybody wants to be healthy. It's like, no, you are an irresponsible business owner if you're really not taking this seriously. Would you agree with that?

Jeremiah Dalton:

I would agree with that 100%.

Brandon Welch:

And we've all been there, and that's I don't mean to use shame, but it is there's some truth to that. Uh so Stephen uh Covey, uh, we all love Stephen, uh says it's uh the key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. And so I want to talk to the people like me who are uh good at justifying why that time in the gym or why that quick, maybe less than optimal meal is necessary for some other thing that is we tell ourselves is more important. And um, talk to me about excuses. And talk to me about how you may have overcome some of those.

Jeremiah Dalton:

Well, I think it's important to know that, like, you know, again, going if you talk about putting uh your mask on, right? If the plane's about to crash, I don't feel guilty about taking the time going to the gym, right? Uh, because that's a limited period that I have for myself. I know that it's going to make me better. And what I have learned is a lot of times business is about doing hard things. It's about doing what it is that you need to do when you don't feel like doing it. And it's real easy to go to the gym and kill it when you feel like killing it. But what happens on the days where you don't feel like killing it, right? Because you'll be defined by the days where you actually do the stuff that you need to do when you don't feel like it, right? That's where your success comes from. And so I that's always in the back of my mind that says, hey, like this is the foundation for everything else. If I say no to this and I quit on myself here, where else am I gonna quit on? So again, that is the baseline for, hey, I got to get this done, right? Because then all of a sudden, I'm gonna start saying, uh, I'm gonna start taking care of the things that I need to do. Um, and I I never really feel like going to the gym. Maybe one twice a month, I'm excited to go. Outside of that, I never want to go. But there's a lot of other things in my business I'm not excited about to do.

Brandon Welch:

I'm not excited to meet with the CPA either, right?

Jeremiah Dalton:

Yeah, but you have to do it. Yeah, and so you again, you're developing that habit to handle the hard stuff. And again, it's finding that balance of learning to say no to things that don't serve you, but then it's also about getting your shit done on the stuff that you really need to do. And too many things people say yes to all these this this fluff, and then they say no to the things that are really important. To me, putting yourself and taking your putting yourself in shape allows you to accomplish both ends.

Brandon Welch:

And we're back to cubby, the the merely urgent competes with the truly important, right? Yes. Um, so what about the time hack? Like, I know there's a lot of guys going, yeah, I just don't have time.

Jeremiah Dalton:

It's it's I mean the truth of the matter is is that you know, we spend so much time scrolling on our phones, right? I think back to the last exec election cycle, right? And so many people were worried about who was in the White House and not enough time worrying about their own house, right? Um, if you had spent the time that you were just, you know, watching the political mumbo jumbo and going to the gym. Now I want to be clear, you don't always have to go to the gym. There's the amount of advancements that they have in at-home technology. I mean, yeah, my home gym is a very small room. I go to the, okay, I go to the regular gym twice a week. I work out from home twice a week. They have adjustable dumbbells that go from 10 pounds to 125 pounds. They're two feet by two feet. That's the the space that they take up, right? Like that and an adjustable bench alone. Like, even if you don't have a workout room, just that alone, you can get done a bunch of exercises. So the reality is that like you have the time. I get it. You may not be able to get to the gym, but there's a lot of resources that are available at our disposal to do full workouts, to get everything that you need, especially when you're in the beginning stages. Like that's what it was for me. Like I bought home workout stuff because I had this mindset that like getting to the gym was going to be hard. As working out became something that was ingrained in me, that changed. But you have the time. If you've got a small corner of a room and some dumbbells, and you're willing to, you know, walk or around your neighborhood, you'll you'll have all you need for the first six months.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah, that's awesome. I uh I've heard a lot of people talk about just eliminate the friction that's gonna get you. It's just it's just leverage, it's not the hack. If you still got to do it, but uh that's why I put a home gym in, and all those things you just said are are things we've done. And it's uh uh when you when you eliminate that 45 minutes of transit time just to get to your gym, and then you I would say, I don't know if this is true for you, but I would say um having a a person that is is in the same pursuit show up with you, and it yes, it's accountability, but it's also um community, and it's like there's a fun joy factor sometimes to that relationships and those friends you build, yeah, and just it makes it 10% more fun. Um, so those those have been some hacks that worked for me, and uh I'm not yeah, I'm not halfway to where you are, but um, I can attest to to those things removing.

Jeremiah Dalton:

And obviously, like hiring my trainer, and I don't think I would I would not have gotten here if not for him. Um, the accountability part is huge, right? Like, so having somebody that holds you accountable is a big part of it, but don't think that you know the work that you need to put in, you're making it more complicated than it needs to be.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah, we definitely see that in um I think all the vanity stuff, all the fad diets and all the I mean CrossFit for as great as it is. I think a lot of people get caught up in that, and then you said it earlier, once they fall out of that for just a week or two because of life, it feels like it's too great a step to go back in, and then that unwinds the whole thing. So I have two final questions for you. How would Mariana tell me that you are different in 2025? Uh, your wife. Um how would how would she how would she say you're different?

Jeremiah Dalton:

I think she would definitely say more confident. I definitely think uh more energy. I definitely and I was always a pretty high energy person despite being out of shape, but um now I think I've taken it to a whole other level. Um more confident for sure. Um I think the patience level has gone up. I think the resiliency factor has gone up. Um, I think all of those things, and and again, it's served as a better example to the kid, my kids. You know, my kids all want to excel. They want to be, you know, the top of their respective sports. That comes with a certain amount of sacrifice. And it's very hard, I think, as a father, to expect that out of your kids if they don't see it out of their own parents. Wow. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's, you know, I have a son that, you know, practices hockey, you know, seven, you know, he off seven practices in five days. And that's not including the games, right? But he sees the work that I put in, right? And he sees the standard that I hold myself to. So for all of my kids, they understand what's necessary to get to the next level. They see it. And as you say, parenting is caught, not taught. And you could say it all you want, but if they see you embody it, you know, which is why I like to work out two days a week from home, because I want them to see me put the work in, right? Yeah. And if they see that, then all of a sudden the expectations that you put on them to say, hey, if you want to get to a higher level, this is what you have to do. They take it a lot more seriously.

Brandon Welch:

What a what a beautiful example. What a beautiful reason to do it in the first place. Uh, caught, not taught. Um, there's there's another micro lesson. Um my last uh my last question is just for those of us looking for inspiration. Um and like, hey, if nothing else, I'll just try to copy paste that. Uh, what's a daily routine look like for somebody like you who I'm positive is just as busy uh as any of the rest of us claim to be?

Jeremiah Dalton:

So I I want to say that I'm gonna back it up and not pick it up from when I wake up, but I'm gonna pick it up from then at night. So for me, one of the big things is um having the right meal at the right time, right? Not eating too much sugar, you know. Yeah, you know what? Every once in a while you get off track. I've said this a few times, but I'm pretty um, I would say fanatical, but pretty disciplined when it comes to having the right dinner. Okay. And the reason for that is because that's gonna set the stage for how I sleep. So the right meal at the right time, okay, knowing that at that point I give myself plenty of time to digest. I lay off the screens, okay. So I try to not eat four to five hours um before I go to bed. I try to lay off the screens two to three hours before I go to the city. What do you do?

Brandon Welch:

What are you doing when you're not on a screen? You're reading books? Are you just moving? What are you doing?

Jeremiah Dalton:

Moving around, getting my kids, you know, ready for the next day. Um, watching, I think watching TV is okay because I don't think the dopamine hit is as high and the blue light, I don't think is um as pervasive as it is with a screen. I put the phone away um probably about 8:30, 8 o'clock at night. I shut the phone off. I don't look at it again. That allows me to, you know, have the proper sleep. Um, again, making sure that I take the right supplements that help me sleep. Um I'm a big proponent of magnesium and taurine, actually. Those are two things that I take that kind of help promote relaxation, very natural sleep cycle where you don't wake up feeling groggy. I'm not a big fan of melatonin. Um, I feel that you take that and you wake up the next morning, at least I do, um, and feel dairy days. So it's a I I want to try to give myself the most natural sleep that I can. Um, I track, I use the aura ring. So I use this to uh track my sleep. So again, going back to metrics, I wake up in the morning, I weigh myself every morning. What's your HRV? Uh, it's in the 70s. That's insane. That's really good. Yeah.

Brandon Welch:

And you're what, 40 something? 40, 40.

Jeremiah Dalton:

Yeah. According to this, my heart, you know, my cardiovascular age is more of a 30-year-old than a 40-year-old. Um, so I look at my recovery, I look at my sleep and and all of that stuff. Um, monitor that. Then I obviously, I personally, for me, like to work out um anywhere from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., depending on the day um where my kids are at. But I try to get my workout done as early as I possibly can. I typically um will have a pre and post-workout shake for uh workout days. But one of the things that is helpful to me is that I condense a lot of my calories within a short period of time. I found that I'm not particularly hungry from when I wake up, other than when I just need the pre and post-work workout shakes for the morning workouts. But beyond that, if I could hold my lunch till about two, I found that there was this window from like two to six, that I was just hungry no matter what. So I actually have my lunch around two, and I actually have my dinner around 5.15, 5.30. And I kind of condense my calories within that period of time, a majority of it at least.

Brandon Welch:

And you're really not eating before two.

Jeremiah Dalton:

Other than, like I said, a pre and post-workout shake on workout days, and maybe just a small protein shake on non-workout days.

Brandon Welch:

Just for the nerds, what what's uh what's the pre-post-workout shake? What's that look like?

Jeremiah Dalton:

So the pre the pre-workout shake is just 30 grams of protein, a little bit of honey. The post-workout shake is um uh same amount of protein, uh, along with uh some creatine, some collagen, um, and sunflower lectin, which helps me absorb fats better. That's my post-workout shake. I will have a post a pre-workout meal, which usually is you know, a banana or three clementines post-workout along with the shake will be you know some kind of starch like rice cakes. So that's you know, that's only on workout days. But outside of that, it's a simple protein shake just to kind of tie me over to one, two o'clock. I'll have my lunch, and then a few hours later I'll have my dinner, and then I stop. And then I stop and then I go.

Brandon Welch:

Yeah.

Jeremiah Dalton:

And I don't, and then I I'm like I said, 5:30, I'm done eating. I'm going to bed 9:30, 10. So it's it's actually four to five hours where I haven't eaten, but it makes a tremendous impact on your sleep, which so I said, how you how you handle the you know the first four, three to four hours or the last three to four hours before you go to bed, to me is the most important thing to pay attention to because that then sets the stage for how the rest of the day, the the following day goes.

Brandon Welch:

What a thing to copy, my friends. Um, and thank you so much for being an open book. Thank you so much for like telling us the journey. A lot of people would come on here and and and and try to puff themselves up bigger than what it was, and I think you gave it to us as real as you can get it. Uh, that is where uh some of us are. And uh I I will tell you, having seen the the PL side of Jeremiah's business, um, I wonder if we could name this podcast lose 30% body fat, gain 30% profitability, because uh there's probably there's probably some sort of maximum.

Jeremiah Dalton:

And that's exactly what happened. And I and I also want to be clear like my business didn't double or triple, but it definitely became more profitable um with less stress. So, you know, for me, it was like I was happy with the money that I was making, but it just felt like such a grind. Now it's like, well, I'm making more money, and I've you know, there's a reason that we've been more profitable than we've ever been, not by leaps and bounds, but you know, like I said, 30% more profitable, but I feel 10 times less stressed. So what is you know, what is that worth to you?

Brandon Welch:

Yeah, what yeah, what do you gain in that? You you cannot put a price on on how you show up for your kids, man. Um, and then after that, how you show up for your spouse or your friends or or your church or whatever, you know. What's what's your randomness and all of this costing you? It's costing you your greatness, right? So man, thank you so much. Um if this is your first time listening to the podcast, um, I would love for you to both follow Jeremiah's uh Long Island Legends and the Maven Marketing Podcast. Uh, we break down real business issues. We break, we break down real business growth. We are not selling tools, we're not really selling anything here. Uh, we are just unreasonably excited at uh from the heart of this agency, from me down to everybody who works in these four walls, uh, about you getting more out of your life, out of your business, and all for the purpose of your family and that big dream. And so that's why we're back here every week. Uh, we have been for almost three years now, and we will be uh, I think for many, many, many years to come. And uh, we would be honored to have your follow and your subscribe. And uh shout out to Jeremiah, thank him for the insight, uh and maybe share in the comments uh what stood out to you most. Uh, as we head into 2026, this will be a foundation that lifts all other things, and I can't wait to see what happens in your business. Uh, I I'm I'm inspired. Um this will accelerate my journey uh even even farther. So thank you, Jeremiah, again. And uh for everybody else, we'll be back here every Monday answering your real life marketing questions because marketers who can't teach you why are just a big fat lie. That'll work. He almost got it. Uh we'll take it though. Have a great week.