COACH'D
Join us on COACH’D, a podcast where the some of the world's top athletes, coaches, and performance experts come together to share their stories, insights and secrets to what has made them successful in their own right.
Think of it as a "locker room" chat — unfiltered, raw, and real. We dive deep into all things athletic performance, wellness, science and culture.
COACH'D
Jono and Amy Castano - From Personal Trainer to Empire Builders
Jono and Amy Castano share their entrepreneurial journey from personal trainers to fitness empire builders, revealing how strategic social media use, celebrity networking, and an unwavering work ethic fueled their success.
• Jono takes pride in being a personal trainer, seeing it as a respected profession rather than a stepping stone
• Early rejection made Jono more determined, getting rejected three times before landing his first PT job
• Amy's early adoption of social media as a content creator paved the way for their combined marketing strategy
• Jono strategically trained celebrities for free to build his brand, leading to high-profile clients like Chris Appleton and Rebel Wilson
• The couple faced challenges when their gym became known as the "influencer gym," requiring them to reposition their brand
• Their business philosophy follows cycles: growth phase, chaos phase, leveling out, and either evolution or decline
• For aspiring fitness professionals, they recommend creating meaningful content, taking risks, and reaching out directly to potential collaborators
We're continuing to evolve Acero beyond a boutique gym into a comprehensive health club with recovery services, PT, and classes to meet the growing interest in longevity and wellness.
Thank-you to our sponsors Iron Edge and VALD Performance.
Iron Edge are Australia’s leading equipment supplier for all your coaching needs.
Check out their website: www.ironedge.com.au
Instagram: @iron_edge
VALD Performance are global leaders is the performance and health technology space.
Check out their website: www.valdperformance.com
Instagram: @vald_performance
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For all enquires please email:
coach@jorditaylor.com
https://open.spotify.com/show/1YJMztpYSgnPusEXB3fWcc?si=FJsWITv7QdSCSgCt3lkElw
Join us on Coached, a podcast where some of the world's top athletes, coaches and performance experts come together to share their stories, insights and secrets to what has made them successful in their own right. Think of this as a locker room chat unfiltered, raw and real. We dive deep into all things athletic performance, wellness, science and sporting culture and sporting culture. Hear from those who have played, coached and built their way to the top with athletes from the field, coaches and medical in the performance setting, or owners, managers and brands in the front office, while also getting an insider's view on my own personal experiences in this high-performance world. If you're passionate about sports, curious about the minds of champion athletes or looking for information and inspiration on your own journey, coach is the place for you. Amy and jono castano is that pronounced right? You?
Speaker 2:can say if you want to be really specific and be like sound latino, you could say castanio, castanio. You got to add the like. You know the line, the n. Yeah on top of that, but you know what really gets out of it.
Speaker 3:Wow, okay, that's real technical.
Speaker 2:You sound very Latino now.
Speaker 3:Well, anyway, welcome to Coached. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks for having us. This is the first double podcast, so great to have two people on two different opinions and views at the same time. It's a Friday, it's late on a friday and this is kind of already sidetracked off the questions. But you shared it today and I think it was from stephen bartlett, wasn't it? It was like the oh yes, the quote that he had on his story about outworking what was the walls of quote. Sheer like, yeah, you say you shared it um, let me just get my stories up.
Speaker 3:No, but it's about about starting something without overthinking and being able to jump in, rather than so many plans and it was in relation to Mr Beast, wasn't it off the back of that thing that you shared? I'm not too sure.
Speaker 1:Anyway, bring it there, bring it up, Bring it up.
Speaker 3:Bring it up, a pattern I've noticed in people who make things happen speed. They don't overthink, over plan or wait for the perfect moment. They move. They go from idea to action in the time it takes most to write a first draft of their plan, while others are debating, researching or hesitating. They're already learning, adjusting and making progress. Success doesn't go to the person who had the best idea. It goes to the one who actually did something about it. I'm about to drop this mic because, wow, that's powerful.
Speaker 1:Yeah it is, yeah it is, and I think it's the same deal, right. Like it's a Friday after you can be doing anything. You know you're not like you you need to be here, uh, but you are, and that's kind of the same sort of thing, right, it's like there's obviously something that you guys do that you're wired, maybe just that little bit different. Even aaron, I was speaking about that, um, just before like there's something that goes on, people that have it that are just wired a bit different. Like what do you reckon it is for you guys? Friday you could be anywhere, you could be doing anything, but you want to do this. Why is that?
Speaker 2:I think for me personally it's always been having direction in my life and what I want to accomplish, not just as obviously my personal goals that I have, but more of a business side of things. So I think that direction of knowing exactly where I want to head and obviously Amy as well, with the brand on what it takes and I think it does take a bit of that long hours, that consistency and what I feel what happens from that is the trainers also gravitate. They also learn that as well. It's like for me. I don't need to be starting at 4.30. I do it because it kind of teaches a good culture and teaches hard work to our trainers, Like, oh my God, Jono's here early, he's finishing friday late.
Speaker 3:Maybe I could do that too, and for me, that there'll be my answer to that. For me, this excites me, like I love being involved in something that's bigger, um, that I'm creating something, I'm growing something, and I think that is what I've always wanted throughout my life is to create something, and people love it, be a part, part of something that's bigger than what I am, and that's why I do everything that I do, because I look at the bigger picture, not what's like next week, in a month, in two years, whatever it is. I look at what I want to do in a big way and I want to do big things. So every little thing that I do not everything, but most of the things it's going to add up to that big picture yeah, no, I love it.
Speaker 1:I think that ties in perfect to where I want to start with you, johnny, because, like I don't know a lot of people, may I'm not proud to be a pt. You know, I mean you go to a party and say what are you doing like, oh, pt, you know, I mean like they don't say it with like a silent tone. Yeah, I always pull them up on that. Hey, I'm like, no, you got so to it.
Speaker 2:I think and this is not to do with any like I think personally, even if you were a cleaner or whatever you're doing with your career, I think you should always be excited because you know once again, hey, I think we've got this amazing country that we live in and it's um, every opportunity that we're given here is is great. You know, like, where everyone earns money. You know if you're overseas, some people can't even get a job. You know don't even have enough for education. So I think you know from my background, obviously, where I grew up, like you know everything, everything that we have here is a privilege to be part of. So that's kind of the way that I view it. So when someone says that at a party, I'm like man, you should talk about your career. It's exciting. You know. Be happy that you're actually doing it?
Speaker 1:yeah, because when I listen to other podcasts and you know interviews and stuff, you always I'm a personal trainer like and you you stay with confidence yeah, I mean, and a lot of people that they're like, well, personal trainers, are stepping stone to be a strength and coach, or that that's like the lowest position on the totem pole, where for you it's the complete opposite and you know you don't shine away from it. You already said it before. Like the early mornings, the big days, you don't shine away from it. Like why, even now, where you're at, you still just keep doing it. You don't shine away from it. Like I know people get big for their boots.
Speaker 2:Now you just sort of well, I think, because I know I'm earning more than doctors, it's probably probably why, to be honest, you know what I mean. No, but to be honest, I've always enjoyed really being a personal trainer. I think for me there was a lot of rejection when I was wanting to be a personal trainer, so I think to be able to actually achieve it and know that I'm actually one of Australia's top trainers here, I think that's kind of what I love. I think it started with that failure of being rejected at Virgin. How many times did you get rejected? Three times, three times to join them as a PT and I just kept getting rejected.
Speaker 3:eh, and then the fourth time they gave me the job, they were like I don't think he's a team player.
Speaker 2:After the fourth time they gave me the job. That's because you were there too often. I don't know what it was, but yeah, so I would say it comes from that area as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I love it, I think it makes sense, right. And like one thing that PTs do really well, right when you start out, is they get in the gym full and actually coach. They actually get around, they learn how to work with different clients of old, young, everything in between. They learn how to have conversations, be able to talk about politics and then maths and like literally anything because you gotta, you gotta talk, because, like that, 60 second rest if you don't know what you're doing, that's a long 60 seconds, right, like that can feel like minutes hours.
Speaker 2:The power of the yap. Yeah, the power. You got it right, so you gotta, you gotta be good at like versus from.
Speaker 1:Like my perspective and where I come from, like a lot of sncs, they just go from degree to degree. They go to university, they then go to their masters, then they then go do something else. Like they never actually get around in coaching people right, and I think that really attributes to like the big drop-off in people. But pts, the drop-off rate in that first year is like 50, then three years is 30. Same happens in snc, but it's just like a delayed thing down the line. Plus it costs them 110 grand in university fees and whatever else to get there. Like what do you reckon the difference is between the pts that just get in there and they do it versus the ones that?
Speaker 2:pontificate and don't do it. I think I would say it's that hustler mentality. I think you know the pts that are hustlers and um know how to make a sale and convert a sale. I think they're the ones that shine in the industry. Personally, um, like you said, you know pt. You don't need to to hold a degree or all that type of stuff.
Speaker 2:For me. I've only got a Cert IV, to be honest, and I charge more than that. But I'm good at yapping away and I'm good at networking. For me personally, I feel like my key strength for me is I'm able to build rapport instantly. You give me a minute and that person already I've already broken that person down by listening, making sure that you're looking at them, first of all, remembering their name when you're out somewhere.
Speaker 2:You know how many times you go out and you're like what's that guy's name? Again, you know what I mean. I'll always remember someone's name, you know, and always refer back. So I think those kind of things I'm really really good at. But yeah, I'd say probably for me that hustler mentality of being, you know, wanting to make a sale, I think for me personally, rather than because what I find a lot of trainers is they that do have degrees, is they're very intelligent and all that, but they can't. They just don't know how to kind of connect with someone. And I think that's super important in the PT because you know it's called personal for a reason. I think that's a big thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think I'd like to add to that in the sense of as well, the confidence that a lot of personal trainers potentially lack in themselves and don't value what they're giving to a person. I look at Jono and a lot of the PTs here and they are so confident in the service that they're providing and I think you know when you are starting out or you're not confident in selling what you're giving to someone it is your time and your service that also doesn't give that person the confidence in you to be able to make a change in their body or make a change in their life. And I think what we see here at in jono as well as all the other pts here, is that they they really value their time and they value themselves I agree.
Speaker 2:Well said no. So yeah, it's always good when amy adds stuff, you know, because she's got a different perspective of how she sees things obviously here.
Speaker 1:No, I think it's you hit it on the head like the education that a lot of the people that bounce to it. It just stays up here, it stays in their head. They don't ever actually get to experience or try things and learn things.
Speaker 1:And I always say the best coaches in our side if we're just sort of like splitting the two in half a little bit started out as personal trainers, like I started as a personal trainer at a plus fitness, exactly right like, and then went out to another gym that was a little bit less commercialized, like kind of similar story to you in that regard, but like I learned how to talk to every single person under the sun because, like same deal, I was there from six till eight at night. You know, I still remember I said this story the other day like my biggest day I ever remember was 22 sessions in a day. Like couldn't do 20 sessions now, but I still remember doing 22 sessions in a day I just counted dollars well, when you charge a minimum wage back, then it's very hard.
Speaker 1:So I'm kidding but yeah, and then amy, to you, like obviously the same time john o's doing his thing there and and building his own sort of name for himself. You were sort of doing the same thing but a little bit different, in your own lane, um, like being a really early adopter. Um, we saw a little camera out there before you, maybe going back to your roots, a little bit like what was it like being an early adopter on the social side of things? And obviously there's so many skills you learned but then so many skills you could pass on and work together to obviously build to like what you have here now.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I think, um, I've always been someone who does things, does things differently, and, um, I feel like I don't know I start trends. No, I feel like I do. Um, I don't know, I I'm just into different things and I like to try them. Um, but one of my things that I feel that I probably is a downfall to me is that I'll start things and if I'm not enjoying it or whatever, I'll just let it go to the side. But I think as well, that's a positive in the sense that, um, all those things that didn't work out in the past are now the reason why I'm here today and I'm like absolutely putting my all into this.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I guess, when I started out on YouTube and social media, I had no idea what I was doing, had no idea what it was. Even Jono, like we'd go on a holiday and I'd be like, oh, can you get a picture of me here? He'd be like, like we'd go on a holiday and I'd be like, oh, can you get a picture of me here? He'd be like, for what? And I think it was one day we were in Vegas or Mexico and I posted a photo and there was like 4,000 likes on it or something.
Speaker 3:He was like who are these people? And I'm like, I don't know. I just have followers and I just like post my makeup and people are interested and they want to know about me. So that's why Jono got started on social media as well, because he saw the opportunity and saw what I was growing on there. I wasn't, you know, getting paid or anything, but it was just something that really excited me because it was different. And then, as well, I was doing the YouTube and sharing my advice and tutorials and things like that, and I got a thrill out of people knowing what I was doing and knowing that they learned something from me or took something away from what I was sharing.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, it was very exciting to be a part of that um and then, once it grew into, I guess you could say, a career um, that's when I was able to, I guess, leave my finance nine to five um and fully commit to just being a social media creator um, and then today into business. So yeah, it was. It's a very different journey that I took, but so, yeah, glad that I did it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. When you, you know you say you'd bounce around a few things. You know people call it like shiny object syndrome, like they go from one thing because they see the opportunity. Then they get there and they realise that maybe it's either harder than what they thought or they don't have the skills and the knowledge to do it, so they drop that and then go to something else. Like, yeah, it can be negative because it takes away from maybe a bigger or clearer path, but do you think that the positive to that is the skills you develop along the way? Right, like you learnt what you learnt here, maybe not at work in that scenario, but then three things down the line, it does work.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I also think, though, like what if I did continue with those things? Like where would they be today? Like they would probably be like? I had a clothing label when I was in university and I sold out of all my dresses. My dad kindly helped me build that business, but it got to a point where I worked with a designer. I hired a designer, I then went to a manufacturer, got the samples made, and they came back and they were just not what I expected, and I was just like I'm not cut out for this, I'm not ready for this, so I let that go. Um, so I think timing is sorry.
Speaker 1:Is that hard to let it go? Like people probably have that thing that they put so much like sunken cost fallacy right. Like you put so much time and effort into something. It's like gambling, like you're at the table, you lost, you know, 10 grand or just go 10 more, you know. I mean like, and then you lose it all late. No, I mean either, just what I've heard.
Speaker 3:Um, yeah, no, I think I guess it would be um to a degree. I mean, if you are thinking about giving up, I feel like you're ready taking the step out, so you're not actually passionate about it. I think even when things are going incredibly tough, you have that resilience to get through it because you want to. You push yourself through it regardless. You make whatever you need to happen to get to the other side. So I feel like either I wasn't ready to take that step, I wasn't ready for that sort of business and I didn't have the skills or the growth in myself as a person in order to take on that challenge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, big timing. Yeah absolutely, yeah, 100%. Well, speaking of timing, obviously the early adoption of social media went very well for you because of you know, if you want to listen to the in-depth stuff, there's probably heaps of other podcasts where you talk about that whole process.
Speaker 2:but to not take away and give a bit of context like how did you leverage social media early on, right to land like that first big client which then probably gave you that that separation from everywhere else, yeah, I think, for me, um, with social media, I definitely found like a little little gap in the in the market and I think it's still to this day what I find a lot of trainers lack, you know, a lot of trainers. They don't want to give their time out for free, they'd rather go to the beach, they'd rather do absolutely nothing. You know, for me, I actually saw that gap in training people for free. Um, practicing my, my niche, making myself better, practicing different type of programs, you know, obviously, meeting different individuals from older to younger to whatever, and I think, reaching out to them through social media and using the power of social media to actually reach. You know, I managed to, obviously, veronica's casey donovan, um, and I think, having that seeing that little gap in the market where all these people came to me and they posted me and they all had, you know, they're all in the media, they're all getting articles, like through Daily Telly or whatever, and I think having using the social media for that really kind of helped me build the brand today.
Speaker 2:You know, back then you know I wasn't really like, you know, like I didn't really have that many followers back in those days, and I think, combining and collaborating with all those people that I've worked with back then, when the algorithm was easy, I think that kind of helped a lot and, um, that's definitely the gap and why I use social media to this day, because it gives us the opportunity to first connect with people that are across the world. They get to see where you are like a trainer, um, you know you get this. You post your results, you get to post your training like such a a great tool to use, which a lot of us, a lot of trainers in this industry, they actually scared to talk to the camera, like you know, and I'm like I think people should really kind of identify you through that for the lens. You know, I think you get really connected with someone, like I know, when I talk, you know, like I was actually out, um, last week and someone pulled me up about, you know, about discipline versus motivation, I think, and I was like actually like sometimes I even get shocked of I post stuff and I'm like, oh, maybe some people aren't really listening and then to hear a comment like that, they're like, oh, that really made my week and I was like you know what, if we're helping one person, isn't this why we're in this industry.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:We're in this industry to motivate and, um, you know, help people through dark times or whatever you know and then that gives you the power to make that like one to many, right, because in a personal training session it's only you and one other person, right, whether you know you can share that a little bit more, I think, um, there's heaps of chat there, but probably the key one is that, like people giving up their like time for free, like where you could do completely opposite. It's like, well, you understand, right, that, like, if you've got a gap from 10 to 11, which is a typical downtime for most bts, right, what are you going to do? Like you, most will be, as you said, practicing your craft, getting someone in that maybe has a bit of a following that you can, you know, potentially use as marketing. So now, all of a sudden, it's not actually you're not giving me time for free, you're getting marketing costs and your business has marketing costs.
Speaker 2:So instead of you having to pay for marketing, you're paying with your time and also made me look like a busy trainer as well, you know, because, once again, like people would always be on the floor and be like oh my god, that guy's always here.
Speaker 1:He must be decent and he's actually training, he's actually training someone he's not, you know.
Speaker 2:So I think that's also another positive as well, out of that experience, and I still I still to this day, like you know, whenever I've got a gap and I want to practice something, or I mean I want obviously like we're looking for marketing and all that type of stuff, I still give my time out for free, even if I do 70 sessions a week, you know. So trainers can't really complain about I'm doing 20 and I'm tired, um, so yeah, yeah, um, I was listening to james smith yeah yeah, well to be honest with you, I haven't really listened to a whole lot of him until that.
Speaker 1:he's been doing a lot more the business side of things for the last six months like pivoted to his mentorship and stuff like that. But he shared some really good stories, and there was one the other day, like when he first started on Facebook Live. So this is like ages ago Facebook Live was a thing you know. He'd sit out the front of the gym and everyone would rip on him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember, I do remember, because he used to be obviously a trainer at Fitness First and people used to, you know, give it to him all the time, and it's similar to my story. You know, like even at Virgin Active, like people would just obviously like rip into me, like what are you doing All this stuff? And like, yeah, it got to a point where it was like really, really bad eh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you started posting training and you in like active wear and things like that. Budgie smugglers back then.
Speaker 2:Now everyone's wearing them you know I forgot about budgie, but back then it was you know for some reason, but anyway it's like yeah, definitely got ripped into. So I understand obviously what you're saying there about james.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and but it's also about having that belief in yourself which you did, um, and also having the support from me to be like keep going. Like I think a lot of people gets told no or get questioned and they're like okay, well, is this the right thing that I'm doing? But I think there's just that little bit of fire, um, in certain types of people that push them to keep going and push them through they can get over that first hurdle versus that first hurdle cripples them like what was the?
Speaker 1:is any one like thing that stood out? Because there's heaps of people I hear people that have sort of like a bit of a following so there's like one moment that like almost almost they stopped was anything that.
Speaker 2:well, I think for me, like there was, there was times where I was even avoiding like trainees because of what they were going to say, you know, like literally. And I remember it came to Kris Kringle, wasn't it, and they got me a bloody post of all my photos and stuff. Hey, like cringy photos, like literally, and they all just started laughing and stuff, and yeah, it was quiet, you know, back in those days.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like some people would take it as banter but it was actually quite like Emotional abuse.
Speaker 1:I'll call that.
Speaker 1:one Depends on the way you look at it but it's also true like I've got a lot of good mates that live in the us or spent time in the us and they always say like here it's very different, like people never want to see they're happy for you until you do better than them, and it's that big, tall poppy syndrome. They want to cut you down and all the time and like there is a fine line between like banter and then also a fine line between where it is like that point, where it's afl in the us he pulled up at the lights in a rolls royce and the kid like banged on the window and he's like what's going on here? And so he put the window down and the kid's like like what do you do? How do I be like you? Right, that was you know. So he told me, play football.
Speaker 1:Then he sort of took off when he moved back to australia. He had a rolls Royce. He pulled up at lights in Brisbane and someone was like put the window down. So he put the window down and they're like you, a drug dealer.
Speaker 1:And it's like so, straight away, they're all magically thinking that he does something wrong so he pulled up the next set of lights and, like someone was walking past and gave him this look and another set of lights, someone spat at the car. It was literally like happened. He got rid of it because he's like, well, I don't want to look like I'm doing better than other people because all of a sudden now I I'm frowned upon. You know, I mean, I don't know, do you experience that a little bit like, well, I've got an mg mate, not a real sponsor.
Speaker 2:I think. For me personally, this goes back to like, and it's kind of like I guess I don't know um. I feel like if you start to kind of say, for example, even with your business, you start to drive a G-Wagon, you're doing all this type of stuff, I think even your staff could obviously see that as like, oh, this is what they're using the money on. I think that kind of backfires a lot personally, the way that I view it. So personally, I like to stay low-key as well in my MG. You know I like to. Yeah, I have a different perspective.
Speaker 3:I think that you should be able to be who you are and if that is liking nice things, or if that is driving an MG or a G-Wagon, I think you should be able to do whatever you want to do, and I don't and that is an issue that I see here is that a lot of people, like you said, are your supporters until you're doing well and then they're not. And I think Jono and I have experienced that a lot in our lives and I think that's always because we have been like hustlers and pushing for more, pushing the line, pushing the bar always, and I think it's just like water off a duck's back for me at this point. I'm just like I'm continuing to be who I am, I'm continuing to be loud about myself and my brand and nothing's going to stop me connor probably goes back to the thing.
Speaker 1:At the very start we spoke about right like same deal. While we're here on a friday, friday, alba can be doing a million other things, but and then, like you said, your staff see that you're at 4 30 in the morning. So then all of a sudden he did turn up in a jeer wagon. They might not be like you know. Obviously your MG sponsor has fallen through if that happens.
Speaker 1:But they're not going to be like, oh, he's gone and splashed you out. It's like, well, no, he's fucking worked his ass off for that. Like it's a bit different you know, what I mean.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure they think like that hey at different levels.
Speaker 3:You know there's some people that can genuinely be happy for you and and I think we surround ourselves with those people, um, but then there's also those ones that are just yeah, they keep you that evil eye so make sure you like you're covered on that so going back to to social media and and the positives of it, not just the harassment that comes along with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's right, tell us how you like. Well, who was the first big, like quote-unquote big one, and how did you do it?
Speaker 2:Well, I think I probably. It's quite funny. I wanted to start. I started social media because I'm one that. And when Amy explained, I'm like hey, I just want to get free food.
Speaker 3:So my Muscle, so my muscle. Chef was my very first gig um in terms of the and now you're, now I'm their ambassador.
Speaker 2:Yeah, full circle moment. Yeah, um but um. In terms of what biggest, biggest client that I've worked with through?
Speaker 1:social media like who do you? Who do you? I know you've used the dm pretty pretty effectively. Yeah, who was the person you got through the biggest one through that strategy?
Speaker 2:I'll probably say chris appleton. I think chris appleton is massive these days he's the hairstylist of jlo um julie but I think kim kardashian kardashian full-time, that's all right.
Speaker 1:Took 30 minutes pretty good. Do you know what I mean? So?
Speaker 2:I think him, yeah, for sure, I'd probably say his is the one, because obviously, with rebel, that was um word of mouth. Richard branson word of mouth um rita, what a word of mouth. Richard Branson word of mouth um Rita, what a word of mouth. So I think, yeah, chris Apple. I think he's on like what? Like six million now, but he's doing really well and he's working. He's the number one hairstylist in the world. So I think to be able to just dm someone like that and get that, which gets like 800 plus comments, yeah, and like 12 000, like you know what I mean to to use that as a strategy, I think it works really well and I still sometimes you know what I mean whenever I see someone in town, um, I just send them a dm and, who knows, you know some of the job tracking message no, no, he's too busy I did he's too busy trying to hit drones.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fighting easy, throwing practice yeah, that was a stunt, though yeah, that was good for steak. Good, yeah was good. Yeah, for sure, very good.
Speaker 1:Got us talking about it, so it obviously worked.
Speaker 3:I have no idea what you guys are talking about.
Speaker 1:Steak's a gambling company. Oh okay, which the boys were just.
Speaker 2:Yeah, again, we're back to gambling somehow, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, okay, so, and that's the thing. So you obviously found a niche as well, like maybe the higher network, high affluence celebrity, that sort of person. What made you want a niche down that and not, like you know, a lot of people go to athletes or something else?
Speaker 2:I think, because there was one time I was watching the Biggest Loser and I was like you know what? I want to be able to train and be on that show. And I think for me personally I was like, okay, so on that show. And I think for me personally, what I was like, okay, so in order for me to get on the show, like that, I'll need people to know what I do to, obviously that I train celebrities and I'm in the media quite often, all that stuff that was kind of my goal and I was like the only way I'm going to do that is by doing it Shannon, ponton or the commando?
Speaker 1:who did you want to be?
Speaker 3:Michelle Bridges.
Speaker 2:No commando all day, but I mean I, to be honest. They inspired me a lot early days you know, and it was a goal of mine, you know to be able to go and remember I'm going to show like that. So I think that was my direction of where I wanted to be like a celebrity trainer. Yeah, that's what they call it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, nice. And then obviously, as he's building this up because it's probably turning the wheels pretty quick when, when things start to happen like that, how did you feel like, as a partner at the time, you could support that, add your own advice as well, because obviously you know behind every successful person's another successful person. Another successful person like how did you feel that, as your skill sets are growing as well in your own personal life and the business? Like, how did you feel like you could compliment that?
Speaker 3:um, well, I guess in that stage of my life I was, um, yeah, being, I was full-time in social media, so I had the time to be able to give to Jono and the support to give to him. Um, and I think whatever he wanted to do, I would make happen. So even if it was like, know, chasing invoices, all the admin getting his website doing programs, like not doing the programs, but like you know, full man Truth comes out, yeah.
Speaker 1:Programs by AMC.
Speaker 2:I'm not a trainer, amy's a trainer, just letting everyone know. It's all, amy, it's not me.
Speaker 3:He's just the body.
Speaker 2:I'm the brain.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's all amy, he's just the body, I'm the brain. Um, yeah, so anything to do with, as you know, as a trainer and having your own business or working for yourself, you have to be a salesperson, a marketer, um, admin, receptionist, every single role that a business has. You actually have to be as a sole trader right, you wear all those hats.
Speaker 3:Everything. So not everyone has that skill set and you know, even like anyone that comes in here, you know some of the trainers are incredibly good at admin, know how to do programs. Some can't even book sessions in sometimes on this on the schedule, um, so it's just like I get that. There's strengths, um, and whatever strength I had, um that jono could lean on, I was willing to give yeah, awesome, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1:Now it all sounds great, right, as as all this is growing like you've got big, big names. What, what's some of the challenges, maybe that people don't actually understand like that comes with that sort of territory. What, what is it? Is it the fact that all of a sudden, maybe they were taking away from your paying clients? Um, was it, you know what? What were some of those sort of challenges that maybe?
Speaker 2:popped up. Yeah, I think, um, I think for me personally, the challenge was, um, I kind of started to forget about, you know, training the average joe, and that was. I was like you know what? I'm getting great traction through this and I'm building my personal brand, I'm getting ambassador roles and I'm headed this direction. But then it kind of took away a lot of time from, obviously, just training people here at the gym and I still continue to face that challenge because it's not training celebrities anymore, it's all about um.
Speaker 2:You know, like, when you're an IR brand ambassador, you have to do X amount of appearances. You know, when you're doing like talks, you've got to go places. So that takes a lot away from your current business. And you know, when people feel like you're too important for them, that's when they start to drop off. But at the same time, you know, I always believe everyone is equal. But I think a lot of people don't understand that when you are doing that stuff, um, it's actually because you know you're trying to build the acero brand and it's not just because I want to do that. So people kind of um, still think that and I think that's a massive challenge for me personally.
Speaker 3:Still, um, I can, um add a challenge there. Um, I guess in the early phases when we were training a lot of influencers and celebrities and things like that, our gym and brand was known as the Celebrity Gym or Influencer Gym. And it was only until Jono went out one night and he got told or pointed out and was like you're that guy that owns the Influencer Gym.
Speaker 1:He was like yo bro out and was like you're that guy that owns the influencer gym, um, and he jono, jono, instantly. What accent is that? Just quietly, yeah, what is that?
Speaker 2:I don't know. It's mexico. Mexico slash something I don't know. Auss, it's Mexican slash something I don't know Aussie, mexican, aussie, cool combo.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So Jono texted me straight away and was like we need to do something about the fact that we're known as the influencer gym.
Speaker 1:So your kind of like brand position was way off what you actually thought it was.
Speaker 3:Yes, and I think, yeah, that kind of pigeonholed us into that, I guess you know aspirational aspect, where it was unachievable, which it's not. We had, you know, all walks of life through here, um, but it did deter a lot of clients away because they're like oh well, we can't train there, we're not a celebrity or influencer. So we um immediately changed that and how did you change that?
Speaker 1:because I know a lot of people sometimes their business pivots and they don't realize until someone you know their ideal avatar goes, hey, like, you're not for me and you're like what do you mean? You're exactly who I got in business for, like, what would you have to change from from that perspective?
Speaker 3:a lot of people find value in that. Yeah, definitely, just um our marketing, um on social media. It was like, obviously social media. It was like obviously influencers and celebrities and people who want to post are those people, our you know, nine to fivers or anyone who comes in there. They're in and out, they're having a shower, they're going, they're not thinking about social media, so they are not the ones that are posting. So what we did was we got our floor um assistant to go around and film our trainers um just training anyone and everyone and then tagging um the trainer and the client yeah, and the client as well.
Speaker 3:Um, and our clients loved that, like as much as some people like oh, don't film me, I don't want to be filmed, as soon as the camera's on they like.
Speaker 1:All of a sudden, they can find it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, just being able to feature just anyone and everyone and then get that across on our socials that anyone is welcome was what we did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, as you said, like people don't like it but they really appreciate it at the same time. They may not share it every time or whatever else, but like they do genuinely appreciate it. Um, is that was that like a big pivot? Did you feel like that was a big difference in what you were previously doing? Like was that hard to do? Or is that was like oh, that's easy, we can simply change that and all of a sudden that like that by solving that first, say, like issue, there was nothing else downstream that popped up as well um, yeah, it was pretty easy to do because we had the clients.
Speaker 3:We had all different clients here. Um, so it was pretty easy to do because we had the clients. We had all different clients here. So it was just a conversation to Jim Flo and be like okay, go around, get the phone film, post this is how I want it, and we instantly adopted that. So it wasn't that hard. There weren't really any challenges, right that?
Speaker 2:no, not really, I think. Um, I think we all went pretty straightforward with it, to be honest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think we even got dms like, oh, do normal people train there too? And we were like yeah, we're normal yeah exactly um.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it was a great eye-opener that comment that someone said to you on a white the mexican, australian, whatever he was um, when it comes to the territory, working with celebrities, like obviously there's some really cool things that happen as well, like some experiences that you you probably don't get access to otherwise.
Speaker 1:Right, like nowhere near the same, and I think I only shared this a couple of times with people I know.
Speaker 1:I did the master chef guys for a month or so when they they traveled around and even that, like they're, you know, great guys but we're talking like celebrity sabbaths, very low on the totem pole, but like what the lives they live are just so different. Right, like, for example, with them they don't get up till 10 o'clock. They get up. They then, like we train in the morning at like 10 ish, then they go off and do like scripts and filming and whatever else. Then they were trying to get in the evening but then they'd be up all night till like 4 am doing scripts or like rehearsals, like all this sort of stuff, and they were eating such like dense foods. Like no matter what train you do, like you're not going to burn off 50,000 calories they had every single night. Right, that was a cool experience for me being able to travel with them and sort of go through that experience, but like that's nothing compared to some of the people you've had. Like what's some of the the stories there?
Speaker 2:that. Well, I think um you know we've got um rebel wilson and we closed down disneyland for her birthday, so I think we got to experience that yeah, we lived um.
Speaker 3:That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think that's a big, big one for me.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean well, we lived in her place in her place.
Speaker 2:She had a place in um, in um, west holland, and so, yeah, so she had two places and then we obviously got to stay in one um, and then part of it was obviously training her and what was there? Another one with, I guess, like read aura, like through vegas, you know, I think having the, the special treatment that they all get, like it's insane, like it's like actually insane on what they actually get to do, and so everything's closed for them, like behind djs or that type of jazz, it's not as fun as it looks. You know, to be honest, I'd rather be with the crowd. I'd rather be with the crowd, you know I think geordie's talking about their training schedule.
Speaker 3:That works as well. No, no, it was all the above it was all the above.
Speaker 2:I thought we were talking about experience I know it was all the above.
Speaker 1:I guess we're training.
Speaker 2:Like it's when the only thing I kind of for me was obviously when you're a full-time trainer for for a celebrity, it's like whenever they want to train, yeah, and it's kind of like your, your whole job is is towards them and like you got no life. Like if they want to train at two, whatever you're doing, you got to be there at two. So I think that for me personally, I really enjoyed it at the time. I think it was great. I think it's a great career if you are, um, you know, if you've got an understanding partner, no family, all that type of jazz. I think it's good, um, but at the end of the day, for me personally, it got to a point where I wanted to do more than that and I think that's the reason why I decided to come back to sydney.
Speaker 2:Obviously we built to Sarah out of that, because the goal was to move up to LA. I ended up getting my visa, we did everything I want and I was actually meant to move over there and I kind of We'll talk about that.
Speaker 1:I think there was a few things. Do you think? So we talk about America. It's a different kettle of fish, right? Like the level of money is completely different. This level of money is completely different. This level of status is different, like we're talking about. Let's just talk about athletes, for example. Like an nba player, you know they're guaranteed 60 million dollars after their rookie contract, their second year contract. There is not a single athlete in australia that's on 60 million dollars a year, right?
Speaker 2:just not. That's like a whole club's, but not even that's way more than a club's budget. That's a league's budget maybe literally do you know when you think about it?
Speaker 1:yeah, but that's, that's low. Then you've got guys on super max contracts. You know that, 300 million plus a year, plus endorsement, it's just a different world. So, trainers, over there, you know there's heaps of players.
Speaker 1:Ironically, the dbc that we spoke about, amy yeah, yeah like what they charge, it's just not possible to charge that in australia. Like it's just the feasibility is just not there. So like, when you look at that, you can't compare like that to that or that to here, because it's just not the same thing. So like, obviously that challenge of going over there and doing that, is that something still that you still want to want to do? Is that something?
Speaker 2:you still got the yeah, it's still saying fire me, and we talk about it all the time. You know, I think, um, it's just obviously a lot more stuff now that I'm obviously got my daughter and stuff that I have to think about. But yeah, definitely I would love to one day and, who knows, we're just kind of obviously working on a few things here. I think once we kind of get that all sorted out, then I think it will give me time and space to be able to do that, because you want to go there. You know, like open-minded, not stressed out in terms of what's going on in Sydney.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, I think that's when I can perform my best over there and you do see that, like that status is just completely different.
Speaker 2:Like so say, for example, I don't know what you charge here, but you charge that here. You say that in america they'd be like they'd laugh at you, to be honest. Like, uh, like you know, here, 190 for 45, versus an average like straight out of like what do they call it over there? I think they're on about 220, 240 us. I think they charge them out at dog pound and I think you know, I know some trainers they're on like 500. I think gunner peterson isn't about about that even more.
Speaker 1:And gunner moved because, yeah, he went to texas so he could get all of it. So they didn't take it all on tax exactly so you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So I think that's what about 900 australian for a session? Who do you?
Speaker 1:look at over there like that, that's like Gunnar.
Speaker 2:I look at Gunnar Calliott. I think he's in Michael Jordan and Michael B Jordan's. What's his name? He's a funny. He's a funny. What about his name? Bruno? Is it Bruno? I think his name is Bruno and he trains Chelsea. Oh, ben Bruno, ben Bruno, ben Ben Bruno.
Speaker 1:Ben Bruno, like, for example, he just works out of his garage. Yeah, I know Chelsea handler. Yeah, he's got some amazing clients A couple of the riders, NBA players he's got as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I look at those three. To be honest, they'll pop up most of my page, but they're also, to be honest, they actually inspire me to pop over to LA because, like you said, there's just so much talent and so much money to be made. And I feel, like you know once, even here in Sydney, once you've achieved something, you want to continue achieving things. And I feel that now I'm like you know what, like I'm probably at a good stage now to be able to do everything, because it's hard, right, we spoke about this before.
Speaker 1:This is why it was sort of front of mind as well, and we spoke about it when we first met. But like, you're kind of positioned now where things are good, so why would you want to go that next step? You know you're not. You've got a car thanks to mg. You know you've got all these things that you don't have to worry about, right. But then to take that next step, it's like, well, I'm gonna really go to my comfort zone, to a whole nother level. We're going from zero to something's a lot easier because you have a choice. Now you have a choice. It's like that's yeah, I can do it, but it's fucking.
Speaker 3:It's really hard to take that next step well, I, I kind of look at it and this, our business has gone through it probably I'd say three times now, but it's like you have a massive growth phase. Um, you have a chaos phase because you're trying to adapt to that. You know all the changes that you've made and, yeah, I'm known right, exactly not used to. Then you have a chaos phase because you're trying to adapt to that.
Speaker 3:You know all the changes that you've made and yeah, I'm known right, exactly, not used to then you have like a leveling out phase where it's just like, okay, cool, we've gotten used to all this. What's next? Um, and then, if you stay in that phase too long, you go down because you're not changing, you're not adapting to the fast-paced world around you. So then you have to get onto that growth phase again. And I feel like we're currently in the chaos phase, because we just launched something new. So all of our staff or ourselves, we're implementing new systems. They're getting used to all the things around us, all the changes, but it's going to level out again, but it's going to level out again. So I think, yeah, you're just like, okay, well, what is next? And that excites me I want to grow, I want to continue to be in that chaos phase because it's exciting.
Speaker 3:I love that you probably thrive in the chaos. Right, I do.
Speaker 1:Like you're saying before, like that feels like you've got something new, new challenges, new things to always keep, but you've got the end goal, that it's not going too far away from what you're doing as well, yeah, yeah, no, I love that that was a great analogy and like visualization because it's so true.
Speaker 1:It's literally what happens and people often either yeah, they either get stuck in the chaos and they can't get out of it, or, when it does, level out exactly what you said they don't want to do that cycle again because it was like fuck, that was so hard to get through, so they just stop exactly and then go backwards.
Speaker 3:yeah, exactly, because if you don't adapt or, I guess, evolve in a world that is fastly, like incredibly fastly, is that a word?
Speaker 1:Fastly.
Speaker 2:Fastly.
Speaker 3:Faster Mexican.
Speaker 1:Aussie Language, esl that's staying in, that's staying in um yeah, if you're not evolving to such a fast-paced world then, you're just gonna let be left behind, yeah I believe that I agree and then, like there's obviously there's heaps of content around how you guys have built ac and where it came from and things like that, but I want to sort of just stick on just as we start to wrap up, like you've got this new uh class that you've added into, like the offering. That's the chaos right now. Um, like, where do you see things happening? Because it is so fast paced and that you are, you know, you set the start of a trendsetter. You're on the front foot. What do you see coming up in the fitness health space in the next, say, 12 to 18 months? What are you envisioning? What are you seeing and what are the things that maybe you can start to pull and start to plug into what you do here?
Speaker 3:yeah, um we are um definitely working on new spaces. Um that's something that we really want to um focus on for next.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, just evolving and adding new, um, I guess, services, to what we provide already yeah, I think we're obviously striving towards being more of a like like a health club rather than just a boutique gym, like integrating obviously, like recovery and pt and classes, and I think, going towards that direction. So I think that's the chaos at the moment just really trying to understand, like clients, trying to understand why there's small group classes happening, um, you know, obviously I spoke about finding the right space, um, so that's kind of the things at the moment, but that's where we're definitely headed towards and create, um, you know, like a movement from the sarah movement, that's it.
Speaker 1:You feel like like health and fitness is blooming at the moment too. Like longevity seems to be a big thing on people's mind, like, um, I don't know if you guys you know simon beard is the founder of culture kings, yeah, yeah, obviously he's worth an absolute mint. But he's now, uh, in mexico right now and he's doing like a blood, um, plasma transfusion in mexico, stem cells yep, yeah, so it's 100 grand. Yeah, but because he's on the early adoption phase of things, like things cost a lot at that point in time. That's what money allows you to do, like get on that side of things a bit earlier. But but like he's someone who obviously now really values health because now he's been there and done that. But like he's someone that probably a couple of years ago didn't value health as much and I just started to see, like people of that sort of position, but also the average punter, like look at the amount of run clubs, like dodging people along 24-7, like you know, I mean. So everyone just finds a lot of value in health right now.
Speaker 2:So it's probably a really good place to be in and be on the front foot, on the forefoot, like as you guys are I think I saw on um on the internet lately like buying a small, like buying a gym or buying like in terms like health and wellness, anyway in 2025. I think that's like the way forward. That's what they were talking about. Like buying like a small gym is is definitely like a good investment. I was reading about I'm not sure where I read it, but um, yeah, they were talking about that.
Speaker 1:I've seen that. I don't know how true that is, though. Like fuck and I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, like you said, I think everyone's, you know health is wealth and I think that's kind of the key words that people have taken on board this year. From what I've spoken, a lot of my clients are really investing in it. You know, when you talk, when you go out, like people actually like talk about you know health and like how many bench press do you do? Yeah, like everyone too. Like you will, everyone's got a fucking loop on.
Speaker 1:Everyone's got an apple watch on. Like the accessibility of technology and data is like at a point there's never been before and that's it's all based on you know macros, yeah people choosing healthy imagine if you had to said to the cafe like oh, what's your macros? Five, five years ago They'd laugh at you In your budgies when you're standing there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in his budgies Even almond milk. Like being like oh, I can have an almond latte.
Speaker 1:That's normal, really really normal.
Speaker 3:That's normal now, but before it was like sorry, only soy milk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that'll work. Look, it's a little you know thing that I could add there. Yeah, no 100, and then like just johnny. One last thing just from your end. So obviously your, your strategy to gain that sort of attention early on is probably shifted now. Right, like as you were saying before things change that it may work a little bit if you've got a large audience, but maybe now not so much with algorithms, as you mentioned, the way messenger settings work and stuff like that through. If we're talking about just instagram, what would you do if you're a young trainer now you're, you're wanting to take that next step, like you're wanting to sort of take the path you took them, but in 2025, what would you do to try to net that first big, big climb?
Speaker 2:so, yeah, if I was a trainer um, obviously growing up in 2025 and wanted to, you know, um, be more than that. Instead, step outside of that zone, because there's a million pts out there I think, personally, what I'd I'd do is, um, I'd focus a lot on the content that I was putting out there. I think, before you post, you should always know like, why am I posting and not just post because of the fun of it's, obviously, like you know, motivational type of stuff. You know, you look at someone like who I follow and I think he's an amazing person, um, ollie march on. Like you know, I was following ollie, like you know, early days and now, like you know, he's created that movement because of his I'm pretty sure, he hired a full-time media team. He looks great, he breathes and he breathes. He loves fitness. You know, he shows his family.
Speaker 2:I think, like kind of integrating a lot that into your content and be more than just a trainer, like we spoke about. I think, if you really focus on that also, writing is a big thing, like, if you know, if you write blogs, um, I think, if you, if you collaborate with, like athletes, you know, I think you're going to be open to adding all this into your um, into your daily activities, and I think if you can do that, you should be able to step outside of the pack, because it will get picked up and people will start to follow you and start to follow your movement that you're creating, and then that would lead to, you know, articles that will lead to trips, that will lead to ambassador roles. But your goal should never be based on that. Your goal should always be you know, you love fitness, so show. So show it, make people feel it.
Speaker 3:And to add to that, I think as well, just take a risk, send that DM. I will always and I receive a lot of resumes and are you interested in PT, like any PT jobs at the moment? I will always look at it, I will always acknowledge it and, um, I'm always open.
Speaker 3:So you don't know whose inbox whose dm you're going to land in and if it's going to be opened or even responded to, but at least you planted that seed and you're there and potentially you're at the front of their mind when they are interested in being hiring or training yeah, it probably goes back to what you said before about timing, right, exactly.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you get lucky as well, like, but you got to be in the game to get lucky, you got to have the proof and the evidence to do it right. It's like having a resume just because you reach out once but you've got nothing on your profile, which real weird. But if you reach out and you've got a little bit of a following, you're posting who you are, what you do, like you said. All of a sudden that introduction becomes a little bit more. I know there's something to it a little bit, yeah, exactly no, thank you both very much for your time.
Speaker 1:It's been been a pleasure.
Speaker 2:It's been a pleasure it's been nice it's been nice, but it's great. It's been funny too. At the same time.
Speaker 3:Mexican aussie, that's cool can you do that accent again?
Speaker 2:I tried to just say it. You can't do it now, you've got to think about it.
Speaker 1:Best of luck with everything you're doing. It's amazing to watch. Obviously, if people just want to follow you guys If they're not already best places to keep up to date with everything- Instagram at Amy Castano.
Speaker 3:Tiktok at Amy Castano.
Speaker 2:Instagram Instagram, instagram YouTube.
Speaker 3:Mikustano Instagram. Instagram Acero, youtube Acero. Oh yeah, and Jono Kostano as well.
Speaker 2:Goodbye, Acero.
Speaker 1:No, appreciate it, Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
