Tom Hough - Owner of Fit Body Boot Camp in Richardson TX

In this episode, JC sits down with Tom Hough, owner of Fit Body Boot Camp in Richardson, TX, to dive into what it really takes to start your own business. Tom shares his journey, revealing how tough life experiences can actually give you a competitive edge as a business owner. Together, they explore the courage it takes to make the leap into entrepreneurship, the power of resilience in overcoming obstacles, and how adversity can shape your path to success. Tune in for Tom's insights on building leadership skills, thriving through challenges, and practical tips for anyone considering business ownership.

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Transcript

All right, team, I'm stoked for this episode of American Operator. I am here in Richardson, Texas, just outside. Inside, we were talking about kind of actual geo geography of Dallas Fort Worth, but in that general area with Tom Hough, like, tough. That's right. Good to have you.

00:00:17:03 - 00:00:23:21
Speaker 1
Thanks, buddy. Thanks for having me. Appreciate, you guys making the trip up here and excited to have a good conversation here today. Yeah, hopefully help some people.

00:00:23:23 - 00:00:41:00
Speaker 2
Oh, no. No doubt now, I mean, we've seen just kind of how you are with the community just walking in here. The energy is already and I know we missed a class. And thank you all of you too. Just wrapped up or whatever. But just even with the folks that we're just kind of around in the mean, you're awesome with, like, all that stuff there was just really neat to just see that there are.

00:00:41:01 - 00:00:58:08
Speaker 2
Let's just put it this way. You don't always walk into an environment where fitness happens and feel like, you know, you kind of have a question mark about how it's going to be. So y'all built something special here and we really appreciate the full tour. This is a lot bigger than it's a great complex you're in. But then when you walk into this place it just booms up.

00:00:58:09 - 00:01:15:10
Speaker 1
Yeah. And we're just super proud of it right. It's our baby. It's our child. And in order for anything in your life to be great, you have to. You have to go all in on something, right? And you can't go all in on all the things, right? We can't get what we call shiny object syndrome and bounce from thing to thing.

00:01:15:10 - 00:01:36:07
Speaker 1
If we want something to be great and really cultivated, it does require that energy. And I'm just so happy that we're at that. We've built this and, it's like I mentioned to when you walked in, it's always great when we have folks that walk in the door and say, why does this place just feels great when at the end of the day, it's four walls, it's some paint is some weight, it's flooring.

00:01:36:09 - 00:01:56:15
Speaker 1
So to have that for other people to recognize that, because I feel because I'm so prideful of this place and I feel the energy and we have sessions going on and just all of the all of the memories we've had in this place and built, it's just so rewarding when someone else can walk in the door and feel that when at the end of the day, it's just it's just a room that's an empty space right now.

00:01:56:15 - 00:02:15:21
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. And and the right operator on this stuff, we see it all the time. You get these businesses with like a 30 year track record. Killed it. Profitable for 28 to 30 years. They pass the baton to the next operator. Absentee negligent. Not really. Give a who maybe find person just not putting the energy behind it every single day.

00:02:15:21 - 00:02:29:07
Speaker 2
And then in five years they're bankrupt. And it's like what? What just happened. Well, and then the opposite happens. Do you get like a flailing business? You're actually sharing a story about a gym. You were helping out kind of on the Fritz, and then all of a sudden just get a guy, I mean, really start there, get a guy or gal who cares?

00:02:29:07 - 00:02:31:12
Speaker 2
And it ends up being half the recipe to success.

00:02:31:12 - 00:02:53:07
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The passion is is where it's at, right? The the profits are in the passion and anything in your life that you're proud of that you care about, it's gonna, it's gonna shine through. Right. You can only you can only fake it for so long until a year. You're going to be the first one to figure yourself out there like I'm not.

00:02:53:07 - 00:03:08:03
Speaker 1
My heart's not really in this. And it's hard to hide that. You can only hide that and live that lie or that falsehood for so long until other people are going to feel that too, right? Like the moment you meet somebody, we all, even though we don't want to be, you know, judge each other in life. We do.

00:03:08:03 - 00:03:41:08
Speaker 1
It's human nature. You're going to judge someone on is this person authentic? Are they real? Are they legit? Are they passionate? Can they help me? Especially from a business perspective? Does can this person solve my problem? And so it's just it's needed and, and the reason I'm so happy to connect with you is and what you're working on here is I see operators and business owners and really people just in life that they've just lost the spark or they don't have the spark or they're their life is moving in a direction where they're working on something, but the passion is just not there, and they're too afraid to change directions and go all in

00:03:41:08 - 00:04:00:23
Speaker 1
on something because they think too much time has gone past or they're not going to be able to be successful. And, you know, my encouragement, my my mission in life is to help folks find that passion, whatever it is, whether even if it's not in their work life, there's other things in their life that that they that they want to go after.

00:04:00:23 - 00:04:25:10
Speaker 1
And I just think about being, you know, hopefully 105 years old on my deathbed, I don't want to have regrets, and I don't want anyone else to either, because we see it all the time with our grandparents or folks that are older. They all have the same. They all have the same advice and they all have the same regrets, which is they wish they didn't spend so much time working on things that didn't serve them, or things that didn't matter in their life and they wish they had.

00:04:25:10 - 00:04:29:06
Speaker 1
What more time, right? And more experiences.

00:04:29:11 - 00:04:46:13
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, I think in which you all are doing here is clear that that's like a one, not even a one degree removed from, helping people do that. We've seen you all session board, a results board. And I know y'all are doing that franchise wide now through the year in creativity and, you know, and really understanding what the customer is about.

00:04:46:13 - 00:04:59:16
Speaker 2
But speaking of which, for folks who don't know time. Yeah. Just give us a little background on you. And then obviously this this, this world of fitness has been your life for the better part of a decade. But just kind of walk us through that little bio for us.

00:04:59:16 - 00:05:35:09
Speaker 1
Sure thing. Born and raised in Pennsylvania. Okay, guy. I'm an East Coast guy. Yes. Just outside, about an hour outside of Philadelphia. I grew up in the 90s, early 2000, you know, middle school, high school, all this stuff. And, had a had a standard life, you know, gotten kind of my fair share of trouble and, just had had a, had a fun upbringing and then really where I started to recognize myself and things started to change was, after high school and then going into college, I went to school for criminal justice.

00:05:35:09 - 00:05:57:17
Speaker 1
I thought I wanted to serve as a police officer. Just because honestly, from, like, watching shows like cops and like different television shows, I'm like, I could be interesting, but didn't have a good direction in my life. And so I went to school for criminal justice. And while I was in school, I saw a job posting for being a loss prevention agent, which is catching shoplifters.

00:05:57:19 - 00:06:04:18
Speaker 1
Right. So I went and I applied and I started working at Old Navy for a little bit. That's where I met my wife.

00:06:04:20 - 00:06:05:23
Speaker 2
She working in an Old Navy team.

00:06:05:23 - 00:06:07:00
Speaker 1
Was working at Old Navy.

00:06:07:01 - 00:06:09:21
Speaker 2
I was like, well, maybe she was. She still.

00:06:09:23 - 00:06:27:22
Speaker 1
No, she was working there as well. And then I ended up working for a grocery store chain for a handful of years, and I was just really I was really good at it, like I was really good at. I won all kinds of awards. And then I worked for a retail store. I worked for Nordstrom and worked there, and my wife and I were girlfriend at the time.

00:06:27:22 - 00:06:46:05
Speaker 1
We lived in Pennsylvania. She was in college then. We moved to Colorado for a year. Her parents moved out there. She moved out there for a job. And then the big the big turning point, how we ended up here in Richardson was we had we lived in Pennsylvania. I was working at the grocery store. Good job. She was in college.

00:06:46:07 - 00:07:02:01
Speaker 1
She graduated. She was actually going to get an internship working with her dad. So we packed up. I quit my job. We move across the country to Colorado, and we had visited a bunch over the two, three years while she was in college. Like, wow, it's going to be great when I live out here like a mountain town.

00:07:02:01 - 00:07:02:12
Speaker 2
Come on.

00:07:02:14 - 00:07:19:04
Speaker 1
And this is just a good lesson and just you never know where life is going to take you and just just to kind of play it out and just just go with it. Because you never know where these opportunities are going to come from. So we moved to Colorado. We're literally there for one week. Our moving truck wasn't even there with our stuff yet.

00:07:19:05 - 00:07:39:06
Speaker 1
My wife had just started this job with her dad. Actually. Yes. No girlfriend at the time. We weren't even engaged. They come home from work, we're there one week, they come home for lunch and said, hey. They walked in the door. They looked like they saw a ghost. Like, what's going on? They just told us that they're closing down this facility and giving us jobs in Richardson, Texas.

00:07:39:12 - 00:07:40:02
Speaker 1
Right.

00:07:40:04 - 00:07:41:02
Speaker 2
Richardson, Colorado.

00:07:41:02 - 00:08:01:20
Speaker 1
Whereas Richardson, Texas never thought about Texas other than you know, never thought we'd live there. So of course, her dad's going to move down there. He's the breadwinner, her mom's going to move down. So they moved down here to Texas. I actually stay in Colorado because I got a job at Nordstrom, and they wanted to put me in this manager training program, and I had to be at a store for a certain amount of time.

00:08:01:21 - 00:08:03:06
Speaker 2
You're still in the loss prevention field?

00:08:03:06 - 00:08:23:23
Speaker 1
Yes, in loss prevention. So they moved down here. I stay in Colorado. Huge great learning lesson when they move. I'm now completely by myself. And I had never had to rely on who I was without the without the support of, like all my friends from high school and how I had grown up and everyone that know me. Now I have to go make friends by myself.

00:08:23:23 - 00:08:48:03
Speaker 1
And yeah, it's a great learning lesson. Very scary of a great learning lesson. They move down here, I end up, moving down at the end of the year and getting promoted to a store down here. So we made our life down here in Richardson, Texas. And then from there I still worked in the security world. I was with Nordstrom for a while, and then I worked at, at a semiconductor company helping people get the security clearances.

00:08:48:05 - 00:09:09:16
Speaker 1
Here's the scary part of the story. I would go to these meetings. And if you're watching this right now and you're thinking about becoming an operator, you know, there's some sort of passion inside of you, something that you want to go and do. I want you to really think about. There's two things you can think about the fear or the possible success.

00:09:09:18 - 00:09:33:08
Speaker 1
So one of the scariest moments, I would go to these quarterly meetings and I was so I was I was in charge of getting people their security clearance because we were a clear defense contractor. We had classified documents that I was responsible for. I was reporting into this thing called the DSS, the Offensive Security Service, or they were the liaison of the government where they had oversight over the companies, because you got government property to make sure that they would come in and audit you.

00:09:33:08 - 00:09:50:10
Speaker 1
Are you keeping everything locked up? Does everyone have their clearances? Are you getting all the are you doing all the trainings? And I go these quarterly meetings with these other guys from these other companies, these bigger defense contractors. And I look around, I'm like, is this what my life is going to be? Yeah. I should not be the guy in charge of classified documents.

00:09:50:10 - 00:10:03:17
Speaker 1
I'm bored out of my mind. Like, I don't know anything about this stuff. It's just I just kind of fell into it because I was in retail for a long time, and then I wanted to 95, and it was good benefits and a better. But I was like this. I was like, so afraid of what the rest of my life looked like.

00:10:03:18 - 00:10:20:15
Speaker 1
Meanwhile, when I worked at the grocery store, I overnight, I fell in love with fitness out of college. Then I worked at the grocery store. I'd be reading the magazines while I'm out looking for shoplifters and read Muscle and Fitness and all this stuff, and started working out and fell in love with fitness. And I'd always look how to become a personal trainer.

00:10:20:15 - 00:10:35:11
Speaker 1
So when I worked at the grocery store, when I worked at Nordstrom, when I was in this job, the final job I would always go on like how to become a personal trainer. I'm like, man, I really want to do this. But now I'm ten years into a career, right? And I'm like, how would I do this? Do it on the side.

00:10:35:11 - 00:10:52:05
Speaker 1
I want to own a business. I don't want to just be a a trainer. Not there's anything wrong with that. But I wanted something more because when I was a kid, my dad would always talk about owning a business, and it just always stuck with me. And then when I worked at like Domino's Pizza when I was 15, I remember asking the manager, how much does the dough cost?

00:10:52:07 - 00:10:52:18
Speaker 1
How much is.

00:10:52:18 - 00:10:53:01
Speaker 2
Kind of.

00:10:53:04 - 00:11:10:20
Speaker 1
Like that? How much is the cheese? Yeah, how much does it cost to make? Okay, then we got to pay the driver. And then and my mind just always kind of work that way. And I didn't I didn't recognize it at the time. That that's but it just was always in the back of my mind and so scared that this is what the rest of my life is going to look like.

00:11:11:01 - 00:11:31:10
Speaker 1
But at the same time, knowing that, like, this is what the rest of my life would look like. So point I'm making to our folks that are watching as I talked to a lot of folks that want to open a fit body boot camp, I have a position at HQ, and I'm able to talk to new owners, and the question that they get a lot is like, I'm a I'm a police officer, I'm whatever their job is.

00:11:31:10 - 00:11:46:21
Speaker 1
And I've been doing it for X amount of years and I want to make the switch. I say, okay, so just take a step back and look. If you don't decide to open a franchise, okay, you you know what the rest of your life looks like. Are you okay turning around at 80 and saying, hey, I was happy with what I did.

00:11:46:21 - 00:12:04:08
Speaker 1
If the answer is no, then make the shift. Yeah. So I always want to be in fitness. I always want to own a business. And then it's a sad story. But it was August 31st, 2014. I got a phone call that my brother passed away. He was my only brother. He was 30, just barely 33 years old at the time.

00:12:04:10 - 00:12:22:21
Speaker 1
I was 30. And so just rocked my world. Went back home for the funeral. So all the friends, it was terrible for my parents. Just horrible, horrible situation. And but that sparked just realize that life is short and it was sort of like a culmination of like me not being happy at work. On the surface, everything was fine.

00:12:22:21 - 00:12:42:08
Speaker 1
Making money successful, whatever benefits had a house. I just got married, but like, I can't, I feel unfulfilled. And so that was the spark with the love and support from my wife, like, hey babe, I think I want it. Let me just go become certified. Let me look into finding a business. So I went through my certification process.

00:12:42:10 - 00:13:14:01
Speaker 1
I started looking at how do you build a how do you open a gym? I found Fit Body Bootcamp and over the course of a two year period worked at some other locations, learned the business side of things, and then here we are ten years later and, ten year overnight success, ten year overnight success, you know, so so that I mean, that's a bit of the back story, but I think the learning lessons from that are a I was I felt like that was my career.

00:13:14:05 - 00:13:28:00
Speaker 1
I felt like I why we take all these identities and so much of it is tied to the career that we have. So I felt like I was this like security thing, but you can change. I was, you know, well into my 30s when I opened the gym. Right. Like, you can do it at any age. Don't feel stuck.

00:13:28:00 - 00:13:48:07
Speaker 1
And if there's this just if there's this desire inside of you, you can always think, worst case scenario. So me and my wife went through this when we were going through the process of thinking about opening the gym, because it was a huge risk, right? I have no business. Experience, obviously financial risk, but I just always broke it down to worst case scenario.

00:13:48:09 - 00:14:08:10
Speaker 1
Okay, worst case scenario, we buy in, we open the gym, nobody signs up and it's a disaster. Okay, we'll sell the house, we'll pay off the franchise. Whatever. Get out of the lease will go live with your parents, and I'll go get a job again. That's not that bad.

00:14:08:12 - 00:14:09:13
Speaker 2
Just go back to what we did.

00:14:09:13 - 00:14:30:12
Speaker 1
Go back to what we did. And then I'd say the other piece of it is, is pay attention in your life, looking back on the skills that you developed or things that you were naturally good at, that you didn't realize when I said I was really good at catching shoplifters. What I mean is I was really good at it, but it's because I didn't realize at the time I was a really good salesman.

00:14:30:13 - 00:14:51:10
Speaker 1
I was I was confident and being able to stop somebody who just did something illegal, or sitting down with an employee who was stealing stuff and getting them to admit that to you takes a certain people skill. That is, it can be taught. You can read a script, but like, you have to have people have to kind of like you and trust you.

00:14:51:12 - 00:15:11:11
Speaker 1
And so looking back on that, that's why I was good at that. And then that translates into what we do here because I'm I'm passionate about it. And I have that, that, that spark. And I'd say the other piece of it is don't let your shortcomings be your shortcomings. Use them as a superpower. So I was a kid.

00:15:11:17 - 00:15:28:18
Speaker 1
I got in a lot of trouble. I was 82 A.D.D., whatever you want to call it. Right. But now looking at a business sense of that is like using that as your superpower, where it's like, I can be the fun and energetic guy and, like, and get people to follow me. I don't have to know all the X's and O's of the operator.

00:15:28:21 - 00:15:50:15
Speaker 1
Like the SOPs and stuff. That's that's that's where my wife comes into play. Which is why it's important to identify people that can that can help you out. So don't let your shortcomings like, how can you turn them into superpowers? Did you have a crappy childhood? You can turn that into a superpower. There's not a person that I know that successful that didn't go through something hard, right?

00:15:50:15 - 00:15:55:10
Speaker 1
My brother dying, I could let that label me for the rest of my life. And woe is me.

00:15:55:12 - 00:16:01:08
Speaker 2
Being a corner or just drinking your way to death and being like, and you'd have a good reason to. Or a reason I would say, right?

00:16:01:11 - 00:16:22:00
Speaker 1
So now I turn into something positive. We have a plaque of him up front. I'm able to celebrate. It helps me heal when I'm able to share the story. Right. People were able to connect with that because every single person has lost somebody. But are you going to use that as your jumping off point to go do the thing that you want to do, or are you just going to just keep, you know, going along in life?

00:16:22:00 - 00:16:40:20
Speaker 2
And did someone, did someone help you kind of think about that differently? I'm actually fascinated. I always find it interesting when you look at trauma, hardship, suffering and what it does, it can literally be the exact same thing, right? Let's say let's think about one of the most tragic things that can happen to somebody, right? Like they lose a child.

00:16:40:22 - 00:16:56:04
Speaker 2
Some folks are. Yeah. Everybody kind of goes through their process, but then they rocket ship into something through like you did that you start honoring this thing, you start going, hey, look, let's get after it. You get other folks, and so do you have any like, what was the thing that prompted you to go the other way? Was it your wife that kept you in check?

00:16:56:04 - 00:16:59:19
Speaker 2
What were those things that made you go, or is that just time?

00:16:59:21 - 00:17:34:09
Speaker 1
Yeah, I think it's just time. It's that's such a good question. I think part I can't point to one thing specifically, but I just know, as I, I remember when I was a teenager when I first heard about like Tony Robbins. Or you would hear about these different business people or even when I was younger and like in 22,008 with the, with the recession and the and the crash of, and you just hear about these stories of other people where they went through something hard, but it was like it was that springboard, like they saw the opportunity in what at the time looked like a disaster.

00:17:34:11 - 00:17:56:19
Speaker 1
So I think that was just subconsciously planted in me. And then for me, like, I just my one of my biggest pet peeves or I would say personality traits that just I it x me out and I don't want to be around people like this are people that don't have confidence and that are that allow things to just just get them down or like label them.

00:17:56:19 - 00:18:18:18
Speaker 1
So I think part of that is, like I said, I had a good childhood. We have, you know, broken home and, you know, a lot of a lot of instability. There with my parents. And I think through that, I think my defense mechanism was. So I'll give you a personal example. Well, we used to go up to my grandparents house for like Thanksgiving and stuff, and I remember feeling like I had to put on a good face, like, right.

00:18:18:18 - 00:18:19:00
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:18:19:01 - 00:18:20:01
Speaker 2
And hunky.

00:18:20:01 - 00:18:36:14
Speaker 1
Dory. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, so at the time. Right. Like, that's like painful to think about. But when, when, when you go through something like losing somebody and you have that skill set, even though it came from a not great place, you know, being able to turn something crappy into something good, it's already kind of built in you.

00:18:36:15 - 00:19:02:12
Speaker 1
Which is why I said, don't let your shortcomings, like, keep you down. And so even with that, it's like, now there has to be a way out of here. There has to be something I. I'm not going to let this label me and and define me. Now, that's not to say to not still, I think the other part of it is just not being very emotionally, like receptive or like available like a part of me, like shuts things down.

00:19:02:12 - 00:19:19:21
Speaker 1
So also at the same time, I didn't I also went through a grieving process and recognized that I don't want to just right away flip to like, I got to go on to the next thing and not deal with this, right? I went to therapy and that was awesome. And like learned how to grieve and all that. So it's it's definitely a different process for everybody.

00:19:19:23 - 00:19:34:15
Speaker 1
But just yeah, kind of finding the checks and balances in that. And the and being able to move forward but still giving it the respect and still finding your way to grieve and give it, give it the healing that it needs.

00:19:34:15 - 00:19:53:22
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. I like what you said, man. I think that's that's been I've been personally studying this for quite some time. Why literally talking to somebody this morning, man, before getting here on our way up here to the Richardson area about why why the same thing can happen to somebody and it goes left or goes right. I think some of it has to be like exposure.

00:19:54:04 - 00:20:10:03
Speaker 2
Like if you around some of us get lucky and they just these people are in our lives or these stories are in our lives. And then for some folks, I think there's actually this reluctance to go seek for, like, you get something bad that happens to you. I hope somebody right now is like, something bad just happened. I hope nothing bad happened.

00:20:10:03 - 00:20:25:15
Speaker 2
But if you happen, hope you're listening to this because I think you almost go like there's an example, somebody who did something with something hard. And a lot of times you catch these in small towns and stuff, like there's a little bit of this, like everybody's just kind of sulking, like, life sucks here, you know? Whatever. And you go, it's because, like, y'all just kind of continue to hang out with each other.

00:20:25:16 - 00:20:45:07
Speaker 2
Yeah. And part of it is like, you kind of have to go fly a little bit just. And I know it's scary because you might. It feels bad at first because you go, oh man, I just met three people who are like actually worse situation than me. And we're like, they triumphed. But that's important because I think and that's where I'm, again, I haven't fully locked in.

00:20:45:07 - 00:20:49:13
Speaker 2
But I'm wondering, like exposure ends up becoming a bit of the cure.

00:20:49:13 - 00:21:03:12
Speaker 1
It does. And I think a lot of it is also how you are brought up. Right. Like it. And if you never went through anything hard, it would depend on how your parents reacted to things. Right? Because you are just is such a sponge. One of my favorite quotes from Ed, my letters like kids aren't. It's not what's taught, it's what's caught.

00:21:03:15 - 00:21:21:16
Speaker 1
Right? Like you can teach your kids all the things you want, but it's what are they seeing? Yeah. And so for me, it's also the kind of that parent voice where like when you hear something from your parents, it kind of goes numb. But then you have, you know, a friend or someone's parents or something that you hear, you heard the same information that your parents are telling you, but from somewhere else.

00:21:21:16 - 00:21:35:22
Speaker 1
And then it clicks. Yeah. And so I think that's part of it too. It just depends on did you get the right message at the right time and the right example that connected with you. And just a great example is I don't know. Have you ever heard of the story of the first person that ran the four minute mile?

00:21:36:01 - 00:21:53:01
Speaker 1
Yes. Right. I love that story. I mean, it's just it's just knowing it, just seeing and hearing what's possible. And then it just it if you're open to it, it opens it up to you like, oh, well if they can do that I can do that. Yeah. And I think that was a big part for me with the, with open in the business like that.

00:21:53:02 - 00:22:09:22
Speaker 1
That's a big part of it at first where you're just you don't want to compare yourself to other people. But it's like, was that person smarter or better than me? Can I do it as well? And so to your point about finding sort of triumph and tragedy, yes. So many people have done it before, like Thomas Edison. Right?

00:22:09:22 - 00:22:19:02
Speaker 1
Failing on the light bulb 10,000 times. Right? It's just the success is there. It's just can can you can you keep going and you can't find it. Yeah.

00:22:19:03 - 00:22:39:01
Speaker 2
So we got we talked to one. Absolutely. Love the fact that you're, one of our advisors and kind of helping us think through how to help these folks. I mean, it's just, again, I find that pros tend to. There's just this growth. There's this, they're not limited by, like, they don't believe helping somebody else is going to, like, diminish their success.

00:22:39:01 - 00:23:00:15
Speaker 2
So one, thanks for doing that and helping this next generation come through. But with with that being said, one of the things that as I've talked to folks like I talked to several advisors, anywhere from 4 or 5 years in the seat all the way to these 40 year pros that are, you know, are more, you know, sitting at a more strategic level and kind of helping multiple businesses and things like that.

00:23:00:17 - 00:23:21:00
Speaker 2
The one thing that I find they all say some version of this, the one thing that's consistent with all of them, they say, hey, Joseph, hey, JC, like, look, when you're bring it on in your in your, in your help in this next generation of owner operators come in through. Yeah. They can have baseline business acumen. There's some things that you know they for sure have to have.

00:23:21:00 - 00:23:42:13
Speaker 2
But more than anything else, if you can test for grit and character, like can they just endure the suck, then I think they got a chance for being successful. There's a way you can test that and then I'll talk to them. And what's weird is that actually from an in, as much as, you know, as much as it makes me smile and sad, it also makes me concerned because I recognize that's not what folks are prioritizing when they think about buying a business.

00:23:42:13 - 00:23:55:16
Speaker 2
It's kind of the ones and zeros in the spreadsheets talk to me about, like, I mean, you shared your story, but just do you believe that's true to that? Grit and character is really kind of the it might be the most marquee thing of being a successful owner operator.

00:23:55:18 - 00:24:23:22
Speaker 1
Not even successful owner operator. Okay. Successful life like nothing in your life that you are proud of came easily. If you and I were going to design and build the perfect human being that was resilient, that was kind, that was confident, that was the leader that would walk in the room and light it up. That would we would we take all those great attributes?

00:24:24:00 - 00:24:48:15
Speaker 1
We would not give them an easy life. Why? What do we see with, you know, errors to fortunes? What do we see? The lottery winners that don't know how to deal with money and we're just given it. Most of the time it goes away and gets squandered. Right? Because they they they didn't earn it. So yes, the the the obstacle is the way.

00:24:48:17 - 00:24:51:06
Speaker 1
The challenge is the way. Right? If you

00:24:51:06 - 00:25:15:20
Speaker 1
ask you, you pray to God for, for you know, for things he's not going to give it to, he's going to give you the way to it, the way through it, which is always through grit. And in this, in today's age, it's so easy to just be soft and just accept you have to do things like physically challenge your body on purpose to find some sort of challenge.

00:25:15:20 - 00:25:39:08
Speaker 1
If you want to, you can sit on your couch and as our founder badass say, let your belly button fill, fill up with Cheeto dust, right? You can order food to your house. Yeah, you can work from home. You can, you know, watch pornography. You can watch anything you want on TV. You don't have to move from your couch and you can live a life.

00:25:39:10 - 00:26:02:21
Speaker 1
So you have to seek out more and more ways to make it tough. Because what we're seeing across the board is the softer that we become as a society, things don't get better, right? We need people that can do hard things and there's no training for that. And again, to my point before, if you had a tough childhood, good, good.

00:26:02:21 - 00:26:12:21
Speaker 1
Use that like use that angst in that chip on your shoulder to go out there and get after it. Because the the way to dominate today, it is so easy.

00:26:12:23 - 00:26:17:23
Speaker 2
I mean, the field is the field is soft to him down.

00:26:18:01 - 00:26:36:19
Speaker 1
Starting in 2020 when the world changed, that was a thinning of the herd. Businesses shut down because they couldn't. Now some of it was you can't open up on it. But if you were if you were steadfast in your we saw the fit body boot camp. We lost almost 50% of our locations, right? Yes.

00:26:36:19 - 00:26:37:12
Speaker 2
No smokes.

00:26:37:13 - 00:26:53:20
Speaker 1
Man. It was terrible, right? Yeah. But the folks like me who were like, had a good business, were dead set, would do anything that it to anything that it took. I was live on camera every day at noon in our Facebook group. The day we were shut down, I had to save this frickin thing. I didn't get a break on my rent.

00:26:53:22 - 00:27:10:22
Speaker 1
I didn't get a break on my royalties from HQ. There was no breaks coming. So it's like, hey, where are they going to go all in and save this thing, or we're going to go down in a blaze of glory, like there, there's there's no other option. Yeah. Whereas we had other businesses, fit bodies, whatever it may be that they played the sit and wait game.

00:27:10:22 - 00:27:28:14
Speaker 1
Oh, government's going to come and save me. Right. And then if they and they shut down too early and if they want to just hang on and just went through and stayed open, they could have then had access to the, you know, the money that came later with idol and things like that. But yeah, the grit is, it's just that intangible.

00:27:28:14 - 00:27:49:19
Speaker 1
And when you again, when you meet somebody that is confident, passionate, successful, whatever that means to you, they didn't get there. The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there. Right. Like so. Yes. So I that is my that is my mission in life is to help people see that, recognize it, not be afraid of that.

00:27:49:21 - 00:28:12:12
Speaker 1
No, it doesn't mean you need to be 24 seven. I wake up at 5 a.m. and I work out in seven days a week, and I don't eat this. And I always say, note that, like, that's that's unrealistic. But you have to find those ways within yourself to find those challenges. Because if you're gonna open a business, okay, if you want everybody to like you, go sell some ice cream.

00:28:12:14 - 00:28:30:22
Speaker 1
All right. Yeah. If you want an easy life, sit on your lap, sit on your couch and order DoorDash. That's cool. Whatever. Again, when you're 80, are you going to call it a life well-lived? That's up to you, right? If it's me, no way. So yeah, you got to have that grit, and the only way to experience it is to go through hard things.

00:28:31:00 - 00:28:38:19
Speaker 1
I teach my my kid this and the kids on the soccer team. We were talking about being brave the other day and being confident. And it's funny, I said,

00:28:38:19 - 00:28:45:22
Speaker 1
how do you what do you have to be first before you're brave? And the answer is you have to be afraid first.

00:28:46:00 - 00:28:52:00
Speaker 2
That's a weird thing, right? Oh, I love this topic, man. Right. Yeah. Like bravery and courage people think come from some kind of.

00:28:52:00 - 00:29:07:12
Speaker 1
Like, no, you gotta be afraid and then go do the thing. How do you build confidence? You gotta do something that you're not confident in, that you're afraid of, that you're not good at yet. And then you're like, oh, wow, I learned this thing. I built the confidence, I built the credibility. And it just it's snowball.

00:29:07:12 - 00:29:14:22
Speaker 1
So finding ways to never stop doing that because again, it's getting harder and harder to find ways to challenge yourself.

00:29:14:22 - 00:29:22:04
Speaker 1
Because if you don't, if you don't and the S hits the fan, which is I mean, I.

00:29:22:07 - 00:29:24:12
Speaker 2
That's like, that's a synonym with running a business.

00:29:24:12 - 00:29:31:00
Speaker 1
Come on you, there's the one guarantee in running a business is stuff not going to go your way.

00:29:31:00 - 00:29:47:19
Speaker 1
And so how are you gonna react to that. Are you going to fold and crumble? And when that happens, if and when you do folding crumble or you emotionally react instead of intelligently respond, what message is going to send to your team members, to your clients, to your partners?

00:29:48:01 - 00:30:07:12
Speaker 1
So that though we got to walk on eggshells around Jake, we can't bring him bad news? Oh, I wonder request time off, right. And that just that is just going to snowball and spiral in the opposite direction, whereas dang, I just, you know, I'm getting married or had something happen at home or I got a dentist appointment or this happened.

00:30:07:14 - 00:30:20:06
Speaker 1
I bet if I go to him, he's going to help me out. He's going to be, you know, understanding and be like, oh, no big deal. Back to your question before about like how you find that grit. I know for me it didn't happen so much when I was a kid, but

00:30:20:06 - 00:30:23:21
Speaker 1
I had a few mentors that I didn't know were mentors at the time.

00:30:23:23 - 00:30:42:07
Speaker 1
Where I saw that one was one was a parent's dad, and the other one was was someone that I worked for when when they when stuff happened and it was bad news the way that they were cool, calm and collected. Yeah, man, it's the dude. I didn't even know that was an option. I thought it was go, you know.

00:30:42:09 - 00:30:43:05
Speaker 2
Cut off, go.

00:30:43:06 - 00:30:55:13
Speaker 1
Oh, go or yell at the person or get aggressive or like, oh, you can just be nice and kind and understanding and like, oh, it's no big deal. So I think that's part of that too, when you can get that exposure from somewhere else.

00:30:55:13 - 00:31:15:10
Speaker 2
Yeah. That's a, that's a, that's a skill in its own. It's this we used to call it like command presence. Like, do you have that ability to just stay calm, cool and collective into the storm? And it's not about bravado or making you feel like you're never. It's actually about just establishing calm mind amongst your team. Who's actually going to figure out the solution.

00:31:15:10 - 00:31:29:14
Speaker 2
Yes. Yeah. It's just giving them that space to go. It's probably like a little bit like a little kid hits themselves and they kind of look at mom and dad and you go like and they're like, okay, I guess I'm not grind. You know, versus oh crap, you know. And they go, okay, maybe I need to just let loose.

00:31:29:14 - 00:31:30:23
Speaker 2
It's this same concept,

00:31:30:23 - 00:31:31:20
Speaker 2
same concept.

00:31:31:20 - 00:31:48:15
Speaker 1
Right. We, we were all a slave to our habits and our rituals. But as you get older a lot of that gets built in when we're kids. And we could talk all day about belief system and how it leads your thoughts and that leads your actions. And everything in your life is simply a culmination of your thoughts and your belief system.

00:31:48:17 - 00:32:10:01
Speaker 1
But yeah, it's just it's learning how to change your habits and your thoughts because it's all you have control over. And it is a 24 over seven job. But once you master that, the world just becomes unlocked to you. But you have to be conscious of it and not just be a zombie and just, you know, take life for what it is.

00:32:10:01 - 00:32:28:22
Speaker 1
I think one thing that I figured out and this again, this was probably a downsizing, is it got me in a lot of trouble when I was a kid. But what I realized at some point and I looked around and I'm like, all this stuff is just made up. Everything our laws, our society, how you're split, it's all just made up.

00:32:29:00 - 00:32:48:01
Speaker 1
And when I'd walk into a business, when I start getting older, I'm like, some guy just had the idea. Is he any smarter or better than me? Just like he just went for it. And everyone, if you have enough confidence, everyone just kind of go along with your for a little while, right? And so that's just part of it too is like at the end of the day, friend's like, life is just made up and you can have anything you want.

00:32:48:01 - 00:32:56:23
Speaker 1
You just got to know what you want. Which I think is a great thing to talk about to. Even when you talked about staying calm and in that command, that command presence.

00:32:56:23 - 00:32:58:11
Speaker 2
Yeah. Command presence.

00:32:58:13 - 00:33:18:21
Speaker 1
The reason you're able to do that is because you're not freaking out about the thing, because you're focused on the vision and the mission. So what's your vision and mission for life when you know that? Like, here's the thing we're working towards. So anything goes wrong, it's like, okay, how do we fix it automatically puts you in a solution mindset.

00:33:18:21 - 00:33:33:23
Speaker 1
Yeah. So that we can keep moving forward towards the mission, which is so important for business and life is having your your vision for what you want. And then your core values which are aligned with that. And that's the secret to to success.

00:33:33:23 - 00:34:00:04
Speaker 2
Yeah. No, nobody I think for folks that maybe even need a further kind of thought process or something, I know the racing scene, especially F1, has taken, you know, the world by storm, you know, especially the US, and maybe the world has already known about it in the US. But the one thing that I find fascinating, if you ever like on the if you kind of listen in to the pit radios and then their command center, any time a tire goes out, fuel's low wing got crashed, they're focused on winning a race.

00:34:00:06 - 00:34:21:01
Speaker 2
And that's the only thing they're focused on. So they're immediately coming up with solutions to like, all right, bring it in early. Let's put some other tires on. You know what? Keep running. I think we got enough fuel. They're not freaking out and saying, well, this thing is just lost. Right. And I think it's one of those things when you think about when you think about where you can kind of put your mind and how it is that you can kind of continue to stay up there.

00:34:21:01 - 00:34:47:10
Speaker 2
It takes a lot of discipline and focus. I think it's actually probably a good reason why you we were talking about it earlier as we're kind of walking through your HQ here about I think fitness is these are these really kind of simple disciplines that you build. How do you think about being a good business owner? I know you're biased because you're also in the fitness business, but just assume you're running, I don't know, a plumbing company or a CPA firm or whatever it might be.

00:34:47:12 - 00:34:52:03
Speaker 2
Fitness being like a basic discipline to kind of help establish that. Com what are your thoughts on that one.

00:34:52:03 - 00:35:09:18
Speaker 1
Hundred percent like it's again, you got to find ways to challenge yourself if you can start your day or add into any time of your day something that physically challenges you, mentally challenges you. Showing up when no one's expecting to show up. Building that credibility with yourself, right? Challenging you when no one else is looking right, creating your own.

00:35:09:18 - 00:35:29:01
Speaker 1
It's just going to make your day easier and everything else just seem simpler. Plus all the physical benefits of releasing a dopamine and all those good feelings and being an antidepressant and literally all of the healing, every thing that's wrong with, you know, every commercial that you see on for a pill can be solved with, with nutrition and exercise.

00:35:29:02 - 00:36:01:15
Speaker 1
Right? So that's the first piece of it. And then, you know, the other piece of it is when it comes to being a leader, we're talking about being an operator, whether you're a one man show or you have a huge team, you have one client or you have a million clients, your job is to be a leader, your leadership in your own life, and then the people that depend on you that that at first we think all the X's and O's and okay, I got to make my leadership number one.

00:36:01:16 - 00:36:28:04
Speaker 1
Leadership is always the problem and leadership is always the solution. Always. And that comes down to communication and expectations and how you're setting all those things. And so if you see someone who is put together physically fit, what kind of attributes do you just know that they have? They're disciplined, they're credible, they work hard, they care about their vessel and something that belongs to them.

00:36:28:06 - 00:36:44:00
Speaker 1
So would would you then believe that they probably, you know, do the same thing for their business and their team members and their company and their and their clients? Probably, yes. Where versus if you're not there and you're not taking care of this vessel. And I'm not saying you need to have a six pack and be ready to step on stage.

00:36:44:00 - 00:37:05:09
Speaker 1
Yeah, right. But are you taking care of your mental and physical faculties because it's so easy to forget that every single thing that we put into our mouth, it all goes up here to this brain and we need this brain to function properly. Yeah. So if you're tired and you're grumpy and you didn't sleep well and you missed your workout and your food's not on point, it's going to affect everything that you do.

00:37:05:10 - 00:37:15:08
Speaker 1
And and the people in your family, okay. And the people that are your friends, listen, they love you, but they can love you to death. Literally. Oh, yeah.

00:37:15:12 - 00:37:18:01
Speaker 2
We're going to go out for cocktails again. You deserve.

00:37:18:01 - 00:37:23:15
Speaker 1
It. Yeah. Oh, it's it's your birthday. You listen, friends, if you're not five years old.

00:37:23:18 - 00:37:24:10
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:37:24:11 - 00:37:29:20
Speaker 1
You don't deserve a cookie because you had a hard day, right? I mean, let's be real.

00:37:29:22 - 00:37:31:13
Speaker 2
That's so funny. It's true.

00:37:31:18 - 00:37:50:13
Speaker 1
I hear it all the time. Oh, you deserve. You deserve nothing in life. Yeah. Get what you want. Do what you want. Make decisions because you like going to feel good about. Not because you deserve something that's such a cop out. So yeah, physical fitness or just anything that's going to make you better and make you credible.

00:37:50:15 - 00:38:10:18
Speaker 1
People see it, they feel it, and they also they won't say the opposite. They won't tell you that you're getting a little fat. They won't tell you that you're a little sloppy and lazy. They're going to accept that. And with business, with life. It's a big thought here. But you're always going to rise or fall to the level the people that you're around.

00:38:10:19 - 00:38:20:09
Speaker 1
So if you're the leader and you got Cheeto dust in your belly button, right, and you're showing up a little late, your team members are going to they're going to always be right here below you. So they're going to be.

00:38:20:11 - 00:38:22:20
Speaker 2
Doing act with Cheeto in that belly button, packing.

00:38:22:20 - 00:38:41:08
Speaker 1
It in. Whereas if you're showing up early and you got high energy, you're going to attract the right people. Same thing with your friends and the people that you spend your time with. And listen as you get into this world of entrepreneurship. Operator I promise you, without a shadow of a doubt, there's people in your life you're going to need to edit or eliminate your relationships with.

00:38:41:08 - 00:38:56:02
Speaker 1
It's going to happen. It might be your mom, it might be someone that you love. And they they're going to they put plant those little seeds of oh, honey, that sounds really risky. Oh, honey, I don't know if that's a good thing. Oh, I would never do that. Well, your dad and I, you know, we were always real frugal with our money.

00:38:56:03 - 00:39:13:03
Speaker 1
You know, you should just go work that 9 to 5 and keep those health benefits and put that money in that for one case. So when you're 70, you know, you can you can be safe. You can do that. But if that's not what's in your heart and you know something's calling you and you know you don't want to live a life of regret, then you're going to say thanks.

00:39:13:03 - 00:39:32:04
Speaker 1
Appreciate it mom. Love you. I'll call you next week and just or move the conversation on to something else. Or I know friends that I've had to literally cut out people in their life. Because you don't realize when someone has that control over you, especially with parents, the trauma that that causes and how that just bleeds into your belief system and you, you can't afford to have those beliefs.

00:39:32:04 - 00:39:33:16
Speaker 1
It's just going to hold you back.

00:39:33:18 - 00:39:55:22
Speaker 2
How do you you talk about editing, deleting or eliminating? What about the ad function you had mentioned something about, hey, look, if you're going to perform at this level, I actually just give you the example you gave me earlier. You said, it's no surprise to me that the top performing locations all show up to this meeting. Like the folks that do not technically on paper need coaching.

00:39:56:00 - 00:40:04:10
Speaker 2
Always have it. They always have a community. They always have a support system. They have other people they're trying to get better with, and the ones that are failing never seem to show up. Right. What is that?

00:40:04:15 - 00:40:24:10
Speaker 1
This is called human nature, and this is called because I see I have this really interesting perspective that I'm so grateful for where as a coach here at my gym with people trying to lose weight with my team members over the years, with the folks that I coach at our HQ and all of our owners across the board.

00:40:24:12 - 00:40:44:03
Speaker 1
It goes back again. It sounds cheesy, but to their belief in what they what they think they're worthy of in their life. And so what we find is what I call it, the 33% rule. I just made it up. But what I have seen is there's about 33% of people that will be at the top. It's probably less than that, but I'll be generous.

00:40:44:03 - 00:41:08:16
Speaker 1
We're like, they're going to be in that top percent. They're going to lose the weight and keep it off. They're going to be successful in their business. They're going to be the guy or the guy. They're like, wow, they they have it together and they're going to create the vision for their life and work towards and have their core values and like, work out and do all the things then and they're not going to and they're going to they're going to work on that mindset and just know that there's, there's more and more, and they're going to go on to get after it.

00:41:08:18 - 00:41:21:15
Speaker 1
You have this middle 30 ish percent that's just going to be average. They're going to do better. They're going to do worse. They're going to get they're going to lose the weight. They're going to gain it back. They're going to they're going to have the gym membership and show up and work out. But they're not going to be the one in the room setting the room on fire.

00:41:21:16 - 00:41:40:21
Speaker 1
They're just going to be kind of, you know, in the mix, right? In a business sense, they're going to be, you know, they're going to be your middle, your middle ground. People like they do. Okay. And they make the money and they have the family like okay, cool. But it's not like, wow. And then you have your bottom 30%, no matter what you tried to do to help them, they're not going to see progress.

00:41:40:21 - 00:42:12:01
Speaker 1
They're not going to lose the weight. They're they're going to close the business. They're going to have the next failed thing. They're going to the failed relationship, the failed marriage, all of the things. And what that all boils down to. Again, it's all about mindset. So to your point, you gotta get around people that have those bigger ideas and have been there and believe in them, believe that they're not an overnight success and follow the dog on blueprint of success, right?

00:42:12:06 - 00:42:32:11
Speaker 1
Like if you're if you're a millionaire and you get around billionaires, you feel like you're broke, but you better listen to what the if you're trying to get there, listen what the billionaire has to say. His problems are way different than yours. They're way bigger than yours and they're different, right? Same thing with if you're, you know, you're just getting started and being an operator.

00:42:32:11 - 00:42:42:12
Speaker 1
Connect with people that have been there and done that. There's no there's no ego like your ego is not your amigo. Right. It's it's not.

00:42:42:14 - 00:42:46:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. They're not bringing yourself over you Taco. They're going to go.

00:42:46:06 - 00:42:59:13
Speaker 1
Be part of the mastermind group. Go get around people that have just like back to the four minute mile. Right? Nobody thought it was possible. They thought the guy was in his heart was going to explode. And son of a gun, he did it. And then within like six weeks.

00:42:59:13 - 00:43:00:09
Speaker 2
That broke again.

00:43:00:11 - 00:43:17:18
Speaker 1
There was so many more people that did it because they're like, oh, this is possible. So it's just such a powerful lesson that, yeah, you got to get around other people. Entrepreneurship can feel like you're on an island because, again, your family and your friends, they're not going to understand it. They're working their 9 to 5. They have security.

00:43:17:20 - 00:43:32:17
Speaker 1
They have those golden handcuffs of a salary and A401K. You don't have that. They're not going to understand. They're going to want you to go out on the weekends. They're going to tell you to take it easy. They're going to say that you're working together. They're going to love you to death, either the death of your business or your body, all of it.

00:43:32:23 - 00:43:40:05
Speaker 1
So you got to get around those other people. I know for me, my best friends in life, it's not my guys from high school.

00:43:40:07 - 00:43:41:00
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:43:41:02 - 00:43:58:14
Speaker 1
It's my fellow fit body guys that I've connected with over the years because we're able to talk about revenue and money and finances and team stuff that I can't. I can't share that always with my parents or people that just it's just it's two different worlds and they just wouldn't understand it. It's no fault of their own. But that's that's the path that I chose.

00:43:58:14 - 00:44:17:04
Speaker 1
And you got to get around other people or even connecting with folks like you that just you talk in the same talk because we know you're the you're simply the sum of the five, the ten people you spend the most time with you, I guarantee count your five friends right now. I bet you have the same level of financial success.

00:44:17:06 - 00:44:37:10
Speaker 1
You know, in your business life, your marriage is about the same as theirs. You're still telling the same stories, right? When a Lois, as Tony Soprano said, one of the lowest forms of conversation is, hey, you remember when I stop having those come? Yeah, we remember when that was 25 years ago in high school. You're 18 years old.

00:44:37:10 - 00:44:40:11
Speaker 2
Yeah. And that's great. You almost made it to state. You know what.

00:44:40:14 - 00:44:58:10
Speaker 1
Rock and roll, right? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So definitely like, you need, you need you need people around. You got to seek it out. And social media is a great place for it. Just be mindful with who you're following because their job, you know, these influencers stuff they're trying to market and sell to you to like here's the one.

00:44:58:15 - 00:45:19:19
Speaker 1
Here's the one thing you need to do to go from 10 to $20 million. Here's the one. There's no one thing. No. It's everything. And get your, you know, be the treat your life like you're the like you're your board of advisors or your your board of directors. Like, can you take every once in a while, take that 30,000ft view and just look at your life and be like, hey, where are we getting this information from?

00:45:19:23 - 00:45:23:20
Speaker 1
Is that credible? Are we moving in the right direction?

00:45:23:22 - 00:45:42:23
Speaker 2
Yeah. No, I think that's that's dead on. I think that is, it doesn't seem like the unlock. It doesn't seem it actually seems easier to just say I'm special. Nobody else really understands what I'm talking about here. And kind of just being this lone Ranger, as you mentioned. But I do think you find that there's so many folks that and they want to help.

00:45:42:23 - 00:46:04:21
Speaker 2
What's really incredible about the pros, the ones who've done the work, I don't know, they just they like seeing that. They also just love seeing that fire and others and the younger generation coming up, and they kind of want to not see the craft of that die. It's probably very similar to what a pro athlete feels like. They're, hey, you know, Kobe talks a lot about, you know, brainstorming with Jordan on the court.

00:46:04:23 - 00:46:21:18
Speaker 2
Right. And it's like if you want to be great, these are the people you need to talk to and great in whatever facet you're in. But it's specifically in this sport called business. It's one of those things that I don't know that gets valued enough. Speaking of sports, speaking of teams, speaking of business, you and your wife bring this thing.

00:46:21:18 - 00:46:34:02
Speaker 2
Yeah. Talk to me about how do you do it in such like most people would see that as a recipe for disaster. Yeah. And y'all figured out, I mean, we got to meet her for. She's awesome. How does that work? Well, yeah. What would you give advice on?

00:46:34:03 - 00:46:52:22
Speaker 1
And I've seen both. I've seen the disaster and I've seen the incredible success. Not in my life, but just other examples of other folks that I know. Yeah. So first and foremost, my wife is bar none, without a doubt the reason that we are where we are, what I have found to be true again, kind of hindsight is 2020.

00:46:52:22 - 00:47:17:15
Speaker 1
But as I look at her and I and I look at other successful businesses, we follow a system here called EOS and EOS. You have an accountability chart and there's a position called the visionary, and there's one called the integrator. You could also think of this as, you know, the CEO and then the director of operations. So the reason we work so well together is I'm what we call a parrot.

00:47:17:15 - 00:47:39:15
Speaker 1
We also do these, personality profiles. So I'm more of a parrot eagle meaning like I'm passionate, I'm loud. I like to be around people. I'm very direct. I want to get stuff done, and I have a big vision, so I'm there. I'm there. Here's what I want to go do. Person Prime example was like filling out the expression of interest for everybody, like, hey babe, I think I want to do this.

00:47:39:21 - 00:47:56:01
Speaker 1
Her mode of operation is, how are we going to do it? Right? So her background and she's actually a program manager, she has an MBA. So she was always very much, you know, she's a checklist person. Like the weekend. It's not like she's like, hey babe, what do you wanna do? I don't watch a little football go golfing, right?

00:47:56:01 - 00:48:14:20
Speaker 1
She's like, well, I got to do this in the laundry. And then. And then we have tennis thing and soccer. And I was lunches packed for next week. Right. So you want to use that to your advantage. And what I have found in every successful business, you have those two people, you have the big idea person, and then you have the executor.

00:48:14:22 - 00:48:33:21
Speaker 1
So that's that. Those are our fortunately, those are natural, tendencies. When I started the gym, she still had her job as a program manager. So what was happening was I was coming home every night with all these grand ideas and puking information on her about all the stuff. And I think I want to do this and this and that.

00:48:34:00 - 00:48:39:15
Speaker 1
And then so when she joined about two years into it, that's when we started getting stuff written down.

00:48:39:17 - 00:48:40:20
Speaker 2
And coming up with soapy.

00:48:40:21 - 00:49:01:11
Speaker 1
Soaps and processes and training people. So that's how we works. That's, that's, that's the excellent of like in the business and our roles. And then I'd say above that is like it's made our relationship so much stronger. We had to learn a lot throughout the, throughout the years of like what to keep it home and what to keep it business.

00:49:01:11 - 00:49:14:10
Speaker 1
But really now it's I mean, it's all we talk about. It's our it is our life. So I'd say that's the other piece of it is like in a 9 to 5, it's I think it's easier to like, you know, leave it at work. But when you're in this, like, you got to be all in if you want it to be this big thing.

00:49:14:13 - 00:49:27:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. And then the other piece of it is like, we are so aligned on our vision for our life that it just, it's okay when she needs to make, you know, make a text message or send the email or I need to do this and, hey, take care of that and I need to go make a phone call.

00:49:27:03 - 00:49:30:15
Speaker 1
Like there's that understanding. So it's a it's a beautiful situation.

00:49:30:15 - 00:49:53:00
Speaker 2
We was there something like in the or even now you're kind of lay out some kind of ground rules and principles about like do you have an Sophie between each other where, you know, we're in a way that you don't let me back up here? I think we're I see a lot of cliffs that people are going to drive off with their significant other is when they think that this endeavor of doing it together, just a way to hang out more.

00:49:53:02 - 00:49:56:21
Speaker 2
You. It sounds like a not a good idea. If that's your only reason why you're doing this.

00:49:56:21 - 00:50:00:19
Speaker 1
Bad idea, it'd be like, it'd be like having a baby to save your relationship.

00:50:00:21 - 00:50:03:16
Speaker 2
Yeah, we're gonna tie us together. Yeah.

00:50:03:18 - 00:50:24:05
Speaker 1
Good luck. Right. So of course you want to have good with any partnership. Even if it's your your business partner. Like, you need to have a good understanding and relationship of who that person is and what their strengths are and where their shortcomings are. So that, you know, even in our in our personal and professional like she's she's a dove.

00:50:24:06 - 00:50:42:07
Speaker 1
So she's a lot more caring and concerning and like and I'm just I'm just not it's not in my DNA. So so learning not to try to change the other person, but learning about each other and then knowing how to flex. Right. You want to turn into a chameleon as a leader, where you're able to flex to everybody else and like, understand their needs.

00:50:42:12 - 00:51:03:08
Speaker 1
So now when she comes to me, I'm, I try to listen more, but I always want to go right for the solution where she needs to talk it out. I think a lot of a lot of women are that way, right? And a lot of dynamics are that way in relationships and marriages. So just just learning that and understanding that, because the key to changing anything is first having the awareness of it.

00:51:03:10 - 00:51:34:10
Speaker 1
So it's going to put a magnifying glass on your relationship without a doubt. So again, can you turn that what could be something negative into something positive or just having the understanding of it? So to answer your question, for us SOPs, not so much, but we just have a good understanding and it's evolved over time. So one thing that we do now is every week on Thursday, we have a standing life meeting and we run it just like we run our team meetings here, where we literally go through these different sections of our meetings, called an L ten meeting.

00:51:34:15 - 00:51:41:02
Speaker 1
And so just to make sure we're on the same page, you and her. Yeah. Oh, man, I would I would encourage that to everybody. But give me.

00:51:41:02 - 00:51:44:17
Speaker 2
Just can you don't mind like just give me just a quick like what's that format look like. Yes.

00:51:44:17 - 00:51:52:04
Speaker 1
You're saying so so we start off talking about we have different sections like we have like the plan for the year. So we have like our big goals for the year.

00:51:52:06 - 00:51:55:12
Speaker 2
So personal and professional or mainly professional.

00:51:55:14 - 00:52:11:13
Speaker 1
It's a mix but mostly personal. Okay. So for us it was like we wanted to I want to go to Colorado and go hunting here in a couple weeks. And so that was been on the list. There was also a couple vacations that we had on there. And just things that we want to do to accomplish because we know if we don't run them down, life's going to get it.

00:52:11:13 - 00:52:29:20
Speaker 1
So we have those up there and then we move into, you know, just things that are coming up, like we have the litter size weekend plan for the weekend and throughout the week you just plug stuff in there. And now that we have our son's in kindergarten, she's on the PTA. I'm coaching soccer. So like, hey, I got this thing next Thursday and she's in this moms club in the neighborhood.

00:52:29:20 - 00:52:46:02
Speaker 1
So just just going through that and making sure that we both have our calendars pulled up. We're plugging things on and on the calendar to make sure they're on there. And then there's business piece of it too, with as team members are out, or we need to fill in or, you know, or next week my son's on on fall break.

00:52:46:02 - 00:52:59:00
Speaker 1
So we needed to have that on the calendar for a while. Like, what are we going to do for a week. Yeah. When he's out of school. So yeah, I encourage that to anybody because as you have kids and the thing that I think about too is we're lucky that we work together. Some people are like, oh, must be so much.

00:52:59:00 - 00:53:18:12
Speaker 1
You're, you're like, it's your whole life, but what's the opposite? What if you both work 9 to 5 and your life's are so separated for 40 hours a week, you're totally doing two totally different things. Then you're relying on the little bit of time in the evenings and that little bit of time on the weekend to like, get your life together.

00:53:18:14 - 00:53:38:21
Speaker 1
So I would just encourage you, especially if you don't work together. It's even more important to make sure you have an understanding because you're working all day long somewhere else. How are you supposed to understand what's truly going on in the other person's life all day long at work? You know, she might come home, say, oh, well, you know, Karen in the meeting and this and that dinner might not be enough time to go over that.

00:53:38:21 - 00:53:41:16
Speaker 1
Like what's really going on and spending that quality time together.

00:53:41:19 - 00:54:06:13
Speaker 2
You know, I, I think that's that's just sage advice for relationships. Like you said, even business partnerships and whatever it might be is actually dedicating time to syncing up that communication. I think so many folks exist in life with this. It's like this passive kind of way of existing. And a good example is, you know, has it been gets home or and it goes like, you know, and it's Saturday and starts getting ready to do his thing and going like, well, what are you doing?

00:54:06:13 - 00:54:15:10
Speaker 2
And like, well, we're going to go do this thing. Do we talk about that like. No, because my plan was to do this and now that weekends just started off wrong, right. As opposed to being very clear about where you're at.

00:54:15:10 - 00:54:41:06
Speaker 1
And that's the same with a business lesson of right expectations. So and communication solve everything. Right. The problem there was it wasn't communicated. There was no. Or there's two different expectations. That's right. And unexpressed expectations just lead to future complications. Yeah. Right. Like literally everything in your life that you're frustrated about, it's because the expectation wasn't set and the communication wasn't there.

00:54:41:06 - 00:55:01:08
Speaker 1
Whether it was just something with yourself or it was something with someone, someone else, that's that's the key. So you can as a leader, good business lesson. You can never overcommunicate you can never overemphasize your expectations because especially as you go on over time, you're going to get so used to your business and the way things are going on, you're going to forget happened to us here.

00:55:01:08 - 00:55:14:21
Speaker 1
We have to remind ourselves we had new people walk in the door every day. We've been doing this eight years. We of course, you know how our workouts go and that we lost the weight and why. They don't know that we start off the workout with two claps and at the end we're going to ask them to share their experience.

00:55:14:21 - 00:55:32:22
Speaker 1
And then what it looks like when we do our membership, you know, presentation to them and how to sign up with us and and everything that's included. Like in business, you got to learn to continue to say old things to new people, but don't forget to say the old things. Don't expect just because you've been here and it feels like your second home, that it's going to be the same for everybody else.

00:55:32:22 - 00:55:58:00
Speaker 2
Yeah, instead, it reminds you of some, coaching and some insight that we give to, kind of what I would consider more of the, white collar, more professional, kind of up and coming owner that's like, maybe worked on Wall Street for a little while or, you know, one of the bigger corporate companies now wants to kind of go back and run a Hvac company and talk about over communicating in addition to communicating operationally and what's going on.

00:55:58:00 - 00:56:13:12
Speaker 2
Old, you know, old lessons and stuff. Some of the best things you can also communicate to your team is especially early on. Hey, team. Look, I'm not as expert in this as you all are, so I really need your help to catch me up. My job is to make sure that, like, you have the time and the resources and things to be successful.

00:56:13:12 - 00:56:30:01
Speaker 2
I want to see us all win. It's such a weird thing. Most folks come into that environment, and they kind of either want to act like they know as much or want to just hopefully hide out so that no one, you know, and there's nothing more disarming than going, I respect you because I don't know this. Yeah. That also is communicating.

00:56:30:01 - 00:56:30:08
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:56:30:08 - 00:56:51:09
Speaker 1
Again your ego. Yeah. He's not your amigo. Right. So be vulnerable. Right. How do you connect with someone when they're vulnerable and real. And you have something that if you come in on your high horse, like you know everything, no one's going to be able to relate to you, right? We all have shortcomings. We all have blind sides that we don't see.

00:56:51:09 - 00:57:02:20
Speaker 1
But when you can see them and say, yeah, you said the way to disarm somebody is just, hey, if you're going to have a tough conversation, guess what you're going to say, hey, man, this is gonna be a tough conversation. Now they're ready for it, right?

00:57:02:21 - 00:57:03:22
Speaker 2
Okay. Roger.

00:57:04:00 - 00:57:19:17
Speaker 1
What does the doctor tell someone to sit down before he gives them bad news? Because you got to prep them for, right? Or like, hey. Or if you want to negotiate with someone like, hey, man, this might sound crazy, you might not be on board with this, but here's what I'm thinking. Then they're like, you're already taking that that barrier away.

00:57:19:17 - 00:57:38:06
Speaker 1
So communication is just it's a it's everything. And again, setting those expectations because you're right you and think about that for for a team in that example that has been working their ten years, their biggest fear and probably their subconscious expectation is a new guy coming in is going to be who knows what story they made up in their head.

00:57:38:06 - 00:57:42:05
Speaker 2
Oh, it's way worse. And probably what's going to happen maybe now. But you know, we all do it.

00:57:42:05 - 00:57:58:06
Speaker 1
We all do it. Right. Because it just comes from that nervousness and that newness of like walking into a new environment, whatever it's going to be. I think about that with our members when they walk in the door here, for they have this like horror story in their head because of something that happened in the past. So how much can I show them ahead of time with like, here's what the place looks like.

00:57:58:06 - 00:58:14:23
Speaker 1
Here's a video of what it's going to be like when you come in the door. Here's examples of our members too, just just to alleviate that and be as open and vulnerable as possible. So yeah, if you're someone that's coming in and taking over an existing operation, come in there with that humility and not knowing what you don't know.

00:58:14:23 - 00:58:36:05
Speaker 1
Empower other people and as a way to build relationships and to continue to grow the business. Because if those those things aren't communicated and you do come in like you know, everything, those people are going to quiet, quit and bounce because they're all nobody. One of the human hierarchy, hierarchy of needs is one is stability, but another one is change.

00:58:36:07 - 00:58:48:13
Speaker 1
Yeah, right. So like people don't like change, but they're okay with it if they know where they're going. And that goes back to that casting, that vision of hey guys, here's where we're going. Here's why we're on this mission together.

00:58:48:18 - 00:59:19:08
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. Well said Tom, look, I know we're coming up on time, and I could talk to you for four more hours. Maybe at one point we'll go long form on this thing. Go seven hours on this, but just kind of leaving folks with anything top of mind for you about those who are considering right now this life of owning and operating a business and really kind of going off on their own and doing it, any things you'd say, hey, if I could tell Tom ten years ago, 15 years ago, like spend some more time being more thoughtful and intentional about X, what would that be?

00:59:19:08 - 00:59:23:13
Speaker 2
Just to kind of help them prep as they start to pursue this endeavor?

00:59:23:15 - 00:59:40:10
Speaker 1
That is just such a good question. And the problem with the question, it's a great question. I'm going to answer it, is that whatever I'm about to tell you, you're not going to be able to to get it and utilize it until you go through it. Go through it. Right. It's again, the obstacle is the way. So what are things to focus on?

00:59:40:12 - 01:00:05:21
Speaker 1
It's you. It's your personal development. It is you reading the books because you're going to be there's different stages. You're gonna be the stage of just collecting the information. And information is good, but wisdom only comes from actually being able to use the information, right. So notice who you're following on your social media. Read the books. If there's one book that I can that is my absolute favorite.

01:00:05:21 - 01:00:23:23
Speaker 1
I just got done listening to it for probably the 10th time. It's called Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. If you want a blueprint for life and how to be successful and The Things to Avoid Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. So fill your mind up with those things and then again act as your board of directors when you are under.

01:00:23:23 - 01:00:51:22
Speaker 1
So owning a business is going to put you under a magnifying glass. It's like it's like having a gazillion dollars or or drinking alcohol. It might bring out the best in you might bring out the scary side of you. So when you're under stress, who are you? Right? And then who are you when nobody is looking that you have to have that credibility in yourself because it's people are going to give you the sniff test, the smell test, it's gonna come through.

01:00:51:22 - 01:01:08:06
Speaker 1
The real version is going to come through and it might not you might not feel great about it. It might not be pretty. That's okay. Awareness is the first step. And then the vulnerability piece of it. I had to learn that. Right. Because when you come in, you, you feel like the weight is on your shoulders, like you got to make this thing work.

01:01:08:07 - 01:01:29:23
Speaker 1
Yeah, part of that is true. But then, yeah, the more vulnerable you can be and just recognizing your strength and your weaknesses because in any business you're going to have to build a team, you're going to have to bring people in that can make up where you lack so that you can focus on your zone of genius. Because if you are not focused there and you're trying to do everything else, you're going to get burned out.

01:01:30:01 - 01:01:59:03
Speaker 1
You're going to be doing stuff that doesn't fuel you up, and it's not going to serve you, your team, your business, your customers. So that's a bit of a long winded answer. But to wrap it up, I'd say you're self-development physically and mentally, right? And even if it means you need to borrow that confidence or borrow that alter ego from someone else, something that we teach our coaches to do if they're a little nervous about getting on the mic in front of people, is get an alter ego.

01:01:59:03 - 01:02:27:02
Speaker 1
We had a coach. Her alter ego was Sasha Fierce. Who is Beyonce's? Beyonce hasn't. Beyonce has an alter ego called Sasha Fierce for when she goes out on stage, right? So do you need an alter ego? Do you need me? Like, okay for me, when I first learned about our birth profiles was I had two. It was going to be, Steve Jobs and Mister Rogers because I wasn't as serious as I needed to be for business stuff.

01:02:27:02 - 01:02:41:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I would literally walk in and be like, okay, well, what would Steve Jobs think and say? And then I need to be more compassionate. So I thought, Mr. Rogers. So maybe you need to borrow that from, from somewhere in your life and, and fake it til you make it. In that sense.

01:02:41:03 - 01:02:43:10
Speaker 2
What's the test that you take on the bird stuff, you know?

01:02:43:12 - 01:03:03:18
Speaker 1
Okay. Great nugget for you. It is called taking flight with disc. So it's a disc a personality test. Yeah. But instead a disc there's four birds Eagle, parrot, owl and dove. We use it all across the brand. It's just way stickier. You take the test, they give you this book, you read this one page of of your profile.

01:03:03:18 - 01:03:15:17
Speaker 1
It it describes you to a tee. And then it's a great way to be able to speak the same language for you, for your clients, for your team members, and understand how people operate. Game changer.

01:03:15:17 - 01:03:19:04
Speaker 2
Wow, man. Yeah. This is, pretty quick assessment.

01:03:19:06 - 01:03:30:16
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. Okay. 20 ten minutes. It's like 37 questions or something. Yeah, yeah. No taking flight with desk. Amazing company. We've had the chance to work intimately with them and they've been really great. It's. Yeah really really big.

01:03:30:16 - 01:03:55:18
Speaker 2
Yeah. Tom thank you so much man I could again talk to you for days. And I think what you're doing here not only changing the lives of, of the folks coming in that your members and just I just see it. You can feel it. You can see all the, the impact that you're making on arguably one of the hardest things for folks in America to get over, which is their, their physical, you know, health, which then leads into their mental health, their but also just what you're doing to give back.

01:03:55:21 - 01:04:12:04
Speaker 2
Like this conversation is going to help so many folks either. Our hope always is to either rattle you into a way that gets you thinking on straight, and also discourage folks. There's some folks that shouldn't go down this path. Oh yeah, and everything in between. So thanks always for what you're doing, man. We're we're going to be stoked to continue to work with you.

01:04:12:04 - 01:04:27:17
Speaker 2
And we'll be back up here in Richardson to go get a class on. Sounds good. Yeah, man. Thanks. Thanks so much. That's it Chauncey. Very tough guys. Yeah no I, I there were so many times man I want to keep going down rabbit I know, I know, you're fun to talk with Tom. Really, man.