Comfort Is Killing Your Potential | Episode 25 ft. Dr. Dustin Drewes

What does it take to go from being left behind… to competing at the highest level?

In this episode of the TLW Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Dustin Drews — physical therapist, endurance coach, and founder of a new performance and rehab facility — to break down the real lessons behind growth, discipline, and stepping outside your comfort zone.

From getting dropped early in his cycling career… to pushing himself into uncomfortable situations that made him better… Dustin shares how those same principles apply to business, coaching, and life.

We dive into:

• The mindset required to grow when you feel behind
• Why your biggest breakthroughs come from discomfort
• The balance between coaching, business, and purpose
• How integrity shapes long-term success
• Daily habits that build discipline and clarity

This episode is for anyone who knows they’re capable of more — but needs the mindset and structure to actually go get it.

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#TrainLeadWin #SuccessMindset #PurposeDriven #Leadership #Podcast #Entrepreneurship #FailureToSuccess #GrowthMindset #PersonalDevelopment

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the TLW podcast. I'm the co-host Sean Owens here with Coach Pixley. Coach, how are we doing today? Awesome. That's roll. Love it. I've got our good buddy Jace Augustus, our other partner with JCB Media Services behind this, keeping us looking good and sounding good. Really excited to have our guest today, Dr. Dustin Drews. This is a big thing for me. It's my coach. First time I've had a coach since 2003, and uh something that I've needed. It's been great for me. We'll talk a bit more about the involvement Dustin's had in my life and with some of the athletes that I coach. Um I'm gonna do a quick uh intro background on Dustin. Dustin uh is a physical therapist and a coach with 4D racing here in the Baton Ridge area. Uh they have coach they have clients nationwide, but they're focused around everything here. Uh Dustin Hot School has a master's degree in exercise physiology. Uh I'm gonna keep going here, Dustin. Is that okay with you? Yeah, that's fine. All right, good. All right, Dustin raced uh for the LG cycling team. Um he raced at the Collegiate Track National Championships. He was the cycling coach for two-lane cycling for eight years. And uh recently, Dustin is embarking on a new adventure in his life uh in the pure entrepreneurial spirit. He is starting a clinic that focuses on uh rehab and uh performance training for endurance athletes. And uh he's gonna share some stories about that with us. Dustin, thanks for coming on. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, uh, thanks for having me on. Uh it's an honor to uh finally make it on to the podcast. Finally make it on. Tell you what, I took the waiting list.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

We talked about this a year ago, and uh, you know, we just had so much demand that uh year ago.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

Look, we'll get you to me. It took me a year to get on.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah. Yeah, but thanks for putting on this, man. Really appreciate it. Yeah, it's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Excited to be here. So awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Um, so let's get into it. You were with LHU cycling team, then you competed as a Cat1 racer for local teams. Jump right into some of the life lessons you learned uh that you still apply today from those experiences uh just in day-to-day life.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Sure, sure, yeah. I'll touch on uh, I guess, my bike racing experience. Uh the thing about bike racing as a sport is you know, you start with, say, you know, 20, 30, 50 guys online, you know, say it's a 50-mile race, and then you just gotta go. And the thing about it is there's really no um celebration or medal or anything for just finishing a bike race, right? Uh it's pretty, pretty hyper competitive in the sense that you got one person's gonna win and everybody else is there to try to win. And that's it. The end, you know? So you have to be able to keep up with you know all of these riders, otherwise they're gonna leave you behind, right? So, you know, the first step in in bike racing is you gotta be strong enough and skilled enough to keep up with everybody else, or they're gonna leave you, you know, and then you're just out on the road by yourself, and that's not that's not very fun. Not where you want to be. That's not where you want to be. That's not where you want to be. So when I first got into the sport at 18, that's where I started. I got first few races I did, I started going to group rides. Literally, everybody would just leave me, right? There's so many rides and races where I'm by myself within the first five miles of a 50-mile race because I wasn't strong enough, uh, didn't know what I was doing, and um I had to, you know, go back time, you know, just keep going and keep trying and keep riding my bike and keep training. I had to bring myself up to the level of you know, the people that I was trying to compete with so that I could participate in the race and then get more competitive from there. So I would say the way that I apply that uh in my daily life and in my professional life is I have a lot of mentors and people that I look up to, people that I respect, people that are more knowledgeable in fields I'm trying to learn more, um, where I feel like I'm trying to, you know, get back to the pack or bring myself up to these people that I look up to so that I can not necessarily be competitive, but just be successful and be the best version of myself.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

So as you as you do that, right, it's it's the grind of always striving. Uh do you balance that? So, okay, so in cycling, for example, um you go from where you're you're on the road by yourself, so to speak, right? To now um you're in the middle of it and then you're winning races and so on and so forth. As you go through that whole process, um does and and you let's say you reach, you know, where you're in the front of the pack, um does that drive change? In other words, the drive that got you to the point where you went from you're on the road by yourself to now you're competing in races with people that you weren't competing with previously. Once you reach that point, do you get to a point where it's like there's complacency, there's yeah?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, that's a that's a great question. Um in the sport of cycling, we have skill categories, right? And I think you had said something about me being a cat one, right? Well, in cycling, everybody starts at category five. Okay. Right? And the way you kind of work your way up the ranks is through a point system where if you get good results, you get points, and then you need so many points to the next level and so on and so forth. Um basically, as soon as you say within category five or within category four, you're constantly on the podium, you're winning all these races, you know, you basically get called up to the next level. And and and the great thing about cycling is there's always a bite faster. Right. There's never get to the top unless you're tatifagoger. Unless it's tattypagage or what then art, like you're never gonna get to the top. So, you know, the sport is so competitive that there's always uh a field or a group uh to be competitive with. And um I would say that I got to a point in my amateur racing career where I pretty much hit my ceiling where the option is, okay, now if you want to get better from where you're at, now you're like leaving your job, you're trying to do this full time, it's like, okay, okay, okay. You know, so um I I I'm really proud of kind of where I got uh in the sport uh at an amateur level. And then yeah, I just kind of took that same competitive spirit and just like, hey, I'm I'm I'm comfortable with where I'm at in cycling. Now I'm gonna shift gears to some other things. Do it somewhere else. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I got a question for you. Um so how many how many races have you done so far? Or did you do the past as a cyclist? I would say as a cyclist, I've probably done a couple hundred races. Okay. Can you think back to any one race in particular that you reflect on as like the race that you're most proud of or the best performance you had on the bike?

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Sure, sure. And and just to kind of paint the picture, say I've done you know 200 bike races. I've only won maybe three or four, right? Uh but interestingly enough, the race that I'm most proud of uh was not one of the races that I won. Uh it was a race in Aniston, uh, Alabama, uh Sunny King Criterium, which is a pretty high-profile regional race. It's televised. Um, it's one of the biggest amateur races on the circuit. Um, and I was a cat two at the time trying to get my upgrade points to category one. Um this is a race that I think had 60 to 70 riders uh in this field. Um and as you know, spent most of my career as a cyclist as a pack sprinter, right? So the way I would normally get my results is that I sit in, let the race kind of play out in front of me, and then sprint at the end, right? Um that's probably the one thing that I was actually pretty good at. Well, in this race, I challenged myself to say, you know what, I'm not gonna sit in. I'm gonna get to the front and I'm gonna try to go get into a move and go off the front. Uh so I get into this race and I go to the front, start making moves, start launching attacks off the front, try to get these guys motivated, get some people to work with me, and it's stuck. So me and two other guys just roll this breakaway off of the front and get right.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

How fast do you got going when you go when you roll when you're able to get a breakaway off in a crib?

SPEAKER_00 8:43

To establish a break, you know, we're probably averaging maybe 27, 28, 29 miles an hour. I'm trying to get my watch list to go jump on your Peloton hole and do a 27, 28, 29 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

It's a pretty full gas effort. Uh and it, I mean, and you're just redlined the the entire time, you know, it's just pure pain. Um but to but in once you get the brick established, though, uh once you get that gap, you kind of settle into a rhythm. You say, all right, okay, like your rhythm is what, like 24 miles per hour? Yeah, the rhythm, the rhythm is probably maybe about 25 miles an hour. Uh so fast. So I'm working with these guys, and and we're working really together. And that's another interesting thing about cycling, is you work together, you're almost like teammates with the people that you're trying to be until you get to the end, right? Uh so we're working at the front, we get this big gap, and uh eventually another group of three joins us, we could become a group of six, and we stay away this whole time. Uh and at the end, I I I I think I I went so hard in this breakaway. I was so committed to it. I worked so hard that I think I'm sixth in this race. Like I didn't, I didn't I wasn't even on the podium. I was sixth place. I did get some points to to upgrade. But the thing that made me really proud of this effort was I I I employed a strategy that was way outside my comfort zone. Yeah, I was not racing my strengths, and I gambled big, like, hey, let me go for the break, uh, and just gave it my all. And I was just really proud of the way that I raced that race. Um, and even though I was sixth, like I I look back on that race uh very fondly as hey, I gambled big, I I raced um not towards my strengths, and and I still had a good result.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

You know, you you say that one of the one of my favorite games I ever coached as a high school basketball coach, we lost. And it was we lost, I think it was a quarterfinal round in the playoffs, and we play in a team uh out of New Orleans called Riverside Academy, who was at the time really, really good, and they were ranked like 12th in the country. They were really good. We were down big, we came back, we we made it close at the end. And anyhow, I remember going on the bus ride home. I think we lose the game by like four or five points. Should have lost by like forty or fifty points, right? And we were on the bus ride home, and I remember thinking I never thought that I would feel fulfillment after the scoreboard didn't show that we won the game. And because as a player, I never did, right? And as a coach, I'm just watching a group, right, um, put it together and give everything they got, and there's nothing more I could ask from them, right? And you're talking about the same thing in an individual sport. I know you talk about y'all working together at the at the front, but like in an individual sport, you're putting it all together, you've trained and raced a specific way your whole career, and then just one race, you're like, you know what? Why not? Right? And so by doing that, was there a different like I know I know you say it was one of your favorite of maybe your maybe your favorite race ever. Um but why was it so fulfilling? Was it simply because you got out of your comfort zone? Was it just this is something totally different than I've ever done? Like what what was it?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

I think it was just this this overwhelming feeling of once the race was over, I knew immediately that I got better today. Wow, and I knew that that was gonna stay with me. And it's it's it was one of those moments where this was a special race. And I knew it at the time, and you're like, I got better today, both as an athlete and I think as as a person for just putting myself out there, committing 100%, and just the willingness to expose myself out at the front. I got 60 guys chasing us.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

The vulnerability of that is right when you're out on the front of a pack with 60 behind you, that all but they want to win too. Yeah, it's it's it's just complete exposure and saying, I'm in this to win, or I'm gonna finish off the front or off the back. You can't have it at all. I I'm I'm in this pack or I'm I'm I'm dead. Like there's no there's no in between, you know. So to take the safe bet and just sit in, see what's gonna happen, and and sprint at the end, there's no risk in that. That's right. And and and that's awesome. In in racing, there's also more often than not, there's no reward.

SPEAKER_03 13:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Dude, that's huge, man. Um that was not scripted. We just had some fun with it. So that's right. Um, I want to uh change courses for a second. Uh and you know, you spend half of your up to now you spent half of your uh week more or less as a coach and half the week as a physical therapist. Was your plan all through adulthood, so to speak, to split time like that? Because I know you went to PT school after you coaching, or did things change, shift, or deviate along the way?

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah, we've we've had uh multiple hashtag deviations uh uh along the way. And Sean, you're gonna love this. Uh I actually started at LSU uh as a freshman thinking that I was gonna go to dental school.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

It's not too late.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Uh and and in order to do that, so I declared kinesiology as a as a major and uh very quickly started taking uh exercise science classes, and then also, you know, this is also the time when my cycling career started. And dude, I gotta tell you, like, I just I really got into the the exercise science and the physiology and the anatomy. And I mean, I would sit at the front every lecture, I'm I am super engaged. Uh and then like, yeah, I'd go, I'd go leave class and go to the training race, and and I'm seeing you know, applications of things that I'm learning just like immediately immediately.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

That's super cool. Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

So to be able to tie my education in, that's what got me started with coaching. Um, the other thing was uh Will Jones is you know a really good endurance coach, uh locally famous around here. Uh I started working with him. Um, he started coaching me and mentoring me. He was actually uh my first uh mentor in college. And you know, through his mentorship, seeing what he did and seeing him coach all these athletes and seeing the relationship and the bonds that he made with his athletes, uh, that's where I was like, man, maybe I can do this too because I'm I'm learning all this exercise science stuff. I'm I'm enjoying bike racing. I I met this coach who's coaching me and uh and he's applying all this stuff, and I saw like, hey, this is this all seems to fit together really well. Um PT didn't come until later when once I kind of got going with endurance coaching. Um the thing about coaching endurance athletes, it's it's more of a programming, it's not like coaching basketball where you're out on the court, right? Um it's a it's a heavy, remote, kind of digital platform where you're writing training plans, you're you're you're you're you're doing a lot of mental coaching, a lot of phone calls. There's there's not a ton of in-person with endurance coaching. Um and the thing that got me to start considering physical therapy school was I'm at home on my computer and and on phone calls, and I'm like, man, it's kind of lonely here. You know, I I want to go see people. And and and uh it felt like I had no uh access or reach to my local community. You know, I'm coaching these athletes in New Mexico and Alaska and everywhere else, and here I am in Louisiana, and I felt like physical therapy would allow me to kind of get in front of more people, be able to help more people locally, challenge me as a professional, challenge my knowledge, um, and just make this uh career deviation, if you will, to where I could keep all of the coaching, I could keep all the lessons and the knowledge and the skills and everything that I've learned to this point, and then you know, pursue physical therapy, expand the things that I can do, and then take all the coaching lessons along the way. So, no, it was not the original plan. Um I think my career path has been driven more by curiosity and exploration and finding my areas of interest and then also finding the things that I'm good at, um, and then just building on top of that, building on top of that, building on top of that.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

I love that. That's awesome. Curiosity, that's uh that's one of those words that uh I I look at my career, it's it hasn't evolved like yours has, but I think a lot of the doors that I've walked through have been from that deep desire to see what else is out there, so to speak. And uh, you know, it's one of those things I hope that never ever dies. It makes every day a little bit more interesting for sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So we have five pillars that um here at TLW we uh we we live by and we you know it's how we run our business, it's how we deal with clients, it's how we deal with each other, it's how we deal with our families, so on and so forth. Um and so I'm going to I'm gonna list them for you, okay. And I want you to pick out because they're they're pillars, right? They're all gonna have impact, but like I want you to pick out the one that stands out to you the most with regards to how you dealt with your cycling career and then transitioned into what it is that you are doing now in the physical therapy world and and whatnot. So the first one is honor God above all above all else. Okay. Um the second one is discipline is diligence, the third one, value people over profit. The uh fourth one is lead through service, not self, and then the fifth one is build legacy through integrity. Which one of the five stands out to you the most?

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Well, I'd say uh for one, those are those are five really good pillars uh to live by. Um I would say uh integrity I think stands out as one of the things that um is near and dear to me, and I think that an early career in competitive cycling is it was a great way to you know start building integrity, right? Um you know, to kind of bring it back to bike racing. The thing about bike racing is you know uh there's a ton of rules that have to be followed. Uh cycling is a sport that has been tarnished by you know uh a challenging era, if you will. Um all the cyclists will know what I'm talking about. Um so you know, I I kind of started in cycling on kind of uh I would say the upswing of uh you know big movements of you know clean sport and anti-doping and all these things. Uh so integrity, I think, and and cycling was a really big part of of that career because um you know this is a sport where it's super dangerous, we have to play by the rules. And you know, we know that there have been bad actors and amateur and pro-level and the people that we look up to. So I think that I carry that into my career in the sense of I think for me as a physical therapist, what having integrity looks like for me is obviously you know abiding by you know legal and ethical standards. You know, we all have to do that as professionals. But I think there's a I think there's a uh a step beyond in the sense of the way that I handle my you know uh development as a therapist is I read research papers, I make an effort to stay you know on the forefront of uh you know what's happening with these types of injuries, what's happening, you know, what's the best way to treat uh arthritis, what's the best way to treat uh you know, overuse injuries that endurance athletes may have. And being honest with patients about what treatments have evidence behind their efficacy and what treatments are maybe, you know, uh maybe not as effective or not as backed by science. Um the thing that I have started to notice in this field is there's a lot of treatments out there that you know are not necessarily backed by science that are perhaps being misrepresented as far as their effectiveness. Uh and you know, I try to carry myself as someone who is upfront with patients on where there's gray area, what does the science say? Uh, because you know, I'm always being asked, like, hey Dustin, should I go get XYZ uh treatments for for this problem that I'm having? And I'm gonna give them an honest answer on whether I believe in you know certain treatments uh in their effectiveness. So yeah, and then Because the easy thing to do is, you know, there's a level of trust when you're a licensed therapist that I'm giving people uh an honest answer, you know. But as a business owner, I also have a stake in being profitable. And that alone, I think, can create uh friction or or conflicts of interest in the advice that you're gonna give uh a patient. So I I'm very careful in the way that I communicate to patients about or or athletes, you know, whoever I'm working with, about you know uh a treatment plan or or certain treatments, modalities and things like that. What do I find um has research behind it, what doesn't, uh, where there's gray area, uh I think it's important to be very um very honest about uh all of that.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

And look, kind of piggybacking on that, so with with the integrity that you approach your professional life with now, you also run into the issue of you know, as a as a therapist and as a coach, you're juggling a couple of careers, right? So what what are some of the obstacles and some of the issues with that? And then talk about what you know draws you to doing both as opposed to just picking one.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Yeah, so the the way that I I see the balance in those two is thankfully, you know, physical therapy does offer some pretty clear, clearly defined criteria for whether is this person better as a say a coaching client, or do I need to actually evaluate them and kind of bring them on as a patient? You know, and these are things like I have I'm having pain, or I actually had some sort of injury where I had to go seek treatment for. The way I see it is deviate is an athlete development system. And people can come in at different levels of function. So if someone is dealing with an injury or coming off of an injury, then my job as their as a physical therapist is okay, let's bring them back to uh where they can train, you know, pain-free and just get them back to doing what they were doing before. Um while addressing uh you know maybe errors in training or fueling or whatever, they were whatever they were doing to get to that injury in the first place, right? So that's that's kind of the physical therapy side. Once they're no longer having pain and they're you know good to resume or a regular training program, and they might be interested in coaching, then essentially you know, they complete their plan of care as a patient and then move to you know what's considered a wellness client. Kind of, yeah, one kind of feeds the other, you know. Um I would say a big challenge in that is making sure that my coaching programs and my training programs are good uh so that people don't become patients, right? Don't feed it the wrong way. It's okay for me to feed it, you know, feed patients into you know coaching clients with the not the other way around. No, I don't you know you don't want it to be the other way around. Yeah, the goal is to stay as as healthy as possible. So and that goes back to integrity, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Sure, 100%. Yeah. All right. So speaking of staying healthy, um, one of the things that we love to talk about TLW is these small little uh daily disciplines and habits that all of our clients are involved in, and then the guests on the podcast. And so if you wouldn't mind giving us a quick rundown on what are your have-to's to make you feel centered for the day and to help you help set you up for success with the daily routines that you run through, Dustin.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah, yeah. That question comes at uh an interesting time in my life when you know I just left one job a couple weeks ago, I'm building the C Studio, everything is like super chaotic right now. Uh but before all that, I I I I did have a pretty good routine. Um I would say the two big things for me is uh if I start the day with a workout, if I I don't like waking up early in the morning, but if I can get myself out of bed um and get to the pool or or do a lift or you know, do a bike workout or run, um it almost doesn't seem to matter externally, like what's happening that day with work or patience or you know, any challenges that come my way. I feel like starting the day with a workout uh helps me take on all of that chaotic energy that can develop through any given workday, right? Um it kind of grounds me, centers me, uh allows me to be more patient and allows me to focus better, actually, when I get a workout in that day. Um, and then the second thing is I try to learn something new every day. I know that's probably a little um cliche, but I do try to make an effort to learn something new every day. And the way that I like to go about doing that is instead of following a ton of you know good educational social media accounts, I think a better way to go about trying to learn is by either reading or taking some concentrated time out of your day, not just scrolling through a feed. Uh, I like to um read books on you know any any given topic that is gonna be educational, whether it's um you know uh on discipline or you know, run training or you know, all these areas that I'm trying to improve, you know, I'm gonna pick books that uh you know offer something to learn there and then try to you know read a little bit. And it helps with sleep too.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

So uh speaking about that, any specific reads as of recent that you've really enjoyed?

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Um the book I'm reading right now is the Checklist Manifesto.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Oh, that's a great one.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Have you yeah? That's a goal, yeah. Yeah, so I I I've been reading that one. Um I also uh just started reading a book um called uh what's it? This it's the startup journal. Um that's not the name of it. Uh it's a book about startups uh and you know starting this business, so I'm kind of reading you know some business books. I normally read you know books about exercise, but uh no, the going back to the checklist manifesto, I mean that one's been really good.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Um really quick, I'd like for you to just tell our viewers and our listeners a little bit more about the studio, DV8, what you have planned with it, what it what you what it's starting as, and kind of where you see things growing from there.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Yeah, so uh right now uh DV8 Studios is under construction. Uh we're located at 485 Southwest Railroad, Ponchetula, Louisiana, strawberry capital of the world. Um, and right now we have a 800 square foot open floor plan space that will have a bike fitting uh area, a strength training area, treadmill, uh, and it's basically set up to uh, like I said, bring athletes, patients, people, you know, wherever their entry point is. Um but uh it's you know centrally located uh or strategically located between you know New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and the North Shore where people can can kind of come in for a short drive. Um and uh yeah, we expect to be potentially seeing people there by the end of the month, um, trying to plan a grand opening sometime in May. Sweet. Um so really excited about that. Uh but right now, you know, we're like doing the lighting and trying to get the floors in and painting.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

So you're an electrician right now too, then, huh?

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Uh I I'm an electrician, uh, you know, a flooring guy, uh contractor. So no, actually, I have a ton of help right now. Uh DBA's actually a family business. My father-in-law uh is helping a tremendous amount in all the construction side of things. So I'm really fortunate uh to have him on board um to tell me you know what needs to be done uh for the studio to be right. Uh and then a lot of other help too. You know, my wife, she makes you know, runs around and and uh makes a lot of runs for us while we're there doing stuff, um and has been just you know amazing and supportive in general, you know. Um but yeah, we're we're like the studio is is is gonna be really cool.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Can't wait to see it, man.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Okay, so you are changing gears here, right? What what advice would you offer somebody who um may have been in one line of work for an extended period of time and decides to make a change, a significant change, maybe not necessarily to a complete different industry, maybe it is just opening a new business, you know, within that same industry. But what advice would you offer somebody who, you know, from a fear standpoint, maybe a financial issue, maybe um, you know, there's there's logistical issues, uh, what advice would you offer them as far as no, you need to go do this if you feel driven to it?

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, because you know the truth is that uh when I was considering to go back to physical therapy school and even now with this business, um, I did have a lot of fear. I do have a lot of fear. Um it's not a not a situation where this is there's just no fear, um, which is a very emotional reaction to things, right? And it's a very powerful emotion. Um and every time that I start to fear, feel fearful of uncertainty in the future and making these big decisions, um, I start to gather evidence, right? I think that laying out a plan, laying out going through the financials, going through, you know, taking really hard looks at what are your what's your skill set, what would be required to make the move that you need, what does it look like, and just plan, plan, plan, plan, plan. Um, I think that helps make the leap, not the gap, not seem so far, right? And and that's where I'm at with DV8 right now is DV8's three years old. I mean, I'm I'm three years into this. And then if you go back to my cycling career, you could say I'm almost 20 years into this. Right. Right? Uh these things don't happen overnight. Um, so I would say the the thing that gives me the confidence to take Deviate to full time is a lot of business planning, a lot of mentoring, talking to people who have done similar things. I'm not reinventing the wheel. There's a ton of uh you know, niche endurance physical therapists out in the country, you know, and I have talked to a lot of them, I've reached out to a lot of them. So getting with people who are in the space that you're trying to get into, just talk to them. Yeah, most if they're good people, they'll be happy to talk to you about the challenge that they've had. So leaning heavy on the mentorship, giving yourself uh a proof of concept of you don't just necessarily jump all in at once. Deviate started with me driving to Baton Rouge from Ponchachula, driving to New Orleans and going to meet people where they were at, figuring things out, figuring out, you know, refining my process uh to the point where yes, now I feel ready to be in the space that I'm at, you know, more business planning, doing numbers and accounting. Um, and that has tamped the fear down a lot, not 100%. Right. But um I think there always will be a little bit of fear of uncertainty in in the unknown and things like this. But again, as long as you uh make a case for yourself and lean on the objective realities of where things are at, I think that can tamp down a lot of that fear.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

I love that. We always close out with uh one specific question with all of our guests, and I'm eager to hear your answer. Uh if Dustin Drews now is sitting across from 18-year-old Dustin Drews, and you can only give 18-year-old Dustin Drews one piece of advice, what would that be?

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Oh man, this is an easy one. Uh I would tell the 18-year-old version of myself uh to stay humble, right? So, first couple years in cycling, I'm a sprinter. Uh sprinters are known for being kind of brash and explosive, right? Uh and emotional. Same thing in track. Yes, yes. So I so, you know, 18, 19, young 20-year-old Dustin was that guy, you know. And I mean, my head was, you know, this big. And it wasn't until I started learning more and learning about how much I don't know, right? Um, that, you know, having this big head and this big ego and um saying a lot of things, you know, to people in the moment. It's it's like the moment that you feel like you've arrived and I've made it and I'm here, uh that's when you stop growing. That's when you stop stopping learning. So um I would just say, like, hey, settle down, guy. You know? Like we haven't gotten that answer yet. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

I like that. I like that. That's uh well uh look, Dustin, for all of us at TLW, we can't tell you how much we appreciate you making the drive over from Pontchatua to come hang with us. Um this has been a great conversation. Looking forward to seeing all that y'all do with DV8 Studios. Um those interested in coaching with Dustin, he's got a great Instagram page that he runs uh with all of his information on there. Um that concludes it. Uh, y'all go get it.