Episode #16 Jenny Rodriguez OCB Promoter/Judge

In this episode we sit down with OCB Promoter and Judge Jenny Rodriguez and talk with her about her unique journey into fitness and how that drove her into the sport of bodybuilding and all the opportunities it created for her! Not only does Jenny promote 4 shows but she has a family and a career as a Vet Tech as well!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

All right, we're live. How you been?

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I'm good. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:07

I'm doing good. Thanks for jumping on the NLife Coaching Podcast. Excited to have Yenny Rodriguez on the podcast today. So, Yenny, I've known you several years now through the OCB Federation that we promote shows in and compete in. So I've had the luxury of getting to know you over the past couple years through show promotion. Obviously, you promote quite a few shows. I promote one. You've always come up and helped me. So we've gotten to know each other pretty well. But obviously, our audience might not know who you are. So give us a little introduction about kind of who you are, what you do, what your day job is, and talk to us a little bit about what you do in the fitness industry.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Okay, yeah. So like I said, my name is Yanny Rodriguez. I am originally from Iceland. Um, born and raised there, moved here back in 2005, uh, when after marrying a military man and meeting him when he was in Iceland. We lived in England for a while, and then we came here to Florida when he got stationed here uh in 2005. So it's been over 20 years now that I've been a Floridian. Um and uh my day job, I am I was all my life, like started when I was 17. I became a veterinary technician. Uh I've been working as a veterinary technician. I was full-time until I had my first child. Then I kind of dropped down. I was a mom, stay-at-home mom for a while. I enjoyed that. And then I was just been kind of part-time since then. I took a break from veterinary technician job to be just a personal trainer. It fit better with being a mom and being able to take, you know, having a flexible schedule and uh being able to take care of the small kids and so forth. So that's when I got my personal training certificate back in 2010 and became a trainer and kind of put the veterinary technician job kind of on the shelf for a little bit. Um enjoyed being a trainer, that was great. Then, you know, I did miss my first passion of being uh in the veterinary field. I always be wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger, but life didn't kind of pan out that way. So, but I'm doing the thing that's closest to it. I'm being a technician. And now I uh specialize, I'm I'm a surgery technician, so I do anesthesia and surgery almost exclusively uh at a clinic. So I work part-time there, and so I'm able to enjoy that uh with that. Then, of course, my other job is being a promoter, uh OCB promoter. Um uh I've been doing that for what seven years now. Uh yeah, next month it'll be seven years since I started as OCB promoter, and uh that's that's been a journey. Um, I'm up to four shows that I promote at the moment. Yeah, and so that keeps me busy. My little side job slash hobby that keeps me busy. Um but it's it's fun. Um, I did once once I've started promoting more shows and uh getting having bigger shows, I did put the like coaching and training kind of just to the side. Uh promoting was you know, became something that I wanted to focus on more, and having a big team and a lot of clients while promoting a lot of shows that just start being all kinds of conflict of interest, interest for me. You know, your your athletes they want to uh compete in your shows, but that's not always, you know, I'd rather not my athletes be competing in my shows and then you lost you for a second, but I can edit that out.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

So, um you were talking about uh shows promotion and how you um kind of step back and coach a little bit and focus on the promotion of the shows and broadcast.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

I didn't see Yeah, I can I can hear you.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Can you hear me okay? Yeah, yeah, can you hear me okay?

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yes, there you are.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah, so we lost it right when you were talking about um the show promotion and how that's kind of taken over uh more of your focus in the fitness industry over the past few years.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Okay, yeah, so so promotion kind of became more of my focus versus training. So I kind of put that the training kind of um took the back burner and I just started focusing on show promotion instead and and uh have a look back, really uh been enjoying it and plan on continuing doing just the promotion. Um that's that's where I'm at now.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Yeah, so I do want to touch up on the uh show promotion side of things a little bit more, but first I do want to kind of dive into like your background in fitness and kind of what what was your driver to get started in the gym in the first place? Because I think everybody's got like a different like origin story of kind of what was their motivation to get into the gym. And uh, based on like conversations we've had, I know you have a really interesting story of kind of what got you started in the gym in the first place. So it'd be good to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yeah, um, yeah, I definitely we have as we can hear in some of our shows, like we'll we'll hear these stories of people like why they started, and and I got one of those. Um so I was never like I was always active when I was younger, played soccer, but I never really went to the gym to lift. It was more like country strong, kind of worked on a farm, that kind of type of uh strong. If I if I went to a gym, because I lived in a small town, we didn't even have a gym. And if I went to a gym, then I was kind of more like I don't even know what I'm doing in here. But I say I was I was active, played soccer, threw around bales of hay and wrestled sheep and stuff like that. Uh but then in my early 20s, um I had a car accident, like very severe car accident, hit another car I had on and completely destroyed myself, broke almost every bone in my body. Um and uh jaw in two places, my legs were crumbled, both of them uh almost lost one of the legs. And uh hips were broken two places, broke the wrist, uh elbow, the finger, uh ribcage collapsed. Um and uh, you know, I was a mess basically. Spent like a week in a coma, uh, three months after that in the hospital bed because uh my hips were broken, so I couldn't move. Wasn't allowed to move out of the bed, and then finally out of the bed. Um, six months after that, I spent just being able to learn how to get back on my feet. Um, I had external fixators, trying to hold my legs together um and braces, so was in a wheelchair for six months, and then um after that I got back on my feet, physical therapy, had to learn how to walk again and just you know building back strength. And um, people I really learned then like how important just having muscle and being strong is because getting out of the hospital bed, like after being in a hospital bed for six for three months straight, and for a whole month of that, actually six weeks of that, my what mouth was wired shut because I had a broken jaw, so all I had was liquid diet, right? Nothing but soups and protein shakes, and um so I was like 90 pounds, like barely soaking wet, you know, and uh 90 pounds and a five, four frame is very little. Uh I was skin and bones. So I basically just I looked at myself and I was like, this is this is not healthy at all, and I have no strength to do nothing. So I was like, okay, well, let me let me do something about it. I had some good friends that were kind of in the bodybuilding community and they were lifting. Well, one of my good friends was a personal trainer, so he kind of took me under his wing and with his help and uh and just you know, physical therapy, obviously, but that's such a different physical therapy. Yeah, you're doing exercises, but it's such a different thing than lifting. So we just started strength training and building strength and getting stronger and and uh building muscle, put some uh meat on those bones, right? Um and that was just kind of that's how I fell in love with weightlifting. I realized just how much better I felt once I got stronger, and once I how much better I was able to move. Uh, it helped out with my joints just because I had muscles to help protect the joints, right? And uh that kind of was a no turning back from there. Like, no matter how bad I felt, like you have injuries like that, you always have residual things going on, pain and whatever. But like there was always a significant difference. If I took time off in the gym and I wasn't going to the gym, then I felt it immediately. Uh, versus go being in the gym, how much that helped? Just me staying pain-free and mobile and being able to do things like that normal people do, right? Uh, so that's just kind of like I don't care. Um yeah, it's it might be hard to start, but like once you are in it and starting, it just makes such a huge difference just in daily life of what you're able to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah, I think as trainers, as trainers, we always say that strength training is the fountain of youth, and you can definitely attest to that for honestly.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it's and it really, really is. And like it's I I've lived it, and I can tell people like I don't I don't care what your excuse is, like not only have I lived through having to go through a lot to live, but I also seen so many amazing, amazing stories where people just run the gym, kind of help them regain their youth and regain their health. So the importance of just you know, go two, three times a week. I don't care, like even if it's just that, you don't have to become a bodybuilder, but uh just go do something, strength train. It's it's so important. Anything from just mobility to osteoporosis, especially for women. And uh I'm 50 now, I really have to think about that, right? So, like having done weightlifting in the past, it just looks like this different being healthy. Yeah, but that's kind of how I started weightlifting, and then time passes, time goes on. I you know, I I know people in the weightlifting and bodybuilding world, I started watching, you know, icons from early, like Monica Brant was a huge inspiration to me, and like back when fitness and figure were really like the only female categories, is when I was kind of really uh watching, and uh like that's kind of just kind of a little kind of I wonder if I could do it kind of thing. And I was watching, I had some friends that were doing uh in Iceland at that time, doing like did the fitness competitions and like actual, like the I don't know you probably too, y'all remember, but some people I remember like back when there was like there was couples fitness competitions and then they did all these jumps and and hoops, like kind of like um they still have the uh the fitness and Olympia, but uh that's kind of where that started. And I and then the figure category came along, and I was like, Well, you don't have to do any crazy exercise stunts, you just have to look good on stage, right? So I was like, I think I can do that. And uh so then in 2008, when I was kind of thinking, like, well, it's gonna be 10 years since I stepped out of my wheelchair, like, how about I like try to do a show? And uh there was uh this small uh military only, like for military members and military spouses, like competition that was gonna be in Tampa. And when I saw that, I was kind of like, maybe I'll train for that one and I'll try it and see how it just you know, just to prove to myself that I can, right? I just wanted to prove to myself that yes, I can do this. It's just gonna be a one-time thing, right? One time thing. Um and uh yeah, exactly. How many people haven't have you heard say that? And then they show up like uh three years later and ten years later, right? Um and uh here you are here I am for uh what no, eight years later, no. How many years, sister? A lot more than that. 2008 was my first show, almost 18 years later, uh, and four shows into it that I'm promoting. It's uh it's quite the jump. But so I I got started to training. I there was some girl in the gym that she had done a bodybuilding show a long time ago, so she kind of helped me out. You know, she was teaching body pump at the time. I had no idea what I'm doing. Uh, but we just you know started dieting, did all the wrong things, ate nothing but fish and tilapia, like tilapia and and asparagus, and and uh like those doing like low reps only to burn fat. No, like high reps only to burn fat and and all that stupid stuff, like did did everything wrong basically. All these things that now that I know better, I'm just like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah, I think we all have uh there's a we've all had a phase of bodybuilding where we've gone through that like meat head dieting where you think you have to eat like super plain. I think that's one of the things that has changed so much, probably since you started in 2008 to now. It's like so many more people have adapted to a more like intuitive nutrition concept, and some people prefer like your macros diet, but there's just so much more information out there now about how you can actually achieve fat loss and get to stage conditioning versus having to eat like tilapia and rice and like really white.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yeah, exactly. Like, really, because that's that's that's what it was bodybuilding diet. You have to eat tilapia to thin your skin, uh, and really was the science there. But uh and you you can only uh have tilapia and rice and broccoli and asparagus, you have to have some asparagus. So that's yeah, I'm so glad. I'm I'm amazed if I still see that around. Unfortunately, that's still around, but uh there's definitely a lot that I learned since then. But I stepped off stage, I met some amazing people uh backstage, uh so some that are plenty that I know still to this time. Um and um and I kind of loved it. I was just like, oh my god, that was amazing! Like the challenge of it all through it all, and just being on stage there. Uh, I think I got third uh out of four girls, like in figure. And this is figured, okay. This was the last year that they did one piece and two piece in figure. Uh this is so I actually did uh wore one piece for a round and then I did a two-piece round. Uh so and almost no bling on my on my suit. So times are definitely very, very different back then.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

I didn't even know that thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah, no, it was a it was a it that was a thing. Um and um bikini wasn't even a thing. It was either bought uh did bodybuilding or figure as a female or fitness. So the uh but I I loved it and uh I was kind of like wow, that was amazing. But then you know, and I was talking to other competitors and I learned I learned about the wrong things that I did, and then I started researching more uh and just kind of looking into things. Social media was not as big back then, it was like Facebook, and that was it. Uh, so it was definitely not information, it was not as readily available as it was, but bodybuilding forums on bodybuilding.com was a thing, and so definitely that's where people got got their uh information from. And uh I learned that you gotta lift heavy to build muscle, and uh and you gotta keep lifting heavy no matter what to keep that muscle. So, and you gotta eat properly, and you gotta eat enough to build muscle. So I learned, so I was like, okay, I'm coming back next year, I'm gonna do better. And sure enough, I lifted heavy. I came back, way better package. Uh, my tent was way worse looking back at it, and my suit was worse, but that's a different story. That's questionable choices on my behalf. But um the definitely made improvement there, and uh and just learned a whole bunch, and that just kind of ignited even more of a fire. Oh, yeah, I want to keep doing this. This is fun. Like, I um so I got pregnant shortly after my second competition and that with my second child, so I didn't compete, but I did start, you know, I got my training certification, started training uh people just regularly, not for show because you know you shouldn't do that. Don't win no, don't don't do one show and then start training people for shows. But um, and I trained, I was a trainer for about three years, and then I helped somebody get on stage, like a co- uh trained somebody, and um went to like my as a trainer with with some friends to a show in Baltimore. I lived in Baltimore then, and that was my first OCB show that I went to. I wish I could remember the name of it, but I don't, but I know it was in uh Baltimore back in 2012. Um, so the um went to a show there and that was kind of now after that I I had some people ask me to help them coach them for a show, and uh you know, had a small team of a few girls and a couple of guys here in Florida after we moved back to Florida. We did some shows and did pretty good. Um the second person I ever stepped on stage is IFB Pearl now in women's chosen. So uh I can say that I got her started because I trained up for her first show. But um the uh doing that and and coaching, uh you know, I've I'm just kind of immersed into the bodybuilding and just in love with uh at all the culture around it. So I decided to take a course and see about like uh about judging. There was it was being offered by a promoter that was close to me, which is Sly was doing it. So um he he kind of ended up becoming my mentor. Um, he um was off him and his uh business partner back then was they were doing like a a judging course, like uh where they would teach people how to be judges and what to look for and so forth. So I took that course with them and uh then I started test test judging. Uh my first uh test test was Sly and uh and I started and I judged with NGA for uh about a year before moving completely over to just OCB. I've I've done some so I'm certified both as NGA judge and an OCB judge, and now a USB judge too. So but the um uh being in it, it was like the more I got into it, the more I got involved, the more I just wanted to be like, this is awesome. I loved it. It helped me just kind of I guess the impact of body strength training was a huge impact for me, just how what it made, how much it did for me. And then uh bodybuilding itself, like it helped me kind of step out more and realize how much more I could push myself because I would be lifting, but I realized once I started training for bodybuilding that I needed to lift heavier, that I had kind of been holding myself back because I was scared. I was like, well, my legs are gonna break again, or my knee won't handle this, or something. So I had that little fear kind of holding me back of how much of my potential basically. So once I started doing the bodybuilding, that just kind of pushed my pushed me to the next level. And I just felt like it that gave me so much that I wanted to give back to others, and I helped, I wanted to help others kind of. Just get that feeling and uh have such a positive experience like I did. So in the back of my mind, I was always kind of like, okay, five-year plan, I want to promote maybe five 10-year plan on my 10-year plan, I want to maybe promote a show. And uh, and then two years into this uh 10-year plan of mine where I'm you know just judging and and coaching people, I was approached by somebody who was was wanting to start a natural company, uh natural bodybuilding federation. And uh here in the South, uh it was called One World United. Uh, it never amounted to much, but it was around for four three, four years. Um, but he asked me if I wanted to promote a show, and I was kind of like, well, it's kind of earlier than I had planned, but okay, sure, it's a small one. I'll I'll I'll try it. And that's how my first show, Fire Nights Classic, was born, like, right? I 2017 I promoted this show. Um, and it went well, it was very small, but I was like, okay, I kind of like this, and just the experience meeting the athletes, their stories, giving them a good experience just was very rewarding to me. So I was like, okay, I want to keep doing this. And then that's when Sly was like, well, you should come to the OCB. And I was like, all right, I'll I'll I'll think about that. And um the year passed where I was kind of making up my mind, and I and I didn't switch. But then by 2019, I was like, okay, yes, I'm gonna commit to after doing my research, because I always gotta, you know, figure out. I looked into all the different natural organizations, uh, how they did things and everything, and I was like, all right, OCB is the way to go. That's like everything about what they were becoming was something that kind of called to me. And uh, so I I was like, all right, let me, you know, talk to them. And after interviewing with the Mats of the OCB and and uh going through all that's required there, I I was new. Now my Fire Nights Classic was OCB Fire and Ice Classic, and uh 2019, July 2019 was the first time I promoted for OCB, and uh it went great. Like I had a better avenue for athletes that came to my shows now where they could grow, become pros, and and so forth. So that's I never looked back since then. It was it was just so amazing. Um and just the community within the OCB between athletes and promoters and and the support that we get, I just that's uh just not something that I found anywhere else. So no regrets there for sure.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

That's awesome. So that's a really cool origin story of kind of how you got into bodybuilding and and just some of the opportunities that it created for you. And I think that's like I always tell people like what's so exciting about somebody saying yes to the opportunity or like taking on the challenge of competing for the first time, you just never know like what doors it's gonna open for you. Like for you and for myself as well, and I think a lot of people that are affiliated pretty heavily in the OCD now, everyone started somewhere just by saying yes to giving competing a try. And it you just never know what kind of opportunities it's gonna open for you, like what doors, right? Like, I never thought like seven years ago when I started um doing my first bodybuilding show that it would lead to me getting into like coaching and promoting and things like that. But it's just saying yes to like opportunities and and networking is it's so important and it's such a cool part of the fitness industry. I think the OCB does a great job of like creating such a good community and making people feel uh valued and want to be more involved. I think that's why the federation's grown so much. And it's like I can say like some of my closest friends I've made through through bodybuilding through the OCB. It's just such a cool community.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Yeah, definitely. That's why I tell people like if I when I have athlete meetings or in the Zoom calls that I do before shows, is that uh like competing and and getting a trophy is great and a pro card and everything, but like the connections that you make backstage, like the connections that you make with other people is especially if you're somebody who wants to do something in the fitness industry, like that's that's where that's where the gold is. That's that's where it is, because you'll you'll make connections that might last a lifetime and that might help propel you somewhere where you are trying to get, you know. So it's so important to uh value that backstage atmosphere and the people that are there in the trenches with you backstage. And uh when you're on stage, you're competing, but backstage you're making friends, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

So I mean you never know like what saying yes to those opportunities can can lead to. I know my first uh led me into getting to know the OCB. That's how I met Will and Todd at the Queen City show back in 2019, and that's how I know all you guys now. So it's it is such a it's a it's such a cool network, and and you know, like it's it's exciting to see the growth of it and how much it's impacted people. I think that's definitely what's that?

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yeah, I was gonna say that's how we met. You came and did my show in Tampa, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Yeah, yeah, during COVID.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

Exactly in 2020, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:26

We're at that we're at that hotel venue.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Yeah, exactly. We're we're gonna be actually this year again.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

So yeah, and that was one of the only that was one of the only shows I think that went on during COVID, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Yeah, it was it was one of the very, very few uh shows from Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

I was looking on the schedule and said, Well, there's not a lot to pick from, but let's go to Tampa.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

I know, and that's kind of like how and that's a that's a whole story in itself, too, because that's like 2020. Uh that show had been and here's the funny story too. Okay, so in 2013, I competed in my first and only OCB show, and that was the Florida West Coast Natural.

unknown 28:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Um, then promoted by Lane Norton, right? By Elaine, right? Um, he promoted that show. And um little did I know that later on, seven years later, uh that show actually ended up changing the name and changing his name to OCB Tampa. And uh it was promoted by Paul Rivelli for a while, and then by 2019, Paul was kind of busy with his coaching, he's got a huge coaching team and not really focused on, and so he was um stepping out of it, and OCB was kind of looking for promoters to take over that show because Tampa is a big market, and I had kind of like voiced an interest early in the year when they were talking about like, hey, I wouldn't mind taking that. I that's that was the first only OCB show that I've actually done. And uh and then I just didn't think any more of it. Well, fast forward to until August, I'm like a week before my uh Fire Nights Classic, and uh and I'm putting on this show here in Tampa in Panama City during COVID, and we're kind of trying to figure out things things are with that. And and then and Marjorie hits me up and and she's like, Hey Jenny, are you are you now are still still uh interested in promoting that Tampa show? And I'm like, yeah. She's like, well, there's a lot of interest, like people are wanting this show to continue on, and there's a lot of interest of people in Tampa, so we and we need somebody to take it over. And I was like, all right, I'm in Pink Week right now for this other show, like for my show, and uh like let me get back to you next week after I look because I mean 2020, there was restrictions on everything, all the venues had restrictions, hotels, there's you know a lot of things to extra things that promoters had to be looking out for. So I was like, let me get back to you. And uh sure enough, as soon as I was done with my fire and I show that that weekend, I jumped right into looking into what was available, and and then I was like, okay, yeah, I'll do it. And uh so I had two and a half months to set up that show for the first time. Um right, a little pressure, but uh I thrive on it, right? So I did it, and we had 50, I think it was 52 competitors that year. Uh and so people showed up during COVID and all, and we we had all these things that we had to do, but it was amazing, and I was like, Yeah, that's that's it, this is my show now. So it's kind of came, I felt like it came full circle, like it being like I did that show back in 20 the first year that it was, and then now it's my show. So have a little personal connection with it.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Yeah, I think like one of the big takeaways from that is like the impact that that show probably had on so many people during a really hard time for a lot of people with mental health and different things. Like COVID was those are weird times. Like people didn't, a lot of people didn't have gym access, a lot of people didn't have work, like there wasn't a lot for people to look forward to during that time. And I think I think you being able to put on a show that people could look forward to, like have something to work towards was like probably monumental for them. And I don't know if you realize that, but that probably made a huge impact on quite a bit of people. I know for myself it was it was really great to have something to like shift focus towards during during that time because uh my gym was a I worked at a Corbett gym, like an Anytime Fitness back in Virginia during that time, and we were shut down, so lucky I had a key to the building so I could still get in and train and I was able to like prep for the show. But like outside of that, it was a lot of free time, so it was it was definitely extremely beneficial for me, and I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to go down and and compete in the show, and it was it was a great experience for me.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yeah, it's I'm so glad that like I was so glad to be able to do that because I actually had a me and a friend of mine, we had um started co-promoting a show that we were gonna start in Alabama, and it was supposed to be end of March. Well, we all know what happened at the end of March. So, right in 2020. So obviously there was no show, and we ended up people that were registered, we did like we refunded them, but then we uh ended up doing like a virtual kind of like sending pictures and we sending little awards that we had kind of prepared. So, but that show was like non-existent and didn't actually start until 2021 because of uh COVID. So it was like we're like, oh man, that sucks. And that's why I was like, all right, I gotta try to by August, this should be done. And then November I was able to put on that such uh take that over. I was so glad for that opportunity. So, but that was that was the start of my show number two and three in OCB, like got OCB Tampa then in 2020, in November 2020, and then Magic City Muscle, um, which I said didn't start until um April 2021 because of COVID, but now suddenly I'm I'm three shows deep uh in promoting. Um so that that's that's fun times.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah, so I can't hats off to you for managing that many shows. I I'm curious, like how do you how do you juggle the workload of promoting so many shows? And they always seem to be at such a high level. Like I know your shows have a great reputation, they always get a big turnout. You do a fantastic job marketing. How have you been able to um take on more shows and continue to produce at a high quality? Like, what's what's the uh formula for what you how you operate that?

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Um hold on. If I don't live in caffeine? No. Okay, no. Uh so support system is is huge. Uh, we do have a huge support system with uh within the OCB itself. Um, I have a support system with like Sly, who's my mentor, who promotes here in the panhandle, uh, who got me kind of started with OCB and just training and judging and everything. Uh and just people are just so eager to help. And I've made friends in the shows as I'm growing, and and and it just always amazes me how people are just like, oh my god, I would love to help you out. Can I do this? And and just so I've been able to build kind of a little friendships and community so of people being able to help me out, and then obviously having a very, very supportive husband who lets me do whatever I want to. It just takes on the like when I started my both the kids were home and they're younger, and they had to be taken to school, and no matter where I was traveling to judge or promote, or or you know, staying up late, uh taking care of show stuff, and and uh he would always just take care of the kids and and take care of the home and just do whatever you need to do. And and I mean, he's not a bodybuilder into bodybuilding all himself, but he's he's always been supportive, and and he's the one who kind of pushes me when I'm if I'm let down a little bit or don't feel like it or whatever. He's like, you know, you're gonna hate yourself, you better just as well going. And uh so he he will push me through it, and then he's like, as long as it makes you happy and you don't overwork yourself, I'll support it. And that's and that's what he's he's always done. So that's that that makes a huge difference when he but you don't have to worry about things.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Oh, yeah, it definitely does. You gotta have a good support system because I don't I don't think people really understand how much goes into the promotion of a show. There's a lot of back end things. So that being said, what would you say like what would you say to somebody that doesn't really understand like what all goes into show promotion? Like, what is what's really like the big um area you see people like maybe like misunderstand about like the whole process of show promotion? Because I I think people like they see the day of events and they're like, oh, this looks pretty like this is smooth. Like if a show is well run, they just kind of assume that it's like it's just kind of comes naturally. But what's what's like the secret to like a well-wheeled show, like a smooth operation?

SPEAKER_00 36:11

Uh preparation, preparation, like being prepared, um, having everything prepared beforehand, uh, and anticipating issues that will come along. Of course, when you're starting off, there's issues you don't even realize that are there. But um, there's a lot of logistics that I feel like athletes don't understand. And I get like after every show, I I request feedback, like anonymous feedback from athletes, like send out a Google form. And sometimes people will come up with suggestions that I can use and which I do. And but sometimes people will come up with suggestions that logistically are just not possible. And I I I don't think uh I can't think of any at the top of my head right now, but like there's there are things like uh you have to set up, you know, we have to take care of lighting, you have to take care of not just nowadays live stream, there's photography, there's tanning, there's there's uh uh polygraphing. Um you have to make sure that there's a hotel available for everybody. There's you have to make sure that the venue is available. You have to make sure that the venue has acts get you access to internet, gets you access to uh everything that you need. Like the athletes need backstage area. It's it's not just the stage. You need athletes who need backstage area too. Um, you need to be able to feed the judges, you have to feed your staff. You need to get judges that are qualified, right? Fortunately, OCB makes that easy for us uh with their certification, but um it and it's been getting better over the years. You have to make sure that somebody is a cantably, you have to make sure to find people that can help you backstage and being able to uh uh expedite, and a good expediter makes or breaks the show. Like if you have a good expediter that can't that that's what keeps the show flow going. Like if you have a crappy expediter that then you constantly with the empty stage, or athletes are not showing up on stage in time or in order or whatever. So there's a lot of little things like that that people don't think about, not to mention you have to make sure you communicate with your athletes. And I overcommunicate with mine, like they they get multiple emails from you. Um then, as you know, as you know, as somebody was competing in myself, but um they so you got to communicate, make sure all the athletes know where where to go, uh who to contact, uh what to book, and and and so forth. There, there's definitely, and then not to mention all the paperwork that because you have to have your paperwork in time, you have to have your judges' sheets in order, you have to have your expeditor sheets in order, you have to have uh you have to line up the all the athletes, right? You have to make sure that you kind of plan out how the day is gonna go, especially with the bigger shows, like okay, you have this many athletes doing debut bikini. How long is that approximately gonna take? You have this many athletes doing novice bikini, and then and then so forth. So you kind of gotta estimate that, which is always difficult. So there's there's just a lot of little things in there that um I don't think people realize that you have to actually there's a lot of planning behind. There's also one of the biggest communicator that the biggest thing that people are like, oh, why don't you have a pro show? And I was like, pro shows are expensive, like uh, and I hate to talk about it in the in the terms of money because that's not why I do it or any of us do it. Sure. But the but but the show has to sustain itself, right? Yeah uh I I can't be for you know, I'm not a millionaire, I can't just fork out money for every show, right? Uh so as long as the show sustains itself, I'm happy. Um but so and having pros, we do extra for our pros, right? We we give they have you know extra goodies, they have extra shirts, they have uh then we we pay out pro money. So and people don't realize that that's that's actually extra expense. And pros don't bring in as many audiences to watch because you know, usually people are like, oh, you've been doing your thing for a while, right? Yeah, I don't need to come watch it. So audiences more follows the amateurs more, so um, and that's another revenue revenue for uh promoter, right? So you have to you you're you're spending more money on your pros without getting as much uh money back, right? And uh and that's so like having pro shows, I love it. That's that's great. I have two now. And the uh and I absolutely love it, but that's that's not I'm not doing it because I'll make more money out of it. So that's it's a lot that goes into that. Plus, you know, you have to strategically place your pro shows, you can't just willy-nilly put pro shows, whatever. There has to be a logic to it. Yeah, there's mix sense.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

There's like a whole formula to how the logistics of all that stuff of the show needs to go, and it's definitely a lot of things to corral and and kind of operate. But I definitely uh hats off to you for putting on some great shows. I know the reputation forum is is top-notch, and I always have athletes down and floor that want to do your show, so they've got a great reputation. Um thank you.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

That's that's that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

I gotta uh I gotta jump into a session, and I know you probably got a lot with your show coming up too. So but thanks so much for jumping on. Great conversation.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

Um, we'll have to appreciate I appreciate yeah, I appreciate your uh having me on. I want to shout out one thing. My new pro show is the Daytona one show. That's the fourth show. So I just I gotta shout that out. And my brand new show in in Georgia now in July, July 18th. So that's that's coming up. Yeah, that's that's my that's my newest one. But um, I appreciate you having me on and uh I'll let you get back to your training.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

Yeah, always a pleasure. Thanks for your time.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Yep.