Surviving the Side Hustle

Transformative Triumphs: Anthony Fasiglione's Journey from Athlete to Wellness Guru and the Art of Balanced Hustle

Coach Rob Season 1 Episode 37

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When Anthony Fasiglione stepped into our studio, he brought with him not just his physical therapy expertise but a life story that exemplifies transformation. His rise from injury-riddled athlete to a health and wellness authority is nothing short of motivational, and in our time together, he shared the holistic principles that guide his practice. Whether you're a sports enthusiast looking to enhance your performance, or simply someone aiming for a healthier lifestyle, Anthony's insights on the importance of movement, outdoor energy, and personalized training regimes offer invaluable guidance.

Our conversation with Anthony didn't just stop at physical wellness; it ventured into the mental fortitude required to set and chase ambitious goals. From discussing age-appropriate strength and conditioning for the youth to the sheer determination needed in entrepreneurial ventures, our chat navigated the intricacies of personal growth. If you're juggling business aspirations with the demands of daily life, Anthony's practical advice on staying organized and driven, while also balancing the joys of family, will resonate deeply with your own journey.

Wrapping up our enlightening discussion, we dove into the value of a strong support network and the upcoming launch of a wellness app that promises to be a game-changer. Anthony's experience in creating this platform, alongside the development of his passion project AF360, is a true testament to the power of community and innovation. For all the side hustlers tuning in, get ready to soak up survival tips that champion humility, self-care, and a steadfast grip on your 'why' to fuel your passion and persistence. With Anthony Fasiglione's story as our backdrop, we invite you to join us on a path to wellness that's as fulfilling as it is necessary.

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Speaker 1:

on. I got AJ on today, dude. What's up bro? What's going on?

Speaker 2:

What's up, man, I'm happy to be on. I'm living the life man, living the dream, surviving the hustle as you know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, of course it sucks with all this terrible rain at the moment, but hopefully it springs right around the corner where we can get outside, get some sunlight and get rolling with some stuff. You do any training or anything outside yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

I mean I try to do a lot of boot camp stuff outside, you know, get them. You know, even for physical therapy, get them outside moving. I think the sun is the best man. Get that vitamin d. It just makes you feel good, makes you move better. High energy, you know, yeah, being inside, yeah being inside kooked up. Too much is too much, man Same.

Speaker 1:

I'm ready for the spring. So how about you give a little introduction? Who are you? Who do you help? What is it you kind of do, kind of thing like that.

Speaker 2:

All right, cool. Yeah, I'm Anthony Fasiglione. I'm a physical therapist, cscs. I help pretty much general pop sports. You know related people. You know anyone really in the health and wellness industry. You know anything from recovery post pre-op to just your average Joe trying to get into shape. You know between nutrition and coaching, I think I offer a lot. You know which is awesome. You know similar to you, which is cool, you know so we're like-minded in that aspect, but I love it. I've been doing it for over 15 years and you know, just every day I eat, breathe and grind to this. You know like this is my passion. This is my why. Cool, I love that.

Speaker 1:

Uh, 15 years, man. Yeah, you've been in the industry for a little while now. Um, I think I'm coming up on like 13, maybe 14 myself, so I'm right there. It's amazing to think about how fast time flies, uh. But so what got you into what? What? What made you? What was the thing that you were like oh, I'm going to physical therapy school um, so I was an athlete you know, a typical job.

Speaker 2:

But I was always injured. Man, like as good as I was, I was always in like a pt room, like between two acl recons, and just broken shoulders from football and soccer. I was like you know what, I gotta try to heal myself before I help other people and I just fell in love with it, man, I saw it work. I really got to see like the PT aspect of it and then the training behind it, like it was just so important and so many kids at that like younger level of performance don't have like that bigger, faster, stronger program, like they don't have like that actual why we're doing this. You know it's just lift a lot of weights, run as fast as you can and get as big as you can, but what is the reason why we're doing this Right? So I kind of fell in love with it, you know, and throughout high school just became obsessed with it, you know, yeah, until I went into college and, you know, studied it, so it was cool.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I got a couple of friends who were physical therapies as well and that seems to be kind of like a trend People either injured or know somebody who was really injured, and then they just kind of like dive into it and they're like all right, well, I'm going to make sure that this doesn't happen again and if it does happen, I want to make sure that I can prevent it from happening further or whatever it might be. So I like that you use yourself kind of as like your guinea pig to get through it. And now you're helping a lot of different people in all different sports and different things and such Right. I think you're working with a bunch of different athletes and things, training yourself constantly.

Speaker 2:

A hundred percent. Yeah, kids anywhere from like the age of seven, you know, that's where it starts, right, like getting into the proper movements, getting into proper positions and then really just, you know, letting them find their bodies and getting to know, like who they are as, like an athlete, where they stand, they stand, um, and then all the way up into, like middle school, high school, where it's like, all right, now we're on more of a you know more, I would say, a grittier aspect, where it's like now, more cutthroat, like what are we fine-tuning in them? You know what are their goals like, what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses, like how to make them a better athlete and just, even if they don't become a D1 or a D2 athlete, like just a better performing person. You know, in health and wellness, like just movement, you know, like getting to know their bodies. Now doing PT right, like seeing how people sitting and standing grabbing something off the floor, how small everyday motions can be done incorrectly. It's so funny.

Speaker 2:

That's the beauty of our industry, right, rob? We get to see that every day and we get to see how everyone moves so differently, but as professionals we know what to look for and see that like, obviously they're just like regular people, you know, having their everyday issues that we would have and just trying to get to like a goal where it's it's nice holding their hand through that goal and getting them to like that end line and that end zone where where it's like, all right, cool, we got here. You know, we we went through the the tough parts and we we cried it out, laughed it out, and and now you know here's, here's the prize, so it's, it's cool, it's definitely gratifying. You know I love this industry. It's always changing and it's always, uh, evolving, which makes it fun for us, but uh, it's always, like you said, the gratification with helping somebody. You know, really just making someone's day that much better is changing a life. You know, right, like that's what we got into this for. You know, changing people's lives every day.

Speaker 1:

Ask you because you mentioned about working with kids who are like six and seven. You ever encounter any like adults who like freak out, if you're like advocating all the time.

Speaker 2:

It's the funniest thing ever, right?

Speaker 2:

So, like parents and I feel like I deal with this a lot Like the parents they get super protective right of their kids, rightfully, so right, like, of course, like we don't want our kids to be hurt and like get injured but at the same time like trust the coach or the trainer or even the you know the strength and conditioning specialist to do their job and you know make sure that they're using proper you know FMS type training and screenings to you know gauge these kids strength and speed output you know like at age like six and seven is like. I even do it with my daughter. You know like she plays soccer and and like you know I was testing her out seeing where her weakness was at six and seven. Even if I wasn't using weights, I would use bands, I would use cones, I would use different type of drills and screens like one leg hops and and just speed and agility tests to see where you're at right.

Speaker 2:

Like strength and conditioning. People get it mixed up with like powerlifting and like bodybuilding and all those like explosive type movements with heavy weight. But it's not. You can use your body weight and still get an explosive movement Right. So I tell parents all the time like don't get scared of of like strength training at a young age. It's the type of training you know.

Speaker 2:

Obviously as you get older you're going to progress into heavier weights and and different types of tempo and different types of you know routines that we come up with as professionals to make them, you know, stronger, bigger and faster, safely you know. So, um, I think that's the biggest thing is like knowing where you're at as a parent, like letting us do your like, let us do right by your child you know, like, and and obviously coaching the parent through it too, right, like. I think that's the biggest thing is like they don't know Right. So they trust us to give them that knowledge. So as a professional, I'm I'm not that knowledge. So as a professional, I'm not only coaching their kids but I'm coaching the parents. So, yeah, pretty funny.

Speaker 1:

I'm so glad that you talked about that too, because it really comes down to communication with the parents and because, whether they're whatever, their take is like they like. If they're against the kids strength training, they think it's just like all this, this terrible word, and you think they're just going to get hurt. And and I think if coaches just have that communication to explain the idea behind the process like, yeah, your kid's not going to be dead lifting like 800 pounds or squatting like 500 pounds when he's like nine, but there's a scale to that. So like he's this heavy, so like him doing a body weight squat, is that much force?

Speaker 1:

Like, if we challenge him with an appropriate challenge, that can transfer over into a lot of different things, not just athletic performance, but like setting yourself to a goal and then challenging yourself and then exceeding that. Think about how that's going to do with his mental health too, when it comes to like schoolwork and needing to study. Like he's now setting a challenge and he's got the plan, he's got the action, he knows what he needs to do. That's going to transfer over into other aspects of his life, not just on the field or the sports. I think that can come up a lot easier with communications with the parents and other individuals and sorry for kind of going on a little rant yeah, of course, though it's true.

Speaker 1:

I want to ask you, I want to change that topic there, to bring it back to the entrepreneurial world and the side hustle. Obviously, as an entrepreneur it can be difficult, there's ups and downs, but how do you strategically or how do you appropriately challenge yourself so that you can continue to grow as an entrepreneur or as a coach?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's a great question, right, and over the years that was something that I even had to work with myself, but I think for me it was just constant having like that goal and insight, right.

Speaker 2:

So, no matter what my goal was whether it was AF360, like my business that I started and, just you know, had so many like I don't even know if this is going to work but the grit that I put through it, like having that end goal, that vision that you, that you want, that like what is it that you're trying to accomplish, and not letting anything like deter you right.

Speaker 2:

So, like everything else outside of life, obviously everyone goes through stuff, but my, my success came from just pure determination, man, like just never stopping, never giving up on my own vision, on my on myself, on what I was trying to deliver to the public, um, and really just staying persistent. You know, having weekly goals that you, you kind of complete yourself, right. So for any entrepreneur, like going into business, like goal setting is huge. I find that like one of the biggest things. That if we don't do it, if we don't have, like you know, a two week marker, a one week marker, like even to check ourselves like we're. We're running wild, you know, so yeah, that that was my biggest, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So how do you set these smaller goals or make them more manageable, or I guess let me even take a step back from that and let me ask you what are some of your goals?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So, like you know, I've pretty much explained to you, you know privately, but we're going through, you know, an application where we're creating apps now. So I want to I already did. You know the Westchester County Dutchess, you know Connecticut, long Island, so I hit my Northeast right A little bit in our area. Now I want to expand Right. So, like how, my goal is like how do I touch multiple people in United States and country wide, right? So we're, we're kind of launching an app now, you know. So my goal is just getting that going.

Speaker 2:

You know, staying focused on what I need to do with the, you know, the techie guys behind the scene and kind of learning the tech side of it too. You know, like that's for me. I'm not a techie guy, so it's hard, you know. So it's definitely something that's a challenge. So keeping myself up and up with the tech version of all these apps and what's different from my app than other people's is really cool, it's fun. But I would say spreadsheet man. Honestly, I make a to-do list like a honeydew list If you are married with kids and you get like a grocery list. That's what I do, like a little spreadsheet of like all right, cool, this is what we're going to accomplish this week Get it done Like doesn't matter what it is, man, it's like just do it.

Speaker 1:

And then next week another goal, like let's hit it there you go yeah, breaking it down, making it more manageable, makes it easier. What's that saying? It's like how do you eat an elephant? It's like one bite at a time. Just cut it down and go one step at a time. And yeah, I love that too, that you hold yourself accountable. A lot of times, too many people kind of fall into that walk the walk without actually talking, the talk kind of thing, and I like that you implement the same kind of thing with those guys in the tech and you're challenging yourself by trying to learn as much as you can so you can still be involved in the tech a little bit more. So there, instead of just kind of like taking the easy road and just kind of skipping out. So that talks volumes about you as a person continuously challenging and pushing yourself too. So now I got to like ask you you got all these different things going on? How do you? You?

Speaker 2:

know that's a tough question, right, like over the years, like you know, between working even full time, you know, to support my side hustle, you know, like even full-time, you know, to support my side hustle, you know, like at the I know I didn't have the money at the time to get through it, so, like I had to work, you know. And I had a family, like you know, I have two kids, so it's like you know, coming home taking care of the kids, working a full-time job and really just having that life-work balance and then setting at least two hours a day just to work on my goals, right, and not forget about my family and make sure that they were taken care of, was something I definitely struggled in my earlier years of being a business owner and I had to learn the word humble, right, Be humble, right. I had to learn the word humble, right, be humble, right. So, even if you don't get everything done that you want to get done that day, an hour or two is more than enough because it's a step ahead from what you were yesterday. Right, each day that I worked on AF360 to build it better, stronger, get more contacts, I think you know putting myself out there in the health and wellness industry, communicating with other people. You know how I met you right, like we.

Speaker 2:

Just I just had to network every day, get a little bit more knowledge on, like the health and wellness industry and really I would say the best thing I did was just just create like one or two hours a day, even every other day, you know, just to work on your baby. You know, like our business is our baby, like this is what we love, you know it's it's it's it's our passion, right? So, whatever your passion is, it doesn't have to be health and wellness, it could be anything. You know, whatever your business is like, let you know, give yourself that love and give it that hour or two, even if it's at 10 o'clock at night when everybody's asleep. Just just get it done, man. Like you know, I I sacrificed multiple nights of sleep just to get this business up and running. Man, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, I can relate to that. I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I get up super early, at like 3 or 2 o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't know how you do that, man. I'm changing diapers at that time. Yeah, geez Wow.

Speaker 1:

So I want to kind of revert back and dive a little bit deeper into priorities, because you had said you had mentioned a little bit about networking and making sure that you still prioritize time for the family and for yourself. How do you know? If you do know, how do you know when to switch priorities? Because there's certainly going to be times where you need to grind, grind, grind and work might come a little bit ahead of family or ahead of friends or ahead of business growth, because you need to actually work on the business or in the business. So what are some indicators? Or when do you know when it's like, okay, I need to shift, I need to spend some more time with the family, or I need to spend a little more time growing the business, or I need to.

Speaker 2:

So I would pretty much just read your body number one Go with your gut, go with your heart, if you're adamant about business and really starting that side hustle to make it almost like your full-time hustle. I sacrificed, man, I did. It did take a toll on me, you know, physically and and obviously family wise a little bit. But, um, I knew in the long run that it was going to be beneficial to my family. So I had to sit down with them and honestly, be honest and open, right, like that's my biggest thing.

Speaker 2:

Communication is key, man. Like with family, with friends, like let them know, like this is your passion, this is your why. Like this is what you're doing, like, and I pretty much had to have a sit down with everyone, even the people who doubted me, even family, who was like you're crazy, I didn't care. I was like you know what, this is what I'm doing. And I literally sacrificed every day, man, for a straight year on. Just, you know, of course I made time for the family on the weekends, like I separated it. Like Sundays, my shutdown days, like I didn't do anything on Sundays. I promised them I would be with them on Sundays. But you know, your business is your baby too, you know. And if you want to see that baby grow, you got to feed it right, you got to treat it right, you got to care for it.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, I, I sacrificed man, I really did um, yeah, for a business, a new business owner. Obviously they, like I said, communication is key, right, read, read your room, read, read the people you're around, and then surround yourself around like-minded people like I networked with you. You know a few other guys and women that, like, were successful business people in my industry, you know, and, um, I really took a lot from you guys, which was awesome. You know, I saw how you guys grinded and it made me want them to grind harder too.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, Jeez dude you just got so much value right there. You're talking about, like bringing awareness to your body, making sure that you're not like running yourself to the bone, but also awareness of like people you're around, the importance on communication and how like just like as we were talking about like talking with parents who don't think strength training is good for kids, like you got to have that conversation, because once you have that difficult conversation that opens the door for possible solutions, and just like with business, and preventing burnout and prioritizing when certain things need to come where, speaking it, putting it out into existence, talking with people around you or getting around better people surrounding yourself. And I'd love to hear a little bit more on how you continue to grow that circle of people around you, because I know we connected a while ago. We kept in touch a little bit here and there, and now I feel like I'm talking to you almost on a daily basis and we're just constantly growing and pushing each other.

Speaker 2:

So how do you continue to find you know it's funny and it sounds bad, right, but I actually had to cut a lot of people out, knowing your own worth and then knowing what, of course, a lot of people are going to doubt you when you sacrifice that much time into something that they don't understand, even if you communicate to them and they just don't understand. You know, I think it's just having that passion right, having that drive and finding like-minded people that are going to support you and be there for you is difficult, right, because everybody, how do you trust everyone? Right? Like you know typical Italian, you wear your heart on your sleeve, right? It's like you give it all, you give it 100 and you give nothing, right?

Speaker 2:

But I started learning how to select the people better and really seeing, like, what their why was and if it matched my why, what their work ethic was and did it match mine? Like, was their passion equally as strong as mine? And I kept my circle tight, man, like, I speak to like five guys, that's it max. And um, I think the tighter the circle, the better off you are. You know, you'll learn more from them and you'll almost build a brotherhood. You'll grind with them, they'll support you and they'll give you insight on it too, like whether it's bad or good, you know, and that's what you need to hear Like as a business owner, like check you when you need it, you know.

Speaker 1:

So it's cool? Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, I've come across plenty of coaches, mentors, who I thought were a right fit and they just weren't necessarily the great connection. And then same thing with friends.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I could agree with you 110%. That's my thing, even with family, financially, the biggest thing is we just want you to make right family you know, right Like financially, like the biggest thing is like, we just want you to make you know right decisions for you, financially, for you and your family, and be safe. And you know business is a gamble man, you know it's a risk and and you either take it or you don't, right and um, if you take it, make sure you take it full hearted. And and you, just you don't stop right because, like, quitting isn't something that business owners should ever do, right, um, I never. That word doesn't register in my dictionary, so it's like what can I do to improve it? Right is is what registers. So, finding the people that can help you either improve it or teach you ways to improve yourself, like I mean, like you, you know, I mean, how many times have I called you up right and just, you know. And two of my other good friends, you know they're business owners as well and they, you know I've said look, what's going, like, what am I doing wrong? Right, Like, and you know they're like, listen, you need to reinvent the wheel here or you got to do something a little bit better, right, like. All right, it checks us, right and it keeps us sharp. So, as a business owner, that's what we need, like. So, I agree, like-minded people and, and you know, unfortunately you keep the people you know who aren't progressing at that level and and have that mindset, you keep them close, but you know you don't keep them too close. Yeah, a lot of stuff so. Yeah, so it's so. It's in the building phases, right, so the it's it's going through testing, right.

Speaker 2:

The cool thing about the app is, like it so it's going through testing, right. The cool thing about the app is it's going to be revolutionary to the industry, right, so it's going to pretty much offer what AF360 does, right, your coaching, your meal prep, your training, your virtual, your one-on-ones, but on a broad spectrum platform. Right, so you could touch multiple peoples and you can have other trainers, not just me or you. You can choose whoever you want. That's in our network. Same thing for physical therapy Like. We're going to have it where you can choose any therapist in your local area to go to, and we pretty much provide that service for you. You could either follow our program or you follow their program, but it's almost like a hub for wellness, right? So I think it's going to be great for a lot of people to see how unique it is and how easy and efficient it is to use.

Speaker 2:

It's not a complicated app. Again, it is still in testing, so I can't really go into too much detail into it. It's uh, it's gonna be cool. Hopefully we'll launch it in the fall. Um, so I'm excited about that, man. Yeah, so you can either follow me on my instagram aj underscore for sig, or you can go on google for alphafitness360.com and you can hit my calendar. You can chat with me on there.

Speaker 2:

We're going to integrate everything. So AF360 will merge into this app. We're probably going to brand another business side of it for the coaching into it, so we'll have to come up with a clever name as well to mesh with AF360. But it'll be really cool. I think it's going to be a nice so everyone can eat. A nice humble approach to health and wellness, where our industry is so cutthroat and gritty and almost poisonous to each other sometimes. You know this is is like. You know, everyone can eat, everyone gets their fair share and no one is going to be um, hurting. You know, uh, kind of created an app so that the competition is is there, but it's. We're doing it unified, which is cool.

Speaker 2:

Yeah it unified, which is cool, yeah, yeah. So I still do everything remotely. Um, you know, I still do my one-on-ones, but I think remotely with covid when it hit. You know that that was pretty much like the switch. Um, you know it, even for therapy, it became almost like telehealth visits every day. You know, we had to go from being face to face, one on one, to just going through the computer, like we are now, and and and the results are there. Actually, I like it better.

Speaker 2:

You could track them more. You know, there's so many cool ways to track people and stay on top of them with different apps and different services. They have the healthy track apps where you can see their progression and stuff, which is really cool. All that. This is the new way of of doing things. So, you know, the caveman one-on-ones are great, you know, but sometimes we, we don't have that luxury anymore. You know the hustle and bustle of everyday lives, so so many people are just busy, right. So I think remote is the way to go for anybody, for sure. Yep, they can reach out through social media, through my Google, and pretty much go through there. Yep, that's all again. Okay, hot back in all, right. So let me very, very cool. I got you Cool, all right.

Speaker 1:

And then it says we're recording, so All right. So then I'm just going to pick up, I guess, on how to reach out to you and for the coaching. Okay.

Speaker 1:

And then we'll just kind of wrap it up from there. Man, I'm going to have to do a lot of editing for this Cause this is yeah, it's a headache. Yeah, because it's glitchy. I don't know what it is, though, because, um, this only happened once before, and this was two recordings I've done previously, and, uh, the last one was like I think this is my 40th recording and that's only. This is the second time it's ever happened. Um, no shit, okay, ready, yep, uh, all right, so I pause and then we'll go cool. So is it just the easiest way to kind of touch base with you for coaching just through social media?

Speaker 2:

yeah, so that's the best way to contact me. Um, I'll send you all my information and calendly through there, and then we can discuss what your goals are and what what you, whether it be physical therapy, nutrition coaching, or even just you know, training, so, um, and then I delegate just one thing.

Speaker 2:

It's anything, oh yeah, so it's like a one-stop shop. Af360 was, you know, designed for it to be almost like your one-stop shop. So, um, you know, having the app coming, coming in in the fall, is just going to make it. It's going to be big, it's cool. Um, I'll tell you about it more. Yeah, way nice nice got it.

Speaker 1:

so there you go, guys. Um, stay tuned with and follow him on social media just so you can know when the app drops. And, uh, give him a call. Should reach, shoot out to him through through DM, ask him any of your injury questions, performance, anything. He seems to be an open book. I know he always answers right away whenever I've got to shoot him a message, so I know he's very cool, very easy to talk to, great guy. So at least give him a follow and check out some of the content that he's producing and I can't wait for that app to drop. But before I let you go, dude, I got to ask you if you were to boil everything down to one piece of advice to help survive the side hustle.

Speaker 2:

What would that be? Stay humble, honestly, humility, just be very humble, very poised. Be grateful for every time that you are able to work on your business and the people around you right Like, stay humble to them, the ones that love you, the ones that care about you. Like just remember what your why is right. Like what is the purpose of your business? Why are you doing it and not stopping right Like, staying true to yourself. Um, be humble about like the approach on your business and be gentle to yourself. Man, when you need that break, like you said, like, take that break, don't burn out, because the burnout's real. Um, and I think we've all, as business owners, have seen that. You know like we've all went through it too. You know we've all had that breaking point. But staying humble to like all right, this is our business, but this is also our bodies and our mind and our and just calming ourselves down a little bit because we can get wrapped up in it, man, so definitely um love that here, yes, good stuff, man.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate being on the show too. It's cool, of course, dude.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, be humble man I love that and be gentle to yourself. I think that goes leaps and bounds, because not enough people pay attention or care about themselves. They just push the business and put everything ahead. So I love that answer and I appreciate you so much for taking the time today. I know a very busy guy, so squeezing me in means a lot to me and I would love to have you back on the show. Hopefully we got the app out and about by that time. Yeah, and we can crush it. Have another great conversation.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, I'm looking forward to it. Man, yeah, it was my pleasure and again always a pleasure talking to you and just like getting your side of everything, so it was cool.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, Cool man, and that's it for us guys. Peace, peace, peace, peace. Take care.

Speaker 2:

That was cool.