Surviving the Side Hustle

Balancing Health and Hustle: Greg Lunski's Evolution from Personal Trainer to Online Coaching Expert

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 48

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Unlock the secrets to balancing a busy life with fitness and wellness in our latest episode, featuring Greg Lunski, a seasoned personal trainer who has successfully transitioned from in-person sessions to online coaching. Discover how Greg's journey began with a simple mission to help his best friend and grew into a comprehensive approach to aid adults over 35 in achieving better strength, mobility, and overall health. Greg delves into his educational background, certifications, and the hands-on experiences that have refined his coaching style, offering practical insights that will inspire and motivate you.

Step out of your comfort zone as Greg and I discuss the transformative power of embracing new challenges in both personal and professional realms. Learn how constructive criticism and mastering new technologies like Trainerize and AI can propel your career forward. Greg opens up about the importance of hiring a mentor and the significant impact of improving communication skills, particularly through public speaking. We also tackle the realities of entrepreneurship, emphasizing patience, versatility, and a client-focused approach, providing you with actionable strategies to grow your own venture.

Finally, we explore Greg's aspirations for expanding his client base while maintaining personal well-being. Understand the importance of consistency in daily practices such as meditation, fitness, nutrition, sleep, and continuous learning to build resilience and achieve long-term goals. Greg outlines realistic milestones, the importance of celebrating small wins, and the role of reflection in staying motivated. We also discuss the strategic use of social media and community-building efforts to engage with and expand his audience, culminating in the crucial role of networking in entrepreneurial success. Tune in for an episode rich with valuable advice, personal stories, and practical tips that you won't want to miss.

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Speaker 1:

What's going on, guys? Today on the show we've got my buddy, greg Dude. What's up, man? How are you doing?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing great. How are you? Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Of course, man. Of course you and I have connected through a couple of events, and every time I'm around you it's fun. We get to chat business, we talk fitness, we talk life. So I'm excited to have you on today. But before I kind of go on too much of a rant, I would love for you to introduce yourself.

Speaker 2:

Who are you and what do you do? My name is Greg Lonsky and the past few years I've been training clients personal training, specifically more transition to the online business. I can only help so many people in person. This has been a transition for me from an education background. I realized that a lot of the adult population needs a lot more help than we realize because we're dealing with sick care and obesity is obviously rampant. The lack of strength, mobility that people experience and I noticed this from relatives to friends, colleagues, and it's uh, it's a necessity right now for the adult population to live a better lifestyle into that later adulthood yeah, I mean part of life is being able to move and feel good and well I'd say look good, feel good and do great things.

Speaker 1:

And it's pretty hard to do, do that kind of stuff with your limited getting around with your health and things like that. So, um, the cliche thing is saying your health is your wealth, so without your health you can't really do anything. It's true, yeah, very true, and I wanted to ask a little bit on so how did you get into coaching?

Speaker 2:

I got into coaching actually, first, my first client was my best friend, a brother from another mother, back in 2017, he has to lose some weight, get in better shape to actually help him function better as a father, as a husband, and him being entrepreneurial too, while working a full-time job, kind of like I'm doing, and we started training first thing in the morning. Really, that was the only time His time we were at the gym. Five days of the week, 5 am, almost a four-hour routine and for about a year, year and a half, tremendous results he's gained from how he moves, the energy he has developed to be as a father, a husband, and to be able to do recreational things. So that would kind of really sparked my interest into helping adults and become a trainer.

Speaker 1:

And where did you learn about being a trainer and a coach and stuff?

Speaker 2:

This was through my own development, having dealt with a slew of injuries and figuring out how to actually work around them, to be still active and to show up, to be able to function as a physical educator, I had to have the energy, the strength, the mobility to do my work, and it's just my own perspective of being open to be a learner and evolving my training modalities for the aging body.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So was it just a lot of trial and error for yourself or did you go through certain certifications and education background and such Both.

Speaker 2:

So I've became certified through CSCS. I've gone to multiple workshops, I've done some mobility training and I know a lot of people see me doing the kettlebell things, not just because it's a gimmick, but it's a very versatile tool. I found that it's great for mobility, conditioning and strength and can be used anywhere.

Speaker 1:

So that actually, too, has allowed me to take my training to another level and becoming certified in it as well yeah, yeah, a lot of people, uh, tend to be afraid of kettlebells because they think that they're going to hurt themselves or blah blah. So they stay, they shy away from it a bit, but in my eyes, it's just another tool, like it's, it's just like anything else it helps you, it can help you and it can hurt you too. Anything can hurt you if you use it incorrectly and you don't perform well.

Speaker 1:

You can use a hammer to work out a sledgehammer, but if you do it incorrectly you can hurt yourself, you hit your foot or something. But I'm just going off on a tangent, so sorry about that. So tell me about your coaching program. Are you specifically just helping dads, because I know you said your friend was a father and trying to get better, lose a little bit of weight. Is that kind of who you help specifically, or do you also help other individuals from different demographics and psychographics?

Speaker 2:

So typically my clientele has been about 35 and above, primarily working with men. But if female clients want help who are parents and busy entrepreneurs, they have a career and family then I'm more than willing to help out. I'm not going to push away a client because of the gender, but that's been primarily my lately clientele. And as far as training programs, what I do is I'm transitioning to basically being automated through the online, obviously, because some parents do need to have the program available to train on their own if they can't be in person.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and how has that been in terms of an adjustment for yourself and for clients? Because I know when I was mostly doing fitness training, I had a blend of both. I was doing some FaceTime stuff and then I was also just writing programs and just sending people on their own.

Speaker 2:

I think it's phenomenal too. I've embraced it. I mean to be honest, I come from a background that three years ago, when I started really taking the training seriously, I was like a technology dinosaur, wanted nothing to do with social media, all these apps, and I realized it's a necessity to help people. So that's been a great learning curve. I definitely did not see myself going in that direction, but here I am, learning this Nice.

Speaker 1:

So what does it look like working with you? Is it you just kind of give a program and I'll talk to you when you finish the program? Or what does it look like when you're working with you?

Speaker 2:

It really depends on the clientele. Like some most average client, I will notice that they can do a program once they have it, but prior to it there is an evaluation. I can. I do need to know the fitness resume, the previous history of their training, lapses in between, injuries, things that they have accomplished, maybe physically. And after that initial screen evaluation I developed a program which the individual can utilize through the app and we do like a weekly check-in Zoom call For most clients. That works pretty well and then in between they can message me through that uh app system any kind of questions. For some who need a little bit more hands-on, um, there is facetime. That could be done for training sessions or like a short video analysis for critique on the technique and any plateaus they may hit along the way okay, um, are you?

Speaker 1:

do you just cover just the fitness side of things? Do you discuss nutrition and, uh like sleep habits and things like that too?

Speaker 2:

absolutely so. Sleep is obviously very important, so I do cover that. On nutrition guidelines, I mean you can show up to the gym and do the best workout in the world, but nobody can outrun a donut. So nutrition does play a big role, you know. And what is healthy for the individual besides the macro ratios that we go over?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, a lot of people have. Well, I would assume everyone has their own kind of definition of health. So obviously, people who are preparing to go and compete on stage, their diet and nutrition and training program is significantly different from Mr Smith, who's working all day and has a family at home and he's just trying to lose a couple pounds. So, yeah, I totally agree with you on that part. I want to talk about a little bit on the learning process for the technology because, as an entrepreneur, there seems to be like new tools coming out left and right every day, especially with like AI and different types of software that helps with business and stuff, and I know me personally it takes me a little while to start to commit to using the new tools. So, for yourself, like social media and some of the other platforms and tools you use, what was that process like and how long did it take you to get comfortable, or are you still a little uncomfortable with certain things? Can you share a little bit about that?

Speaker 2:

Sure a little uncomfortable with certain things like can you share a little bit about that?

Speaker 2:

Sure, the biggest obstacle first initially was figuring out how to actually post, uh, quality content.

Speaker 2:

So obviously, the filming, the lighting, the technology piece that I was using at the time, and, as well as then, the different apps.

Speaker 2:

So various apps provide for different features and the ability to put in captions and things like that. So I had to really step out of my comfort zone to learn through various tutorials to some, maybe educational modules and actually being open from receiving critique from other experts in the field who have given me feedback about some of the content and what they've used that really works in the industry and sets you apart. So that's something that I had to become more open to, the constructive criticism. And I'm still learning some of the app systems like TrainerEyes Fairly new to it and the AI. That's the next step. That is one, like you said yourself, I'm a little bit kind of I felt back on it a little bit because it's such a fairly new technology. I guess I'm trying to see what are some of the things that people are doing, working out the bugs, the kinks in it, but I'm willing to commit to it and make it part of my ability to actually help others.

Speaker 1:

You said something interesting about the learning process and kind of having to take it into your own hands and really push yourself in your comfort zone and commit to learning about it, and I know you know that I'm always talking about having to challenge yourself and how it's kind of like creating diamonds Too much pressure and too much heat can crush everything. But's kind of like creating diamonds too much, too much pressure and, uh, too much heat can crush everything, but not enough of one or the other um really can affect it too. So, creating that diamond, you really need to have that perfect amount of pressure, uh, and that perfect amount of heat to make it shine. Um. So learning that's that's like a. I consider that like super powerful, and pushing your comfort zone is where a lot of the growth is made. Um. So, over time, what are some other ways that you've pushed your comfort zone to make yourself a better coach or, uh, better adapted for the entrepreneurial world?

Speaker 2:

so some of the ways that I've pushed myself was actually hiring a mentor.

Speaker 2:

Even though I may think I'm putting out the right content, how do I speak to my audience is a big thing. So, even though I haven't been in education since 2007, you know I thought I kind of knew the right way to communicate with folks and, having taught thousands of students at the high school level to communicate to an older audience, people only have so much of a threshold patience at the end of the day when they're dealing with all these things. And I had to kind of like put myself in that place, realizing that when I'm under pressure for example, at one point when I was getting my certification, renovating a house, also completing a master's degree while training myself out of a back injury and starting a business that's like spinning templates. At the same time, I realized that there is a smarter way to do things effectively so you don't burn out, and that's my biggest thing is like learning how to communicate better. Hence going to the speaker school, learning from one of the best in the field.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, really push yourself. Public speaking seems to be one of the, if not the highest, fear that humans have.

Speaker 1:

I guess it's getting in front, very vulnerable everyone, all the eyes on you and everything and it can be pretty intimidating, and I know through my career and journey as a speaker, this really helped me a lot, not only with the confidence of commanding my own message that I'm trying to portray, but also then being more comfortable in front of other individuals, and then that helps me connect with other individuals because I can share certain stories and experiences, and then it also helps me with my coaching because it brings more people to me. That helps me get in front and connect with them on other levels too. So, yeah, I hear you with the public speaking part. That's so powerful. Um, I want to ask, though so, like, what are aside from the technology, if, unless technology is the main, main kind of struggle or challenge you're going through, is there anything else that you're kind of working through at this moment with your business?

Speaker 2:

Currently connecting with basically my clientele base. You know, everybody kind of has this perspective start a business and I think it's going to be up and running pretty quick. But, to be honest, anything to do with online, any kind of like entrepreneurial business approach, it does take time. It takes time, patience and a willingness to step out of one's comfort zone in so many ways, because as an entrepreneur, a person wears several hats at the same time, and that is something that I've realized that it's not always all about me. I need to step up and do different things that I never thought I would be able to do, or even entertain the thought to actually help out the clientele that I'm looking to attract and that's the next step process is, uh, helping the right clientele, even though I've had a pretty good client base in person yeah, wow, interesting, um, and so you're launching, you're building, you're still in-person coaching.

Speaker 1:

You've got the online coaching up and running. What are some goals or targets you're setting for yourself, for your business? Where do you want to bring your coaching? Do you want to eventually just do all online coaching or you still gonna continue to do in-person coaching? Are you share me a little bit about where you're going? What's your destination for your business?

Speaker 2:

online coaching is the main goal currently with the limited time that I have, and eventually I was hoping to have a client base of probably closer to 100 clients. I mean, at that point I may have to bring some other people on board and ideally, to be able to have a facility where particularly client base that really needs hands-on work, would need that person and space to be at, not to mention high-quality content to be delivered to my client base, is to have a facility as well equipped.

Speaker 1:

That's exciting. Yeah, that'd be pretty sweet to have a good setup for content and just having people come in to train in person too. That's awesome. And in order to get there, what are some things that you're doing to kind of keep yourself performing at a high level? Like how do you stay resilient, how do you stay energized? How do you stay resilient, how do you stay energized, how do you stay focused? Like, what are these? What are the things that you're doing on a day-to-day basis that helps you show up?

Speaker 2:

so it really comes down to the consistency of small things, anything from like a daily, even 10 minute meditation reflection time, doing the training myself, obviously, what my goals are. So to me personally, fitness is a daily thing, even as little as like low-intensity days where it's more based on recovery type of workout, flexibility and nutrition is a big part of it. So paying attention to I mean, being at 42, obviously the body responds differently to various foods recovery time, so, being aware of that, what's uh what the right nutrition is, uh, sleep as well, and constantly learning. There has to be some kind of study time, whether it's reading, learning about content, creating sales and things like that.

Speaker 1:

So how do you find time to juggle everything like this, because that sounds like your calendar is pretty packed with a lot of different projects. It's that self-study, uh, implementation of your business actions and and marketing to get new clients, and having conversations with people, and and that's not even just that's not even the time allocated to your clients just setting the calendar, setting the calendar ahead of time, and obviously not everything is going to be done in one day.

Speaker 2:

Right, all of those things. So certain things are done throughout the throughout the week. Uh, so that way I can actually fit the time with the clients, have my own training time and other things that I need to do to prepare.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you mentioned patience earlier and I imagine it's a constant battle with new clients trying to paint the picture and explain that they need patience to get to the goal because, like everything else, it doesn't just happen overnight. So how do you continue to remind yourself and what do you have like specific milestones set for yourself on where you're looking to get towards that big, that big picture of eventually having your own facility and a hundred plus clients and things like that?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so having a certain outreach. So as far as the messages that I may send out, as well as with my content. Now some people would say, no, you don't need to post every day. Well, I'm making it a habit now to actually have stories every day and to communicate with the clientele or any audience that is viewing.

Speaker 2:

The next steps would be to creating various challenges. Communicate with the clientele or any audience that is viewing. The next steps would be to creating various challenges. Facebook groups so that is actually a new outlet that I'm learning about. Facebook, even though I started on Instagram. That is another outlet there. So, as far as milestones, by the end of the year the goal would be to have somewhere anywhere between 15 to 20 online clients.

Speaker 2:

That would be ideal, and that's you know it really being realistic about the goals. That's the you know it really being realistic about the goals. That's the other thing. I have to be realistic because you keep hearing about some of the new entrepreneurs in online training saying you know, have 30 clients in 90 days. Well, how realistic is that? Right, you know you have to be in the game long enough to actually know what works, and that's what I'm realizing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's so true. You had mentioned a little bit of reflection and meditation practice. How often do you do that? Is that a daily habit?

Speaker 2:

It has become a daily habit. Some things may not go the right way, like, let's say, in relation to content. It has become a daily habit. Some things may not go the right way, like, let's say, in relation to content, or maybe if a client is trying to lose a certain amount of weight, or if I'm tackling on a new aspect of the online coaching, I have to go back and reflect on the small ones, and that's the one thing I think in our society people don't realize is reflecting on the small wins.

Speaker 2:

It doesn't have to always be the most extravagant thing, but like, for example, okay, the past, like a couple weeks or so, I've been able to hold myself up to uh, doing stories every day, right, uh, reaching a certain amount of clients, and it's the smaller milestones, versus as an entrepreneur, it's very easy to get back down on the things that didn't go right because, as as you know, there are some days it seems like nothing goes right. Yeah, what do you say about reflecting on, like losses as well? That's a good question. Losses I think I do my best to interpret them as an opportunity to learn from it, to maybe approach this differently in the future. What has worked, what hasn't worked?

Speaker 1:

And obviously just evolving from it to be a lot more, uh, successful. Yeah, and I know from personal practice when I reflect on something that doesn't go necessarily the way that I intended for it to go, it's super uncomfortable because you're upset, you're angry, whatever it may be, um, but I really think that that's where you are going to be making a lot of the gains and learning. Um, so many people they don't get the job or they don't get the girl, or they don't get the client, whatever it might be, um, they just kind of brush it off like, oh, that person was wrong, or blah, blah, blah, and then they don't spend enough time reflecting on how did they show up for that situation and what was different from the previous time and what should they probably try to change or do something into the future. And I try to share that with a lot of my clients that like, hey, these are free advice, like when you have something that doesn't go the right way, you can sit back, reflect on it and try your best to learn from it. And that, right, there is just you doing it yourself.

Speaker 1:

And sometimes I know people might not understand where they went wrong or what they could have done differently. And that's where hiring a mentor or a coach comes into play, because now you have a new set of eyes and a different perspective to analyze your situation. It's the same thing with fitness, too. How many people do you see who go to the gym like 400 times in one year and they don't make any progress because they're constantly doing something that isn't working right and they are only looking at it from one set of eyes or one lens and they're missing out on that opportunity to actually move and make progress. Or if they just hired a coach or a trainer, or even just brought a friend to the gym, they would learn and get a second opinion or perspective on what they're doing absolutely, and it's um.

Speaker 2:

I mean, if olympian athletes need a coach to get to the next level, right, so they know what they're doing, that makes sense for the average person who's like you said. I've seen many regulars at the gym when I was training my buddy 5 am in the morning and you see them and it's great. You know very, very polite conversational people and it's great. You know very, very polite conversational people, but you don't really see much results happening in that year and they're doing the same thing over and over. And that's the definition of insanity. And I think Ken Shimrock said evolve or dissolve, it's just we have to keep learning, and that's what keeps this thing fresh too, and late adulthood yeah, um, and I love it because I know that you said you just hired a mentor recently, um, is that your first mentor or coach?

Speaker 1:

and, and if, and also like how important is just your social circle of getting around other individuals?

Speaker 2:

That's a great point. No, it's not the first mentor. When you hire a mentor, they basically have to almost fit what your values are as an individual, as a business owner. That's one thing that I found about this newer mentor, even though he's a lot younger than me. The values that this person stands by is absolutely just like a clut and surrounding yourself around like-minded entrepreneurs. That's, I mean absolutely. Like you said when we connected back in, uh, uh, one of the other individuals, entrepreneurs was holding that event last year in October and recall, okay, that that totally, yeah, john, totally different feeling when you are around the circle, social circle of entrepreneurs who are already ahead of the curve and being willing to learn from those people yeah, yeah it's tough because, uh, just like in the gym, you get people who think they know what they're doing and they continue to not see the progress.

Speaker 1:

In the entrepreneurial world too, it's pretty easy to just read up and gain the insight on what you should be doing, and it's very easy to just fall off after that. To be honest, really having somebody there to kind of guide you and being mature enough to know and admit that you need some help with certain things too, that's only going to help you take leaps and bounds instead of the tiny steps forward. Because when you hire these mentors, you're basically paying for their experience and their knowledge so that you don't have to spend time figuring it out. You can just fast track it. So I love that you kind of brought that into it there. But I do want to be courteous of your time, because I know you got a lot of things going on.

Speaker 1:

So I want to ask besides the projects and stuff and you said you were bringing some challenges on what else have you got going on?

Speaker 2:

So there's definitely going to be a challenge coming on the Facebook for the next month and I've been asked by some friends to develop a program or on a teachable platform training course that's very time efficient and has nutritional guidelines. That's probably going to be a whole summer project in the midst of being in between moves that I think. For now those are my major projects, besides creating content to put out every day. Cool, that's enough time.

Speaker 1:

So how do people get in touch with you if they're interested in that course or that program, that PDF thing that you were talking about, Because I know you said you're going to be working on that a lot. But how do people can they reach out to you to get on some sort of a list or something so that they know when it's ready? And what about the challenge too, if someone wants to join your challenge?

Speaker 2:

so I will be posting. Probably the quickest way to get in touch with me is through instagram strong uh for life llc. And in the bio there is links. There will be more links going up there. Currently there's two links One for a Google form, a pre-screen to see what the prospective client is interested in, as well as there's a 15 minute discovery call through a calendar link in my bio. But also there will be a link coming up to the Facebook discovery call through a Calendly link in my bio. But also there will be a link coming up to the Facebook group. I will be posting on my stories about the challenge coming up on there and on the Facebook. On Facebook it's just simply Greg Lonski. That's my page. I do have a page on there, a group on there for parents past 35, which is starting to grow Currently, where I share some insights on longevity, health, fitness, nutrition tips on there. That's beyond the content that's being posted on Facebook on the regular facebook account and my instagram all right sweet.

Speaker 1:

So if you're interested, you've got questions, you've got any, anything related fitness, nutrition, etc. Best way to reach them is strong number four life llc on instagram right, and then from there you've got the different links to the other pages, also for discovery calls and open for questions too. So if someone just like were to reach out to you and ask you some questions here cool yeah, even that some little bit of free help there.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome, so make sure you bring them. Bring them all your best and hardest. Questions for fitness. Um, greg, dude, I want to take a second to appreciate you. I I know you've got a lot of things going on, um, and your attention's being pulled left and right with a lot of different projects, and I know you're pretty busy too with a lot of things with outside of the coaching world too. So thank you so much for taking the time and hopping on today and sharing some of your insights and a little bit about your story and and where you're going too. So thank you for that and I'll let you roll, but before I do, I gotta ask you what would be your number one piece of advice for surviving the side hustle one number piece of advice is to really grow that network circle, Because I've realized we've had this conversation Networking is really the currency as an entrepreneur.

Speaker 2:

It's growing that network circle and that will allow the person to evolve and learn what they need to thrive.

Speaker 1:

I love it. So many people are always saying your network equals your net worth, and I'm a huge component of that and I think you can connect with as many people as you want and stuff won't happen. It's really you need to be able to connect and you need to make that commitment to checking in and developing a relationship. So I totally agree with you on that one man and uh, we're on the same page, dude. So thank you, thank you, thank you and we will talk again soon.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate it, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Peace out guys.