Surviving the Side Hustle

From Fitness Club Manager to Community Connector: Mike's Journey of Empowering Self-Belief and Cultivating Success

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 74

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Unlock the secrets of conquering self-limiting beliefs with Mike, the visionary behind Breakthrough Secrets and a seasoned personal trainer with a passion for empowering clients. Mike's journey from managing a fitness club to co-owning a studio in Saratoga Springs is filled with transformative moments, including a pivotal shift to online coaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our conversation, he shares how integrating physical fitness with mental performance propels individuals beyond their initial goals, creating sustainable systems for long-term success. Discover how genuine conversations and understanding personal struggles can be the key to unlocking client potential.

In the realm of fitness and entrepreneurship, staying grounded and focused can be challenging once the initial excitement fades. We explore the common tendency to jump from one program to another, chasing that elusive beginner's high, and how establishing simple, consistent, non-negotiable habits can maintain motivation. Imagine your goals as lanes on a highway, categorized by priority and speed, with foundational habits ensuring progress even when life throws curveballs. By committing to these basics, we cultivate a mindset of reliability and success, reinforcing confidence and consistency in every aspect of life.

The power of human connection takes center stage in the health and fitness industry, and Mike's experiences illustrate this beautifully. From bartending to working in team-oriented businesses, he has learned that genuine curiosity about clients' lives fosters stronger relationships and success. Focusing on the "advanced beginner" stage, Mike empowers individuals who have tasted success but seek to elevate their performance amidst life's demands. With personalized guidance, he inspires self-belief and autonomy, creating a lasting impact. Tune in to hear Mike discuss his future aspirations, including expanding his podcast, The Strength Connection, and launching Inspire Saratoga, a project aimed at reviving community connections through inspiring local stories.

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Speaker 1:

what's up everybody today on the show we've got mike. Mike is the host of an awesome podcast. He's a cool dude and I'm excited for him to connect with you all today and share a little bit about his story, struggles and his secrets to high performance.

Speaker 2:

So, mike man what's going on, dude? Not much man. Thanks for having me on. I had a blast having you come on the show. We had a great conversation, so glad to be able to do this again.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, of course it's always good to chat with you, so why don't we just take a break from there and dive right in? Do you mind sharing a little bit about who you are or who you help problem solve, kind of thing?

Speaker 2:

Sure. So you know the origin story started, you know, got into the fitness business as a personal trainer in 2008. So about 16 years now of going in this business and started on the route of kind of general population personal trainer, just trying to figure out my footing, of how to help people in the best way, and then found my way into more of kind of the niche world of hardstyle kettlebell training and functional movement, so working more with rehabilitation and building the skill of strength, which eventually led me into managing a club for about 10 years where I had a team of about 12 trainers at a time working with me to build an awesome business, and I was there for a while, which was an absolute blast, but then decided to shift gears. I joined a partner in my area here in Saratoga Springs, new York, where he had a small studio. I came in and helped him get up kind of more off the ground and we built an awesome space.

Speaker 2:

A lot of things changed around the time of COVID, where we had a big business, we were expanding, but in New York we were shut down for nine months, so had to like many people I'm sure listening had to pivot and adjust things on the fly of how to not only help the people that we were working with, but also to survive at that time as well.

Speaker 2:

All the things that we were doing at that time.

Speaker 2:

Now we're pretty much like taking the playbook and throwing it out at halftime and figuring out how to win the game.

Speaker 2:

So that's when I got into the online coaching world, but it really more so than anything, rob is got me into understanding the mental performance side of fitness and health and just overall living a fulfilling life, which really led me into the past three years where I've had my business called Breakthrough Secrets, where I work with individuals on connecting the physical side of fitness and strength also with the mental side, because I think most people everybody we want to get in better shape, we want to be in the best shape of our life, but somewhere along the line of doing that, the simple consistency starts to fall off, and that has a lot more to do with the stories that we tell ourselves versus a different program or a different tactic or strategy that's getting into.

Speaker 2:

So my approach of working with people is really trying to as cliche as it sounds, look at the big picture of someone's life, where they've struggled in the past and how to break through those barriers and self-limiting beliefs so they can not only succeed in the goal that they have when we first connect, but build a system of success so that they can keep achieving goals long after the initial goal that they just set up.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love that and that's all. That's like a lot to handle and I imagine individuals coming in with all different backgrounds, different limiting beliefs that they're kind of working themselves through. Where do you, where do you start with all that, With somebody new who comes into the world?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean you always have to meet somebody where they're at right. So I think you know one of the things that I really do hold value, rob, is just the aspect of conversation, right, I think often, specifically with coaches, and you know we have a business to run. You want to sign people up and get them into your program. So sometimes just that art of just having a good conversation with somebody and getting to know who they are sometimes get lost because you have almost like an agenda of you want to get them down this path and keep them like on this script. How would I a big change that I made was going from, like the first time I talked to people I like make it almost a point that we're not talking about sales or signing up right at that moment. It's like I'm just kind of taking that off the table for my own sake but also the other person's sake, and if it seems like we're a good fit, then we'll keep continuing forward.

Speaker 2:

But what I ask a lot is when have the patterns of struggle happened in the past? You know, here's a weird thing like the average person, the average adult who's trying to succeed in a health and fitness venture starts a new program every four times a year, so every three months or so, somebody is starting and stopping a program, which means that we really have no problem getting started and building momentum. There's a problem that's happening down the line and more often than not is we're very good at as soon as we have that willpower and have that momentum to get started again, maybe hire a new coach or go back to the gym. Those first few weeks you're filled up with a lot of energy. But there is something that's stopping you at that moment and often we're like well, you know work got busy or you know family obligations, you know happen, but I want to know a little bit more about that.

Speaker 2:

More often than not it's a pattern of thought that's coming in and there's some sort of story that we're telling ourselves in that moment. It could be I've done really well for a bit and I'm going to reward myself now for taking my foot off the gas. It could be more that I don't fully believe that I can achieve what I want to accomplish. So we almost self-sabotage in a subconscious way. All those things are part of our own psyche and the mind is a crazy thing to figure out, but understanding those things and actually bringing those out at the beginning. That allows us to not only create a plan of what we need to do to get started, but also look at where are the defenses that are popping up later down in the game that we need to be aware of at that time and make a game plan way ahead of time so that when it does eventually pop up again, we have a different way of approaching it. This way, does that make sense?

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, definitely, and that's a genius approach to looking at it and tackling those. Do you feel like you see a lot of the same kind of obstacles, that kind of pop up? Because I was in a similar situation. When I started my whole shift in my coaching, I started changing everything about it. I was hopping different program to program, pretty much like most people with their fitness programs, except for me it was like entrepreneurial and business stuff. I would have one business coach for a couple of months and then I switched to another and I learned a lot of different things. But I never really stuck with it until to get to that next stage, until I really made a bigger commitment to stick with one program.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So it's a good question If there's, if there's an overarching kind of theme, I think, to all of us in that is we attach success to a feeling that we have at the moment. So the analogy I've used recently that I really like is thinking about flying in an airplane, right. So when you take, if you're sitting in a plane and you're about to take off and go on a flight, right when the pilot hits on the accelerator, you feel that initial initial, you know acceleration and takeoff, you know you go back in your seat and you start feeling gain in that ground, right, that's a very different feeling than what you had 10 seconds ago when you were just sitting on the tarmac just waiting to take off, right, but then eventually you get up and then you start climbing up till you get to that cruising altitude, right. Well, when you get to that cruising altitude and you're like in the middle of the flight, it's a very different feeling. You don't feel like you're going at that speed that you did at first takeoff, but you're actually going at the same speed or even faster, but it's not the same feeling. So where I equate this into, you know, a journey of health and fitness or getting to a specific goal is the beginning steps of starting, has that feeling you're taking off at that moment. So you feel the difference of you're changing habits and you might, you know, feel some success right off the bat. But then eventually, as you know, like once you start getting into that pattern, that initial feeling of that beginner mentality starts to go away and that's when a lot of people think that something's wrong, where it's like it's not that newness anymore. So the simple, consistent things that you did at the beginning, like they're not giving you that same feeling over and over again. You know, maybe the initial beginner luck that you get of making those newbie gains, those start to fall off a little bit. The success that you have is a little bit more incremental at that time. And that's when most people fall off.

Speaker 2:

They program hop, or they jump, or they add a new thing into their oh, now I need to add meditation, or now I need to, you know, just completely change over my nutrition. I need to go keto rather than what I was doing before. Or oh, I was doing this strength program but now I'm going to go into high intensity training. Like it's this jump from one thing to another because you're trying to get that first dose of high that you got at the beginning. So what I try and go on with people is just setting up like just what are the simple, consistent, non-negotiable things that you're going to do on an everyday basis.

Speaker 2:

Because you know, like I do, like in entrepreneurship, it's very similar as a journey of you know, getting to a strength or getting to a fitness goal there's most days are going to be boring, mundane. Oftentimes. The growth that you have is more like going downwards and building the foundation rather than actually seeing it grow upwards. Getting through those times is the trickiest part. So I think that's the analogy that I use with a lot of people, and most of the people kind of understand that, because you know the different feeling of taking off versus when you're just hanging out cruising altitude, watching your movie and, you know, eating some snacks on the plane.

Speaker 1:

So how do you keep yourself branded and continuing to move forward and preventing yourself from program hopping or project hopping or like coming up with new things to kind of throw out there and work with people? How do you keep yourself focused on what you're trying to do?

Speaker 2:

So first off is I have a great team of coaches that I work with. You know, I think you know I've worked with coaches. I am a coach and I think anybody who doesn't have somebody that's kind of working with you at that time, like you know, it's a lonely thing to be in an entrepreneurial venture. Just having somebody else that does help keep you accountable is a very powerful thing. Just having somebody else that does help keep you accountable is a very powerful thing. But how I keep this grounded is I use an analogy of like a highway. If you think of a highway, we're in the US, so we're on the right side, right there's a three-lane highway. There's the left lane, the middle lane and the right lane right. So I look at what are the things that I'm aiming to do each week or each month, whatever I'm planning on Some things I put in the left lane.

Speaker 2:

This is like all right, I really want to make some speed and some traction on these things. So I'm kind of putting the pedal to the metal on these things that I'm aiming at. Then there's some other things that might like kind of lean in the middle, and then the right side is the non-negotiables that I have. And then the right side is the non-negotiables that I have, like if everything goes to shit this week or everything doesn't go as planned, these are the things that I'm still gonna make sure that I get done. So I do that with self-care and training. It might be 15 minutes of strength work that I'm doing for a day, three days a week. It might be I'm just doing 10 reach outs in my business today of just getting in. Maybe my left lane is I want to get like 30 out a day, but I'm going to make sure my non-negotiable is 10. So I use that analogy of the highway because, if you think of it, all people are going at different speeds when they're driving on the highway but they're all progressing forward. And I think this is something that we can get stuck on is thinking that it's only this one way track where we need to. This is our goal, this is the only way to do it, and then anything that gets thrown in the way or if you don't succeed at this, it feels like a failure. I opened it up a little bit more to have those different lanes so it gives myself some options throughout the day, so I can take what is happening on the day or on the week.

Speaker 2:

But what I make sure that I do and this has been one of the most powerful things that I've done really in the last three years is that right lane is non-negotiables, where it doesn't matter what happens. I know that these things are getting done and that might be a very small thing to do, but I know in my head, all right, is this a nine out of 10 or 10 out of 10 that I know I'm gonna make sure that I get done? I think, if you look at that on the mindset side is each week I'm doing exactly what I said I'm going to do. So it builds a pattern in my head that when I say I set a goal, I've already had this pattern and already had this habit that I know I'm going to do it because I've been doing it for a long time. So I've introduced this to clients that I've worked with of having this down.

Speaker 2:

It's because so often people we want to see the results and we want to see success so quickly, right, so we reach for the stars and we're like I'm going to train six days a week or five days a week, and then what happens? Life happens and you get two days a week or three days a weekend and often it's like, oh, okay, you know good job. It's like, well, you did something, it's good. No, well, that person subconsciously they hit 60% of what they said they were going to do. So in the back of our mind is we're not doing what we said we're going to do. So this is a more belief system more than anything. So I found that by doing that and having my non-negotiables and making sure that I get that done, it's built in my head to know that if it's on that right lane, it's getting done. And that's been one of the most powerful things that I've implemented in keeping myself balanced and keeping myself grounded.

Speaker 1:

I believe it. I love that whole analogy and everything you just explained there, because that just like light bulb in my head clicked, because I was somebody too who was like, okay, I want to make sure that I'm not be sending out like 50 messages a week or whatever it is, and then I would fall behind my daily average. And then I'd be like, oh, now I got to make it up, now I got to do quadruple the amount on Thursday, and then all of a sudden I don't quite get to there and then I start to panic and start creating the stress for me because I'm not there or I'm not doing as well as I was and I was losing track of. Okay, I still am hitting like 30 or 40% or 50% of what I had set out to, which is great, but because it wasn't a higher percentage, it was really discouraging me from continuing to go forward. So I imagine a lot of people are doing the same thing, because I love that whole different lane analogy. That was really powerful. Thank you for that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it is. I think it's a bigger thing with the mind than we give its credit for often, and for a lot of people to specifically people that I'm working with, who have struggled with things that they're working on for years, you know, it's like it's so rare it's like 1% of time where I'm the first person that somebody is talking to about the problem that we're talking about. You know, they've tried and failed many times, you know before. So, looking at that, it's like there's a lot of different patterns that come into that, and one of the things is it's a scary thing is that 80% of people that they asked about goal this was a research done in 2017, is 80% of the people said that they don't fully believe that they can achieve the highest goal that they set out for themselves. That's a really weird thing to think of.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's like because we have this culture of specifically like TikTok and like social media, where it's all this like grinded out, like you can do anything that you want to, like.

Speaker 2:

Just believe it and it will come by Well in the back of our mind if you keep, you know, trying things and you keep failing at that. Well in the back of our mind. If you keep trying things and you keep failing, at that, it's naturally going to build a little bit of a doubt in your mind. So if we don't tackle that first and build a system up to build it one step at a time, then it's only a matter of when that whole story is just going to come back and fold. And then it's either life gets in the way or oftentimes it's just that self-sabotage. It's like that air conditioner as soon as it gets too hot and you're succeeding, you naturally cool yourself down and you bring it back to where you believe you should be. And it's a challenging thing to tell somebody that you know this is where they're self-sabotaging. But it's better to speak the truth and ask for forgiveness for it than to just, you know, gloss over it and then have them just keep failing the way that they've done before.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, now, sugarcoating it never helps anybody and so sometimes just obviously you don't want to be like a dick about it, but sometimes you got to be that person to kind of bring shine some light on yeah, bring, shine some light on yeah, um and uh.

Speaker 1:

I wanted to ask you because one of my pillars or one of my principles that I'm really diving into for next month is all about the connection and, uh, socializing and in in that principle for me, I really focus on the skills and the support, so social skills and social support. So I know you've got a great team around you. How did you share a little bit on how you got the team around you and how did you learn to become a leader of the team and get yourself surrounded by other individuals? Because I know a lot of people are trying to kind of scale up and I know there's got to be systems, there's got to be different ways to carry yourself. I know there's a lot that goes into it. So I just kind of want to throw it over to you to kind of hear your take on social, making sure that you've got people around you, building a team, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2:

Sure, yeah. So nowadays it's a much more solo venture in the business that I do now. It was a while ago that I had a team venture in the business that I do now. It was a while ago that I had a team, but with that time no-transcript. You know, encouragement goes so much farther than we ever give credit to. Like just a little bit of encouragement each day to somebody can just make them just. They'll run through walls for you If you're, if you're trying to just encourage them to do uh, you know the work that you're asking them to do.

Speaker 2:

So I always found that the people that I worked really well with are just people who just were excited to be around other people, like they were just people. You know people, people the best way I can say it. You know you can teach tactics and strategies. I said this in the fitness business. You can teach anybody the personal training system, right, it's like we're doing fitness. It's not this personal training system, right, it's like we're doing fitness. It's not this crazy rocket science of stuff. It's like if you learn good ways and good tactics and strategies on it, absolutely you can implement those. But if you have people who generally like just to chat with other people who are just excited and curious about learning about other people and hearing about their stories. Those are the people that are the most powerful.

Speaker 2:

So when I would talk with my team, when they were meeting a new person and stuff like that, I would often ask them afterwards when we would do recaps. I wouldn't ask them about what was the person's goal or what was their objections and stuff like that. Like, oh, how did you close? Like, what was the person's goal or what was their objections and stuff like that. Like, oh, how did you close? Like, what was the things that you did? I asked them about the person's life. I'm like what do they do for work? Where did they grow up? Like, what are you know? What are the hobbies that they like to do? Like, what lights them up about life? What do they get excited about in their life? And if they couldn't answer those questions, then I was asking them like and if they couldn't answer those questions, then I was asking them. I'm like well, we're working with people here. You know, it's like if we just focus on the program, that's so boring, like somebody's not going, like somebody will do that for a couple months or a few months and then they're going to fall off because all you're thinking about is just the program.

Speaker 2:

But if you talk to somebody about their lives and actually curious about people's lives, I found out so many interesting things from just talking to people, because for 10 years I was the person that I was signing up pretty much everybody in the gym, so if they were coming in I was sitting down with them and I was asking them about who they were and why they were here, where they struggled in the past. What lights them up, all those questions? So I just got to learn so much about people and what I realized is that everybody has a story. Everybody has an interesting tale of life. If they've been living for 30, 40, 50, 70 years, they've got some tales to tell about life.

Speaker 2:

And if you learn about them and you get to know that person, that is where other people light up, because I just think that's just where the gold is, and especially in the industry of, like, health and fitness, I think we've lost a bit of just that, that gift of gab.

Speaker 2:

You know where it's like just talking to people. You know, before I got into this I was a bartender. Like all we did was you just shoot the shit with people all day and you find out crazy things about people's lives all the time, and that's one of those powerful things Human connection is so strong. So if you're in a business where you're servicing people, like you got to remember like people have lives, like they are, they're living every day, they have families, they have things that they're stressed about, they have things that light them up, they have aspirations, of things they want to do in their life. If you're curious about that person and you get to have them talk about themselves and get really excited about what they're doing, then I think you can go into anything in regards to service or programs or whatever you offer to that person, but don't lose the person when you're getting into all the other work.

Speaker 1:

I love that. I'm doing my best to kind of continue to learn about connection and communicating with other individuals, and everything I keep leaning back into is finding out that it's never about you, it's always about the other individual. So genuinely showing up, caring, actually listening to what they're saying and then trying to relate to what they're talking about, too to yourself and sharing your own experiences with them too. So I think that's some awesome stuff we're sharing there. So I got to ask you so what's like your ideal client nowadays? So if someone was to just show up and they're looking for help from you, mike, where are they at? What are they working on? What are they working towards?

Speaker 2:

people I work with, I categorize it as like the advanced beginner stage. So it's mostly people who are, you know, who are adults, they work full time, they have families, they have a lot of other obligations, so they're trying to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness with their time. But they've also got a point where they've seen some success in the things that they're doing and they want to go to the next level, but not sure what it is that they need to do. They've been doing things and they've been trying things, but the success that they got in the beginning is not working the same way anymore. So this is where I think a lot of people are in health and performance, rob is, we're very good at, like you said, those beginning steps of getting things started. But then it's that middle zone, it's like that advanced beginner spot where it's not new anymore. It's like so all the details, the little things come in and they matter at that point and often that has to do more. So with the mindset it has to do more, and mindset's a big word. The best description that I have from this was a guy excuse me, mark England who runs the Unlifted Coaching Program. It's the story that we tell ourselves, and so it's often about people who they come and they're like well, I've been doing this for a while and I've seen success, but I'm really trying to get to this level and I don't really know what the next step is. So it's more of just kind of like that confusion type factor that's getting in. So that's when we start looking at the other areas of life, cause usually they're coming to me with I want to get into a new program, I want to try, you know, kettlebell training, or I need help with nutrition, or well training, or I need help with nutrition, or you know, it's usually one of those things. Normally, when we start uncovering more things about their life and stuff, that's when we get into more of like well, this is what's going on in life. You know it's. I'm really stressed at work, my boss is riding me or I'm trying to get to this level.

Speaker 2:

But you start to hear the language that they're saying and oftentimes it's very low key, very subtle, self-deprecating or just that limited belief that they can do that next level and that's one of the questions I ask is I say do you believe you can get to this level? And that oftentimes it's very, it's a very quick like yes, absolutely. And I'll ask well, tell me more about that, why do you think you can, why do you think you can get there? And I'll ask well, tell me more about that, why do you think you can, why do you think you can get there? Or it's that, well, I'm going to try my best or I'm going to hope. Right, it's like those things that were like we're answering it without actually answering it and that's what it's like. All right, let's talk more about this.

Speaker 2:

It's like and then it gets into oftentimes they've had issues with, you know, parents who weren't supportive, or they had a coach that was really tough on them and, you know, called them out on stuff. It's all these things that happen just through life that just naturally sit back up into our head. So those are really the people that I'm getting into, because my program is not short. Like people are working with me for a year. You know I say there's four pillars that we're working with. It takes a good year to get to all of them, because my ultimate goal with anybody I work with is to make them autonomous and knowing what they need to do by the end, not feeling like they need to have a coach breathing down their neck, telling them what to do every time.

Speaker 2:

I did that for years in personal training. Right, I counted out a million different sets. I'm like I'm not doing that. It's like that's as much enabling as it is trying to help, and then some people get to this codependency. So that's when I wanted to shift and really go into this. You know, when I started my own business three years ago and little by little it's gotten more, more clear, more you know concise about the specific thing that we're aiming on, but now it's uh, it's an absolute blessing and I love doing it every day.

Speaker 1:

Oh, awesome. Yeah, I love that approach, like giving them the tools to kind of fix it and move forward and continue to evolve. Um well, I got to ask you. So we're kind of getting towards the end of the calendar year, so what is next for you? What are you focusing on for 2025?

Speaker 2:

So my coaching business is like on autopilot right now, so that works really well. I'm always, you know, looking at improving that and you know, if I have open spots then I usually film. So I always spend time of working on that. 2025 for me is so with my podcast and the media work that I'm doing is my big venture. So I have my podcast, which is called the strength connection, which you've been an awesome guest on. So that's been going for three years now. We're over 260 episodes on that and that's moving in a very strong direction.

Speaker 2:

Um, but there's another thing that I'm doing which is my big project I'm working on, which is called inspire Saratoga. So this is actually a program that I'm doing for more so my local area, but with a bigger vision in line. So the focus that I'm doing is about creating stories and highlighting stories in my local area that I think are really inspiring. People that are doing really cool things. I've had musicians on that are local. I've had people that are filmmakers. I've had people who run businesses that kind of in the back are super successful in the local market.

Speaker 2:

So what I wanted to do is kind of bring back almost like the traditional American values of know your neighbor.

Speaker 2:

You know, I think we always learn from stories.

Speaker 2:

Right, and more often now, with streaming services and social media, we hear all these stories from people who are out there and away from us, like celebrity things and big name things, where there's so many stories that are right in your backyard of people that are doing really cool things.

Speaker 2:

So that's what I wanted to do and I'm highlighting that in this show, particularly for my area. So that's what I wanted to do and I'm highlighting that in this show, particularly for my area. But ultimately, what I want to do is take this type of show and bring it out to other small, local areas with other people who want to do this in their spots. Give them the framework of how I built my show, kind of the highlight of how I put it together, and then hopefully have them take their little segment in their area and then release it out. So have all these other shows kind of highlighting just the local area, rather than trying to, you know, build these huge market spots, you know, and trying to get all the national and international things, start with your local market and then build it from there.

Speaker 1:

I love that. That's awesome stuff. Well, how do people, how do they find you stay in touch other than the strength connection podcast? Where do they get involved to kind of see if they are, if they would be good to connect with you for for the project you've got going on and just generally stay? Stay in touch with you and are you still taking on new clients? I know you said your, your coaching is kind of on autopilot right now, but are you still hoping to bring in new people too?

Speaker 2:

Sure, you know, honestly, I'm willing to have a conversation with everybody. As I said at the beginning of this, if people just have questions about it, I'm willing to jump on the phone with anybody for 20 minutes and if it's a good fit and it seems like I can help, then we usually set up a longer time. So absolutely a couple spots you can reach me where I'm more active. One is on Facebook. I have a group called the strength connection, which is a private group. That's where I put a lot of stuff as far as live feeds and videos and stuff. If you want to connect with me more directly, that's a good spot to go. Um, on Instagram, you can find me at uh, Michael, underscore strength underscore connection. I'll give you these links too if you want to throw them in on the show notes.

Speaker 2:

But one thing I offer out is I have something called five minute mindset. This is a free video that I found. Just five minutes a day for 30 days. If you implement these two practices, it will put you on the path of completely changing up how you view your day, and this is whether you're a fitness venture, entrepreneurial venture, just life in general, If you bookend the day with these two practices these are the most powerful things that I've done as well as implemented with clients that you can go right to the website. It's mystrengthconnectioncom. Just click on the link, send it over. It's a free video. And then also in that is, if you accept this challenge for 30 days, then I actually give you my cell phone number. You can text me these practices every day and I'll coach you through this time. There's no charge to that or anything like that. If I can just help you get in the right direction, then I'd be more than willing to do that.

Speaker 1:

Wow, that's awesome. What a give there. That's powerful stuff Free coaching. If you follow through and commit with that, that's incredible. Yeah, mike, dude, it was awesome First time connecting with you. Every time chatting with you, it's just an incredible time. You're so knowledgeable and, dude, I appreciate all the work that you're doing for so many other individuals not just for me, too. You're helping me out, coming on the show sharing a lot of your insights and experiences. So, thank you, man. Thanks for taking that time today.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate it Right back at you, rob, and for people too. If you want to listen to me and Rob's episode on the Strength Connection, you can go check that out. You brought in all your pillars of success and everything like that, which I got a lot out of, so please go check that out as well.

Speaker 1:

I appreciate that, but before I let you roll, I got to ask you if you were to take all the advice you've got, break it all down into just one piece, one piece of advice to give to somebody that would help them survive the side hustle and become successful. What would that be?

Speaker 2:

All right, this is always an interesting question, so I'll give this with my favorite quote, and this helped me a lot. This is a quote by Beethoven, and it's do not just practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge will raise men to the divine. So how I interpreted that a lot is don't dilly dally with stuff. Go in full force in what you're doing. Find out everything that you can about what you want to do and force your way into those secrets and that second part of that you know, for it and knowledge will raise men to the divine. Okay, there's a spiritual element to that, but I think when you put your whole effort and your whole heart into something, you're going to get into spaces that not only few other people have really ventured into, but you're going to find out a lot about yourself. You're going to find.

Speaker 2:

Everybody says find what works for you, right? The only way to do that is to go full force into it. Talk to everybody that you can about what you want to do, grab knowledge from them. Just be that squeaky wheel. Get as much information out about it. Try a billion different things overall, but just give it everything that you got every day and if you do that, you're going to find the ultimate secrets to it and that's going to be, on that divine aspect, that's going to be where you're going to feel the most fulfillment, because then you're going to actually find what it is that works best for you and what you really hold most valuable. So I'll leave it with that.

Speaker 1:

Boom, I love it, thank you, thank you, thank you. That was fire, mike man. Appreciate it, dude. We'll have to touch base again soon. Guys, that's all we've got today. Catch you, guys, next time.