A Life Without Regrets – Dai Manuel

You know what I mean? We get into that sort of habit of just doing things because we feel that that's what's expected of us. But we never really sit back and say, well, what do I want? What what do I want to be doing? What fuels me? And then we settle. Right? We settle. And uh I don't want to see that for everybody.

Hey Fitness fans, welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. This is your host, Eric Delzone, and we're on episode number 73 with Dai Manuel. And I'm so excited to release this interview. Um, you know, Dai, he may just be my brother from another mother. Uh we've been talking a lot over the last six to 12 months, and uh his journey is incredible. Um, his most importantly, his view on life and what it all means uh is incredibly impactful and powerful. So I only have one simple call to action for you today. So I want you to go check out another podcast. Um it's called the Fitness Blitz. You can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, uh, all those places. Also, you can find it on fitnessprofessionalonline.com. And uh it's our short form podcast. And uh take a listen to it. It's all for fitness professionals. It's very, very actionable items, and uh there's a lot of crossover between uh the guests that we have here as well. So also if you're interested in being interviewed on that, hit me up, Eric Melzone at fitnessprofessionalonline.com. I'd be happy to have you on the show. So more about diet. So this story uh he tells from childhood obesity, finding his calling, um being an author, international speaker, and now a digital nomad who lives uh in Bali with his family. Um it's incredible. And most of all is is the point towards the end of just live a life without regrets. That's it. I don't care what profession you're in, um, what station you are in life, um, how old you are, how young you are, this is the message that needs to get through, right? Um at the end of the day, um, when all things are said and done and that those last few days are upon you, how do you look back? Is it life full of regrets? Are you satisfied with what you've done? That's life, guys. All we truly have is time. So yeah, before I continue on this path, let's just get right to the interview. Number 73, Diaman Well. Please enjoy. All right, Mr. Diamanwell. Welcome to the show, man. I've been tracking you down for a while. How are you?

Thanks, Eric. Yeah, yeah, I'm doing great, man. I'm doing great. I really am. I don't know. It's just uh it's been one of those weeks. It's a good one.

Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I've uh when I first in this toll sign up, but when I first started talking to my business partner, Doug Hole, and uh when he was traveling and he was doing his pneumatic thing, I was like, hey man, how's you know how how are things? He's like, you know, they're just really good. And uh I feel bad saying it sometimes because I feel like a lot of other people are I'm just doing really well. And uh it's like it's like the energy I have for you as well. I was like, yeah, I don't know. Things are just really good. Um but yeah, right now it's it's about 11 p.m. where you are, it's 9 a.m. where I am. So um we'll we'll get into what's going on there because you're in Bali right now. And uh but man, tell tell our listeners, um, give us your story, man. You've been in the industry for a while. You have a really, I mean, I know it, but you know, give us give our listeners some some um some background on you.

Well, you know, I I love the industry. I've been around it a long time, and but I didn't come to it naturally. And I think that's sort of a good place to start. Uh when I was a kid, uh really from the age of nine, I uh started to gain weight. Uh and you know, a lot of it was if I can if I reflect on it, uh I've gone through this sort of internal trying to remember everything and put it together. So as best as I can remember it, uh I I do remember my parents getting a divorce and and uh living with my mom. And you know, I had good relationships with my parents, but I do remember sort of withdrawing and I found solace uh like a lot of our clients do at times in in habits that aren't necessarily good for us. I I started playing a lot of video games, started eating a lot of junk food, and just not moving my body very much. And you know, fast forward of five years of doing that, and I got to a state of morbid obesity. Yeah, at least that's what the doctors say, right? And this is back when childhood and obesity really wasn't together in the same sentence, right? It was oxymoron to find them side by side because it just wasn't like it is today. And uh so I dealt with a lot of the stigmas that came along with that, some of the health complications that came along with that, and uh was very withdrawn and and depressed. And uh then one day I I I sort of call it my Anthony Robbins moment, you know, it's uh sort of where there is a pattern interrupt, right? Like my usual routine just got challenged one day where I got out of the shower. I was at my dad's the weekend, and normally I'm in the shower long enough that the mirror fogs up. And I remember getting out of the shower, taking a look at myself in the mirror and seeing my full reflection. And it was a very sobering moment because you know, I had two thoughts. I was like, I could end my life, or I can accept things as they are right now and realize that the guy looking back in the mirror can make a change. Yeah. And I remember crying, like literally just bawling my eyes out. And uh it was just one of those very vivid moments that I I can it's like I'm still there, you know. I can when I think back on it, I can reflect on it. I think all of us have memories like that in our lives that are sort of those pivotal moments where things could have gone very differently for us. And uh I I chose to make some changes. That was the first time in my life where I really knew the power of self-realization, but also of making a commitment to following through on something. And my parents saw that in me and they supported me in that change and so got me a gym membership, got me a mountain bike, uh, basically supported me in wanting to make some lifestyle changes.

Yeah.

Fast forward about 20 months, I lost the weight. I uh I started to gain muscle mass. You know, I sort of kick-started puberty as well, because up until that point it was being retarded based on my health and uh choices. So that helped as well. And uh I I lost the weight, you know, and gained some new weight and and literally just changed. I transformed. And um I didn't mentally change uh until many years later, because obviously there's a lot of things I still had to work through. But that was my first foray into the fitness and wellness space was this personal journey of my own going through a change. And uh I I still have not been someone that's played a lot of team sports. I didn't play a lot of sports. I man, I was the guy, the kid that would make every excuse under the sun not to go to physette, you know, because I was embarrassed. I was just embarrassed. I I was I felt like an idiot. And um uh so that's sort of where things got started, you know. But when I made that change, people took note and people I didn't even realize that took notice. And even friends of my parents saw this massive shift and it saw how I was just eating differently, carrying myself differently, moving my body regularly, like just really into this health and fitness thing. And I changed my my ways, my confidence improved, and it attracted people to me. And they started asking for help. And and that's where I f got my first opportunity to really mentor people, help people, coach, train, and again help other people with transformations. And that's when I got hooked, you know. That was like, oh man, this is fun. I love this, this is so cool. Like, wow, could I actually do this like for the rest of my life? And so I I thought probably not, to be honest. And so I did what everybody does, and I went to university and and worked on a degree in sciences and thought I'd be a vet a veterinary medicine and follow my dad's footsteps. And pretty quickly I learned that that wasn't gonna happen because I was skipping out, going doing all the cool stuff in Vancouver, like mountain climbing, hiking, mountain like just I was out in the mountains uh or swimming, and uh wasn't going to class. I was skipping out a lot. Eventually I got an academic probation, and so I dropped down into the arts and uh did philosophy in English lit. And uh we all know that there's probably not too much careers in that. And uh and I kept doing my my fitness thing, you know, was training by coaching people, like spinning classes and teaching martial arts and gosh, you name it, personal training. And uh that's sort of when I got into the industry now. And that was a long time ago. That was like over 20 years ago.

Yeah, I was gonna ask what at what age did you actually start training people?

Yeah, I guess uh well, I mean getting paid to do it uh 19. You know, uh up until then, you know, it was like it was friends, it was friends of friends, friends of family, just helping them out, take go to the gym with them, train with them, you know, go for a mountain bike ride with them, talk about nutrition, just really just support people and wanting to make that change. And then at 19, once I moved out to to BC, I I started to go down that path of becoming a trainer and coaching people. And so I did all sorts of different ways of doing that. Gosh, there's it's a pretty diverse industry when you really start to look at all the different ways you can participate in it. And and so I just experimented a lot, you know.

Yeah, yeah. So that's a great story. You know, I was uh I think you and I talked about this previously. I was a pretty I was never morbidly obese, but right at that same age. And how old are you, Dy?

Now I'm now 40. Oh my gosh. Sorry. So uh my 42 yet? No, no, 41, I'm 41. I'll be 42 in November. So yeah, I'm 41 right now. 41.

Yeah, I'll be 42 in October. So we're right there.

Yeah, we're the same, man. Yeah, totally.

And uh yeah, man, I was a chubby kid and I was swimming five days a week, you know. And I I cracked myself, you know, I put myself into the category of a casualty of the low fat, non-fat face. Yep. I was just like, dude, entomens, it's sugar free, you know, it's fat-free.

Right.

So I would just get home from swim practice, just like, and in the here's a funny but true and sad story at the same time is when I was really starting to gain weight, my mom started to get me Twinkies light because it was low fat. And uh, so I would just house those things and you know what didn't think about. And then, you know, it's interesting is no one really um, I guess my my athletic, my athletic ability uh was never really seen because I was such a chubby kid, you know. Um, and then once I think it was puberty and just when I started water polo, actually, was when uh and then doing double days, and of course, then I could eat whatever I want, right? At that age, you're double daying it and you're you're hitting puberty and whatever you want. And then all of a sudden, like, yeah, it was people like, whoa, you're you're an athlete? Like, when did this happen, right? And uh was just like my lifelong, you know. Um, it was kind of like for me, uh put in people's face a little bit. Like, remember me, eight, seventh grade, eight uh PE teacher? Yeah, the one you sat on the you know bench for every sport. Yeah. Well American now.

Anyway, uh it's crazy. Well that's so cool though, man. I I and I I I love that you it reminds me, you know, just like our stories are there's so many people out there that have them, right? Like these similar stories, and just goes to show there's an athlete in every one of us, you know. There really is. There it's there, it's waiting, it's you know, it's in our DNA, all of us. Like we have this ability to to move with purpose and accomplish great things. It's just some of us are are asleep at the wheel, you know? That's all.

Yeah, yeah, I totally agree, man. And uh so let's let's get to the present, man. You know, what do you, you know, let's say like within the last five years, what what's the you know, what's the niche? How do you make a living within the industry? I know you do a lot of things. You do a lot of speaking, you do some coaching still, and you've really moved towards more of a higher level, and not higher level, but just a more um comprehensive level of a life coach, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what do you what are you doing now?

Well, so you know, it would be really funny, Eric, if we had this conversation five years ago. Because that my responses and just everything would be different. And it's it's interesting just to notice this. Because I remember when I was in my 20s and I was a really poor personal trainer, okay? Both, both well, I was poor financially because I was a poor trainer, you know, and the reason was is I I used to get frustrated with clients. You know, I I would, I'd I'd be like, gosh, I see you three to five hours a week, which is great. You know, you're a good client. Thank you, thank you. But it left, you know, 163 hours or so for them to really just uh counteract everything that we did together during those hours. And I I saw people not getting results. And it used to really, really frustrate me, made me uh question why I was doing what I was doing. Uh so I I I I you know I I've shared stories of me firing clients, like literally I, you know, you you're just not willing to work, you know, and and I in in hindsight now, you know, fast forward a couple decades, things change. I can empathize with where people are, but I can also see where I was just I was just too young. I was naive, I was inexperienced, and I was looking at things the wrong way, you know, from based on the clients that I was attracting, you know, the people I was working with. It was people my age, they got it because we we connected, but the the older people that I was working with, I just couldn't empathize. And I think it's that that idea of knowledge versus wisdom. You know, like I always equate it to a tomato, you know. I ask people like, so tomato, what is it? And people look at me like, well, what do you mean? What is it? It's a big red thing. And yeah, but what is it? Oh, well, it's a fruit. I'm like, good for you, you know it's a fruit. That's awesome. You know, it's that piece of knowledge. Yeah, but wisdom is knowing not to put the tomato in fruit salad, you know, because you just gotta do that one time, and you realize that's that's completely screwed up my fruit salad, you know. But it's a fruit, we should go on a fruit salad. But no, but that's wisdom, that's a application of knowledge. So over the last 20 years, I've just learned how to apply what I've experienced, the conversations I've had, new perspectives that I've gained, and just sort of rolling in something. And so in the last five years in particular, it's actually been the last eight years, it's been sort of learning in in hyperspeed for me. Yeah, because I've been just so much more open to things and understanding that I don't know everything, and I never will, and I'm okay with that. But if I can get around the right people, people that seem to know a lot more than I do, something good's gonna happen. You know, I'll take whatever they can give me and and I'll see what I can apply to further help people because that's all I want to do at the end of the day is just make an impact in people's lives in a positive way. And and the last five years, you know, I've completely switched gears as far as careers. You know, I was working in fitness equipment sales, and uh, because that's sort of what I stumbled upon in my early 20s when I was struggling being a personal trainer. I was I realized, well, I still love to help people. And man, there's this thing called commission sales. I've never been in that kind of thing before. But you mean the more I produce, the more I make, and there's no cap on what I can earn. Wow, that sounds really good. For a someone that's naturally competitive with self, it it's it's a nice career path to be in. And and I realized I had a knack for it. And fast forward, I eventually became a partner uh of a retail operation uh that spanned uh Western Canada and e-com across Canada. And uh I did that for 17 years. So I I a big part of my career path, you know, in my adult days up to a few years ago was spent in that that industry. And uh, but then I had an epiphany, a realization, and and you've uh shared with me and and just knowing your story, you you've recently made some big shifts too, with just the way that you do things now. And and I see a lot of us that have been around the industry for a long time. It's not a matter of us always trying to reinvent the industry, but we do end up reinventing ourselves based on what we experience in the industry and the direction that we want to go. And it's scary as all hell, all granted, you know, because it's it's unknown, right? It's we don't know what's gonna happen. We just sort of say, okay, well, but it feels right, so I'm gonna go for it. So I left my career of 17 years, pulled my kids out of school. My wife quit her career a month after I quit mine. Downsized, gave away everything. Uh, what we couldn't part with, any of those emotional items, we put into a storage unit. Everything else that could fit in the suitcases and put in the back of the SUV did end up in the back of the SUV. And we bought a couple Tulys as well, because there were a few other items that we needed, like camping gear and stuff. And then we just uh I had written a book and published that. And uh after it was published, we we just started traveling. And that's what we've been doing for the last three years, you know, sort of traveling and hopping around uh all over North America and recently going overseas. And uh I started blogging about uh 11 years ago, and I started over the years, as my uh reach improved, I I saw that there were other opportunities to connect and work with other clients all around the world. So all of a sudden I realized, okay, well, I I don't need to meet with people in person. This is pretty cool. And with that came other opportunities. I really dove in and started learning about social media marketing and content marketing and all the usual stuff. And I realized, man, I got a pretty good opportunity here. This this could work. This could support us while we're on this new journey. And uh so we went for it. And we're we're still figuring it out as we go, but that's sort of where we're at right now, you know. Yeah, different ways of working with different people and and run a lot of different types of programs online, uh, either you know, do it yourself and done with you or done for you type programs. So we we offer three different types of services and and just really trying to make an impact. Just trying to help people feel a lot happier in life and uh fitness and nutrition. But in particular, becoming a life coach is has really helped me round out my offerings to to really make a greater impact, I feel, people's lives.

Yeah, yeah, I agree, man. Well, what's the what's the title of your book, Doug?

It's called The Whole Life Fitness Manifesto.

Nice.

And it basically teaches people how to leverage 2% of every 24 hours of 30 minutes a day to improve their body, their mind, and their spirit.

Yeah, yeah. I love it, man. Yeah, there's uh what about the process of writing a book? What what was that like? Because I know a lot of people listening probably want to write a book, right? I do. I just, you know, I don't know the topic yet. I just know I want to write one, right? I just know I want to get one out there.

Well, it's uh I like to say, you know, the the positive guy in me that you know that perpetual optimist wants to say, oh, it was a fun process. Yeah, yeah. It had its moments. You know, it had its moments. And because I I had been coaching people in the online space like for absolute, like for free, just just running free challenges, just doing all sorts because I was working in my other career, right? And right, that was my focus. I I didn't plan to monetize anything online that was not any aspiration. So I just really did all these cool things for for fun, for free, just to again make an impact. And uh a lot of these challenges, I started to build these communities and getting people results and just really having a lot of fun with it. And I started doing free Sunday fun day workouts. And so every Sunday morning I'd open up one of our stores where we had a gym within the store, and I told people, come and train. You know, I I will be here, I'll coach for free. It was all group format, uh, functional fitness type stuff. And and eventually it grew to uh quite the community. We had the Sunday Funday community, and I'd be coaching 80 to 100 people every Sunday morning and for free, and they'd come back week after week and just made this amazing, thriving community of people. And it was a full mix. Like I had people up into their 70s, you know, we had some teens, we had all different shapes and sizes. I had one guy with a one leg, you know, a former heroin addict. Like it was awesome, yeah, you know. But I learned a lot through that experience because I got to coach lots of different types of people, find out what motivated them, what didn't motivate them. And I really started to leverage this power of community, like this in a positive way to really help people not only make some changes, but sustain the changes. That became the catalyst for the book. Uh, someone that was in our community said, Hey, you should really write a book. And I was like, Really? Should I write a book? And she introduced me to her a good friend of hers who helped her publish her book and spoke to the publisher. We started talking about it, and she's like, Yeah, you got a book here.

And I'm like, Really?

Okay. So I was still working full time, I'm still volunteering, I'm still a dad, two growing girls, you know, fully dedicated husband to my wife. Uh, and on top of that, I had a lot of other things I was doing, you know, running a couple Toastmasters clubs, speaking at a lot of events, like just I was busy. Yeah, and I hear this from everybody. Everyone just says, Well, I'm just too busy to write a book. I'm like, hey man, I totally get it. I totally get it. But if you want to make it happen, you'll make it happen. And so that was what happened. I I just started carving up some time here and there, and my publisher was very, very good, my editor, but they were like, Listen, if we're gonna make this timeline to publish this book, and and basically I had a year, you know, to it was from like January to the following January. Wanted to publish for obviously the new year's, and it's if you're gonna write a fitness or a health or lifestyle book, January is a great time to release it. It's just everybody's got that front of mind, you know, it's everybody in that mindset. So Uh so I we had a timeline and I had to make it, make, make it. And so that really helped, but it also applied a lot of pressure. And I do react pretty good under pressure. You know, I get things done. So uh and my wife was a great help. But I I encourage people just go through the process. And what's the neat thing is is Eric, especially with you, because you have some so many great conversations and you've got these audio files. It's easy to take uh a QA with somebody that knows you or knows the story of what you want to write about and just talk. And then you take that and you get it transcribed by somebody like on Upwork, and next thing you know, you've got this large body of text that can then be edited and distilled down into potential chapters in a book. And uh so my editor was very good and and helped me with that a few times, you know, where I got stuck or I just didn't have the time to write, she would just interview me, and that's those were transcribed and became books. So why I'm sharing that is if there are people listening to this and like I really want to do a book, well find get the general idea of what you want to to write about and then just talk about it, record it, transcribe it. That's the you you'll crank out a few chapters really easy that way. And and I've even told some people just hire a great editor and they can take your transcriptions and make it sound awesome, you know, they can really help out. And uh just take that thought and just help you make it more, you know, give it more umph and uh connect with more people. So but yeah, overall it was a good process. But I and I highly encourage everybody go for it. Just write a book. Man, why not? Why not? You know, like just yeah, it's fun. Uh at the end of the day, when it's published and you got that that hard copy of the book in front of you, it's there's no feeling like it. You know, I remember us going and traveling and we stopped in just outside of Seattle and we went to a Barnes and Noble and went into the Barnes and Noble with my family. And this is the first time in uh that we really was our first jaunt uh traveling, you know, we get like because we were saying goodbye to Vancouver. We went down and visits, stayed with some friends for a week outside of Seattle, and we decided to go into a Barnes and Noble. So we're some Barnes and Noble, and we found my book. And I was like, holy crap, this is this is so cool, you know. Like that, and that was fun. Like last year we were in Kuala Lumpur, and uh there's a they got the Twin Towers there, and we there's a bookstore in the Twin Towers. We're like, do you think it'd be here? I don't know, man. I don't know. It would be weird. We weren't checked, it was there too, you know. So it was like, yeah, dude, this is crazy, man. And and so whether people buy it or not, doesn't matter, it's there. So it was that was quite it was a fun experience, and uh it definitely made me feel really good, you know? Yeah, are you are you making money off it? Do you make money off the book? Uh not the book sales directly, but the opportunities that the book brings me, yes. Sure. Uh and I I I let everybody know that. Like if you're unless you're like uh Stephen King or J.K. Rowling that's just publishing and selling millions of copies, uh yeah, you you won't make money from the book. I mean that's everyone gets paid, you know, after everyone gets paid, like there's just not much in it. And uh but the opportunities that it brings, uh yeah, it's fantastic. I've had some great brand opportunities to to really uh work as both a spokesperson or do various campaign work uh based on the messaging that I have in my book. It it makes me a good fit. Um, but also a lot of keynote opportunities and speaking events, and just uh it's been really cool from that front as well. Um and also it's brought me a lot of new people to my tribe. Yeah, it's a credibility piece as well. When people say you have a book, they're like, wow, you must be an expert on something.

Yeah, yeah. That's my assumption all the time. Yeah.

Yeah. It's interesting to think about it, man. Yeah, yeah.

It's similar to podcasting. I mean, if if you um I, you know, I would say, yes, indirectly I've made money off my podcast for sure. Yes, right. Like actually, we you know, probably tens of thousands of dollar revenue, but it doesn't, it's not like sponsorships. It's not because I hit a certain amount of downloads. Um, it's honestly because I really just like having a podcast. You know, I've recorded um between the two that I have, I think I've recorded 170 episodes, you know, something ridiculous in a matter of six months, right? And um but indirectly I get, you know, plus it's just fun. I get to talk to Die out in Holly, right? I get to talk to people all over the world and uh and just start conversations, and then you have a relationship, and that's the biggest thing, you know. I think um, you know, if anyone's thinking about a writing a book, you know, it sounds like Dai's advice is set a deadline, get an editor, right? Um kind of the two strong, and if if you're thinking about starting a podcast, start and don't worry about the numbers, you know, and just start, you know, and start having fun with it. And uh, you know, good things will come about. But I think getting either way, get started, right? That's just the biggest, the biggest message. So um, yeah, man. So we we have similar paths. I mean, I'm in Whitefish, Montana. Last nine, nine or ten months, I've lived in six different places. You've uprooted your life and your family, and now you're in Bali. So I get this all the time. You know, I'll go back. I was just back in Santa Barbara where I spent the last decade of my life, and everyone, you know, everyone's I get this comment. I'm sure you get this too. It's like, you know, man, I'm following you on Instagram. I wish I could do something like that. You know, it's the it's always the I wish I could do, and I always, well, it's wrong. Like, you know, it's just a matter of choices, right? Yes. You know, anybody can, you know, people say with me because we don't have kids, but you're living proof. You have three girls.

Two, well, yeah, three women that I'm living with. Right. Yeah. My wife and trust me, uh, people confuse uh Christy as one of the girls. So it's it's uh my my eldest who's 15 now, you know, she's like she's like the same size as Christy, which is just blows my mind, you know. It just shows you how quickly time flies. I mean, it's barometers of time, that's what they are. They remind me of how quickly I'm aging. And uh, but yeah, so I have a 13 and 15-year-old teen girls and uh my wife, so it's uh it makes her interesting travels.

Yeah. Uh um, yeah, I was gonna have you been, Di, since you left Vancouver. Tell us about tell us about that journey.

Yeah, you know, well, our first shot was to chase the sun. You know, I love warm weather. Okay, so when you talk about Santa Barbara, I'm like, dude, one of my favorite places on the planet.

Yeah, it's always 72.

Oh, it's just it's heaven, man. It's heaven. So we we packed up the SUV, we went and visited some friends in Seattle for for almost a couple weeks, you know, and then we just kept going south uh along the coastline. And it was beautiful, you know. And then we stayed in Portland for a little bit and we found a great little place um uh on the west coast, right on a cliff somewhere. I don't even remember what it was. We found this crazy house that and it was because it was low season, right? So you get these crazy deals. And so we ended just parking there for a bit, and and then uh we continued our way down to California, and uh eventually we ended up um in Palm Springs, where Christy's grandparents have a great place, and uh we decided to go and stay with her grandparents, you know. Because it it was interesting because her dad was down there from Kelowna, so a part of British Columbia, and uh he was down there looking after his parents in Palm Springs. And and so here's not only her father, my kid's grandfather, but also their great-grandparents are there, and we were like, how crazy is this? We got like four generations living together right now for you know, and we ended up staying there like almost two months. I had a lot of other travels because I had speaking engagements books, so I would be flying out of Palm Springs and I'd come back to them and it was just great. It was a nice little hub, but it was nice because it was our first time really not having any regular jobs and not having a timeline to be anywhere. Yeah, you know, like it was it was just a weird place to be. So we sort of it was a nice um it was a nice place to be uh for us to do that with family, and and we just thought because our grandparents are getting up into their 80s and 90s, right? So we're like this is a great opportunity to just hang with family and we don't have to be stressed that we gotta get back somewhere on Monday, you know? And right uh so that really gave us that nice sort of start, uh soft start into what our travels. And then we continued driving around the US and eventually ended up back in Canada, uh, and then we drove across Canada. My father took uh quite ill. Uh he'd been dealing with uh pancreatic cancer, and and then we eventually got the the notice that you know it's not it's not treatable, you know. We were told it's it's he's at a point where it's months. Uh we didn't know exactly how long it would be. And uh, but we were in a position, we were like, you know what, we're gonna go live in outside of Toronto and be close to family and until my dad passes. And uh so we did that. And so we were there for almost seven months. And uh I continued to we'd have a lot of weekend travels, you know, go away, but we we stayed close to home. That was the only reason why we hadn't gone overseas uh initially was you know, it was that concern, that fear that we'd get that call, and I'd miss those opportunities to to just be with my dad before he passed. And uh after he passed, that's when we were like, okay, well let's go overseas now, you know, let's let's do this. And uh we we tested the first place we went was Bali. So we lived here for three months last year and I fell in love with the place. Like I just was like, I love this place. This place is the best. This is just awesome. I I want to come back. And so we committed to come back for the year. Uh so we got back here uh just this year, and we've had a home here, and yeah, so it's a home base for us now, and we continue to travel around Southeast Asia, but it's nice to have a home base that we we can come back to. And uh so that's sort of the the fast forward over the last two and a half years. We've been bumping and ping-ponging all over the place. But I gotta tell you, Southeast Asia is just beautiful. The culture, the food, and cost of living is a lot less, and uh it's nice and warm. We're so close to the equator, you know the benefits of this. This is good, it's good stuff. And uh, so yeah, yeah, I I tell everybody just go to Bali, come visit. You know, we got a place, just crash here, it's all good. Yeah, and uh we've had a lot of people take us up on that. It's amazing how many people want to come to Bali. So that's what I was telling you. Remember last time we were chatting? I was like, well, yeah, I just say when, man. You say when. You just say when. We got a place. Like, seriously, we got the bungalow, we got a place for you to crash. Just say when.

Yeah, yeah. That's so cool, man. I love it. What about, you know, um, you know, in and similar, I don't know, I don't even actually talk about that much in a podcast, but since you know, leaving Santa Barbara and you know, everyone does this this whole digital nomad, whatever you want to call it. They do it differently. There's a million different ways to skin this cat, right? For sure. My wife, um, she still has her, she's still a director of operations for you know an internet marketing company. So she works, you know, a pretty normal hours. Um, but she works from home and I do my thing, um, which you know is probably unusual for most people. You know, I podcast and consult mastermind groups and all these things. And um, but you know, the online space is also you really gotta you I think you said ping pong in a different way, but that's how I feel like the online space is. You kind of like the market kind of finds you, you know. And uh you there's so many ways to skin the cat online, and and it's interesting, but you know, um yeah, so we've we have that way. Like we like a home base, we still do an Airbnb. I talk to people, you know, I just talked to a gentleman who um I'll be on his podcast next week, and he's he's all adventure band, man. That's all he does. They're going all he does a podcast, so he's visiting all the different national parks in one year, you know, throughout the United States. And is that Joe?

Yeah, you know Joe, all around Joe. I know Joe. Yeah, yeah. I was like, it's gotta be Joe. Uh yeah, I've trained with Joe. Well, when we first started our trips down to Seattle, my my other friend Scott uh Robertson, you may know Scott actually. Yeah, I know that name, yeah. And uh so he's got a cross at gym, Stoneway CrossFit, and Joe was his head coach at the time. Okay, yeah. So yeah, but I remember him telling me about you know his podcast he was getting going and his van that he was reno in. And uh, but yeah, I I I was pleased to see that he finally he's on the road now. He's like doing it, what he taught told me he was going to be doing uh a couple years ago. So that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome, man. That's pretty cool.

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, there's another guy um who's in the fitness industry, Matt Wellrath, um, who's um what is it, beyond is it beyond macros? Anyway, he has you know online nutrition company right now. He's last time I talked to him, he was in Australia driving up and down you know the coast and surfing. And um so there's just you know, but everyone does it differently. And I think uh, you know, there's no one way to do it. And you know, if if I'm curious just to hear, you know, what would have been the challenge? Everyone, I mean, everyone looks at the life that you live, or the life that my wife and I live, and and you know, Joe and and this other guy, Matt, um, and they think it's you know it's perfect, but there's challenges, you know. What are some of the challenges you've had doing the, you know, uprooting your family, moving to a different country? Like what are some of the unexpected things that hit you?

You know, the funny thing is I could have been back in Vancouver, I'd still be having challenges there too, you know, and that's what I sort of tell people like it doesn't really matter where you go, there's always gonna be challenges. That's just you can expect that from life, right? There's just nothing's gonna go as planned. All right, Murphy's Law, right? Yeah, and uh it's cool. Like when you accept that and you just realize what's gonna happen is gonna happen, and some things are out of my control. So let it be. Okay, Sarah, Sarah. Uh but we accepted that, and we thought, well, what's the worst that can happen? And and if you let your imagination run, I mean, sure, you can think up some pretty gruesome things, but we're like, what can really happen? Yeah. You know, we've had issues where we get sick. Yes, that sucks. You know, I have a chronic autoimmune disease, so it's my eldest daughter. You know, she has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. I have uh something called autoimmune. And it it provides challenges, obviously, because our symptoms sometimes act up, and and with chronic illness, uh, you know, some of those symptoms aren't very fun, and it can affect energy, mood, uh travel arrangements can get changed right real quickly. Uh, but for the most part, I mean we control it based on lifestyle choices. We we can keep most of those things at bay, but every once in a while it pops up, you know, nothing you can do about it. You just ride through it. And so that's provided some challenges. Um because medical obviously in Bali is a little bit different than medical. You know, uh it it it is technically a I I call it a third world country, but it it's got all the first world amenities. It has a great hospital, great medical system, but not quite the same as what we're used to in North America, you know. So it does prove prove to be challenging. And then on top of that, I got two teen kids, and they've come into their teen years while on the road. And uh, you know, my 15-year-old, she has moments where it's like she she really feels a pull to be in school like regularly and you know, to be in high school, to be with her friends. And so that's hey, I was 15 once. I I I get it, I understand. I I totally appreciate that. But I also know there there's some big things my wife and I wanted to do, and we're doing it, and they're there doing it with us. Uh, but there are days where things just aren't what we planned, you know, and meaning like it's just because our income's not necessarily predictable, not like our my old career where I had a typical salary, I had a certain bonus structure. I mean, I had a lot of things that I could count on where now I don't. Everything's up to what I do, what I produce, or who I ultimately provide value to. And that's the more people I provide value to, I find the better we're off, you know. Like it's neat how that works. And uh if you haven't read the go give ever read it, yeah. I know you talked about that's a book that you give people, and you've read it many times, and I believe that philosophy. And uh I I think just just real quick, you know, on this whole idea that there's people thinking, man, I'd love to do that. I just you know some people are just afraid to take that first initial step, right? And that's really just experiment with it. Most people can take a leave from work, just experiment, take take three months, uh go and try something, you know, go see what it's like. Yeah, and it's a it's a nice soft way to to begin it. And I've seen people do that. They'll take these leaves uh from work or or uh whatever, you know, you know, and and then they realize, man, this is this is cool. I like this, I can do this. And there's so many options for creating an income. You know, like and I tell most people in the fitness and health space, it's if you're great at serving people, well, just find your first 10 clients. Literally, your first 10 clients, just find the first 10. You can do this. Like I I've seen people with absolutely no social media presence at all be able to go out and just use Facebook, get a word out, create uh a way of serving people, and and they end up attracting those 10 people. And you you realize, wow, this is doable. I can do this, I can scale this. And when you start looking at, well, how much do I really need to sustain the lifestyle I want? You don't need as much. I I tell that to everybody, it's like I don't make anywhere near quite the same as I used to, but I don't need to. My lifestyle is very different now. It's a lot simpler, a lot less stressful from that standpoint. Yes, and because of that, it it affords me the opportunity to be full-time with my family, to be full-time with my my kids as they're going through these last few years where they actually want to hang out with us still, you know. Like it's uh take advantage of that. Like it's it's cool, it's special. And so that's that's sort of it, you know. I get there's there's we've had issues where a tire needed or sorry, a car needed service at a small town that didn't serve BMWs, you know. Like we're like, shit, what are we gonna do now? You know, we need a part, and uh there's no parts for like anywhere around here. So it's sort of hooped. And uh, you know, finding a guy that could order a part and you know, just do a makeshift fix until we made it to a major city that had a dealership that we could actually get service, you know. That's just one example. I mean, it's it's not that big of a deal, but yeah, at the time it was like shit, we're stuck here, and I don't even know where we are. I don't even got cell reception here, I don't even know where the hell we are.

So uh, but it's fun, right? It's fun. Yeah, the challenges do make it fun. And I think um, you know, our our cost of living, because my wife actually tracks all this stuff, she's amazing. She got spreadsheets for everything, right? I do not do that, man. I'm like, I don't know, where's our credit card bill at? I have no idea. Um but uh we know for a fact that our our living expenses are about one third of what they used to be. Wow, huge. That's it's amazing, you know, and and it takes, you know, I think what a lot of people can if at the the worst case scenario exercise is extremely powerful. If you boil it down to like what's the worst possible thing that can happen for most people, I you know, if you're listening, like whatever you're doing now as far as occupation or living circumstances, there's probably a really good chance you can always come back. Like leave. You know, there's nothing that's that's truly permanent about these moves, but if it's something that's itching at you and you really want to do it, um, you can find a way. And I I know everyone has different circumstances. You know, some do have um, you know, kids are fully entrenched in school and they don't want to uproot them, but you can do three months in the summer, right? You can go to Bali for the summer, or you can go to where a whitefish for for the winter season or a month, whatever it is, you know, there's there's ways to do it. And I think, you know, the very first step, my very first step was just coming home and telling my wife, like, you know, I'm I'm ready to sell my gym, which had been such it was my identity. And that was the struggle, right? Like that was like I was known in the community. Um, you know, everywhere we went, you know, in Santa Barbara, went out for dinner, I'd see three people, right? And it was just like it was my life. And uh, you know, that was just that coming home and saying that moment, and she's like, holy cow, you're serious.

I was like, Yeah, let's do it.

And then like everything from there was just like, you know, it was just a cascade of movement, but it's that it's that one choice, it's that one major action that takes place. And whether that be like, you know, asking your boss for a hiatus or, you know, a paid leap or whatever it is, you know, um, or the ability to work remotely, uh, it's just that one major action. Everything will cascade after that because if you truly want to do it, the excitement will carry you through, you know.

It really does. Yeah, you're you're bang on there. And yeah, because I originally planned to just take a leave, and then it got to a point where I was like, nah, I I I can't go back. Like, do you know what I mean? Like it I just had to sever the tie and uh just fully uh embrace this this next step, this next phase. And but the worst case scenario was great for us, you know. We're like, well, we're both very employable. Like we can find jobs, yeah. Like we can we it's okay. We you know, things will be okay as long as we're all together, we're all you know. I hate those uh kumbaya moments, but it really was one of those moments. It's like as long as our family's together, we've got our health, and things are okay, we get we got food and we got a roof overhead. Like, yeah, what's the worst that can happen? And it's not that bad, you know? Like it's really not that bad. Like it I I read a book and I think I shared this with you last time we chatted, you know, Bronny Ware wrote The Five Regrets of the Dying. And and then after seeing my dad go through what he went through, and I and it's been really weird, you know. I it like we're only in our early 40s right now, yet we still see you, you know, you just share that you you uh were just recently in Santa Barbara for a memorial, you know, and just since we've tr been traveling, I I've lost three friends, you know, and young guys. Young guys in their forties. You know, and um it it's just goes to show that and these are people I would have never even imagined would not be here now. You know, like it just furthest thing from it. Like if you would uh we could be writing a list of all the names of the people I could think that might die young, they would have never made it to the list. And it just goes to show that life is so short and we just don't know. Yeah, we just don't know. Like we can't there's no guarantee tomorrow's gonna be tomorrow. Like there's no guarantee. And yet we we we all put off till tomorrow. Oh, I'll do this tomorrow. I'll I'll do that travel thing, you know, that that thing that I really want to be doing, I'll do that later when things are just right, when I get this one thing figured out, you know, when I get that one last bill paid off, uh then I'll be ready to do that. And then we collect tomorrow's and then eventually you wake up and all you got left is a pocket full of empty yesterdays, right? Like it's just like boom sucks.

Yeah.

What's happened, you know? And I I've seen this happen to some loved ones of mine too, as they've aged and they've sold businesses, and then all of a sudden health just wasn't in their favor. And everything that they wanted to be doing is now all that energy is focused on trying to get well again. It's it's not a good place to be. Uh and and that that was my my moment where I was like, I I can't miss out on any more of these opportunities.

Yes.

I'm just gonna go and seize them and grab hold as tight as I can right now while I can. And uh just I love the experiences, you know, that's what our family's all about. It's just really experiences and enhancing the experiences of people's lives as best we can. And that gives us that great sense of joy and sleep well at night, you know. It doesn't make me a rich man, but it makes me a rich man in experiences and in relationships. And in and to me, that's what matters most, you know, it really does. And uh I I I enjoy the the journey. But if you get a chance, read Bronny Ware's Five Regrets of the Dire, or watch her TED Talk. It's it's you don't have to read the book, just watch the TED Talk. Yeah, and uh it's it's inspiring. And she talks and I don't want to be one of those people that has any of those regrets on my deathbed. And uh I won't tell you about all five, but uh a couple of them are are really important. And uh one being I wish I had lived the life that I was meant that I wanted to live rather than the life that I that I thought other people expected me to. You know what I mean? We get into that sort of habit of just doing things because we feel that that's what's expected of us, but we never really sit back and say, well, what do I want? You know, what do I want? What what do I want to be doing? Yeah, what fuels me? And and then we settle, right? We settle. And uh I don't want to see that for anybody at all. Anyways, I could go off all day, but this is.

No, man, that was good. That was what I was looking for. That was the goal. That was it. So um let's let's uh I don't think it's gonna be better than that. But where where do people find you, Kai? Where where do they go if they want to work with you? Where where do they go?

Well, you know, I'm all over. Uh the the one thing is if you can spell my name right, you'll find me. Okay, like Die is a Welsh name for David, and Menwell, obviously. It's a Portuguese name, and I'm a mix. And uh, but I'm easy to find because there's this thing called Google, and I'm really SEO'd well for it. Okay. So if you type in my name, you'll find me. But I have a website, lots of great information in there: mindset, nutrition, fitness, it's all really lifestyle focused. That's an easy way to get me. Um, but also Facebook, Instagram, I'm active on both of those platforms, and uh it's me. Like just realize you send me a message, I'm the one that gets it. And so I'm the one that replies to it. I'm an army of two, you know, it's me and my wife. And uh so just give us a little bit of grace. If we don't get back to you like right away, we will get back to you, though. I always reply, always respond. But uh yeah, reach out. I mean, I I just love having conversations with people about this kind of stuff and just life. Anything that's literally life and lifestyle focused, man, I can talk all day about this stuff because uh I love it. I love it, and I love seeing people just get excited, like really get out of bed and just be like, oh man, I'm going to crush today. You know, like it just I get so damn excited. We get messages from people that are in our programs, and I just and they see these photos, and they're just like, damn, they're like a new person, you know. Isn't that weird, right? It's because especially for like Eric, you're you're living proof of this now. You know, uh, you talked about this transition of after 10 years of running the gym and that looks sort of your identity. Well, now it's you've you you're creating a new identity, you're living into that person, you've evolved, right? And and isn't it weird when you start meeting people that knew you before? It's almost like you have to reintroduce yourself again. Yeah, it is because you're so different now.

Yeah, seen things, yeah.

Yeah, like you're just you're different, right? You have this new spectrum on the reality of your life and uh a new appreciation of things. It's that sort of knowledge versus wisdom I talked about earlier, that tomato analogy, right? Like it's as you gain more wisdom, you you do shift, you turn, you change, you you evolve, and you can't help that happens, you know, and and it's a great thing. So embrace it. It's like, oh man. Anyway, sorry. That's a total tangent, man. I get these like it's like squirrel moments. Squirrel. I'm like, dude, it's like you're an exactness.

So um, man, thank you so much. And I know it's late there. I appreciate you making the time. And uh yeah, ladies and gentlemen, dime in well. Hey, thanks, Eric. I really appreciate it. Hey fitness fans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I ask you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us. It's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh, I can't tell you how much it means and helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day, and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel, or fitness marketing alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge. That's a big deal for us. And when we put a lot of work into these episodes, uh trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much.