Entrepreneurial Success Habits & Sales Mindset - Matthew Januszek

I think sales or influence is an extremely important thing that you you need to get good at, not for the sake of making money and improving your own life, but for other people's lives. And and you're you're you're not doing if if you're a personal trainer, you're if you could be better at influencing, you could change someone's life. And if you're no good, that's your fault that you're not able to help that person. And I and I think in our industry there's there's there's people are scared of sales because they they have a negative perception of what it really means.

What's up, fitness friends? Welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and this is episode number 122. Talk to Matthew James Tech. So Matthew is a seasoned veteran of the fitness industry. He has built a company that is worth well over $30 million. And he's also the host of the Escape Your Fitness podcast. And there's so many things you can talk about with a guy like this, right? There's so many insights from the fitness industry to entrepreneurship to mindset to life in general. And it's just so funny how those all of those just seem to tie in to each other, right? But we really focus on the mindset of an entrepreneur, what it takes to be successful, the habits that need to take place. And you know, we just talk about nutrition and health, right? We need healthy habits, we need healthy nutrition habits, things that we do. Do we get enough sleep? Right? Uh are we eating enough vegetables, all those things. In order to be successful as an entrepreneur or as a business person, you need to have great habits too. So we dig into it. It was awesome. So before we get into the episode and much more about Matthew, uh, I want to tell you this episode is brought to you by CertifiedCourseCreation.com. Yes. It's a big deal nowadays, you guys. Getting your certification out there, getting online courses uh can be so lucrative and so impactful, you're probably wondering, well, why don't I have my own? Well, maybe now is the day. Today is the day to check it out. So go to certifiedcoursecreation.com, you'll find out much more. There's an application there. But what do they do? Well, if you have a concept, right, particular uh niche of knowledge that you know people want to learn and you need to get that out there. You need to share it, and you need to create your legacy and you want to make some money while you're doing it, and stop trading your time for money, right? Then this is the deal. So go to certifiedcoursecreation.com. There's a whole five or six-step process that they can run you through and tell you all about it. But all starts with filling in on an application and see uh if you qualify for the service, and then booking a discovery call. And uh the team over there is amazing. Uh, they will help your concept become a reality and really, really up-level your game. So go to certifiedcoursecreation.com and check it out. Now, without further ado, let's get into it. This is episode number 122 with Matthew Genisek. Enjoy the show. Enjoy the ride. All right, and we're live. Matthew, welcome to the future of fitness, my friend.

Thank you, Eric. I'm I'm very pleased to to be invited as your guest.

Yeah, and I appreciate, you know, I know it's uh it's you know fairly late over there uh in the UK, um, or what is now known as the UK with Brexit and all that stuff. So a whole nother topic. Yeah, we won't go to the body.

Yeah, we w we won't go to that.

Um but yeah, I appreciate you coming on. And uh, you know you you've obviously seen a lot of success um within the you know the fitness industry and and the fitness profession, which always comes with uh a whole lot of failure too, which you know I'm sure we'll talk about. Um, you know, the balance of of how you push through um, you know, little bits of failure to to get success as an entrepreneur. And uh yeah, so give us your story, man. Give us your bio, give us a little background on who you are.

Yeah, I I um I started my my I guess my first memorable interest in fitness was probably about 15, 16 years old. So I fell off my roller skates, had an excuse to stay off school, um, which I which which at the time was brilliant because I I didn't like school at all, and uh spent uh spent the week watching Pumping Iron. That was that was really nice something that caught my attention and and uh I suppose gave me a bit of a dream to to become Mr. Olympia one day. That was I I think that was my my sort of uh you know, you sometimes get those turning points where you see something and it and and it you know it drives you. And that I I think that was mine watch watching Pumping Iron and um and Arnold Schwarzenegger and and uh just thinking, yeah, I want to I want to be a bodybuilder.

Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Well there's I think there's two people who uh you can kind of trace back when the actual fitness industry started, right? I think there's two people that are hugely responsible, uh, one being Arnold, of course, you know, getting people into the gyms, and another person is um Jack Elaine here, stateside, if you know who he is. I think those are two people who really kind of like, oh, fitness is a thing. Like that's a thing that we do now, right? And then the industry kind of built around that. Um yeah, man. So you've you uh you've created one call of a business. Give us some story about behind that.

Yeah, so I I uh I was um as as a young, as again, as a teenager, I I had this interest in in bodybuilding. So went on and did as a junior, was I was an average bodybuilder, but I competed uh quite quite a number of times and um spent a lot of times in gyms uh understanding about how to train, understanding what it's like to train with a training partner and what happens when your training partner leaves you and you're stuck on your own to motivate yourself, which is an interesting story in itself. And and it just became part of my identity, I suppose. It was just it was just a really important part of my life, exercising and working out. So, whatever happened in my life as a teenager, you know, you you you've you're finding yourself and you've got various ups and downs with finding a job and losing a job and finding girls and you know, losing girls and all that kind of stuff. And the and the and the one constant I had, the one thing that that I always went to when things weren't very good is is to work out. And and I used to, you know, when I went into the gym, whatever issues I had, it was a it was when I I always remember coming out even at a young age and thinking, I just feel brilliant now. And I don't I know I never knew at the time what he was or what was going on, but I always used to feel better when I came out and I was walking to my car after a workout than what I did when I went in. And that that sort of said to me that how important exercise was. And and even even just when I was going through phases of working out, and then maybe I'd sort of you know, I couldn't make it to the gym for a few weeks. I weren't, I never felt as good. My mindset wasn't as good, I wasn't as positive, and I just life wasn't as good when I weren't in the gym as as what it was, I guess.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's true. You know, it's and um you know, we'll talk about entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurialism. I have a really hard time with that word, just to let you know. So um this, you know, the stress of it, um, the pressure, right? I would say less stress, but maybe the pressure if you're dealing with it right. And how you know, I for working out and training and exercise is so critical for everybody, but especially for those who are in the you know, the high pressure situations of of building businesses. And um I'm so glad I didn't really figure that out until probably my late 20s, early 30s, um, because sport had always been part of my my thing. You know, it was kind of like forced exercise. I had to had to play my sports. Um, but now at my age of 42, man, there's no better pill than exercise, right? I mean, you could be having uh in a really uh challenging day full of highs and lows. Um, but exercise is is still the best remedy, right?

Yeah, absolutely. And and so I I think, you know, to come back to your your original question, I I think that it it was something that was very important to me. And at the time I was working in another business I didn't particularly enjoy. Um, and it was it was the dental business actually. And and I I was always thinking about and talking to my father about how to get involved in something that that was interesting and that would make money. Because the the the job I was in, I didn't make a lot of money at all. It was at the time it was about £100, which which nowadays is about $130 a week. So it was a pretty small salary. And then in in the evenings, I used to top that up. I think I got the same in the evenings as I did in the day working as a doorman, a bouncer. They they they called them in a in a nightclub. So I used to do that in the evenings, and it was it was a reason it was a way of me being able to hang around with other bodybuilders, learn about how to get an edge in training and your in your diet, um, if you were competing. So I so it was a way to for me to be around the people that I felt I I wanted to be around. And um, and and so we we me and my dad we we had these ideas about opening the gym. Um we we kind of explored. I I even remember us finding a location and and and trying to sort of get this building up and running, but we it it it fell through, we couldn't get the money, we couldn't get the buildings. So we we we tried that and and and and tried a number of different ideas. My my father was always making and inventing things, he was an engineer, and I suppose I was the one that that I probably passionate about fitness and trying to find something in in that direction. So I one one day I was in the gym sitting on the corner of a bench in between sets and doing my chest, and and looked over in the corner, and there was these bumper plates, which at the time weren't popular like they are now, you know, and nowadays with on the back of CrossFit bumper plates are massively popular, but then it wasn't, and it always used to be something that the real um the the proper weightlifters, the Olympic weightlifters, the serious guys used to work out on. And then the bodybuilders that were seen as the sort of you know poor relation had to have the cast iron ones that weren't quite as nice to feel. So so I always used to look at these and I was inspired. And if I ever got into the gym early and I could grab hold of those before anyone else did, I I did because they you know it was a cool thing to work out on. And and I just remember one day looking at the side of the plates and they had Poland written on them. And the um my my father was Polish, and we always were talking about maybe doing a business in Poland because at the time it was it was a communist country that was starting to open up into Europe, so we thought that being you know, it's a good good opportunity there. And um, yeah, you know, I had this idea, went to my dad, said, look, do you think you could um you could find out where they buy where they make these in Poland? Because if you do, I'll bring them to England and I'll sell them to gyms. That was my sort of master plan. And um, yeah, to cut a very long story short, that that's what happened. He managed to find a factory. We threw some relatives, aunts, and uncles, we we we found this company in Poland that were making them and we we brought them back to England and um we started from a spare bedroom to to where we are today now, where we were in about 80 countries around the world, providing most of the major fitness brands with with weights and functional training equipment.

Yeah. How long ago was that? When did you guys actually form the company?

We probably the idea had been going a long time, but well, I think when we formed it and actually had our first sale, it was uh it was it was 1998. So last year was our 20th year that we've been going.

Yeah. Sounds like your father was uh or is, I don't know, uh quite quite the mentor for you.

Yeah, he was he was um uh you know, he inspired me. Um he uh for those people that are thinking of getting into business, particularly a family business, it it's certainly not easy. Um my father was quite tough on me. And I always say he he made me the best sales. I'm I I I guess I'm fairly I'm a fairly good salesperson, and I I think is if you're an entrepreneur, or if you know, whatever you're doing, really, whether you're a trainer, you you need to be good at sales. You know, sales is extremely important. And and I think trying to convince my father of something that was almost impossible made me a very good salesperson. So so he was uh yeah, everything I said, it was you know, you had to be so on the ball to convince him to go with it, and you have to, you know, you have to try every trick in the book to get him to sort of come around to your way of thinking. That I I I think um I think that was where I kind of cut my teeth on on sales, really. So he was very influential in that, and um you know, also pushed me quite a lot. And and I and I think have it, you know, had an ex he had an extremely um uh sort of hard hard work ethic. He he can't he came from Poland, didn't have anything himself, so the only way he got anywhere was working extremely hard and extremely long, and and I guess being around him and seeing what he did rubbed out, rubbed off of me. And I suppose I realized at a young age that if you want something, you you're gonna have to work hard to get it. And certainly in business, I've not met anybody that's been successful that has had it easy. You know, anyone I've met has is it's been extremely hard to build a business. And uh if anyone tells you it's not, is it's not telling you the full truth.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. It's that, you know, uh one of the things that bugs me the most about the modern kind of age of of the fitness industry is all these promises of like six figures in 90 days, right? Like it just drives me crazy. And uh, you know, it's interesting you you mentioned sales as an entrepreneur. I I just finished up a book by Peter Thiel, uh one of the co-founders of PayPal. And he had this line in there that just struck me, and I'll probably get you too. He's like, you know, if you're an entrepreneur, look around. Look around. Uh if you don't see a salesperson on your team, you are the salesperson. I think that's a revelation that a lot of people, uh, you know, in any entrepreneurial venture or you know, especially in the fitness industries, people don't understand, like, no, you're you are the salesperson. You have to learn how to sell.

Yeah. Yeah. And and my my father, he my father invented a lot of things. And I always remember as a as a child going around to meetings with him where he had invented a product and he went to a big company who was trying to sell them and and knocking on doors. And I think that in in you know, that as a young age inspired me. And I remember certain products that he had that he didn't, he wasn't successful selling either. And I I think that impacted me a lot. And it and it made me, I suppose, realize that that how important it was to, you know, no matter how good a product you you have, and he the products he made were brilliant. They were they were really, really good products. But unless you can convince somebody to buy it, then it's worthless. And and so I I I think um my my father and myself have made a good partner because he was the sort of engineer, he was the sort of operational person, and I was the the person that was that would go out there and sell and and market and and and you know, take those ideas to um yeah, take take those idea, ideas to the industry. And and I think some people have a have the wrong impression about sales, and and they they see it as a negative thing, you know, whichever end of the fence you're on, it's like, well, you know, that's not a good thing. But as several people have said to me, you know, we do a podcast, I met several people in the fitness business, and they've all said, look, you know, unless you know nothing starts until a sale is made. Yes. And and really, I think a sale is not, you know, it depends how you look at it, but it's not being pushy and sort of you know sneaky and sly. It's it's really about explaining someone how something can improve their life. And if you're a bad salesperson or a bad communicator, or if you're not able to deliver that message in the right way, then somebody could be missing out on something that could change and impact their life in an extremely positive way. Even if it's a message, even if it's an idea that, you know, a personal development idea, if if if that goes over people's head and they say, I don't believe that, then you know, by not persisting and finding the right way to communicate them, you're you're sort of not giving someone a great opportunity in life. And that's the same for children, that's the same for family, that's the same for relatives. So I I think sales or influence is is an extremely important thing that you you need to get good at, not for the sake of making money and improving your own life, but for other people's lives. And and you're you're you're not doing if if you're a personal trainer, you're you know, if you could be better at influencing, you could change someone's life. And if you're no good, that's your fault that you're not able to help that person. And I and I think in our industry there's you know, there's there's people who are scared of sales because they they have a negative perception of what it really means.

Yeah.

I've gone a bit of a rant now, haven't I? Oh, it's beautiful.

Yeah, it's beautiful and it needs to be heard. You know, it really does because I think you're right. And you know, especially stateside here, the the connotation you think sales, it's the the first image that goes into everyone's mind is like the used car sales guy, right? Or the insurance sales guy, right, who's you know, wearing kind of a cheap suit. Hey, you know, let's close it. A B C, right? Always be closing. That's the that's what they think of. And it's just sales is what makes the world go around. And anytime, I mean, in any transaction that you have in your life, and life is a there's a lot of transactions. I mean, um, you know, just before this where I was talking to you about a tenant, right, that I have in in Santa Barbara, right? And uh, you know, we're we're trying to transition tenants, and I'm I was I was trying to sell at that point. I'm like, listen, you know, give me 10 minutes of your time to meet this new person tonight. You don't have to do this weekend, your life would be better. And I was like, oh God, this is sales again. It pops up in everything we do from our interpersonal relationships to to business to um, you know, even when I try to sell my dog to do something, right? It's it's one of those one of those things. I think it's really, really important conversation. I love what you said because you just shifted the mindset on sales, right? It's like um, you know, I put myself back in my gym ownership days when, you know, someone would come in, I'd be like, okay, if I don't get this person to join my gym, they're probably gonna go maybe down the street to somebody who's less responsible, um, less knowledgeable, or less caring, right? And I'm gonna lose the opportunity to help them and it's gonna affect them. So I'm not just doing it for me and my staff, but I'm doing it for that person. And that that mindset shift is really important. Um, I'd be curious, like how maybe walk us through a practical example of how you've you've used that that sales approach.

Um, well, if in it we we invest a lot in our company, in um, you know, in the in the in our in our sales team to to do that, you know, to be good at selling. And and again, I you know, how however you use the word, as I said, some people don't like to use a word, but I I think it's helping people make the right choice. And and sometimes a good example is I I have a family business and I work with my brother's, sister's wife, brother-in-law, sister-in-laws. And and you know, in a lot of cases, you we're talking the same language, we all speak English, we've known each other all of our lives, and yet in some cases, it's that we may as well be speaking, you know, one of us may as well be speaking Chinese because they don't fully understand what you're trying to say, you know, the point you're trying to make. And and so it's very much, you know, it's not just about you know, sales is about listening as as we know, it's not about talking and selling, it's about listening, it's about understanding. And I say, you know, you've you've probably heard this a load of times, but you know, there's a there's a reason we've got two ears and and one mouth. And and that's really how to approach, you know, if you want to influence somebody, you need to understand what influences them. You need to be talking the same language, and that doesn't mean speaking English, that means talking a language that they understand, relate what you're doing to those people, understand where they're at at the moment, and and uh you know go see if you can meet them where they are, as opposed to try and get them to meet where you are, because you're probably in a your your view on you you probably can see things that they can't. Um, and I I think that ties in in a similar position to business, you know, when you start a when you start a business, if you're an entrepreneur, you have a a vision and a dream that no one else can see because you're an entrepreneur. You you see things, you've created a reality that hasn't existed before. So to expect that your wife or your business partner or any anyone else can understand that is is a little bit unrealistic because you've you've you've imagined something that doesn't exist, it's only in your mind, and the next job is for you to make that vision a reality. It it's like having a, I don't know if you've seen one of these sort of black and white dot-to-dot pictures, you know, you're in a colouring book that the children have. You know, you've got the black this black and white thing, and you can't quite work out what it is, but then you you start colouring in the numbers, and you you know, suddenly you you from all these lines you get a beautiful picture, and and that's why. A vision is like, and and so what what you have to realize is whether it's selling a business idea or creating a business idea or getting people to follow you or getting people to want to buy from you, what what you kind of have to do is you have to be able to get them to see that picture and then move towards that picture, and and that applies to sales, that applies to you know, when they talk about you know setting goals for your business and looking at your goals on a regular basis. The same principles apply is that is that you need to make that picture very colourful, and you need to keep looking at that picture because if you if you're not totally focused on it, you know, you suddenly you've got all these different pictures, and your mind doesn't really know where you're going, and you and then you're trying to get people behind you, and you know, it takes a long time to get there. So the clearer the picture you've got, the easier it is for you to help them see that picture, and the more chance you've got to be successful and and the people that you're looking to influence. Um I know that's I don't know whether that's answers your question at all.

Yeah, uh, I'm not sure either, but it's a beautiful analogy. I mean I really like it. Yeah, it's true. And uh, you know, I see I always um well, my wife, my wife actually reminds me, reminds me quite often. She's like, Eric, like I'll start spouting things out of my head um that I'm talking about or ideas, and she'll be like, I have no idea what you're talking about, right? And she's like, Not everyone thinks like you, you know, and you can't expect people to think like you, and creating that vision that we have in our heads and then being able to translate and communicate that over time, uh, it's a it's a it's a skill. And you know, I and you've seen over I'll give you another, I'll give you another analogy.

So we we develop a lot of products. Um and and so but the the talk, the story I sell is we it in our brochure, you we we're probably quite known for these colorful tractor tyre types of products. So we you know, probably five years ago we saw in a lot of CrossFit gyms they were getting tractor tires and they were flipping them. You know, it's a great exercise, it's a squat, it's a deadlift, it's a push, it's so you know, it gets your heart rate up. So, but the problem is with with the tractor tyres is that they they get you very dirty, it's not the sort of thing that my mum would probably pick up, but the movement is something, as my mum gets older, it's a great movement for her to be doing, you know, it's all lower body, back, everything. So great exercise. So, how could I get my mum to do that? So we were thinking about the idea, and we came up with this soft foam tire that's nice and colourful, it's got some you know big numbers on it, it's got handles on it, you can do all types of exercises. So, so before we had that idea, that that that didn't exist. Okay, that didn't exist in the market, you couldn't buy one. Um, and if you if you and I had a conversation about it, you'd be like, what are you talking about? I I don't know what you mean. So, but but if you think about you know this the computer you're looking at, the table you're sitting at, the chair, all of those things at some point started as an idea. Somebody imagined that idea, and then what they you know, maybe they sketched it out, then they started talking about it, and and they created that idea so that one day that that thought became a product that we're now selling, and it's in thousands of gyms around the world, and thousands of people work out on it every day. But it it started as a thought, and uh and it's the same way, like you, you know, probably a conversation with you and with your wife. Your wife's saying, well, people don't understand you, and and our jobs as entrepreneurs and business people is to paint that picture and meet people where they are so that they can see that vision, because it's no good just you and I and entrepreneurs seeing that on our own, because we're not going to deliver that on our on our own. You know, we need people to go away and help us deliver that. And I'm talking about in a business sense, but you could apply it to anything else. So, in order to do that, we have to be very, very good at painting pictures or explaining things in the way that people understand. And some people are visual, so I'd sketch it out and put some pictures, and they're like, Yeah, I get it. Some people are auditory and that they have different ways of understanding things, some people are logical, so you have to sort of meet them in the same way. But the the principles apply that you need to be able to share that vision in your mind with other people. So they're like, oh, okay, I get that, and Eric, I'm gonna now follow you to where you're going. And as an entrepreneur, if you can't do that, you're not gonna be a successful entrepreneur. You're gonna work for yourself and you're gonna be frustrated because you're doing everything and you're not gonna ever have a real business, you're just gonna have a job with you and someone else that that sticks with you, if it if that makes a bit more sense.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great. I agree. You know, it's and one of the topics you know that we we had chatted about before recording too was habits for entrepreneurs, right? Things that, you know, over a I guess almost a 21-year span now, you built up your business to a very high level. You know, it takes time. And I think um, you know, there's so many parallels, in my opinion, math, between fitness and business, right? Um, or health and business. It's like, you know, there's there's sprinters and there's also long-term habits that in your fitness and health, if you incorporate, will keep you healthy for a very long time. And I feel like the same goes for for business too. And I'm curious to see if there's any, you know, over your 21 expand, 21 year span in in growing your business, what what habits have have made you successful over that period of time?

Yeah, I I think you're you're you're right. Habits are very important. When when I started the business, I didn't realize that I needed to have them and and the importance of them. As I as I've gone into business, it it's it is really important to have those things that you do on a regular basis and um and and you just make those part of what you do, you know, because they when in a in a business, there's so many um, I guess, unknowns that are thrown thrown at you all the time, whether that's on a daily, weekly, monthly, or if you've had a business over 20 years, every two or three years things change totally. So what works when you started isn't going to work anymore. You know, when we started, there was no internet, we didn't have any email, we had a fax machine, and and then internet came along. And I was having a conversation with with uh a friend last night about um things like Instagram. You know, just a few years ago, Instagram wasn't around, and we were creating videos and we were hosting them on our website, and and it was very difficult to share things. So things change on a regular basis, but there's certain, as you say, principles and disciplines that are really important to have and get in place. And I guess I've not I've not totally thought about it, but the ones that sort of come to my mind um straight off, uh the first one is is that if you're not in the best shape that you can be, whether that's as a husband, father, business owner, what whatever your role is, then you're not you're gonna really find it difficult to help others. And and some you know, sometimes that can be seen as being a little bit selfish. It's like, oh, well, you know, why are you why are you going to the gym before you come to see me, or why are you going to the gym before you come into the office? And there's a reason I do that. So I I landed in London on um Monday, early Monday morning. So I flew from flew from Boston to London. And um first thing I did, I I kind of have my I landed, I'm I have my green drink, which I've I've got here. Um so so the first thing is nutrition because when you're traveling and working, if if you've got a crap diet, you you're not gonna be thinking properly, you're gonna be feeling crappy, you've not got the energy. So so I always make sure that when I'm traveling and during during the week, I've got a very, very good diet. I I don't eat rubbish, um, it's not anything crazy, but it's just you know fairly low carb, I get my proteins, I've got my my vegetables, I have my green drinks, I have lots of liquids, and and I sort of balance my meals nicely through the day. So it's it's quite simple, but it it's a good diet. And I can I can work for sort of 12 plus hours a day, and I've got high energy. So nutrition is the first thing. The second thing that's really important, and probably for me equally as important um as nutrition is is exercise. So wherever I go in the world, there's there's no excuse for me not to work out. Even if I'm in a hotel with a crap gym or no gym, I've got I've always got a pair of running shoes, and and I can um, you know, an example when I when I landed on on Monday, I put in my shoes and I felt tired. You know, I'd only had a few hours' sleep. We'd work the weekend at a trade show, but I I thought, right, I'm gonna do a run, and then there was a little park, and so I'll I did sort of five five sets of pull-ups, five sets of dips, 20-minute run. And so now I've got my blood flowing, I've kind of you know my movement, I did some squats and that kind of stuff, and and I'm ready to go. And I like I say I was tired, but I got good food, I've got a good workout. Then I went into the office, and I you know, I managed to sort of knock it out until the evening where I slept. Now, if I hadn't done that, I could have probably you know had some bad food because when you're tired you eat sugars and rubbish, I could have gone out for a meal and had a glass of wine and missed my workout, and I'd have probably felt it the whole week. So so those are two really important things. Um the other the other thing that's important for me is to sort of get, and I and I I could I can always be better at this, but just get some time to step back and and think about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. So I so I like to do that in the morning. Um I like to work out in the morning and and I'll sort of think about my day. I think about the meetings that I'm gonna do. Um, I think about what I want to get out of the meetings, you know, what's what's the reason we're doing it, how could I make the most of it. Um so so I just spend that time thinking through my day and making sure that I've I'm you know, I've I've I've thought through what I need to do to make this the best day possible. And if I've got a meeting at some point in the week, I'll kind of think through my week and make sure I've booked some time in to go through a presentation or something. And then a lot of times when I'm running, I'm kind of thinking and putting putting notes in my phone because it's oh that's a good idea. I find exercise helps you know stimulate ideas in my mind. So I I think that there's a there's a bunch of other things in terms of practical stuff I do within my business. But as a as an individual, if I've got my diet right, if I'm working out right, and I have that time just to think about where I want to go, then I I'm in a good place.

Yeah. Yeah, it's really, you know, a couple things that, you know, just uh to really cement what you're saying, too, is you know, I think people forget that you are the number one asset. If you're an entrepreneur, right? Um, you know, if you're the top head of a company, whatever it is, you are you're the number one asset. And if you looked at it objectively and critically, wouldn't you want that asset to be as vibrant and energetic as possible, right? So take care of yourself, right? It's basically if we run ourselves, and I've done this to myself numerous times over my years, is I push so hard that I run myself down and I I stop taking care of those little habits that you're talking about, the exercise, nutrition, reflection, all of those. And it's uh yeah, it's it's yeah, it's if if you're the one making the money, right? Even if let's say you're a personal trainer, right? And you're, you know, right now at this point in your career, you're trading time for money, literally, you know, if you're not taking care of yourself and you're not operating, you missed a week or two weeks, man, that's not good, right? And it goes, you know, all the way up to the top of someone who's, you know, at the top of a 21-year-old company that does quite well. Um, and the other thing, you know, when you talk about that very few of us actually take the time to set our intention for the day and walk ourselves through it. Like, how's this meeting gonna go? Right? How's this podcast interview gonna go? Like, how are these things? And I think that's a really powerful how like when you're doing that, you're doing that. How much time do you put towards setting your intention and kind of reviewing the day in your mind before it happens? Is that something that you you said like 10 minutes in the morning, you do whenever you exercise? How do you work that ritual in?

Yeah, I it's it's about 45 minutes a day. And then I like at the end of the week, um, I tend to on a Friday afternoon, I'll um before I go to the gym. So I'm I'm I live in live on the West Coast. Unfortunately, on Fridays, things quieten down after lunch. So I I I normally start early on a Friday, I'll I'll work sort of mid-afternoon, and then I'll I'll head to the gym. But I'll sit in the coffee shop for you know half an hour or so, and I I just go, I just review, look, you know, flick back through my meetings, you know, re look, think about where I want to go, um, you know, what my my sort of long-term yearly plan, make sure that they're aligned. You know, in some cases, it's like, you know, have I am I really moving things forward in terms of where I want to go or not? If I'm not, then I I sort of, you know, I kind of diarize it because I I I think it helps writing down what's going through your mind. It it kind of like clears it out a little bit. I don't, I don't know what the process is, but it it sort of helps me become a lot more aware of those. So I put it in a diary. And then next week I'll I'll uh kind of actively put some of those additional things, and if that's not happening, or I'll I'll change a course. And I think if you if you're planning forward and then reviewing back, then I think you're in a good position. Then when I get into the gym, you know that stuff I'll you know on a Friday I put music, on a Monday to Thursday, I tend to listen to podcasts to sort of feed my mind with ideas, but on a Friday I'll listen to some music, so I've not got anything going in, I'm just letting my mind work stuff through and thinking through ideas and making notes, and then I'm kind of ready for the weekend then. And and I look I admittedly I do work quite a few weekends, but I do think it's important where you can to have that time where you're actively changing gear or you're doing something different, because if if you do work constantly, then it's very diff difficult to get that time to reflect. I find you could be so busy just doing stuff, and and and that's when you're tired, your brain's tired, you some of the decisions and things you agree to, you probably think, oh, actually, that wasn't very good. So, although the the the sort of word of the moment is that you work hard, hustle, 24-7, that kind of thing, it does apply, and there's no shortcut to business, and it it's not easy. You do really need that time where you also step back because I think it's just like if you're working out, if you're an athlete, um you know you're training to be the best in the world, but there are some times where you need to, you know, one of the days needs to be you're doing some flexibility or some movement type of training, and then other days you're banging the weights and you're you know you're doing you're working really hard. Unless you've got that kind of balance in your workout program, you're not going to be a great all-rounder. And I think that's the same as an entrepreneur. There's so many parallels between being an entrepreneur and an athlete. Certainly, a lot of the athletes I've spoken to really, really, you know, tell those stories. It's very, very similar, both from mindset, both from training your body, attitude, preparation. There's there's a lot of similarities between that. So I think getting that rest in, um, even if it's just one day, is is very important.

Yeah. Yeah, it is it is true. I mean, the first of all, what podcasts do you listen to? Curious.

Um, I the ones at the moment I'm listening, I kind of flit around and and I I sort of depending on this the the area that I'm looking for the most um help in, you know. So if it's marketing at the moment, I like Gary V, you know, I I think he's uh and sometimes I'll just go back and re-listen to stuff just to give me a bit of a bit of a boost. I I like some of the stuff, not all of it, but some of the stuff he does. Um I like Ed Myler, I I think he does some really, really interesting, you know, has some really interesting guests. I like Tom Bileu, I I think he has um pretty interesting podcast. I like Joe Rogan more for entertainment than anything else. Um I've there's a new one I've just listened to. I'm trying to think of the name, Ben Greenfield, I think he does some pretty interesting stuff as well. So I'll I'll kind of get recommendations and sometimes I'll listen to someone for just more a case of who they have on as a guest. And um, and then you know, if it's a subject that's relevant, you know, if I'm if we're developing a strength product, and you know, I'll kind of do a little bit of a few weeks on strength training for a while and just to sort of get myself up to speed what's going on. So it's it's very I I I try and make it very specific to where I'm going as opposed to just listening, you know, listening without any intention.

Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. I had um Mike Arcee um on the show from Loud Rumor, and you know, I asked him about you know, educating himself and all that, and he's like, well, you you read what you need, right? Same goes for podcasts, is like, you know, you can read you know consistently just for just to be in the practice of it, but really picking up books that you need in the moment that you know that benefit you directly and the challenges you're facing right now are huge. And uh Matthew, you have a podcast too, right? Tell us about that show.

Yeah, it's called Escape Your Limits. And the reason that I decided to go ahead and do it was because when I when I started my business, I was you know a teenager when I felt when I sort of got involved in my first business, and and I didn't at the time have anybody apart from my father, who's also working for a company, I didn't really have any people that were around me in the facility, any kind of peer group that had done anything that had inspired me. I hadn't seen success, I hadn't seen successful entrepreneurs, and so I so there was nobody really that could show me the road of what was possible if I was prepared to work and and what I needed to do to follow that path. So I so I think as a as a teenager and even in my early 20s, I drifted a lot. I tried a lot of things, and I, you know, the people that I looked up to probably was that weren't the best role models. They were successful in the world that I saw, the most successful people I saw, but they probably weren't necessarily the most positive role models to choose. So when I when I decided to do this, I thought, well, I want I'm I get to meet a lot of brilliant people that are customers and industry people, and what and and a lot of those had started from being a trainer in a gym or working on a front desk and they'd gone on to run companies or own companies and and to be very successful in their own right. So what I wanted to do is to meet and speak to them to understand how they started and what their journey was and to show people that it is possible if you've got a strategy and prepared to work hard and and and to sort of uncover some of those secrets it took to be successful. And we predominantly focus on the health and wellness world, because that's the sort of business I'm in. So it's it you know that it it's more related to that than I guess any other industry. But that that's really the purpose of doing it. And for myself, I get to learn a lot as well, because even if you, you know, however successful you are, you you can always learn something from someone, whether it's how to be a little bit better father, how to do, you know, be a little bit better marketer, better salesperson, whatever it is, you know, you can always learn things, even from someone who's maybe not as as what you know what you what people deem as successful. You know, they could just be starting up, you know, they could be a young 18-year-old, but they may know something that you don't. So I think you can always learn from from anybody, really.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And do you host that podcast? Do you do it yourself?

Yeah, I do. I um I travel around the world actually, um, with with Kevin, my uh camera guy, and I've got another one called in Europe called Dom. And we travel around and uh meet people and ask questions. So it's uh it's uh and but it it's it's a side gig. You know, my my main job is running Escape Fitness.

Yeah. Well it's you know, podcasting or just even just conducting interviews, right? And um what a great way to learn, you know. Like I got you essentially on the hot seat right now. I can ask you any question I want. You kind of have to answer, right? In some weird way.

And the other thing about that is one one of the things that I hear quite a lot is that um, well, what happens if you don't have a mentor? What happens if you can't afford a mentor? Um and and I always say, well, that's very true, but if you if you take the time to look and listen, okay, it's not quite the same because you can't ask them the exact questions, but podcasts for me are virtual mentors. You know, I can listen to some of the best people in the world about any subject that I decide to think of, and I can I can listen to them talking to someone and see what how they answer questions. And to be honest, I I find now podcasts more useful than books because with books, there's a lot, you know, to make a book, there's obviously a lot of fillers and you have to kind of tell a bit of a story. In a podcast, you get straight to the action. You know, you someone will ask a question and they will tell you exactly what it is. It's live, it's uncut, and and so if if you really want to learn something, I think podcasts are a brilliant way of being able to get that little edge that you, you know, if that you need to be successful. And the missing part is is us. You know, we've just now got to go out and apply that, which is probably the most difficult thing. You know, we can listen to lots of information, we can go to seminars, but the difference is are you gonna do anything about it on a consistent basis to change your course? Yeah. Most people struggle with that.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And you know, one of the things that I've um focused on, and just it was whatever you want to call it, New Year's resolution or just a you know, a renewed focus of 2019 is I picked my two favorite books from 2018, and I'm now going rereading them again and actually applying it, right? Like some of the things. I picked one that's you know on mindset and I picked one that's on business. And um, I think that's a big thing is people are always consuming, right? So there's so much content over my and you know, but it's it's Well, it's not worthless. It's just it can be worth so much actually applying. Okay, it is.

Some of it sinks in. And I I I okay, I do admit that if you're in a sick, if you if you're in a sort of a group of people that are a bit negative, and you know, that's uh one of the things I've learned from a lot of successful people is you know, you are I can't remember the saying, but you're a refraction of the four or five people that you spend the most time with. And if you're with people, whether it's friends or family that are not positive, then that stuff drops into your mind, and your mind cannot help to listen to that, even if you're consciously not listened to it. So putting positive stuff in your mind certainly is is is going to help. But I I you know it's it's the as you said, it's it's just applying that. And what an example coming back to sales is that we we we spend a lot of money, we have an external company that comes in. I I'll give them a plug, they're called SBR, they're a very good sales training organization, and they come in on a regular basis and train our sales team. And um, and a lot of time we have these, you know, we have sales meetings and we talk about it, and everyone's like, Yeah, I know that. We did it last week. Um, so everybody consciously knows about it, but when we do the role play, suddenly it's a different math. Suddenly, people are a little bit more uncomfortable. It's like, well, I can't do it in a role play situation because I would behave differently when I'm with the customer. And it's like, well, well, then do it in the role play situation because it's like, you know, if if you're um, you know, if you're a if you're a policeman or a soldier, you know, you're trained that if someone jumps on you, you have to react before your mind can even think about it. So so you've already turned around and gotten them on the floor before your brains realize someone's jumped on you. And and that's the same in sales or any habit, is it's got to be so natural that you're doing it without even thinking about it. And and so whatever it is you're learning, you've just got I I heard a saying, and it's like, don't practice, don't practice until you're perfect. Um and I'm gonna hopefully I won't mess it up. Don't practice it until perfect, practice until until you can't do it wrong. And there's a nice way of saying it, but it but it basically means that it's you're not gonna practice until you get it right. You you've got to practice until you can't get it wrong. And um, you know, when I was practicing my dives, it's like that, you know, I could when I'm I'm diving, you know, I'll I'll probably do like five dives that are good and then five dives that are not good. And and the idea is that you practice so that every single dive is good, instead of just saying, Well, I've done it now, I've got I'm able to do it one time.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it, man. This is great. This is awesome insights, Matthew. Where where do um where do people find out more about you in your podcasts and escape fitness and all that you do? Is there uh a couple points of contact?

Yeah, so if if if anybody's got a gym or if they're a trainer and they want some fantastic functional training equipment, then we've got a website called Escape Fitness, and you can go there and we can either help you design a gym, we can train you on equipment, we can provide you with equipment, so everything's there. Um so yeah, please, you know, please, please check that out. Um if if you want to follow me and and you know the people that we meet, the the information that um you know, the information that we share on our podcast, then then I LinkedIn's more the business side, so you can get you know get quite a bit of more sort of sort of business information on LinkedIn. And then Instagram, um, you know, that's uh is Matthew Janizek, and um, you know, I post a lot of information quite regularly on there. So those would those would be the sort of main places. And then my podcast, uh you know, if you are into health and fitness, then I'd recommend you check that out as well. We have some pretty interesting guests and cover some some pretty cool subjects.

Awesome. And that's the uh escape your limits podcast, right? iTunes Your Limits podcast.

Yeah, iTunes Stitcher. You can you can also see the video on on YouTube as well.

Awesome, awesome, Matthew. Thanks, man. This has been fun. I've learned a lot today. A lot of great insights.

Thank you very much, uh Eric. I appreciate appreciate your time. Thanks for having me on.

You guys, ladies and gentlemen, Matthew Yanuse. 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. And uh if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Fitness Marketing Alliance.com