Becoming a Master of Building Communities

Welcome to the Small Business big mindset Podcast, where we dive into tactical strategies to grow your business and make an impact on this world. A huge part of success is keeping your mindset and vision on track. So this is a major part of our process. And this podcast. Let's do this. Hey, Erin here. Welcome to the Small Business big mindset podcast. This week we have q&a Saviano General Manager of CrossFit 2222 here in Austin, born and raised in Hawaii, but has been here in Austin for about two years now. So welcome to the show, CUNY. Thank you for having me. Super stoked. Oh, excited to have you on Oh, my goodness. So we would love to hear a little bit about yourself, your background, how you got started and kind of where you are today. pretty brief for the intro. So I was born and raised in Hawaii on the Big Island of Hawaii and a white male. And I went to college. Actually, my cool story is my wife and I have been together since high school. We've been together for 25 years. And she's also in the fitness business with me. Her and I both ended up going to college in Southern California. We went to Azusa Pacific University is in Southern California and just east of Pasadena. We spent seven years out there. I got a communications degree and my wife has a marketing degree and but I found fitness early in college, and I was a college football player football all my life. And yeah, so I found out Personal Training, I worked in a Bally Bally total fitness, and went in there and asked what I needed to do be a personal trainer. They said, Oh, just take this test. And you can start and that took the test pass the test. My manager gave me my first client. And her name was Brenda Mina on a Tuesday night at 7pm. And I worked on our for a couple of hours and worked out with her. And I will drove home that night I'm like, Am I just got paid, I just got paid to work out. And that was it. That was it. I just that was it. I fell in love with fitness. And you know, my origin story was that little kid in seventh grade and my friends are teasing me. And then I just started working out in my garage, and I showed up to eighth grade, like yoked out. And then nobody mentioned to me after that. So that's my, that's my origin story. You know, it's like I found fitness early in life. And then I became a personal trainer and took that first client and fell in love with it. And so I fell in love with, I always loved fitness and training and sports and football. I always loved it. But I fell in love with helping others get fit, you know. So that was really the key for me that fell in love with inspiring others and helping other people can train people. And I fell in love with that. And so I knew that I knew that I wanted to make that. I knew that was my passion. And then I was blessed in the United States. Thank God that He gave me my passion. So early when I was 20 years old in college, probably I think it was my middle of my sophomore year, my junior year of college, I found fitness I found the fitness industry in the fitness career. And then I knew I had to master the fitness, the business of fitness. If I wanted to, if I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. And then so I stayed, you know, my wife and I stayed out in LA. And we we were doing good. And I there was a point in LA where I was either going to open up my own studio, and out you know if you can imagine? Well, well, I you know, you guys don't know me too well yet. But if you asked any of my managers in the past, and they always say that they love and hate me because they they love me because I was always the top grocer in the gym, you know, and you know, what's cool is that Bally total fitness, they would do it, uh, they would post the rankings of the top producers in Southern California. And I was always on the top 10 in Southern California when I was in college when I was, you know, 2021 2223 years old, on the top producer in Southern California for all of Bally total fitness. So that was cool. And that's what drove me and that's what I learned early in life is sales. And I was good at sales because I just loved blood. I love what I do. So it's easy to sell it and so on. And so we did that in Southern California. And then we we Yeah, I was at a point where I was either going to open my own studio or start training celebrities in Hollywood and Santa Monica and all that. But then we had my first son Elijah was conceived and then we move straight to Hawaii. So as soon as we as soon as he was conceived, I literally jumped on the computer and booked our tickets home. And then we got home and, and, and we just when we opened the personal training studios, you know I worked in the clubs for open personal training studios. We got home in early 2000 for May 2004. And then I got my first crack at opening or buying out an existing studio. I was a fitness together franchise. So I got some experience early in my career running a friend a franchise. And I ran that for a couple years. And then I found CrossFit in oh seven. And I found CrossFit. This is actually a good story to it. I did my first water went home. I was writing, I was writing for the Honolulu star bulletin. And I went to go do a story on crossing a wahoo, the first crossing in Hawaii. And this is what they told me as I said, Hey, I want to do a story on you guys. And they said, Oh, everybody wants to do a story. But nobody wants to do the wad. And I'm like, I'm like, what's the one? What's the one that I guess the workout of the day, they point to the whiteboard, it's six minute amrap, push press box, jump into air squats, I'm like, do the interview with these guys. And then. And then I literally flip the script on my training methodology for myself, and for all of my clients and friends and family. And of course, anybody that would listen to me. So that was in 2007, the summer 2007. I found CrossFit I flipped the script, on my training methodology for everybody that I was training in all of our businesses. And then in 2011, we affiliated as CrossFit, East Alalu. And we ran across cities long from 2011 to 2018, we built the biggest CrossFit membership in the State of Hawaii, we out of 3300 square feet, we built 300 members and kind of maintained 300 members, we did a lot for it. What's interesting is in the heyday of CrossFit, which is about 2012 13, and 14, and 2014, we hit a million dollars in revenue, a normal CrossFit gym will average about 100 150 members. And they'll average maybe two to two, maybe three to 1000 in revenue. So we're doing a million in revenue, who would average probably between seven or 50,000 in revenue, and since is a business podcast, people are interested in revenue. Yeah, for sure. So yeah, we did we crushed it in the heyday of CrossFit. And we also, you know, Another interesting fact from a business standpoint is that is that personal training died in 2008 with the economy. So if you remember that right, personal one on one Personal Training, just like tanked. And then Luckily, we all if the document, if you didn't switch into some sort of group like boot camp or CrossFit, you pretty much left the industry. So luckily, we switched into CrossFit. We built CrossFit, we built group training. And what's interesting is in 2013, and 14, personal training came back. So we were running the hybrid gym. And since I had so much training and so much experience in personal training, we did so well with CrossFit and personal training. So we ran a hybrid gym. And that's how we were able to do so well, in the heyday of CrossFit, which is right around 2014. And then CrossFit kind of petered out because it's starting to become synonymous with injury right now, because we had a strong personal training Foundation, and CrossFit. And we did okay, and then so basically, we ran our gym to 2018. And under my wife, Rose just wanted a change of scenery. And we have family out here in Texas, so so she was just ready to move on. And so we sold, we sold CrossFit Easter wahoo. And, and it was time to move on. And it was really sad for me because I was my baby. But it's one of those things and you know, it's really hard to do business with your spouse. Anybody out there listening, you know, knows what I'm talking about when you have to go home and sleep with your business partner. Not always. Not always. It's not always fun. But what we learned, we learned to work it out and self self rehabilitate. Yeah. So yeah, and so I chose my marriage over over my business in 2018. And we moved in. And then um, and here we are, here we are in Austin. And we got to cross at 2222 because my oldest son Elijah is is actually ranked number one in the 1415 teen division in the world. So Well, yeah. And, and then he made it to the CrossFit Games in 2020. And then they cancelled the CrossFit Games, to the teenage division. So um, so yeah, so they cancel that and then, but when we moved to Texas, he was in the 14 years, 14 years old in the 1415 teen division, and then he needed a coach. So we found Dave Tillman across the Cedar Park. And then we move to Austin. We're actually in San Antonio first. And then we found Dave and then Elijah was training at cross the T department and then I saw I, you know, I, I saw that I knew they had a second location here at 2222. It was called Tillman fitness training at 2222. They used to have the cost of affiliate as costs 20 to 22. And then they got rid of it. And then I saw that they had this. There were six members here, six members. And I'm like, Hey, I'm like, hey, Dave. Let me take over that spot, man. Yeah. Yeah. So I took it over. And, yeah, I took it over in the summer of 2019. And we laid a pretty good foundation until the pandemic hit or the lockdown, right. So we we built up the membership, the lockdown hit. We I, I pivoted and the lockdown if you didn't have it, you died. Right. So we, uh, we were able to, yeah, we did a few things that were able we don't we did, we did a few things that were really that would really save the gyms. Well, Jim, you actually I might have been. And I mean, we really did help both process either part of the process that we all work for. So this thing that we did we work together, I had a few ideas that worked. And it really didn't save the gym. People just because, because we've stayed open, even though even though the physical locations were closed. And then here we are today, we made it through 2020. And it's 2021. And we're we're in a really good place and, and you're ready to rock. So that's, that's my story. I love it. No, thank you so much for that. And thank you for including detail because yeah, our audience are you know, it's mostly entrepreneurs, they're gonna know all of the nitty gritty stuff. Absolutely. So a couple things. So how did you stay alive through COVID-19? Like, what do you think? What made the biggest impact to keep your business thriving? And then also, I want you to talk about some of your maybe future I don't know, you'd mentioned some online programs and that sort of thing. So please, elaborate on those. That'd be great. Okay, so I'm running a brick and mortar gym. brick and mortar gym through the lockdown through the pandemic, the gyms, the gym. The gyms were closed, either way. So where were you training at the time at? Were you at liquid Lake way? So we were doing the zoom? We were on the zoom. Okay, thanks. Yeah, right, right. So the gyms the brick and mortar gyms are closed. And so the last couple of days before we close, you know, and I had just started building momentum. So we went from six members here, and at the time was called Tillman fitness at 2222. We I didn't bring back the affiliate until July, which is, which is part of our success story. But we weren't even we weren't even an affiliate during the lockdown. And we had just started getting momentum in the affiliate cost money, it's a couple $1,000 to pay for the affiliate for the licensing fee for CrossFit. And we are CrossFit purists though, you know, if my kids weren't world class or you know, aspiring, as my children were my three older boys were not aspiring world class crossfitters, then I would probably have a different business model. But since they are, if they're caught, we are costing tourists, they are aspiring athletes. So I knew we needed to bring back the affiliates. That came later in the story. But couple days before locking down before closing the gym. I just thought to myself, I was like, if we like we're going to close the gym. And if we don't have something extremely engaging to do, there's no reason for anybody to continue to pay their membership. Like why why would anybody pay their membership? Why would anybody pay their month to month membership? If there's nothing I mean, and I knew that zoom wasn't enough. So I knew that running zoom classes wasn't going to be enough. And, and also running zoom classes. I knew that I knew that most coaches would think that zoom is a band aid, right? Like, I'm going to run, I'm going to, you know, do zoom until, until we reopen and we'll figure it out. And then so when we did start to zoom, I knew that zoom, I knew that we needed to be badass at running zoom. Like you need to bring it right. Because, like you need to fire it up. Because if you and I just I also knew that zoom was here to stay. You know, I knew that and to this day, like it was it was possible. Preston Laura Mills, like these guys are built out their gyms, they built out their gyms, they keep building it out. Like I'm not sure they'll ever come back to the gym. So I knew like and really there's no reason to, if you get everything you need from your zoom coaches and your zoom class, and you got everything you need in your gym. I mean, you don't even when we do a backup, I mean, like, like, I mean, you know, Laura Mills like yeah, like, I don't know if Laura will ever need to come back because you know why? Because we do such a good job. We do such a good job of delivering zip. I mean, and I'm constantly thinking of ways to get better at it too. So as far as you know, as far as the technology is concerned with cameras and audio and all of that so anyways, I knew that zoom was here to station. I think that I think As a differentiator for us and I spent a lot, a lot of time in the CrossFit Facebook groups, the prospect owner, affiliate owner, Facebook groups, and people are freaking out, right people are freaking out and, and they're also there's also conflicting conflicting advice when it came to zoom and whatever it is on site and luckily, I don't spend too much time on that group because there's, there's there's just too much negative energy, especially at the time. So anyways, um, here's what I did. Here's what I did is I run grazing classes, apocalypse games, okay, so I started so everybody is in freakout mode anyway. So I just threw down the scene with with Mad Max Fury Road. You guys know that movie. So Mad Max Fury Road, I just dropped all this apocalypse theme. And like, it's the end of the world. And I didn't talk anything. I didn't really put any energy. I put zero energy into COVID-19 pandemic, oh, no, I put zero energy. All I did was I said, Oh my gosh, guys. It's Mad Max Fury Road time. Here's an apocalypse. And then, and I created this theme and this energy towards everybody sticking together, first of all, and then I divided the membership up into teams, right teams of six. And I created a I created a point system and an engagement system where they had to do the workouts, that the videos themselves, and they had to post it to the private Facebook group. And they had to do it in theme. So they had to do it, they got you got if you dressed up, you got more points. So I had people dressing up in Mad Max gear, painting their faces, you know, do working out without, you know, without shirts and creating the, you know, creating the atmosphere, in their garage, whatever it might be. So it was the apocalypse games, there's a point system, there are leaderboards. And we ran that. And I figured that we'd be close for eight weeks, two months, we ran it for eight weeks. And and there are two basic, for example, like and you know, the key was community, of course, you know, to unify the community, there are two Facebook groups, one for Cedar Park and one for 2222. And I said you know what? I told David Robin, the owners, I said, Hey, you know what, we need to shut down the the 2222 group, we need to throw everybody in the Cedar Park group. And we need to bring the fire to that group. And we need to launch this thing. And we did launch it. And it did really well. And there's a point system and the leaderboards and you know, you know, what was cool is that we did things like on Sundays, we did like the Sunday interview, and everything was four points, everything was four points. So if you know anybody, that nose crossfitters is like wacko for points. You know, and this is a this is also a games system that I used to run every summer, across the east along with Hawaii is called the cross it is called the CFL Summer Games. So I already knew that it would work already. And I just put the apocalypse theme on it. And you know, what's cool is I was gonna say it was on Sunday, those points to just do the video interview. So a couple of questions, you know, whatever. You know, and then my earpiece is gonna die here. So I might have to switch over. So anyway, um, the interview, the interview, the interview is on this weekend, like, How'd you find CrossFit? What do you like to cook? You know, what do you what do you what are your baking skills or grilling skills or smoking skills? Or, you know, it was just these interviews, and on Sunday, everybody would drop these interviews. First of all, it forced, you know, what it did for a lot of people is it forced people to get good taking selfie videos, right? And they got good at taking selfie videos, and a lot of people were embarrassed. And but they did it, they did it for point. You know what I mean? And so that everybody got to know each other from all these interviews, and then all of a sudden, both memberships are talking to each other. And everybody's are staying engaged. And the bottom line is that there was there was an extreme there was engagement, there was a there's extreme engagement, and that's what people needed. I you know, just to stay fit, just to stay fit. And that's what justifies them paying their membership, right? Because if there was just as, you know, if there was just zoom classes, I mean, it'd be okay. But in my opinion wasn't going to be enough. You know, it was gonna be enough. So, you want to know, an amazing quote, one of my favorite quotes in sales and marketing. Yeah. All the for all of us entrepreneurs that love entrepreneur, you know, seller marketing is, you know what Napoleon said? Napoleon said that men will die for ribbons. Men will die for ribbons. And sometimes people just need 10 points. Sometimes you just need 10 points, or 100 points to wake up and show up to a class 100 points to to do the extra credit work. 100 points to shoot us on the video and they don't want their team Though you don't want to be the, you don't want to be the weak link on the team. And you know, and if you can imagine, there's me like, don't be the weak link. You got to show up, you know, God forbid, you're, you're the low score on your team, you know? So, um, yeah, no, that's a, that's hilarious because it's like, especially if you're on a team, right? So I did a couple years in a row, the iron bow, and you know, you're on a team with other women, and it's just like, dang it. It's like, you've gotta bring it because you have all these other, you know, women on your team. And you're like, Okay, you know, and, and, you know, Nyssa, Elizabeth and Laura, and I were on a team. And, yeah, and so there's photos of us where I'm like, the one of the last movements was a rowing and you just had to roll your heart out, you know, for the last couple of minutes, you know, until the timer went. And of course, it was my turn to get on the rower and I'm like, why am I closing this out? You know? And so, I'm rolling in, and I'm rowing. And it's not I'm like, sure, like, Elizabeth should have been on it, you know, but like, they were like, there's a great photos of them lifts like, cheering me on, like, they were like, right in my face, you know, and it was great. And so you're totally had the right idea there. And I would see people posting their stuff during that challenge. Yeah. Yeah, that was the thing is you if you wanted more points, you have to post on your public page, you wanted to know, if you wanted less points than if you didn't want to post on your public page, then you could get points, but it would be less if you posted in the private group. And so that was part you know, so let's talk about like, some of the business aspects, right. Number one was, like, enforcing community. Number two, was leveraging social media marketing, like having people post on their on their public page. Yeah, you know, you know, so and the other things were, you know, how about adaptation to technology, right is like forcing, in developing your own skill sets, like, like me, and all my coaches, that was the message I shared with them is like, zoom is here to stay zoom is here to stay. So get good on zoom. Right? You know, that kind of thing. So the adaptation for technology, and it's shifting with the times and then, and then just, you know, from a business standpoint, it was definitely just digging way deep into customer service, right, digging way deep into getting to know your clients and servicing your clients. And, you know, what else can we do? To make give? What else can we do to give them the love? You know, what I mean? And that's a core value coming from Hawaii, it's called the it's called the aloha spirit. Right? So that's, that's, that is the number one core that is the core value number one core value that I run in all of my businesses, just just extreme level of customer service. Love it on everybody. And that's what we have to do. So those are the, you know, those are some of the business points to the apocalypse game. No, that's great. Because I always ask people, I'm like, What tools or processes like have changed your business for the better because I, there's so many, you know, like, that people have discovered during the pandemic, where they're, like, forced to shift a certain way, never probably would have or would have taken them a while to evolve in that direction. But they were forced to shift into it. And because of that, they're like, you know, what, we're keeping those processes were key, you know, like, now, like, that's the future of our business model. You know, it's, it's, it's such an incredible, incredible thing to see. And so the fact that you have that vision or that foresight to be like, Okay, this isn't going away, like our world has changed forever, you know, and it's like, we're not there is no going back, you know, and so looking back, this is this is the new normal, exactly new normal, and it is it's embracing technology, it's embracing, like, how do you connect with people remotely? You know, how do you get that connection without being face to face? You know, because that's not going to come back fully, you know, another challenge we had was okay, the gyms open. Okay, so what are we doing about zoom? Are we running a second zoom class? Or are we running a hybrid, and combining zoom in live? So all of a sudden, here we are, here, we are coaching a zoom class with our iPhones, and we have a live class in front of us, you know, and then so that goes into leadership and management, and taking care of your coaching your staff is like, guys, like, you can't, like focus on the zoom people and forget about the live and then don't, it's easy to focus on the live because that's where we're used to. But he can't forget about the zoom. And that's the question is, okay, how do we get so good at zoom, where we make how do we make the zoom client feel like they're in with the live client? And that's what we have to get good at. And there's some coaches that don't want to work that hard. You know, there's some people that don't want to work there. It was hard. It was hard work. Yeah, it's easy for us now. But it was hard work. It was hard work and then doing things like putting the zoom costs on the big screen and, you know, just making making you got to make we, you know, we knew that we had to make the zoom client field just as engaging just as special as the live and vice versa. So Yeah, yeah. So that was all part of the puzzle. And how did how did you solve that? I mean, like you mentioned, you put the zoom class on the screen, how did you kind of make them feel like they were involved? Okay, so one, one thing that we always do, that I live by is Question of the day. So I never start a class without question of the day, because it's such a, it's such a, you know, and if, if there's, you know, for anybody that runs and that's what I think about my career, and that's what I've really, that's what I've kind of pinpointed is that one of my greatest attributes, one of my great skill sets is is building community. So I'm a master of building community Question of the day. generalization opens people up to ask questions, people are laughing, they forgot who who the nerves are, who the class clowns are, you forgot it people, you know, it puts it connects people. So connecting people, making sure that a zoom person could answer your question today, and the rest of the class could hear and the rest of the class could laugh, the rest of the class will respond. So starting off with Question of the day, and then of course, just professionalism with zoom is like making sure how about like, making sure that everybody is start on time, you making sure that you're double checking for people that are sitting in the waiting room, you know, and like, how many times have I got the whole class started and I didn't check for the person coming in, that's three minutes late. All of a sudden, they're they're texting me they're blowing up. So just be professionalism is really important, as you know, is locking down and being good at technology. And then and then engagement in class, getting getting people engagement question in a day coaching. So with zoom, the key part to zoom from, from a fitness standpoint, is you got to be able to talk to your people on zoom, talk to our members on zoom position, you know, help them position their cameras, help them get good on zoom, right? That's actually a big thing is like, no, don't place your camera there. Don't you know, don't stick your butt over there. You know what I mean? So like, you know, and don't you like, if you're worried a low top, like, Don't lean over camera. You know, cuz especially if you're on the big screen. If you're on a big screen, you know, you don't want your Bodhi on up in the karma, or your boobies all up in the camera. So cut, you know, so that's a big part is making our car making our zoom client feel comfortable and confident. You know, that's one thing and then running the zoom class. And for our coaches, you have to see you have to have good camera angles. And we also we also have multiple cameras in our zoom classes, we have multiple cameras that give us different angles, and multiple cameras so that the zoom clients can see multiple angles of the gym, to feel a feel a part of the experience. So and then coaching. So the US as coaches, we have to see everything that we're doing. And we have to you have to actually coach, right, like, they open up your hips, they're stand tall, I see your hip back, chest up, and you actually have to coach because if you're not coaching, then the zoom member will feel like they're just going along for the ride, right and they're not getting coached. So you got to coach you got to see, so you got to pay attention. So you got to coach and then you gotta you got to make some really good coaching remarks so that people actually can make changes and realize that they're you that they're when they come to class, they're going to get better. Right? So that was one thing, really important is the actual coaching. Oh, here's this is a fun one is and this is what we're really good at here to is. Take you know, let's say for example, Laura Mills. Look, there's Lauren Mills on zoom. There's Molly on zoom. And then there's Heather live, right. And these three girls are very competitive. And that's another big part is understanding, truly understanding your clients and knowing knowing what hot buttons to push, right knowing what to put. So Heather, Molly and Laura. They're competitive, they lift, you know, they're working with the same amount of weight on the barbell. So I'm finding that moments in time where there are competitive moments, and they're all finishing together, you know, then kind of egging them on right. Oh, no, Laura, Molly's right behind you. All right, Heather, Heather, dude, Heather. Molly is on your tail, right? Pick it up, pick it up. Molly, your random Heather's tell Pick it up, pick it up. You know, so, so really, orchestrating, orchestrating and orchestrating the competition, the live competition that's happening between zoom and live orchestrating that competition and commentating so a lot of people are on their iPhones or iPads so they don't have a big view, but they can hear, okay, so they can hear everything going on, and they can hear us coaching and our voice so we can commentate the whole workout to make them feel like they're a part of it. So, you know, not everybody's a good commentator, you have to learn to be a good commentator. And you know, just names, you know, calling out people by name, calling out movements calling out time keep an eye clock. Sometimes we have a second, second or third camera that's facing the clock, if we're on a specific kind of workout. So anyways, as you can see, I can go on and on. So that's that would sum it up for maximizing the zoom experience, no, I love it because it's community is such a huge part of CrossFit. You know, and so to keep, like, that was might have been your biggest challenge, you know, when this pandemic hit and I would love this is great info because because not only will other people and your niche learn but then other people who are listening and like being it will make me now I have somewhere that I can work out safely you know, and in a community environment. So you're putting so much energy and effort into your members and into your coaches and stuff like what do you do to kind of like, fill your cup as it were like, what kind of daily routines Do you have, like kind of help your your business as well as your personal success? You know, everybody has their thing, like working out, you know, gratitude meditation, what is it that you do? Yes. Okay. So my own cup? Great question. So, good question. So routine, I know what in my, in my, in my older my older age here, I just turned 41 and in October. And so I'd start off by saying just this constant evolution, constant self evolution. And constant self awareness is kind of where I would, I would use those two terms to kind of sum it up constant self evolution, and constant self awareness. And I would say that I spend a lot of time I guess, I spend a lot of time reflecting just because I've been in just a massive transition, moving to moving from like, what was my, you know, what was what I thought I was going to do forever, in Hawaii, and then all of a sudden been uprooted. So self evolution and self reflect reflection, I spent a lot of time or do spend a lot of time thinking about, you know, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, I thinking about what I did in my 20s, you know, and I just turned 4041. So, I spent a lot of time thinking about my 20s, I spent a lot of time, I spent a lot of time thinking about what, how I was successful in my 30s. And building such a successful, you know, I built a very successful CrossFit gym, in my 30s. But I also made a lot of mistakes, I made a lot of mistakes. And that's how I know I'm going to be so successful in this operation is because I'm not going to make the mistakes I made in the past. So so to Fill my cup, just evolving, be more aware, and then just making the decisions that I need to make. So just being really, you know, good. Some couple of good words that I've been using lately is just very concise decision making just very concise decision making and very deliberate decision making. So I would say, I start off with that just making an you know, directing energy, I've moved into this concept of just directing energy, I don't waste any energy. Now I don't like before, I used to talk to people, or spend time on problems or drama, spend time on drama, that wasn't like wasted energy. So I'm very deliberate and very concise with where I direct my energy. And every move I make everything I do, every conversation I have. I just am very concise about where I direct my energy and, and I don't waste any, and I don't waste any energy with with things or relationships or, or tasks that don't make me happy. You know, don't make me happy so and then the rest of the stuff would just be you know, that would lead into a routine and very much more of a routine or oriented person now than I ever had been. I'm very much a free spirit, I spent my 20s and 30s as a as a free spirit, especially as a wild entrepreneur. So I'm more calculated. So therefore I am more routine, you know, more routine. So go to bed at a certain time wake up at a certain time. I love the morning. So I've always been a morning person. So I wake up every morning at about 4am for 415 I coach the first class at

30am I go to bed, you know I probably go to bed at 10 o'clock as usual. Usually my bedtime. So routine would sleep routine with workout routine with food routine with relationships and morning rituals, you know and yeah, so that so routine I you know, to sum it up to would be just is just doing, doing the things doing the things every day that I love to do. And you know what, you know, a lot of people on the entrepreneurial journey would probably agree. It's just freedom is taking the freedom and controlling your destiny, right? It's taking a freedom to take in the freedom to make the decisions to decide on what makes you happy and then just just execute on your decisions. So that's that's the number one entrepreneurial core value that I have is freedom. And I build my myself and my family around that as I make if I don't like something, and I change it. So, yeah, so in a good example of that is kind of left brain right brain stuff is like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I love to pour my heart into coaching and coaching other people. But I'll know on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, like I found in creative business or any, you know, I can do anything analytical, logistical, or coaching or training, but I can't put my creative side, I can't do anything creative on those days. So on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, so I switched my whole schedule, Monday, Wednesday, Friday is pure coaching, pure customer service, pure retention, you know, working on retention, working on training and coaching and just loving on people. And then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, I do all the creative work, all the business work, I do design, website, copywriting, email, marketing, all this stuff that requires creativity and ingenuity, and all that. So and that was, that's part of filling my cup. And that's part of self care. And all that is just is just taking the freedom to design my own schedule, you know, and sometimes as young entrepreneurs, especially, or at any on any entrepreneur, sometimes you forget, sometimes you forget that you have that power, right? Do whatever you want to do, it doesn't make you happy to change. That would be that would kind of sum it up is just self evolution, self awareness, decision making and freedom. Now, that's great, because it's like, if you're not going throughout your day with intention, you know, you're just losing so much energy. And I love what you said about you know, make a decision and move on. And that's what I teach people. I'm like, Listen, your business is going to change quite a bit, you know, from now and like, the decisions you make are not set in stone, things will change. Let's make a decision that makes sense now, and move on. Don't get that analysis paralysis, you know, kind of a thing. Absolutely. That's huge. And we do a similar thing, almost the opposite days. Like Tuesdays and Thursdays that's like, we're on camera, we're alive. I'm teaching I'm training, I'm doing podcasts, I'm you know, and then the other days, I'm more like in the business creative, you know, that sort of creating, here's the fun part, you know, yeah, both are fun, but, you know, but you know, I don't like I don't like time blocking. You know, both of those types of work on the same day right now. So it's so different days is different days. So yeah, time blocking saves my life, but it's like, it's definitely different days for different things, but absolutely. 2% Okay, so as we look forward on your business, I want to know, what are your goals and your vision, like whether or not it's, you know, creating more programming more of an online offshoot, like what are you thinking? Okay, now, for us. And I've been thinking about this a lot lately. And I'm in a very, I'm just in a very interesting place in, in business and, and so a big part of business right now is, is my three, my three teenage sons. So I have a 16 year old, a 14 year old and a 13 year old. And, and then I also have a six year old and a four year old. So it's a really, a really busy really stressful really, man, as a father, for me, as a father, I've got to be on at all times. So. So business wise is interesting. And I think it is important, I think it is important for for me, and my advice to others just be are just, in my opinion, it just be like business, you have the power to include your family and your business, right. So, and I wouldn't do any business that didn't include my family, or at least include time for me to be with my family. And I think that's important. And just according to my core values, I wouldn't do business if it took me away from my family. So what's really cool is that the interesting part of my journey now is, is mentoring my sons in mentoring my sons in the business, we homeschooled our kids. So what does the future look like for our businesses is our raising up raising up my sons in the operation of the business and in the operation of running a a CrossFit gym. So we've homeschooled our kids all our lives because they're they're hardcore, passionate, CrossFit competitor. So we we homeschool them in for a million different reasons, actually. But we homeschool them into my oldest son is a sophomore in high school. And he was just getting so sick and tired of just classical education, right? And he would be in front of his computer anyway, all day long. And he was just getting really sick and tired of sitting in front of his computer and social studies and algebra, whatever, you know, Matt, just just classical education. So and he wasn't doing good anyway. And so I was like, man, if you're over this, then I'm gonna design a full business curriculum for you. And you're going to start this in June. And I said, you're going to start in June, you know, so this is In this past summer, I said if you're, if you're over, and I'm a firm believer that like every kid is different, every kids motivated different, five children, and all of them are different. They learn different different learning styles, they have different social engagement, different emotional intelligence, they're all different. So for my oldest son, Elijah, I said, If you don't, if you're sick and tired of this classical education, and books every day, you're going to go into a full fledged business curriculum with me in the gym. So that means leadership, sales, management, accounting, finance, sales, marketing, production, operations, quality control, customer service, you can learn all of it, you know, and then, so we did that in June, and my, my other two boys jumped in. So I have all three boys doing a full time business curriculum, in the gym. And, and that's, that's, that's been the big change in my personal entrepreneurial journey. So So now, I'm focused on writing, basically writing the operations manual writing the manual, and have a successful CrossFit gym, you know what I mean? And I'm, I'm writing the manual, on how to do it, how my boys would do it, how I think, you know, what, in my opinion, makes a successful CrossFit gym or micro gym, any micro, anybody, any boutique fitness, and it's all the same thing, because what you do is you provide, you could change out CrossFit, for Pilates for yoga, for hit training, for rolling for spinning, you could change it out, but the when, as far as we, we are masters of building a fitness community, that's what we are. And so now, my focus has to be on my 12 week transform program. And it's still there. And it's awesome, I've packaged it, I've sold it to other gyms, and is like, you know, part of me just looks at that. And it's like, that is like it's it, it really is a golden egg in itself. But I definitely definitely can't put as much focus on that now because of my three sons in front of me so so that's that's kind of where we're heading now is just really mastering the operations, the operations of a micro gym, CrossFit gym. And, and then and I'm just such a huge fan of the online offshoot, right, whatever that might be. I love the brick and mortar because I love people, and I love real hugs, and I love real kisses. And I love and you know, I love real energy, and it's becoming a lost art. Right? You know, and, and especially at this age of COVID-19. I mean, but connecting kind of eye contact, eye contact, like just teaching, you know, I have eye contact about remembering names now about being able to have a conversation and keep a conversation going, you know, how about, you know, how about those, you know, those those people skills, people skills, I love that, and teaching my sons that because where does everybody let everybody lives in front of their phone these days? Right. So um, so that's a big part of that's a big part of the evolution here. And then. But you know, as far as like, I love the online business. So I think I would, one day, one day, I think I think transform installing the transform business model. And this is cool, actually, you'll appreciate this is, this is so cool. And this is how we built our gym back home, is we run a 12 week transform program. And we run it three times a year, year in and year out, right. So it goes New Year season, summer season, Fall season, and there's offseason, in April, August and July. So three times a year, I call it a triangle year. And then we just keep feeding the next transform cycle, right and in the beginning, in the beginning, we get really fired up riding up and then get everybody you know, measures photos, all this and and we pound them through the CrossFit season and you know, deliver amazing results. And then at the end, this is the kicker you'll love this. And all the entrepreneurs out there who've never done a gym or anything like me can use this for anything. But it's so so fun. What we do at the end to do professional photoshoot for all of the Transformers right after the 12 week program or whatever. And then at the end, we'd throw this transform Awards Gala, and it was cocktail attire and it was at all the best hotels in Hawaii, or all these beautiful homes and we just saw this massive party this massive party super nice cocktail attire, and on at the party known at the party, we would unveil the before and after pictures. Transformers. Right. It's so so fun. So fun. And at the party, so nobody and of course, I'm just hyping up all 12 weeks, right? Oh, so and so drop 20 pounds so and so dropped 30 you know so, so down 10% body fat. So I'm just hyping it up on the Facebook page. Internally internal and external marketing, right internal external. I'm hyping it up out there to the public and hyping it up into the community. And then we're just we're just building all this hype to the party. Right? And then we're gonna fight everybody you need to come to the party, because you think about it, right? Think about it. Like, you might not want to come WOD with me, you might not want to come work out with me. But you'll come party with me. Right? So bring you know. So everybody, bring your friends. Bring your friends. And then we're going to unveil and into season in the summer of 2011 was season one. And we run three seasons a year. And so I ran 23 consecutive seasons before I moved to Texas. And then I ran a couple seasons while I was here in Texas, but for 23 seasons in Hawaii, we'd, we'd throw the season and then the theme Transformers on the big screen. And at the peak of transform, there were 85 transformed pictures and a big screen. Okay, so imagine Ron at the party, good food, good entertainment. And all of a sudden it's time for the slideshow, right? The unveiling the reveal, and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, and I'd get up on the mic. And there'd always be a theme, like Welcome to the Jungle. That'd be you know, white party, red party, masquerade, there's always a theme. I mean, in this era of CrossFit East LA back home, it was just like the most epic time the most epic time is such great memories. And then at the party, it'd be the unveiling, I'd get on the mic. And then they say, for example, there might be 30 Transformers in the big screen. And then the transform slideshow, we just build up. And there's these amazing transformations. And everybody's already had a couple drinks already. So the crowds is going wild. And and yeah, so that was the that's, that's the business model. I call it the transform business model, the transform business system, clinical trials from business system, so I've packaged that whole dang thing. And I've sold it to other gyms, and I've consulted with other gyms, and it freakin works like a charm. That's like the holy grail for sure. Yeah, do the party one of these days, we'll throw one here in Austin and Austin is the perfect city for this kind of stuff. Right? One of these days, we'll throw them here. But anyway, that that will come one of these days. And then right now business wise, where we move forward, is just building the gym. And that's the easy one. We just need to get, you know, we started with six members today, we're we're right around 70 members nice. And we just need to settle in at about 150. And that's it. And once we have a solid 150 then we can just kind of between 150 and 200, then then we have a thriving gym. Yeah, right. So, so brick and mortar, we just need to do that get up to 150 200 members, take care of our members build the gym, creating opportunities, and then online would be you know, the consulting, defining our method of running a micro gym, and then transform as you can see, I mean, you know, Transform, transform is my baby my bread and butter, it's my life. It really is my life's work, right? What does it take to create transformation? Right? I define transformation with three words is traumatic, visible physical change, right. So, so um, and then I have I have the nutrition, you know, the nutrition, you know, the formula, the formulas, the nutrition, the intermittent fasting, the workouts, the CrossFit, the community, the accountability, the measurements, you know, all of that stuff, the photoshoot, the party, the, you know, talk about accountability, right? Like, I say, hey, Aaron, welcome to transform, you know, on March 30, is your photo shoot window, professional photo shoot, and on March 31, a photo shoot and then one week later on April 6, you're gonna be on the big screen. Everybody Oh, and everybody vote for the winner. Right? So every season that I'm PM, right, and then second place, third place Beachbody champ six, six pack champ. And you know, and then there'll be like these ridiculous prizes, like ridiculous prizes, like, you know, like, different stays that you know, the different hotels out there. And just everybody would donate the prizes to you. So that's awesome. No, anyway, cool. So that's great. No, I love it. I love multifaceted, grow with it, especially like you were saying that you package up that program because I'm all about, you know, having part of your business model. Be I'm losing the word now, but basically not have to rely on your real time effort. You know? Absolutely. Yes. You know, you got to create, you got to create those systems where you're not trading hours for dollars. Exactly. And you want to create those systems that you create passive and residual income and passive it. Yeah, fantastic. residual income. And then, you know, information product, I love information product, because there's just so much I've over 21 years, there's so much content that I just need to put on paper, put it on audio, put it on video in it, and just organize it and there's so much there's so much You know, there's so much there's so much experience, you know, and I've made so many mistakes, and I've and I've got so much experience the knowledge and wisdom over 21 years in the fitness industry. Like I How could I not put it out there? Right, you know, how could I not write the book on it? will do the blog on it? Do the video audio so, so yeah, so a lot going on, you know, and? And, um, yeah, and of course, I love it all. Well, where so where can people find you online if they want more info? Um, the easiest thing right now is just CrossFit. 2220 two.com Okay, perfect. That's the easiest thing to do. And my phone numbers on there. And I'm like, I don't have I wish I had, I wish I had I love. I know I love the website and doing the websites. And you know, I made it real simple, though, for for now. And it's real simple. It's just like, Hey, everybody, call me and in this day and age, it's been amazing and You know, I've actually signed up probably 25 members in the last two months. And they've all just called me. And that's, that's my call to action on the website. And, you know, if there's anybody, you know, all of the entrepreneurs out there, I know, we got all these high tech funnels and all this and that, and I'm all for that, no doubt, but um, text me, call me or call me or text me, and you know, they call me they text me. And you know, we do have a real conversation in our environment. I know. So ever right now. Yeah, so, yeah, so yeah, thank you, thank you go, everybody, go to CrossFit 2220 two.com. And call me text me whatever you need. And yeah, you know, if anybody wants to work out, and you're in this area, or if you want to zoom in, come on down and message me. And if anybody is in the microbiota, micro gym space, or CrossFit space, and they want to chat, I mean, I'd be more than happy to so my phone numbers right there on the website. Awesome. Now, that's perfect. And so we always wrap up every episode with a fun question. We are music heads over here, I mentioned that Joey is a musician. And so we always ask everybody, if you could only listen to one music artist for the rest of your life. who would it be? Oh, that's easy. All day. Look at you. Better so? Yeah, for sure. For sure. So I have that on the playlist. I play that in the gym all the time, but just, you know. Yeah, for sure. Pro job. Any better and? And, yeah, if I have these marketing campaigns that I'm going to start launching probably just social media marketing campaigns, but it's going to be all about not the 90s Yeah. All right. And then so because that's, that's my clientele, here's 45 to 5045 to 65 year olds, and 90s 90s music, you know, so I'm gonna, I'm excited to launch a whole I'm gonna launch a whole marketing company and just based around 90 music, that's perfect. Now, don't you think that would work? 100% I mean, I made a playlist for the gym, I'm at all night. That's gonna be like, it's gonna be like, you know, it's gonna it's gonna be, you know, put on put on some, you know, oh, you know, I'll do as I go over a per hour a Pearl Jam shirt. You know, take a picture, do some video, I'll wear a Pearl Jam shirt. And I'll be like, in the headline will be. If you don't like 90s music you're not allowed at this gym. Right? Yeah, go elsewhere. You could have with a 90s themed marketing campaign. Awesome. Oh my god. I have had so much fun talking to you. Thank you for you guys. Music wise, real quick. Oh, mine would be Beastie Boys. Number one is the boys. Okay. Yep. And then Joey. Yours is Led Zeppelin. Right Joey? Yeah. Okay, fine. So, okay. Yeah. So it's funny. You never know how people are gonna answer. Some people are like, it takes them 10 minutes to figure it out. And other people like, just know that. I love I love music. And if you think about it, if you think about it, I love music. So much. It makes me love silence because in the gym, right? I'm listening to music. So that's what I do on my music studying is while I'm playing music in the classes. So I love music, I love I love. You know, I love making sure that I play the kind of music and the workouts that people like to hear. Yeah. And then I love one at the end of the day. I love when I shut it all down. Yeah, and I love this. I just love the silence at the end of the day. And then I just sit there after class. I sit there, shut everything down. Just get it some silence and then reflect on the day. And I was perfect by one of your favorite parts of the day. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. It was so fun to speak with you and I love how transparent to your work and it's gonna help so many people that are listening. So I really, really appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in to the Small Business big mindset podcast. To keep the fun going check out our Facebook group start and scale an online business For even more free trainings and resources from fellow entrepreneurs. If you haven't already, head on over to Muscle Creative calm and click subscribe to join our email list for weekly updates. And if you've enjoyed this podcast episode, check us out on your favorite podcast platform to follow us and give us a review. As always be authentic bringing insane amount of value and keep crushing it