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Eric's Podcast
Welcome to Eric's Podcast – a journey through faith, life, and the lessons that shape us. Join Eric as he shares personal stories, reflections, shares insights that inspire hope and encourages. Whether you're navigating life's challenges or seeking motivation this podcast offers a blend of authenticity, inspiration, and thought-provoking conversations.
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Eric's Podcast
S2 #4 From Bodybuilding Passion to Fitness Franchise: Devin Gonzalez's Entrepreneurial Journey Balancing Business and Family Life
Curious about the journey from a teenage fascination with bodybuilding VHS tapes to building a national fitness franchise? Devin Gonzalez, our guest and a seasoned fitness entrepreneur, joins us to share his inspiring story. Devin's path to success was not just paved with iron weights; it also involved martial arts, personal training, and the delightful chaos of family life. Listen as he recounts the serendipitous meeting with his wife, once a client, and the joys of raising a spirited three-year-old. Devin's dedication to fitness and family serves as a powerful reminder of how personal passion can fuel professional triumph.
Balancing the demands of a growing business and a bustling home life is no small feat, and Devin offers insights from his own experience managing a franchise from home. He opens up about the importance of setting boundaries and carving out personal time to shift gears between work and family. Devin speaks candidly about the art of communication, ensuring his loved ones are aligned with the entrepreneurial hustle. This episode is a treasure trove of strategies for maintaining harmony at home while chasing business dreams, wrapped in real-life anecdotes that hit home for anyone juggling these two worlds.
Venturing into the entrepreneurial mindset, Devin unveils the resilience and strategic pivots necessary for success. He reflects on his journey from solo endeavors to leading a team, underscoring the value of embracing failure as a learning tool. Stories of past ventures, from apparel brands to a meal plan service, illustrate the twists and turns on the road to entrepreneurship. Whether you’re facing setbacks or considering new partnerships, Devin’s experiences offer valuable lessons in perseverance. Tune in to gain insights on how past projects can inform future success, and why aligning your purpose with opportunity is crucial in any business journey.
Eric's Podcast.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Eric Podcast. I'm your host, eric, and today joining me is Devin Gonzalez, a proud husband and dad. He has been in the fitness industry for 15 years. He's founder of Strive 11 Fitness, a president and CEO of Strive 11 International, host of the great Mindset Hasse podcast, and he's a best-selling author of Money Muscle Mindset. His number one goal is to have a positive impact on as many people as he possibly can. So thank you so much for joining me, devin, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sounds like you've been busy, just a little bit, so we like to start the episode off with some kind of something entertaining, funny, a little short story that either happened to you recently or has happened to you that you want to share. Have anything entertaining for us today?
Speaker 2:I will. I will say, you know, on a, not on a business standpoint, but on a personal standpoint. Um, you know, I do have a daughter and she had, you know, just turned three. When we first had her and everything, me and my wife were like, oh man, like imagine, you know, there's gonna become that day when she just starts asking why and we have just entered that phase of life. So that is, you know, all of a sudden we were driving and she just hits us with a but why? And then it was, you know, we give her an answer, and then but why? And then I was like, oh no, we are, we are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we went. So I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and we went through that last year and she's three and a half now, but same thing. So what I started doing is he would ask me a question and I would go why? And then he, and then he would just answer it, just like I would. And then I would say, but why? And I would do the exact same thing. And it's hilarious because he instantly got what I was doing to him, because I'm like there's no way you're gonna just steep, asking why, why, why, why, and it has to be a game or something. And then it, and it turned out to be a game and we had just been playing this game and I didn't even know this whole time I tried.
Speaker 2:I tried to do it to my daughter yesterday, but I mean, she's also sick and that's why my voice might sound like you know, I have a cold or something. I think she's giving it to me. But I, I gave her the answers and then she kept going with the why. So then I was like I don't know, you tell me why? And then we just kept going back, and then she was like dad, stop, stop, you know.
Speaker 1:I was like that same thing happened. Okay, that's, that's cool. Um, so you're into fitness?
Speaker 2:Yep, I mean tell me a little bit about that. I mean, I've been into fitness pretty much all my life. I mean, it started back, you know, for the listeners that you know, know what a VHS tape is. My dad had VHS tapes of bodybuilding, you know people.
Speaker 2:And at the age of like 12, 13, you know, I started watching those VHS tapes and writing notes in you know a journal and then going to the gym because that's when you're pretty much allowed to get a gym membership. At most, like corporate gyms is 12, 13. So I was getting dropped off and I'd go there with my note page and, you know, try to do some of the workouts and stuff. And that's when I really started getting that love for it.
Speaker 2:I was the annoying kid in the gym going up to all the you know big buff dudes and like, hey, what does that work? And then, but genuinely like, curious, but genuinely like curious, and they would tell me and majority of them were super cool, and I would, you know, write it down. I'm like, okay, thank you. And then they would leave and I would try, try a couple of sets and, you know, figure it out. And so that's where I think my love for fitness really came just the you know one pushing yourself, but also to the community and the culture that's in a gym. And I mean that that fast forwarded has kind of shaped my life from being a martial arts instructor to becoming a personal trainer, to running a personal training business, launching a prep school for you know, middle school kids, you know that were basketball athletes to launching my own gym and now a national franchise.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a lot. There's a lot to unpack there. How did you meet your wife and how did that? How is that? How's that wrapped into all this?
Speaker 2:The story. So not to give trainers a bad rep, because I'm probably I'd never I've never dated a client, I've never gone out with a client or anything like that but it just so happened that my wife was a client and then we stopped training for probably six months or so, but at the time I was in college and I was part of a fraternity and we had this you know, every summer we go to this we rent out a hotel in Palm Springs and her and a couple of her friends wanted to basically reserve a room and everything because I was running it that year. So it just so happened that they reserved a room and you know we kicked it off outside the gym and you know we weren't training at that time. But when anyone asks I immediately just go oh yeah, I was her trainer, you know, and she wanted to say she wanted to save money, you know.
Speaker 2:But no, that's how, that's how it kind of happened.
Speaker 1:It just all just worked so fluidly.
Speaker 2:Sounds like her. I was like look, it was the best investment you made in yourself. I was like you got a personal trainer and now you have a personal trainer for life exactly so how did you um get into launching your own fitness company?
Speaker 2:so. So I mean, I was. I always wanted to open a gym and I know every personal trainer says that they want to open a gym because they feel like that's the next gradual step. And in reality I mean, there's trainers that make, you know, seven figures just training. So it's not necessarily that you have to open a gym. But I also knew that being a trainer and my personal business with personal training was six figures and I was making a great income. But I realized the business was me and there was no sick days, there was no off time and you can't hire another trainer to train your clients, because you know that's just not how the industry works.
Speaker 2:They just take your clients and so I wanted to be able to serve more people because my schedule was overfilled. I was, you know, I had 16 hour days, you know, back to back clients and I had clients that were sold on a waiting list, essentially, so if someone canceled I would text the waiting list. Whoever wanted to fill it could fill it. I was like you know what, like there has to be something you know else.
Speaker 2:And hearing my clients come back from these boot camps and stuff in between our sessions, I was like there's a lot of like the same problems at different companies. I was like I don't understand why someone hasn't just solved those core issues. Slowly I started putting the pieces to the puzzle together, testing stuff out, trying stuff, and that's what led to Strive 11, you know the initial phase of Strive 11 being created. It was so that we could create a bootcamp model that was no class times, open up to a broader demographic than the traditional model. So it's almost like a blend of a big box gym where you come in during operating hours but you get the energy of a boot camp, feeling of a boot camp and then you get that customization for each exercise like a personal trainer oh, you're okay.
Speaker 1:So basically it's you can come in, you can show up at any time and like, have a professional trainer train you for however long you want to be there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean there's a workout of the day, essentially, and each day there's different muscle splits, but when you show up one of the trainers, there's always two trainers on the floor. One of the trainers will basically start you in the warm-up. Take your time when you're ready. The strive 11. The 11 comes from the 11 stations we have for the day, and then all the stations are on a timer, a singular timer for the room, so everyone's rotating together so that you're not waiting on anyone and no one's waiting on you. But the trainers are there to make sure that you're doing the form correctly, as well as adjusting the exercise easier or harder, depending on your fitness level how do you manage your time because, with you know, you have a three-year-old?
Speaker 1:how do you manage your time shifting, going back and forth to explain a go into, go into a little bit of during that time of when you're, when you've been trying to build it and launch it and move everything together? How did that impact the parenting style and time element?
Speaker 2:I would say. I mean, we found out when my wife was pregnant, the day, or like the same week, I signed my lease for the gym, right, so you know perfect timing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so when she was born, we had only been open for like six months. We had only been open for like six months, and so there was a lot of you know going through the mud and trying to figure it out of you know being burnt out and you know feeling exhausted and stuff. What really allowed me to kind of prioritize things was open communication with my wife, as well as planning the day ahead, right, so like not just trying to yeah, give me an idea of what that looks like.
Speaker 1:Go into the weeds a little bit. Give me an idea of what that looks like in terms of you know what is, what does the conversation look like? And then what? How does the structure? What does that look like? And how? How would you plan a day ahead?
Speaker 2:Definitely so. I mean the conversation for me with my wife started off with I mean, since I was at the gym all day long and she was with the baby, I would get home at night and be like, okay, naturally it's my turn, right? That after like day three, and my vision was blurred and I was like. I was like I can't even see straight and I was like I don't know how long I could do this. And I told her I was like I was like I can't, even, like I can't function right now. And then she was like what do you mean? And I was like I'm trying to do the night shift but I was like I'm running on three hours of sleep for the last three days. I can't, this is not a long strategy. But then she was like, honestly, she just told me, and I was like I didn't want to.
Speaker 2:I wanted to be the other half no-transcript, meaning that you have to do a lot of things that you later can delegate to other people as you can grow a team. But in the beginning phases, like you are all those other people right? So, knowing a clear structure for the day ahead, like have goals, right, what is my goal for tomorrow and just focus on those tasks. Don't worry about all the things that are possible to get done tomorrow. Just have a set of anywhere from three to 10, depending on, again, on how difficult or, you know, time constraint the task might take. If you're redeveloping a website that might take all day, you might just have one task right. So it's like plan, plan the day ahead so that you know at five or at four or whatever time you set, like, okay, I'm clocking out here, I'm going to go home and I'm going to spend two hours with my family, whatever the case may be, so that for me, all you know, come to the gym.
Speaker 2:And I mean now, with the franchise side it's a little different, but let's say I go to the gym at that time. I'll go to the gym at five and then you know I'll work until five or I'll work until seven, but then I'll go home because I know that's when my wife is already home, my daughter's home, and it's like I'll spend two hours, three hours with them. Once that you know my goes to sleep, maybe spend an extra 30 minutes to an hour with my wife, depending on if she's super tired and she wants to go to bed and then when she goes to bed, I know I can still work from home and do the things I needed to do on the back end there. So then all set, maybe an hour, two hours, if I still have unfinished things to do during that time.
Speaker 2:But the real important thing is making sure that when I'm with my family, I'm not working Right. So like, if I'm at work, if I'm at work and I'm building a business, I'm focused on the business. If I'm at home, I'm focused on home. Right, and really making sure that you're separating the two, because otherwise everything starts to blend in together and then, even though you're home with them, you're not actually there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know for me, when I had an office in downtown, going there and having a 10-hour day and then cutting it off at whatever it was six or eight or whatever it was and then coming straight home. But one of the things I found, what I realized about me is that I needed like a 30 minute kind of break period where I'm not I'm not at work but I'm not home yet. And there was this um, it went under though, unfortunately, but there was this bar that's a minute down the road and, um, I would go over there, I would get one beer and some tater tots and just just like breathe and try not, and like I'm coming down, I'm not thinking about work and the day's done, and then I'm gonna start my day tomorrow and I that worked wonders, actually, because what was happening before was I would just come straight home and I would realize, wow, because I would get bombarded with all the other family stuff that I needed to do and they want my time and I want to give it to them. But I'm also like burnt out in a way, like I need some me time, and once I figured out that one beer with the side of tear tots, that was like I was such a good transition, but now I'm working from home again and it's.
Speaker 1:That's a. It's a whole nother, it's. It's decent, because I have managed to train my kids that when I say I am working, I am not doesn't mean that I'm not available to you, but I am not like I'm in a different, I'm always working in a different room. I'm like the door is closed. I'm working, but I'm. But if you really need something, you can knock on the door and come and get me if something's happened or you need to talk, or whatever it is, and that's been actually a great transition. The hardest thing, though, is trying to concentrate.
Speaker 2:I think that's the hardest thing for me, but now that I'm doing the franchise side, I can work wherever I want and my gym runs itself. You know, we have management, we have everything in place. But I will agree with you, the hard part is being at home and even though it's an at-home office, it can be hard to separate the two.
Speaker 2:Not for you maybe but for your family, right, and having the family understand that, even though I'm here, that I am accessible to you, but also realize that I'm, even though I'm here, like I am accessible to you, but but also realize that I need to do these things to make sure that we could still be here.
Speaker 2:You know, exactly Right and that's the hard part is that that was actually a conversation I had with my wife. Was, I mean, she has a career and, and you know, more power to her and everything like that. Like you know, I, whatever she wants, like I want her to be able to do it. She wants to work, go for it. She doesn't want to work, let's find a way for it to not be that way. So I'm not one of those people that you have to be from home or you have to work or anything like that, but I had to have a conversation with her because launching a franchise is a full another set of responsibilities. Not only do I have my team and my staff that rely on me to keep things going and afloat and everything like that, but now you have people investing in you and your, your concept and so forth, and some people, it's their life savings, right so it's like I told her.
Speaker 2:I was like I was like I understand that, like you don't understand the business part of it. I was like, but, for example, imagine if the founder of mcdonald's was trying to build mcdonald's to what it is now and he was having to do all these little things all throughout the day and giving you know, only being able to give work an hour. I was like do you think mcdonald's would be where it is today? And then having that like making it under, making making her understand it from a point of view that she could understand it and relate to it, and not being like I'm.
Speaker 2:It's not like I don't want to do things and be a part of things, but sometimes I just may not be able to go to an event Right, like sometimes I have to go to you know a franchise location and whatever you know. Like when, when our Tampa location opens, like I have to be out there for a week, and so it's like if something else is coming up during that same week, unfortunately I have to be at. The business thing, however important the thing that we have in our personal life is like if someone else gets mad at me, I'm okay with that, but as long as you're on the same page with me, that's all that matters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and I think starting out young too and trying to explain it to your kids as young you know, I I think that's the that was that. That's the one thing that I don't want them to take away from, like because I grew up the way my parents were entrepreneurs and they built a business and and I remember being a teenager feeling like dad is on the phone all the time. He's either on the phone all the time when he's at home or when we're spending time together or he's at work. And I remember I have four other siblings and we all felt the same way and we just had each other.
Speaker 1:Or that's what it felt like, obviously, in hindsight it's like, okay, he was building a business and he was going to sell it, which ultimately happened. But I don't want that. If there was more, if there had been more communication on either my mom's side or my dad, or bringing me in to be like, hey, eric, why don't you do? Well, I'll put on speaker phone, listen to watch.
Speaker 1:This is what I'm doing so like doing stuff like that and I have to. You know I'm not great, but I'm trying to be better at um, including my three-year-old, because he's three and a half, but he's just now at the place where it's like I can. Actually he will. Might not, you know, it might not just be, it might just be holding him and he might not understand what I'm doing, but and then that's all he needs. There was a really I did um.
Speaker 1:I had a guest on the last, the last, in the last episode, and there was this thing that he's that we talked about and it was um. 10 minutes to your kid is like two hours, uh, in terms of their, the way they perceive time, and that hit me so hard because being super busy and it's like all I had to do is spend like 10 times hanging out and playing them and having a good time, and it's like all I had to do is spend like 10 times hanging out and playing and having a good time, and that's the equivalent to two hours. That's kind of crazy, because 10 minutes goes by for us like, yeah, hardly anything, but yeah, that's. I agree, though, definitely communication, definitely like trying to get go where you need to go and and communicate. I think that's really important I think.
Speaker 2:I think it's super important for us. I mean, I talked to other entrepreneurs that I'm part of networks and stuff as well, and the big thing is like, as entrepreneurs I mean my dad was I don't have any entrepreneur background in my family. My dad was a police officer, my mom was a pharmacy technician and so I got you know my dad's work ethic and everything like that, because he would always be at work. You know he was rarely home and then sometimes when he was at home he was on call. So I get that aspect of it.
Speaker 2:But for me it's like because we never get an off switch, we don't get to clock in, clock out as entrepreneurs, which we don't get to clock in and clock out as entrepreneurs, and so the thing is not just our kids but our significant other is sometimes and I'm guilty of this, and this was something I learned after a couple of years in business was like you have to let your family in a little bit so that they feel like they're a piece of it, right. Otherwise it feels like you have two lives. You have your work life and your business, which is your own baby.
Speaker 2:And then you have them, right. So it's like you don't want them to feel like you have your work, family and then them. It should feel like they're, they should feel like they're almost there building the business with you, right? So it's like you don't need to tell your significant other, your kid, every single fire that you're trying to put out or every struggle or obstacle that you're going through, single fire that you're trying to put out or every struggle or obstacle that you're going through. But if you give them one that isn't, you know, a crazy ones, you don't want to worry them either, but give them one and be like hey, what do you think when I'm thinking to you know, I'm either going to go this way or do this. What would you do? Right, and then let them in, whether you use the ideas or not, it's besides the point. It's just the fact that they get to feel like you're leaning your head on them, right, they want to feel like a shoulder for you. And so it's like with even with my wife, like giving her some you know problems and I might already have the answer, but just giving, letting her in. So she feels like, okay, like he's going through some stuff right now, like I felt like I could give him some information or give him some help, like I see her face light up when she tries to give me feedback, right, and then being communicative in the sense of like right now, like I told her it was actually this month, I was like, right now we're in the growth phase, right, like I was like it's going to be busy this month, right, Next month may not be like that, but at the end of the day, like you know, december it was a little more relaxed, like we stay on the same page of like why?
Speaker 2:Why is it busy time right now? What is the goal? How close am I to getting to goal, and so forth, so that she knows that, like, okay, right now it's work time. Right, right now it's this. And so then my daughter, being only three, doesn't understand that. But it's like when I am home with her like you said the 10 minute thing like I'll take her to the pet store to get, you know, food for our dog and we'll spend five minutes looking at the fish and looking at the lizards, and she comes home and tells my wife it's almost like she had a full day at the zoo. This is what it sounds like.
Speaker 2:Right. And so it's like those little things and it's like being just present for those short amount of times. Today it might only be 10 minutes, tomorrow might be, you know, 10 hours, but at the end of the day, when you're with them, you're with them. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1:And I, you know, as entrepreneurs, there's definitely a mindset that you kind of have to create and find for yourselves. Did you have you? What's your mindset and why is it?
Speaker 2:important. So I mean, I feel like, for the entrepreneurial mindset, there's different phases and different levels to it. In the beginning, you're I hate using the word grind, like when people say you just need to, you know, put in the grind, and you know, because grinding insinuates that you're shaving things off and wearing something down. I like to say that you're in like the mold phase. Right, you're molding the thing you want to do. You're trying to figure things out, putting pieces, you know, trying to figure out how everything works together. And at that phase you know you're wearing all the hats, you know you're most likely a solopreneur, and so you have to realize it's almost like being a professional athlete that doesn't have a team. Right, everything relies on you. Every failure is your fault. Now, once you get a team, every failure is still your fault. Right, because this is where entrepreneurs start to mistake this mindset. Your team is a representation of your ability to lead them right. And if they're not succeeding, that doesn't mean necessarily and there is exceptions to this, but it doesn't necessarily. And if they're not succeeding, that doesn't mean necessarily and there is exceptions to this, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're not doing their jobs at the best of their ability. It may mean that you haven't given them the skills or the resources that they need to do their jobs the way that you want them done or to the level that you want them done.
Speaker 2:And this was one of those things. When I went to launch the franchise aspect of it and the team and my business partner were running the gym, mind you, my business partner didn't have any entrepreneurial experience like I did, running even my own personal training company, and so a lot of the things that I was doing that were common sense to me weren't common sense to him or anyone else, because that's when I realized that common sense is only common to the person that knows it Right. And so for that part, it was like, okay, now I had to take a step back and be like what was I doing that they're not doing? And did I teach this to them and they're just not doing it? Or did I not teach this?
Speaker 2:I need to create a system or a training curriculum around it, and so forth, but at the end of the day, if they're succeeding, it's because of them. If they're failing, it's because of you. You'd never want to be the owner that takes all the credit you give that credit to them, even though it's because of you. But when they're not doing well, you have to take responsibility and be like what do I need to do to help you achieve the things that you need to achieve Right? So there's those levels to it, but at the end of the day, just like a parent, you learn what you don't know, you don't know what you don't know, and you learn as you go Right and you continue to grow, you continue to get better and, just like being a parent, you just don't give up. You just keep trying. You keep figuring out new ways. You find a solution to the problem, because for every problem there is a solution. You just have to be willing to go find it. How do you push?
Speaker 1:through obstacles Like how, like when you find something, when you are being knocked down, knocked down, knocked down, how do you mentally, like you know, maybe this is a 10th try or 11th try or 20th try and you still can't figure it out, how do you get through that or past that?
Speaker 2:Or is it?
Speaker 1:just like I'm into an understanding that maybe it's not the right time, right now I mean some.
Speaker 2:in some cases it may not be the right time right. Sometimes it is opportunity that needs to be aligned, but rarely is that the case right, because opportunity is found from your willingness to find it right. And so I will like. This is the best analogy, and I love the analogies between fitness and business, and even more so that I'm in the fitness business. But you know, but the like.
Speaker 2:Think of it this way right, you wanna lose 10 pounds and you've never been in the gym. You go to the gym for the like. Think of it this way right, you want to lose 10 pounds and you've never been in the gym. You go to the gym for the first day. You give it everything you got. You wake up the next day, you look in the mirror no change and you go. You go again the next day and do it again. You wake up again, lift up your shirt no change. But you continuously do it and over time you start to become the person that you are aiming to be.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you just have to trust the process and it takes a few attempts, but at the same time, let's say it's like you know, with business things sometimes it doesn't work the way you're trying it.
Speaker 2:So it's like running into a wall in pitch black. You can go straight forward again, or you can take one step to the right and go for it again. You might hit that wall. But if you take one step to the right and go for it again, you might hit that wall. But if you take another step to the right and try again, it might be the end of the wall and you might make it through right. So it's like sometimes you just need to learn the skills of the resources that you don't know yet, right, the things that are common sense to someone else that aren't common sense to you. But yet there's so many things out there, like YouTube I mean, I am a huge advocate of YouTube University and then Google. I mean, if you don't know something and now with AI it's like you don't know something type it in. It's not acceptable to not know how to do something forever right, you have like mental strategies that you could share that have worked for you.
Speaker 2:No-transcript we've done in six months. Look at where we came in a year, five years, and then you realize that just because you're moving at a hundred miles an hour right now doesn't mean it's always going to be 100 miles an hour right. And so sometimes you have to set those milestones for yourself and realize that each milestone, as you accomplish it, give yourself praise, give yourself a pat on the back. You don't need to do a crazy celebration for winning it, but acknowledge it, because that's what's going to keep you going. Dedication is the willingness to do the things that you need to do or that you know you need to do, even though you may not feel like doing them Right. And that's where success is really built is the fact of whether you feel like it, whether you don't, because it's tough. You hit this obstacle a few times. You know that you need to keep doing it, and this is the path that is going to lead you there, whether it's this exact path or a detour on the same path.
Speaker 1:So I know you wrote a book. We kind of hinted at it at the beginning of the show Money Muscle Mindset. Can you tell me a little bit about what brought you to a place to write that book and go into a little bit about what it's about, what the goal, what the purpose, what the mission is that you want the reader to take away from it?
Speaker 2:definitely I mean money, muscle, mindset. I mean I always wanted to write a book because I always thought it was cool, you know, to have your name on something and yeah, and to to leave those foundational, like pieces of you and of your knowledge, but at the same time, like you, you know, I never knew what to write on and so forth. And then, after opening a gym and growing it in franchising, it was one of those things where I was like, okay, well, I wish I want to write a book that I wish I would have had as a personal trainer that allowed me to learn what is now common sense or common knowledge. But it wasn't then right. And so the book the first chapter and the last chapter are both about mindset and about entrepreneurial mindset, and the reason why it's the first and the last chapter.
Speaker 2:It's my belief that everything begins and ends with your mindset, with your mind right. What I mean by that is you. If you believe you can achieve something, you can. Maybe not, maybe, but if you keep believing, believe you can achieve something you can. May not maybe, but if you keep believing that you can, you keep trying, you will. The moment that you stop believing that you can achieve, it is the moment that it is becomes impossible I never thought about that, but you're absolutely right.
Speaker 1:You're so right. I've never thought about the, the pudding, because you know, we don't just start something to fail. I think we start in the mindset of it to be successful. Yeah, you start in the belief, exactly, and I think what a lot of people end up doing is they get knocked down so many times and that belief dissipates. And then that's I. When I was trying to start project project it was like my second one and I'm like I know this thing can be successful, I know it can be successful. Two years go into it and I'm like I know, I know, I know it can be successful. I just I need these resources and I need this. And I ended up. I ended up pausing it. That's what I told myself. I'm like I know I'm not getting up, but I can either deal. I can either spend the next five years making this work or I can move, pause it and start this in a year and make this work.
Speaker 1:Because I can see that this is more successful. And that really taught me a lot, because I, up to that point, would beat myself up for giving up. You know, and once I, once that mindset change, shifted of no, this will work. I can come back to this at any time. I know it'll work, but I'm going to choose. I'm choosing to go and build this instead yeah, I mean that's like giving up.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, that's pivoting, right, you know and sure, yeah, you know it was completely different.
Speaker 1:It was like they were like two completely different businesses.
Speaker 2:Basically, yeah, and I get it, I mean in your mind, but yeah, yeah, that's true but I mean, for example, like same thing I I mean I started off as a personal trainer. It didn't naturally continue down that path. I was also becoming an EMT and I was going to go the firefighting route because, that's what you know, my parents and people wanted me to get a normal job and stuff, and I was doing everything to do it. And then I was like you know what I really liked, this personal training thing. I would rather go this way, and so I had to pivot all my attention to what I was putting attention to, to basically making this a reality. Now, throughout that reality, there's been other things that could be successful businesses and, believe me, the gym wasn't the first business that I've tried. There's a graveyard of businesses that I've tried before this, and then there's some that I have tried started building and then, like yourself, I'm like you know what. Let me put this on the back burner right now. This one, I want to focus on this. I'm not saying that I won't do this or make it something later, but I see my purpose is more aligned with this right now, and it's crazy because some of those other ones have back, came back to fruition in the, in my new business.
Speaker 2:For example, during COVID we had a meal. A friend started a meal plan service, not meal prep, that we made into zero food and it was just writing meal plans for people, like customized meal plans for people, and we probably had, you know, 20 clients, you know nothing big. But it was also that we only started it. We only ran it for probably two months and did zero paid ads or anything like that. So 20 clients paying, you know, a gym membership essentially for you know, paying 100 to $150 for these online meal plans that are personalized to them.
Speaker 2:And then it was like, okay, we had to tell people that you know we're doing some other stuff. My business partner was kind of over it and I had too much on my plate so I was like let me put pause on this. And now, with my gym, we actually reinstalled that as another faucet of the gym. So sometimes the opportunity is a good opportunity, but sometimes you have to pivot to do what you meant to do and grow that. And then sometimes all of a sudden that opportunity just seems right and you like, wow, now what I was doing before it can work even better now because I have all this extra knowledge and extra resources that this is going to actually be 10x. Yeah, you know you mentioned that.
Speaker 1:Um, you had there, there's a graveyard. Can you go into a little bit of like, a like I don't know if you're comfortable pick a couple of your projects that failed, and why? Like what? What? How did they fail?
Speaker 2:so I'll start with my first two, which is really one which was this was back in like high school, you know, and I started a t-shirt company and because I saw there was another local one that was blowing up and I was like dude, that's so cool seeing, you know, all these kids wearing it and stuff. So then I was like I wanted to do it. So me and a friend started it and you know, it was cool seeing our logo and our shirts around town and having people be like dude, I saw someone at the market wearing your shirt, snapping a picture and sending it to us. I was like I don't even know that dude it's cool.
Speaker 2:But at the same time then that kind of fell off and it wasn't really aligned with anything that we were doing. It was called nitrous apparel. We didn't even drive at the time when we launched it. That was when Fast and the Furious came out and that whole thing. But then I basically transitioned that into short fused apparel. And that was because I did MMA and I was like this is more like fighting and stuff. But then I, for me, personally, I just realized I was like the the apparel industry is such a trend thing where it's like I don't know if you ever, if you ever, heard of the hundreds, right? I like to say this analogy because I remember in high school kids getting tattoos of the hundreds, that logo, everything like that. It's like now you don't see it anywhere, right, and so it's like I was like, ok, you know what, this is cool, I'll wear my own stuff. And even after that I would make my own shirts and just wear designs that I liked and stuff. But I left that alone. I left that alone.
Speaker 2:The next one was during personal training. I went to a networking event and it was a Russell or it was a TEDx event and with Grant Cardone and some other big names and I got sold and honestly, it's still a great company. But I got sold on ClickFunnels and I was like this is so cool, I'm going to create a business. I was thinking about all these different business opportunities I could create from this. Meanwhile I had my personal training company and so I was like what if I do a personal training course thing online?
Speaker 2:I spent probably like six months building this whole thing out and then I was like I don't even really want to do this. I like the face-to-face. This is not me. So, even though it was all built out, didn't even put it to market, let it fail, wasted a couple thousand dollars doing that whole whole thing and there was a few of those things along the path. My wife wanted to do a photo business, a photo booth business, and I told her I was like look, I got my personal training business, I'll buy this machine, I will buy this machine for you, but you, you have to run it.
Speaker 2:I will help you. On the backend. That went out the window the moment we got the machine. She was like so can you help me with that? You're better than computers. Can you help me with, like the? You know the layouts of the printouts? Yeah, no problem. Hey, the machine's kind of heavy, can you do you think you could help me take it there? Yeah, no problem. Well, now I have to unload it and it's like this. That was a full on bait and switch. I was like I see how that went.
Speaker 2:You know, but at the same time, like she had her own thing and that was something that seemed cool to her at the time. Now she has her own you know business with doing eyelash curls and extensions, and again, that was all her. She loves doing it. So it was just a misalignment for her Right and we sold the machine and everything like that. So again, that's just another one of the examples. So people see me now and they're like, oh, you're a successful entrepreneur, you opened a gym. It's like, yeah, but you don't see the plethora of stuff that I tried and failed beforehand. And it was like knowing that this may not just be the thing that worked doesn't mean that you can't find something that worked. Or before, the gym business partner wasn't the first person I talked to about opening the gym. Right, he was probably number 13 or 14.
Speaker 1:And go into that. How do you, did you find a partner? Or did you already know him like from a a friend perspective?
Speaker 2:So I knew him as a client perspective. Okay, how, how we got introduced, he wasn't even an, a traditional client. I was just helping him as a favor to one of the people that worked at the gym, because he wanted to do a bodybuilding competition and you know he didn't have a coach and a lot of people wouldn't coach him in the gym that were in the space of bodybuilding already. And so I told him I was like look, you know, no worries, that I'll be able to train you in between my clients. I'm not going to, you, don't need to pay me. I was like you know, I'll do this, you know, just as a favor and I want to see you succeed. Because he was a he's a really good guy. And I was like but at the moment you start seeing results. If other people start, do it, but I do not want to be one of 10 cooks in the kitchen, right. And then he was like, okay, deal. So I helped him and, like his work ethic was, you know, I would tell him this is what needs to be done for today. And he would have.
Speaker 2:He had a career, he worked at Kaiser Permanente Hospital and so after his shift he would get in and he'd be at the gym at 8, 9 pm and he would start working out. You could tell he was exhausted. But if you would look at his phone, see what needed to be done, and he did it to a T. Didn't leave early, didn't you know? And it was like I was like that's dope. So in 12 weeks he went from like 20% body fat to 5% body fat, felt great, all natural, didn't do any performance enhancing stuff, and so that was like I was doing his workout. That was awesome and that led him to want to go into personal training on the side of his business, right. So basically, before I dive into that one before him, it was like I was talking with other people that were other trainers that hadn't had what they said were investors or media and client that said they would invest and you know finding out that it was fake money in, you know not, they weren't really their big talk kind of deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love those people.
Speaker 2:But that would be like that conversation would take six months of like you know, there was one person I was going to locations with right, like they, me and me and her were going to locations and she was, like you know, acting like we were going to get a space, and that was. It was like at one point I was like is this ever going to happen? And then I started putting pieces to the puzzle and taking a step back, because I was so excited and emotionally invested in it that my analytical side had been put on pause. And then things started clicking and I was like I see what this is. And I was like nevermind, so I would cancel it or I would have an alignment with someone.
Speaker 2:I wrote a full business plan for this partnership that was going to be four of us and then two of the guys it was basically me and a friend and then two other friends were going to do it, and then me and the guys it was basically me and a friend and then two other friends were going to do it, and then me and my friend were waiting and then, all of a sudden, these other two dudes literally just ran with my business plan and I was like all right, no worries, like it was, that was basic level anyway, it was literally just a regular open box gym. And then that gym literally went and failed in less than a year. And it was like you guys don't realize, not everything was on the paper, right, like that's just, that's just the overview, but you know all those things. And it's like each time it was so demotivating because it's like you put six months a year into this relationship, thinking it's going to go work out, and then it doesn't, and then you do it again and again. So I mean, there was so many of these conversations that at any point I could have got deterred and be like you know what, I'll just keep personal training, I'll go into the celebrity space or whatever, because I had those opportunities. I just didn't really want to take it. I liked what I was doing and I wanted to open my own thing and launching the prep school. I could have kept going with that.
Speaker 2:And after the year of helping them get established, I was like you know what, if I keep going down this path with them, yes, I can make a career of it and be successful with them. I was like, but this is not what I want to do. I will always regret not opening my own gym. So I basically told I had to bow out and be like, look, I don't need anything of it, I'm not asking for my percentage, I want you guys to succeed. I'm glad I got to have a piece of helping you guys start Like I just need to go do my thing. So me and them are still really good friends and stuff.
Speaker 2:And so my business partner during that time I was training him, he did his show. He's, you know, looking to start personal training and he's working at a boot camp now. And then I caught wind of it and I was like yo, I was like I hear what you know, so-and-so, told me what you're trying to do. I was like, look, I've already, I've done that already, right. I was like you've already experienced it. I was like I, when you have a free time, I want to pitch you something. And because, like it, he wasn't financial, the financial investor or anything like that, I just wanted a partner to go through it with Right to go through it with right, yeah, and so yeah, exactly, and go through the fire, and it's a lot more fun to do things with friends.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, not every business partner works out, but if I like, I was about to go do it by myself and the only reason I brought him on was because I heard he was going down that same path. Otherwise I was going to do this by myself, and so I pitched him the idea and I was like, look, I'll collab, you know, your, your brand, which was never give up, that'll be our, our tagline, right, and we'll we'll run it with Strive 11. And he was like.0 version in the park for an entire year. We were just getting brand recognition, people that were paying to come, we were just reinvesting that and getting a banner and getting a backdrop and it was random stuff.
Speaker 2:And then, in testing stuff out because at the park you had endless space and if things were getting clogged up, it's like, okay, well, the warmup used to be five or 10 exercises.
Speaker 2:This is not working out because we have so many people sitting here I was like in the gym, this isn't going to work. How are we going to adjust this? So we're testing stuff out before we actually had any monthly expenses, and some days there was a bunch of people, some days it would just be me and him sitting in the back of my trunk, like in the SUV, because it was so windy and we were just sitting there just in case someone came Right. And those are the things that people don't see, you know, and it's like we opened our doors and it was like man, this was like five years of being an overnight success in terms of just opening the gym, right From all those conversations and failed attempts, and it's like that one person looking back, if I would have ended up partnering with that one individual or that group of individuals, I know I wouldn't have been as successful as we are now and also I don't think I would be the person that I would want it to be.
Speaker 1:You said yeah, exactly, and I think that's another thing people don't really realize when they even get started is how long it could actually take for something to come into, what the fullness of your vision that you have for it to be. I know for myself, starting the company that I'm currently running right now, I thought the whole thing was going to be up and running in less than a year. That's not the case, because we're four years in right now and we're still we've far, we've pivoted. You know multiple times already we've done we, you know we're about to launch into this other thing, but but then you have things like an e-commerce store where it can be up and running in six months right commerce brand.
Speaker 1:It's like um, but that's and I know it goes back to too also your, uh, the common sense thing where you know, don't expect. Don't expect to just know how what a good brand looks like, don't expect how to build a good brand right off the gate. You're gonna have to evolve it to be that that look, that thing that you want it to be, and it's going to take how many iterations of it, how many different variants. You don't know, because you have to go test it out. Yeah, you have to kind of crash, and crashing is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. It's a matter of can you, you know, are you going to get back up again and um, yeah, and I. That's why I love, that's why it's so fun to hear other people's stories and just talk about it, because that's something that is not talked about enough. Is the getting back up and getting knocked down Same thing for any fighter, any wrestler? You mentioned that you need some form of martial arts.
Speaker 2:Is that right? I used to do mixed martial arts, it was. I mean, I was the first of three boys, right you know? So I had two younger brothers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I started off in martial arts and, you know, didn't really like it. It was like Taekwondo, didn't really like it my parents would make me go to. I did Shoto Kan, I did Jiujitsu, I did pretty much any, every variation of it, and it was just my parents thing was you had to this, and what I later realized was this was only my rule I don't know why my other brothers didn't get this rule but which was you had to try it one time. If you didn't like it, you didn't have to do it after that. Right, and not not try it one time, meaning like you know, you go play one game and you don't like it.
Speaker 1:Like, they meant a season like a season, right and that's.
Speaker 2:I was like tennis, right, I did tennis, I did fencing and like I, I even won the fencing trophy for the little class thing tournament. And my my mom was like you're so good at it. I was like I hate this. I was like I, this is dumb, this is dumb.
Speaker 2:And she was like but you're good. I was like, I don't care, I tried it, I do not want to do it, Don't make me come again, Right? And so it was like then my brothers got into martial arts, you know, because one of my instructors from the other studio opened up his own.
Speaker 2:I think that was my initial like real understanding of entrepreneurship watching someone I knew work for someone else and now going to what they established. And I mean, when I started going to him I was probably eight, nine, and then all of a sudden I went through things. It was watching stuff from, you know, and not really knowing what it meant seeing him do different stuff and try different programs and stuff like that. But then I got my black belt at the age of 13. And then he offered me what he didn't offer to everyone, you know, because I was one of his first black belts. Also, it was, like, you know, he wanted me to be one of the coaches and I was like, okay, cool, I didn't need the money or anything because my parents, you know, were not well off, but you know there wasn't a financial need to like help the family or anything. But my parents said it would be fine if I wanted to do it, and so I did it. And that's when I started to learn a little bit about finances and all that kind of stuff, you know, from a very base level. But that's where I got to see and be a part of the conversations of, you know, different things are going to try and promotions and so forth, and that's when I really grew to love like martial arts because it built the self confidence in myself because I used to hate like fighting and sparring and stuff. Self-confidence in myself because I used to hate like fighting and sparring and stuff. And I my dad even hired, like you know, coaches that one of our coaches there who was like a really good boxer and so forth but then he would bring in his buddies that were in the military or in you know like SWAT, and they would come in on off time and like teach me how to fight. And I still didn't like doing it until one time there was like a light bulb, that switch, and it was like it hurts either way, whether I want to fight or I don't want to fight might as well just, you know, throw as many punches and kicks as I can too. And so, like we weren't traditional Taekwondo, where it was just like you know, kicks here and there it was full blown fighting, takedowns, you know everything. And so all of a sudden it was for one of my belt testings that my coach was like just go for it, like what's the worst you're gonna do? You've already been knocked out, you've already been. It's like what's the word? It's gonna happen again. You know, I was like, oh, you're right.
Speaker 2:And then it was just like me and another kid that used to be kind of like he was a little bit older, a couple years older, he was like kind of that bully a little bit, and then it was was just like, you know, I bit into the mouth guard and I was like let's just let it run. And then all of a sudden it was like two, you know 10 and 12 year olds, you know going, but it looked like you know a heavy bout, a heavyweight bout at a thing that both of us are bleeding. You know we're both throwing punches, throwing each other. And then it was like all of a sudden, you, you realize that it's like sometimes, if you just give it your all things work out better than you anticipate.
Speaker 2:But our fear and this is like for life, like fear holds us back. But like, what is fear? Fear is the unknown, Fear is what is around the corner, right, and it's like other people have already been down that path that are trying to give you advice, right, it's like sometimes you think you know what's around the corner, but sometimes maybe you should listen to the advice and actually listen. Whether you take it or not is up to you, but if you listen to the advice and with an open mind, you might have an answer and all of a sudden you might get to use a flashlight around that next corner.
Speaker 1:Okay, Wrapping up here. What does the future hold for you? I know that the franchise you just launched, I don't know, did you just launch your?
Speaker 2:franchise candidates. So I mean, it is a newer franchise model but with our model being different than any other place, it has picked up a decent attraction off the get go.
Speaker 1:So this year's goal is essentially to sign on 10 new franchisees and somebody if someone was interested in kind of learning more about it, where would they go? They have to go apply or what.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can go to apply. You can go to strive 11 fitnesscom slash franchise and it'll take you right to the franchise page. Or if you just go to strive11fitnesscom slash franchise and it'll take you right to the franchise page. Or if you just go to strive11fitnesscom, you can click on the franchise tab and it'll tell you a little more in depth about the franchise model and stuff. But if you just type your name and phone number and everything into there, I'll reach out to you and we'll have a call and explain it in more in depth.
Speaker 1:So we asked almost all our guests at the end of the show what, what's your favorite podcast or book that you like?
Speaker 2:to listen to. You mean, besides this one, you know, um, I'll say my favorite podcast I? I mean, I have a couple and it depends on what mood I'm in, you know, and that's the thing is that I I'm not one of those people that listen to a podcast and listen to every single episode, like I'm a very visual person, right, and it's done me good and done me wrong, like, if I see an energy drink, energy drink has cool label I'll buy it, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But podcasts, you know, I'll listen to, like Andy Vercela's, the, you know, mfc project, slash, the real AF, one of the big ones that I listened to and actually I know the owners of it is the Real Business Owners.
Speaker 2:That one, honestly, I will say, is probably my go-to podcast, just because it's given me such actionable insights and it's purely interviews from other business owners at different levels of business, and hearing their struggles and them overcoming it, taking that story and like what can? How can I apply this to my current problem? Right, and so it's like that's the biggest one for me. And it's like, even with audio books and stuff, like I don't listen to fiction, is fiction's fake, right? Yeah, so I don't listen to fiction, you know. I only listen to biographies, autobiographies or borderline textbooks and stuff like how to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, stuff like that, where it's like I like learning, but it's so that I can take, even if it's just one piece of information from a podcast, from an audio book. That's all that matters. You don't need the whole thing to be filled with gold. If you could take one piece of information away from it and it changes your life, it changes your situation, it changes your business, then what more can you ask for?
Speaker 1:Exactly. Oh, that's perfect. Leads us right into the next key takeaway. What's, in your opinion, the key takeaway that our listeners should take away from this episode.
Speaker 2:Two things put together, which is that statement and again, I don't know if this is my statement or if I heard this or read this somewhere, but common sense is only common to the person that knows it.
Speaker 2:And you need to realize that you don't need to look at the big picture and only have that view of the big picture. That does help in keeping a vision, but at the end of the day, if you're only looking at the destination, you're going to limit yourself because it seems overwhelming right, cross the bridge as it comes right and focus on the now, just like we talked about with our kids and all that. Focus on the now and realize that, if you like, we talked about, if you believe in it or if you don't believe in it. That's what sets where your ability to achieve it is. You have to realize that success in any area of life, it's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when right. So if you believe it'll happen, it will happen. Not guaranteed on the date, but it will. But that's what you need to believe.
Speaker 1:Awesome. And then last one how can people support you, find you, follow you, whatever you know, whatever you want to do?
Speaker 2:I mean, all my social medias are pretty much the same. You know, devin D-E-V-A-N. Last name Gonzalez G-O-N-Z-A-L-E-Z. Or if you just go to my website, which is devingonzalezcom, everything from my book to the gym, the franchise, all that kind of stuff is all on that. It's pretty much just my hub for everything that I'm doing.
Speaker 1:Perfect, well Devin. Thank you for joining us for this episode and best of luck to everything. I hope to have you back on the.
