Barbell Shrugged - Building the Diesel Dad Mentorship Part 1 w/ John Swanson - Diesel Dad Episode 30

Episode Date: July 28, 2021

Busy Dads 👇👇 2 Steps to Start building a strong, lean, and athletic body you are proud of. Join my free Facebook group: http://bit.ly/DIESELDADDOJO Or Schedule a call with me here and will see if I can help you: https://bit.ly/DieselDadConsult ► Connect with Anders Varner: https://www.instagram.com/andersvarner ► Connect with John Swanson: https://www.instagram.com/johnwswanson

Welcome to Barbell Shrugged. I'm Anders Varner. Today, I'm talking with the owner, CEO, founder, Wendell Co. Is it Co or Com? Co. Co. Wendell Co. Company. This is super cool. We recently launched the Diesel Dad Mentorship Program. And what I want to go over today is one, how impactful, um, John Swanson's course, uh, that we have signed up for and hiring John as our, our business coach has been because we were in a really rough spot, um, as a, as a company, as like my mindset, um, Doug's mindset, uh, many, many things were going on coming out of the pandemic and us

refinding the business and rebuilding it. And one of the biggest things really was for us creating as much impact as possible. We had really found the target, the group of people that we wanted to work with the most. But we were very unaware of how to build the program and what is now our mentorship program to create the most impact in other people's lives. And just before the call, we were talking about business coaching, but if you could just give us like,

I think a lot of people probably know you from the Granite Games. That's probably the most John Swanson product that is out there but you actually have sold three businesses in the last 18 months is that right yeah maybe less three i think in total i've started and handed off so i launched a non-profit back in 2011 minnesota Youth Foundation, which basically helps families that can't afford for their son or daughter to sign up for a youth sports program. And I think from an LLC side, I would say I've had total of five actual LLCs,

but I sold three companies. I probably handed off one of the other businesses. I started my first company at 15, which is crazy. Right. And I think a lot of it is we, I'm a person that just kind of lives in the moment. So since selling the Granite Games and realizing that's kind of what people knew me for, the other thing I've had to try to figure out is like, what is the thing I'm actually good at? Like and yeah you start to reflect on what we did at the granite games level and how we made that thing function it very little of the granite games is actually what people saw on the floor it was the planning the organization operations the marketing um the landing pages like all these it was actually a very complex business to run and for sure so yeah i would say that would be

hopefully someday not my uh the thing people know me for but right now i'd say that's probably where yeah well it's it's the thing that i uh i i've been owned i i sold my gym in 2016 that was the first business that i opened and and sold for you know, we did pretty well in that. So you see successful businesses and know what's going on. Maybe not all the things, but you know how much of a system is running behind the scenes to create something like the Granite Games. And I literally, the first time of one of the, the first year, I think of three that we went to the granite games and recorded um getting off the plane driving to saint cloud seeing how many people were there and going how the hell did this guy get all these people to saint cloud minnesota this is not like san diego we're not going to miami we're going to St. Cloud, Minnesota. What in the world is happening

here? And I really, I said this to Doug so many times where I was like, what does this guy know? What is, how is he getting all these people here and so excited about this, this program? And that was now the fact that you're my business mentor coach, that people want to know kind of like how you end up in places. It's like, man, I've been following you and watching your business career for three, four years now. So it's really cool to make this thing full circle, to really come to you, which was about eight, nine weeks ago and go and just say, look, we're in this place. We have this idea. We have no idea how to create the impact that we want to create. And it's so simple in today's day and age to see people with these huge followings. And then you click on their link tree to find out what you can

buy in their programs. And it says $19 a month. And you see these people just absolutely crushing it. And you think, well, maybe my program needs to be $19 a month. And then you're just spinning your wheels. like why you created Wendell and, and how that, how this kind of morphed into what is a very successful business. And it's only been going for the last seven months. Yeah. A little bit of a whirlwind for sure. So one of the things that I have had to try to do, and I want to share this with everybody because this, like when I realized this, it really changed everything. Now, luckily we did it naturally, but I think one of the most dangerous things that you can do as a business owner is do things

naturally and be unaware of, of the actual thing. But what we did at the Granite Games, and you asked a question, how did he get everybody there? I think I now understand how we did it. It was not marketing. It wasn't sales. What we simply did is we focused on the customer, they call it CRM, but not in the traditional software side, our customer relationship management. And all we did was, how can we improve the athlete experience? And it was at the center of everything. And what it did was it caused our

company to not work in silos. This is like nerdy business speak now, but we didn't have marketing silos, sales silo, or, you know, a customer service silo or operations, but rather we, everybody focused on how do you make the athlete experience better? And what it did is it actually created like a pie. So instead of, you know, your top down org chart did is it actually created like a pie. So instead of, you know, your top down org chart, think of it as like a pie. And at the very center of it, you put the little stick figure drawing of your athlete and the marketing department focused on working very cohesively with the sales department, but also delivery department to make the experience better. You know, the little things of like, Hey, we would turn our photos around in the later years

in 48 hours, tens of thousands, or, you you know 10,000 photos got published online because it was a better experience for the athlete to get to share that story we didn't do it from a marketing purpose it's because the athletes wanted the photos so you asked like how did we get here well and how did Wendell become about is I was honestly I think a little frustrated with the gym industry. And I mean, that's a whole conversation as a whole. I was a part of it, but I just felt like, I felt like a lot of people are paying money, but the problem's not going away. And then what was happening is they were falling in love with the community until the gym owner was like, Oh, I'm doing my job. And it's like, well, that person's still overweight. They're still not healthy. They're still not happy. They're, you know, going to the gym and they have this community now, but the problem actually never

went away. And I think there's some gyms out there that do a fairly good job, but I think we set out on search to say, how could we create a coaching program where every person we took money from got the result they were wanting? So being they would do the work. And that was, you asked, like, how did Wendell, well, Wendell was, it wasn't, you know, fast and granite games. And then Wendell, there was a company in between it called blades or trail, which is where we were doing what you were doing. And the sole mission was how do we create impact? Meaning we take somebody's dollar, we make good on the promise. And if you look at it, that stems back to the Granite Games, which is we take somebody's

registration fee, we are going to make them feel like an athlete, which is why we put the names on the shirts for everybody. Why everybody got the same treatment. We tried to give everybody a professional level athlete experience. And we honestly lost money for many years doing it that way, but I felt in my heart, it was the right way to create an event. Yeah. When I go onto my Facebook feed, it is almost impossible not to get some 24 year old telling me how I can make $10,000 in a month as a personal trainer or an online coach or increasing my leads.

How do you not fall into that? Almost like that trap of sleaze. It's not sleazy. They probably do a great job, but they don't have the trust. Like I've been, I've been an entrepreneur in fitness for over a decade now. And when I see that, I go, there's no trust in that. So how do you,

how do you kind of come with the same messaging of, I'm going to help your business grow. I'm going to make you a profitable online coach, um, without falling into that, that just running ads at people and sounding like a, somebody that's really just trying to capitalize on, on people with this make 10 K a month. I have, I could go to my Facebook feed right now and there's probably five of them on there. What's interesting is I think if you study a coach at like a psychological level, they're not searching for money and they're not even necessarily searching for freedom yet. Great coaches in the purest of their heart want to build a coaching program where they never let their students down. You could cut a lot of coaches revenue in half, but improve the actual

coaching delivery and allow them to be so proud of that. Or you could do the opposite. You could cut a lot of coaches revenue in half, but improve the actual coaching delivery and allow them to be so proud of that. Or you could do the opposite. You could double their revenues, but have, you know, people saying bad things about them and that their coaching program didn't work. I will tell you just based off of my experience with all of our students, at least the people I'm attracting, what they're really, really, really care about is how to build a world-class program that truly helps change people's lives. The money is a by-product. And again, it goes back to, if you build a coaching program that truly changes lives, leads happen, money happens, scale happens. Like those are all things that just happen because your product is so good. And so it's hard though, because if you need money, you, you chase leads. When I really believe

I had a client the other day, he's like, John, I got to fix my marking. And after spending time with them, I said, no, I need you to go back and make your product better. You already have 30 students in here. Make it so that every person gives you a raving testimonial. They absolutely love you. Somebody that we both know really, really well has been on this podcast, text me the other day and I will not say what he texted me, but it was absolutely hilarious. I hope it was Keeto. It was Sean. And maybe Sean at some point can tell you what he texted. It's a private conversation.

But the moral of what he said to you goes, how did you get all these people just talking about you? And the only reason why our marketing has worked really well, we're not some marketing savant. I know marketing well enough. I know sales well enough, but what I think we really drive home is a relentless effort to make your product really, really good. And I think coaches deep down, you asked a question, coaches deep down, they're not searching for leads. They're not searching for money. They

want to be really, really proud of the thing they're doing. Yeah. Um, I have to like personally tell, well, you and kind of the audience, like a lot of the struggles that I was having as a business owner, um, before we created this and that I've been training and been in gyms for 25 straight summers. This is my 25th summer of very actively, very consistently lifting weights, working hard in gyms, acquiring as much information literally through Barbell Shrug for the last three years, talking to the smartest people in the entire world about fitness. And there's this thing that happens when you're in this seat in that you go, well, why would somebody learn nutrition from me when they can just call Lane Norton? Why would they listen to me when Andy Galpin's like right down the street? I could just call him like, go talk to Galpin. He could tell you everything.

Like, why would you learn from me? And I got to a point where it was like, I honestly didn't know how to impact people's lives because I knew too many smart people. There was too many scientists that I knew. There was too many influencers that I was like, I don't want to be on competing or battling it out with like one of my best friends, Ryan Fisher, has a quarter million, 300, I don't even know how many Instagrams, he's on there all day long.

And then I would look at his life and go, oh dude, you're like single. You don't have kids. You don't have this other eight hours a day where you really want to be around your family. I don't want to be on my phone. What I want to do is meet these dads where they're at. Be like, look, if we could just do these things, it's going to radically shift your life. I can teach you how to eat. I can teach you how

to train. I can teach you how to do it inside the confines of being busy as hell and not having this overwhelmingly large training schedule and meal prepping 30 meals and acting like that's a real thing that you're going to do on your Sunday afternoon. Like it's not what you want to do. So why would, why, why can't we create systems around like a reality of, of being a parent and being a dad and trying to do it? And had I not called you that day, I was really almost at a point where I was just like, I don't know where to go because I know that when I put my training programs out there, they're awesome and they fit people's lives. But if I was going to buy the – I wouldn't want that program even though I wrote it and it's designed for me. Like it's the program that I do.

I wouldn't want that nutrition program because what I want is to talk to somebody that's in my shoes, but I had no idea how to go and actually build that product and build our mentorship program. So like, as you walked me through the components of a really, really good program, it started, it like immediately clicked. It was like, oh, I get it. I totally understand that this is not just a training program. It's not just a nutrition program. It's not like, I have to go be these people's coaches. And I think that there's a lot of information out there right now where it's like, if you get the lead and it costs you 85 cents for the lead, then you hit them with your engagement sequence. And you never have to talk to these people.

And if you have enough volume, you will just be rich one day. Because your engagement sequence is so good that you're going to convert them into a paying client. But it's not really the reality of online coaching anymore. How do you shape a program? I know because I've gone to the program and understand it now. But for coaches out there that are looking at what they do and going, well, how do I actually create a really high value program? Like, what does that entail? Well, what you said to get started was really interesting is if you get the lead for 85 cents and then you put them through the email sequence, you'll sign them up and you'll be rich. And I think it starts right there. The whole conversation is, are you trying to be rich? Are you trying to create major impact in the world? Are you trying to generate enough profit so you can live the way you want to and build a company where you have the freedom to still pick your kids up from school. It's that massive shift of I'm chasing wealth versus you know what, I'm creating something that truly changes people's lives.

And I don't want to shit on other people's programs. I love Fisher, by the way, he's just my favorite person because he's so famous online and his, he's awesome, but I don't have that, that I'm, I'm a different person. I don't, I, I don't want to be online all the time. Um, I want, I want to, I'll share something with you. And I think that this probably applies to his business. Low ticket generates leads. If done well, it can even generate some profit, especially when you have a brand like he does. Your medium ticket and your higher ticket packages are typically what develop your significant case studies. And so I think a lot of times people,

when they launch, they're scared. So they're like, you know what? I'm new to this. So I'm going to charge super, super cheap. And what's interesting is A, if you don't have the brand or you don't have the runway capital, it's really dangerous. And I actually walked people through the Granite Games and said, the Granite Games launched high ticket in person first. Then we launched our medium ticket, which was the qualifier and our low ticket, which basically broke even, but all it did was lead

generation was throw downs. And I said, if you just watch what we did there, that's using the model. So I'm a big, now not always, cause I do break my own rules. Like, you know, dusty Highland works with us. Tim Thackery works with us. These guys have brands. Well, then we had them start with medium ticket and we had them start with, you know, and then infuse a low ticket right away. So I think the key is to work with a coach that builds your company around you. Just like I try to have you build your product around the student and not just put them in a one size fits all because that dad has two daughters. One has a disability. He's in a, maybe a stressed marriage and his work isn't going well.

You actually could be adding more harm than good because now you're forcing all these things on him. And so again, it goes back. If you put the customer at the center of your business and you really say, you know what? I wanna just give them one thing this week that really makes their life better and helps them get closer to the goal without doing any harm,

I think you're already light years ahead on building a wonderful coaching program. Yeah. How much experience does a coach need to truly create that impact? Before they find you, what work needs to be done in order to create a very high value program. So what's interesting is the value is created by your ability to create the result. So the question I would ask is, if you want to have somebody achieve a specific result, same thing I asked you, could you do that? And if they say, yes, I think you're there. It does not mean you should stop improving. It doesn't mean you should stop learning,

but I will say that our smartest students are not our most successful students. And a lot of times such deep rooted knowledge creates a lot of internal fear and it actually creates an over-complexity of the actual coaching program because they have a hard time meeting the student where they're at. Yeah. And so sometimes our students that maybe aren't as educated, but they are educated enough to solve the problem, have an easier time connecting with that person, which is why you asked a question earlier. Why don't you call the doctor? Because a lot of times if you hear doctors, they can't meet the person and actually put it in layman's terms and actually guide them step-by-step because they just, they see the matrix and the other person doesn't and they can't get out of that. And so they're, they're not necessarily

relatable. So to answer your question, it's like, it's a simple question to ask back. Like if I handed you a person with X problem and their goal is to achieve, you know, a outcome, could you do that? Like, could you get them there? And if the answer is I 100%, yeah, I could, I could figure out how to get them there. I might have a different path for each person, but I could solve the problem. Then you're ready to rock. It's not, you're going to refine it and you're going to work on it.

But I think sometimes people put up a lot of false beliefs that they need all these certifications and all these degrees and all these things. When the truth is what we're finding is sometimes it actually is harming some of the people we get to work with because we have to unlock a lot of their speak. They speak too high level. That I'm so glad you said that because that is something. So my neighbor that I train with has lost like 27 pounds, something like that. But he went on a two, he did this by himself, not the actual business piece, but went and solved his health problems by himself.

Went on the internet, tested it all out. And I go, oh, like it was one of the first like talking from the to the you on the business side all the light bulbs went off on how it's all connected and how you can position a product that's going to radically shift someone's life and it was right about the same time that I mean I started talking to you probably about 12 weeks ago we joined the program you know eight to ten weeks ago but I started training with him right about the program, you know, eight to 10 weeks ago. But I started training with him right about the same time that I was talking to you and he was telling me this story. And he was like, it took me two and a half years to figure out how to go to the doctor and get an all clear. I didn't have high cholesterol anymore. I didn't have

high blood pressure. And if you saw this guy, you'd look at him and go, oh, you're like 195 pound guy. You look like you're in pretty good shape. You look like you're like three weeks away from being in good shape. Just like you wouldn't, if you saw him in the airport, he would just, he would be like one of the in shape guys almost probably. But he's got all the problems. He goes to the doctor and they've got a rap sheet of things you need to do to get in better shape. And he goes, it took me two and a half years to not have this problem. And I was like, oh, you're the real life person. I solved that problem in six months.

It took you two and a half years to figure it out. And I think that that, in my mindset shift, was super empowering to me because it gave me an actual person, more than just the people we're working with now, but a friend of mine that went through it. I went, oh man, you're a really smart dude. You're my neighbor. You're in the same human class as me. We're the same people. I just have been in fitness forever. It took you two and a half years to understand what your metabolism is. That's crazy. I could have taught you that in

eight minutes and told you how to fix it two minutes later. And in 10 minutes, you've got all the answers you need. And what, how do you get coaches to believe that they can impact people's lives like that? Like I, we live in bubbles and I would imagine every coach that's listening to this, when they look around at their five closest people, they go, everyone's just in shape. We're all just healthy people because they either live in the gym or they're training partners or their friends. Everyone shares the same mindset inside their inner circle. And they don't really understand what goes on outside of that circle and where people really genuinely need help. One of my friends is a doctor and we were talking a couple of weeks ago and he said, I want to share something with you. And I think

he was talking about me and he said, a prophet is never recognized in their own town. Which is true. Like I have a lot of friends that, you know, think I'm just the old hockey player. I have, you know, friends that own companies and, you know, just, so you don't, but if you were to apply that to yourself and then you look at your circle, you never think of yourself as somebody that has it put together or you're smart. And what's interesting about this is there's a guy, I won't say his name, but he's just like the guy that you're talking about. He does really, really well for himself. He's definitely in the top 1%. And I asked him, cause I was doing some market research the other day. And I said, what was the biggest belief you had that stopped you from asking for my help so soon here? I am. He's my next-door neighbor I'm a fit guy very successful and he never would ask me for his and he here's the interesting part

He's happy and he's wealthy But he's not healthy and it was affecting him and he goes he goes honestly I was too far away from being my ideal version of myself So why start and then he goes on to say, he goes, I would have given up on things that I truly enjoyed. Okay. He doesn't want to give up food and beer. And he goes, I forgot that there's no destination, only a journey. And so what I would say to you is number one, you got to get out of like, what is it? The Truman show like that bubble and realize like, go walk around at the grocery store for a little bit. And everything that you take for granted, these people are really struggling with. And on

top of it, I really believe the greatest impact a coach has is not the new skill that they teach, and not even the routine that they create. It's honestly helping somebody shift their beliefs of how they see themselves and how they think, which is why I challenged you on that first discovery call. I'm like, get off the templates, have real conversations with people because the real work that needs to be done is right here. It's not, I mean, you hand somebody a bag of potato chips and apple and say, make the healthier choice.

They're going to do it every time. You ask them, do you need to, should you walk more? Yes. Like they know what they need to do. Yeah. So ask yourself as a coach, but why aren't they doing it and meet them at their level and understand their fears and their belief patterns and what is going on. And then honestly, if you can get them to open up about their past, a lot of the deep rooted stuff of why they are where they are today is because of stuff that's happened in our childhood. And they don't have the skillset to break that negative chain. I mean, this is like, I could talk about this stuff all day, but it really, I think as coaches, we get so lost in the science and like force plates and, you know, we always try and impress. We always try. It's

almost like when I'm talking business, I want to make sure I'm impressive and using the right language. So John Swanson thinks I'm good at business. And I don't give a shit. I don't care. Yeah. And I think so as coaches, we have to learn to not chase ego and understand that our value is not how smart we are,

but our ability to help. That's you asked, how do you create a valuable coaching program? It has nothing to do with all the freaking knowledge you have about macros and insulin levels and food sensitivity and low FODMAP and this training protocol and hypertrophy and all this stuff. It's about just connecting with the person and really seeing what the psychological stopping points are and then helping them overcome those. Um, one of the most impactful things that is a part of the course. Um, and I think it's a good place for us to just give like actionable items to people.

Um, and, and we've completely hijacked it from you for the entry-level position to um the diesel dad mentorship is um the the facts in the future and going through that process and having an honest conversation with yourself um when did you guys create that? And kind of like the progression of like, what is that initial step? Because I think everybody that's listening to this right now can grab whatever they want to write with and go through that exercise and start to project and forecast who their future self is and, and what that, what that initial step really is. So I think that actually comes from the granite games. So every year when we'd wrap up the granite

games, people that know this, but it was like three days after we would do a facts and future meeting. And it was this, we, I think you've been to the old gym. We have like a 40 foot long whiteboard wall. We would write down everything that, who we were in that calendar year. And then we'd write down everywhere we need to go. Right. And so one of the reasons why I say templates don't work is because they focus solely on the destination of the client. What it doesn't take into account is where that person starting from and if we look at say somebody climbing the mountain how we would advise every person to climb is gonna be different because they have a different starting point on the mountain so facts in future ultimately came from

understanding where is this person attempting to get to because that's the thing they're gonna hold hold us accountable for. But what we need to know is where are they starting from? And then understand the gap, how much ground needs to be covered. And then really what is the single most important thing they can do tomorrow that will create momentum in their life? And so the way I give the analogy and for everybody listening out there, it's as simple as this. Templated programs focus on everybody going to Miami. And guess what?

If that template was written for somebody that's taking off from Minneapolis, it's going to work every time. And that's why if you, it's also why they're able to sell them for $49 because you put a hundred people in there and you know, maybe two or three people get the results and great. It worked for them. That's awesome. But if you're taking off from JFK or you're taking off from LAX, the program won't work for them. So the easiest way to ensure that your program does work for them is just pause for a second and ask them, where do you want to go? Okay.

You want to go to Miami? Great. Where are we taking off from? And we understand who they are. And there's really seven major things we want to look at. We want to look at their mind. So how do they think? How do they prioritize? How do they spend their day? We want to look at their body. So body is, you know, how much water are they drinking? How much sleep are they having? And by the way, you don't have to acquire all this information all at once, but this is a collection over time that we're learning about this person, what makes them tick. So you got mind, body, you want to figure out what's kind of going on in their world, their relationship. Because again, we don't want to add more stress. What's going on in their family dynamic? How's their work dynamic? How's their friendship circle? Is it supportive? Is it negative? Do they have a

hobby? And how are they making the world a better place? And so all of a sudden you get this kind of pyramid established. And then you understand the sub areas of how we create connection improvement. And I mean, I remember when I coached one of my clients, I said, your homework for this week, she's crushing mindset work. She's crushing her nutrition. She'd lost a hundred pounds. You're going to reach out to three people and you're going to go have dinner. I don't care what you eat at dinner with three friends you haven't connected with for a year

because she was now at that level in her layer system that if we're trying to help her reach her best life she needs to take time to reconnect with her friends yeah the way that we have started explaining it to people and you know from the way that we went through it from the business and ourselves kind of melded into one, but at the very center of success is having a mindset in which you're going to have like a positive outlook on where you're going. Nobody's going to continue and be consistent if you think you're doing things that just aren't taking you to that place. So how do we create a mindset that allows you to get where

you want to go? So there's the mind, then the physical body, which expands that circle out just a little bit. And if we expand it out one more, who's the most significant person in your life? Most likely your wife. So we go mind, body, expanded, expand that one more to the most important person in your life, then expand it to your inner circle, friends and family, and then expand that to your community, which is the impact you have on the people around you, and then expanding it out to the biggest circle of like, are you creating the experiences in your life that you want? And when you walk people through that progression of like, it all starts with immediately when you get out of bed, what are you looking forward to? And then you go and look in the mirror. Most likely, you need to have some sort of positive interaction with your own

physical body. So how do we make that better? And what do you think that's going to look like in six months? And then the next person you're going to see in your day, most likely your wife sitting right next to you. And then the person you're going to see next after that is most likely your kids. And then you get to go to work. That's going to be most likely your impact and how you're affecting your community. And then towards the end of the day, that's going to be the experiences and the hobbies and the way that you spend your time. And once we started to, as I was going through your course and realizing how you kind of broke these things out and expanding that circle and moving through the layers. I, when we turned that into our clients, that became the framework for

all future communications. Because when you're, when you get into solving big problems and creating deep connections with other people on a very like intimate level of you need to lose 40 pounds. You're not just coming to me first. You've been going and doing things on your own for a long time. You may have even had a coach that did well or didn't do well. But you go, look, this is the facts. This is just where we are. And this is how you feel, how you look, the impact you have. Like this is where we're at. I only want to focus on the person six months from now, 12 months from now. You need a psychologist to handle all those things because that's unraveling stories.

I don't know how to do that. But what I can do is give you all the tools and the systems to get you from today to six months from now to 12 months from now. And we can just start to adopt. And that became a big part of our program is when somebody struggles with their body image, to get you from today to six months from now to 12 months from now. And we can just start to adopt. And that became a big part of our program is when somebody struggles with their body image, well, now every day you owe me a one-sentence statement of what do I like about my body? You can be as negative as you want all day, but you're only going to send me the one positive thing that you see. And we get things like, I like my ears. But then all of a sudden it's like, someone said

something nice about me today. Someone noticed I lost weight. I feel great. I could kind of see like a side ab if I flex hard enough. Like you start to see the little things starting with the mindset, starting with their, their, how they view themselves. And you can start to see the pieces. Just, it's like the onion. It just starts to unravel a little bit. And, and as you peel it back, there's like a really happy person in there. And I learned that, uh, it's our job to really just expose that there's like a little person in there that's dying to get out that's happy and loves themselves. And most of the time, there's an overweight person looking to create that happiness. And that system was one of the first steps when we went through your program to understand where we wanted to go. And it's something that every coach

right now can just take out a piece of paper and say, this is how I got to this place. I've done courses in the past. I've been watching Gary Vee scream into the internet for a long time. And I'm trying to post on social media 12 times a day and I'm in my stories and whatever it is, you go, well, where do I actually want to be? What do I want this? What do I want my profits to look like? How much time do I want to spend at work? And just write and figure out how to understand where you're at today and really just project the future and start taking steps towards that. And in part two of us doing this, I really want to dig into once somebody understands how that process works, where do they go now? How do they actually go and create that program? And how do they actually build what is the most important part,

I think, is that trust and how they can start to really affect people's lives through the thing that they're the best at. So I have a couple of thoughts and then we can wrap up this episode of you. Like number one, you asked a question to me earlier. How do I make a valuable coaching program? You just answered it. And so many people like, that's what I need every one of our students to have is that aha moment that it's not the nutrition, it's not the fitness, it's none of those things. It's solving those extremely complex seven problems, those seven questions. And where that

all stemmed from was in 2018, I was sitting in my sauna. I was probably at this desk. And what I would do is I wouldn't do any work. I would go sit in my sauna and I was completely depressed. I was in a really dark place. And it was that moment when I realized I was no longer being the dad, the husband, the man that I wanted to be. And I actually despised every business. This is the part I don't tell often very publicly, but it despised all my companies because I'd lost me in the process. And I remember sitting there and I started to ask myself, if I was going to unravel this problem, what do I need to do? And then that's when I came up with, cause you call it circles. It's funny. I have a pyramid, right? So I call it my X seven pyramid. If I'm going to become the high performance version of me, which the X represents,

it's seven major things. And it was legit. I have a barrel sauna right here next to me just like your son is next to you honestly it must have been at like minute 50 of like this crazy like deprivation awesome I remember getting out of the sauna and I said I have it I understand how to solve my problem. I got to start with my mind. I have to start with my body. I have to start with my marriage and I have to start with my family. And guess what I did? I sold all my companies. People thought I was nuts, but they didn't realize that there was a deep rooted problem. And if I didn't go back and deal with that dark stuff, I could not go.

Like you said, Oh, you've got a beautiful company. Now this doesn't happen if I don't have the dark place and I go have to deal with my demons. And that's, so we talk about those three other things that I try to teach. So outside of that, which you've applied beautifully, by the way, I might steal the way you talk about it. Cause it's, it's funny how people take ideas and they make them better and sounds way sex

here. about it because it's funny how people take ideas and they make them better. And I'm like, it sounds way sexier. What I realized is that if we as humans can apply this three things, anything becomes possible. If we just take moments in time to reflect on where we are and what is happening, and we get out of the storytelling, we just look at the facts, it's so powerful. And if we can learn from it, which is if we can have a revelation, what are we learning from the actual facts, not the emotions. if we can learn from it which is if we can have a revelation what are we learning from the actual facts not the emotions and we can apply that forward to create a revolution which means to actually go out in physically and mentally change from the person we were the moment before because we have that new information we create this constant evolution and so therefore like you, it's easy to get

to where you want to go because we are in a constant state of progress. But I think most people are so wrapped up in their day-to-day routine. They're not reflecting, they're not learning from it, and therefore they're not creating change. And so that's where the X7, I call it my pyramid, came from is I was applying those three things, but the reason why I applied those, because it was dark, man, like it was, everything was closing in around me. And I saw what happened to my father who isn't with me anymore. And I saw the path I could go.

And I felt like I was letting my wife down. I felt like I was letting my kids down. I didn't care about my members of my gym. I didn't care about the granite games anymore. I was letting the people down. I didn't care about my members of my gym. I didn't care about the granite games anymore. I was letting the people down and I cared about the most, but everybody else thought I was successful. But the things I measured success on, I wasn't successful. And, and that, that was the thing that really,

I think turned my tables of like, we're going to build a company that creates crazy impact that we're proud of, but it has to allow us to have the freedoms to be the man or woman that we want to be around the people that we care on the most. On the next episode, I want to dig into the flywheel model because that was also something that was like a new model that clicked with me and really dig into how people can start to get out and make this impact in other people's lives and really help them solve these high-level problems.

How do people find you? How do people schedule a call with you? Where can they go to learn more? Easiest thing to do, head over to Instagram, John W. Swanson, and shoot me a message. And what we're about to do is actually we're going to launch essentially a Raise Your Prices Challenge, W Swanson and shoot me a message. And what we're about to do is actually we're going to launch a, essentially a raise your prices challenge, which is we're going to help coaches start charging

what they're worth. But to be honest, the way you charge what you're worth is by building a highly valuable, highly transformative coaching offer. And so we're going to walk you through over five days. We're going to walk you through step-by-step of how to do that. So you can start, you know, making more profit, but more importantly, you can make the impact in the world and be proud of it. Beautiful. I'm Anders Varner. Get over to dieseldadmentorship.com where we are, we're going to walk you through everything that we're talking about on this. We've been super proud of the program and grateful for your program, John. And for the first time, as I've discussed many times with you, I feel like I'm using the last 25 years of my life training and coaching and working with people in gyms at the highest level that I possibly can, which is something really cool to say, actually.

To feel like you're making the biggest impact that you possibly can with the people you want to work with. So DieselDadMentorship.com., we will see you guys in the next in part two.