Barbell Shrugged - Building Your Own Coaching Business with Mike Salemi - Strong Coach #2

Episode Date: November 2, 2019

We've got Mike Salemi coming on today. He is in the Strong Coach Mastermind and he drops some really great knowledge about his journey, which is going to be very helpful for you as a coach and building your own coaching business.   We get into Enlifted as well, so the way this works is when people join The Strong Coach Mastermind, they also go into the Enlifted certification and that's something we offer by itself as well and it's really digging into the mental side of things and we get into mental resilience and how to help clients and set really great goals and really become a coach that stands apart by how we show up for our clients. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Strong Coach Season 3 Episode Numero Dos. We got Mike Salemi coming on today. He is in the Strong Coach Mastermind, and he dropped some really great knowledge about his journey, which is gonna be very helpful for you as a coach in building your own coaching business. We get into Enlifted as well, so the way this works is when people join the Strong Coach Mastermind,

they also go into the Enlifted Certification. And that's something we offer by itself as well. And it's really digging into the mental side of things. And we get into mental resilience and how to help clients and set really great goals and really become a coach that stands apart by how we show up for our clients. It's really, really powerful. We talk about it a bit on this show. If you're interested in that program, you're going to do the same thing you're going to do if you want to go into the Strong Coach 90-Day Program,

and that is go over to strongcoachpodcast.com and click the Become a Strong Coach button. You'll get some free information on how to improve your coaching business immediately. We'll deliver that to your email and you'll have the chance to book a discovery call with our man, Danny. And what we'll do on the discovery call is if you want to do the enlifted certification, the next one starts on November 6th. We do it remotely. So no matter where you live, you can participate, get in there. We go deep and you'll hear a bit about it on the show. So go to strongcoachpodcast.com, book a discovery call. And then if you're interested in our 90 day program, the next one starts in about 10 days. And that program, we start laying the foundation for building a six figure coaching business. A lot of trainers and coaches that get

in there are able to start achieving those numbers before the 90 days is up. And in the very least, we're setting a solid foundation so you can build the coaching business that serves you and allows you to show up as the best coach for your clients possible. So again, go to strongcoachpodcast.com.

And if you want to see what we're up to, if you want to stalk us and things like that, you can go over to our Instagram account at the strong coach and be following us over there. So I'm going to let you get in the show. Have fun listening to Mr. Mike Salemi. Oh, and I almost forgot. We have a bunch of other shows. So if you're on Stitcher, iTunes, wherever, or you just go over to strongcoachpodcast.com, there is an opportunity to subscribe. And we have a channel that's separate from The Collective

that you can listen to a bunch of shows that we're not posting here. So we're only doing an eight-show season, but we have an ongoing podcast going on over there. All right, now I'll let you enjoy the show. We're hanging out here at the Spartan World Championships in Tahoe in the lobby. We got kicked out of a couple different spots and Ben Greenfield and Hunter McIntyre hanging out in the lobby just now. If you don't know who those guys are, they're both

like there was obstacle course racing pros at one point and they're both extreme characters not like me and mike mike mike and mike we're fucking normal those guys are weird as fuck so there's a lot of characters at spartan would you say yeah 100 yeah have you had fun because it's sunday night it started on when you get in so i got in on thursday got on thursday it's now sunday night what's been your experience at spartan so far? So I've had a great time. Like, it's interesting. The people who it attracts are, like, really, really just real people,

good people down to have a good time, down to crush it on the course, and then after, come back, podcast, go grab some food. No, just good people. I've had a great time so far. Yeah. Yeah, it was fun. You didn't run it, though. No, I did not.

No, you didn't. I say that with a very low voice. Partially ashamed. Next year it was fun. You didn't run it, though. No, I did not. No, you didn't. I say that with a very low voice, partially ashamed. Next year. Next year. You're like, fuck that. There's 365 more days until next year's Spartan Race. You can train. You can do what I do and not train for it and just run it.

Well, you said something really interesting. And I asked you how you're feeling today. How's your body feeling this morning? You're like, I feel fine. I feel fine. Take care of my body, which is like, I always say like, if you move well, you take care of yourself. You'd be amazed at what you can achieve, what you can accomplish and not feel nearly as broken down as if you were just grinding yourself with like a sledgehammer.

Yeah. It's my approach on the trail. A couple of years ago, I had this huge shift in my approach to pain or my perception of pain, and I got to be really fully accepting of it. And so it gave me access to better breath when I'm in pain. And so I used to avoid the feeling of pain. I would feel the pain and I would try to put my mind somewhere else. Now I can breathe into it and just be with it. When I'm able to do that, I'm actually, the suffering is diminished tremendously. And I find my recovery is fast and easy. Which is almost counterintuitive to if someone were to hear that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, people spend their entire lives avoiding feeling certain things. Like, I don't want to feel sad.

I don't want to feel whatever, rejected. Or I don't want to feel my knee hurting or whatever. All these things. I think there's a lot of magic in going deep down into the cave. That's why I love you, man. And that's why I can do a Spartan race and walk out and be fine. Yeah, there's magic there. There's magic there for sure.

Receive magic. So you've had fun. It's been good. You started a podcast. Yeah, I guess now there's really no way around it. There's no way around it. I have started a podcast with no name as of now. It will need to be a name.

Maybe we can have the audience choose or something. You could be a narcissist like me and just call it The Salemi Show. We could do that. Actually sounds cool. The Salemi Show. Does anyone else have The Salemi Show name out there? There's no way, but someone has my name.com. So I'm about to send him a nasty letter.

Yeah, there's some old dude that has mine.com too. MikeBledsoe.com. So I'll send him a nasty letter. Yeah. There's some old dude that has mine.com too. MikeBledsoe.com. Some website that hasn't been updated in a decade. Well, that's why I had to go MikeSelami.io as my, whatever the URL is. So way around that. But yes, I did start a podcast and I'm actually really excited about it. I have no idea what it's going to be, what it's going to turn into, but it just started out of just fun. Yeah. All right. Setting a little bit of context, we're going to talk about building coaching business today. And I want to dig into what you've done up to this point and the lessons you've learned. But I want to start with what we were talking about at the beginning of the show, which is space, which space created an opportunity for a podcast. Yeah. Talk about this thing of space that you're

exploring right now. So I am diving headfirst with every, that's kind of my MO. Like when I want to learn a skill, when I want to learn a new tool, when I want to learn anything, a new modality, like I go a hundred percent all in. And so it became very apparent to me in my business and also in my life that as mindful as I try and be around what I'm doing, and I was not allowing myself authentic space in my schedule to just allow whatever it is to come through and to happen. And so right now I'm really being diligent about scheduling in space. So for example, how that's shown up recently is I was just two weeks teaching in Europe. So I taught a week in Italy and then a week in England. And I've never done

this before because normally I'm just trying to maximize and grind and get as many appointments as possible, network as much as possible, get on as many podcasts as possible. And that's awesome. But what it left me feeling was almost like in the trip before this last one, I did a two-week stint in Southern California and noticed I was getting sick at the end of the trip. And I rarely ever get sick. I almost pride myself on taking care of myself well enough to that usually not happening. And that was a wake-up call to me. And I was like, not again. If I get sick, it's going to happen not because I'm overworking or this sort of thing. I just don't want that to happen. So I said the next time, which was the next trip was a week from then, two weeks in Europe, I was like, in the middle of those two trips, I'm going to schedule

three days of scheduled vacation. And the space has been so helpful, not only just from a health perspective, but every single time that I've had that type of space, it's allowed me to step back and look at my business, look at my life, whatever it is, from this bird's eye perspective and truly analyze what is working well and what is not working well. And what I found out was the certain aspects of my business that I was not very happy with, those became very apparent. And so I'm grateful for that. So now it's about being more diligent with creating space. And for example, this whole month, I won't be doing even in October, I'm sorry, too much

coaching. I'll be doing two weeks of combo training, taking a week of vacation in Kauai. So now every three months, my goal is one full week of vacation. And then once a month, taking like three days away from home, like coming to Tahoe for three days, whatever it is, but once a month, three complete days fully off. And that's in the calendar now. So did you have a hard time creating this space? Was this one of those things where there was a party was like, fuck this, we got to grind?

Normally, it would have been. But getting sick was like, I was so mad about that. I just had so much anger around that. And just like, what the fuck are you doing, Mike? It's very important for me to live my message. Like what I teach, what I share, if I'm not living from that authentic place and sharing that message, I just feel knots inside my gut. And so when that happened, was it hard? Yes, it was hard, but it was so clear the decision that needed to be made. And it was just like, execute, go, let's do it. So I want to say it was hard to get to that place, but it was an easy decision to make because it was just so apparent that the direction I need to go. And one of the things that I've noticed too is like a lot of it for me is just

working through, I know that I will go far in business. My passion is so, runs so deep to help others and support others and to continually work on myself. And I also know that like anyone, we all have fears and self-limiting beliefs. And one of the things that I've noticed is with that space, that's been allowing me to work on myself in between the craziness and the hecticness so that I can continually move forward and build my business in the way that I want to, which is sustainable. Yeah. I want to ask if it was hard for you because I talked to a lot of coaches and I asked them, can you take a few days off? Or I come to the summit that we did a couple months ago and they're like, I can't take three days off. I'm like, oh shit, that's a problem. It's a big problem. So let's rewind. How did you

get into the training business, into the coaching business? So I would say I was a coach and a trainer since I was 15, coaching members on my powerlifting team. And then of course, like when I turned 18, I got my personal training cert from NASM. So I've been officially earning money as a trainer since I was 18. So 14 ish years, 14 plus years. And that's evolved a lot over the years because for most of, aside from three years ago, I was in a different business. So I was still always training on the side, but I was also in a family business, which is in the marble and granite industry. And I was doing mainly marketing for that type of industry, which is interesting because a lot of what I learned in that industry, I probably would not have liked to admit it until now, but it served me really, really well in the areas that I'm very strong in business right now. When you look at that industry, like the marble and granite, specifically fabrication industry. So think like granite countertops, like you're in your kitchen, my family manufactures and sells the tools to polish, grind, like take a raw slab and then put it in someone's kitchen, right? Doing the edge detail. And that industry is pretty old school.

Like, man, 90 plus percent of the orders that would come in either came by phone or fax. Rare, if ever, was there an email, social, like Instagram. And we're talking up to three years ago, I was in the business and it was just old school. And so a lot of the way business was done was through one-on-one, handshake, face-to-face, eye contact. And that's really that business. And again, I wouldn't have realized it till now. It served me so well because I'm building my social media. I'm learning. I'm understanding strategies around that. I'm in the strong coach. I'm in the mastermind group. So I am understanding strategies and tactics and how to do that. But where I feel I'm strongest is when I'm actually in front of

someone and can connect and feel their energy and develop the relationship based off of that. So I've been a coach for that long, but it's really been only in the last three years that it's been 100% all in. When I was in that business, it was like part-time nights and weekends and such. I'm the same way in that I do well in person. You put me in a room with people, crush. And it feels good and it's fun and it's energizing. And I transitioned to doing a lot of things online back in 2012. And going into more of the marketing strategies and tactics to extract the magic that happens from being in with people. It's a challenge. It's a challenge because you're not getting that instant feedback. The feedback loop is different.

It's spaced out. It's only through words. You're not actually getting the energy. You're not getting all the visual cues or the energetic cues that you would get normally. It's a much more cerebral game in my experience. Yeah. You get that dopamine hit when someone likes your Instagram. Oh, shit. And then you're depressed after. But you meet someone in person, you're left with a lasting impression of that person. You're left with a lot, lot more, a lot more context. And for me, that's my preferred way of doing business.

And there's pluses and minuses to that. But that's really been kind of my foundation that I see where I really enjoy right now. Yeah. So what was the transition like leaving the family business to going all in on your own, right? A lot of coaches are waiting for that moment. Yeah. So the transition was, well, from the family dynamic, there was a lot of coaches are waiting for that moment. Yeah. So the transition was, well, from the family dynamic, there was a lot of challenges around that. My family's amazing, amazing. My dad built the company from nothing. I think we're almost in like 26 years in the business. And from a family dynamic portion, it was quite challenging. When you're working with family, I mean, every

single day, my brother's my best friend. He was just a glass partition away from me. We trained together. We worked together. That was really hard. And the whole family dynamic shifted beyond that. Imagine eating lunch almost every day with your father, your mother, dinners, business talks after. And so there was a lot of challenges around that personally. Now, the decision kind of like creating space.

So when we started, you said, was it hard to create space? That was a very challenging decision for me to leave what was familiar, what was safe, what was secure. I earned really good money. It funded a lot of the coaches that I worked with and a lot of the great things that I'm doing now. But at the same time, I was so unhappy in that business. And there's nothing wrong with that business, but it was just not my calling. And so it just got to the point that I originally planned on being there for two years, then it turned into three, then four, then five, then six, then it got to eight and I hit 30. And for me, 30 was a really memorable age for me. I always told myself, when I hit 30, I really want to be doing my life's calling and my life's purpose. And essentially, it just got

to the point that I was like, I'm 30 now. If I'm looking at my life and one year from now, I'm in the exact same position, what is going to happen? And I journaled this out and I literally wrote sick. Like, I'm going to get physically sick. Like, I will manifest a disease, an illness, something because there were too many nights that I was crying at night. Again, I was sitting in front of the computer a lot of the time in a desk in an office. And I'm just like,

dude, I was meant to just be out there and share and connect and talk with trainers and just do what I love doing. So it was a very challenging decision, but it was also a very easy decision to make. And so it was obvious. It was obvious. It was obvious in the sense, like I was like done. So it becomes obvious and then you go, okay, courage to have the conversations, right? Yeah. And so it was just like talking to my family, like I'm done. I can't do this anymore. And I love my family. I love what it's provided for me, that business, but it's time for me to go. And so the first year of transitioning, there was a lot of challenges. I would almost say like the first year was like a wash. I had a failed partnership the first year. I jumped into a business partnership relationship way too early.

I was so excited to be finally doing this thing and going all in that I was just like, I actually left Northern California, which is where home is for me, and I went to San Diego. And for me, it was like, I feel like sometimes when you, I don't want to say run away, but when you run away, like there's a healthy running away as well. Like I needed to create physical space from the environment that I was in, the people I was around to allow myself to heal and create space for something new. Yeah. It's not running away. It all comes down to your intention. I take space all the time. I basically left San Diego five weeks ago and have been bouncing around. But the intention is to explore.

Yeah. Not like I've got to avoid these people. For me, there was definite avoidance as well. There was definite avoidance. Yeah. Triggers, right? It was such a hard decision for me to make or to leave that I needed it, or I felt I needed it. And looking back, I wouldn't have changed it.

So in the first year, you had a failed partnership? Yeah. Tell me more. So no, a lot of everything's rosy. Everything's all this plans of what we're going to create. We're going to create an online membership site and it's going to do this. It's going to do this. This is who we're going to serve, but no partnership agreement, no, nothing written up front. It was just an assumption of this is how things were going to be. It was going to be 50-50, all this stuff. So like little to no talk on the business side. And I take responsibility for that

and just trying to hop in because I was just wanting to do something in this industry. And looking back and that just didn't work out. And it was the best thing that happened for the both of us. So really the first year. So I was like in San Diego, pretty much staying with friends, sleeping on floors, just living a very, very minimal, minimal life. You're a Spartan. I was a Spartan. I was just not racing. I was lifting kettlebells and swinging bags. And at that time, that's where I thought my future was going to be, but it didn't work out. And so that was a challenging time, but I just knew that whatever's meant to happen will happen.

And so I actually spent a year, more than nine months to a year trying to energize that project. It didn't work. So I went back home because funds were really low. And I was like, okay, I'm going to go back home. That's where family is. That's where my home is. And I'm going to see what I can do. And looking back, a lot of it just had to do with lack of clarity, lack of direction, even projections of my own BS into that relationship that I took from just being partially jaded from the last business I was in. Yeah. So what did you do after that business partnership ended? Did you roll right into something new or you're laughing? I did. I did. I did. I did. It was very soon after. That's when I decided that I was going to create something more or less on my own.

I did have a partner in that thing, which was my videographer and media guy. But it was a different partnership. He was mainly responsible for producing the content. And it was of my kettlebell program that's out now. And so I got back, maybe took a few weeks and realized I wanted to monetize and really share the knowledge that I had amassed in 15 plus years in kettlebells. And so we started that relationship with a very rough agreement, but there was discussions on what things were going to look like, but at the same time, still not maybe as much structure as I'd like to have now or would looking back. And I went into that and spent 13 months creating that program. And so I put my whole heart and soul in that program. And it was one

of those things where I had an idea of what I wanted, but at the same time, it was my first online program. So I was also creating as I went and being the perfectionist type that I am, it was never good enough, ever good enough. So we actually shot, there's over 400, almost, I think 400 plus videos in that program you've seen the program and it's a super deep program we reshot the videos three times because i never thought they were good enough dude it was like saw everything that was in there actually i didn't see everything i saw enough to go what the fuck dude there's so much in here so much it's oh god i've made this multiple, putting way too much in a program.

Just, I don't know if it's a mistake, but if someone buys it and will consume it, you're getting a fucking deal, a steal. And most people need to be spoon fed. Little baby birds. 10 minutes a day, five minutes a day. That's right. It's true though. Like I say that jokingly, but my next program is going to be

much smaller, but it's like, I don't even want to call it a program or a course because it's really like legitimately like the most comprehensive resource online. Like it's a resource. It's a reason. It's really, I mean, it could be taken as a course, but like it walks you through everything. It's a whole thought process from like, literally there's more information in that and structured in a methodical manner that like two or at least two full-blown certifications oh there's progressions in there and assessments yeah working in balancing working in and working out like there's yeah if you want to be good at kettlebells there you go yeah i plug it real quick we're gonna move on on business but if people are listening to this because there's coaches listening to this and

they want to get better at kettlebells, where do they get that? Yeah, go to programs.mikesalemi.io. You'll see the landing page and everything that's in there. It's a fantastic resource for sure. Right. So what have you learned about structuring your business agreement, business partnerships? Where are you at now in that? Okay, so two things come up. One, they're very necessary. It's good to have things in black and white. It's very good.

Writing anything down, as me and you were just joking before, on any level is very good. It puts a lot more concreteness to spoken word, right? And it just gives boundaries to things as well. One thing that I learned in structuring agreements over the years is just someone said this to me at one point is people remember the past differently and i heard that inside the context of someone getting mad about someone not holding up a handshake agreement and a lot of people are like oh i like to do handshake agreements i'm like like, great. And we will shake hands. Big word, and. And let's put this shit in black and white because people remember things differently.

Memory is an interesting thing because it's, well, it can move. It can move. It can change. I've watched it. I feel like memory is also tied to a lot of emotion as well. Yeah. Or can be. So you like to write things down.

So they're very necessary. And it's also not my strong suit. So getting help, like knowing where I'm very strong right now, not saying that I want to continue to learn about that side, but I need help on that side. And so one of the first things, like I'm in the mastermind group, as I mentioned earlier, like I talked to Val about looking at this partnership agreement as well as a future one that might take place. And just saying like, can you please look at this? Can you give advice?

Can you? And she's like, absolutely. That's what she's, one of the things that she's good at. One of her strengths. One of her strengths. Like, wow, I have perfect access to someone there. And it's like, that's exactly what I need right now. So those two things like knowing

where i'm strong where i'm weak and that they are very necessary and then also just reaching out like it might sound minimal but like also just having the courage to know that and then ask for help yeah because i think that's also very very hard to do because there's a pride component to that as well yeah i had um i never took agreements too seriously and i was like leave it up to the lawyers and business partners and all this stuff and i had a deal go pretty fucking sideways a while back and i was forced to learn about agreements because if you don't learn about them beforehand and a deal goes really bad on the back end, you're going to have to go back to that original agreement you had and see what there's an exploration, a discovery phase of, okay, what did we agree to and what

happened and who's at fault for it's a legal thing. And there was about a six week period where I became an expert in contracts and agreements. And I did not want to be an expert in those things. But at the end, I go, I now know this front to back. If someone sends me a 37-page contract, I'm going to clear my schedule, and I'm going to read every fucking line. There's no way I would have done that five years ago. Five years ago, I'd be like, I'm going to hand it to my lawyer. Let me know if there's anything that stands out to you. No way. Yeah. That's one of those things. It's so,

so important. And creating agreements is not my strong suit either. So having someone you trust, you can lean on, lean on Val as well. So that's always really, really good. Plug for Val. Amazing. And I got to spend two conversations with her, got to spend time with her this weekend. Massive, massive asset and value to the team. So shout out to her. People join the mastermind and they're like, I'm going to get coaching from Mike.

And then Valerie just overshadows me. It's good though. I like having a whole team at the disposal instead of just relying on a single person. I love that. So where are you at now? Like I, so you went into another partnership,

you created this huge resource for kettlebells. Well, I'd love to take a little step back on that too, because I learned a lot from that program in the sense of if i were to do it again and if i could share any advice it's to get something out and get data and then work off of that data so if i could do it i mean again i learned a lot it wouldn't change things but if i could do give myself advice at that time when i would have started, I would

have said, give yourself a deadline. Give yourself three months. Creation, whatever it is, whatever you do, I know what I'll put out will be my heart and I'll get something great out there. Give a reasonable deadline, two to three months, whatever it is, to produce, shoot, do all the stuff you need to do. Get it out, get data, and then with the data then make adjustments because especially with an online program or an online resource an ebook whatever it is the beauty about online is it can be a living product and i never wanted to accept that or understood that or whatever it was so i could just reshoot at a later date and also have funds coming in so that I could do that as opposed to scraping by for so long. So I would have given myself that time period, executed, data, adjust, tweak, keep moving forward

because now that's where I'm at right now. And the program released almost six, seven months ago. So right now is when I'm just starting to get the data in. I'm starting to create these things. So you're looking at it almost like a two-year process. And it's like it could have been done in a different way that I could have even made a better product and also had some funds coming in. And so I would just say, get something out there that's reasonable within your timeline and just know, just like anything else, just like your kettlebell snatch that evolves from the first time you grabbed a kettlebell to now a year in the works to two years in the works or when you started crossfit it's like all of this stuff is an evolution you just put your very best foot forward

get something that you're reasonably content with that you can put your name on and keep going this is why i love beta groups you run a beta group and come up with me, it's two weeks of content, two weeks of curriculum, coaching, whatever it is. And then be in very, this is how I launched the strong coach is I was on the phone with each participant each week and I was coaching them. And each coaching session was an opportunity for me to collect market data and going, what do they need to know next? What are the things that is on their mind? So, okay, this is how I can generate better marketing. And what am I going to teach them next? What's the next step for them in the progression? Oh, okay. Well, now we understand this. So now that we have a grasp on this, I'm talking to them,

I go, oh, I can see the next step for them is going to be this one. So that I create the curriculum as I go. Would you recommend that to someone starting off to do something like that? Or is that because you've got quite a bit of experience in that? So yeah, and I was about to get, yeah, it's, I've been in the field long enough. I trust myself to know the information of like, I know I can get somebody from zero to six figure coaching business, that's, and even a seven, I know that I can do that, because I've done that. And I've also coached people that have gotten there. So I have that trust in myself. So someone who's a trainer, they may have gotten people, if they want to go online, they may have gotten people somewhere in person. But when you go online, it's a whole nother game. And so just trust where you've gone yourself.

If you've been able to take yourself somewhere, then you can take someone else there. Or if you've taken someone in person, then you can do it online. You're going to have to get creative. One of my business partners and for training camp for the soul, I'm not Perry. When we were doing our, we do our in-person immersions for six days. And I said, well, you got to do an online version. And she goes, I can't take this online. I was like, yes, you can.

And we had the conversation for months. And then she finally did it. And it was good. Like shaped it over time. It was good. It'll never replace what happens in person. But there's a lot of people who aren't ever going to come and do the in-person immersion. They can do it online.

Now, it wasn't one of those things where it was easy for it to happen. But there's a whole learning process all over again. Coaching people online is, that's a whole nother thing. So most people don't give themselves enough credit for what they know. And it's kind of hard to tell at times because some coaches, I'm like, you just need more fucking experience. A lot of coaches, if you've been coaching under two or three years, the right answer is charge the right amount for you to get a lot of clients. Coach as many people as you can. Get those reps.

The best coaches I know, like yourself, you were coaching when you were 15. You got the reps in. It's all about reps. How many reps have you got in as a coach? But if you've been coaching five plus years and you want to go online, you've got enough. You've got enough to where you could do something to help people. You may not be doing a certification, but you may be helping people lose weight or something. So it's always variable from person to person, but I'm a big fan of selling it and then building it along the way and then come back and refine it. Like you said, because you could have had cashflow way sooner, way sooner. And that made things honestly a lot more stressful. And what I found was too, it's like

the creation process. I mean, there's one thing you can definitely create things when you're under pressure, but it's just not when you're in sympathetic dominant mode, when you're in survival mode, it's just not the best creative explorative place. And so you're,

if that would have been really nice to have some more cashflow and to be, feel more relaxed and not just be so concerned with every dollar that I was spending and coming in. It's like, it would have been nice to to have some more cash flow and to be feel more relaxed and not just be so concerned with every dollar that i was spending and coming in it's like it would have been nice to go out to dinner you know it would have been nice to do some of that stuff and yeah i call it desperation versus inspiration if you're worried about money when you're creating something it's coming from desperation right if oh i gotta like hustle this month and make it shit work that's desperation and i love coming from inspiration that's when like the coolest shit happens that's when it's the the most fun shit man we gotta have fun it's the most fun and then the end product is always

amazing it blows my own mind i'm like oh inspiration was so cool i've heard different people have different perspectives on it's like go get a job where you're making enough money to live and then while you're creating something start small i've also my own personal experience has been dive head in and like let bank accounts run completely dry and just meditate on how the money my bank doesn't impact my personal perception of my value, which is, that's like a pro move. Well, that's actually an interesting thing you said, because like, it's honestly up until this point, something that I've been working on, on myself that like not attaching self-worth to program sales. Yeah. Right. Because like my life is in that, like so much of every success,

every failure I've ever had. That's why I put so much into it. And it's like, if people don't buy it right now, for whatever the reason, the marketing's not there. Like I've gone through the psychological, just beat down that I'm a failure as a person. I suck as a coach. And that can be really, really challenging. Yeah, there's this thing about making ourselves wrong when something's not working instead of just recognizing that it's not working. It's like it's not working because maybe the button should be red instead of blue, you know? Nothing about you. Why are you taking this so personally? Yeah.

I think that when people learn enough about marketing, I know when I've learned so much about marketing at this point where I go, I can't take it personally. I'm going, okay, the product is good. The people that are exposed to the product are getting results and that's good enough for me. Now, if sales aren't going the way they're going, it's like, man, like where are we not meeting the customer? I'm not engaging with them in their conversation. I'm going, okay, I'm obviously

having a different conversation than my customer is having. What are the words inside my customer's head? If I can find the words in my customer's head, easy to sell them because I'm meeting them where they're at. And so beating myself up because I don't know what potential customers are thinking, it's kind of silly. That's where I'm at now. Do you still struggle with that? I would honestly say until creating more and more space, it's been something that I've been working on for a while. And in this moment, I feel like I've come a long way in that respect. And just recognizing my own conditioning and my own, these reoccurring patterns where now I'm just like, no, that's not true. And I think, you know, what's really helped that brother has been, and this is, I'll give you credit for this. This is a device you shared with me, was to actually call my current customers

and set up a 30-minute call, understand their pain points, talk to them. And so I've already done, I think like seven calls in the last two weeks. And my goal for two weeks was 10 calls a week, or 10 calls every two weeks. And it's been incredible. And I'm just like, hearing these guys' stories, what they're doing with the program, how much they're transforming.

I'm like, fuck, this thing is really good. Like, wow. And it's just like, chill the fuck out, Mike. And so it's been super helpful for me. And so that's honestly been, so since we had that conversation, so I've been running them now for almost three-ish weeks.

And I saw that combined with the space to actually get a different perspective and just some air around and take my head from looking from the ground up, picking it up. I've seen that the biggest shifts happen then. Yeah. We're going to shift gears. I want to get into, because you started alluding to beating yourself up, your Billy story. Dude, I hate you, Mike. You don't have to tell us your Billy story. I want to hear your, we're taking everybody through the mastermind right now through the

Enlifted course. So it's like if you're doing the mastermind, you get the Enlifted certification as well. And we're doing some new stuff around it. What's been your experience of doing the Enlifted program and Billy's story and all that shit? So this component of where we're at right now, so we're doing, for maybe those who aren't familiar, the first portion of this mastermind group, we are doing Enlifted coaching, which is looking at your stories, your language, self-limiting beliefs, and working through those as we do some business stuff. And then as we transition out, we're going to head more into pure business. But without the conversations we're having now, and I know this because

this is like personal growth and self-development, that is something that brings me so much nourishment and understanding where I'm, so I can call myself my own bullshit. So I love that. That's actually one big thing that attracted me to working with you and being in this program. So the Billy story is essentially this, at least in my experience of it, the story that we tell ourselves, that is the voice in the back of your head. For me, it's that I'm never good enough, that everything I put out is not going to be good enough. People aren't going to like me. All of my self-limiting beliefs that every program I write is just, again, it's never going to be completed. And I attach so much

self-worth to the validation of others. And so I have this typed up story. And my Billy, my version of Billy is a guy named Mel. And so I say, I refer to him as Mel is this, Mel sees Mike as this. When Mel takes over, Mike feels worthless and all this whole story. And the funny thing is, and hopefully I can share this, because every single week, one of the things that we do is we go in the group and we recite or we share our Billy story. So it's a Google Doc. Maybe it's two, three paragraphs for each one of us. And the hilarious thing is, so when we first said it, like literally, and every single time, every single week when we've said it, like I felt some type of feeling in my body, some type of emotion, because it's truly the thing that I never want to share with anybody. Like what's actually going on in the head of Mike?

Maybe what's outwardly seen on people on social media and stuff is certainly like, I don't go on a podcast and say like, I'm never good enough. And so people don't want to hear that, right? But that's truly the words that have gone on in my head. And so saying that to the group is very scary. So reading that Billy letter, that Mel story to the group is very scary. So, but it's also very liberating. And so each week we've said it with an actual, like a different voice. So like a cry baby voice and really getting dramatic. And I know you're laughing because like, I've been actually getting really into it. A cry baby voice saying it with a smile, which is so hard to like a weird, weird smile. Like I love our meetings because I just laugh

for a whole hour. And we smiled. We said it like a crybaby. We said it very dramatic. And what I found is, and I think I told you this when we first linked up today, I was just like, I'm so sick of my Billy story.

I'm so sick. But I mean that honestly in a good way because what it's allowed me to do is like, I've said this thing so many different ways and every single time I've said it, I've had this visceral reaction last week when we said it with a smile, it got, in some senses, easier to stay. But then also I started sweating profusely when I was saying, I was like, why am I sweating? But now, like on a day-to-day basis, I'm seeing the language and the conditioning and the patterns that I have

and where I'm playing the victim role. And I'm sick of it. I'm like, why does that have to still be your story? Let it go. Let it go. And so there's been a few conversations I've had where I haven't gone down the same route of that whole same thing, like projecting onto others or just blaming other things, not taking responsibility for myself. If only this, if I was this, then things would be different. If this other person would listen to me or allow me permission to do something, then I could do, I could earn all this money. It's like, well, as we would learn in the program, like change the you to I. Flip those scripts, flip that script, change those words and just see how powerful that can be. And so, yeah, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of it, but I mean that in honestly a positive way.

Yeah. You're so sick of it. You don't want to, you're like, I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do it. Yeah. I don't want to be that person anymore. In the beginning, it's just, it's nice sometimes when you say that because you get sometimes sympathy from others and stuff like that. But then you're just like, man, I don't want that anymore. That's not what I want. I'd rather just take responsibility, change my story, change this pattern that's been repeating year after year. So that's what I love about it. So that's the Billy story.

This is what I love is a guy that's as accomplished as you are in sport. You are accomplished in business and you would still get a tremendous amount of value out of something like that. Yeah, hell yeah. That's always exciting.

I get nervous, to be honest. A lot of times certain people go through i'm like because you're also fairly stoic it's like mike's not making any reactions to anything we're saying is he liking this and then i talk to you like this is so good i'm like oh my god thank god yeah i take it all in i'm like it's like you and a few other people like jp balling at the summit i'm like you guys faces don't change i'm really good at poker yeah i'm really good dude yeah yeah i can hide it i can hide oh man what's been your experience coming to strong coach summit and since so strong coach summit was there was a few things that came up and some of the things we

talked in our podcast that we did with each other before. Yeah, because we podcasted like. The next day. Yeah, very next day. The next day. So that. Yeah, so I'm just curious, like, it's been what, two months? Yeah, what I think what I'd love to share now is one of the things that I mentioned on the podcast with you was about the community aspect.

That was a surprise for me. But from the business side of things, what's really been, I would say, one of the biggest takeaways now, and this is something like, and it goes back to journaling and writing stuff down and how powerful that can be. You asked a question, well, there was two things that come up. One, we wrote down our goals for 90 days for one year. I think we also wrote down five years and 10 years. And I have that in my wallet. And every single time I go to pick up my credit card, which is in this flip type wallet, I always see that paper. And I don't even have to open it because I know exactly what it says. So I keep looking at that. And that's just like, that is my reminder. And it's, I believe 30, 90 days is

November 16th, if I recall correctly. I think that was the exact date or close to it. Yeah. But I know exactly what that is. And I'm like, I'm holding myself accountable to that. And so writing it down has been tremendously powerful for me. It's been a reminder to do that and look at that stuff. But then also, you had said something in one of the masterminds that, I don't know why, but it really stuck with me. You had said at the end of the call, you said, what have you accomplished in the last two weeks? What's your plan for the next two weeks? And then where do you need support? Honestly, that exercise has been very, very helpful for me. And looking at objectively, because I'm very task oriented, I like to execute

stuff. I like to feel accomplished, like I'm doing something productive towards now this 90-day goal that is very clear and very written down. And so what I've been doing is I productive towards now this 90-day goal that is very clear and very written down. And so what I've been doing is I've been taking that 90-day goal and then taking what have I done truly the last two weeks, what will I do, and then where do I need support? Will I reach out for support? But then assessing how does that fit into the 90-day because one of the challenges that I've had is prioritizing everything. For the most part, it's just me. Now I've got my media guy, of course. I'm a part of the strong coach and the mastermind. But for the most part, I'm the content creator. I'm a huge part of what makes obviously... Now

the programs are selling and stuff like that, which is great. So I can step back. But it's like everything seemed to be important. Everything from Instagram posts to managing finance. It's overwhelming for a one-person show, pretty much. And so what this has allowed me to do is to truly, truly prioritize and then also reflect that to you, reflect that to the group. And what I love about the group is they're pretty much all my ideal customers, more or less. They're all coaches who maybe own gyms or whatnot. They're all trainers or have been through that route. They're all open to a more integrated or let's just say holistic approach. They're on language training and looking at their stories and

or crying on the calls in the best of ways. And it's like, these are the exact people that I would love feedback from. And the people have been so dope and so cool. Like, actually, I think I posed a question was like, I'm trying to restructure how I run workshops, which has been a very big learning process for me because I have some live stuff that's very successful and stuff that is not so successful.

So trying to figure out that. And right after two people messaged me, they're like, what's your structure like? Run it by me. I'd love to hear it. They run gyms. They're like, I was like, oh, fuck, this is great. I get direct feedback from the people that would potentially host me. And in fact, two other people wrote me saying they want to host. So I'm like, wow, I'm getting feedback. And it's from an authentic place, a place that truly wants to help and see me succeed. So... Not someone that wants to make you feel good.

No, not what... And that's what's cool about the mastermind is everyone's going through this work together. Everyone wants you to be real. Everyone wants you to be successful. Right. They don't give a shit about you feeling good. Yeah.

I hope they're not just trying to make people feel good. Right. But yeah, a lot of people do give advice or testimonials with that thing. Yeah. So writing stuff down, 90 days, getting very, very clear on how to write goals has been very cool. And then now having the process and the feedback to help me get clarity in terms of, okay, what is the best use of my energy? Because like I said, just like you, we'll go 100% all in. But it's like you could also go 100% into an area that is not serving the business. Oh, I've gone 100% in the wrong direction. Most of my 20s

and half of my 30s. Yeah, it was rough. It could be a lot of wasted energy. You can make mistakes that maybe you didn't have to make because that is the most precious thing right is our time our energy it's like how are we spending it who are we spending it with what projects are we entertaining because like i mean i love creating so i could create like the best program ever but that nobody wants and it's like would that be the best use of a month of two months of three months of work? Or like we said, could we ask our customers, what do they want? What do they need? Create something modified along the way. And now we have something that's yes, enjoyable to create, but it's truly serving a need and a want out there. And that's what is really getting me excited right now. It's like, wow, I can't wait to create the next program. I'm like,

it's all man. I'm man, I'm super pumped. I'm loving watching it. You're so animated. I get fired. Yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Is there anything you want to leave the coaches with?

Coaches and trainers are listening to this. Anything that you want them to know that we didn't say yet? Just some of my big takeaways from this conversation. One thing is that, and I'm sure hopefully people already know this, but have your stories, but don't believe your stories. Write stuff down, get something out and get some data behind it. Ask when you need help. And just also know that what you're seeing on social media is usually not obviously like a lot of times what is going on in that person's head. We're all human. And so just know at the highest of the high level, and I know you know some very high level people.

I've been around and know some very high level people, some very successful people financially in sport from Olympians, gold medalists in the Olympic games to UFC fighters to you name it. And these Billy stories are real for all of us. And the ones that are open enough and honest enough and have enough self-awareness will admit that. And those are the people that I actually like being around because they're humble enough and have enough awareness to admit that. And just knowing and being around that inspires me to share more from an authentic place and just know that we all go through it. We're all working through it, but there's tools out there. There's people out there to help you through it.

Oh, yeah. Thanks for joining me, Dave. Thanks for dropping all this wisdom. Thank you. People are going to love this. Go to MikeSlemmy.io. Check out the kettlebell resource. It's the only kettlebell course

you're ever going to have to buy. It's true. It's thick. It's thick. Let's just get, yeah. Let's get at it. It's thick. That's thick. Let's just get, yeah, let's get that. It's thick. That should be the new copy on the website.

It's thick. Just have a big booty on there. It looks like two kettlebells. I don't know. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. All right. That's the southern part of me coming out.

What? Instagram. Where else should people find you? Instagram's great. Mike.Salemi, S-A-L-E-M-I is Instagram. Where else should people find you? Instagram's great. Mike.Salemi, S-A-L-E-M-I is Instagram. I post all stuff, not just kettlebells, but Bulgarian bags, taking care of yourself, introspective work, maybe some plant medicine work too is dabbled in there too, but just trying to create more balanced, healthy coaches who love what they do and want to help other people as well. Awesome. Check it out, folks.

And I'm smiling big. Oh, we know you like the show. So go over to strongcoachpodcast.com. Make sure you're subscribed to everything we have going on. Other shows that we have posting up on our own channel. Click that Become a Strong Coach button. Get on the email. Let us send you some stuff. It's going to help you out immediately. You'll get some exercises that are going to improve your coaching business before you ever hop on a call with us. And if you want to get in on that enlifted call, if you want to get in on that certification starting very soon, go to strongcoachpodcast.com. Click that Become a Strong Coach button. That one button will take you so many places, so many places. Check it out.