Bedros Keuilian Podcast Show - E171 - Showing Up As A Leader In A Crisis

Episode Date: December 11, 2020

Discover what type of leadership skills and mindset you need to have in order to show up as a leader and grow your impact and business during difficult times. 04:35 - Discover what B says is the very first thing a leader shows up with during times of crisis.  09:10 - Next, hear what is the second necessity a leader must show up with during times of crisis. 11:09 - The difference in mindset between winners and loser.  12:29 - Hear the mindset required to remain relentless when adversity has shown up. 15:14 - Exercise, stimulation and how it scientifically leads to better thinking and problem solving.  22:42 - Ryan shares his biggest marketing, leadership and business take away from growing his business through difficult times.  23:50 - The right mindset young entrepreneurs need to have in order to succeed in leadership and growth in times of crisis. "Leadership will determine the level of  growth of your businesses. If you are not there to show up as a leader, then no one else is going to show up for you, and especially in a time of crisis" - Bedros Keuilian Follow me on Instagram: @bedroskeuilian Buy Man Up and get Bedros’ High Performance Leadership Course for FREE: https://manup.com/ Listen on iTunes and leave us a review: http://bedrosmedia.com/itunes131 Subscribe to My Channel for weekly videos: http://www.youtube.com/bedroskeuilian/?sub_confirmation=1

Leadership will determine the level of growth of your business. If you are not there to show up as a leader, then no one else is going to show up for you, and especially in a time of crisis. So imagine this. You're running a successful gym in upstate New York, and all of a sudden a virus comes about, the COVID virus, and you have to shut down your massively successful gym and figure out how to pivot, how to move, how to reinvent your business so that you can stay profitable and afloat. Now, this isn't just the story of gym owners.

the story of many entrepreneurs across the United States and the globe. And today I've got my good friend and one of my private coaching clients, Ryan Obernester here, who literally went through that experience and is currently crushing it even during the times of COVID. So, Ryan, welcome to the show, man. Welcome, me. Thank you. Yeah.

So, appreciate you being here, dude. So the Empire show is all about teaching entrepreneurs new and seasoned, kind of how you grew your empire in times like this. how you maintain your empire and how you keep your empire from falling apart and etc so kind of walk us through pre-covid what your gym look like and i should probably ask you where is your gym located specifically yeah so we're located upstate new york a small city called utica new york in between syracuse and albany voted in 2015 by forbes as the number three worst place to open a business but of course that's our hometown so you know we decided that we wanted to open our business there right

there. I do like to try to prove people wrong and that's exactly what we did. And we built a successful training facility. We do small group training, large group training as well as private training. We did have an athlete program as well. And we grew that to become massively successful. Obviously, COVID has put a little stunt in our growth and how we run things. But so let's talk about as far as like number of clients and number of coaches and team members that you had so that we can have like a before and after snapshot. Yeah, so pre-COVID, roughly 315 plus clients. We have 10 to 11 people on our team.

We've actually been able to keep everyone on the team from pre-to-post-COVID. That was one of the big things we wanted to do is we don't want to have to let anyone go. We wanted to make sure that everyone was taken care of no matter what happened. So that meant we needed to pivot fast and we needed to figure out a way to make up for any losses. But that's where we were before and then to now. Now, when we tell our audience that, man, you know, this guy had a, had a successful gym. Like, I want them to know, like, it was a, you know, you were pushing seven figures at that time of your success. And so when we talk about a successful gym, some people might, and there's nothing wrong with a gym that does $150,000, $200,000 a year.

But if that's just revenue, your profits are probably either non-existent or you're taking maybe a couple thousand bucks a month home. when you're doing near seven figures, or seven figures in your case, you know, you're taking a nice chunk of money home. You and your wife are living a good life. Your team is grateful and appreciative. And then come March, and this whole virus thing kicks off. What do you think, like that first week or two of March, when it happens? So originally I thought there's no way we're going to get shut down

because, you know, we're located small towns. Like, there's no way this is going to touch us. It's just going to be a major city. Right, you're not in Manhattan, you're in Utica, New York for crying out loud. And of course, that changed pretty quickly. We had to shut our doors on March 16th. And it was actually, it was something, one, that you taught me last year being an empire, was just the importance of leadership and stepping up for not just you and your family,

but also your team and making sure everyone's taken care of. And then one thing that really stuck with me that Craig said was a quote from Greg Breedman that during a time of crisis, leaders are people who exude hope. and they absorbed fear. And I felt just like looking around, you turn on the news or, you know, social media, whatever, it was just nonstop fear. So our goal was to be the positive news. And that first started with our team. So, like, within hours of finding out we're going to have to close.

You know, we had a big team meeting on Zoom. Because I could imagine that your team in that moment is thinking like, holy crap. Yeah. If he closes, I may have to get laid off. I may have to lose my job. And so as humans were selfish and we immediately go inward and go, what about me? And so as the leader, what is the message that you're sending them, not knowing what's about to unfold? For us, the message was that we're going to push through it no matter what.

We're going to take care of everyone as long as we physically can or financially as long as we can. And ultimately, like, there's anything you need to let us know. So if you do need something more, if something's not working, if you need help, like please come to us. We want to make sure that everyone is able to, you know, stay afloat, so to speak, no matter what happens. And that was our goal from the get-go. Honestly, again, we didn't think it was going to last six months. You know, we were planning on like six weeks maybe. But that was the message we want to put out to them to, we want to keep the positive.

Again, we don't want anyone to get into a negative, fearful mindset, including our team. Fear create shutdown. Like, we've known this. And for everyone watching and listening right now, you've got to know that right now we're having the Empire Mastermind here at FitBody Boot Camp headquarters. in Chino Hills, California. It is October, no. Yeah, we're in October. We're in the third week of October right now

is filming this. So the election hasn't happened yet. The world is going back on lockdown. Some say it's a political play. Others say it's not. It's COVID numbers. Whatever. Let's put all that aside for a moment.

We're just straight talking about business here. And when you need to show up as a leader, before you could ever show up as, hey, here's the game plan that we're going to execute. Remember what Ryan just said. And we've had many of, other guests on this show, and Craig and I have talked about this before, a leader shows up with hope first, letting his team know that no matter what, we're going to push through. You didn't know

it was going to last six months. You didn't know how many clients were going to quit. You didn't know how many clients we're going to point a finger at you and say, if you even attempt to open, then you're trying to be like Hitler and kill people. Like, that's the kind of conversation we're hearing from business owners when they try and go back to business even a little bit. And so, but you're like, hey, team, no matter what, we're going to push through. We're going to be okay. gave them hope first, and then you started leaning into strategy and said, if you ever have any uncertainty questions, ask me, come to me. Because the media, social and television media, is just pumping out fear and doubt and uncertainty. And so you have to be the antidote of that

as a leader, right? And so you and your team connect and you guys talk. Now as fast forward a couple months, you've lost some clients. And I know you and I spent some time on the phone, coaching calls, et cetera. What were some of the business pivots you did to keep staying profitable and to maybe create some new income streams? Yeah, so like I said, we had that meeting on March 16th. We immediately went online. So we're fortunate we have a full-time videographer. So we were able to start filming the next day. We started what we called OBTV. And we shot 70 live virtual workouts that we did not just for our members, but we did for our community. We started off doing twice a day until we found out that that was a lot harder than we expected.

Someone's over training. And then for me, I had been coaching. So my wife and I went back into coaching. We were running all of the workouts because at that time you couldn't even go into the gym. We weren't allowed to go into a business at all because it was not essential. So it was just my wife, myself, our videographer, and we would sneak into the gym, close all the doors and shoot videos. And we would do the live workouts. Did your clients accept those live workouts well?

Yeah, they really did. And again, the angle that we had on it was positive media. So it wasn't just a workout. It was the banter of my wife and I going back and forth, which apparently people like when we bicker. It's kind of almost probably like a reality TV show as they're working out and kind of being a fly on the wall looking into your life. Yeah, and really that's what we wanted to create.

So we would have conversations with the audience. And then we also did something special on every Friday. We did a live virtual concert. So we connected with local musicians in our area. We would have the full-on light shows, everything. And we would have- And would you do it right out of your gym? Yep.

So your gym now became a venue for online coaching. It became a studio to film in, and it became a stage to have live concerts that you guys can pump out virtually for the community. Yeah, because the musicians couldn't perform anymore. So we thought that, hey, let's connect with them. We can help raise money for that. them and also gives entertainment to our people who are stuck at home.

Brilliant. So let's talk about the, I mean, you just, we unpacked a crap ton of empire lessons here. So another lesson on top of obviously delivering hope before you deliver tactic as a, as a leader is that you've got to show up with speed. Like you didn't take the, I'm going to wait and see approach. No. And I know that because obviously one, you just said no and two, we, I've been coaching you throughout this whole process.

And not for once was that, well, let's see if we're going to open up in three and four weeks. In the meantime, cross my arms and do nothing. It was constantly, I'm going to keep doing something. And the reason you want to keep doing something, guys and gals is because, one, you want to give your team hope and keep them positively engaged in something and some kind of work. Number two, pour into your community and your clients, because if they're isolated, they're starting to feel lonely, because I know that's how I feel when I'm isolated. And so you went right towards speed.

So speed of implementation is a massive empire foundational pillar. And so is finding many ways to reinvent yourself. And so you're invented yourself, reinvented yourself and your gym by saying, look, we're going to be a studio to film workouts in and pump out workouts. We're going to pretty much you and your wife did almost, you know, just organically how you guys are was a cool entertaining show to keep people entertained as they're working out. And of course, you bring in musicians into your studio, light show and all, and really pump out great content music, which is also pumping out goodwill to your community and it keeps them engaged.

While everyone else has taken the panic road, you're taking the, I've got a plan and I'm going to execute it. Not knowing whether it's going to work or not, but doggone it, I'm not going to panic. I'm going to take a plan and execute it. And so with that, let's talk about something else because there was a whole slew of business, not just gym owners. but there's a whole slew of businesses that a gym owners included and we talked about it in the mastermind yesterday as soon as the COVID happened two or three weeks go by and gyms don't open up and restaurants don't open up and they just all right I'm dead it's over what is the mindset that you carry and what do you think is the is is the mindset that those people carry what's the

difference I think it comes back to what my wife would say is that I'm relentless because I don't want it like I'll just keep fighting until I get what I want doesn't matter how long it takes it doesn't matter what I have to go through eventually I'm going to get it it just a matter of you know how long it takes what did that mindset come from for you especially again you can't speak for everyone else but what does it come from in you I would say that the mindset for me comes back to so growing up the one of the interesting things I guess about me is I didn't go to the first day of school until I was 15 years old I was so anxious and nervous and I missed out on so many opportunities of hanging out with

friends and doing things because I always dealt with this crazy anxiety where I didn't want to do things for the first time like so I couldn't stand here and talk to you like I would never have been able to do that you know and it was really pushing through that and not giving up on trying to figure out how can I become better and how can I fix that or change that which for me was through fitness is once I started to get involved in fitness and training and I realized I could change myself I could change anything about myself not just physically but also mentally yeah and I imagine fitness and working out also was a big kind of antidote to the anxiety right oh yeah yeah I know it's been for me whenever I've had anxiety attacks panic attacks fitness has always been the thing that kind of

keeps it away and wards it off that's that's good to know and what what do you think is the mindset because I also know you know as we have been pivoting your business over the last year and a half now you're also starting to coach and consult gym owners and people in the fitness industry. When you talk to someone like that who you can tell is willing to give up so easily at the first sign of adversity, what do you see as a sign? Like what led to that or how do you coach them up and helping them become more relentless? Yeah, so in talking with my clients, when they're going through this and similar situations, they've been shut down, is thinking about what they're going to gain out of it. You know, we talked about it yesterday and the

mastermind that right now is we're building body armor and all sorts of mental armor in resilience and you're getting so many lessons during this time period so in switching that mindset from again away from the negative but also looking for the opportunity of what's going to be on the other side of this and you know thinking forward to the future that if I make it through this like look at all the other places that are going down yeah like I will be the one standing I will be the one that's left And that's going to show up and continue to grow the business into the future. And that's a really good insight. So many people look at this event that we're experiencing, the COVID event and the economic turmoil that's coming from it as,

holy crap, this is the thing that's breaking me. But as we talked about in the mastermind yesterday, this is also the thing that's making us in that the six months, or let's say it's going to be a year of dealing with this nonsense, is going to give us a decade's worth of personal growth. Like, I don't know any one book that you could read, any one event you can go to that will give you a decades worth of personal growth. Yet, if you choose to stay in the fight during this COVID period, and that doesn't mean that you don't have days of doubt. I'm sure you had days of doubt. I certainly had days of doubt and hopelessness and uncertainty and anger. I've even read a message for you guys in the mastermind that I sent out to our fit body owners,

talking about how some days I'll wake up in this just ooteloup of like overwhelm and, and, and, and hopelessness and anger towards just the politicians who aren't doing anything, what I think is right. But then I realized, wait a minute, this is an opportunity of growth. And while I can't control all those things, what are the elements that I can control? And how about I start controlling those? And typically it goes right back to my fitness. I'll go right to the gym and get an awesome workout in lately since March, since COVID started.

I started running about three miles every other day. That's helped me a ton, both in my fitness and also just dealing with my shit. And as it turns out, and it's worth sharing here, have you heard of bilateral stimulation by chance? I have not. So bilateral stimulation, your brain is divided into two halves, right? You got your left side and your right side. And when you're running or you're doing anything in the gym that's repetitive,

you are actually engaging the left and right side of your gym or your brain. And so if you've got a problem or an uncertainty or a question that you need answered an open loop, typically if you can engage both the left and right side of your brain, they'll help problem solve through that better than just sitting down and going, okay, I'm going to physically sit here and try and think through my problem. It's not going to happen. It's when you're swimming repetitively. It's when you're lifting with reps.

It's when you're running, cycling. And anything you're doing like that that has some kind of rhythmic movement to it creates bilateral stimulation. And so I found, as I started running, I'm like, why am I really getting so much value and problem solving as I'm running? And I just started doing research. I'm like, holy crap, there's science behind this that explains what bilateral stimulation is. But every time I go into that darkness, I come back out with, hey, there are elements I can control, and I'm going to go control those. And this has truly been an amazing year of development for those who have chosen to stand the fight.

So let's go back to your business. you know obviously you're pushing seven figures everything's rocking you got 10-11 coaches you've got 300 plus clients and all of a sudden you're in one of the probably three states I'd say well probably four if you look at Pennsylvania and New York New Jersey California

okay five states Michigan that I believe are run by absolute tyrants and I agree when you have a governor like you guys do like we do here in California who just don't want to even consider the idea of opening up businesses, how did you stay profitable? Because while you weren't able to obviously stay at the same level of revenue, you're still profitable in your gym.

You launched a coaching business with gym owners, and it's clear to me with my outside eyes that you're going to thrive through this. So how did you stay profitable during these crazy six months? Yeah, so alongside of the OBTV that I told you about earlier, we also launched our own online coaching program. I would like to say that we had some foresight and we knew this was going to happen, but we ended up developing our online coaching program back in November. We hadn't launched it yet, really. So obviously COVID was the perfect time to really push into that. And essentially what we did was take some of our internal programs that have been really successful for us, take that same structure, the same format so we could really quickly put it right online. We started delivering

workouts that way and then we started to sell our online programs. Once we got all of our members taking care of that was kind of phase two was now we could start pushing the marketing again and pushing out to our local community for online programs and then beyond so that's really how we're able to stay profitable as we started selling the online coaching we put in the systems for all of our coaches now to transition how they serve not just our clients but new clients and it was actually it worked out obviously really great because we're still here yeah and there's been a huge savior for us and now looking forward I think that's going to be a game changer just for the fitness industry overall. Unfortunately, I don't think things are going to go back to normal.

You know, things are going to be different, especially if you live in major cities. So having that additional revenue stream is going to be a necessity for good profitability and for survival. So that was really the difference for us. Yeah. So but but as we're seeing all these, you know, gyms and trainers going online, the competition, the noise is so high. Yeah. And so you did strategy number one is let me stop the hemorrhaging of clients. Let me service my existing clients first and keep them on board and keep their payments going If they're happy clients getting results at home, they're going to keep paying Then phase two was now I need to get new clients on board to my online coaching program

So with all the competition out there because all of a sudden you're not now competing You're no longer competing against all the gyms and trainers in Utica, New York As soon as you go online, you're competing against gyms and trainers worldwide that have bigger followings that have the blue check mark that have you know marketing agents behind them. So what did you do as a quote-unquote little guy out of Utica, New York, when you didn't have the biggest online presence because you were brick and mortar making seven figures? What did you do to start getting clients on board? Because I think a lot of people are like, now that I'm in the big boys field of online and competing against so many, there's no way I'm going to be able to do this, but you were able to do it. So what were some of

the strategies used? And so first strategy was we started local first and expanded our nets that way. We We didn't just go worldwide, we didn't go nationwide right away, because you're right, we wouldn't be able to compete in that marketplace. So we started to expand our net little by little. And then the other way is we started to find different ways to build our no like and trust factor. So putting together a free Facebook coaching group, we can invite people from all over to come in and interact.

They get some free content, they get results in advance. And then once they know like and trust us, now we can have a conversation about, hey, would you like to invest in a more personalized program? So that was really allowed us to expand beyond our, let's say, our 10, 15 mile radius and get out across the states, is that we were able to alternative ways develop that no like and trust factor besides just like, hey, here, go buy my stuff, go buy my stuff. Because you're right. You're not going to be able to compete in that marketplace unless you're willing to put down a lot of money. And for most places right now, it's not the case.

You nailed it. That's the thing. It's showing up differently. It's the pattern interrupt because all of a sudden, you know, March 16, 17, teams comes around and all these trainers go online. And everyone's saying, go buy my stuff, right? Go buy my online coaching program. And I get it. We all need money. Of course we're going to try to sell your online coaching program. But they don't know you from Bob right now. And if they don't know you from Bob, you know that I got to build a no like and trust factor.

I got to get these people to know me like me. Trust me if they're going to spend money with me. So you took the extra step and this is what your instincts don't tell. Your instincts go, oh my God, my money stopped. I need to go and find more money and just make. people buy my shit and when they don't buy it people get deflated yeah these gym owners get deflated when instead you're like you know what i know they will buy my shit but first i need to show them who i am know that they teach them to know me like me and trust me that i'm the authority and so i'm going to offer a free thing and Costco has been doing this for years you walk through the aisles of Costco and they're sampling everything new and you very quickly go well that was good and it was free

there was no risk, I like it, I think I'll buy a box. Yep. And that's the same model here. It's the extra step and it's the pattern interrupt. Everyone else is saying, buy my shit. You're like, hey, I got this free group. Come try us out and hang out. It's a really cool community.

And we're doing some awesome stuff in this community. And they're like, what? You're not going to sell me anything? Nope, nope. Just come hang out in this free Facebook group and see what we're about. And if you like who we are, there's higher level stuff you can buy. Yeah. And then I love the fact that you slowly went from your community.

to still your state, to surrounding states, and then grew that way with your online coaching. And so that's a great lesson there. So what are some big, let's say, marketing, leadership, profitability takeaways that you can now pass along in bullet points to anyone watching this? Because, one, the disaster has not gone. Craig said it best yesterday. He said, we're in month four of what would be a 12-month journey. and anyone that thinks that after the election the COVID is going to go away guys and gals it's not

and I don't know if it's going to be a vaccine play if it's going to be a let's keep people muzzled play and power control play over society I don't know what the ultimate end game is but I can tell you that even if things did go back to normal there was so much financial downfall that the next disaster we're going to deal with is a massive economic fallout. I mean, look, just two weeks ago, Disneyland laid off 28,000 employees. Those people now are jobless. They need to become part of the workforce. The work is not available. And you're going to see that happening more and more as the PPP money begins to run out. So what are some of the big takeaways that you can share with young and seasoned entrepreneurs here that will give them kind of a psychological or financial edge?

Yeah, I would say the first one is something you taught me last year when it comes to leadership. Being part of the Empire Mastermind is that leadership will determine the level of growth of your business. If you are not there to show up as a leader, then no one else is going to show up for you, and especially in a time of crisis. So if you are not showing up every single day with that positive attitude and you're exuding hope and you're talking about how we're pushing into the future and like we're going to get through this, it's not going to work out right. if you're showing up negative and just repeating what you saw on the news or, you know, just

getting upset and having Facebook battles and all that stuff. Which we see a lot of today, don't we? A lot of Facebook battles. Oh, Biden. Oh, no, no, no, Trump. By the way, look, whoever becomes president, and I put up a post this morning on Instagram, like, let's just remind the world that you are the president of your life. Yeah, yeah. You can make a lot more, and you have a lot more influence on your own life than Biden or Trump ever could. And that's part of the, I guess, mindset I've always looked at it. It doesn't matter the outside influence, like I can still control me. I'm going to be able to take care of myself and figure something out. On the marketing end, I would say, you know, one of the things

I teach my clients is everyone has a five-figure network. Like, just between your friends, family, past clients, current clients, you can find five figures worth of income when it comes to online coaching because that spreads everywhere. And if you're willing to put the time in, have the conversations, like you can start something today. If you really, wanted to. And so many people are afraid, because they know, we all instinctively know, like, dang, I got five figures, maybe six figures, just in my network of people that I know, the people that I know, the people over have former clients, my existing clients who can give me referrals. But it's that fear of rejection, that fear of what seems like a cold call,

the fear of asking for a sale. And if you don't get over that, you're fucked. Yeah. And I forgot who said it yesterday in the mastermind, but they said that, like, the more you tell people what you want, the more people will help you get it. If you don't tell people what you're trying to do, so that was the other thing. When we closed, we told everyone we know, like, we're trying to build our online program. If you know anyone, please let us know. Oh, they do. Okay, cool.

What's their name? We keep going on all the steps. We don't just stop it. Oh, thanks. Send them our way. Right. They're never going to send them your way. And then also, you know, on the marketing end, if you're never gone online, like, you need to start, like, and just sell something.

And then once you sell it, build it, don't think you need to build the perfect thing right away. that's a mistake I've made numerous times in business over the years and you build out this perfect program and you find out that no one wants it like just start talking about it start telling people once you find that there's interest now you're on to something and that's kind of how you can differentiate yourself in a really noisy marketplace is you can niche like you can niche down you could be the best online coach for horse riders which you actually have that person in the room it's a mastermind today that's what we think of it's crushing it yeah you know one of our coaches was talking about, you know, offering programs for water skiers because she's a professional

water skier. I don't know if anyone wants it. I guess they do. Like, that's great. There's enough of them out there that will pay you. Yeah. You know, so, you know, from the marketing end, like, I guess don't downplay yourself before you even get started. You know, just because you've never sold something online doesn't mean you can't. We never sold anything online until six months ago. You know, now we've sold enough where we get six figures online, you know, just from doing it, you know, just from starting. Yeah. And then that's, you just nailed it. And what a great way to end the show is just start because you're not going to hit a home run out the park when you start,

but you are going to get on the field. Yeah. And you might strike out, and then you're going to go back up to bat. But you're still on the field. So many people just sit in the stands and watch the players on the field and go, I wish I could be like them. They used to strike out.

And they, us, continue to strike out. I've launched shit during COVID. just didn't work. And I just threw it aside and kept moving. And we have to do that. And if we don't, then obviously it becomes a kiss of death through our business and we end up looking for the government to give us handouts and that's never a good thing. Well, I think we talked about mindset earlier, I've always looked at those people and they're like, why not me? Why not me? You know, that was something that I've always thought is, it doesn't matter what they're doing, who they are, but instead of saying like, oh, that must be

nice, I would say, why not me? Like, if they could do it, why can't I do it? Great message. And so if our listeners, and we've got a broad range of listeners, but if they're gym owners, personal trainers, you know, they own boot camps, Crossfits, personal training studios, where can they go to learn more about you and maybe end up working with you or getting information on how to grow their business from you? Yeah, best place is going to be Instagram. My Instagram handles just my name at Ryan Obernasser. If you're interested in mentorship, Jimprofittakeoff.com is the... Jimprofit takeoff.com. Yeah, that is the mentorship program. You fill out an application and, again, talk, see if it's a good fit. And we go from there. Very cool.

Well, listen, guys, I want to be recommending someone, especially in the fitness and gym world, if I didn't sign off on this guy. And not only is he proving it because there's so many impostors in the industry who sell the shovel but have never used the shovel. This man uses a shovel, is selling the shovel, and the shovel he's selling is a really fine one. So really appreciate you all for watching the show, listening to the show. as always, do us a favor and leave us a five-star review and leave us comments. Please share the show. We don't have sponsors.

We pay for this out of our pocket simply because we want to pay it forward and serve you. And as always, don't forget to share this with your mama. We'll see you later.