Bedros Keuilian Podcast Show - E175 - Elite Spartans

Episode Date: January 13, 2021

Alex shares his inspiring story of loss, suicide, immigration and achieving ultimate success. You’ll also hear Alex share about the power of mentorship, how Bedros called him out during a live mastermind and why it takes ten plus years to become a successful Empire Builder.   01:15 - Meet today’s guest Alex Zuniga, founder of Elite Spartans.  02:15 - Alex shares how he joined Mexico City’s most prestigious military school at the age of thirteen and the impact it had on his life. 05:25 - After Military school Alex loses his father, his family's wealth crumbles and he even battled suicide.  07:25 - Next, Alex shares how his mom desired for him to leave the country and come to America to continue building his education. 11:35 - Discover the beginning of Alex’s Entrepreneurial journey and hear about the founding of his company Elite Spartans.  12:50 - How getting good at selling gym memberships led to the foundation of Alex’s empire building.  13:58 - Alex gets hit by a drunk driver and needs two years of recovery to be able to walk again.   17:52 - Alex shares the very first time he ever came to learn about Bedros and how his mentorship led to his business transformation. 21:10 - Bedros calls Alex out and brings the heat during a live Mastermind.  31:10 - Next, Alex shares the value of mentorship and how it’s the single greatest action you can take to accelerate your growth. 53:22 - Stay up to date and follow Alex on Instagram and Facebook: @elitespartans "Every single successful person who’s achieved great things, has put at least 10 to 20 years behind them in hard work and dedication " - Alex Zuniga 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

Every single successful person who achieve great things has put at least 10 or 20 years behind of hard, hard work and dedication. What is up, everybody? My name is Matt Schneider, and this is an inside look with Alex Zuniga. Clearly, I'm not Bezos. He's out for under the weather. And so I have the pleasure of interviewing and chat with Alex today. He is the founder and CEO of Elite Spartans out of San Jose, California. Alex, welcome. Thank you for having me, Matt. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

Yeah, man, same, same, same. So, Alex, you are somebody that I met probably about a year, year and a half ago through the coaching program. So I work at headquarters as the executive director of franchise development. And so you were coming, I think, to a coaching day with Bedros. That's correct. You've been a coaching client with him for quite a while. And one of the things that stood out to me right away with you was just how authentic you were in the conversation. Just in passing, there was that thing that kind of resonated with you that.

I was like, that guy, I don't know what that guy does, but he's a pretty cool cat. I can tell. And over the last year, we've interacted here and there and you've been coming to HQ. And so I am really interested in hearing about your story because I looked up a little bit about your journey leading up to owning elite Spartans. And it's fascinating. So you all will hear that Alex has got an accent and you are not originally from the United States. No, I am not. Where are you from? I'm originally from Mexico City.

From Mexico City, my whole entire family is actually in Mexico City, my siblings, my parents. I'm the only one here. The reason why I stay here is because of my beautiful wife. We met in college. I moved here for college in 2005 and ended up, meeting my wife there. And from there, it's just like the rest until 2020. We have our first baby now, and we have a successful business in our house in Willow Glen. Sounds it.

That's awesome. And you're expecting. Yeah, we're expecting our second baby. And it's going to be a boy. So we're very excited. We're very, very excited. Yeah, rounded out with the boy and the girl. Yeah.

You're going to full package. Yeah. That's awesome, man. So you went to military school. I went to military school in Mexico City. The most prestigious military school in Mexico City at the age of 13. Tell us about that. When I was little, I was very shy.

Actually, I was very shy, very, very, very, I remember back in the days I would like to play with my action figures and you usually still playing with action figures around the age of 11, 12, but I remember I was 13 and my dad was like a big guy, big dude, six foot tall, 240 pounds, like a linebacker, big and especially in Mexico City. He was a big guy. Remember, in America, that's an average height. But in Mexico, it's just like, it was pretty intimidating.

And he, I remember he several times telling me, hey, why don't you go? When are you going to become a man and just be like a macho and get in fights and do everything? And I was very shy. I remember in school back in the day's elementary school, I got my ass kick my buck cake a couple of times. And then he's like, I'm going to make you a man. I'm going to send you to military school. And then he sent me to military school. And then my family back in Mexico, they did well.

So they owned retail stores back then. And then they pay for a very private, the most prestigious military school in Mexico City. So I did four years at the age of almost 18. I got out of military school. From a military school, we have the, it's called Eroiko Collegio Militare, which is kind of the similar to the Marines here.

So you don't have to do the boot camp. If you do more than three years, the military school that I went to, you have direct pass and access to that college, which is the school, Eeroico Collegio Militar. Back then my dad said, well, no, I don't want you to be just being the military and then what are you gonna do?

And now I want you to be successful in business and do that, and at that time, I love everything about military school, everything, the discipline, the regiment, the exercise, I did soccer, boxing, all kinds of sports. So that's actually when I fell in love with the fitness. Back then. Awesome. So you went to military school not because you were a troubled youth and getting in No, the opposite. But because your dad wanted you to basically be a man. A man, a real man, a real macho. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting. But they were entrepreneurs, it sounds like as well. Yeah. My dad owned

retail stores. With five retail stores, he had at that time 40 employees. It was very successful, very successful. But then after that, he wanted me to follow that part. And I'm like, you send me to military school. What do you want me to do now? like it now. So I remember having an argument and then they pulled me out of military school because they were paying, of course, at that time. And they put me through law school. So from there, after military school, I went to law school, three years of law school. Interesting. Interesting. And so then you, is that when you moved to the United States? No, my dad died. So two years later, when I'm in law school, my dad died of a heart attack. He was 50. 50 years old. He was a smoker back then, didn't exercise that much, and he passed. He passed when he was at 50.

Then after that, no wheel. Families started arguing, fighting over the money, and then it was hard for me. So at that time, at some point, I actually wanted to commit suicide. So when I want to commit suicide, I talked to my mom about what was going to happen. I woke up one day, I had a gun,

and then considered that in Mexico, guns are legal. You're not allowed to have a gun, but I had one. So I wrote a letter to my mom, to my sister, and to my brother saying that I was going to kill myself and then I woke up the next day with the gun here. I remember when I passed out, debating in between if the bullet was going to be here or here or here.

So I said, no, here, the Patela goes out of the way. So I'm going to put it here. In between this, I passed out. But the next morning I woke up and I started seeing the letters that I had written for my sister, my mom, and my brother. So at that time, I knew that I knew. I needed help. Went to therapy for three years.

And then my mom decided that the best thing that could happen to me that I needed to do is just like move out of the country. So when we were little, we used to come to Disneyland. We used to come to the States all the time. But at that time, she said, why don't you apply for a university in the States? At this point, I dropped out of law school. I did three years. And I said, well, either I apply.

UCLA or SoundSet State. So I applied to SoundSys State. UCLA didn't get accepted, and I got accepted in SoundSys State. So I ended up going to SoundSys State when I was trying to transfer this unit out of 49 units that I've taken in Mexico City, only five were accepted here in America.

Obviously, law is completely different. Yeah, sure. Law is completely different in Mexico and America, and I got to start all over. So I actually didn't even do business. So when I went to San Francisco, I went for business, business administration, but I want to be a journalist. So I went, I did two years of journalism. So after two years of journalism, back in the days, my advisor here in America, she said, hey, what do you want to be a journalist?

And I said, I don't know, I just want to like speak the truth and go out there and report and there's all these crazy things. And she said, well, journalism is very hard. And don't get me wrong, but with your accent, it's going to be even how. harder, right? So I said, okay, so what are you, what are you just? Well, I see you more doing like a business or sales. You're very talkative. And I said, well, so I ended up going for business and I got a degree on business administration. But at that point, I had taken so many units that I ended up getting a minor in communications. Okay. Assumse State University, that's what the Spartan, the mascot at Sonsor State is the Spartans.

So, and that's where I got the idea for my business, elite Spartans. Interesting. Interesting. So there's a lot there. And I know that one of the questions that I have and the listeners are going to have as well is, you got to a really dark place when you were considering suicide, but weren't just considering it. I mean, you were in the active process of committing suicide.

And then you passed out. Do you have a sense of why you passed out? I was drinking alcohol, doing a bunch of stuff with, not the best friends back then in Mexico City. And this is after been patting for three days, man, in my apartment. Your body just shut down. Yeah, exactly. And I don't know.

So obviously, after three days and non-sleeping and just patting and drinking, passed out. So that's what pretty much when I discovered kind of my mission, I decided if I was here, it was for a reason. So that gave me purpose in life and what I needed to do. Interesting. Well, that, you know, people have different takes on divine intervention and, you know, what may have actually taken place there based on how close you were to actually committing the act. But that's what a turning point in your life, you know, waking up and seeing those letters, having some sleep and some clarity of thought and how that really changed the trajectory of your life. And then, you know, being vulnerable enough. to go out and get counseling and get help and reach out to help.

And so I just really want to commend you on that. You know, as a result of COVID, you know, we're, you know, almost a year into this whole COVID nonsense. And, you know, a lot of people are in a very dark place. And so there's probably a number of people that are watching this or listening to this that maybe can relate to being in such a dark place. And so, you know, Bezos is very transparent when he talks about, you know, the years of counseling that he invested into himself to become, you know, more self-aware and a better

leader and a better husband and father. And I just think there's a lot of power in that. And I really hope that we're turning a corner of people seeing going to counseling and asking others for help as you know, move away from that being a sign of weakness. So I just really want to commend you on that. And, you know, as we kind of fast forward, you've changed and impacted a number of lives. And I'm really looking forward to kind of jumping into that with you. But you found yourself in the United States. You had a lot of different peers and mentors along the way, it sounds like, and really became very well-rounded. And so you landed in the San Jose area.

And then in 2012, you opened Elite Spartans. But before that, it sounds like you were in parks and you were kind of doing boot camps and almost a similar start in routes as Fit Body Boot Camp has. Yeah, yeah. So that started up. So when I was going to SoundSys State,

I ended up qualifying for the track and field team at that time. So I was playing soccer for almost 20 years. Luckily, I was fast enough to do some track and field here in SoundSuit State. And at this point, I'm almost 28. So I'm getting older, but then I qualifies. 55 for 100 meters and 200 meters. And I'm like, okay, I guess I'm not that old.

I can still run, right? Because of that, one of my friends, one of my classmates, he said, hey, it seems like you're good at sales. At that time, I was doing retail. So one of my first jobs here, it was during retail, one of this big retail store selling suits and tuxedos and wedding suits here.

So I was good at sales. And then that's exactly actually how I grew up in Mexico City. say, have you ever considered on selling memberships, gym memberships? And I'm like, no idea about gym membership. I never done that, but I'm sure I can learn. And it's like the only thing they pay more with commission and everything. So back in the days, I was part of this big franchiseist, went out of business,

BallyTotal Fitness. So I started in 2007, got hired as a sales rep, a Ballytural Fitness, doing the call-calling every day, selling memberships, taking care of walk-ins. and then I got really good at it. So one year later, they promoted me as assistant sales manager. And I just want to make more money because obviously at this point I'm getting old there. And my family, they were helping me with tuition, my school. But I want to make more money.

I'm like, how can I make more money? And they said, well, you can start in top of the selling membership. You can start selling personal training, right? So I became really good at selling personal training. And I had to learn about personal training. And I said, how can I make more money? It's like, well, now you're selling memberships, you are selling personal training. Maybe you can get your certification, and then you can start training clients, right?

So at this point, two years later, I used to go to Mexico three to four times a year. So one of my trips in Mexico, I'm visiting my friends and my family. And getting out of One Nightclub that night, I'm sitting on the back of this car, and I got rear-ended by a drunk driver 70 miles per hour. Oh, it smokes. That put me in a wheelchair for probably three to four months. And then I have multiple severe back in your race. I was in coma for a day.

And a couple of doctors they told me, you need a surgery, and we don't know if you ever are going to be able to walk normal again. Because of all the exercise, all the muscles that I have built over the years playing soccer and being very active, I was able to recover, but that took me almost two years. So for me, playing soccer 20 years and then being in track and field and doing all this stuff to get into the point where I was in a wheelchair and I couldn't walk, it was devastating. So at that point, I learned a lot. I had to do three years of physical therapy here in the States.

Doing physical therapy and being part of this big box gym, selling memberships and getting personal trainer, I fall in love with the personal training. And that taught me, this part of my life taught me one thing that is very important, connected to fitness is the mindset, right? So many people, when you start getting out of shape, when you start not feeling well about your body, it affects you mentally a lot, right? So, and then vice versa,

when you start feeling good, achieving your fitness goals and looking at what you want, you mentally, you become stronger. So at that point, I put two and two together. And I'm telling you this is no, nothing, like an Instagram or Facebook right now. I'm telling you about 2010, like about 10 years ago, where you have to read books,

you have to do YouTube, videos and stuff like that, the social media was nothing back then. The only thing it was there was Facebook, right? But nothing. It was just to connect with friends and family. So I fell in love with that. I got very passionate and I started helping people about back injuries, helping to lose weight. At this point, fast forward two years later, I got promoted as a general manager of that

club, right? So as a general manager out of 12 different facilities in San Jose, in the Bay Area, I know in San Jose. We have different, the corporation had different facilities, I got really good at it and I became number one in sales. Got a lot of awards, sales, 12 months in a row being number one of general manager out of 12 clubs. So I started getting very confident. And unfortunately in 2012, the company went out of business and one day they came, they gave me my last check and they said, well, I'm sorry, but that's it.

So I didn't know what to do. I was dating my wife at this point. I have been dating my wife for almost a year. And obviously in a year, I couldn't make that. decision. I didn't know after a year, you don't know if this is the person for the rest of your life. It's kind of good. We like each other. My family was there and they said, well, what are you, what do you want to do? And I said, well, I think I'm really good at business. I can start from scratch. I can give it a shot and try to build my business. But I want to be honest with you.

I remember this conversation, very vivid with my wife. If this doesn't work out, I'm going to move back to Mexico City. My family, they do well over there. I'm sure there are. I I can find a good job. This is your girlfriend at the time. This is my girlfriend at that time, which is now my wife, right? She's like, well, thank you for being honest. Let's see what we can do together. She was a high school teacher at that time.

And then we started the journey together. She was my number one supporter. And we started building the company. I founded Lit Spartans in 2012, but Leelts Spartans started at the park. So every Saturday and Sunday, training people doing boot camps from one class and then grew up to two, classes to three classes to six classes over the weekend.

And then I started, I didn't have any facility or anything. So I started training clients in my apartment complex. At that time, my apartment complex had a gym, obviously. And I started training neighbors and I started training friends. And at some point, I'm trained almost 20 of my neighbors, and including the manager at my apartment complex. So I didn't get in trouble kind of because I was training her. So the business started growing.

And then fast forward in 2014, I hear about Bedros, right? So, because then that's when Bedros come to my life. I was very hard worker. I think I was very smart back then. But I needed something, something in how to scale my business from that successful training at the park and how to be training clients and making okay money at that time to build a franchise,

to just build a brand and a name, and how to build things. teams and how to do the numbers and how to just like scale the elite Spartans at the next level. So I remember hiring, I met him in 2014, but in between being a little bit skeptical, so I'm like, I don't know if this guy really is going to deliver and obviously not having the money because at that time the mastermind, it was expensive. It was thousands of dollars. And I'm like, no, I'm going to wait.

I waited for almost another year and I went to another conference, one of his conference, the fitness summit. Yeah. And then I attended the 2015. And then 2015 after he was, it was like a two-day event or three-day event. I don't remember. And after this two- or three-day event, I got so much information out of that. And the speakers who were there that I'm like, this guy is a real shot.

So I definitely need to sign up. I didn't have the money still. I didn't have the money. My wife wasn't with me, but I called her dad then. I said, baby, I'm your sign up for this. She's like, no, make sure you're not getting sold or something. Come on, that's super expensive. Right, right.

So I hired Bedros as a coach, as a business coach in 2015, and I couldn't actually, I was part of this, the mastermind for a year without having a facility. So it was kind of crazy. 12 months later, three, four, five months later, my wife is telling me, well, you're paying this much money, and your business is kind of growing,

but it's not growing at the way that he described that he was going to grow, that it was going to grow. And I'm like, I said, what do I do? And I have, you can imagine, you're married, right? So your wife being on your ear, like, are you sure this is going to work out? I don't see that in your bank account, and I'm like, I'm working as hard as I can. And then I'm like, no, I need to hire an employee,

and then I need to hire another trainer, and I need to find my own facility at this point in 2015, I'm subleasing because obviously I couldn't afford my own facility. So I was sublisten in a small studio, small gym, and San Jose as well. And that's when I started growing, he gave me the tools, the systems, and he put a lot of pressure on me. As a coach, he was hard. He was hard. I remember one of the mastermind, it was every three months.

And I think after the third one or the fourth one, which is a year later, he started putting pressure like Alex, you've been here for like a 10, 12 months, man, and where's your facility? And literally during this time, I had two facilities that in the middle of the LOI, the letter of intent, it didn't go through. So it just fell out that one time the owner cost me to my wife and I. And then the second one, the second landlord, they didn't want to do the tenant improvement.

So I'm like a better side, I've been telling you everything. And in front of like 20 people, we used to have the day that is a hot seat where we talk about your business, exactly. He rusted my butt at that time. It's like, well, what if I have a gun in front of you and I tell you, in 30 days, you don't find a location, I'm gonna shoot you. Do you think you're gonna find it?

And I'm like, yeah, I think I can. And then that was true, man. Like coming back from that trip from San Diego, my wife, my drive came with me, we drove back, she found this location in San Jose, and it was very expensive. So back in the days, my budget was in between 3,000, to $5,000 at the most to just pay for rent,

just for rent. And this location was almost 10 grand. And I'm like, baby, that's impossible. And then on top of that, to just work with this location and then just to fill out of clients, I need so many clients, I need so many employees. And this is like when I don't know anything, this is like five years ago where I'm like,

I don't know if I'm gonna make it. But then he put so much pressure and then his confidence and the tools that I have learned at that point after a year, I felt confident. I was like, okay, so let's do it. So year later, sign up the list. And then the last four years has been just constantly growing. At some point, 2017, the company grew 900%.

Yeah, man, that's incredible. That's my, that's the beginning of Elite Spartans. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, you know, there's so many really important nuggets in there for people, and not just for those of you that are in the fitness world and in the, you know, gym owners, but all entrepreneurs. You know, at the end of the day, being an entrepreneur is tough. And, you know, you have to be many things.

And I think that one of the best things that somebody can do is attach themselves to a coach, but not just a coach, somebody who will hold them accountable and will give them tough, you know, tough love. Yeah. Tough love and say, hey, if you gun to your head, if you had to make a decision, if this had to get done in 30 days or else, could you do it? And force you into those uncomfortable places. I met Badros in 2017 when I owned Ford Movement. You and I were talking before the show started about how our logo was a Spartan as well.

And many people, you know, they gravitate towards that because of the ethos and what they stood for and how, you know, they worked as a team and what they accomplished. And many things about the, you know, the Spartans as warriors and what they accomplished. And so when Bezos came through, I had never heard of him before. I'd never heard of Fit Body Boot Camp before. He was up there for, I believe it was a click. Funnels Mastermind or event of some sort with Russell Brunson. And he came rolling in with Sean Whalen from Lions Not Sheep and Randy Garn and a few others. And I'd never heard of Bedros.

And but there was something about him. There was, you know, there was all, clearly, what I knew is these guys flew in a private jet to come up for this event. A bunch of big rollers. They were, yeah, they were big players. but that doesn't that didn't really do much for me that in and of itself but when Bajros was there there was something very authentic about him and very very self-aware and very confident and it's something that that is very important in this whole thing and that you have as well which is this this element of being a you know having moral authority

and somebody who is who is a servant leader and it's truly looked at out for the best interest of others and really it takes it very personal to help others, you know, elevate. And so, you know, I see a lot of similarities in there and between you two. And so I started following Beidros and then I became to learn of the, you know, his mastermind and his coaching programs. And it wasn't too long after that to where I started asking him like, hey, what might it look like for me to join your team? I just found I really wanted to attach myself to him. But from my perspective, was from, you know, to join his team. And in your circumstance, you already knew what you want to do. You already had elite Spartans going. You were

looking to collapse the distance between where you were at and where you wanted to be. And so he became, became that conduit for you. So, First of all, why Elite Spartans for you? I'm curious. Why Elite Spartans, as I said before, the name, the idea came from San Jose State to Damasco, this Spartans, right? But when I got let go and I wanted to start my business,

when I was going to college, I was working for this Big Box Gymns. My nickname was the Spartan, because they called you if you're going to San Francisco State, what's all Spartan, what's all Spartan? So I got let go as the Spartan, right? And then I wanted to make something out of that. I'm like, okay, so I got into the culture, I started reading the books, the culture, they eat, those what they stand for, like the whole entire culture, at the same time, the 300 movie at that time, it was 2008 or something, 2007.

So I fell in love with the culture. And I'm like, I want to do something very, very similar, but something that is elite, something that is different. So I said, how about elite Spartans, right? So the elite of the elite Chris Spartans are already the finest warriors in history. So I'm like, okay, so elite Spartans, and then that's how I registered the name, got my license, and I went through that, right? So, yeah. That's awesome. And you've done a phenomenal job of branding that.

And, you know, 900% growth. In 2017. That's incredible. Yeah. So help the viewers understand what it takes to be able to go from a place where you had a three to $5,000 to, you know, for rent to $10,000 and needing a team and to great. growing a business because that's exponential growth. And that takes a tremendous amount of leadership and, you know, accountability and you have some coaching.

So what did that process look like and how did you manage the growth and what lessons did you learn along the way? Tell us about that. Well, that's a great question. That's a great question. I think the main thing will be mindset, right? Which is something that I learned from Bedros, right? A lot of people nowadays, they have the scarcity mindset, right?

They want the secret field. Oh, this mentor. There's so many out there that they say they're the gurus of the mentors. Now everyone is a mentor, right? We just see that like in a daily basis, mentor, mentor. I'm like, you've never done anything, right? But people want to achieve things nowadays the easiest way, especially with the social media and then everything that so-called mentor that, oh, I make you rich and I'll give you what you want in six months.

So number one is I don't think that's going to happen. I've never seen it before. Every single successful person who achieve great things has put at least 10 or 20 years behind of hard, hard work and dedication. That's some of the things that I learned from my parents, being a hard worker and being very dedicated at something. But with Bedros is just to shape that mindset, right? I had goals.

I remember having my first conversation with Bedros one-on-one when I met him at this convention, one of his fitness business summit, I was having a conversation like this. And he said, what do you want to build your business? What's your passion? And I said, well, I'm the fitness industry. I'm a really good trainer. I have my secret, my secret formula. You know, every trainer out there, they think that are the best and they have the secret formula. Like, Alex, just, just let's go straight to the point why. Like, he helped me to find my why. And I said, well, just, I want to help you. I've been through this and I've been through that and he said,

well, you have a great story, but if you want to put the time and effort, I can help you. But if you want to, if no, I don't want to waste your time and don't, pretty much you told me don't waste my time, right? And I'm like, oh, he's telling me, don't waste my time on top of all the money that I have to pay. And he helped me to shape that just to get that idea and how to serve my community. He, I went from trying to make $5,000 to $10,000 a month and income. It's like, you know what, don't worry about the income.

If you really deliver what you want to deliver, if you build a good team and if you build a good community man, everything is going to come 10 times full. So why don't you just focus on that? And then I'm like, okay, so pretty much it helped me actually to find my identity in the industry. Went from there. He started giving me all the tools. He's like, he's going to take a lot of work, but then do this, do this, do that. And one of the things military helped me is the discipline, right? It doesn't matter what it is, you just have to get it done.

Even if at some point it looks like you aren't going anywhere. And with my wife saying like, well, we're paying so much money and then the business is not growing as much as you say it was going to grow. The discipline is pretty much what helped me. He helped me with the mindset. I put the work in. And then almost 10 years, we're gone in nine years this March 2021. It's going to be nine years of elite Spartans. Yeah.

And but definitely, definitely is because of I've hired as a mentor. So if I can say something to the camera, to your viewers, it is get a mentor. So just definitely get a mentor who's done the word, not the one who says, I'm a mentor, I'm going to be your coach. So someone who's been in the trenches, someone who's been doing it and failing because he has big failures too and then he's recovered from that. And then he keeps growing and learning and building awesome teams like you're part of his team. I admire you.

We'll chat here and there in social media and you're a great guy and then he taught me how to put teams together, how to be a servant, how to be a leader. I can tell you like hundreds of stories about Bedros and how much I grow with his leadership and his mentorship. There's really no question how significant and important it is to have a mentor and have a coach and you know, nobody's built anything of real, significance by themselves, right? I mean, you know, it takes a team and it takes, you know, unifying yourself and and linking yourself with others who, who, you know, have been where you are

and they are now where you want to be. Because we know that when it comes to leadership, you never arrive, right? There's, it's always, we're always progressing or we should always be, we try to progress. And so, you know, the goal is that we can someday be able to be that coach and that mentor from somebody else who is looking to get to where we are. But that progression is always there. But, I mean, there is really something to be said about, you know, having a strong team around you and investing in yourself. You, you as the leader, you know, have spent a tremendous amount of time and energy and money investing in your continued development, which then allows you to go back and lead your team more effectively, more efficiently, which then allows you to

serve more people and to change more lives and make more money, which then allows you to donate more and offer more and serve more. And so, you know, now that we are, you know, what are we nine months into this whole COVID thing where, you know, business has been shut down leadership and being an effective leader and the lessons that you have been learning all along the way over the last few years from Bezos and other mentors and coaches that you had is more significant now than it's probably ever been before. So you spent all these years, all this time, energy and money pouring your heart and soul into developing elite Spartans, grew it 900% by executing on the coaching and mentorship you were given. And then,

COVID hits. And you are a California-based company the same way Fit Body Boot Camp is. And so it's already challenging enough to be a California-based company because of the taxes and the regulations and the things, right? And then you add in COVID, and COVID is not unique to California. I mean, obviously, the entire world is dealing with it. But not everywhere around the country and the world are dealing with the same. California is doing what. California oftentimes does and it's it's locking down things as tight as they possibly can and every area they can and so I'm curious the the when we were told to close down two weeks you were given two weeks or you're gonna

yeah no originally that was the shutdown right we were told it we were right flat the curve yeah flat on the curve we got it you know stop the spread and and it's a two-week thing and that obviously turned into a much different story. So how have you handled it with elite Spartans? Well, at the beginning, just going back to just to answer your question, at the beginning, as any other business, any other person in the world, right? So when you hear about the virus and there's a very lethal virus, you're trying to comply, right? You shut down, you just got away for those two weeks and then see what happened. You hear the hospitals are just like a flutter with new cases.

and more people getting sick. So at the beginning, obviously, I was like a worry, maybe scared, like, oh, my God, like what's going to happen? We need to comply, right? But then those two weeks turn into two months, right? And then there's more data available and more information available. The real data, the CDC, the information that's been provided

by the health organizations and worldwide, not by the news, right? Because it's a big discrepancy in between the news and the real data, right? So at this point, I started doing just personal training. closing doors. So at that point, I'm like, what am I going to do? How do I support my employees? So right when we got shut down, middle of March, all my employees, when I have almost 20 employees, so 18 out of those 20 were in unemployment. Of course, I got to protect

the assets of the company. Let's wait for the new order and see what happened. The only person that I didn't got an employment is my right-hand person, my general manager, and my my head coach, which I needed a person to continue training classes. We offer classes in my facility and personal training, right? So classes were shut down as well. And the more information we're getting, the more things started kind of making sense, but didn't make sense, right? So it's like, okay, so how can you're telling me that I cannot have one-on-one client

personal training, but you have 200 people down the street at Costco, went into doing at Costco, then you have Walmart or you have Home Depot, you have target and I cannot open my business. The marijuana dispensers, right? It's like that, I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense, right? And for me, you are in America and you were born and raised here. For me, as an immigrant, before when you moved to this country legally, there's a lot of regulations and a lot of things that you ought to follow.

From your vaccines, from speaking 80%, when you move legally to America, have to speak at least 80%, you have to pass the TOEFEL, which is the international test for a test, for, for a English English speakers, right? So pass the test, you gotta do everything legal, you have to learn how to respect the law. The law is not like in our country is where you can bribe a cop if you get pulled over. The law here is the law.

You learn how to when you pull over, how to put your hands, how to do that, how to speak to the officers, how to respect the law. Literally, as an immigrant, you really, they teach you how to respect the law. So you have to understand that with my mentality, coming as an immigrant, and knowing that the law is everything

by trying to go against that, like the county, then down the road a few months later, I'm like, what is the county? It's not the law, right? So it's two different things. I started getting more and more about first amendment, second amendment, like, what does this mean? Like, am I in the wrong for trying to do help people?

Because I really believe in health and fitness, and that's the main weapon to stay healthy and to fight COVID, right? So I said why went through like a very, very complicated process and what do I do? Having my wife, she's like, are you gonna open, and you can lose it? lose your license and a lot of things can happen to your business so you better be careful right

but then more of these shutdowns get happiness so that those two weeks became like at three months or four months and they start getting to the point where my employees start getting running out of unemployment right so they start running out of unemployment and as a business owner as a leader i feel responsible for that right many people may not feel some way may not agree with me but if i have you as my employee And you trust me, you've been working for me for two, three, four years. And now I can tell you, I'm sorry, but I can provide any job. You run out of unemployment. I felt very responsible.

Like, I felt very responsible, and I felt like I needed to do something. So I said, you know what? I read at this point, I was very well informed. And I said, what we're going to do is a civil disobedience. We're not breaking the law because I don't want to break the law, right? But there's a civil disobedience. I'm willing to take my chances in order to support my employees and support their families. because they have car payments,

how payment, mortgage payments, rent, everything, right? So I need to go in that direction. So I started, my mentality started changing about June, July, and I just went very in this mode of civil disobedience. Then I started reading more, and then at this point, there's no one single case of people getting COVID at the gym, right? So the most cases are, number one is the probability start like a less than 1% that you die if you get caught.

So I'm like, it's either that I take my chances of getting COVID or supporting my 10 or 12 employees who run out of unemployment and they're begging me to do something. And don't get me wrong. I comply at the very beginning of Matt. We went online training, virtual classes, virtual PT. We develop an app. So we have an app with videos and a daily basis. We're uploading videos three times a day, but that wasn't enough for my people, right? and I have six full timers and 14 part timers.

And what do I do? I felt responsible. So I went to this route when I started doing the civil disobedience. And then we were able to open in, I believe it was July for one day or two days. And then we shut down again. And then we were able to open for 10%. And then we're able to open for 25% and by November. And then by November, when you're allowed to open,

you're allowed to be open by 25%, then again, another shutdown, right? Which in the third shutdown, this, the second, which is the one that we are, we currently are. We didn't have any, they didn't have any data. It was just like the news saying, people are dying, people are doing this, and the virus is real. The virus don't, don't get me wrong. I don't think the virus doesn't exist.

It does, and it's killing people, but it's obviously we have people with precondition, right? people who have certain illness and certain age. So I try to educate people and say, hey, don't watch the news. If you want to know about the probabilities, you want to know the real numbers, just go to the CDC and then look and then do your research and do your homework. Don't watch TV.

Because nowadays, I don't watch the news. But if you watch the news, you're going to see all kinds of stuff that is not true, right? At the same time, let's keep in mind that our governor, right? He's telling you, oh, the virus is very, it's a deadly virus and we gotta shut down. And he's shutting down businesses. He's shutting down wineries.

He's shutting down, but he's not shutting down his wineries, right? His wineries are, there wasn't COVID in that county. Coincidental that there, he didn't, he shut down a lot of wineries around, but no, he's at the same time. He's telling you to stay at home, to practice social distancing, to not do that. And he's in the French laundry,

having dinner with eight to 10 people. So the hypocrisy and then all these things, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna take my chances and if I have to pay, we've been fine, we've been shut down, we've been warned by the county complier officers. They gave me a $5,000 fee that if I have to pay, I'll pay, I'm gonna fight it. So obviously if I have to go to court, the same way those two strip clubs in San Diego did and then they won. So I'm gonna do the same, right? And if I have to pay, I'll have to pay, but at least I'm doing some

that I strongly believe which is health and fitness, help people, help my community, and help my employees. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that is a, it's a significant feeling of responsibility that entrepreneurs feel when it comes to having a team that they employ and that team relies on that paycheck to provide for their family to keep their own heat on, you know, in the middle of winter and to put food on the table and you know and and when you're the one on the very top of the of the food chain per se

as the as the CEO and the founder and leader of the company that's that's a real heavy burden when you're looking at the statistics and the CDC is showing you look there is less than 1% that if you get this thing you're going to die it's interesting we see a transition from the very beginning when they talk about deaths and they're they're counting the deaths right and they're putting that out there but now all we're talking about is cases so all they all they're reporting on is the number of cases and the flood the curve went right where did that go yeah it it virtually disappeared and and we recognize that the virus is real we recognize that you know it's easily transmittable and and but we also recognize that if you get it there's a less than 1% chance that it's going to

kill you. In my own household, my wife, who's a personal trainer, she tested positive for COVID. Just prior to that, about a week prior to that, I had taken a test and was negative. She took a test when she was starting to feel some symptoms. She was feeling fatigue, and then when she lost smell, she took a test and sure enough, it came back positive. So her and I and our 11-year-old son, we quarantined at home. We spent the two weeks, the symptoms went away. And her and I went and got tested again. And she was negative.

I was still negative. We didn't do anything different in the house. We lived in the house. We didn't change anything about what's going on the house. I was negative before. I was negative after. All that to be said is we recognize that people are getting this thing. We recognize that people are dying from this thing.

But we also, I think, have an overwhelming. silent majority of people who understand that we do have to get back to work. We do have to allow business owners like yourself and Bajros and all these others to serve their communities and to serve their clients. And especially, you know, when we're in the industry of helping people get fitter, right, and healthier. And we understand that the virus is not compromising people who are otherwise healthy. So you got a $5,000 fine.

You're trying to run your business based on the data, not based on what the hypocritical governor is doing and saying, but based off the data. And county officials come to your door and they call in every day, twice a day. Give you a $5,000 thing. So it's yet to be seen as to how that shakes out. But you're certainly not alone. There was a big victory in New York. And so we're starting to see these cases that are being filed make their way through the courts and case law is going to start to happen. And so there's reason for entrepreneurs and people who need to desperately get back to work so that they can pay their bills and not risk eviction and homelessness.

And people who are in a very dark place like you once were and considering in suicide. I mean, our suicide rates are through the roof. Alcoholism and drug use are through the roof. you know, marital spousal abuse is... This is going up. Everything is going like, yeah, everything is going up all those cases. Suicide rate, depression, I think, home abuse, all that stuff. Yeah.

So many things. So many things. And so we're all looking forward to getting back at it. So kind of looking ahead, it's the end of the year where tomorrow is the last day of 2020. And I have a feeling that come January 1, 20,000. 2021, there's not going to be this magical experience that happens when we all wake up and this whole thing is gone. And we're going to be dealing this with for the next probably several months.

You know, the last reports I saw now the vaccine is starting to roll out is it could be, you know, to fall of 2021 before things are normalizing again. So what's your plan? How are you going to handle that? I'm with you. So it is one day before 2021, and I don't think a lot of things are going to change, to be honest with you. We're going to continue, as they said in California, January 4, then January 7. Unfortunately, I don't think that January 27 is going to be the day when we reopen the economy. I believe it's going to, they're going to say, from January 27 to another two or three weeks.

And then when they reopen the economy, it's going to be at a 10% or 20%. 25%, which doesn't make any sense when 10% or 25% to any restaurant owner, any hair salon owner, any gym owner can open. But Casco, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, all these things are like open and the mall is open. So those things don't make sense. And I don't think, unfortunately, I don't think that is going to change. So for me, my plan is just keep working hard, like following the rules, like the six feet apart, social distancing at our studio, complying with all the disinfecting equipment, checking temperatures for every single person who comes through our doors, including employees. Continue doing that, but at the same time as a business owner, just being resilient, man.

Like it just kind of continue pushing and having that mindset. This is not going to stop anytime soon. I don't think, even with the vaccine, right? I hope I'm wrong, but you know, you would agree with me. There's this thing that I think a lot of things are killing businesses. It's the mentality, right? There was a study a few years ago about people, I don't know if you know about this. They put on a treadmill, and they told on a treadmill that they were going to,

they were going to run certain amount of a certain distance, right? Five miles, six miles. And there was another group of people that they put on this treadmill and they just tell them to keep running and they didn't know how long they were going to be running, right? So in this study, you can Google it. In this study, the people who gave up first and who got out the treadmill

is the people who didn't know how long they were going to be running, right? They got off first. They got off of the treadmill. And the reason why is because they didn't know And that obviously mess up with your head and the mindset, right? As of these people who were even tired and exhausted and running six, seven miles, when they knew there was a deadline that were going to make it, they were fine. And this is exactly what is happening in society right now in our economy.

The people, they keep telling you, oh, you're going to be open first March, two weeks, right? And then June, then July, then January, November. Now we are the days January 7, right? And in January 7, then again, what's going to happen? And every time you keep changing these deadlines, people keep getting more losing hope, man. And that's something that is affecting a lot of people, just killing the economy. A lot of business owners are definitely shutting down the doors for good. And there's something that needs to change.

So what I will say, but we're very resilient. My team, I have a great team as well. I have an awesome team, and I'm looking to have that team. Just being resilient. Just keep doing what you're doing. I'm not saying do what I'm doing, which is a civil disobedience. But I'm sure like those cases in New York, those cases in San Diego, the more cases are out there, the more people are putting the fight out there and standing for what they believe is right. And just doing the right thing, which is like I'm helping people, right?

I'm doing the right thing, which is like a fighting for the livelihood of my family and my employees. If you see more cases like this, probably things are going to change faster. What I mean is like they can reopen the economy and we can move faster into the getting out of this kind of recession because it's going to be hard, man. It's going to be hard. So once we reopen, things are not going to change magically. So a lot of business got shut down. A lot of people, they're still going to be afraid and skeptical to go out there and then just to work out or just to eat outside. So it's going to be hard, man.

So that's my belief. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, you hit it right on the head that we hope is really what people need. And we don't know when the finish line is. But we do know there is a finish line, right? We do know that at some point this will end. And that does bring some sort of hope. The question is, is, you know, where is that finish line?

And so, you know, I know I speak on behalf of your team and your family and the client. that you continue to serve, that, you know, you being so resilient and all the other entrepreneurs that are out there who just refuse to give up and refuse to throw on the towel, refuse to get off of the treadmill, and they're staying in the fight, you know, God bless them, because there are so many people who need what you have to offer, and they need that strength and that hope and that, that resilience that you are providing and the leadership component of it, too. So I know I speak on behalf of all of those that you're serving when we just have extreme amount of gratitude to you and all the other entrepreneurs for that.

And so with that said, the future is bright for elite Spartans. There's no question about that. It's just a matter of when we can get back to that 900% growth curve because the government gets out of the way and the data starts really driving the decision making. And we can continue to serve our clients. Where can people find you? They can find us at elit Spartans.com, Elite Spartans.com, or they can find us on social media,

Facebook, Instagram, Elite Spartans, just Elite Spartans. You can find us there, Google, Yelp, all the reviews that we have. So we're strong, we're good. I hope the rest of the entrepreneurs and business owners out there keep fighting and keep being resilient, man, because that makes a big difference. I know a lot of them, and it's hard, right? But we've got to keep fighting for what we believe in.

I believe in health and fitness, and I believe in helping people and helping my community and helping my employees. And I know that will pay off. I know definitely that's going to pay off. Yeah, there's no question. And on the other side of this, we're all going through, those of us stay in the fight and continue to push are going through some of the best personal, professional development

that we possibly could. That is what this is offering us in a major way. And so on the other side of this, the businesses that are still around are going to, they're going to thrive. And they're going to thrive in a major way because we're going to build it to deploy all the messages or lessons that we've learned along the way. And so I agree 100% with you. Well, that's awesome.

So, folks, we appreciate you tuning in and go and visit the elitespartans.com. Look up Alex, see what he has to offer. He's got a very inspiring story and is helping out many, many, many. people with the messaging and what is happening at his locations. If you like this podcast, please go on and give it a five-star review, take a picture of that and send it to your friends so that they can also partake. We appreciate you tuning in. Until next time, thanks for stopping bye.