Blaze Your Own Trail - The Road to Becoming the Top Keto Expert with Ben Azadi

Starting point is 00:00:03 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza. I'm your host, and I've got a very special guest today. His name is Ben Azadi, and I'm going to have him tell you who he is and what he does today. Jordan, grateful to be on your show and start blazing some trails together here. My name is Ben Azadi. I am the best-selling author of Four Books and the founder of Keto Camp. Awesome, man, awesome.

Starting point is 00:00:29 And we're going to dive into all of those amazing things a little bit later. in the show but Ben, man, my favorite part is really taking a rewind, right? Getting some context into who you are, you know, kind of what shaped you, what your childhood was all about. So I'd love to take that deep dive. So, you know, where did you grow up? And what kind of kid were you? Were you into sports? Were you more into the academic side? Did you have any hobbies? I'd love to find out. Yeah. So I grew up in Miami Beach, Florida, where I currently reside, born and raised here. And I grew up a really poor lifestyle, poor in the sense that my behaviors were poor.

Starting point is 00:01:06 So parents were divorced, left to my own devices, hung out with the wrong crowd, did drugs, sold drugs. But I, you know, as a young kid, I was actually an entrepreneur. I remember, like, looking back as a teenager, do you remember those, like, Napster and MP3 download websites? Yeah. I would have a computer. I was one of my only friends, like a few friends who had a computer. And I would ask people, hey, what songs would you want me to make a mixtape for? What are like your top 12, 15 songs?

Starting point is 00:01:36 And they would give me a list. I would download them, burn them on to a CD and sell that for like $15, 20 bucks. I would make, you know, a couple hundred bucks a week as a teenager was terrific. So I had that entrepreneur mindset as a kid. But I was really unhealthy. Hobbies, video games to the extreme. I did sports in terms of like basketball. It was something I was played growing up just in the streets.

Starting point is 00:01:59 But as a young kid, I was really unhealthy. I was overweight. I was obese. And that transferred into my early adulthood. Back in 2008, I was 24 years old. Obese, suicidal, ready to give up on life, hitting rock bottom, never really read a book besides what I read in school. And I knew I had to figure things out. So I started to actually pick up a book.

Starting point is 00:02:20 And one book led to five books, which led to 10 books. And I read other amazing entrepreneurs and authors, like Bob Proctor, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Darren Hardy, Lisa Nichols, or all night and Gil, I could go on on. But what the books did for me primarily was help me take ownership and responsibility for my circumstances. So in that moment, I said those words, I am responsible. I stopped being the victim of my history. I started to become the victor of my destiny and I started to change my ways.

Starting point is 00:02:49 And then I lost 80 pounds in nine months. I transformed my health. I developed a mental six-pack, which I believe is a more. more important than a physical six-pack. And I actually got my feet wet as a full-on entrepreneur where I became a personal trainer and started my first company. So that was in 2009. And that's how things got started in terms of entrepreneurship.

Starting point is 00:03:11 Awesome, awesome. And I'd love to hear about, you know, the hustle with, you know, having one of the download softwares and making mixtapes for people, right? I mean, that's nice because it's not that wasn't that difficult to do, right? You just load them up. You got to download them. You print it, label it. And I don't know, did you write on it with a Sharpie?

Starting point is 00:03:32 Or did you actually print labels on them? What'd you do? Sharpie style. Just brought it. That's it, right? This whatever mixtape. And so that's cool because that showed you and kind of taught you that hustle, right? And the fact that, you know, if you, a lot of people forget this, but if you aren't

Starting point is 00:03:50 telling people about what you're up to, no one's going to know about it. You know, and when you're doing that, when you're creating mixtapes for people, I guarantee you you talk to as many people as you could, right? And you're hitting the streets and making connections. And then also, oh, hang on one sec. Hey, buddy. Okay. Okay.

Starting point is 00:04:14 I will get him in a few minutes. Okay, we'll get, do not sit on that area, okay? We could pause if you want. Yeah. Yeah, let's pause real quick because he's, uh, he is. Yeah, so really when you were doing that, when you were doing those sales and, you know, selling those CDs, I'm pretty confident that you got a lot more nose than yes. Is that correct? Yeah, of course, that's the way it's usually going to go.

Starting point is 00:04:43 But you just do it enough times. The frequency creates the genius. So you just tell enough people, you tell 100 people, you get 10 people to pay 15 bucks. You get 150 bucks a week. And you just go from there. So yeah, I like how Grant Cardone said it. He says contacts become contracts. And contacts just means, you know, speaking to people, sharing what you got.

Starting point is 00:05:05 And you're going to get some nose, but you're going to get some yeses as well. Just got to keep doing it. That's it, 100%. And so you had this, you know, pivotal moment happened in 2008. And you mentioned that you never read any books, right? And then you picked up, read a book, and then you read five. And then just this, you know, repetition. it created this momentum for you.

Starting point is 00:05:30 And, you know, what was it that made you just continue? And what I really feel like the way you explained it is kind of like a reckless abandon into professional development, right? Diving in, trying to, you know, jump into self-awareness, figuring yourself out. You know, what was it that kept pushing you towards there? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, in the beginning, I want to, to give up on life. I mean, it was that bad for me. I wanted to commit suicide, but I kept thinking

Starting point is 00:06:00 about my mom and it stopped me. So I knew that I wasn't going to take my life. So leading to one book and the unique thing about reading a book from an author who has so many years of experience and knowledge, you get to condense all of that in a couple of hours of reading that book or even these days listening to that book. So you take decades of learning and turn that into days. And it inspired me. So that inspiration lasted and it lit a fire that wanted to learn more. And it became an obsession, really. And that word obsession is actually a great word because you could have magnificent obsessions. And for me, it was an obsession with learning and applying and growing and expanding.

Starting point is 00:06:44 So like you said, a reckless abandon is just to learn as much as I can. But with that being said, something I have learned along the ways is that you also don't want to read so many different books from different authors because it could be. be very conflicting and it could leave you kind of confused. So I learned that lesson over the years. Instead of trying to read so many different authors, I stuck with a handful of the same authors and read all their books and read it multiple times and really went deep and instead of going wide and narrow. I love that. I love that. So you brought up your mom. So was and you mentioned that she was the person that you thought about before, you know, you were thinking about making, making a decision. And, you know, what is it about her in your relationship? Can you share that, you know, with the

Starting point is 00:07:32 audience, what she means to you? Yeah, well, she immigrated here from Iran with my dad in 1970s. So they lived in Iran before they came here, which is a different, totally different place in the United States. They don't have freedom there. And they made, they made the scary decision to actually come here to America. And then I was born. So the fact that they made that, decision i was blessed to be born in the land of the free and have my freedom to do whatever i want to do associate who i want to associate away create create my own businesses is a blessing right there um so that's one number two my mom worked three jobs as i was a kid uh she was like an ultimate hustler three three jobs so two kentucky fried chickens and a walgreens she worked out i never really saw her

Starting point is 00:08:15 when i was a kid she was working all day all night and she's one of the hardest working unselfish people that i've ever known so just seeing that it also makes me want to give back to her and and help her out and help her do the things she wants to do and let her be free as well so there's many many ways she inspired me i love that that's awesome man that's awesome that she's kind of you know you're rock and and i love that you want to reciprocate you know all the years that she put in uh you now want to get back to her that's that's awesome so you know talk a little bit about the the journey you mentioned i believe it was oh nine when you know, the entrepreneurship journey started.

Starting point is 00:08:54 So can you share, just give a little bit of context, you know, what did that look like in terms of a bit from a business standpoint? And then what were kind of those first couple years in business like? In 2009, I was working at a packing and shipping store. Ironically, just a couple blocks from where I live here in this town. And the store was going out of business. It was during that time where the economy was kind of, of tanking and they took a hit. So they announced, hey, we're going on business. So you have like

Starting point is 00:09:25 three months to find a new job. There was another packing and shipping store nearby that offered me the same position manager at their store. At that point, I had went through my health transformation. I was really becoming obsessed with studying health. And I wanted to be a personal trainer. So I actually said no to the nine to five and started a company called shred fat ink, got it incorporated in here in Florida, and became a personal trainer. And the way I started, I was living at my childhood home at that time, and my sister moved out of her bedroom. So I turned her old bedroom into a gym, like an in-home gym. And I was already training there.

Starting point is 00:09:59 So I thought, hey, I could train some clients here. This is like my own little personal trim. So I put ads on Craigslist for personal training. You know, an hour session for 25 bucks, worlds, not world, but South Florida's most affordable personal trainer. I think that was the actual title of the ad. And I had strangers knocking on my door. you know, to pay me $25 for a session, which just got my feet wet. And then, of course, word of mouth led to more clients.

Starting point is 00:10:26 Then I started to travel to clients. And then eventually I actually opened up a CrossFit gym with some partners. And that's where I was training clients. So I was very much invested in the fitness space for several years. But the initial start was just putting ads on Craigslist. Yeah. And listen, those work. You know, I was in the multifamily industry for 15 years.

Starting point is 00:10:47 and those were some of our best performing ads were on Craigslist for, for apartments, you know, listing apartments on Craigslist. So, yeah, I know that that can be super effective. But, you know, kudos to you for, you know, thinking outside the box, right? Like you had a space available. You converted it into what you needed and then just, you know, tossed it out there, right? But it goes to show, again, like you said earlier, like, you've got to tell people about what's happening and what's going on. and that's what marketing looked like in that time period for you, right?

Starting point is 00:11:21 Like social media wasn't as prevalent as it is today. And so talking about social media, I know you've done a really good job, you know, building audiences, not just on, you know, one platform, but you've really, you've really been able to build an audience on a lot of platforms. So I'd love for you, if you could just give some value to the listeners and, you know, what would be the maybe top three steps you would give people if they want to build their personal brand, whether it's on one platform or multiple,

Starting point is 00:11:50 and what would that kind of roadmap look like? Yeah, great question. So the first thing I would say is to get clear on your niche. What is it that you want to specialize in? The riches are in the niches. You're going to grow much faster if you have a specific niche. And that niche should be something that lights you up. You love to study about.

Starting point is 00:12:08 You love to teach it. So for me, it's keto. It's keto and fasting. And my company is called Keto Camp. So once you're clear on the niche, that's step number one. Step number two, I would focus on YouTube. YouTube is such an incredible platform. Most people discover me on YouTube. It's the second largest search engine in the world after Google and Google owns YouTube. It's the content on there is evergreen. You can make a video

Starting point is 00:12:32 and five years from now people could discover that video. Can't say the same thing about any other platform. But the cool thing about YouTube as well is that once you get a video on YouTube, then you could cut that. So here's the third step. Take your YouTube, video and take clips from it 30 seconds 90 seconds and then we distribute all those clips onto facebook on to ticot onto instagram onto lincoln and that's what i have done and then you grow all the other platforms but all roads lead to to youtube and you could also use video interviews for your podcast on youtube as well uh so that would be my three-step approach for somebody love it definitely a great approach you know make sure guys if if you didn't catch all that

Starting point is 00:13:12 the good news about podcast you can rewind it you know you can go grab your note pad and and jot those tips down um and you know the name of the game folks and i'm i'm sure you'll agree with us been it's consistency right you know just like if you want to work out just like if you want to do anything you've got to put in the reps if you want to start realizing success and and they're not all going to happen today they might not all happen tomorrow but you put that consistency in and you will start to see fruit of those results i promise exactly right yeah consistency is the name of the game. It's the king, the queen and everything in between, I like to say. So many people don't have that consistency and stamina. And how do you get it? You get really clear on your

Starting point is 00:13:54 why. Why do you want to get the message out there? When the why is clear, then the how becomes very, becomes easier. And reasons do become before results. So get clear on your why and then just keep showing up, keep showing up. There's going to be ups and downs. Of course, as an entrepreneur, or it's not a straight line. The goal is just to get better each month, to make progress each month and just keep showing up. When I started to show up on social media doing Facebook lives, I mean,

Starting point is 00:14:20 I had one person watching, two people watching, and it shows you the count. And then it goes to zero and I'm still talking to nobody, but you just keep showing up. And then all of a sudden you get five people. And then you get 10 and you get 100 and it just continues to grow. But if you never,

Starting point is 00:14:34 if you never quit, you never fail, right? Failure is only going to happen. and once you say, I quit, I give up. But if you learn from things, then failure becomes wisdom. The issue, though, is most people don't get to that point where they can learn and break through and continue pushing forward. They let outside circumstances affect them. But the truth is there's nothing external out of us that could help us or hurt us.

Starting point is 00:15:00 What's going to matter is what's inside of us. So control those thoughts, keep showing up. Consistency and frequency is the name of the game. Love it, love it, great advice. And so you, you know, you get certified, your personal trainer, you're doing that, and then you open up a CrossFit gym with a couple partners. What was next? What was that next step on the journey? So I was at the CrossFit Gym for four years and then I knew I wanted to transition online. I wanted to reach more people. That's where you're going to reach more people.

Starting point is 00:15:33 I could only help so many people in my community in Miami with the CrossFit Gym, but online I could reach 100x more people. So I ended up selling my shares after four years of being an owner and then transitioning 100% online. At that point, I didn't have keto camp. I had my company shred fat and I actually rebranded shred fat into keto camp. So I got clear on the niche. And then that's where everything just really took off. And I started to grow on all those platforms.

Starting point is 00:16:02 I love it. I love it. So let's talk about that transition phase, right? phasing from one brand to the next. And, you know, maybe the early months of that, you know, what, what did that look like in terms of the trajectory? Was, was it something that you noticed very, very quickly or did it take a little bit to ramp up? Definitely not quickly. I didn't like the idea of even changing the name, but I hired a marketing coach. His name is Sean Croxton. He's the host of the quote of the day podcast. And he's really smart guy that hired him as a coach

Starting point is 00:16:35 back then. He said, hey, you got to get rid of shred fat and you got to niche down. I didn't like that advice, but I knew he had the results and I was going to listen to him. So that's when we both came up with Keto Camp. And they started with the YouTube channel, just like I recommended here. And it was a slow growth. I mean, five, six months into the YouTube channel, I remember I had 342 subscribers and I had bigger goals than that. But I just kept pushing content every Monday, every Friday. I was committed to a release every Monday, every Friday. I was not just interested in doing that. I told myself, I am committed, big difference. So I threw my hat over the fence, had to go get that hat. So even though I had

Starting point is 00:17:13 342 subscribers, I was committed, I'm going to keep posting content. And then all of a sudden, the video took off and went viral on my YouTube channel. And then I just kept posting and doubling down. And now we have over 130 something thousand subscribers on the YouTube channel. So it wasn't a fast growth, but I believe the universe was testing my commitment. to the message and I essentially broke the universe and I was rewarded for it. All right. I mean, what growth? 342 to 135,000. And what was the time elapsed from start to today? So, next month, in December, it's going to be my three-year anniversary since I launched that YouTube channel. Yeah. That's awesome. So in three years, I mean, that's tremendous. And again, it goes to show everyone,

Starting point is 00:18:04 that's going to watch this or that's going to hear this, it's all about consistency because I'm pretty sure, right, you're doing two videos a week. I don't know if you, you know, batch them, if you created them beforehand or if you did these live, but no matter what, it's still not easy, right? It's still not easy to stay that consistent, but you stuck with it and now, you know, you're seeing those results. So, so kudos to you for sticking with it. So let's talk, you know, let's talk keto camp, man. So let's talk about, you know, it from a business. aside and then you know when did you actually launch um when did you actually launch officially launch the podcast and and share a little bit about that as well yeah so the keto camp launched

Starting point is 00:18:44 three years ago and then the youtube channel came right after we kind of rebranded to keto camp i wanted to actually do the podcast and the youtube channel at the same time but my coach sean told me you got to choose one it's going to be too much bandwidth so i chose youtube and then in july of the next year so seven months after the youtube channel launched I then launched the podcast. And he was right because the YouTube started to grow. It helped the podcast initially take off. So we have the podcast.

Starting point is 00:19:13 We have all our other social media platforms. TikTok is actually one of our biggest platforms right now with 155,000 subscribers. But YouTube is where most people find me. It's where most of the qualified leads are. And then Keto Camp, we have other outlets for people to get education from us, right? We have our free resources, which is on all our social media. We post every single day multiple times today. We don't miss a day no matter what.

Starting point is 00:19:37 There's a structure put in place where if I'm out of town, I'm on vacation, content's going to get out there no matter what. So there's always content being dripped out every single day, sometimes three to five posts every single day on, not on YouTube, but on all the platforms. YouTube, we release three to four videos a week.

Starting point is 00:19:53 And then I have my academy, right? So from a business standpoint, I have what's called my keto camp academy. That's where I offer a group health coaching. I don't really do much one-on-one coaching anymore. more. I offer group coaching in a step-by-step system for learning the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, just learning how to accelerate your health, your energy, your productivity. And the model is a subscription-based model. It's $97 per month. You could cancel any time.

Starting point is 00:20:20 It's hosted on Kajabi. All the videos are structured on there. And then I offer two 90-minute group Zoom calls per month where you could ask me all the questions you want and I give you specific instructions. So that's the main platform that I take people to or we're going to change a lot of lives and educate them. And then I have a low barrier offer, which is just called basic keto camp membership for $5 a month. You don't get group coaching, but you get a structure of videos to get you from burning sugar to burning fat and into ketosis. I love it. I love it. And so that the one that you just explained is that kind of the best place for people to start. You know, someone listens this and they're like, you know, hey, I've heard of this keto thing. I have a friend

Starting point is 00:21:00 that maybe has done keto, but I don't really know where to start. Would you suggest that, you know, lowest offer that you mentioned five bucks? I mean, you know, if you're going to spend five bucks on a coffee, you might as well invest five bucks into your health, right? Totally. So anybody has five bucks to do that. Yeah, the best place would be the academy, right? That gives you the full structure.

Starting point is 00:21:20 But if you just want to like get started and kind of see what I teach and then eventually upgrade to the academy, it would be the basic keto camp membership for sure. That's $5. I mean, you get so much. for five bucks you get almost a thousand dollars worth of products and videos for just five bucks it's five bucks a month by the way but you could cancel it in any time that's awesome so uh you you're the best selling author of four books um you know i i had a feeling you know learning that you've read a ton of books i mean you know we can see a ton of books behind you that you were going to have more than one book you

Starting point is 00:21:53 know because you've read how many now do you know the the number um i don't but it's probably close to a thousand, a combination of reading and listening. Yeah. I love it. I love it. So talk a little bit about the books, you know, where people can find them and, you know, scratch the where people can find them. We'll put them in the show notes of the episode so they can, you know, grab them on Amazon or wherever they are. So. Yeah. So I have four books. My latest book is called KetoFlex, which is what I'm holding up here. This one is like my complete book, meaning it's the most comprehensive book I've ever written. And if you really want to understand my four pillars approach to keto and fasting, you get this.

Starting point is 00:22:33 And it's on Amazon, KetoFlexbook.com. And then I have a book about sleep. I have a book about just general health, a book about intermittent fasting. I want to get, I want to go to where people are, right? Some people read books. Some people listen to books. So I have both, Audible and paperback. Some people don't even do any books.

Starting point is 00:22:50 They want to watch videos. So we have YouTube. So we got to get the content out there any way, form, shape, or possible. So like you mentioned earlier, that's what I'm. I think we do do a good job with. We don't just focus on one platform. We're on every single platform and we post every single day. So that's where people are.

Starting point is 00:23:07 We want to meet them where they are. I love that. I love that. And so in terms of a team, what does that look like for you today? You know, you've got, you're showing up on a lot of platforms. We know that that equates to time. Time equates to having people to fulfill that time. So what does your team look like?

Starting point is 00:23:26 And is there any tips you can give somebody? you know, like yourself when you started where you were a solopreneur and we're probably hitting the streets and doing everything yourself versus today where you do have people on your team. Yeah, in the beginning, like you said, I was doing it all myself. I was editing videos, doing email copy, like responding to comments, responding to messages, setting up meetings, I was doing everything. And then eventually when you get the budget, or you create a budget, I should say, then you could start delegating things.

Starting point is 00:23:53 And that's a game changer because you only have so much time in bandwidth and you could create decision-making fatigue, which is a real thing. If you start to make all these little small decisions, then you have to make a big decision and you're just so fatigued. So I have a team of seven people on Keto Camp. Alina is one of the main players on the team. She helps with the entire KetoCamp Academy. She's on all my live streams, helping with my comments. If I mentioned the link, affiliate link, she'll post it in there. I found her on Upwork.com. Great resource. I have a video editor. I have two that I found on Fiverr. I have a podcast notes person. I have a podcast sound engineer person. So I have a whole team now doing all the things that I shouldn't be doing myself. I want to

Starting point is 00:24:38 focus on what I love to do, what I'm good to do, which is studying, creating content, and educating people. I love it. Yeah, we definitely can't, you know, can't do things alone, you know, having people in positions that, for one, we may not even add value to. You know, I I have no business messing with spreadsheets because I'm going to screw them up, you know. And, you know, it's all about having that self-awareness with where your strengths are. And like you said, it's to create the content, to show up on stages and, you know, be the face of your brand. Well, why not let everybody else do that? But I like what you said earlier.

Starting point is 00:25:13 You know, you've got to have, you know, for one, the thought process of it and then the budget. You've got to create a budget for it so that you can start actually putting and investing those resources. and, you know, when I started doing that, man, it has paid a lot of dividends because I now have more time to do other things that I couldn't before because I resonated with me a lot, man, because I was the video guy. I was, you know, doing all the, shooting the courses and editing and doing everything. And I come from eight years in training and development, so I had to learn all that at my old jobs, but still, it took energy away, you know, from me versus, you know, giving me. energy. So yeah, it's definitely a huge thing when you can start adding pieces to the puzzle for sure. Yeah, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with the team, right? It's so true. 100%. So if someone wanted to get in touch you with you, where's that kind of one,

Starting point is 00:26:14 one stop shop, best place for everyone to reach you? My website has everything. Benazotti.com would be the website. It has all my social media. There's a contact form there. So that would be the best place. Awesome, man. Awesome. Well, this has been great having you on learning about your journey. I know that people are going to get a ton of value, you know, about your story. You know, hitting, hitting rock bottom is never a fun thing to go through. But, you know, you've broken some barriers and you made some decisions. You know, I tell people all the time and I heard someone say this when I was 18 years old and it's just really resonated with me. And he was, a guy's name was Murray Reinhardt and I was doing business to business sales.

Starting point is 00:26:55 And he told me that, you know, someone, you know, came up to him. I think it was someone that was homeless or, you know, they were trying to get something from him. And he turned to the guy and he just said, change comes from within. You've got to want to change. Like he was asking for change. And I remember when I heard that, I was like, man, it's so true. Like, we have to want to be different. right? We have to actually want that for ourselves first because if we don't want it for

Starting point is 00:27:21 ourselves, you know, other people aren't going to want it for us. You know, we've got to show that and take that initiative. So, you know, kudos to you for picking up that, you know, first book and then investing in yourself because, you know, I'm sure it's not been an easy journey by any means, but you've been consistent. Thank you, Jordan. I appreciate that. Yeah, you're so right. Change comes from within. We want to be different. from what we're being told to do, meaning conformity, right? Conformity. When we're living in a world where people are trying to mold us

Starting point is 00:27:54 to what they want us to be and act and think, but we need to break that mold. One of my favorite definitions or quotes about conformity was, let me get it right. Courage is not the, let me get this right in my head. Courage is not the opposite of fear. Courage is not. the absence of fear. I'm going to butcher it, dude. I want to get this right. It's such a good

Starting point is 00:28:23 quote. Let me pull it up. You're good. You're good. We cut it out. Let's see. The opposite of courage is not cowardice. It is conformity. That is the quote right there. The opposite of courage is not cowardice. It is conformity. So what we want to do is we want to stand out, not conformity, live on purpose with your purpose and blaze your own trail that's it and that's what trailblazing is all about right going against the grain you know being being your authentic self and showing up in your strengths and in your gifts and in your values and for your purpose you know that's that's that's what it's all about man i appreciate you coming on the show i know that everyone's going to get a ton of value out of this episode keep blazing your own trail my friend thank you jordan

Blaze Your Own Trail - The Road to Becoming the Top Keto Expert with Ben Azadi

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