The School of Greatness - 91 From Jobless to World Record Holder and Fitness Empire with Chalene Johnson

Episode Date: September 12, 2014

"If you align your priorities in such a way that puts people first, everything beings to make more sense." - Chalene Johnson Get all the links mentioned in the show and connect with us. We would love to hear from you. LewisHowes.com/91

This is episode number 91 with Chalene Johnson. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in today. I love you guys. And it means a lot to me that you are a subscriber, that you follow the podcast. We are on episode number 91, almost to 100. And in this episode, I have got a new friend of mine. Her name is Ms. Shalene Johnson on. She's a New York Times bestselling author. She's a world record holder for infomercials in the fitness space, and she's just an incredible human being. We cover a lot of different stories about her life and how she's got to where she is, starting off in the fitness space and then growing to the business space,

having the family, the husband, everything included, and how to have it all. We talk about it all in today's episode. And I did a workout with her recently, and she kicked my butt in her garage gym and just had a lot of fun with her. So I'm excited to introduce you guys to her because she's an incredible person and I think you'll get a lot out of this episode. And without further ado, let's go ahead and dive into this episode with the one and only Shaleen Johnson. Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Super pumped today. Got a new friend on, Miss Shailene Johnson. What's up, Shailene?

What's up? I guess Mrs. is not Miss because you're married, right? I don't know. I just filled out a form and I put Ms. I'm not sure why. Ms.? I'm like, why am I a Ms.? Exactly, yeah.

You haven't been married for 19 years. Yeah. And I got to meet your incredible husband. Yeah. And we got to meet your incredible husband. Yeah. And we got to connect earlier this week in Laguna at your place at the most incredible garage gym I've ever seen in my life. Thanks. I was so inspired. I'm like putting pictures of it in my vision board to have that when I actually get a home and not just bounce around from place all over the world.

Yeah, I had Pinterest boards all over for that gym. Did you? Yeah. It's literally like the coolest gym ever. I'll post a picture in the show notes. It's got like huge speakers and spinning bikes and chains and battling ropes. And it's like a ballet room with mirrors. And then it's like this CrossFit room.

It's really cool. Yeah. So what inspired you to create that in the first place, like having your own home and not go to a gym? Because you said you used to have gym memberships, right? Yeah. Well, fitness is my drug. It's also how a lot of people know me, but it was just kind of by accident because I never intended to be in the fitness space. But I love it and it is truly my drug. And for a lot of reasons, I have made the best friends in the world somehow related to fitness, you know, like, or they, it's like all my closest friends

have this passion for, um, just sweating. And, and so I used to go to the gym and I don't know, I guess because of my industry, I also felt like I was also working sometimes at the gym. People be like, Hey, I was wondering, can I ask you if fill in the blank? And I like to do weird things and do headstands. And I just would travel and visit gyms. And I would say, wow, I want green turf like that. And I want a big tire like that. And I want chains like that. And I just kept creating these boards on Pinterest. And once we kind of changed directions of our business, we created it. That's so cool. I love it. Now, you are known as like the infomercial, fitness infomercial queen, basically. I think I read somewhere that you have the world record for the most infomercials or something like that.

Is that true? Yeah. I have the world record holder for the most fitness videos. The most fitness videos. I know. That's so bizarre. And I was actually just watching. I've never seen any of your videos. So I just was watching. I was on YouTube because my assistant's like, oh, you're going to see Shailene? I used to do turbo jam back in the day with these weights on my hands or something. And I was like, what? Yeah and uh i guess i just don't uh it's just not my target audience right i'm not your target audience but i uh i started watching your videos uh just before this and i was like these are incredible i was

there's one it says what is turbo jam and i was like oh i was it's a really good video actually i was like i was like i want to do kickboxing workouts. I was like, this is cool. Um, so what, um, so the, you know, it's funny as I hold the world's record for being in the most fitness videos. But when I first thought that I wanted to teach fitness classes, I couldn't get hired because I was so bad and I knew it was bad, but I, I knew that I loved it and I knew I could learn to be good, but I also knew I was bad. What were you bad at? Was it actual like the technique? I guess it was everything because I would go on auditions and they would go, oh, you kind of like, you know, pat me on top of the head like, oh, you sweet thing.

You don't hear the beat and you don't cue well. And, you know, the choreography didn't flow. And I was just like, like oh but i love it i i want to be good at this okay so you you you started doing auditions for fitness videos why did you start doing no dude i'm not even talking for videos i couldn't get a job at the gym for 12 years no oh my gosh to be like an instructor you mean totally oh so you were doing auditions to be an instructor at gyms. Yeah, I was working as a paralegal and I just wanted to do that in the evenings because it was fun.

And I had to work so hard just to get hired and I just set a goal for myself to be great at it and to take other great instructors locally in Southern California and to learn from them. And I think in the process of just trying to get hired to teach a class, I really honed in my skills. And that's kind of how I ended up in videos. Wow. And so you became an instructor at a gym locally in Southern California somewhere first. Correct. And then how did you get your first video opportunity? Well, I've always been an entrepreneur.

So I was kind of a serial entrepreneur. And once I got hired to teach, I realized, gosh, I'm working full time. And then I'm- During the day. You're a paralegal during the day, right? Yes. And then I have this thing that I love. But man, it's a losing cause.

It was so expensive to teach because you'd have to buy music and have it back then, have a DJ cut it up for you. And then you'd have to practice your routines and make sure they work. Really? And just hours worth of all these things to be good enough here in Southern California just to have a class that I would spend like five and six hours to prepare for a one-hour class. And you're only making like 50 bucks a class or something, right? Not even. Really? I think when I started, I was like maybe

just above minimum wage. Wow. And there's like what, 10, 20 people in a class, more or less? Oh, you know, here it's different. So there would be like 50 to 100 people in the class. But I knew it was a losing cause. And like all things, I thought, well, there's a solution here. And my mom used to teach jazzercise when I was growing up. And I thought, well, there's a solution here. And my mom used to teach jazzercise when I was growing up. And I thought, you know what? That model was so easy for her. I remember she would be shipped the choreography, the music, the routine. I'm business-minded. This would solve a problem for me. I'm going to create a little routine and music. And hopefully other instructors will find that useful and that it will solve a problem for them. And,

and it turned into a multimillion dollar business. Wow. So that's what created Turbo Jam or was that something afterwards? That created a certification company where I was certifying fitness instructors and we started an apparel company that caught the attention of infomercial companies. It was because it was right about Tybo Windsor Pilates time. And, uh, so everyone was looking for the next health club program. And, and so we, we did, um, turbo jam was my first infomercial that went to number one. Uh, so that was my first taste of working with consumers, which I love working with consumers, but working with instructors really prepared me for that because, um, because they're like me.

They're finicky. We don't make a lot of money. We do it because we love it. And so working with customers who were very demanding and didn't have deep pockets prepared me to over-deliver. Interesting. Wow. I love this. So what does it mean to be number one in like the number one infomercial is that during a certain time period is that amount of sales is that amount of times it's being run

what does that yeah it's it's a number of sales um yeah and there's lots of different metrics uh it's number of sales and in view it's the number of times people are seeing it there's all kinds of metrics that go into it, but it's a tough space to make it in now just because of TV. Sure, sure. And so you, after, how many years were you doing infomercials for? I think I started in 2006. You know, when you first just said, what does it mean to be number one infomercial, the first thought that popped in my head was, there is no place but down. That's a scary thing.

When you're number one, you're like, I can't go up from here. I can only go down. Or stay there. Or stay there, which is tough to do. That's tough. Yeah. So 2006 is when you started. And then it was around for four or five years or something until it started to go down? No.

Infomercials, I think that one lasted for about two years. I mean, it still runs from time to time. Turbo Jam is still a very popular program. But then my second program was Chalene Extreme. And that was- That's a good name. Thanks. That was bizarre.

Yeah, so Chalene Extreme was my second program and that was a real learning lesson because it was not a number one hit. And that was rough. So you're expecting to come out. You're on top. You're like, I'm going to come out with another one. And it's going to be an automatic hit because I know people love me.

And I'm incredible. So let's just make it number one right away. And what, it flopped? Or it was just kind of average? No, it flopped. I mean, Turbo Jam was number one and I just didn't put much into it other than just, this is what it is, here we go.

And I thought, okay, now I can see the possibilities and I'm gonna take everything off my plate and I'm gonna step outside of my business and really focus on this next program, Chalene Extreme, and it's gonna be a movement. And we're gonna teach women that they need to lift heavy to change their bodies and not to be afraid of lifting heavy and you won't bulk up and I'm going to dispel the myths. And that didn't go so well. Why not?

It just didn't work on TV. You know, we had these big weights and at the same time, you know, most celebrities were saying, you know, just take your arms out to the side and twist them back and forth like you're screwing in imaginary light bulbs, and that will build muscle, which we all know it doesn't. But that didn't appeal to consumers. The consumers weren't ready for that message yet. And so Beachbody is an amazing company. Any other company, if I had signed with any of the other five suitors who wanted to sign us, it would have been one test and you're done. They invest a million dollars. They roll out a show. And if after two or three weekends, it's not resonating with consumers, they dump it and they move on to the next.

Well, Beachbody tested it for over a year. Well, Beachbody tested it for over a year and every Monday morning I would cross my fingers and get that phone call from product development hoping that they would say, okay, we've got a little glimmer of hope because they can keep tweaking the show. They can move this testimonial here and they can shift the offer and we can show less of you doing this and more of you doing that. And week after week after week, they just kept pouring money into it. And week after week after week, I just felt like more of a disappointment to people. It was rough. It was really a lesson. So Turbo Jam, was that through Beachbody or was that yourself that produced it? Turbo Jam, I did with Beachbody. They were my partner on that. They eventually, we also did Turbo Fire, which also ended up being a number one infomercial hit.

So I was like, oh, okay. Okay. So, but again, it didn't last for nearly as long as Turbo Jam. And by then I'd already learned my lesson that I need to, I need to develop something that really is where I have more control because that's a partnership. And then we also sold our certification company as well as our apparel company to Beachbody. So we're still partners. Sure. But you wanted to diversify. I wanted my own business that wasn't as tied to fitness because I've always felt that fitness was

kind of, I accidentally stumbled into it. Well, you accidentally did extremely well, it sounds like. I mean, it says on your site that you sold over 10 million DVDs. Yeah. And I mean, to think about that, that's a big number. But just to think about it, 10 million different people took out their credit card and bought something of yours. That's like, that doesn't, I don't care if you have a business partner or if

you've got someone running it with you or whatever it may be. So many people will never get to that point. And it's an incredible achievement and it's incredible to understand that whatever you were doing, it was working. Now, it sounds like you want to try to copy that and continue doing it, which you have been in doing your own business, right? You know, the blessing from doing fitness, which there was a moment in time where I tried to separate myself from that identity because, you know. Why? I guess because you think of like an aerobics girl. And my degree was in justice, morality, and constitutional democracy.

And I was an entrepreneur. And I just didn't feel, I thought, well, maybe people don't know there's more to me than spandex. And so I would try to really separate myself from that identity. And then I realized what an incredible blessing it was to be invited into people's homes and to be along the ride with them on this journey of transformation and to be with them, like be there with them and help them every single day that I couldn't turn away from it. I had to totally embrace it and realize that's what I want to do is help people transform their lives with a business or understanding their priorities and goals. And it all relates.

Yeah. And we were talking about this when we were hanging out is it's really, you do this with every part of your business. It's like you bring them in one way, but really it's kind of like a Trojan horse to give them everything else they really need and what they really, what they really want. But the hook may be, let's help you lose 10 pounds,

but then it's like, let's work on your self worth and your confidence and this and this, which is what they really need to lose the 10 pounds as well, right? It's so true. It's amazing the amount of money people will spend on their bodies and how little thought we give to our relationships or our happiness. Right, right. And let's talk about, I want to stay on this for a moment, but since we just mentioned relationships, you've been married for how long now?

I think 19 years. Think? Doesn't every woman know their like marriage date? I should, I know. I have to ask him how old I am usually. I'm like, how old am I again? Well, you've got the energy of a 15-year-old. Thanks. Thanks. You know, literally when we were working out, I had the excuse of saying I was on little sleep and not feeling well. And I actually almost didn't show up because I was like, I feel like crap right now.

But I stuck it through and I'm like, how is this woman smiling the whole workout, screaming at everyone and doing the workout herself? I was like, this is insane how much energy you have and how much passion you have working out. It definitely shows through your energy. So what's it like working with your husband in a marriage? What's that like working on a business together and being married and raising – you have two children and doing it all? What's that like?

I would call it fun, but I, you know, you've worked out with me. You, you see that I, I find challenging things fun. Like, you know, people will comment on my videos when I'm exercising. They're like, who smiles when they work out? I'm like, I am elf. Like the movie, when I'm exercising, I feel like elf, like, you know, world's greatest coffee. Smiling is my favorite. It just sends off endorphins for me when I'm being challenged and pushed. And it's not easy to work together as partners, but I love it. And I strongly encourage people, even if they aren't in the same business, like, you know, even if you're completely separate businesses and one's an entrepreneur, maybe you're both, you know, in corporate America,

that you have these opposite strengths in almost every good relationship. And to learn to tap into them as opposed to trying to change your partner, but to really honor their strengths because it's probably where you're weak, that you just, I don't know, you feel unstoppable. Now, when did you guys start actually working together? Was he working with you on the fitness infomercial business as well? Or did it more start transitioning when you started your own business? It was a difficult transition. It's one of the things that we coach couples who are, you know, one of them is an entrepreneur now anyways because it was not easy.

He had a full-time job and he's a man. And it's his job to provide, you know, in his mind. And I had this kind of, um, trendy, if you will, business model where I was certifying instructors in a format that might go out of style. And I knew, I knew I needed him. I, I wasn't good at running, um, the management of the business, the numbers, the searching for a better rate on DVDs or on replication and the organization. The systems and everything, yeah. The shipping, the process, yeah.

And so we would, and then the things that I did want to do, he didn't understand why I was spending that money, but he wasn't in the business yet. So it was like from afar, he'd say like, why do you need to do that? Right. And so it was a difficult transition. Eventually he quit his job. We went to work together full time in an industry. You know, he's a football player. He's a coach. And he was working at the time with a friend who owned a business. He was just helping him dispatch, but suddenly stepped into my world where I'm the face of the brand and it's fitness and it's women. And it felt very foreign to him at that time. And he'll tell you himself that he,

you know, you have all the self-doubt, like, I don't know what they're talking about, but I do know that I can get a better price on this order if we ordered 500 versus 200. And that's just where he started. Now, I'm curious about this. Brett, it seems like an awesome guy. I really enjoyed connecting with him and look forward to connecting with him more. But I could only imagine for me what it would be like stepping out of a role of working where I was working before and then having this powerhouse wife who's just in the homes of tens of millions of people and all of a sudden trying to jump in her industry. I could only imagine what that would feel like, you know, again, as like a provider or wanting to be the provider. Was that complicated like for him trying to jump in or were you got was it did it challenge the marriage at all? Was there stress?

Absolutely. Did you guys have conversations? Maybe we should keep everything separate with our business and our life. We never did that. The one thing I will say about most former athletes is they're competitive. It doesn't matter what it is. And so he immediately tapped into his competitive nature, which was kind of fun. And so he always wanted to talk about it.

sure, which was kind of fun. And so he like always wanted to talk about it. Um, and, but it was a struggle because early on there was this, you're not my boss and you're not my boss and I don't work for you. And, and we did marriage counseling. I will openly share that because I encourage people to do it because you, you know, you go to a dentist to have your teeth fixed. Why not go to an expert to help you navigate these things? You know, we all have these childhood experiences that affect the way we let everything today affect us. And we bring that forward with us. So it's great that we were both on board and we often will see a marriage counselor just, you know, to have that third party. Yeah, totally. And I, you know, in that environment, I learned that I was saying things that were hurtful to him. Like I would say, well, my business or one of the things I did in my business, but it was our business. um, you know, tell me when there were things that upset him and, and kind of find a softer way of, um, disagreeing. And it's been a learning process, but so rewarding, so rewarding.

Cause with that language, it probably sounds like, you know, if I was in his shoes, it'd probably sound like we were competing against each other as opposed to being on the same team, if it's your business and, or right well yeah or so that one person you know i i don't know maybe people will disagree with me but i think there is something to our biological nature where the man wants to provide and to protect of course and you're not feeling that if wifey is like you know wagging her finger in your face and telling you what to do and being the boss bringing in the bacon yeah so i had to know, I read every book that I could on, on how to make him feel like a million bucks so that he, I could bring out the best in him for our marriage, for our business and to learn to,

um, you know, cause I, I can be bossy pants, you know? So I had to like roll that back a little bit. This is interesting. I think this is actually really valuable to talk about for a moment in regards to women in relationships that want to start their own business or that want to continue to achieve higher goals financially or in a company, whatever it may be. I feel like some women, I've heard conversations of some women who feel like when they're in a relationship, they don't want to continue to get higher status in their company or be successful because they feel like it's putting a man underneath them or they feel like they're, I don't know the right terminology, but basically not allowing the man to feel as powerful and as strong as he should be or something. strong as he should be or something. Yeah. And I think it's honoring your relationships, even in some cases where I've heard men, the way they refer to their wives when they're home managing the household and the children. And just the terminology that we use can either be hurtful

or helpful. Yeah. Transformation is definitely in the language and what we speak and how we speak into it. So what recommendations do you have for women who want to be successful, that want to honor their self-worth and want to continue to grow to achieve higher goals and whatever it is they're in, in a relationship, and maybe they're feeling like they can't continue to be successful if it's going to be more successful than their man, what advice would you give or thoughts or feedback would you give them? I'll just put it out there. I haven't met somebody in that mind frame, but I've met

way too many women who are on the brink of divorce or recently divorced, and men too, where there was a shift in power. When they came together, this person was a breadwinner and then they start the secondary business. And perhaps it's because I work with entrepreneurs where there's a shift in change in power, which changes the dynamic of the relationship and it doesn't need to. And then I will find that

they just don't quite know how to navigate that. And then the success becomes almost addictive and they make the success seem more important than the relationship. And not intentionally. I just think that happens accidentally. But it can be avoided. It's true even when sometimes when I'll see one partner losing a lot of weight and the other partner starts to sabotage and say mean things or just do things that aren't supportive.

A nitpick or whatever, right? Yeah. And that comes from a place of fear. Yeah. Insecurity and fear, right? Yeah. You fear that you're going to lose that special place in your partner's life. So what should that person do when they start to feel that fear that they're going to lose something? This is my opinion. If your relationship is more important than your bank account, then I wake up every day and I say, how can I make my husband feel important, valued, respected, noticed, appreciated, adored, honored. And if I do that,

I choose better words. I'm more careful about the timing of when I talk to certain things with him based on his stress level and what he's got going on. And I just had to learn, it's not all about me. Wow. A lot of women can listen to that lesson there. I don't know if people watch reality TV. I'm completely obsessed with it. I know, don't judge me, but I just love some good train wreck TV. Yeah. And I used to watch Bethany on New York Housewives when she was, her business was just taking off. She had all these businesses and I could see that that was happening. Suddenly her husband was now the secondary bread earner or was almost becoming

her assistant. And I could see all of these dynamics happening on TV. I'm like, let me help them. Let me help them. And I really believe I could have saved that marriage. Wow. What would you have advised her on? I would advise her to man it down a little bit. She was just, I hope she's listening.

I really felt like she was making him feel like this was hers and she was the all and powerful and you could just feel his self-worth getting lower and lower and lower each episode. And I know she wasn't doing it intentionally. She just wasn't aware of how important it was for him to feel like a provider. Yeah. And I'll definitely speak into that, that as a man, or at least I'll speak about myself, the thing that I want the most in a relationship is to feel acknowledged, seen, and respected. That's really it. And taken care of, just like have emotionally taken care of. And it's pretty simple. But when that's taken away, or when that's not there, then I don't feel I don't feel seen and loved and respected. It's, it gets really challenging to communicate and to have a relationship and want to create something

with another person. And it's funny, you talked about words and using words, because I believe my, my, it's so hard for me to say girlfriend. I would probably say special lady friend. But Jen, who you met, she says that she has all. Wait a second. Who says special lady friend? I say that. Like your grandpa says that until you're married. I think it's actually more endearing than girlfriend.

That's like some teenage thing or whatever. I don't know. I say my exclusive special lady friend. No girlfriend. Sure. But she says that she actually has an alarm that pops up once a day on her phone, not just for, you know, our relationship, but she's had this for a while that says something like, uh, words matter or choose your words wisely or something like that. We're for all of her relationships to realize that they actually do matter and to not put people down or be sarcastic if it's not the appropriate thing.

And I think that's important to really be aware of. I'm working on it. I'm not kidding. I know I have because I'm opinionated and I'm only opinionated because I love you and I see your greatness. And so I might, I sometimes get mad when I see people like selling themselves short or calling themselves insecure or labeling themselves a certain way. And sometimes that, that passion that I have comes across the wrong way. So I'm really working on, on staying calm

and not being so pushy and using gentler. Is there more gentle words? Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Now you're from the Midwest, correct? Michigan. I know.

It's just a shame you're from Michigan because I'm from Ohio. But I won't hold it against you. All right. But what I'm curious about is because the thing I love about you, we've only hung out for a little bit, but I can'm curious about is cause you were, you know, the thing I love about you, we've only hung out for a little bit, but I can read energy pretty well. The thing about you that I love is I feel like even though you have this big energy, you're very grounded as well. And it's nice to be around people that are grounded.

And I, I say it's cause we're from the Midwest, but do you have any daily rituals, like something you do every morning or every night or throughout the day that you practice to support you in getting to where you want to be? I know you're very focused and driven and motivated in achieving your goals, but what are some things you do daily to support that? Oh my gosh. I have a lot of daily habits. Spill it. Let's hear it. Sure. Number one is I I have a lot of daily habits. Spill it. Let's hear it. Sure.

Number one is I work out at 5.30 a.m. Wow. Number two is when I drive into my driveway, I create my to-do list and then to-do list for like three other people. I told you I was bossy. And then after- Wait, so you create a to-do list for other people to do for themselves

or to support you? To support me. Okay. So people on your team, you're like, I need to do these three things. Yeah. You know,

I hired a personal assistant for myself and my husband many, many years ago. And I always assumed that an assistant would be able to read your mind and know everything you need to do each day.

And I, you know, we just had this really simple system. We use AwesomeNote as an app. It syncs to Evernote for all of us. And Kristen, my, I call her my life manager.

She's my boss. And I just put like 10 things I need done that day that relate not to our business, but it's like personal stuff like call and get someone to give us an estimate on the landscaping, double check and see if there's any birthdays upcoming, that sort of thing. I finished my to-do list and then I have an app, in case I forget, reminder to start my day with scripture. So then from there, I guess throughout the day, I've got a couple of other rituals. I try to only work from 11 until three because that's where I'm creative. I try to be done by the time my kids are home, although now they're teenagers, so it's like I'm home sometimes sometimes I'm like, where are they? And then I always am reminding myself that, you know, you ain't all that. You know, I don't mean that in an insecure way. Like I, you just have to know that the person who is

blowing the leaves in front of your home is just as valuable as you are. And I think that people, I don't know if they forget it or if it's fear, but they mistreat others. And I don't like that. That's also the Midwest values. I think we're raised to really have conversations with everyone and be supportive and friendly to our neighbor, I remember growing up in a small town of Delaware, Ohio, and we never locked our doors to the home. And my dad just never did it. And we never, you know, whether that was ignorant or if it was, you know, trusting, I don't know, but I don't think they do it now, but it's just like, it's what we did. So yeah, that's interesting. I like the, are there any other rituals? Is there anything you do before you

go to sleep? It's just really important to connect with my family. That's a really important ritual. I really think it's important that you set what I call personal policies and that you check them all the time to see, okay, where have I fallen off? Because you pick up these new habits and new interests. I'm totally obsessed with podcasts now. So if I'm obsessed with something, that means that's consuming more of my time and my energy, period. I mean, so it's a zero sum.

If I'm allowing that to consume more of my time and my energy and my focus, then I have to scrape something else off my plate. And that doesn't happen by chance. I actually have to look at everything that I do in all areas of my life and say, okay, if this is what I'm interested in right now, what am I willing to give up? Because you can't do it all. Right. So you might be really interested in podcasts for this year, but eventually maybe

you're not interested or you find a new interest that you want to start tackling, then you may have to cut back on some podcasts or something else is what you're saying. I do. And I give myself permission because I think so many of us feel like, oh no, I can't let go of that because everyone else is still there or still doing this or they're, you know,

and I just give myself seasons. Yeah. I mean, that's another thing in the Midwest. We have those. We don't have those in Los Angeles or Southern California. Do you miss it? Totally. Oh, God.

It's the best, right? And you know what I also miss? I miss that you don't know if the guy sitting next to you in the restaurant who drove up in a beat-up 74 Lincoln, if he's a millionaire or a farmer. Like you just, you know, it's just people. Because they don't care about, you know. Appearances that much. Yeah. Like showing off, you know, it's just people. Because they don't care about, you know. Appearances that much. They don't, yeah.

Like showing off, you know. It's so true. I mean, there were so many people I knew in Ohio as I was getting into the business world who, they always drove like 1995 cars, like older cars that were just average used cars. Yeah. And you never really, they were never wearing big watches or anything. It was just like relaxed. Yeah.

Louis, you're that way. I told, you know, Brett, after we spent some time with you, I go, that's one of the first people I've ever met who knows everyone. You don't name drop. You don't like hold up your resume. And I think it's always so cool

when I find out cool things about people from someone other than them. You know what I mean? Right, right. That's awesome. Well, I appreciate it. Yeah, hopefully I can continue to stay humble my whole life.

And make sure to slap me if I ever start name dropping. Okay, I have to jump to do it. Yeah, because I'm definitely not perfect and my ego has taken over many times in the past. But I appreciate that. So I like this app because I've got an assistant as well who is incredible.

I call her my life manager also. It's funny we call them the same thing. But what was the app you mentioned? I use Awesome Note and it syncs with Evernote. Awesome Note. So what she has like access to your notes as well.

She just looks at it every day. Is that what happens? So what she does is your team downloads Evernote. And actually, if you're all on the same cloud, you could all download AwesomeNote. But my assistant and a few other virtual people that I work with, they download Evernote on their phone. And then anytime I update a file, which is a to-do list on AwesomeNote, it updates Evernote. Jeez. Okay. Yeah. In real time.

Okay, cool. I like that. I'll link that up in the show notes. They're very cool. What is up next with you? Because you've kind of transitioned out of the... Actually, let me ask you about this before you go into that. Because you built this audience, the only way you could really get in front of an audience before was through the infomercial space. You were getting in front of people's eyeballs on TVs every day. And now that you've transitioned out of that being a primary thing, you said it's on there sometimes for Turbo Jam, but it's not yours anymore. You sold that to Beachbody, correct? Mm-hmm.

but it's not yours anymore. You sold that to Beachbody, correct? So what has it been like transitioning from getting in front of people that way into now into social media? Because you have a very large, engaged and active following all over the place, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube. What's it been like for your business? How's the transition been building your own audience, I guess. Rewarding. That's the one word I think of. It's just incredibly rewarding. So fun.

It's a process that I encourage everyone to think about for their lives. We always worry about what I'm doing now, what I'm going to be doing next. And I think if you just are always solving your own problems and then looking over your shoulder to tell whoever's right behind you, hey, here's how I just did this. Make sure, you know, I hope that can help you avoid stepping in this ditch and twisting your ankle. And that's how I see my career and the people that I serve. I call them lifers because we're in this together. We're all going through the same things. I might be a couple of steps ahead like a park ranger,

but I'm in there with you and I'm just a couple of steps ahead. They're growing up with me. Most of my now fans that I serve are my customers or what I call my lifers have grown up. They started with the transition of a physical transition, like changing their bodies and feeling strong and feeling empowered. And then that turns into an interest in personal development and being better and being nicer and being patient and learning that there's so much

more we can be and how when you help other people, it just everything comes back to you tenfold. And as I learned that, and as I've been humbled and shared that with my tribe, my lifers, they're growing up in that process and becoming entrepreneurs and learning more about internet marketing. And whatever I learn next, I'm just going to share with them. And what is the thing that you, what's your vision moving forward for yourself, for your business, for the world? Right now, my vision is to teach people to do less. Yeah. My vision is to teach people how to have better relationships. I know it sounds weird.

I'm not a relationship expert, but I do believe there's a way to teach people what I call a new style of entrepreneurship. See, I grew up in a household where my dad was an entrepreneur and he did everything himself. He cut out little pieces of paper and glued them onto a big, giant piece of paper. And that was his ad for the newspaper. And, and, you know, he drove the truck and he loaded the truck and he did everything himself. And when I first started my businesses, I believed I was supposed to do everything myself. That sounds exhausting. Yeah, it was.

It's terrible. Wow. It was a prison. To do it all yourself and to raise two kids and to have an amazing marriage and, you know. Yeah, that you can't.. Yeah, you can't. You just can't. And something has to suffer. Something has to give.

And so I want to help people understand, A, if you align your priorities in such a way that puts people first and everything else second, that's just step one. And it makes everything make more sense. Sometimes people, they'll wake up and they're like, I don't know why I'm unhappy. I drive this amazing car. I live in this amazing home. I've got all this stuff. Why am I not happy? And I think it boils down to two things. Number one, dealing with your stuff it boils down to two things. Number one, dealing with your stuff from your past. And number two is making sure that your value doesn't come from external things, but the way you treat people. Not necessarily that you shouldn't have or deserve to get what you want externally.

Right. And create the reality of the visions you have for yourself of what you want. If you want a bigger home, if you want to have an ocean view, if if you want to have whatever may be yeah that's not wrong either no or bad by any means because i think a lot of people put uh bad and money together and uh no money helps me to take care of people money allows me to do things that i wouldn't otherwise be able to do and just help people. Listen, money makes things awfully convenient sometimes. Yeah.

Or confusing. Or confusing. If you allow it to be. Yeah. But I just always have to remind myself it doesn't make me more important. That's true. It doesn't make me, it doesn't solve happiness.

It doesn't make you happy. It doesn't automatically give you a great relationship. Yeah. Because those things we all have to do no matter what. I mean, it just doesn't happen when you make money. I mean, I know, and I'm sure you do too. People would just have these giant corporations and all these employees. I'm like, I would rather have a gun to my head. That doesn't sound, that's not my definition of success. My definition of success is to wake up and to do what I love to do when I want to do it with the people who I want to do it with. Yeah. And do less of the busy work. Yeah. this mindset of I need to do everything myself. And when did you finally wake up to the fact that,

well, something's got to shift because all these things aren't working in my life with this mentality? It was a gradual process. I mean, I'd love to make it sound like there's this one day, but there were moments where I was like, okay, this is smacking me in the face. I remember one run, being on a run with my husband, Brett. We like to work out together and he doesn't like to run, but I make him run with me because we have these like really deep conversations when we run. And I just, I remember being on that run and I couldn't breathe because I was crying while we were running.

And I just said, I can't keep this up. I can't do this. But honey, I don't know what to do. I'm in every video. I'm on every DVD. I'm in all, I can't keep this up. I can't do this. But honey, I don't know what to do. I'm in every video. I'm on every DVD. I'm in all, I'm everything. And how do I, how do I ever make this end? And you know, the only thing I could do

was just walk away from it. And he just said, well, when we get back home, we'll sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil, Shalene, and we'll come up with a plan. And we did, and it took about four years to do it. And we couldn't tell anyone what we were doing because I didn't want to jeopardize anyone's belief in what it was we created this tribe. But we slowly, slowly removed me from the forefront and lifted other people up. And I put other amazing instructors who were much better than me in the videos and I made them the stars. And I started turning things over to people who I just assumed

no one could do this the way I do it. And then I just would find after, yeah, they don't do it like you want them to at first, but eventually they do it like a lot better than you. And it took time. It did take time, but it happened. Right. It's almost like you eventually started to become your own beach body by finding experts to create products around and promoting them. That's essentially what they did with you, right? You were an expert that they promoted. I just wanted to say to anyone who's listening that anything and everything is possible with a plan and a plan is no more complicated than a sharpened number two pencil and you sitting down spending 10 minutes brainstorming. And that's what we did. We just sat down and we said, okay, how, how do we get out from under this? And we said, what would we want our life to look like? What would we want our day to look like? How many people would we want to manage? What would make us feel fulfilled and happy?

And what would we wake up every day and go, this is an amazing life. And what do we hate about our lives right now? And how could we change that? And how long will that take? And what would that process look like? And we just, in no particular order, just brainstormed and brainstormed and brainstormed. And then we executed. I like that.

With a lot of the students I work with, the entrepreneurs, I have them do what's called my perfect day exercise first. And I say, if you could have anything you wanted right out in detail, but kind of also in broad terms, what your perfect day would look like. And it's obviously going to change. It's not going to be the same day every day. But if you could have whatever you wanted to be, what would it look like in broad terms? And then on the second part of the exercise, I have them write out, okay, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, write out every 30 to 60 minutes what you're going to be doing with your time. And then look it over and see if that works for you. And if it doesn't, then shift it around.

Yeah. That's a great exercise. You got to write it out. Otherwise, you're just going to be responding to whatever life gives you. Lewis, what you just said is so basic, but people forget that critical step of writing it down. Like I thought it through. It's not the same. You literally have to write it down. Exactly. What has been, I know we're going to, I've got a few more questions. You got to head off to your, your son's varsity football game, first game of the season, which is going to be awesome. He's going to rock it. What, you've had a lot of success and you're going to continue to be successful and you're transitioning into the business world. You've got two podcasts that are in the top 10 of iTunes right now. One's called The Shailene Show. The other one's called Build Your Tribe. And they're both awesome. I started diving into

The Shailene Show. And I told you that I don't even listen to podcasts ever. I don't listen to my own. I don't listen to other people's. But yours inspired me to like, because I drove home from Laguna. It was like an hour and 15 minutes. And so I was like, all right, let me listen to this. And I was like, whoa, this is actually really good. Let me- Thank you. Let me download some more and maybe check out a few other shows. Wow. So you've been transitioning into the business world

and you've been really successful in the past. What is the biggest fear moving forward for you with this new transition and with what you're up to in life? I don't have fear about the future. Maybe I should. I have a very strong faith. So I know even if it's uncomfortable, it's happening for a reason.

I don't mind failure. I've learned so much. And you know what they do? They make for great stories when you have these really embarrassing failures. And I've had a lot of them and they're kind of fun because you get out from underneath it, you dust yourself off and you go, that was pretty funny. And I live to tell, and I'm going to be better for it. Yeah. Okay.

So I guess I don't have fear. I'm not afraid. And I, gosh, I have to give credit to my parents because they just, you know, they, they put this confidence in us where we could try anything. And my parents had us try everything. The one thing I didn't learn from my parents, Marge and Bill, who are still together. In fact, they're here visiting me today. Is I never learned focus. How to just stick to one thing. So I had to learn that after college.

And that made a pretty big difference. Right. Did you ever think that your life would come to where it is now? Like you would be doing 10 million DVD sales or sell 10 million DVDs, which is more than $10 million. And that you would be world record in infomercials, number one, building these huge audiences, having millions of people all over the world following your fitness tips, your relationship tips, your business strategies. You've got all these business courses now that are bestsellers. You speak in front of thousands of people. You do yoga.

You've got a new – it's called Pio, right? Is that what it's called? Yeah. You've got this Pio program that I see on Instagram with thousands of people doing it with you. Did you ever see yourself when you're back in college doing the paralegal stuff or after college that this would be your life, like that this was possible for you, that you could have it all in terms of business, success, relationship success, family, everything? Did you ever envision this or did you not even think this was possible for you? Lewis, I think the humble answer is to say I just never imagined any of this was possible.

That's the humble answer. The real answer is I don't think it can happen unless you can see it, even if it's really fuzzy. I didn't know what exactly I would be doing, but I knew I would be helping people. I knew I would be teaching. I knew somehow it would have something to do with music and dance and making people feel good. And I loved business. I didn't know the shape that it would take, but I could see it in a fuzzy, distant view. And I believe you have to be able to see it, but not clearly. You just have to be able to see it remotely in the distance in order for it to be possible. You weren't even getting hired for 20 bucks a class from gyms and everyone was rejecting you.

Could you still see this as a possibility when no one even said you were good enough to do one class? No, I didn't see this. I saw something else. So with that, I always knew, I always knew I can create a business because I've been doing it since I was 13. So I'd never worried about what it was going to be. I just always chase my passion, like whatever it is I'm passionate about. I try to figure out where there's a problem or a hole and solve that. And then I just know no matter what that is, it will always serve other people. And because of that, it will take care of me financially. Was there a defining moment growing up or

things that you came across that made you so passionate about being, creating this type of lifestyle and generating this type of results in your business. You know, for me, a lot of successful people, friends that I know, or just people that I hear about, they usually come from some type of experience or multiple experiences where they felt whatever it may be less than or not worthy or not accepted or the youngest always having to like fight their way up. Was there something about your experience that made you so driven and committed to your vision no matter what? Or are you just a positive, happy person in your life? No, I think everyone, like you said, if you ask enough questions and you actually listen, you can find, you can kind of peel back the onion and figure out where that comes from.

For me, it was an experience which had a negative effect and a positive effect. I think our challenges can do that for us. When I was in the fourth grade, my dad owned a company where he would liquidate large department stores when they went out of business. And he would buy the goods inside as well as the fixtures. And he would go into Detroit and go into the bankruptcy courts. And it was extremely competitive and a little shady, I guess. And they were really young, my parents. And my dad, I remember, had spent his last dollar acquiring the Robert Hall's department stores. And it was like this, you know, I could just tell it was a feather in his cap and they'd spent their last dollar of savings to do this. And all of the goods and materials were moved into these giant warehouses in downtown Detroit. And about a day after acquiring them, somebody set fire to the building, to the

warehouse. And I remember my dad at that point had already taught me a lot about earning money and doing things around the neighborhood and starting little businesses. So I had a little savings account. And my dad brought me into his office. And I remember distinctly sitting down in his sticky brown, big leather chair with these big arms and him leaning forward and he was holding my little bank account book. And I know this was meant to be a positive teaching moment, but he said in the most reassuring of ways, Shaleen, your mother and I have had a fire and I'm gonna borrow this money from you and I wanna show you how much money we're gonna borrow

and I'm gonna pay you back with interest and here's how we're going to pay you back. And they did that. And I know it was intended to be a positive teaching moment for me. But as a child, I didn't realize until therapy later that what that did was make me believe that I wasn't valuable unless I could earn money for people. Unless I could be the provider. Oh, snap. people unless I could be the provider. And from the fourth grade on, I never asked for lunch money.

I bought my own clothes. I bought my own car because I felt I wouldn't be important or valuable or worthy. They never said that. And that's just how kids are. They take messages and they put whatever meaning to it they want to. And I later had to untangle that message in my own brain. And it was the only thing that saved me from continuing down the path of workaholicism. Wow. If I hadn't gone to therapy to figure out why it was I couldn't stop, I would still be on that hamster wheel. Wow. Okay. So you felt like only if you had money or making money that you could support other people with, then you'd be loved by other people or be accepted? Correct. Yeah. All those things. But I didn't know it. I would just wear this badge of honor like, I'm a workaholic and I'm proud. And in fact, I didn't even think about that event until I went, my husband insisted, like, you're going to go talk to somebody about this. Because Shalina, you're always saying like, when this is over, when this is over, when this is done, and I don't believe you. And I said,

well, I'll go talk to, we're both big believers in going to speak to a therapist. So I went to a therapist and I'm like, I'm here just because I am pretty perfect. And gosh, the only thing I can think of is I'm a workaholic and boom, I did a little bit of EMDR therapy. EMDR. And like, boom, like immediately, that was the first thought that I had. I was suddenly, I hadn't had that thought. I hadn't even remembered that moment until I suddenly connected the dots. Yeah. And I think that's true with a lot of people that they suppress or we suppress certain experiences or moments that we don't even think or realize that were really impactful to the

decisions we're making now. And if something's not working in your life, then there's probably an instance of you holding onto something in the past that you're not even aware of. So I definitely recommend checking something out, whether it's what you did or whatever, going to a therapist first and just allowing yourself to experience experiences and talk about experiences that may or may not have been holding you back, but that you won't ever know until you start discussing it. Don't be afraid of it. It will only make you better. Exactly. Yeah. Very cool. I like it. Well, I'm going to wrap it up with two final questions, but I want to make sure everyone goes to shelenejohnson.com. That's your main website.

Yeah. And subscribe to our newsletter check i mean i since i found out about you i've now follow you everywhere because it's just fun to catch up with all the different stuff you're doing you're everywhere and so go follow her on instagram twitter facebook that's kind of the main places i think you you're yeah you're putting stuff out there but subscribe to the podcast the shailene show It's one of the top 10 in iTunes right now. It's really cool. And then if you want to learn more about the business and marketing and social media side

of things, then check out Build Your Tribe, which is her other show, which is also in the top 20, I think, right now. So last two questions. One is, what are you most grateful for recently? One is, what are you most grateful for recently? Gosh, I am so grateful for people in my life who will speak to me and ask me questions so that I know they have my best interests and will help me think through decisions before I make bad ones. I'm thankful that I have people in my life who care enough about me to

share their opinion. And the final question, which I ask everyone is, what is your definition of greatness? Oh, shoot. We talked about this, my husband and I. My definition of greatness is just to be fully, I think people who have greatness are obsessed with just being a better person. I think that's greatness. And you can see greatness in sports and athletics and in business, but I think greatness in all of those areas comes when somebody just wants to be better. Shailene, I acknowledge you for the big game that you're playing in the world, for your commitment to transformation in people's lives, for your dedication, for your vision, for your unwavering confidence in terms of going through the process to make something better in your business, in your life, in your relationships. And your commitment is incredibly inspiring. So I acknowledge you for all the things you're up to and for the most important thing, being an incredible mother. That's the ultimate compliment. That's the only time someone's ever said that in a podcast. You're going to make me cry's true i think you know just being in your home and and seeing

what you're up to and the the love that you have in your space i can only imagine what it would be like growing up as uh you know in your family so i I acknowledge you for all those incredible things that you, uh, that you are. So thank you. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for coming on and, uh, we'll, we'll talk to you soon. Bye everybody. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Thanks so much, Shaleen, for coming on. And if you did like this, then go ahead and post over on Facebook, on Twitter, and leave a comment over at lewishouse.com slash 91. We've got all the show notes over there, the links, the videos, the images of me working out in Chalene's gym over

there also. And make sure to follow Chalene over on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. She's got a huge following on Facebook and on Instagram. So go ahead and check out her videos, her fitness tips, and all that other good stuff that she has. You guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.