From Leukemia to Corporate Wellness with Celebrity Trainer Phil Catudal
Episode Details
Transcript
In this episode, we sit down with Phil Catudal, a celebrity personal trainer and entrepreneur, to discuss the adversity he has faced throughout his life. From being diagnosed with leukemia at a young age to losing his father unexpectedly and experiencing financial hardship, Phil shares how he dealt with these challenges. We also dive into his abundance story, exploring the intentional moves he has made in his life, including his decision to live in Atlanta. Phil's inspiring journey reminds us of the importance of valuing our time and prioritizing health and fitness. Tune in to gain insights from this resilient individual.
"If you get somebody in better shape and better health and they're feeling better and they own a business, they're only going to be better at their business, better as a supervisor, better as a manager, better as a visionary, whatever else it is, better as a spouse, as a father, you know. So it's all connected for sure."
Books and Resources
Just Your Type: The Ultimate Guide to Eating and Training Right for Your Body Type
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
How To Win Friends & Influence People
Connect with Phil Catudal:
WEBSITE: https://trainedbyphil.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/philcatudal
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/trainedbyphil/
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@TrainedByPhil
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philcatudal/
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Speaker 0
This episode is with Phil Catchitall. He is a celebrity personal trainer and entrepreneur. We jump right in and talk about a lot of the adversity that Phil has faced from a personal standpoint. When he was three years old, he was diagnosed with leukemia. This was in the nineties when leukemia was, not that it's not serious now, but, it had had a much lower survival rate if you were diagnosed with leukemia back then. So that was very, very challenging and very challenging time period for him. And we also talk about how his father lost his life unexpectedly as well when Phil was eleven years old. So those two major events had a major impact on his life, and we walked through how he dealt with that. He's also been through a divorce and hit rock bottom financially after he was really doing well financially. We talk a lot. We we check all the boxes in this one as far as adversity goes, health, relationship and finances. But we do spend some time on his abundance story and that the abundance part of his story and what he's doing now and how how he's made some very intentional moves. Geographically, he actually is was born in Canada. And now, and then then, later moved to the US and now lives in Atlanta, and we talk about why he lives in Atlanta. And, you know, how he's been very intentional with his time. You know, when you've been through something, some health challenge like that, you tend to really value your time and your life. And so he's he's an inspiration for sure. He also used to be Mormon and is no longer religious in his own words. So that's an interesting part of the discussion as well. I know you're gonna enjoy this one. You know, health and fitness relates is so important for all of us, whether we're entrepreneurs or not. And, this is this is not an episode you're gonna wanna miss. Speaker 1
Welcome to the from adversity to abundance podcast. Are you an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur, then this show is for you. Each week, we bring you in pack stories of real people who have overcome painful human adversity to create a life of abundance. Abundance. You are not alone in your struggle. Join us, and you will experience the power of true stories and gain from founders who have turned poverty into prosperity and weakness into wealth. This podcast will encourage you through your health, relationship, and financial challenges so you can become the hero in your quest for freedom. Take ownership of the life you are destined to live. Turn your adversity into abundance. Speaker 0
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I'm doing excellent. Thank you so much for having me, Jamie. Speaker 0
Absolutely. I couldn't help the, the dad joke there. Well, I think that the the listener has no idea I'm talking about yet, but they will soon. Phil, who are you, and and where are you up to today? Speaker 2
Yeah. So, Phil Cash et al, originally. It's katya. That's French, but I Jamie is like, how do we say that? I'm from Montreal. But, I live in Atlanta and, been in America for eighteen years. Went to college, got married, never came home. I am a celebrity personal trainer, but, there's not I am proud of that title. I'm a personal trainer, but I always like to put the caveat. I'm I'm not just a meat head I have multiple great. I speak many languages. I have many businesses. And the truth of the matter is I'm a personal trainer because I love health and people. And because I'm an entrepreneur, through and through since I was twelve years old, knocking on doors selling lemons and apples. I mean, I personally had the the head, the hustle. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. That's my best. Health fitness, Scott. Speaker 0
Yeah. I'm not definitely not all, personal trainers are are meet heads. Even if you have a a meat head streak in in here that there's a to be successful, you gotta be gotta be smart as well. I can tell you that I when I was in college, I had no idea what it to major in and ended up doing a sports management degree, which sounds maybe, not all that you know, intellectual, but I can tell you that the sports side was actually much more challenging than the management side. So it can it of a lot of, like, kinesiology, anatomy, physiology, whereas the management was business courses that were frankly easier. So, yeah, I I hear you, on that front. I I should've just stuck with the business management, to be honest with you. But, anyway, Speaker 2
I did political science as an undergrad. So you never know what you're gonna do. There you go. We're gonna Yeah. Speaker 0
Absolutely. That was That was a long time ago. And, yeah, absolutely. Let's speaking of, you know, a long time ago, let's get into your backstory, Phil. I know before we hit you and I were talking a little bit. I know you've been through a whole lot of adversity. You know, our our podcast is from adversity to abundance, and Sounds like on some level, you you kinda check all, you know, all the boxes as far as the categories that we often talk about on this show. So let's jump back into your your childhood and and talk about some of that adversity you you went through. Speaker 2
Absolutely. So Yeah. I was I was the baby. I'm the youngest of four, and parents, you you're used to what you think you know, same as in business and friendships and relationships. I'm the fourth kid, they just think, oh, everything's fine. I'm good. And then just keep getting sick and sicker and sicker. And then around two and a half, I've been sick continuously for three weeks. And my like something's not right. This is not just a cold. It brings me in pretty much instant diagnosis after lab tests. They confirmed that I had leukemia And this was in the early nineties. So it was still kind of those flip a coin. You know, I got to use Make Wish Foundation, And so I'm very active in helping with a lot of work for them because they could give me a wish as a child. It was kind of was one of the only kids in my unit in the Montreal Children's Hospital who made it and one of my best friends died in the bed next to me. It was just like Wow. There's never a time where cancer's fine, but childhood leukemia thankfully now is one of the most treatable and curable ones. Yeah. But, he told him, you know, thirty plus years later, married four kids. But, I mean, that shaped my life. I knew everything about my my blood test. I got lumbar punctures transfusions, chemotherapy, and it later in life was something that I would frequently look back to. And I'm like, why am I so different? Not not in a bad way, but like, why do I think different? And then through therapy and stuff realizing, oh my gosh, it's this whole perspective of I do know that you can die at any time. Yeah. And I do know what it's like. I have no health or be bald in the kindergarten photos. Mhmm. And then so I beat it. I'm getting all better. I'm playing hockey like a good Canadian boy. And then when I was eleven, my father who was the risk manager for Alcan aluminum, which I think I'll quote Rio Tinto bought, but He's, you know, business man. Sure. He ended up getting diagnosed and passing away very quickly with lung cancer. This from a guy who never smoked or drank a drop of alcohol in his life. And it was pretty at forty six peak of his life business. They asked him to be VP take over all these things. So by twelve years old, I'd lost my father. I'd been through cancer myself, I was now in this role of trying to help my mom at home and my other siblings. And, it absolutely shaped my life. I would wish it on no one. Sometimes she's like, hey, how come you're this or this way. I'm like Yeah. I can tell you why, but I don't think you would wanna have the same experiences that brought me there. They absolutely shaped every bit of who I am today. Speaker 0
No. That's and that's a that's a really interesting point that we do visit sometimes on this show is is the fact that, yes, it is the adversity that that the the guest has been through that shaped them and that created a lot of a lot of the reasons they've they're now living in abundance. And so, you know, But what we're trying to do is not necessarily seek out that adversity. Right? We obviously we don't wanna what you had to go through. Like, let's be let's be real. Right? We wanna learn from your story, and we wanna be inspired by your story. And so that's the point of the the podcast. So, I appreciate appreciate you being vulnerable about that. And it So as far as your own leukemia, was that, like, how long did that go on? How how long were you dealing with that? Speaker 2
Yeah. So three, like, two and a half about three, like I said. Yeah. It was kind of an immediate diagnosis and, alright, let's this protocol, which back then, it was kinda like a a couple years into being seeing if that was the most effective. And it turns out that's now the standard. So, like, I got I see. Got insanely lucky in that this this specific chemo drugs and the lumbar punctures and transfusion and what they did Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Is now, you know, more than ninety percent. And I have AOL there types of leukemia, but from three to five, it was kind of okay. Is he in remission? Is it it's kind of iffy? And then five till eight, I still have to go over a few months, get test. My white blood cells and platelets, still are lower than the average human all these years later. Like, there's certain things in my body that will probably always be that way. And I I have my port scar, but, yeah, three to five. It was two years of life for death and then three more years of treatment. And the further you get out from any type of cancer, the remission rate decreases when get to five years. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
They they don't like to use the work cured, but that's when they basically come back once a year, get blood tests here in normal person now. Speaker 0
Got it. I see. Speaker 2
And they almost label you as I say normal person, I I in a weird way. Gonna give you that label, like, return to normal life. And Right. You just Sure. You go forward hoping to never look back, but you Sure. You, of course, always look over your shoulder and have a insecurity of will it be back? You never know. Speaker 0
Well, and like you already alluded to with with your father. I mean, it's Even if if someone didn't get have to have to go through that painful time that you went through the challenging time with the diagnosis and the treatment and everything, you're reminded through someone else that's very close to you that it could happen to any of us. Right? So speak about that. You said you were eleven, I believe, when your father, passed away. Would you would you mind speaking about what that, you know, how that impacted you and your family? Speaker 2
Yeah. So I was I was eleven, so my sisters would have been thirteen and nineteen and my brother's sixteen. And my dad came home. And I guess unbeknownst to us, my mom who's just like superwoman that has been through it all and is just optimistic, strong when holding everything together. She's also not a nurse, very medically inclined because of what I went through. She just learned everything you Speaker 0
could Sure. Sure. Speaker 2
Yeah. She spent a life since then helping people, but she noticed my dad would he was kind of having memory lapses, of weeks or like, hey, yesterday, and it was a week ago. Two weeks ago, and she's like, something is not right. Wow. So she went in with him, and it was lung cancer, but it had I guess my dad he was like a body a run or a business man. Like, honestly, did everything that we'll talk about on the pipe. Everything right you can do Uh-huh. Still guarantees nothing. Right? Sure. Did every and we grew up Mormon, like never drank, never smoked. Yeah. It would be fixing someone's roof, cutting trees down with his bare, like, but he was an old school man's man. So he probably had symptoms for a long time that he brushed off. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
He just thought he was tired and thought he had a bad cough because he had asthma as a kid. Like, he was like, oh, I don't long story short. It was everywhere. It started as lung cancer, but it was metastasized. They said, frankly, they were surprised he was alive. They gave him, like, two months to live. And made a promise to all the kids. He said I'm gonna make one more birthday for each of you. And he started with my older sister all the way around to my younger sister on October nineteenth, that's her birthday. And he passed away October twenty first. He made it all the way every then slipped into a coma the next day died two days later. So Wow. I mean, the testing into the power of will. Like his body literally got because he said he was going to. Speaker 0
Wow. That's, quite quite an emotional roller coaster that obviously we're, you know, I I mentioned briefly before we hit record, like, You know, we're not trying to use anyone's pain as a commodity. And and there is a risk here of just glossing over, you know, some real serious pain that that people have gone through and so that's not the intent. So I appreciate you, sharing that and being being vulnerable. Speaker 2
One thing that has struck me now as a father of four kids and you get into the finances in this. Yeah. My father, again, who was the healthiest man and no one in this family previous to him, had lung cancer, ironically, they were all smokers, and he was not. And they were just, like, they lived until ninety, and they were, like, we joked they were too mad to die, like, old angry French people from and they were just a gap. Yeah. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
Right. My dad had amazing life insurance, and he started it when he was twenty one. And Oh, wow. He had oh, foresight. But, literally, the only reason that any of us made it, and my mom was able to be okay. We still have to work and everything believe he had a, you know, two million dollar insurance policy, no statistic in the world would have ever predicted this man would Yeah. And he's the it got it sent us to college. It got us jobs. It paid off. My mom's house, like, being a a good man and a good business man. Speaker 0
A good steward of his of the resources he was given. Right? Speaker 2
Yep. And there's no way anyone would have ever been like, oh, you need life insurance. He just thought it was the responsible thing. Twenty dollars a month, if anything happens, my family's safe. Sure. And, we've always just talked about how it it's one of those things that if you can set yourself up early, you invest early in life insurance and in retirement and anything you don't know. Absolutely. You think, you know, you know, and he saved us without, you know, ironically he saved us when he went somehow. Speaker 0
Sure. Yeah. No. That's That's that's fantastic. But not not that you had to deal with that, but that he had the foresight and the like you said, was responsible enough with the the resources he was provided to look out for his family and then provide for them for for you all. So kudos to him for that. Yeah. You just you just never know. That's a I had a a fitness trainer who's now now owns a bunch of gyms. Nate Costa had him on the show, a while back. And he had a surprise diagnosis of a liver cancer very recently. And the guy I mean, he's probably had three beers in his entire life, I think he said, and doesn't even don't think he ever takes ibuprofen or anything. It's just like mister Natural, you know, super fit. And, you know, face that that diagnosis. He he's he's fine now. He's got a huge scar from the the surgery. But, you just never know. And then his his, I think, his, you know, some of his family members have drink and do the things you're not supposed to do, and they're, you know, they've never had that diagnosis. So, I think, He somebody joked that that you that you have to the reason, Nate got that diagnosis was that he he didn't work out his liver enough. So you know, through through drinking alcohol. You're no reps on not enough reps on his liver, but I recommend the listener, go back and listen to that one. That was a fantastic episode, but But, Phil, so from eleven on, walk us through the rest of your story. I know that's not the end of the adversity that you, unfortunately, that you have had to deal with? Speaker 2
Yeah. So, like I said, it it's interesting because I'm no longer Morman or latter day saying I'm not really of any faith, but you are shaped by their upbringing. So I grew up in a very industrious house, like, get as much education as possible, work very hard, be kind to your neighbor. And there was, like, two Mormons in all of Montreal and we were them. So It was also only being such a standout, but it was good because I was, you know, I was popular in high school, but also I was we bullied because, like, I was I started working out because my dad was very, you know, healthy and buff. I'm like, I wanna be a man. And to me, masculine meant big and buff. And Arnold Schwartzinger. So I was I've been getting pumped up since I was fourteen and body building and all that. But I kinda walked life always having a good sense of self. When I was Mormon, I went to high school, I'm like, oh, I don't drink. And I don't, you know, have, like, for marriage, all these things that now, like, I do these things, but The point is being it gave me a good sense of self, like, who I was and that I had values in in an age not only a time period of, like, nineties, early two thousand, but also in an age of being a teenager where everyone was, like, who am I? What do I stand for? Speaker 0
Like Oh, absolutely. Speaker 2
Having even though they're not the same values or things that I align with now Yeah. Having a direction, like, I had goals. I had things I wanted to hit. So wanted to take care of my mom. I wanted to be a businessman, all of these things. Speaker 0
So Sure. Speaker 2
Working out, even to the point where, for example, the customs you know, please don't come get me, ice. But for example, I was lifting weights and getting buff and supplements in Canada are so much more expensive. Crates, you know, things. Yeah. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
And not not only are they way more expensive and the tax is higher, but most of the brands, you can't get them. So we had a little lake cabin in upstate New York. So I would get hundreds of pound protein and protein as a fifteen year old kid. Drive it across the border after staying for, like, three days over the weekend. And I was selling protein to my friends in high school and, like, personal training them. And then I was getting the new supplements you couldn't get from, anywhere in Canada, and the labels weren't to a friend, all these things. So I was unbeknownst to me, I was harnessing my, my entrepreneurial spirit at the same time as building clientele and business. And many of these people have become I train the guys who own just co, M e mobility. It's one of the fastest growing, real estate companies in Canada. Okay. They my high school friends who would weight lift with me. And I was getting them crazy and protein and training. They're like, hey, Phil, and now they're coming back to me. In my high end ticket packages asking for training for them or to come do corporate wellness or to help with their dad or all these things Speaker 0
Right. Right. Speaker 2
So Gotcha. Yeah. My my kind of whole career, essentially from eleven onwards was lifting weights, training, using all of skills of communication, conversation. I did do the more mission. So I knocked on doors and Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
The you may not again, Nothing will nothing will prepare you in life than knocking on doors selling, having them smash it in your face. So Sure. I'm I'm a happy person, but I was able to cultivate thick skin because Yeah. I was like, oh, you can tell me you can tell me no all day, but I know what I'm doing. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
And so I took my mindset. Like, I've been through cancer. I've looked death in the eye. I've lost someone, and I've just learned, like, there's no shortcuts anyone who's pushing off emotions, pretending bad stuff doesn't happen, it's gonna hit you, buddy. Speaker 0
And so Absolutely. Speaker 2
Carapy, exercise, taking care of myself, having good friends, having good people, but my career basically built itself. I was always training, always building a business. Uh-huh. I went to college, I went to grad school, did an MBA, did all the things, and I was training the whole time. I never was not personal training, but in my brain, I'm like, I had I have to be a businessman, and I have to work for Fortune five hundred. I lasted three weeks at Thompson Reuters after my MBA. Well, by the way, I I would I was married at twenty one, and I had three kids and an MBA by twenty five, even with a two year mission. I mean, I lived life on accelerated Speaker 0
That's that's pretty hardcore. Absolutely. Speaker 2
Yeah. Leave a law. But I love it. Speaker 0
So so the training the the training was not ever gonna be your focus. I mean, it was your focus for your yourself and and kind of a, if, a passion project, if you will. I mean, you know, but but you were gonna be a business person. Right? Speaker 2
A hundred percent. The the training was my passion. I loved it, and I loved helping people do it. My goals were to buy my mama house in England to make sure my kids were set up. All of these financial goals Mhmm. That I didn't possible by being just a trainer quote. Speaker 0
Right. Right. Right. Sure. Speaker 2
Okay. Even though even though I knew other people done it and were successful millionaire trainers, even though it was my passion. Even though I loved it, every sign point that you should do this, but my brain was like, You're smart. You have to be an academic guy. You have to run a business thing. Yeah. I went to Thompson Reuters. I got recruited. I lasted three weeks. And, essentially, I was like, If I work ten times harder than this guy, I get the same pay. I have to be a slave to the job. There's this corporate ladder to be twenty years to be the boss. What if I wanna go take the kids on vacation next week? Like, nothing about the parameters of the corporate life. Yeah. Yeah. We're okay with me because my my value set was life is short. Life is beautiful. You never it's gonna happen. So we can't waste I don't You're And, absolutely, money is part of it, but it was more than time. I wanted to do what I wanted when. I wanted to Speaker 0
Time freedom and control of your day and your schedule. Yeah. Alive. Yes. Now speak about because this is always an interesting topic. And and with most of this stuff, there's there's not one right answer. Right? It's not there's not always one size fits all, but with your, experience and looking back at how you made your career decisions. How would you speak to the the say budding entrepreneur out there or maybe maybe someone has a w two and they they have a side hustle as a as a personal trainer just as an example. Should that person again, you don't know their situation. It depends. We get that. But what would you say regarding following your passion versus following the opportunity or chasing the dollars, if you will. Because, you know, I have my own opinion, but I love to hear what you have to say. Speaker 2
Well, I think that's a very important question. And I I I'm a very responsible person, and I do think you should base your dreams and your passions, but I think the people who just like throw caution to the wind, that's a great type of person, like highly risk abled non risk averse people. I was joking. That's me if I'm not married with kids. I can eat ramen and sacrifice. I need to eat forever for myself. You throw my wife and kids in the my risk tolerance comes down eighty percent. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
So I lasted three weeks at Thompson Reuters. I entered this men's health competition And I talked to my then wife now ex wife, but still best friend and we have houses six houses apart on the same street. Speaker 0
Oh, wow. Speaker 2
Have this beautiful coexisting family, but we'll get into that. But Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Basically, I was a k. I wanna become a celebrity trainer moved to LA. I think I can make it. I wanna make it in the movies, and then I wanna take that money and have pro bono work for the unhoused and for people with cancer. Like, I'm like, basically, I wanna train really rich people and then pay for us a good life so that I can also help people for cancer and all these things that I care about. Got it. And to her credit, she's like, Let's do it. This is your dream. Like, I gave up the six figure salary. So we move twenty five, three kids, not knowing anything moved to LA, which is not a cheap city. But again, I'm thinking, okay, this is my dream. I'm gonna go for it, but I have bills to pay. I have money to feed. So I had parlayed my good communication skills or so I thought over LinkedIn to, to becoming a lobbyist for renewable energy with Bob Kirk, who is this absolutely amazing mentor figures still remain so in my life. He'd been on, like Hillary Clinton, like early days and I mean, he he he was in the Carter, Jimmy Carter administration. He has photos with mister Mandela, like this man ran a Swiss bank. The the things Bobbrook has done it. And He's like, okay. You can work with me. So I would train trying to get clients online six till nine AM and then put on a suit and change at the gym and go to the lobbying job. And I did that for about six months until my training business became so busy that I told Bob I said, I value you immensely and I pre and he was looking for me to take over his business as he retired. It guaranteed income of two million dollars over three years. And I turned it down because as much as I loved him, I hated the job. I hated that I was losing family. I hated the schmoozing, even though for renewal energy is better than, like, oil or something. But My heart wasn't in it. And I'd already done that. I already did that with the last job. I knew I had to be in training. Yeah. So I told gracious as he was. He's like, that's okay. And then he became one of my clients. And I trained him. Speaker 0
There you go. Nice. Speaker 2
It's the testament to him caring more about me. And he did mention he's like, you're gonna crush it at that. And so, yeah, so some people would say training all in. I had to have a job to be a little Speaker 0
bit of a shirt. I love it. Right. Speaker 2
So I get safe. Speaker 0
Yeah. And again, I there is no one size fits all. I I took seven years. I went part time at my w two for seven years while I built my my businesses. And so I And then I just ripped off the band aid last year, but, it I probably without a family, I'm almost I I know for sure I would have done the jumped, done the leap a lot earlier, for sure. You know, so it does depend on the situation. It does depend on your your personality and and your goals, of course, but one thing I'd noted was even though you were following your passion, you were still focused on others you know, you know, some people say, well, follow your passion and you won't work a day in your life or do something you love. You won't work a day in your life. Okay. That sounds good, but if you're literally only focused on your passion and you and what makes you happy. I think at some point that you you you hit a brick wall and you're there's a there's a ceiling there with regard to much money you're gonna make, how successful you're gonna be, and really how happy you're gonna be, you know, and it's not until you end up serving others and focusing on others, This is my opinion. You know, not nothing wrong with following your passion, but I think you do end up you're gonna go a lot further if if you're can parlay your passion into serving others. So I guess that's a long winded way of saying, you know, make a Venn diagram with your fashion, things you're interested in, and the other circle is things that are gonna pay you well and pursue that with whatever's in the middle. This might just my two cents. Speaker 2
No. I love that. It just it made me think of a story. So, I I hear what you're saying, but of those kind of those isms and those different metaphors or those, hey, work a day. I mean, do what you love. You'll never work a day. I do understand the scent. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
One that definitely has resonated the most for me is do a job that you would do for free. And Sure. So, for example, There are clients who who I just had such a connection with and then they would have some fine problem or something like, hey, I can't train for the next month because, my wife is sick or I lost my job. And I'm like, Well, I love my job, and I now love you as a person. Like, let's just keep training. You can get me back later. And That's awesome. I did that. I not everyone took me up on it, whether for guilt or too nice, but what many people did, and they were very, like, I can't believe you're doing this. And I was like, and the whole day would be like, hey, listen. I appreciate it. I need this. So thank you. But if someone coming along is going to pay you, please be honest and replace my spot. You know? Mhmm. Story short, two of those people that I ended up helping out for free for totally different reasons. One was a health diagnosed is was financial. Mhmm. Both of those ended up bringing me celebrity clients that made my whole career that got me a book deal that were then able to say this type of guy that trained me for free for four months or for eight months or who charged me twenty bucks a an hour instead of two hundred an hour. Like Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And I and I wasn't I wasn't thinking I was being a good Samaritan. I wasn't trying to I even think I was being altruistic or anything. I'm just Mhmm. If I haven't had time, I'd rather spend it with you than alone. It was honestly kind of selfish move. Yeah. Or to the like, I don't wanna, you know, reign on Dave Ramsey's parade, but the constant constant don't buy a coffee, make your own coffee. Yeah. For me, it was a super super networking, super connector extrovert. I hate that. Made I have made hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients that I met talking to at Coffee. Speaker 0
Now if Speaker 2
you just get coffee, say hi to no one and you leave Sure. Chances are you're wasting your money, we'll not waste him, but nothing's gonna happen. If you get your coffee, you say, how today you talk to the person at the bar, I have gotten innumerable clients made business deals and have a partner from talking to people while coffee that I would never meet at home. So the same the same reality in the same scenario, could be good for person, but bad for another person. There's no one size fits all like you're saying, but if you know what your skill set is, you can find it and you can make it work. Speaker 0
Absolutely. I love that. Everything you just said. So talk to us. Pick up your story as far as you mentioned, your ex wife. So obviously, you went through some relationship, challenges. Let's yeah. Let's let's pick it up there. And and from a personal standpoint, walk back through up until today, if you would. I know there I know there's there's a lot to cover there, but walk us back, kind of yeah. Go ahead. Speaker 2
Go back and yeah. I'm thirty five years old. Married, divorced, remarried, three kids from my first marriage, and one child now, and my wife now is my high school girlfriend. And it all came full circle, but So, yeah, twenty one, get home from my Mormon mission, get married, yeah, five months later. You know how that works. And, so we have Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
You have our good life. We move to LA. I start to become a trainer. Essentially, we unmorman and start to realize that we are different people. And don't have as much in common, the kind of glue that was our ritual and tradition. And it was a decision we made mutually, but it affected us very differently. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Gotcha. Speaker 2
Even even when couples know divorce is the right choice for them. It's still terrible. You still love each other. Feel painful. There's still anger bitterness resentment and everything. But, so, you know, I was heartbroken, but we both had a role to play in all of it. Things happen, mistakes were made questions. Yeah. Am I without religion? Sexualality questions for for all of just going through the rigmarole of everything and also both just realizing we'd never been alone and me being, like, am I being a selfish asshole or what, like, you know, personal stuff. And when you get married at twenty one and have kids and all this, you also, I'm not saying what's right or wrong for anyone, but I certainly had grown a lot in certain ways, but needed to grow in other ways. And I would have done a lot of things different that I didn't know at the time. Sure. Yeah. That being said, we had we were we had been doing quite well and we were ready to buy a house in LA. Mhmm. And I forget the collect statistic, but basically, like, they say divorce cuts your net worth, not only in half, but then expenses, all this. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Yeah. Speaker 2
Loans ratio, we're going from being able to buy a house in LA, which is very expensive. Absolutely. To to, you know, sick figures in debt because I was paying now for two houses, two two cars. Of my own free one was we didn't go to court. We did it all together, but we had braced kids together and we had chosen together that I was gonna make the money and she was gonna stay at home. Well, you throw one who has missed seven, eight years in the career field. She's like, won't make as much money I won't make as much money as it will take to pay a nanny. And the world, I gotta say, just screws over women, screws over single moms, screws over them, made divorce. In a ridiculous way. So I had to make up that spot. So paying for two houses in LA, two cars in LA, day care in LA. So I went from I went from the top of the world to Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Absolute credit card debt line of credit debt borrow money from my mom debt. I mean, just humble by feeling like I'm a celebrity trainer. I've been on TV. I know all these famous people and Yeah. It took a long time to dig out of that. But, yeah, I was heartbroken, lonely, and without money trying to figure out how to start over. Speaker 0
I yeah. There's so much there. You you've like I said, you've checked all the boxes as far as health and, relationship and and financial. So what what was from a financial perspective, what what was rock bottom? You you just mentioned it, but, I mean, how long were you in the rock bottom phase and what did that look like? Speaker 2
It I wish it were linear, but, like, I hey, I paid out. I worked my ass off, and then she was able to get a job. The kids grew up when they were quite babies and toddlers and it wasn't as much needed, you know. Mhmm. Speaker 0
But I Speaker 2
would pay off fifty grand in debt, but then I would try to get a new and my credit score was too low because it hadn't been bumped up from the Mhmm. It, like, I paid it off, but the score didn't reflect it yet. And I'm like, I can't live in this you know, like, and just feeling guilty and feeling like I wasn't a good enough dad or that I wasn't providing or that, like, maybe you got divorced and I failed. And it's my fault. You know, so many self doubts. Yeah. But then on top of feeling that the crushing responsibility of, well, not only do I have to pay all this off, but then I have to get ahead. And Right. So then I do the terrible thing which, you know, everyone does, but I feel like men in that situation tend to do more, which is I'm like, well, I can just outwork everybody. So Sure. I worked my ass off training, like, fourteen hours a day, and I got in Bitcoin early. And I was trading cryptocurrency, and I was putting this on the side and getting commission. I mean, I had, like, five streams of income. And you do that for a time, and then I got kidney stones. And I got everything. I wasn't sleeping. I mean, like, I was literally killing myself, and I don't know what the appropriate amount of work is. Because I don't know. I'm happy I'm happy I learned my lesson the first time. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
But I I dug myself out from sheer grit I probably could have learned earlier on to delegate or to hire an assistant. I've hired a personal assistant over the last two years. Uh-huh. And pay paying her her wage Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
To relieve I would pay her her wage to relieve my stress alone, but she's actually like tripled my income because I can rest and think more clearly. Like Yeah. It only was one it was one month of a net loss and every month since month since month one has made more income by having help than not having help. Yeah. Speaker 0
That's awesome. Yeah. Well, hopefully, she doesn't listen to this. She listens to this. She's she's gonna demand a a race. No. You're absolutely right. It just that space, you know, to be able to think strategically or reflect and, you know, Absolutely. It Speaker 2
took me five years. It took me five years to get out of that hole. It was not overnight. Speaker 0
Gotcha. So we're talking mid to late twenties is what you're talking about? Or Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, like, twenty twenty eight to thirty two is going from Sky high to rock bottom back to functioning good income with no debt. Yeah. And it's only been the last two, three years where business has exploded, all in fact, to me finally asking for help and getting people to help me in giving up. I'm like, I can't do it on my own. And then when I finally let go of the control, it'll help everywhere. Speaker 0
Well, that's a fantastic thing to drill into, topic. Besides your personal assistant and what other ways have you asked for help that have benefited you? Speaker 2
Yeah. So my my wife now, again, my my, high school girlfriend, we reconnected five years ago just totally randomly. She was in LA, and it just the old flame came back. Our son's two and a half now. She's a marketing genius, and she's worked for, adidas and all these big companies. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Speaker 2
Had not I had not had good experiences working with family or friends in the past. And so I was very resistant to her health. And I was like, bitch, I love you. We'll do separate things. I just don't wanna work with you. And I don't like to be the only marketing ideas for social media or for funnels or how to run all my stuff And rather than listening, I was just, like, you might be right, but I just, like, I don't wanna even open the door. Yeah. Speaker 0
It's too much risk to your to your relationship. Everything's great. We're good. Speaker 2
Like, let me do the thing. And then she's just killing it, and then everything was going great in in her life and everything. I'm like, you know what? Like, She's so smart. I trust her with everything. Like, why am I not asking for help? So, you know, I can do all these things you're paying agencies money for, and they were not even doing a good job. So she totally changed my website, my, strategy for online marketing. She's like, you go to bed. And, like, you're the most expensive an amazing personal trainer you can get in person, but you can't scale yourself. Like, you're just gonna work forever if you don't have a product. I'm like, well, I wrote my book She's like, there's no money in books unless you see it very well. Speaker 0
Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2
But it's like, she's like, you need to figure out ways to hire other coaches and coach the coaches and Speaker 0
And to Speaker 2
this, and so she was the one that put in all the work that I'm like, well, I don't have time for that. You're right, but I don't have time. So back into my website. She set up my QuickBooks. She set up my marketing without me asking. And then I was like, time after time, like, you're right. You're right. Thank you. I'm just like, She was just right about it. And I'm like, you saved me so much time and effort, but I would I didn't ask. And then find now I ask her for help on everything. She's like, joke. She's like, yeah. You figured out. And so I have her I have coaches who co under me in person and online, and I have a personal assistant. Yeah. And we all have a real good thing going. I really I am still very picky. I won't just hire anybody because Mhmm. I'm a holler enough guy. So if I let you circle, I have to trust you with my children, with my bank account. Like, if you're in, you're in. It's been very thing, but I am quite selective. I'm not just gonna hire anybody. Speaker 0
Sure. Makes sense. Now that that is one of the limiting factors or at least one of the the challenges with a business where you are the the business. Right? I mean, you are the central figure. You know, so I'm not even talking from a personal personal branding standpoint per se. I'm just talking from you're the one who provides the services you know, so whether you're a therapist or an even an attorney who has his own practice, his or her own practice, you're you're it. It's it's just it's hard to scale sometimes when when you're the one bringing the expertise or the or the personality or the, you know, the the genius to the to the table. So would you say you wish you'd done that earlier as far as implemented some of these things that your your wife has, told you to do or she implemented for you, basically? Speaker 2
Yeah. One hundred percent. One hundred percent. Gotcha. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
I think if I knew that, I could have dug myself out of the five year debt hole in one or two years. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
And I would still say knock on wood. I'm extraordinarily far ahead in life for for where I'm at with my family, finances, and age, and everything. But I also, have had many anxiety attacks, panic attacks, these stones and things along the way. I could have saved myself a lot of mental and physical hurt. Yeah. Honestly just simplified my life just realizing it doesn't have to be this hard. You can work really, really hard, but Yeah. There are better ways to do it. Sheer grit is awesome. It got me there. But, you've paid a lot less of a toll. Sure. Speaker 0
No. That's a great requirement. And I agree. It's, like, nothing wrong with working hard. I think it's probably required, really, for, you know, success, at least during a season. I mean, not not every day forever. Right? But shouldn't be looked down upon, but, yeah, that's not the only way to go. I mean, you gotta work smart. Speaker 2
What's that entrepreneur that famous quote I don't know who said it, but an entrepreneur is someone who's willing to do everything it takes now to or like something that no one now to live a life later that no one could live or, you know, what I'm alluding to, like Absolutely. Work and the effort and do the things that ninety five percent of people won't do. That you can live that special five percent that most people never will. Absolutely. Or it's the reward for being willing to fail and working hard and not giving up what everything sucks. Speaker 0
Yeah. Totally. So talk about your your your business now and maybe some of the we've we've lot we've talked a good bit about your adversity. Let's talk about the the abundance. I mean, what does it what does it look like? You know, it it could be your business or your your life as a whole, but talk about some of the, you know, the highlights and the achievements that you've been able to to reach us in the last few years. Speaker 2
Yeah. So, I I made my name in LA. So to speak, I wrote out a book and I would be on the I was like the KTLA fitness go to. We go to expert Phil Catchettel to talk about whatever and train out all these famous people. And it was super fun, but I was. I was working on that hamster wheel, and we had the opportunity come up a little over two years ago to move to Atlanta. And I just had this feeling. I'm like, I'm a I'm a smallish medium fish in a giant pond in LA, but I'm like, in Atlanta, I have the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond. Yeah. And my wife would be supportive. And even my ex wife, she's like, yeah, I'm so tired of LA. It was mid pandemic. So we all moved as two separate families to Atlanta. And I mean, it has been nonstop. So I've been a personal trainer for seventeen years, but really it's been ten years to where I was like, this is my full time career. Okay. Speaker 0
And Speaker 2
when I moved to Atlanta, when I moved to Atlanta, I my niche was very focused. When you're an entrepreneur, I think that's a huge. It's a huge cast huge net at some point. But once you start, hey, I'm catching a lot of this one type of fish. Yeah. Pay attention to that. You'd be silly to not focus on that. Speaker 0
I knew what Speaker 2
my I knew what my wheelhouse was. I knew who it was. It gave me street cred. It made me look cool to be like, I train so and so on this movie, that's not what I wanted to do. Sure. I wanted to make a difference. And, I still do it when it comes up, hey, so and so needs help or they're, like, I'll do it. But I wanted to actually make a difference in people's lives and make them healthier and happier and transform who they are, not just look hot for TV. Right. Speaker 0
I hear you. Yeah. I think that there are a couple of points there. One is, I've heard a an I took a a marketing course of last year, and it was on it was for Twitter specifically, but the guy talked about a rubber he calls it the rubber band approach where to marketing where Sometimes you do need to widen your net. You know, so you pull that you you stretch the rubber band. Right? And you you it's a bigger net. So you're you're speaking to more people and you kinda see who you catch like you just said. And then you tighten that rubber band and let it close. And So it's constantly going changing as far as your your, you know, who you're targeting, but you do absolutely need to focus on that subset of, okay, this is this is who I'm really speaking to. Identify that avatar, identify that client So I think that's a critical point because if you're speaking and trying to speaking to and trying to serve everyone, you're you're not serving anyone. So, yeah, I I I love that. Now who are some of the, you know, I know it's I know it's not necessarily your focus, but who who are some of the bigger names if you say, or is some of the more successful people you've had the opportunity to train? Speaker 2
Yeah. So probably one of my coolest transformations to anyone who's seen, shameless Steve Howie. He's been on TV for, like, twenty five years, but he was, like, a tall skinny guy and just got shredded. And then his ex wife, Sarah, who was on, person of interest in that huge Netflix show sex life. So, training them as a couple. Emily Dechanel is always sister, Van Jones, like the political slash lawyer guy. Uh-huh. Speaker 0
Yeah. It's easy. Nice. Speaker 2
Alty. That's awesome. That's awesome. And then worked with a lot of music teams, all time low who are a Maryland band. Speaker 0
Okay. Speaker 2
All those guys. The band. Yeah, unfortunately, some of the bigger ones I can't name. Sure. Speaker 0
Yeah. I understand. Speaker 2
Island Ferguson from modern family, like Mitch. Speaker 0
Oh, cool. Speaker 2
And yeah. Yeah. Minutes, it's very fun, but Speaker 0
Yeah. No. No. Like you said, it's not the focus. And and but, you know, people like to talk about that, and it's it's a not not that you're not interested in it, but it's I get it. Even just back to Nate Costa, very briefly, he he trained, you know, Cam Newton and a lot of these NFL guys Yeah. That's cool. And it it's awesome to talk about, but it's really not his focus. His focus is Okay. Speaker 2
I built it. I'm supposed to be a lot of the cast of stranger things, the TV show right now. But because they're on strike, they're not filming. Some of the some of the adults there, and I was joking. I was like, bring a meal or whatever. But, yeah, it's fun, but kind of returning to the question for that. So the business, so my one goal, because I I landed in Atlanta and it was that big fish in a small pond, but, okay. I don't you know, I to I harped a little on formally being Mormon. I'm not religious or spiritual in any sense anymore, but, like, the universe, I I don't really have any of those, but I do think life keep sending you the same lesson if you don't learn it. Right? Yeah. Sure. Here in this new town, I have to learn how to really scale what I can scale. Because otherwise, I'm gonna be really successful quickly, but it's gonna be the same thing. I'm gonna be working all the hours people one on one for an exorbitant hourly rate. And it's gonna be effective and good, but, like, where does it end? When can I take So that was my goal? So I I have three health businesses in one, and I just I hit the ground running. I'm like, okay. Personally, I find fulfillment and I love working with people. So I could my online business could probably be five x bigger if I just did virtual coaching. And I do have clients in Dubai and Norway and around the world. Mhmm. But I I'm sorry. If you're listening, I don't like it nearly as much because I don't get the physical energy. I don't get to talk with people. Sure. You know, how how was your day? How's your wife and kids? I can ask them, but I don't get that energy. Speaker 0
Yeah. Understood. Speaker 2
I made a personal choice. I'm gonna train from six AM till noon. Let's say. And really see if people have a gym, have a space, I like to be out. I would I would die within a remote work situation. I want to see what work. I wanna have a life. Speaker 0
Sure. Speaker 2
And then I do the second half of my work day. About twelve till three, I do thirty minute calls with people around the world. Talking about nutrition, checking in on blood work, on their exercise. And this is, like, my high end coaching that I offer to people around the world. Mostly executives or busy people who are like, you know, I have people, lots of McKinsey guys, lots of doctors, lots of lawyers, three women at Apple who are, like, I just work all the time and I, you know, so all these different things. So I work six till three in two very connected but distinct businesses, different analyses. Sure. And then I'm hanging out with my kids. School school gets out from three to eight. And then at night, I'm, I trade stocks. I have, you know, cryptocurrency people think what they will. I got in the game so early that it's possible for me to lose. Speaker 0
Uh-huh. Yeah. Speaker 2
Yeah. Because I wouldn't risk more than ten percent of any portfolio on it, and that's probably generous. I do think there's some level opportunity, but the point just being I'm a curious person. Even when I'm not looking, I'm working, I'm looking at something with you. Right. I'm looking right now very actively. We're getting investors to start a men's health line, a natural consistency for all these things. So my hands always in something. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 0
You're a business well, you're a business person. You were right. You needed to be a business person, but not for somebody else. Yeah. Absolutely. No. I think, I mean, that's, you know, I totally get totally get that for sure. That's awesome. I mean, it sounds like your business has really exploded in the last few years, and you've made some really intentional decisions not only with your location, and in your network there in in Atlanta and and but also with your time blocking and being intentional with your actual day. I love that. That's really good. Speaker 2
One thing I wanna point out is that you you can learn new tricks. The the don't teach or you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
I I from from zero to thirty, I was a sweet kind, hardworking guy, but, like, I would just follow on to the same route. I'm just like, work really hard because honestly I got you stepped on. All all the things you can name because I would just, like, go there and smile because, like, that was my nature. So finally, I'm like, okay. I have to set goals. I have to have time limits. I have to be able to say no. I have to sleep. Hear myself, like, the things that you hear that you're like, yeah, yeah, I'll do it later later later now it comes. You're saying that? Speaker 0
Yeah. That's really good. Speaker 2
The physical move. I'm not saying anyone listening has to physically move, but for me, I was like, I have no excuse to not kind of Not rebrand me as a person. I'm the same person personality I've always been. I don't have to work. I I don't have demands. I don't have responsibilities. Of all of these things other than my family. I'm in a new place. I can make my business, my choice, choose my network. I can make my hours, like, I'm not beholden to a schedule that I slowly let beat me down over ten years in LA. Right. So I was I was intentional in my choices, in my words, intentional in my clients. I would say no to people who are willing to pay money, but I'm like, I don't like your energy, or honestly, you I don't wanna do it. I just don't like, I just I said no more. I make hard cutoffs. I don't work on Sunday or Saturday afternoon. I'm home with my family. Like, all of the things I wanted to do turns out I could just do them and I just wasn't. I wasn't doing what I wanted. Like, well, how silly is that? Speaker 0
Right. You you you didn't you didn't have to wait. Yeah. You didn't have to wait for the stars to align if you do it now. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Speaker 2
You have there is no perfect anything ever timing. You should make it do it. Speaker 0
No. Right. Absolutely. And there is a big difference between not not saying you don't work hard now. I know you do. But there's a big difference between, you know, the Robert Kiyosaki has the cash flow quadrant, and he talks about, you know, people think they're a business owner, but most business owners are really self employed. They're not act they don't actually own a business. They do technically own a business, but Speaker 2
That's a great point. Speaker 0
They just have a they just have a really demanding job. Yeah. They're their own boss, but it's really just a job, whereas a true business owner, and I think you've made intentional decisions and moves in the last few years to, you know, move in this direction. That's one of the things with if if you really are self employed, it's hard to sell that business because you are you are the business. So Speaker 2
could never sell a personal training business. I can sell that online. Mhmm. Even if I handed my clients off to other people, they're like, we're not the Speaker 0
same person. Right? Yeah. Absolutely. It's it's one of those counter too that things. Yeah. A lot of people that don't newer entrepreneurs, they they they don't really no one's thinking right out of the gate. How am I gonna sell business. They're just thinking, how do I how do I get to next week? How do I expand the the business? Well, once you get to the point where you think about selling, that it's a counter intuitive thing where you actually should be less involved in your business if you wanna sell that business. So But, Speaker 2
Thanks for the cholesterol. Right? Speaker 0
What's that? Speaker 2
I'm saying the the golden handcuffs analogy. Tied down and it's great, but you can't leave it. Like, I felt like I couldn't go on vacation. I'm my own boss and I can't go on vacation. That because I couldn't I couldn't justify leaving and letting people down and not making the income that week. And then you're not a business. You have a job. Speaker 0
Right. Absolutely. So before I get to my rapid fire questions, and before we get out of here, Phil, what's who is your you've mentioned some clients, but who's your ideal client. You have a couple different businesses, but talk about who you your ideal client really is. Speaker 2
Yeah. So my ideal client is someone between thirty five and fifty five generally, they're either crushing it at work or in their side hustle or something and their family's going well. Or, you know, frankly, sometimes not well, and and they need some more self care. But generally, it's someone who's got to a point in their life where they finally have some discretionary income and they realize, man, I've let my health slide. They have some anxiety, depression, or body image issues. They can, you know, maybe they're pre diabetic, maybe they have things like that. And so I I consult with and train these people all around the world who and not to to bring back. I said I don't love as much. I still love it. I work with people all around the world. But I change it to Zoom. Like, I wanna know the person. If someone wants to stay anonymous, that's not my person. I want to say, hey, we can make your family life better. We can make your business successful. Like, if you feel better, I'll get men to get blood tests. Their testosterone levels are two hundred and twenty. They're forty two. So, like, that's that's a seventy eight year old man. That's not okay. I mean, a client who his wife was unable to get pregnant turns out it was his fault. We got his testosterone up naturally. Speaker 0
Oh, wow. Speaker 2
Maybe, his business income comes up. I'm not taking credit for any of that, but when Speaker 0
you get your It's all related. Speaker 2
Yeah. The ROI on having not just now a much longer life than you would have had, but a much quality of life. We call that health span. Like, not how long you're gonna live, but how long you live feeling well. Speaker 0
Right? Sure. Absolutely. Speaker 2
That's that's my email. So, basically, people in my situation. Married kid's been through some crap and you're like, hey, I don't wanna take the long cut or necessarily the shortcut. I just wanna do what works and build a life that's gonna serve me instead of being tired. Like, you're trudging every day. Low energy, like, doing everything and it's never enough or that your body's slowly skating, you wake up with back pain, all these things, like, that's my guys. It was just they know they could be better, but they don't know how, or frankly, they don't have the tastes, like, I am the least handy man on the planet. I can fix software with ears and bodies. I can't fix the sync. You can call the plumber. If you're like, hey. My health is out of whack and I need someone to motivate me, that that's what I do. I'm the expert. Speaker 0
Got it. Understood. And you're absolutely right. It's all related. I mean, you you know, whether it's if you if you get somebody in better shape and better health and they're feeling better and they own a business, they're only gonna be better at their business, better better as a supervisor, better as a manager, better as a visionary, whatever else it is, better as a as a spouse, as a father, you know, So it's all connected for sure. So, absolutely. You just you just personally focus on the the fitness and health side of things, and then there are ancillary benefits elsewhere. So I love it. It's fantastic. Are you ready for some rapid fire questions, Phil? Speaker 2
Alright. I'm excited for this part. Speaker 0
Alright. Let's do this. So what is one thing that people misunderstand about you? Speaker 2
Oh, definitely. It's a tagline in my bio. I have I'm have kept it somewhat conservative, but I'm pretty tattooed up. I am quite often branded as a bro or a meat head and and such a nerd. My bio says I have the outsides of a grizzly bear and the insides of a Japanese anime girl. My dad died when I was raised by my mom and sisters. So yeah. I got the big scary outsides, but I love speaking languages, cooking, and being a super academic nerd that reads history for no reason and understands the political system of countries I've never even been to at probably the my outsides are a a facade for how soft inside. Speaker 0
Got it. Got a hard candy shell, but not really. Yeah, you can't judge your book by its cover. What is, what's one of your biggest failures or regrets. We've talked about a lot of adversity. You you've been you've been through. But, you know, if you had to do if you got the up the chance to do something over, what would that be? Speaker 2
I would say as a very frequent theme in my life, up until two years ago, I had never asked for help in my business, and I had never been to therapy despite having cancer losing a father getting divorced asking, I because of what happened in my childhood, I thought I can do it and be, like, hard and be intense. Right. I could take care of everybody. Like, I'm supposed to be the superman, and then I just, inevitably ended up letting people end myself down because you can't do And it's a Right. It's a collusion. If you're there, like, oh, he's wrong, I can't. No. Chances are toe to toe. I think, I don't match anything, you know, and yet still. Humbled. Speaker 0
She still needs helpies. Yeah. Speaker 2
Isn't in one particular instance, but and basically at least a full decade of my twenties, and really up into my late teens when I first became aware, like, oh, man, I could use some help or, like, someone to talk to and someone to turn to and, like Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Never asking for it and probably causing years more financial, physical, emotional pain, probably hurting others I'm not I don't have the angry or violent bone in my body, but just being like just so cut off or so focused on one thing that I missed all the other things. And so, yeah, asking for help and being a little more open earlier in life would have been a big benefit. Speaker 0
Sounds like, because my next question is if you could give your eighteen year old self some advice, what would that be? It sounds like that would be you tee that that one up for me. Speaker 2
Ask for help and listen more. Talk less. Speaker 0
Love that. It's really good. If you can have coffee with any historical figure, you mentioned meeting people over coffee. Who would you choose and why? Speaker 2
Yeah. If I've heard that also reward, you know, emotional answer if I could bring him back to my dad because I have too few memories. Historical. Probably Jesus only because although not religious anymore, whether or not I'm not real, whatever, it's shaped a bunch of human history on my own personal life. I'm like, I got so many questions for you, man. And if that's possible, then something fun, like, who I don't know. I think George Washington would be cool. Sure. Absolutely. But being here and now American citizen, like somebody who just I'm gonna found a whole new country. He he wasn't even much of a talker. Everyone just respected him so much. They're just, like, he's the leader. Like, he just have this quiet power, and I feel very, exuberant charm, but I talk too much. And I'm trying to do that. Listen more thing. But, George, Washington, from all I've read, he just thinks like the man Yeah. Speaker 0
Absolutely. Phil, if you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, what would you do with it? Speaker 2
Oh, hands down. My mom, I would buy her the flat in, by the thames in London that she's always dreamed of, but flats on the left and start at, like, four million. So Wow. You know, at the house of her dreams first because she has been through hell and never complained and helped us. It sounds so cheesy, but yeah, having been so close to death so many times. Yeah. Every person in my family that doesn't own a house, I'm not seeing a fancy mansion, but I would buy everyone a house paid in cash so that no matter what happens, they have somewhere to live with their kids, including ourselves, we're gonna buy a house this year, but we've always just rented, always invested then stuff never published. So I'd buy Yeah. Just for everyone, have a few million left, put it mostly in some annuity, invested, be stupid and responsible. Take the trip of our dreams to reward ourselves because, hey, we might die tomorrow and take my whole family to the maldives. But otherwise, you know, invest it and live off the dividends. Speaker 0
Love it. So that's a very that's a I don't know if you I don't think you were ready for that question, but it sure felt like it. Speaker 2
Was almost on the amazing race one. So I'm like, what will I do to millions even more? Speaker 0
Yeah. Absolutely. What is a challenge? Actually, I'm since you're a fitness and health guy, what is one meal that you if you had to pick one meal for the rest of your life, what would that be? Speaker 2
Probably steak, steak, and mashed potatoes. Speaker 0
Awesome. What is, a challenge that you're facing in your business right now? Speaker 2
Finding the right people to keep getting more coaches. Mhmm. And fending off the saturation of AI absolutely ruining them as much to the fitness and wellness industry. Speaker 0
Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about that for I'm sorry. Talk about that for a second. I'm sorry to cut you off, but I'm curious because you know, AI is obviously not going away. We've embraced it for certain things in our businesses. But, yeah, how how has it affected the the training and fitness industry? Speaker 2
So it is, of course, it's always listening the algorithm, right, on your so I will get barrage. If you're a coach in the fitness industry making six figures, you wanna make seven, eight, nine figures, our AI copy will generate LinkedIn posts, Instagram, YouTube, like, it's a content It's writing articles as you know, it's making videos. It's doing all this. And it's also people are using it and chat GPT to write exercise programs and diet plans for people. And I've actually it's been a great niche for me because I plaster all over my Instagram now Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Promise you. Every piece of content, every interaction, even the people DMming you. I have a my assistant hadley is D. Me. It's not a it's not my brand on personal training. Mhmm. I'm not saying it's not useful for, like, high scale nine ninety nine things, but, like, a high ticket offer where what I'm selling is truly a service of, like, paid for my time because What if your left knee hurts, or what if you tore your labrum? You're not, like, it's not gonna what if you ask for a program and turns out you hate fish, you won't eat broccoli, and you don't, like, I'm I'm able to give you the best version of what you want. And me, you tell me what you tell me what you want and what you need. And I'll listen to you and then as the expert, I'll tell you what to do. But your robot can do that. So Yeah. I think it's really useful for some stuff, but If if the human element's not there, Right. People who want a trainer want somebody to care and be accountable to and they won't feel that if it's just a robot, they will not feel that. Speaker 0
Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Yeah. I do a little bit of mentorship on the side for a note investors and you know, a lot of sometimes they want advice or or a plan right out of the gate. And it's like, no. I don't even know you at all. I need to listen. I need to learn need to know where you're coming from and where you're headed first before I can just prescribe this is what you should do. So I love that. What is, if you could start another business tomorrow, what would that be? Speaker 2
That's a great question. Probably some sort of food type business. I feel like nutrition still escapes everyone. Speaker 0
Mhmm. Sure. Speaker 2
Now what it would be, there's too many companies now. Yeah. But something to do with, like, healthy food or deliveries or maybe a protein company, but one that's not just crap sugar and fake stuff like delivering a product that is truly useful. Speaker 0
Got it. Awesome. So Phil catch it all. Where can people reach out to you online? Speaker 2
Yeah. Thankfully, no other Phil's claimed it yet. So I'm at trained by Phil on everything. Instagram. Instagram, I'm highly responsive. My biggest takeaway and piece of advice is, again, do something you do for free. I do Q and A for free every Monday. I answer dozens of questions, people DM me. It's always me. Or it's hardly saying, hey, Phil, we'll get back to you. So at trained by Phil on Instagram, trained by Phil dot com, I do consultations. I look at everything. The team, we go over it all, and then people who wanna train. Same thing. So, yeah, my Instagram or my web site. Everything is trained by Phil, and you respond to every single message. Speaker 0
Perfect. So before we get out of here, You mentioned your book. What's the title of your book? Speaker 2
The book is called Just Your type, the ultimate guide to eating and training for your body type. And just like it sounds like if you and your friends started the exact same diet and nutrition plan, you'd have wildly different results Sure. Because each of this book explains how to be your own trainer nutrition is how to work with your body instead of against it. Speaker 0
Love that. And and I promise we are wrapping up, but what's one other book you could recommend for our listener, whether it's it for entrepreneurs or just life in general. Speaker 2
Okay. Two, and they're wildly different. One, atomic habits by James Clear. Dry. It's a Speaker 0
great one. Speaker 2
It's really good. It's very unlikely you'll implement all of it, but if you even do ten percent of it, your life will be infinitely better. It has helped me immeasurably. The one percent rule the habit stacking, I I, paraphrase and utilize. I always give them credit, but that book is, the best habit book ever. And then maybe classic Dale Carnegie, like, seven ways to handle people or whatever that one is, but, Yeah. Was that Stephen Covey? Speaker 0
I'm thinking Covey. Haven't trust Speaker 2
influence people. Right. Exactly. If you are going to be an entrepreneur, My personal opinion is that no skill is more important than sales skills and we'll have it naturally. Some don't, but everyone can learn it and learning how complete and get more leads and get more business is everything. And if you know that, you can be okay, but you're never gonna be big stakes. And so learning how to be a people reader. Sure. Speaker 0
No. Absolutely. And and I couldn't agree more with sales, marketing, all of that. It's so important, especially sales. You know, and the the fact is I know some people approach from the outside, they think of sales and marketing is, you know, is slimy or, you know, because there are some slimy sales people out there. Let's be honest. But, The fact is if you believe in what you're selling, you have a you actually have a responsibility to get out there and sell it. Yeah. I mean, It it's not fair to I mean, it's not fair for you to feel to hold back on the benefit that these people could be experiencing if if you're not out there selling it. Yeah. So Yeah. And Speaker 2
I feel the same way about that. It's like and if you believe in it and that's what you do and it's who you are, you're not really even selling it, you're just being you and the right people will come. And, you know, the other people who don't they're not your people. There's enough you can get as niche as you want, and you have enough people to sell to. Speaker 0
Fantastic. Well, Phil, this has been really good. Thank you so much. Is there anything else you wanna cover before we get out of here? Speaker 2
I think that's great. It's been a pleasure beyond here. Super fun. And, hopefully excited to engage with some of the listeners on here. I think entrepreneurship is for the for the bold. I love it. I love people who want to create the things they're passionate about or to build themselves and their businesses. Speaker 0
Absolutely. The the show is for people who wanna take ownership of their their life and their financial situation. And you have definitely done that, Phil. You've definitely, faced some real serious adversity along the way. And thankful that you're now living in a in abundance, not that you're never gonna face a hard day or a trial again, but, I do appreciate you joining us on the show and being vulnerable. So thanks for your time. Speaker 2
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Speaker 0
Absolutely. And to the listener out there, don't forget to check out our website adversity to abundance, the number two, adversity to abundance dot com. And speaking of books, we have a book coming out very soon as well. So stay tuned for that. Phil, thanks a lot. And to the listener out there, thank you for spending your most valuable resource with us, and that is your time. Thanks everyone. Take care. Speaker 3
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