Episode 6 transcript: How to shift your mindset and turn adversity into resilience with Sam Beaver

 Episode 6: How to shift your mindset and turn adversity into resilience with Sam Beaver

Podcast Introduction

We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life. But what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead? It's the breath, depth, and purpose of each day that matters most. Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian kuzma. Join me weekly as I interview guests who make changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention, gratitude, and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.

Guest Bio

Welcome to Live the Width of your Life podcast. Today's guest is Sam Beaver. Sam is the founder and CEO of Bowling Green Athletics. A gym that specializes in group fitness, personal training, and performance training for all ages. Sam has a degree in exercise science and holds multiple exercise certifications. He is also the co-host of the bridge podcast with his brother Gabe.

00:01.87

Aneta: Sam, I am so excited. Thank you for joining the show today.

00:07.25

Sam Beaver: Of course, thank you for having me. It's an honor. It's my first time being interviewed on a podcast. So, I'm super excited to be on this end of the microphone.

00:14.86

Aneta: The first time I actually was on a podcast was on the podcast that you have with your brother Gabe. It's interesting to see things come full circle and I wanted to interview you because 1 I love and adore you because you are my godson. But 2 I think that your story is inspiring and amazing for young adults for people of any age really and so what I thought I would do is just have you first just share a little bit of your background for those that may not know you.

00:49.73

Sam Beaver: Yes, thank you for the kind words as well. I really appreciate that. My background, I was born and raised in Lakewood Ohio and I went to St. Edward high school then after high school, I went on to Poland Green State University where I graduated with a Degree in Exercise Science. But a focus and exercise programming. I currently own and operate Bowling Green Athletics which is a gym in Bowling Green Ohio where we specialize in functional fitness performance training and also personal training. So, that's my full-time job, and then I also co-host the podcast called The Bridge with my brother.

01:26.32

Aneta: Yes, so you're a little busy with everything, and do you mind sharing with the audience? How old are you? Okay, 23 years old. I think you're right about doing all of that.

Sam Beaver: Yeah, I'm 23.

01:46.00

Aneta: But, I ask you to tell me a little bit more about how you got involved in fitness because I know that this has been a part of most of your life. So, tell me a little bit more about what you know. What prompted you to get more involved with that?

Sam Beaver: Definitely, so fitness started for me, I guess my fitness journey started freshman year of high school and that was pretty much it. My dad and I go to the YMCA a couple of times a week to start working out and I absolutely hated that at first.

Sam Beaver: I didn't want to do it. I was like this sucks. You're in pain all the time. Why is it happening then about two months went by of him dragging me to the gym and then I started noticing, hey, like I'm getting a little stronger like my body is changing especially at that age. Your body's changing.

02:29.52

Sam Beaver: Anyways, but on top of the gym and stuff, my body is changing. I started to see some results and then I got a little obsessed and from there. It was me dragging my dad to the gym and then so we did that and then my freshman year playing football hockey and a ton of other sports over the years. We would be in the gym training and then I realized that I liked the gym part a lot better than the actual playing part. So, I was able to really dive in. I started the self-education process.

Sam Beaver: Really, in my freshman year of high school where I was reading books, listening to podcasts, or finding people on Youtube. That was you know fitness enthusiasts or fitness professionals and really just diving and saying hey, what can I learn to better myself essentially? then fast forward to my senior year of high school when I really took a plunge to where I stopped playing. Organized sports for the school and I decided to compete in my first Bodybuilding Competition. So, I went out and found a bodybuilding prep coach. He took me through a whole prep. I dyed it down. I did the show and that's when I really learned more about what the body is capable of nutrition. How to properly fuel yourself for your goals? then also what the mind is capable of so that was kind of my first stepping stone into fitness.

03:48.74

Aneta: Wow! and that at such a young age. So, tell anybody who might be interested in starting their own wellness journey. Maybe they don't want to be competing like you are right away but what are some of the small actionable steps that they can take? That will help get them to where they want to go.

Sam Beaver: I like the small actionable steps because that's what it is. You can't dive in and expect even an hour-long work. Right out of the gate. I would say, the main thing to start with and to really get a hold of is master of the art of showing up and that's just. Saying hey, I'm going to go to the gym. I don't care if you are there for 10 minutes, show up and do something, whether that's stretch foam roll, walk on the treadmill, grab a dumbbell, and start doing something with it even if it's for 10 minutes. Set it down and leave when you're ready to go after a while if you master the art of showing up and making it a habit. Saying hey, like it's not, I think I'm going to go to the gym at two o'clock today. It's like no, I'm going to the gym at 2 and it starts to be a non-negotiable in your mind, and then from there, you just build. So starting with mastering the art of showing up and that's really with anything.

04:50.42

Aneta: Wow! yeah, do what you find in terms of after people show up. I've read that “ It could be forming a new healthy habit that could take anywhere from twenty-one days to as much as sixty days”. So, what have you seen, or is it just depend on people individually or do you say if they start showing up consistently? They will start to change after a month or what does that look like?

Sam Beaver: I think, at the end of the day. It depends on the individual but it really starts with knowing how you're motivated. Because motivation is what will start you but discipline is what will keep you going and motivation can come in many different ways.

Sam Beaver: A lot of people see motivation and results. So, once they start seeing results like mine. That's essential, what happened to me was like, I’m okay now. I'm in it but it takes time to see results. Another one is community. It's getting a workout buddy and having a partner. If you go to a gym like my gym. You have classes and you're working out with a small group of people that helps tremendously because you start to get relationships with those people and they know you and they're like hey, didn't see you at the gym yesterday and they're kind of keeping you accountable. So yeah, it's knowing what motivates you and there's no wrong form of motivation. It is really like you shouldn't feel bad if you're motivated by results.

Sam Beaver: That's a normal healthy mechanism for the brain. So, if you're like hey, I just need to tough it out for a couple of weeks until you start. If your goal is weight loss. If you start seeing the numbers go down. You're like okay, what I'm doing is paying off and then you're like, I'm going to keep doing it. If your goal is to get stronger. You're like hey, I can lift five more pounds

06:36.73

Sam Beaver: Then, I did it two weeks ago. This is fantastic and so starting that we'll do it. Back to motivation and discipline. That's a super interesting concept for me because people are motivated in positions of comfort and then once you're in a position of discomfort. That's one discipline that kicks in.

Sam Beaver: So, that's one thing to kind of catch myself doing whether it's a business goal, a health goal, or a life goal when I make the goal. I'm usually sitting on the couch thinking in a comfortable position and then when I actually start taking action toward that goal is when I get mentally uncomfortable with physically uncomfortable and my body wants to stop. And that's when you have to say no like I made this goal. I have to stay disciplined and I have to see it through.

07:18.10

Aneta: So, I want to take those concepts that you just shared. I want to revisit something that happened. This idea of motivation and discipline. So, I remember you reached out to me. It was my senior year. It was in the middle of Covid you started to see that things were starting to shift and I think you were working at a gym. You were training your senior year off of college and you said, I think that the gym where I'm working is going to be closing and I might want to open up my own gym.

Aneta: So, walk me through what was happening at the time. The thoughts you were having about your senior year of college. I just remember thinking back to my senior year. I was like okay, I'm on a coast. I'm having a good time. I was not thinking of starting my own business so walk us through what was happening. How did you get this idea? What even went through your mind in terms of like can I do this? Okay, so Junior year.

Sam Beaver: I think, now that I'm thinking back to it. I think it was actually the end of my junior year when I said that because my senior year was actually already doing it. So, yeah! because Covid happened in the second semester of junior year because my first semester of junior year was normal. And then the spring semester. That's when everything was online. Yeah, I remember that I was working at a crossover gym as a very part-time coach and the owner was like hey, Covid's very real. It's starting to affect lives. We're going to have to close down and not reopen.

Sam Beaver: I always knew that I wanted to live my life on my own terms. I'm very passionate. I put my heart into everything that I do. If I can't buy into something I will put effort into it and that's good and bad. Because I really don't give energy to things that I don't feel passionate about, knowing that the gym was closing down and that the path that I was on was changing. If the gym didn't close down. I would honestly probably just shoot for a full-time position at that gym just to keep learning and staying in the business. I was like hey, you know I learned a lot at this position.

Sam Beaver: It's going to close down. I think I want to start doing my own thing now and it was more so like I didn't know, I didn't know if I could do it. I didn't know what I was going to do. I just was kind of just letting my thoughts and my heart drive me and being okay enough to imagine.

09:52.30

Aneta: So, what did you imagine that it could be?

Sam Beaver: What it could be if that makes sense. I imagine that it was going to be this massive facility and it's still like my vision of a household name. That's our mission. It's to be a household name in Bowling Green. If someone's talking about Health and Fitness we're in the name everyone knows us and we just operate.

Sam Beaver: With a sense of honesty and purpose and integrity with the community and that was the vision and that still is the vision too and then after I thought about that like oh, that's cool! I got super excited and then about 20 seconds later, I thought about it.

Sam Beaver: I have nothing, I have no money. I'm still in school. The gym that I was working at just closed down. Then, I was like okay like where do I want to be? Where I am now? and then the distance between those 2 things got insanely big and large so that was what happened there. Yeah.

10:59.64

Aneta: Yep, but, I love that you said you started with your vision first because I do believe that anytime you embark on wanting to do something different. You have to be pretty clear on the vision now that could change and evolve of course. However, you have that and because of that, you're able to stay motivated and excited. What were some of the things that you discovered about entrepreneurship? That maybe was challenging, was it a mindset? was it having to take imperfect action every day showing up as you said? Do you know what were some of those lessons that you've learned that you want to share with others?

Sam Beaver: Pretty much every lesson. Entrepreneurship is not at all what the media advertises it to be and I know that hashtag grind is very glorified. Everyone's like I'm in the grind and then you tell yeah when you're an entrepreneur, your first couple years are a grind and the grind is great, but it's only shiny and new for maybe a week and then it's the monotonous work. You know when you decide to be an entrepreneur.

12:13.80

Sam Beaver: Fall into entrepreneurship and you decide to go for the business under you a business venture. You essentially buy yourself a job is what's happening. You're trading in 9 to 5 for one and that's not only just where you are physically but where you are mentally too.

Sam Beaver: You're always thinking about ways you can improve your business so that you can pool from a lot of different things in your life. I could pull energy from your personal relationships. Your relationship with yourself, your health everything, and kind of learning and navigating how to do that properly. I think probably one of the biggest lessons that I'm still learning but with all the things that are difficult about entrepreneurship. There are sweet spots along the way and then a really cool opportunity to really be in as much control as you can be over your life.

13:02.94

Aneta: I love them.

Sam Beaver: So, I wake up every morning and I'm doing what I'm doing because of me. For me, I'm helping others but at the end of the day. I'm helping them so they can help me and the more I help them the more they help me. It's a relationship that grows together.

13:22.69

Aneta: So, one of the things I love about what you've done is you're very clear on your mission. You're very clear on wanting to help everybody of every age with every sort of fitness.

Sam Beaver: That's with any business really.

13:41.75

Aneta: Starting point. So, tell me, tell everyone a little bit about the work that you did around the strategy for your business. The mission. How has it evolved in terms of the hiring that you've done and really just the types of programs you put together this overarching sort of vision and mission for the organization?

Sam Beaver: Definitely! I think the mission stayed pretty much the same but the follow-through and the process have changed a lot. When we first started, we were in a parking lot and I had gym equipment in my Toyota Corolla. It's not a big car like I had barbells in there, dumbbells I had a big white giant whiteboard that I would pull out and write the workout on and it was literally in a parking lot of a park. That we weren't even supposed to be at and so that was my mission there. Was saying hey, if I can help one person, I feel a little bit better. I did my job and I also wasn't even really charging people. I just said hey, I'm doing this for donation because it is the height of Covid. It was very there was a lot of unknown.

Sam Beaver: But people's jobs and hey, what's happening so people are getting pretty frugal and so I was like hey, I'm just doing this to tell people I put my Venmo up on the board. I was like if you want to make a donation you can. If not, I'll still be here and the majority of people gave me something which was cool. But yeah, that was just pretty much bare.

Sam Beaver: Bare bones and then it would just go from there but after about seven weeks of the parking lot. I actually gave up on it. So, I was like I can't do this anymore. I need a real job where I can actually afford to pay for groceries or buy groceries. So, I stopped at the store junior and I got a job at Tj Maxx and then about two months after that. That was the summer between my junior and senior years of college. I was like I'm working for someone else sucks. Even if it's just TJ Maxx.

15:43.19

Sam Beaver: It's the same as there's a hierarchy in a business and the people that you have to deal with in the processes that you have to deal with didn't work out for me. I again got in that monotonous zone of just clocking in and clocking out. I wasn't really using my brain and I got really frustrated because I knew I had a talent for a craft.

Sam Beaver: I was good at and not getting better at that and just going on autopilot. I'll say, I don't want to do this in whatever job I get after graduation because you pretty much learn the position and then you just keep redoing it for years and years and years and I was like this is horrible. So, I quit Tj Maxx. I was like, all in on the gym and the start of my senior year is when we rented out a fifteen-foot by Twenty-foot storage unit and started training clients there.

16:31.38

Aneta: Yeah, and tell us a little bit now because you're not there in that unit any longer. So, tell everyone, what/how long you were there and what you learned. How have you just continued to elevate and expand on this journey?

Sam Beaver: So, we were in the storage unit for maybe six weeks and then from there, I started seeing like the sprinkle of hey we're making a little bit of money. Not much, we just made enough to cover the cost of the storage unit and so I wasn't paying myself.

Sam Beaver: All then either but I was like hey, we're you know we can cover expenses now and we have a little bit extra at the end of the month. Cool! From there, I was like we need a bigger space so we couldn't afford to get tied into a big lease or anything like that because we didn't know what was going to happen after.

17:23.90

Sam Beaver: I graduated especially with Covid and stuff. So, I dedicated two days a Friday and a Saturday to where I would walk into every single small business. I could find one that was warehouse based. That I knew had a lot of space and pretty much asked to talk to the owner of the manager and said hey, can I sublease a small space from you.

Sam Beaver: I introduced myself, I said this is what I'm trying to do. This is what I need and pretty much everyone said it gave me a look that I was crazy or was like that's awesome! We had a similar story when we started but like, unfortunately, we don't have any space for you and stuff like that and I think, I walked into like 22 or 23 different businesses that day. I remember to promise myself. I promised myself that morning before I went to the first one that I wasn't going to get discouraged by the number of noses and that I was going to get whatever happens and just test the waters.

Sam Beaver: And on the last business day, I walked in on Friday. It was like twenty-third or twenty-second, and the owner wasn't there but the manager gave me his card. So, here he's not in today and can give him a call. I called him and left a voicemail. Two weeks went by with nothing. I called him again and he answered and apparently, he didn't even get my voicemail. I don't know what the deal was there.

Sam Beaver: But essentially, he's like he was a mechanic and he owned a garage. I have a 3-car garage that I used to run my business. Out of that's just storage now. If you want to rent it to me. I can take everything out of it and you can start there. Perfect! So we moved into a 3 car garage. It had electricity. But it didn't even have running water and we were right this sounds crazy. Now and again and again and again we rented a port-o-potty and just put the port-o-potty rates right beside it. I did that there and we spent about three months in the garage with the port-o-potty. I had this come to Jesus moment essentially where I was like hey if I can do this in a garage with a port-o-potty right next to it like I can do this in an actual place. I got active again and started looking for spaces where we could be at.

Sam Beaver: Through some mutual friends and people just referring to other people. We found the space that we're at now in the Woodland Mall in Bowling Green. We have just over two thousand Square feet of space. So we moved into there after three months in the garage and we've been there since it's been a little over a year now.

19:49.40

Aneta: Congratulations! First of all, I just love that you had this sort of discipline about making the calls going their feet on the street knocking on doors. Choose not to be discouraged. Then also as you said, Even though the circumstances were not ideal even though it wasn't necessarily the vision that you had when you were picturing this amazing space when you first decided to open up your gym. You could still see the potential that you are on the journey and on the path. What do you do to keep your mindset so strong? Are there things like practices routines, and books, and what do you do to constantly elevate your thinking and your mindset?

Sam Beaver: Well, my mindset isn't always strong. It's actually I think sometimes it's less. It's not as strong as it is strong. But I have routines and stuff that I do to pull me back if it gets really bad. I get really dumb on myself I go. Hop in my car and I drive to every single location that I was at in Bowling Green. So, I drove to the first gym that I started working at which actually had 2 locations. So, I drove to the first location. I sit in the parking lot and I hang out there and I kind of go back in my mind and I think of memories that I had there and the things that I learned and the people that I met.

Sam Beaver: And then, I would drive to the second location which is the place where my gym moved to right before they closed. I sit there and I'd think back to all the memories I had there. Where I was going like where I was at in life mindset-wise. I think about that and then I drive to the parking lot where I started. I drop by Tj Max actually and I hang out in the parking lot. I'm like hey, this is when I was like giving up on it and then I drive to the garage and then I drive to the gym that this is the place that the gym's at now and that pulls me out of anything because it's like I pretty much do a mini walkthrough of everything that's happened

Sam Beaver: It's only been a little over 2 years. If I can do this in 2 years, imagine what I can do in another two years. I only have this time. I have more knowledge, more confidence, and a little bit more money to work with. That's the main one that pulls me up. Other than that, I Journal, I meditate, and I like the cold plunges, the cold showers, and all that but that I think is the main one that I found can pull me out of any tough headspace that I get into.

22:18.64

Aneta: I love that idea and if it does it just reminds you of how you are carried and supported all along the way and kind of gives you confidence are going to continue. Yeah.

Sam Beaver: Definitely! Yeah, We have a really tight night community of members at the gym. We're like family to each other and I know that if I support them the best I can that they're going to support me the best they can because it's a symbiotic relationship that we have.

22:43.13

Aneta: Amazing! So, what have you learned about yourself and all along this journey of entrepreneurship of Covid constantly growing and sticking with your dream and your vision? What have you learned that maybe you already knew and it supported and what surprised you?

Sam Beaver: Here. That's a good question. It surprised me, I learned that I'm actually pretty stubborn when it comes to things, good and bad.

23:18.32

Aneta: Stubborn. Like good or bad stubborn. Okay.

Sam Beaver: I think this is weird because growing up with the little brother that I have he was always labeled the stubborn one and he is extremely stubborn but I was always like, I'm not stubborn. I am pretty open-minded. I kind of go with the flow type deal. But then I noticed in certain aspects of business it is like I can't get stubborn and certain thought processes if that makes sense. So learning that about myself is like hey, am I really thinking about all the options here? Am I just sticking to what I know? Sticking with what you know is okay, but it doesn't force you to grow at all because you don't know what you don't know yet so that was one thing I learned.

Sam Beaver: A good thing that I learned about myself was that I listen very well and I'm very empathetic so I can if a client has a problem or is or doesn't have a problem or is just feeling a certain way or a situation feels a certain way. I can pretty easily tell the emotion behind it and then that can help me make a better decision around that situation.

24:31.13

Aneta: That's awesome! So, it helps guide the programs that you crave for them and helps you get an understanding of what motivates them.

Sam Beaver: Definitely! yeah, We actually changed our onboarding process for new clients to where we pretty much ask a series of questions that get them to tell us how they're motivated.

Sam Beaver: So, if there's ever an issue or If they maybe, if I see that attendance is going down or if someone brings to my attention like hey, someone's been kind of in and out of the gym. They're not. They're not doing everything they said. They're going to be doing. I can look back at that paper and say hey, this is how they're motivated. Let's try this tactic to get them back in. Thank you.

25:10.95

Aneta: That's awesome! Tell me, what else do you do? Do you have a community of other entrepreneurs that you connect with? I know Community is so important but especially because the entrepreneur's Journey can be very lonely.

Sam Beaver: Well, you're one of them. So, our weekly meetings and talks are always very very nice. Even if we're just talking about stuff that happened during the week.

25:23.93

Aneta: At times and what does your support system look like?

Sam Beaver: It's always nice to hear. What's going on with you because I think sometimes entrepreneurs, no matter where what industry they're in. They go through similar things and so it's nice to know that someone else is going through that too. I also know a handful of gym owners in the area as well.

Sam Beaver: And Sla surrounding cities and stuff that I try to meet with a couple of times. A year, I either go out to lunch, buy a drink, or something like that to talk to so that's really nice and then I am a part of another program called 2 Brain Business which it's a group of gym owners and entrepreneurs that help each other out. That's been a big help because all of us, gym owners that are in our space struggle with a lot of the same things.

26:20.37

Aneta: Yeah, so part of I think about the entrepreneurship journey but really just tackling anything new. If you want to make any change in your life. Maybe even just embarking on a fitness journey is breaking out of your comfort zones right? Our flesh can be very stubborn. We don't always want to do things that make us uncomfortable. What are some of the comfort zones that you feel like you just had to move past and move out of?

Sam Beaver: Saying yes, to the things before you're completely ready for them is a big one. Yes, yes because you're not going to know everything before you do it and 1 thing that's helped me a lot with breaking out of a comfort zone is realizing.

26:51.54

Aneta: That is so true. Do you find that happening more and more?

Sam Beaver: Why it's hard to break out of comfort zones and it's not because it's not you. It's just the chemistry of your brain. It's the same thing with fear and danger. So, when you experience fear, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily in danger all the time. That's just from thousands of years ago a mechanism when we were living in caves and stuff but your brain wants to find comfort. It likes comfort because that's the best way it knows to keep you alive so when I feel fear.

Sam Beaver: Around a new thing that I'm doing or where I'm afraid. I'm like hey like I'm getting super uncomfortable. I don't like this, my brain's telling me to stop. I'd kind of just take a breath and like this is just chemicals in my brain trying to keep me alive because it thinks I'm in a dangerous situation when really I'm just trying to send this email and I realize that and I do it all the time

Sam Beaver: I'm like this is just my brain trying to keep me alive and we've evolved into obviously a very different lifestyle than what humans do. One started out with I'm like okay, this is not really a big deal so that's helped a lot.

28:13.76

Aneta: Yeah, I remember hearing that both excitement and anxiousness so being feeling anxious or feeling excited. Physiologically are actually exactly the same. So, I tell myself anytime I feel that anxiety creeping and I always go. I'm so excited and so I've told my clients that and they use that a lot they're like, I'm so excited and very excitable lately.

Sam Beaver: That's good! That's good! I'm going to start, I'm going to start doing that.

28:47.18

Aneta: Yeah, just to go I'm so excited that I get to do something that I've never done before and so it's true. But, we can talk to ourselves and pull ourselves out of situations. Amazing! What is next for you? What is some other personal or professional goals that you're willing to share that are still on your list?

Sam Beaver: Definitely right now. Ah, the big one is just I've been really diving headfirst into the business so going through and seeing where we need to fix things or improve things before we take massive leaps forward. We're at us. We're at a spot now where I have a couple of people working for me. I'm learning how to be a better leader at this time. Last year, my main roles were how can I be the best coach for my clients.

Sam Beaver: Now, My main role is how can I be the best coach for my coaches. Who is coaching our clients? I was never really formally taught leadership and I'm learning how to navigate tough conversations because you need to have tough conversations because if you don't fix them. It's not going to get fixed. That's how it is when you're at the top of whatever business and so that's been a big one for me. I'm asking other leaders that I know I'm reading a lot of books, and listening to podcasts about leadership and how to do it effectively. and how not to do it too because there are very good examples of bad leaders.

Sam Beaver: That's been the big one just knowing that I need to fix certain things now. So in the future when the business grows. I don't have to worry about them anymore and that's a nice phrase. I like to think about if you don't rise to the level of your strengths. You fall back to the levels of your systems.

30:42.96

Sam Beaver: So, having systems and procedures in place will determine how far you can go. You can really push your success in business and flip the coin over to the life side. It's the same thing your processes and procedures get turned into the level of the relationships that you have in your life.

Sam Beaver: It's also the thought processes that you carry in your brain. Negative thought processes and patterns are repeated and so knowing that if you start thinking about this, you're going to go down and think about all these other things that you shouldn't be thinking about. But if you think about this, you're going to get into a creative space. A better mood from there. So really thinking of your processes and your routines as well that you can fall back onto. So those are the big ones.

31:25.54

Aneta: I love it and one of the other things. I really admire you is what you have discovered at a very young age, especially in entrepreneurship but really for anybody. That self-care and making time for taking care of all of yourself. Holistically is really important so talk about some of the recent things that you've done just to expand your balance and to really create more space for yourself.

Sam Beaver: This is also one that I haven't mastered yet. So, I'm still in the process of figuring out what I have learned. Actually, Gabe as much as I hate to admit it. It taught me this and reminds me of it.

32:05.00

Aneta: It's okay, yeah.

Sam Beaver: Ah, he says, it's selfish for you not to give yourself one hundred percent effort and energy because if you're showing up at 75% because you didn't take care of yourself. You're not giving your clients your full self. Someone else needs your 100% today and you need to do the things that you need to be doing to get yourself to 100% so 1 thing that I employed is I have an hour, a couple of hours in each day that no matter what the price point is, no matter who it is. I will not give those hours away to anyone else, but myself.

Sam Beaver: That's a non-negotiable even if a client is offering or a client that you know I could land. That is huge and they can only come in during those hours. I will not compromise those hours for anything and that's really helped me even if it's while I'm sitting down. I'm just taking a nap.

Sam Beaver: I'm just chilling. I don't even have to be doing anything productive that gives me enough time to kind of reboot back a hundred percent and show up better for people. Also, taking care of my own health and fitness so making sure that I'm making people healthier every day but a lot of times that makes me unhealthier in certain ways. So taking time to focus on my own health business has been huge as well.

33:39.15

Aneta: I love it! It's so true even with Yoga teachers. We talk a lot about how hard it is to sometimes make our way to someone else's class. Especially, if you're teaching a lot and for you. Do you find that when you do work out? Do you work out in your gym or do you prefer to go somewhere else and just be Sam and not Sam the owner of this gym?

Sam Beaver: Yeah, definitely! I do have a place at the gym that I go to that isn't my gym. I don't know many people there. I can kind of just put my headphones on and do my own thing. I really enjoy it. I pretty much the gym is mine. In my head, the best place I like to work out is because I just built a playground for myself. Essentially, but you know whenever I'm there. It's either I get pulled into something and someone wants to talk which is great and I love that people can feel comfortable enough to do that with me and I love it. But there are sometimes when hey, I just need to be with myself.

Sam Beaver: A lot of gym owners struggle with this and you said the same thing. Yoga is when I go to my gym. My brain is in work mode because it's the environment. When I go to a Gym that I go to just to work out. My brain is in hey, I'm in workout Mode. I'm not thinking about my clients. I'm not thinking that someone needs to clean this over here because they missed it and not because there are always things that you can do at your own Gym. So I'm not thinking about any of that. I'm just thinking about myself and my workout and go from there so that's definitely helped.

35:14.81

Aneta: So, what advice would you give to someone who wants to start a business or is thinking about maybe starting a side hustle? They might want to explore something different. So what are some of the things that you could share? With folks that you would want to share with them.

Sam Beaver: The big one, the number 1 thing is to find a mentor. Find someone who is doing what you're doing. It doesn't have to be exactly what you're doing but find someone that is doing and excelling in the field that you want to go into and just be a sponge that is, I have a degree in Exercise Science and I think I maybe use 5% of what I learned on a daily basis in school. Yes, it's a nice piece of paper that I can show people. I think out of all of the people that I've met over the years that I've trained with, one person asked me what i. If I had a college degree, not even certification-wise. I have multiple fitness certifications, and when I sign a client up first. If maybe one person in the past five years has asked me what's your certification and or what's your degree?

36:13.80

Aneta: Wow! Interesting. Yeah.

Sam Beaver: It sucks because I like telling people. I have a degree. I'm actually a professional but I learned the rest of the 95% of what I was trying to get at. So, I use 5% of the knowledge I gained in school for my degree but the 95% remaining I learned from other people by doing things like finding a mentor and pretty much saying hey, I'll work for you for free to learn that is beyond valuable. That's how I started. That's how I got my first coaching job. I showed up and I was like hey, can I clean the toilets a couple of days out of the week to work out here because I couldn't afford it and he was like, yeah, and then that turned into the next thing.

Sam Beaver: The next thing and that's how I got hired. But yeah, finding a mentor. Then be clear on what you expect out of yourself and know where you are now and not make anything not being too hard on yourself. Essentially, learn from the mistakes because the mistakes and the lessons are necessary. Failure is necessary for you to get to the next level and a nice exercise that I like to use is called “The light, The love, and The lessons” and I think we talked about this in one of our previous meetings. But pretty much anything that you experience can be categorized into three things: the light, the love, and the lessons. If something bad happens, I don't get it all. I'll poopy pants about it and put my head down or I just categorize it in the lessons tab. I pull from that.

Sam Beaver: Like, okay this isn't going to happen again and we move on you just can't be that hard on yourself. It becomes an issue if you're not correcting that and you keep making the same mistake that can be a problem that you need to figure out but as long as you're not making the same mistake a couple of times. You'll be fine. So, just learn about it. That's life. It's the process. So actually now every time I mess up a lot I get excited. So, I'm like hey, I found another way not to do this. So, I'm one step closer to figuring out how I can't do it. Those would probably be the big ones. To sum it up, be a mentor and create realistic expectations for yourself for the knowledge that you have at the present moment.

38:46.56

Aneta: Amazing Sam, I have a final question for you and hope that you could share this podcast called Live the Width of your Life. It comes from a Diane Akerman quote: what does it mean to you to Live the Width of your Life and how do you do that?

Sam Beaver: I think, l what the meaning behind living the width of your life is, are you living in a way that you put who you are into what you do, You're not, You're not pretending in a certain situation or you're not being something that you're not being something for your job, for your relationships, and for how you talk to yourself. It's showing you are one hundred percent authentic based on your personality. What drives you? what motivates you? and what do you want out of life in that situation? That really is what. But the gym is for me. I've always enjoyed helping people. I enjoy making people more confident in themselves. I like leaving people with a smile. I'm not saying I'm a people pleaser but I like pleasing people. If they show up upset and leave happy. I did my job and the method I do that is through fitness and it could be anything for other people. It could be podcasting. It could be cooking. That's how I live the width of my life.

40:16.15

Aneta: I love it! Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for sharing your story. I am positive that you have inspired many people who listen to this episode today and please share with us. How can we best support you? How can we find you? How can people work out with you? How can they listen to your podcast?

Sam Beaver: Yes, definitely, the bridge podcast it's on Apple and Spotify. That's where my brother Gabe and I do all of our podcasting. I say mostly, Gabe. I've been taking a little bit of a backseat with everything going on but that's if you want to hear more talks like this I would say.

Sam Beaver: That's a place to go. I'm not super active on social media. But my Instagram is Sam Bever Fitness. You can find me there and if you're in Bowling Green, bowlinggreenathletics.com hit us up there and let us know you're coming.

41:07.83

Aneta: I love it! I love it! Thank you again for joining. Thank you for your wisdom and if you liked the episode today. Please share it with a friend. Share it with all your friends and subscribe. You can find all the notes about Sam, where to follow him in the show notes as well as with me and I hope you join us next week with another guest. Thanks so much, Sam. Take care!

Sam Beaver: Awesome! Thank you so much for having me.