Stephanie Keenan Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Stephanie Keenan
Stephanie Keenan is todays guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview.
She is an entrepreneurial fitness expert who literally screams “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and well, as a man I have to say that its a very nice cover indeed.
She is Stephanie Keenan, a lady who promotes healthy living, leading to weight loss and wellbeing.
She believes that its not a good way to live to follow the latest fad in the dieting world, and from her online platform SKfitlife shows the world how to follow her lead.
She looks amazing. Feels amazing. And has an amazing life that inspires.
Todays guest has been on amazing journey of self-discovery herself to be able to find her place in life similar to Andia Winslow who also joined us on the show.
To be able to find her unique authentic self that she was born to show to the world.
Growing up in a small log house in Missouri as a child, money was tight.
How The Dots Joined Up For Stephanie
With issues being prevalent in her life, such as the effects of addiction, especially alcoholism, abusive relationships, the divorce of her parents, high weight gain, and other hardship it wasn’t an easy upbringing.
It wasn’t just money where the struggles were.
Life was a struggle throughout.
But holding it all together was Stephanie’s belief in herself, and an ability to out hustle everybody else.
She had a work ethic, that allowed her to overcome the hardest of situations even working three jobs at one time.
She says” its the journey that is the main thing in life. I pushed through everything, and learned so much about myself, and I learned how the human spirit can go far beyond its perceived limits when failure is not an option.”
But where did this kind of spirit that is lacking in so many people come from and flourish when against adversity?
And does she wish she could go back in time and speak to her younger self?
Well let’s bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs in today’s free podcast, with the one and only Stephanie Keenan
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Stephanie Keenan such as:
Why she now believes that having a difficult upbringing in her life really formed her willingness to take risks in her adult life.
How she signed up to become a nuclear engineer but disliked the containment that she felt doing the job….she wanted the outdoors people!!
How she believes that we should all challenge ourselves as much possible to find out how much we can achieve in life.
How the number one factor for working towards success is focusing on your mental and physical health in our lives
And lastly……
How she challenged me to arm wrestle over a packet of peanuts (even though I would allow her to beat me)
How To Connect With Stephanie Keenan
Return To The Top Of Stephanie Keenan
If you enjoyed this episode with Stephanie Keenan why not check out other inspirational chat with AJ Leon, Jack Canfield, Johnny FD and the amazing Leon Logothetis
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Audio Transcription Of Stephanie Keenan Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:26]
Yes, hello there. Good morning, everybody. And welcome to another fully packed episode of motivational chat inspirational content, and the kind of stuff that you’ve come to love in Join Up Dots. Yes, it’s Episode 208. Can’t believe that we are so far into the two hundreds already, but it’s gonna be a good one today, as I always say, because the lady is actually basically literally screams don’t judge a book by it’s cover. But as a man, I have to say it’s a very nice cover. Indeed, she’s a lady who promotes healthy living leading to weight loss, well being. She believes that is not a good way to live to follow the latest fad in the dating world and from our online platform, sk fit life shows the world how to follow her lead, she looks amazing, feels amazing, and has an amazing life but inspires today’s guest has been on a journey of self discovery herself to be able to find her place in life, to be able to find her unique, authentic self, but she was born to show the world. Growing up in a small log house in Missouri as a child money was tied with issues being prevalent in our life, such as the effects of addiction, especially alcoholism, abusive relationships, the double divorce of her parents high weight gain and other hardship. It wasn’t an easy upbringing. It wasn’t just money, where the struggles were life was a struggle throughout. But holding it all together was her belief in herself and an ability to out hustle everybody else. She had a work ethic that allowed her to overcome the hardest of situations, even working three jobs at one time. She says it’s the journey that is the main thing in life, I pushed through everything and learn so much about myself. And I learned how the human spirit can go far beyond these perceived limit when failure is not an option. But where did these kind of spirit that is lacking in so many people come from and flourish when against adversity, and that she wish she could go back in time and speak to her younger self? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start Join Up Dots, the one and only Stephanie Keenan. How are you, Stephanie Keenan?
Stephanie Keenan [2:24]
I’m great. Thanks for having me.
David Ralph [2:25]
It is a lovely to have you on the show. And it’s especially lovely to hear from you as well, because we had a bit of a problem we couldn’t we couldn’t get it going good.
Stephanie Keenan [2:32]
We know that’s right. It’s technology.
David Ralph [2:35]
You want to in going Hello, Hello, can you hear me? And I’m going Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me and the five minutes we sort of went back and forth. And then that’s troubling technologies. And it is so amazing all the time that we can have these calls. And I say this so many times on this show. But you kind of almost expect it to work all the time. And when it doesn’t. Other than banging your PC and shouting into your mic. You don’t really know what to do.
Stephanie Keenan [2:59]
I’m kind of the is it I assume that something might go wrong.
David Ralph [3:02]
Oh, well, I don’t I just live with that happily. Happy, Happy bliss, but everything’s gonna go perfect. If I press that button, Stephanie Keenan is going to do what that button says.
Stephanie Keenan [3:10]
Well, I lived in Costa Rica and I know that that doesn’t happen all the time. So
David Ralph [3:15]
Wow. I’ve always lived in the UK and that’s where buttons work. On your your life. whereabouts are you actually at the moment? You’re somewhere in America. Imagine I’ve got this vision but it’s somewhere lovely is somewhere hot. You’ve got beach, you’ve got sales. You’ve got healthy people all around you. And it’s paradise.
Stephanie Keenan [3:35]
Yes, that’s a great description of it. I’m in Charleston, South Carolina now.
David Ralph [3:38]
So you’re in the sweaty capital of America. I’ve been there. And I have never sweated as much right? Did you ever get used to that feeling? Because it was it was literally dripping, especially in the summer. It’s it’s heat beyond the heat and sweating is beyond sweating, isn’t it?
Unknown Speaker [3:55]
Yeah, I’m kind of strange like that. I really love it. I grew up in a landlocked Missouri, which is in the middle of the country. And then my very first thing was to get to the beach. So I will take that hot, droopy, humid weather over anything else anytime.
David Ralph [4:10]
So it was a when when he was a kid in Missouri when you say sort of landlocked what was life for you? Was it sort of an outside life? Were you a young girl that would run around and be fit and jump around like you are now?
Unknown Speaker [4:25]
Absolutely I have been super physical my whole entire life. I did grew up in the country. So about an hour and a half outside of Kansas City. And my grandparents still have the farm. So I grew up on a farm. And and I’ve learned like you said in the introduction I grew up in a larger house, we didn’t have central heating or air heated with wood burning stove. And then AC I grew up with none of that. And the summers there can get pretty hot and humid too. And, and my nearest neighbour was my grandparents about a mile away. And my brother and I were like best friends. And we played in the woods all the time and build forts. And I didn’t, we didn’t have cable, we did have a TV, but we only got two channels, which was like the news channels. And so I spent tonnes and tonnes of time outdoors. And yeah, super physical love climbing trees and running around and fields. I don’t even know I playing in creeks. How did I not get a snake bite or something, but I love it.
David Ralph [5:23]
That’s the thing. You know, I grew up in the 70s in the United Kingdom. And in those days, we only had three TV channels. Now you have hundreds and hundreds. And most of them didn’t show anything during the day anyway. And so when you used to come home from school in the 70s, you basically had from about four o’clock to six o’clock children’s TV, and then it went back into adult stuff. And so all you had to do was basically play outside. And it’s changed very much nowadays, isn’t it, there’s so much choice, there’s actually so much choice. But as I as I was growing up, you had three channels, you could always find something to watch. Now you’ve got 300 channels, you can’t find anything to watch.
Unknown Speaker [6:05]
Well, I don’t find anything to watch, either. I don’t have a TV anymore. So that’s good to know,
David Ralph [6:09]
you actually not have a TV.
Unknown Speaker [6:11]
Now, when I moved to Costa Rica in 2012, sold everything and use the TV stand down there, it’s as my desk because I could put it as a overlooking out onto the patio. And then once I got back into the states, it just wasn’t. It wasn’t important to me, it’s actually more annoying than anything else.
David Ralph [6:32]
I don’t want any teli really I watch about an hour. But I’m always fascinated by this questions. I’m gonna ask you this question. If you go into a house that’s got a TV, the furniture is always pointed towards the TV. So have you structured your furniture in that format? Or does it go anywhere you want because you don’t actually have to point towards the TV.
Unknown Speaker [6:57]
It’s really more in a circular format. I did have television in this house a few years ago. So it’s really it’s in the same format? I guess. So maybe I’ve maybe I’ve been I’ve been programmed to put it in that that same arrangement.
David Ralph [7:12]
So you’re in Missouri as a child. In the introduction, we were saying it was a you were just talking about it. And it seemed it seemed like the Wizard of Oz, it seemed a Little House on the Prairie just sound fun, fun, fun. But obviously that’s from a child’s memory of being allowed to be a child. In your introduction I gave up it was it was tough, wasn’t it? You had a tough upbringing? Has that shaped you to where you are now?
Unknown Speaker [7:42]
Oh, huge. Yeah, absolutely. It was tough.
Unknown Speaker [7:46]
Between finances and just the anxiety of having an alcoholic parent. That was that was really tough. But it made me stronger. And I don’t think that I would have been able to push through all the things that I pushed through my life without that kind of upbringing, because I hear people complaining about oh, you know, I don’t have this, I don’t have that. And I think why I grew up without any of that stuff. And, and I’m okay. And, you know, of course, you want to have a successful business and finances and that kind of thing. But I know deep down that if all of that stuff went away, it wouldn’t completely fall apart. Because I’ve been there before without it. And, you know, I’m I was okay then. So I think that helped me in being more of a risk taker when it came to business and giving up those little golden handcuffs that that really study fat paycheck. Because I knew that even if it didn’t work that I would still be okay.
David Ralph [8:36]
But it’s different as a child, isn’t it to an adult, as a child, you don’t know that you haven’t done anything. But when you are an adult, very aware on you.
Unknown Speaker [8:46]
The one thing it’s funny you say that because the one thing that I can remember complaining about mom, were so poor, we can’t even afford Doritos, or fruit roll ups or any of the cool foods that the other kids eat. When in reality now I don’t go that as comfort food. You know, like a lot of people do where they’ve been, you know, they’ve been eating that stuff as as children. And then that’s where they kind of default to because it feels good. I didn’t have it really. So I just, it didn’t even get into my system, really.
David Ralph [9:14]
Because I grew up and apparently now money was very tight. When I was growing up. I don’t remember that at all. I always had a birthday present. I was at a Christmas present. I had, you know, things through the year, not a lot, you know, secondhand bikes and things like that. But there was always stuff around. And it’s only now but I look at it. And I go Oh yeah, compared to what my kids have got, where we we set our kids up with so much, but they never come out their bedrooms, which is kind of annoying. You kind of go well, don’t you want to spend time with the family? But of course what I would do when I’ve got everything set up in their bedrooms, you know? So is his life now really a million miles away from that? Or is there similarities? Do you like the simple things?
Unknown Speaker [9:58]
Oh, I am I’m quite simple. I am. And living in Costa Rica for five months took me kind of back to that. You know, because there, there weren’t a lot of things to be able to buy even when I grew up in the country. And it just wasn’t quite as accessible at the time either. So it really wasn’t a huge difference to see people showing up in school and the same clothes every day. And you don’t really realise that if everybody’s showing up in the same clothes, you don’t think, Oh, I’m lacking. And I felt like that the same way when I lived in Costa Rica is just where there weren’t as many things to purchase. So people just did the best they could with what they had. And even now I am very simple. I much rather spend my money on travelling and experiences over shoes or something like that.
David Ralph [10:42]
Well, what is the experiences been for you, we are going to get into SK fit life and how that all came about because that is fundamental to your journey. But the experiences that really make you go Yes. He’s me check out police,
Unknown Speaker [10:58]
air travel, travel anywhere honest every month when I pay my mortgage payment. And, and that was another that was another plane ticket around the whole world. So I mean, obviously I do still have a mortgage, I do that kind of thing. But yeah, so any kind of travel experience that I can have. I absolutely love that. And just sports, anything athletic, snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing, stand up paddle, I will go on a trip for that in a heartbeat. That is one of my favourite things to do.
David Ralph [11:29]
I’m why why why this will work that the thrill kind of fitness side. Because if that sounds dreadful, to me, to be honest,
Unknown Speaker [11:37]
everybody, I am just I’m super physical. I don’t know how I made it through and will I’m sure we’ll get into my storey about the education and background that I have. But I don’t know how I made it through those years. Because that was so many years of sitting still. And I’m just a very physical and active person. And I love making new memories and having new experiences in different places. And I’ve done all of those things here in the United States. So as as you know, I like to broaden my horizons and get out of the states and do things outside of the United States too.
David Ralph [12:06]
Right? Okay, so let’s start joining up your dots, we’ve got a flavour of what you’re about and how you’ve got to this point. But really, the starting point is the little girl, the little girl in this log cabin in Missouri, running around, what was life really like for you at that time, you said it was outside, it was difficult inside, but give us a flavour of that sort of day to day issues that you had to deal with.
Unknown Speaker [12:33]
Um, you know, honestly, I really, I really always try to think about the, the good stuff and I try to take the the challenging stuff and kind of package that up and put it to the side. So I most of my memories are really good. And so I guess maybe let’s just talk about the the challenging piece for a little bit. And so just having an alcoholic parent was really tough. And so I, you know, I would spend as much time outside of the house, if my dad was home, you know, that kind of thing. He’s sober now, which is awesome. So now finally have a relationship with him. But you know, like it was just so I love to spend a lot of time outdoors during the summers and anytime before and after school, we we get on and off the bus at my grandparents house. So we helped a lot. And in the garden, I remember picking vegetables with my grandmother in the garden and cutting the grass, just spending time with my grandpa on the tractor out on the farm. And I did that a lot. So if school wasn’t in, and, and my dad was just telling me about this the other day, that stuff, it was so strange. You were like 10 years old. And it was on the country, it was an 80s. And I was only about a mile from my grandparents house across the field. So they would let me sleep then if I wanted to because it was a big sleeper. So sometimes I would sleep in and they would say just go to grandma’s whenever you wake up. And he said there were so many days where he would come home after work in the afternoon and I would still be at home. It’s like I don’t know what you were doing there. But But you were there, there was no TV to watch. Like you’re playing with your animals you’re playing you’re building forts. So I really enjoyed that. Apparently, my my love for solitude hasn’t changed much because I still like to be alone a lot. So I spent a lot of time doing that kind of stuff. I read a lot. It’s amazing what you do when you don’t have TV and video games to occupy your time. So that’s really I mean, the school I went to we had about, I think like 13 to 20 kids for every class. So it was really really small school too. I didn’t play a lot of sports when I was a kid because they just weren’t readily available for us.
David Ralph [14:43]
Would you have jumped into those?
Unknown Speaker [14:45]
And you know, I probably would have I probably I mean because once I got to junior high in high school I did everything
David Ralph [14:53]
and all those kind of American things that we imagined
Unknown Speaker [14:58]
Well, it was more like I did all the toughest sports I was more like like, like the all the guys sports like I was a thrower and cross or in track and field. I swam I played water polo. I ran cross country.
Unknown Speaker [15:14]
I like that tough stuff. Yeah.
David Ralph [15:16]
won’t pull me why tonight because you are you know, you’re very attractive lady. I have seen many attractive ladies in my time. And generally the ones I kind of meet a million miles away from you, they wouldn’t do those kind of things. And I know there’s going to be listeners out there going, Oh, god, he’s never seen me and he hasn’t spoken to me but just the ones in my personal life. What was it about the sort of the tough, male kind of games that appeal to more than
Unknown Speaker [15:45]
it’s probably because I had a brother and all boy cousins to grow up with. And so that was that’s what I did. I rode dirt bikes with them. I shots I didn’t shoot animals but a shot guns with them. Like, maybe that’s what it is. And I am super physical like I I
David Ralph [16:05]
do arm wrestle me. Did you record?
Unknown Speaker [16:08]
I would try, would you?
Unknown Speaker [16:12]
Why not?
David Ralph [16:13]
Can I actually sort of go over the top and sort of bend your fingers back? Would that be fair enough? If I did it on that?
Unknown Speaker [16:20]
I might, I might beat you though.
David Ralph [16:23]
I’d let you beat me. That’s the thing. If I start off with that image, I’m gonna let you beat me. I never lose doing. Right. That’s the way to do it. Oh, good. Could you if he if he was in a sort of bar or something? And some men came up to you and said, Stephanie Keenan, I hear that you’re tough. I want to arm wrestle you would you sort of go now go away city person or would you go? Yes. Okay. Here’s a bag of peanuts. But I when
Unknown Speaker [16:51]
I like option B.
David Ralph [16:53]
So you would go for that, would you?
Unknown Speaker [16:55]
Oh, yeah. I mean, I yeah. I love I really do. I mean, I maybe tough and I, but I’m super approachable. And I don’t know, I love I just, I just love the interaction, I would totally do that.
David Ralph [17:10]
Easy the challenge of doing it Oh, are you Uber competitive.
Unknown Speaker [17:15]
I’m over competitive just with myself. When I some of the other sports that so one of the some of the men’s sports I just mentioned, cross country, that kind of thing. Once I got into college, I was a lifeguard in college. And so I swam a lot and obviously to the lifeguard thing, but I did a lot of triathlons and do f1 actually qualified for the 2003 2000 World Championships too. So I was really big into the cardio piece of it. And I loved challenging myself. And I always wanted to do better than the last time. And but I enjoyed that it was very objective. So I was crossing the finish line. And there was it was a clear winner, loser. And that was your time. Eventually, I got into the fitness competitions, which is kind of well, I did physique and bikini, similar to bodybuilding, but it’s super subjective. So that was great. It was a great learning experience for me, because then there was only me to compete against there wasn’t, you know, because it’s subjective. So what if somebody thinks they don’t like me? And I don’t know, they mark me down because I look like their ex wife or something? I don’t know. Um, but you know, so that was, that was really fun. And that really helped me to be able to compete with myself.
David Ralph [18:25]
Yeah, you didn’t go to fall on that. Because as I say, a few pictures, I’ll be honest. And you kind of look like you were just getting to that point when he doesn’t look good. You will kind of you know what I mean, when you say these women, and I do too far. And you go, oh, what are you doing?
Unknown Speaker [18:43]
Yeah, yeah, well, one, I’m a natural competitor. I’ve never taken anything that’s not natural. So it’s really hard to get too much further past a certain point unless you have been having some chemical assistance. And I just, I really wanted it to be a lifestyle. I mean, as as competitive as I am with myself. I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to alienate people. I really, you know, it’s, it was more of a lifestyle thing for me. I didn’t want to give up that balance was was to go so far. I’m fascinated
David Ralph [19:18]
about this. Because it seems to me even talking to you now that life is about well, that she every sentence you say you use the word challenges you feel about life is there to be beaten somehow and to move on to the next level. And it doesn’t seem to me that it’s as much about you, I think it’s as much about life itself. You you want to come out on top, don’t you?
Unknown Speaker [19:43]
Oh, absolutely. I think I said that in about the competition stuff, too. Because the first year I did it, and I ended up losing too much weight and ended up really, really, really lean, and ended up with adrenal fatigue and failure. And it was really bad. And so I wanted to come back and do it the right way. And so my whole goal with my second year of competing, was just to come into it the right way, and go back out of it the right way. Because I don’t like to leave anything with a bad taste in my mouth. So really, yeah, it’s I mean, there’s it, I try to have the healthiest and the healthiest relationship with with challenges and,
Unknown Speaker [20:26]
and competition with myself with anybody else, that kind of thing.
David Ralph [20:30]
Did you think that’s what people need in life for the people that the listeners out there that are looking to start something or they’re just getting that vibe? Do you think they have to kind of start just challenging themselves, maybe not in the direction that they want to go in, but just in something, maybe it’s to get themselves fitter, which means that they don’t just come home from work and they sit on the sofa before they go to bed? Did you think there should be a kind of inward challenge to start getting yourself going?
Unknown Speaker [21:00]
Absolutely, that’s and then it starts this whole cycle, and you start feeling better about yourself. So really, wherever you start, you start in one area of your life, and it will to improve that it will extend itself into other areas of your life, even just, you know, I mean, I specialise in fitness. And how I got here is pretty fun. I mean, I’ve always enjoyed it, but to go from where I was to here. And so it’s not just fitness, but like fitness is the first step for some people’s journey. Just trying to be a better listener is a step for other people’s journey. Trying to be the best in their profession is sometimes a step because every time you try to do something a little better than you did it before it makes you want to do everything else a little better than you did it before you’re raising the bar for yourself,
David Ralph [21:43]
you really feel that strongly. But once you it’s kind of self fulfilling prophecy, you you achieve something so you’ve been looking around to think what else can I do?
Unknown Speaker [21:53]
If you if you look at it from a more holistic approach, I mean, I do see it like what you said the example with the fitness how some people do cross the line, they go too far, they lose balance, they lose focus, they just, they put blinders on actually don’t lose focus, they they hyper focus on that one specific goal. And I did that in the beginning, I really did. I mean, I shot a lot of other things in my life out and down. And in the end, when I you know, I quote unquote, accomplished my goal. I wasn’t any happier than I was before. And so I think it’s possible if you look at it from more of a holistic approach, versus just becoming obsessed with something.
David Ralph [22:35]
Because I find it is funny, I’ve had these conversations on a daily basis, you’re the seventh today that I’ve had. And it seems to be the most successful people I’ve never met, since I’ve been doing a show a fat, unhealthy successful person, it seems to be that the successful people in business seem to been challenged themselves physically. And it all comes together to be order to their success says it just seems that the you know, the poor people, the people that haven’t got going, just haven’t mastered the fact that it’s about balance in your life. And if you get one thing, right, the other thing comes together or hopefully will do. And then you start building on a level platform, do you find that?
Unknown Speaker [23:16]
Absolutely. I think your health is the number one and physical activity, there are so many health benefits to your brain to your mood. And it helps you to better handle stress. And I see it all the time now, especially since I’ve been in business for myself a little while and meeting other entrepreneurs and other commission based you know, they have to they have to get out there and do it. And type of professionals, you can see when somebody doesn’t have that balance in their life. And you know, if they don’t have the physical piece, then there’s a good chance that they’re struggling with a lot of the other pieces of life to
David Ralph [23:50]
he makes total sense because only I’m actually I’m pretty bad Alex definitely I don’t do any exercise at all. And I just kind of don’t eat I, my wife is going to kill me because she went away today. And she said, make sure you I haven’t made you sandwiches for lunch. And so I’m an adult and she went, No, no, you’ve got to you’ve got to have sandwiches, I went, look, I’m 44 years old, I can look after myself. And off she went. And I had three donuts for lunch instead. Because they were just sitting on the side. And that’s all I’ve really had today. And I just don’t really ever get hungry. Although I know it’s not good for me. So I kind of need to take your advice, don’t I even though I’m I’m preaching it? And I know because I’m having these conversations, I’m not actually doing it myself.
Unknown Speaker [24:35]
Yeah, and you know what? Eventually, I think you get to the point where you’re like, Okay, I’m tired of saying that I should be doing it. I’ll just do it now.
David Ralph [24:43]
But I would nice donuts, they were really nice.
Unknown Speaker [24:47]
I’m sure
David Ralph [24:48]
the jammy ones in the best ones, aren’t they I don’t know the ones with the holding. What’s the point in that is less don’t give me more Donna and jam in the middle.
Unknown Speaker [24:57]
I see that too. I see a lot of people, a lot of clients, lot of my clients come to me because they get to a point in their life where they never had to watch it before. And so I’ve always had to watch my weight, I eat too much, or I don’t exercise enough. And then I gained weight, there’s just, that’s just the that’s how my body works. A lot of people, they can just kind of get by without doing too much. But then eventually something happens whether they start gaining weight when they hit a certain age, or they start to feel weak and need to have some muscular strength, because now they’re actually losing balance and that kind of thing. Well before their time. So eventually, you have to change something. But it is harder if you haven’t if you’ve gone for 44 years without having that. And having built that habit into your life. So anybody listening who has always had to wash their way and thinks it’s not fair. It’s actually not a bad thing, because you have been training yourself for years now. And you’re not going to be that person’s like, oh man, not only do I have to change my habits, I have to change this many years of those habits.
David Ralph [25:59]
I’m going to be asking any unbalanced person. Is that what you’re saying?
Unknown Speaker [26:03]
You might
David Ralph [26:05]
Oh my God, I better start getting more donuts down me. I think that’s the only way. Yeah. So if you go back to when you started this, because you’ve mentioned a couple of times, it is an unusual part of how you got on this. And he’s unusual because you was a nuclear engineer or something in the Navy. I was seeing.
Unknown Speaker [26:28]
Yeah, so talk about challenges, and I’ll figure it out. So I grew up outside of Kansas City until I was 12. Like way out in the country. And then I went to high school in the suburbs of Kansas City. And as soon as I turned 18 graduated high school, I moved to Florida, I just had to get to the beach. And I didn’t have a job. I didn’t know anyone. And I wasn’t going to school yet. So I moved there. I found a job. I met some people. And I got I establish residency so I could pay tuition. So I did that for the first year
David Ralph [27:03]
that you moved to a state and you’ve got to prove that you should be in that state.
Unknown Speaker [27:07]
Yeah. Because Because Because I went to a public school. And so some of the tax dollars go to support that school. So you have to be there long enough so that some of your tax dollars have been supporting that school as well. I thought
David Ralph [27:19]
you could just move around willy nilly.
Unknown Speaker [27:23]
Well, you can but you just pay like the least double.
David Ralph [27:25]
I never knew about it in the United Kingdom, you can just basically go where you want. And wherever you are, you pay the same taxes, the tax of the country, not the tax of the state. So in America, it’s per state.
Unknown Speaker [27:37]
We are both we are that we are we are the country and we have we have federal taxes, and we have state taxes.
David Ralph [27:42]
Know that hotshot? Like those Americans move over here, Stephanie Keenan, the beaches might not be as nice, but we bet you have more money to go down the pub and things like that.
Unknown Speaker [27:52]
Maybe Maybe.
David Ralph [27:54]
So anyway, so you employed so you got yourself settled in bear and how Yes, carry on.
Unknown Speaker [28:00]
So I started going to school and I was you know, I had to, I paid for everything myself. So I was working. And I was going to school full time. And I always wanted to be an engineer. That’s what I thought I wanted to be I’ve wanted to be a bunch of different things. But I really thought engineering was the route I was going to end up taking. So I was going to school, and I was just taking all my prerequisites for the first couple years. Because I couldn’t afford to take that many days off of work to go to engineering classes. So the math and sciences usually go four or five days a week, I was working so much that I crammed all my classes into two days. So I really kind of got to like this end point where I had to, I, I didn’t have any more money. So I was going to either have to drop down to not full time and take some classes. I just I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out. And like I mentioned, I was a lifeguard and I ended up meeting another guy who he had just gotten out of the Coast Guard, he was a rescue swimmer. And I thought, Wow, that’s awesome. You know, like, that’s, I could do that. And you know, I don’t know if I could really do it because they only have like two or three females and I’m a badass, but those women are anyway, so but it put the put the military kind of in my head. And that person said, well, there’s like a three, three or four year waiting list to become a rescue swimmer with the Coast Guard, why don’t you talk to the Navy. So I talked to the Navy. And they said, Wait, what, which classes have you taken? And I told them and they said, what about the nuclear engineering programme? So it was like, Oh, so you’re gonna pay me you go to school and give me a job. That’s awesome. Sign me up. So did you want to
David Ralph [29:35]
be a nuclear engineer? Oh,
Unknown Speaker [29:37]
I wanted to be an engineer.
Unknown Speaker [29:39]
Yeah. One
David Ralph [29:40]
What if I, when he was little or whatever. And somebody said be an engineer. I imagine it would be sort of like building stuff not doing nuclear stuff, surely.
Unknown Speaker [29:50]
Right. Right. And then in college, really? I mean, I thought that it would be civil engineering. But the nuclear engineer popped up. And I thought, Oh, my God, I love a challenge. If I’m going to do it, I’m doing it big. So why not Navy nuclear just here? So that’s how I got into it.
David Ralph [30:07]
What did that give you back part of your life in the Navy? Did it give you structure to take into the civilian life? Did it give you so much structure that when you come out of the civilian life, you you you want to freedom? Well, what did he give you?
Unknown Speaker [30:22]
All of the above?
Unknown Speaker [30:24]
I, I finished my degree while I was in the Navy, and I was in for six years. Did you have to go to school for two years, and then you serve served on an aircraft carrier? A really it was great for me, because it proved I proved to myself that I could do it. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t like the job that I did in the Navy. I mean, actually doing the work of a nuclear engineer was not my cup of tea. I
David Ralph [30:52]
like to be what didn’t like did you not like about it?
Unknown Speaker [30:58]
It’s it was everything was indoors. I was in a power plant. It was loud. fluorescent lights, steel toed boots.
Unknown Speaker [31:06]
Yeah. But surely the deep
David Ralph [31:08]
definition of nuclear engineer isn’t going to be arbitrary. Is it a you know what you’re going to get Stephanie Keenan?
Unknown Speaker [31:14]
Oh, no, I didn’t I didn’t really fully like look into that far. I just thought it sounded cool.
David Ralph [31:22]
So you’re trapped indoors and your natural being is saying I’m a girl who wants to run around out in the fresh air?
Unknown Speaker [31:29]
Yes. And I don’t like being told what to do.
David Ralph [31:32]
It sounds like possibly the worst job because I don’t like being told what to do. Really, I didn’t even like being in the scouts. Because they told me what to do.
Unknown Speaker [31:42]
Right? It was, it was probably the worst match possible. But I did it. And I did really, really well at it. It’s not like I just got in there. And I didn’t do well, because it wasn’t really my cup of tea. I mean, I, I had I had signed up, and I was going to make it the best. And I was always my class leader or, like, I was always in some position of leadership. And I did well at that. And I did really great at my job, too. I just didn’t like it. So I you know, I, I did that. And then I ended up getting actually I applied for an officer programme I got selected, I was the only one in 2005 to get selected for the radiation health officer. programme from the fleet. But I had decided I had already been deployed for a couple times. And I didn’t I decided that I was I was done. So I declined the deployment. And that was, that was a challenge in itself, because everybody was like, What are you doing? You just got selected, you were the only one this year, you’re not gonna take it. So um, yeah, I decided I was finished deploying to you, I love travel. But
David Ralph [32:51]
I can’t do a job. But I don’t like but do it really well. That’s a kind of weird trait that you’ve got, because most people will go on God, I can’t be bothered to do this and your morale goes down. And because we’re all looking for the thing that lights us up and find the thing that is playing to our true passions. And so the fact that you can do a job that you really don’t like and goes totally against all that, but you can still do it very well. That’s a bit strange in there.
Unknown Speaker [33:19]
Well, I have to say that that comes from, I mean part of it, I attribute it to being the child of an alcoholic father. Because really, you just put your head down, you just do whatever you’re supposed to do. So you can just get so my tolerance for emotional pain is pretty high. Because you just kind of put on that front, and you just keep going.
David Ralph [33:37]
So it’s a kind of I know, it’s awful growing up with with your father, you know, thank God, he’s, he’s better now. But it’s almost like a blessing is a gift. But it gives you that, that strength of character to be able to do things that other people were just pulled away from?
Unknown Speaker [33:53]
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I knew growing up that he had a sickness. And, you know, we never hit me or anything like that. So he just was it just like I said, like some, you know, emotional that’s, you know, build up some emotional pain tolerance, because he’s not actually president, you know. So yeah. And I saw that pretty early on. So I do have a really high tolerance for that stuff. Which I’m just glad that I didn’t continue in it just because I thought that’s what I should be doing. Or I mean, I was pretty, I was pretty addicted to that paycheck. It was nice, and it was fat. So
David Ralph [34:28]
that’s tough. Well, that’s a key thing, isn’t it? That’s that word. Should you felt that you should be doing these kind of roles, even though they were going against your will be?
Unknown Speaker [34:39]
Yeah, but I’m so glad I did it that way. Because otherwise, if I would have just gone fitness from the beginning, I would have always wondered, could I have done engineering? And I always would have wondered, like, did I have what it took that kind of thing. So I’m so glad I did it the way that I did it as painful as it was, I also finished my degree and came out without student loans. So that was huge. Most people don’t do that. I had a lot of really great opportunities through that whole entire situation.
David Ralph [35:08]
So you come out, you come out the Navy. And was it that moment when you went, look, I’ve been suppressed. I now know that I need to be out doing my own thing. Or was it you know, the general transition from that point?
Unknown Speaker [35:24]
Oh, no, no, it was definitely not that smooth. I got out and move back to Charleston. And I absolutely refuse to work in a nuclear power plant, or as a defence contractor. I was like, that’s what everybody else does. I’m not going to do it. So I was looking for a job and maybe sales, but I didn’t have any sales experience. So I was kind of looking for that. And then I spent one year bartending at a beach bar, then I drove a beverage card on the golf course. And then I worked in another golf course at their bar. So I spent a year just kind of playing around. And eventually I got tired of all the golf courses. Are you in school? Where’d you get your degree in? Wait, where do you I’m confused. What are you doing? So I did get my personal training certification back then too, but didn’t do anything with it. I just I got it and then tended some bar. And eventually, I kind of like every month, I would wonder should I should be paying you know, like taking advantage of of this education that I have. So I ended up getting a job as a defence contractor. Which I was very fortunate. I mean, I am so lucky. I am so lucky, so blessed to have so many opportunities. So if I ever needed to go and get another job, I can’t.
David Ralph [36:41]
But you think you get those opportunities because you’re out hustling everyone because you, you do have hustle muscle, you can hear it. You’re out there making those opportunities. So it’s not like they’re just coming to you. And you’re going Oh, yeah, that’s nice. You’re doing the dude on you?
Unknown Speaker [36:58]
Every day.
David Ralph [37:00]
And so did you do you look at it as his hustle the key part of becoming successful more than more than anything, because I kind of think he is now I think it’s that ability or when it’s not working you you hustle harder. And when it is working, you hustle even harder again. And you just keep on doing that. And I I never had that hustle muscle at all. But now I’m doing this show, I know that it is that ability to just keep going keep going and sort of outwork everyone. But ultimately people look at you and go, it’s all right for you. It’s lucky for you, but I don’t see all that kind of, as I say the hustle and the hours that go into it. And you you’ve had that all the way for your life. You’ve got work ethic tattooed up both arms, I would have said
Unknown Speaker [37:45]
Well, thank you. Yes, I do. I got a lot of grit. I don’t like to ask for help, which is kind of a weakness, but it makes me hustle even harder. Yeah, yeah, I’ve really kind of just been doing it. And it’s a even as a defence contractor, I got in there. And I knew within I was within my first six months of working there that we were at a five year anniversary party. And I knew I hated it right then and I said to my coworker, if I’m still here five years, put me out of my misery, hate it and hate it a lot. And it’s within my first six months. And so I was around the three and a half year point, I had a lot of other life stuff that happened that I needed that paycheck and a tonne of stuff. But so at my three and a half year point with a defence contractor, I thought wow, I better get hot. You know, like, get over all this other stuff I’ve been going through, get hot, start putting something together. Because your five year points coming up. And I ended up quitting my full time defence contracting job five weeks before my five year anniversary.
David Ralph [38:49]
Well, let’s play some words sort of bring you up to that point of when SK fit life started to appear in your life. These are the words from Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [38:59]
My father could’ve been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [39:26]
That’s sort of says where we are in your life. I imagine you’ve been doing the safe jobs, hard jobs, difficult jobs, but you’ve been an employee. And now you’re at the point of going No, I’ve got to find my own thing and go out on my own.
Stephanie Keenan [39:42]
Yeah, yeah, I got there. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t take it anymore. But yeah, it’s, um, I think everybody you know, you do get to that point. And either you kind of shrivel up and you just kind of back back in, which is what I did after I got out of the name, and then finally took another job as a defence contractor, or you just go forward with it, and you just move and, you know, scary, but I don’t know, that’s part of the thrill. I mean, I joke about it, but it’s so true. I’m uncomfortable with being comfortable. So if something’s really comfortable for me, I I’d rather try something new.
David Ralph [40:20]
Those words are so powerful. And I could tell the way you you hesitated a moment, because there’s a truth in them. For all of us, isn’t there?
Unknown Speaker [40:29]
Oh, there is there definitely is. It’s, um, because I just don’t want in the end. And I’ve had a lot of things happen in my life to where it’s really kind of brought me to understand that life is really, really, really short. I don’t want to live with regrets. I don’t want to go Oh, could I should I would I? None of that stuff. And, and I’ve worked with plenty of people who are at that point. And I see how they look at me. And they’re like, oh, man, I wish I could have you know, so I just don’t, I’d rather I wouldn’t I’d rather fail forward. Which is what I do every day, then. Then just wonder I don’t like I don’t I don’t like that. That’s just that doesn’t sit well with me. There are a lot of things I can push through like nuclear engineering. But I’m continuing to live an unfulfilled life is not one of those
David Ralph [41:17]
busy man that really drives you on it’s the the SK fit life. Is it the challenge of building the business? The thing? Or is it the fact that you don’t want to not be on this planet and leave your mark?
Unknown Speaker [41:31]
It’s a couple things like that. I mean, I love calling the shots. You know, I
Unknown Speaker [41:38]
I love just, I don’t feel like I’m much of a control freak. But apparently I am. Because when I say things like this, like I like to call the shots I like to be and I like to to determine my own destiny. I I don’t risk does not risk doesn’t scare me at all. I love risk. It’s being like I said, being too comfortable. That scares the crap out of me. I mean, I remember when I first moved to Philadelphia, and somebody was like, Oh, yeah, well, you’re out of the military, you don’t have to move anymore. And I like almost had a panic attack was like, well see, this is not final, I could not just stay here. And I love the challenge that my business gives me I get to try a bunch of different things, I work with some of the most amazing people. You know, and and I get to change directions. And I don’t I don’t mind staying up until 1234 o’clock in the morning to take care of things. That’s a challenge for me. And I know that I i really i love that part. And I do want to leave a mark. And a lot of the way that I designed my business was because my mom couldn’t afford to have a trainer, you know, I grew up didn’t have a lot of money. weight was always an issue and my mom, especially my the women and my family. And I would watch my mom, you know, she would go to these and we would drive to town which was was like a 20 minute drive. And she would work out in the local high school gym, they would have bringing an aerobics instructor in and I wanted to create something that I could offer to other women like my mom, who it was a lower cost programme that they could have at their fingertips 24 seven, wherever they wherever they lived. Because we lived in the country, we lived in the middle of nowhere, even if she wanted to train her I don’t know that she could have found one where we lived. So I wanted to create something like that. And the the part about the spread is sharing my message of life beginning when you stop chasing skinny, I spent years hating my body. And I know as fine as it looks in pictures, if you look back at my old pictures, like when I was in high school when I was in college. And part of it was just the marketing messages that were out there. The blast the fat, the you know, like all of those, I’m really good with numbers, obviously, engineer. And I can remember reading Health magazine after Health magazine, talking about the number of calories you burn, which also then I would put into my head like I knew the calorie count of every single thing. So then I was obsessing over the calories in versus calories out, which is actually disorder, disordered eating, it’s not an eating disorder, but it’s disordered eating. And so things like that, where I thought you know, I want to share my message because now and I just shared this picture today where it shows that back in 2010, I’m almost five, nine, I weighed 135 pounds 2014 and different photoshoot, I look the same and I weigh 158 pounds in that one. So 23 different pounds. And I don’t I mean, I’m, I’m good with that. And I just see so many women hating their bodies, following through on all of these numbers. And this chasing skinny I mean, literally, like I see women doing hours of cardio, to try to tear their bodies down. And so my programme really talks about how to strengthen your body, how to just have a better image of your body. And I it’s all within that,
David Ralph [45:12]
you know, mindset more than anything, because, you know, I’m a man, and I look at you and I think, how could you not like your body? It looks just like all the bodies you would want? I would imagine. So is it? Is it not? You know, the physical aspect? It’s just, it’s your self esteem. Isn’t it? Is your mind is that how you can cope with these issues but ladies have because I do have it my wife looks amazing. And she always when she looks terrible. And even if I say she looks amazing. She doesn’t believe it anyway, she still says are you would say that anyway. So how do you overcome that? Because so many people will probably look at you again and go, it’s all right for her. She’s naturally fit. She’s naturally she’s naturally bad. So how do you overcome that when somebody isn’t?
Unknown Speaker [45:58]
That’s a great question. And I do feel great right now. I mean, I’m good. I’ll do like, I’m good. I feel really comfortable in my skin. And I would love for everyone to feel comfortable in their skin. And you know, I have to say the biggest piece of that was when I first started doing the fitness competitions back in 2007, I started training for them. And my coach had me sending in pictures. So I just send them pictures. They’re just their, their their pictures once a week because I did an online training programme. So I would send in pictures front backside front backside every single week. And that was in 2007. And I kept my stats I like weighed 147 pounds or something that will in 42 I don’t know. Anyway, so something like that. So I kept that information. And then I went through this whole entire roller coaster for about five years of this competition thing, the 50 pound weight gain, like all these different things. And then when I finally came back to that kind of the pendulum stop swinging so much back and forth. And it look back through my old pictures. And I thought, oh my gosh, I don’t look that much different now than I did back when I started this. But the hell I put myself through was crazy. So it’s it for me personally, it’s been to look through all those pictures and know Wow, like that would just wasn’t like, how did how was I not good with what I had before. So that’s that’s me personally, I’ve read a lot of books too. As far as body image goes, I’m, I’ve never had an eating disorder. I’ve always if anything, I’m totally a binge eater, which I don’t even do that anymore. Binge eating over exercising. That’s where the whole stop chasing skinny thing came from. And you know, cuz I would run it off. Like I would eat whatever on Friday night, who knows what I would eat? And then Saturday I go run like 15 miles. So that’s
Unknown Speaker [47:50]
isn’t that no, no good.
Unknown Speaker [47:53]
That’s terrible. If you go
David Ralph [47:55]
and have a good blow out, but you think, Okay, I’m gonna lose it the next day. I think that’s perfect.
Unknown Speaker [48:02]
Know, it really messes with your message with your body one. It messes with your mind, too. And why was it
David Ralph [48:09]
mess with your mind? I’m interested interested in that.
Unknown Speaker [48:12]
Well, all of the guilt is associated with overeating, right? Like, guys are little different. There’s a really good book called Women food and God that really talks about women and their relationship with food and their relationship with their body image. That was a huge eye opener. If any of this rings about with you, I highly recommend reading it. Guys if your wife girlfriend, significant other has issues read it, because you can help her a little bit in that way too. And, but it’s really so so you’re setting yourself up every single week for some disappointment, you know, and so, guys are a little different. Like you just enjoy it. There’s not so much food guilt. I mean, guys have it too. But for the most part, you guys, you just shrug it
David Ralph [48:51]
off. We have a good life family. Stephanie Keenan is we have no problems. We just buy bigger jeans. And that’s it.
Unknown Speaker [49:00]
Yeah, I’ve met a few of you.
Unknown Speaker [49:05]
But, um, yeah, so So it’s, um, you know, it’s this, it’s this cycle of kind of, it’s the self defeating kind of cycle. And so, you know, and and talking about how, like, you know, we’re talking about the positive stuff, how you improve one area of your life and improves the other areas of your life. I feel like with the like the binge eating stuff to that can go that can cycle down because now you know, you can’t you can’t trust yourself is kind of that feeling that you get that’s kind of what you’re implanting, when, every single time you’re like, I’m not going to do it this week. And then you do it. And they’re like, man, I can’t even I can’t even rely on myself, like I don’t have any willpower. And so then that I don’t have any willpower leads into other things like, you know, I’m not very good work or a parent or whatever it is. So it degrades everything that you have been working to build up. So I feel like that’s with everything in your life. But I don’t know that people really put that together as far as the overeating and self trust. Will Was it a struggle to get the
David Ralph [50:01]
business going? Or did it just fly.
Unknown Speaker [50:05]
Um, that was it was a huge struggle. It really was because I was working full time. And I commuted two and a half hours every day, an hour of the morning, hour and a half at night. And so I was building my business on, you know, outside of those hours. And just launching my business was a challenge. I did have a lot of support around me. So that was good. A lot of my, a lot of the people that had followed me in my fitness competition years, signed up for my programme, because they had been asking me for years for fitness advice, and I’d been giving it to them. So I had unknowingly been building my brand all that time. And I didn’t really think I was going to start a fitness business when I was at that three and a half year point where I was like, crap, man, I got I gotta get hot. I thought it was going to be something in the technology field. Because that’s what I knew. That’s what I specialised in.
David Ralph [50:55]
But that wasn’t you that was it? Once again, that wasn’t you? It wasn’t?
Unknown Speaker [50:58]
Nope. So that’s where I took my fitness background or my fit and my love of fitness and my technology experiences and created an online training programme. So you know that people people not they go Okay, so you have an online fitness? We I don’t understand that. So I mean, I have client, I do have clients in London, and I have clients in Germany and Costa Rica and Canada. So So what did you do
David Ralph [51:23]
on querying that same thing? My, my image of sort of fitness is that you go to a gym, and some very fit person screams at you for an hour and a half, and then you come home and then you go again, the next day, do you do the same kind of thing, always the whole platform of food and recipes and well being and what actually happens in escape at night?
Unknown Speaker [51:46]
Yeah, it’s completely different. And one, if you scream at me, for whatever reason, like I just I don’t respond, I just, I am not motivated by that. So that’s not how I motivate anybody, I really want to get to some of the psychological things that we’ve been talking about here. And kind of the root of things help people understand the why. And if I just tell somebody, you can’t drink alcohol, then they’re like, well, I don’t want to work with you. And I would never want to just do that. So I try to explain the why and everything and not even just Oh, it’s just the calories. It’s really this is what happens in your body as a chemical reaction. So that people are armed with the tools to make a better decision versus just relying on willpower. And so my overall programme is, it’s it’s a downloadable programme, it starts with a 12 week challenge, and you get three months of weight training. And on that weight training it had, it’s a PDF, and then when you click on the links, it will take you to my YouTube channel so you can see the exercises. So if you don’t know how to do a certain exercise, you can watch it. And so you have this nice little sheet that you take for the whole month to the gym, or at home, I created all my workouts, so you can do them from home. Because I didn’t like being indoors so much that I started working out outside my roof.
Unknown Speaker [53:03]
Yes, when I lived in Philadelphia, I would take my weights up top, and I would work out up there.
David Ralph [53:10]
If it wasn’t like you don’t like Santa Cruz or running along the rooftops.
Unknown Speaker [53:14]
Right, super flat deck. Yes. But once I did that, I realised that that moms were my main clients, because moms and busy professionals who didn’t have time to make it to the gym, or they travelled, so they just had the, you know, the the hotel gym. And for anybody else who really hate being indoors like I do. So I created a programme like that, then it also comes with weekly high intensity interval training. Same thing, if you don’t know how to do a certain exercise, it shows you. And but I like to add a lot of variety in there. And then I give a 30 day meal Guide, which I don’t like just having, you know, do XY and Z because that doesn’t always work for everybody. I like to give options. So I try to teach people how to put meals together how to pair proteins, carbohydrates, fats together, and so that they can kind of create their own meal. And that there is a meal guide, if you want to follow it to the letter you could. And there’s linked recipes to that. So you don’t have to think about what you’re going to cook for dinner. And then I also provide online coaching support in a private Facebook group. And that has really proven to be the best link the best, like the most powerful piece of my whole programme. Because it’s, it’s where the women will post their pictures, their accountability pictures. So if you want to post and you know, say today, your dog was there while you worked out and he was being cute, you can take a picture of a dog posted in there. A lot of people post their kids counting their repetitions for them, I get videos posted in there, or we have some women like my aunt, she went from a size 18 to a size eight in her first year with me. Wow, she does Isn’t that amazing? I love it. I love that I’ve been able to circle back around and help my family members. And so every Friday, she does full body Friday. So she’ll take a picture of her in her shorts and her sports bra so that we can see her progress. So it’s it’s you know, and she wouldn’t share that anywhere else. But it’s nice for her to share it with us.
David Ralph [55:14]
And the beautiful you’re doing people out there thinking about businesses is you’re doing something that is totally scalable, you do the work once and you can basically sell it at a time and time again. That’s one of the issues that people have they feel that they’re going to spread themselves too thinly. But you’re doing it cleverly, but you’re it’s a scalable platform, isn’t it?
Unknown Speaker [55:36]
Yes, that was when I first started. I knew I wanted to be scalable. And I knew I could only answer these fitness questions one time, were like fully answer it at for just for quality control for anything. So I collected all of that information. And now I have I’ve turned it into additional down around sorry, additional weekly information that they can access. So like on Week Six, we talked about your mental health, like I wouldn’t remember to talk about adrenal health every six weeks. But I created this programme. And now it talks about it for me.
David Ralph [56:08]
Are you obviously you’re proud? I can hear it come out of your out of every word that you say. But are you surprised at the community that you have built? Because it sounds like that’s the key part to your businesses to community?
Unknown Speaker [56:23]
Oh, it if I didn’t have to pay a mortgage, I would totally do this for free. I love these women, I have reconnected with a lot of family members, friends from college from from the Navy. I’ve watched clients who have connected with their family members within this group. And it’s Yeah, it’s been amazing. I really I can’t say enough great things about my clients. I’m super blessed with them.
David Ralph [56:46]
So so what we’re saying to the to the audience out there, you’ve got this idea. And you think to yourself, Well, how can I do it? Well, one of the cheapest ways is doing online, then find your passion, find something that you really love that you would do, even if you weren’t being paid for it, as you say, and then build quality content, but make it scalable, that you only have to do it once and you’re not replicating the will. You are doing generic stuff, evergreen, so I imagine that what works now, within reason will be working in 10 years time and build as much community as possible. And Ben, you’re rocking and rolling.
Unknown Speaker [57:24]
Yeah, so the other thing that I did as far as the the audience listeners who are business owners, and so I want to maintain quality control, and I want to only I want to be the coach. So as my community grows, I am going to cap it so that I only have a certain number of people available to the online community. And the other thing that I’ve done is I’ve taken my programmes that I give to these women every single I have meant to but that I give to my clients every month, and I have packaged them up so that they can be sold as he products. So he course he download that kind of thing.
David Ralph [57:58]
So how much do people pay who is a monthly quarterly membership?
Unknown Speaker [58:03]
I start out with 12 weeks, and it’s $227 for all 12 weeks, which is way less than a personal trainer. And a personal trainer won’t actually write out 12 weeks of programming for you. So it’s it’s to 27 for the first 12 weeks, I offer a bring a friend rate. So for anyone or any person who pays the 227, they can bring rent one friend for 127. So it encourages accountability, whether they’re local or whether they’re in a different state or country. And then once they’re finished with the 12 week programme, they automatically roll over into the monthly programme. So I have two sections, two places where I coach and online, and one is the 12 week challenge. And the other is once they’ve completed the 12 week challenge, they move into the monthly membership. I did it that way. Because I want the monthly membership, people to have gone through all of the basics. So I’m not getting questions like what is clean eating in the monthly membership. So they continue to get monthly training and weekly high intensity interval training.
David Ralph [59:03]
And I suppose the last question really is is it just ladies or men allowed as well.
Unknown Speaker [59:09]
It started out with women. And then they were asking for programme for their significant others or brothers or people. So the men’s programme that I have is just smaller, and men are not nearly as chatty online as the women are. So they mostly just download their stuff and they take it to the gym and they’re good with it.
David Ralph [59:27]
Yeah, we went to handball, we’ve got a mouth from the bone Nazis moved to speak would be a mouthful, right? Now I can see about I would be very interesting. But I’d be interested as an observer, I don’t think if I was involved in that I would be as as engaged as my wife would be. I think she would be there all the time and talking and chatting and sending our photos in. I think that is a sort of ladies thing, isn’t it? Really.
Unknown Speaker [59:54]
It is. And some women it’s it’s interesting, some won’t won’t say a peep during the whole entire 12 weeks. But then I will get an email at the end saying, Oh my god, you changed my life. And so like, that’s awesome. Because they were they were waiting, and they were just reading these different posts as they came in. And the other the other benefit to this, for anybody who might be interested in starting something like this. It’s positive peer pressure. So if I tell somebody if somebody goes, Hey, do I have to give up my wine? And I’m like, Well, you know, it depends if it’s slowing your progress. Sure. Well, all they’re hearing is Stephanie Keenan told me I couldn’t drink my wine. But if you get another client who starts showing progress, and then everybody goes, Hey, what did you change? What are you doing? She goes, I gave up my wine, then I don’t have to tell anybody do anything. Everybody does it. You don’t mean?
Unknown Speaker [1:00:44]
So it’s positive peer pressure,
David Ralph [1:00:46]
you won’t get my wife to give hapa wine, I tell you. She loves it glass of wine in the evening, it comes down after a day.
Unknown Speaker [1:00:54]
Well, one is fine. This is I guess this is the thing, right? Somebody will say, should I give up? Or do I have to give up my wine? And I say how much do you drink? And they’re like, well, just one and like one glass one bottle? So it was the bottle? Yes, it was the glass, you’re fine. Right? I’m going
David Ralph [1:01:08]
to record this. And I’m going to pass it on to her. So just before we send you back in times, definitely to have a one on one with your younger self. I normally play the words of Steve Jobs, but the conversation is hasn’t really flowed that way. So I will ask the question that I normally do, which is what is your big.in? life? What is the moment when you kind of went Yes, that is when Stephanie Keenan was born. That’s when the real came to the fore.
Stephanie Keenan [1:01:36]
So I still think that’s in progress.
David Ralph [1:01:38]
You really you haven’t been not the finished article?
Stephanie Keenan [1:01:42]
Oh, no, not even close.
David Ralph [1:01:45]
What Why do you think that?
Stephanie Keenan [1:01:49]
I’ve just had a lot of I don’t know how you would call it. A lot of surprises in my life and the past couple years. So I’m still settling down from that I really kind of need to see where things which direction to go, which things, how things end up.
David Ralph [1:02:05]
But whatever direction you go is going to be a ride, isn’t it?
Stephanie Keenan [1:02:09]
Oh, it’s going to be a wild ride? I hope I’ll write a book about it eventually.
David Ralph [1:02:13]
Absolutely. Well, I’m going to play the theme to now and this is the Sermon on the mic. And this is when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and meet the younger Stephanie Keenan, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give what we’re going to find out, because when it fade to up, this is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [1:02:37]
Go with the best of the show.
Stephanie Keenan [1:02:58]
To the age that I would, um, I would even just say, from age five, I can remember talking about what I wanted to be when I grew up as age five. And I thought my mom was the coolest. And so I wanted to do what she did anything that she did, and I would just tell my younger self to I wouldn’t change a thing I would say just keep going and you know, to maybe there were a couple years where I felt a little sorry for myself and I could have, I could have just dug deeper a little earlier on. But I think that it’s all part of the journey. So just know that all the challenges that you have in front of you are for a reason. And sometimes they’re going to push you in a new direction. And sometimes they’re going to just be nice, gentle reminders as you’re leaving an old situation into a new one. You know, sometimes those are the hardest when you’re leaving something old. And it’s really, really painful. And I think that it’s the universe’s way of telling you that what you’re moving towards is going to be so much better. So that when you look back, you don’t have these? Oh, well, it wasn’t so bad. No, the universe made it really bad as you were leaving. So. And that’s kind of how I felt about everything that I’ve done. So younger Stephanie Keenan. Actually, I don’t feel like there’s much difference to the younger and the older, like we still march to the beat of our own drum. And you know, just we’re hungry, we got grit.
David Ralph [1:04:27]
I can sense but the eight year old Stephanie Keenan is going to be pretty similar as well.
Stephanie Keenan [1:04:33]
Yep.
David Ralph [1:04:35]
Is that is that an exciting viewpoint? Did you look at that and go, yeah, that’s going to be really good or good? Because you are somebody who’s very into the fitness side. And when you get older and older and you’re sort of powers diminished? Somewhat? Does that? Does that excite you that you can go that way? Or does it depress you
Stephanie Keenan [1:04:55]
know, it’s super exciting for me, I just know that I have to appreciate everything I have going on right now. And so that’s what I see too, with some of these women that hate their bodies. And when I look back at some of those pictures when I was in college, and it was like, man, I really didn’t like myself back then. And like, what did I hate. So I really just know I’m, I’m really excited for whatever life offers. And I know I, I try to I try to surround myself with people who are in the position that I want to be in. So I met a woman the other day, she has she swam the English Channel, she swam between the island of Molokai and Allahu like, and she’s in her 50s or 60s, something like that she’s still doing these things. And so, you know, that’s, I’m 35 now. So that’s kind of the age that I’m looking at, where I have friends that are kind of turning 50. And they’re like, oh, man, so I just try to align myself with other people who are super passionate about life who are doing what they want. I think that people have a problem with certain ages whenever you’re not where your quote unquote, supposed to be in life. But I’m also only 35. So I’m sure 60 is probably going to kick my butt and really do it. So I just try to be around positive people who are still kicking butt in life and finding enjoyment and pleasure out of things that are maybe not so much physique related. Because yes, if anybody looks at my profile, I’ve I’ve done a few things with the physique stuff, but I do know that that fades, and I just appreciate it for what it is right now.
David Ralph [1:06:24]
Well, if he’s any consolation, I’ll get to 65 before you anyway. So how can our audience connect with you, Stephanie Keenan.
Stephanie Keenan [1:06:32]
and you can connect with me on SK fit life. com Google Stephanie Keenan, I’m, I’m pretty out there. And I’m on every single social media channel, pretty much so and you can find those links on my website SK fit life. com. If you have any questions for us, you can find the email address on there as well.
David Ralph [1:06:50]
We will have all the links in the show notes. Definitely. Thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up those dots. And please come back again when you have more dots to join up because I do believe that joining those dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures Stephanie Keenan. Thank you so much.
Stephanie Keenan [1:07:06]
Thanks, David.
Outro [1:07:08]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up Dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
