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Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert From Joins Us On Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing “MyBodyTutor” Adam Gilbert
Mybodytutor founder Adam Gilbert is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast.
Back in 2014 when Join Up Dots was quite simply a baby, he was one of the first guests to appear on the show.
At that time we spoke openly about his transition from corporate land to starting his own fitness business.
As we see time and time again, the quickest way to starting a business is defining a problem for a specific customer and then solving it in scale.
Our guest did that amazingly well, and as we also see time and time again was a text book version of his ideal customer himself.
Working for Ernst and Young, back in 2007, he realised that he wasn’t happy with his body, but lacked the time and energy to do something about it.
And he was not alone.
It seemed that Adam’s work colleagues all wanted to have a fitness timetable, that fitted around their lifestyles and would ask our guest for tips.
How The Dots Joined Up For Adam and MyBodyTutor
And after hearing the same request for the millionth time, he realized something.
Something had to be done.
He had to set out to create a program that would solve this problem in a big way.
He had to follow his passions.
As he says” Everyone wants to be healthy and fit, but it’s just too easy to make promises to ourselves and break them.
It’s even easier to rationalize indulgent eating, especially after a long day.
I realized the missing link was accountability. But weekly accountability wasn’t enough. It had to be daily. After all, a week is a long time!
The same people who were motivated on Monday had given up by Wednesday, only to promise themselves they’d “start fresh on Monday!” yet again.
I set out to create a program that would solve this problem. Daily and personal accountability would be the cornerstone. This way, I could help people implement the game plan we had come up with.”
Bang. He slammed them all together and created the online company mybodytutor
So how is his life different from the first time that we spoke on the show, easier and easier or just dealing with bigger problems?
And looking back to the fledgling business, was it a sprint with total clarity or a constant start and stop with a few worries in between?
Well let’s bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs with the one and only Adam Gilbert!
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Adam Gilbert such as:
Adam shares how he managed to get the accountability aspect of the business, and the break down of building customer value.
We discuss the steps that he took to find the right people to support him and how they have pushed his business to greater levels.
How we all have to think “All fires start small” when building a business. It ain’t gonna be a blaze overnight!
How he used to walk to work with a stomach ache for over two years, knowing that the job wasn’t right for him, but still doing it!
How he quit his job with no income coming in but just one goal: I will pay my next months rent….and he achieved it!
And lastly…..
How his big dot that showed him his path was way back in college, but he still went into corporate America first!
How To Connect With Adam Gilbert
Return To The Top Of Mybodytutor
If you enjoyed this episode with mybodytutor founder Adam Gilbert then why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as SEO TIPS, Katie Krimitsos, Derek Loudermilk, or the amazing Geoff Thompson
Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from.
Audio Transcription Of MyBodyTutor Founder 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 [0:25]
Yes, hello there. Good morning to you. Well, good morning. And thank you for everybody tuning in to another episode of Join Up Dots. Why have you been listening to sort of previous episodes recently, you’ll know that we’ve been connecting up a lot of dots with people that have appeared on the show before. And today’s guest was one of the sort of special guests who back in 2014, when Join Up Dots was quite simply a baby. He was one of the first guests to appear on the show. Now at that time, we spoke openly about his transition from corporate land, to starting his own fitness business and as we see time and time again, the quickest way to starting a business is defining a problem for a specific customer, and been solving it in scale. Now, our guest did that amazingly well. And as also we see time and time again, was a kind of textbook version of his ideal customer himself. Now working for Ernst and Young back in 2007, he realised that he wasn’t happy with his body but lack the time and energy to do something about it, and he was not alone. It seemed that his work colleagues all wanted to have a fitness timetable that fitted around their lifestyles, and would ask him for tips. Now after hearing the same request. For the millionth time, he realised something something had to be done, and he set out to create a programme that would solve this problem in a big way. He had to follow his passions, as he says everyone wants to be healthy and fit but it’s just too easy to make promises to ourselves and break them. It’s even easier to rationalise indulgent eating, especially after a long day and I realised the missing link was accountability but weekly accountability He wasn’t enough. Oh no, it had to be daily after all, a week is a long time. The same people who were motivated on Monday had given up by Wednesday only to promise themselves, they’d started fresh on Monday yet again. So he set out to create a programme that would solve this problem. Daily and personal accountability would be the cornerstone. And this way he could help people implement the gameplan. He’d come up with bang, he slammed them all together and created the online company, my body tutor. So how is his life different from the first time that we spoke on the show easier and easier, or just kind of dealing with bigger business problems and looking back to the fledgling business? Was it a sprint with total clarity or a constant start and stop with a few worries in between? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up even more dots with the one and only Mr. Adam Gilbert.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [2:59]
Wow, what an introduction. Thank you so much.
David Ralph [3:00]
Yeah, I’ll tell you what might you deserve it you will bear right in the early days when I was just a fledgling podcaster. Trying to find my way through clicking these buttons and stuff. That’s it. Does it seem a long journey that you’ve been on? Because I kind of asked this question to most of the guests who come on a second time. And it’s Yes, it seems forever, but also, it seems a blink of an eye.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [3:21]
Yeah, I think that’s accurate. I mean, you know, part of me feels like I can’t believe it’s been 13 years, since I started this in 2007. And a part of it feels like, you know, it feels like just yesterday. So there’s definitely that combination for sure.
David Ralph [3:33]
And with the earlier Adam, obviously, when you started in 2007, I guess there wasn’t a Mrs. Gilbert or there wasn’t loads of little kids hanging around. Now you was referencing but you’ve got a house full of children. Does that make it easier or more difficult to run a business like you’ve got
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [3:52]
that’s interesting. Yes. When when I started it was just me. You know, there was no missus there was no kids. I think it does. Make it easier just in the fact that I’m very protective of my time. And you know, to me, the most important thing in my life is my wife and kids, being a dad and a husband. And then of course, my bodies are. So I think, if anything, I’m just very, very protective of my time. And that kind of forces me to be, you know, extra productive. I joke around that, you know, kids are the ultimate productivity tool. And wives are as well, because my wife, my wife always wants me to watch TV in the evening with her, oh, are we going to sit down and watch a film? And generally, I don’t want to watch anything that she wants to watch. But I still have to find back to time in where I could be running back to the business all the time. Now. Actually, that’s a good thing to do to get away from it to have somebody to force you. If you didn’t have those. Would you be obsessed in the business? Yeah, it’s a really good point. I agree. I think you know, I’m a workaholic. I love working on on, you know, my body tutor. You know, I think I’m very lucky. I think some people have, you know, a job. Some people have a career and some people have a calling, and my body tutors for sure my calling. So for me, I just love working on it, it’s enjoyable. It’s something I look forward to. So if I didn’t have my kids or wife to pull me away, you know, then I could be working on it all day long. But you know, equally as important, as you know, my calling on my body here is my kids and wife. So having them there, though, reminds me that you know, balance is essential. You know, it can’t just be one thing to the other.
David Ralph [5:26]
So let’s reference what my body tutu is. For the listeners who haven’t come across you or haven’t heard the first show. And if I haven’t heard the first show, shame on you, shame on you, listeners. So tell us what do you actually provide? What’s it all about?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [5:42]
Yeah, so what we provide is daily and personal accountability. So my whole belief is that for the most part we all know to do, the real challenge is actually doing it. So what we do is we match our clients up with their very own coach, their coach comes up with an exercise and diet plan that the client feels comfortable with. But then the real magic happens. Every day they use our easy to use mobile app or website. They enter their food. They enter their exercise, it was an exercise day. And then every day, their very own coach is writing back to them with personalised feedback, suggestions and encouragement. And the fact that we’re giving them accountability, giving them daily support and coaching and guidance, you know, makes all the difference because anything and everything that gets in the way of consistency, which ultimately is the key to success, in my opinion, we help them get through
David Ralph [6:25]
accountability. Adam, as you will be aware, is a great thing to have. But more often than not, especially for an entrepreneur is quite difficult to to get off the ground where in the early days, I imagine you was doing everything by yourself. Would that be the case? Or did you have a scattering of a team that really supported you?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [6:45]
Yeah, so in the early days, I was doing everything. You know, I was, I was the coach. I was the head coach. I was, you know, the marketing guy I was, you know, helping with why wasn’t the tech guy but I was kind of dealing with are the companies that were helping me with tech You know, so now it’s no longer like that, you know, we have a CTO, cmo with a head coach now, you know, so it’s been interesting. But yeah, in the very beginning, I mean, I was doing everything myself. You know, now I have people who can do what I was doing way better for sure. When did that change?
David Ralph [7:15]
When did you realise that either he was getting enough financial support through the business, that you could start outsourcing or maybe was a mental switch because I speak to some people that are doing really, really well. But they’re still not pushing it off to people that can do things better than them. They’re trying to be the sales guy, the marketing guy, the internet guy, when did that actually change? And was it financial? Or was it a mental switch?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [7:41]
Yeah, for me, it was definitely a mental switch. I’m a recovering perfectionist for sure. You know, and I just felt like I was this was my first baby. You know, and I just felt like I had to do everything. I didn’t want anything to get messed up. I felt like I can only give, you know, the coaching that I want the clients to get. And I realised though I was the bottleneck. Like, I have this desire and this, you know, this really this insatiable desire and ambition to help a lot of people in this circle, a lot of people really believe that we offer works better than anything out there. And, you know, it’s our responsibility to get it out to as many people as possible, but I know, at least consciously or subconsciously, I knew I couldn’t do that all by myself. So it was a lot of struggles, a lot of, you know, just kind of realising I can’t do this. And finally, just letting go and finally accepting that, like, I have to get out of the way. I am absolutely the bottleneck in the business. I’m the bottleneck in my dreams. You know, and I was able to make that mental switch after a while, and well,
David Ralph [8:38]
was it a liberation, or were you more worried and allowing that, that freedom into your business of other people?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [8:47]
Yeah, it was ultimately liberating. Because, you know, I think perhaps you know what, perhaps I just didn’t find the right people. But I also I think it was a mental thing because maybe I wasn’t looking as hard as I was or I started to look when I realised we needed people. You know, one of my perhaps weird goals is, you know, I wanted our top executives at, you know, our executive team to kind of be former clients, just because I felt like if they believed in what we did enough to pay for it, you know, they really got it. You know, and thankfully, we were able to find that, you know, our CTO was a former client or cmo was a former client or head coach was not, but you know, it just to me, that shows how much they believed in what we were doing. And they they were both success stories. You know, so I guess it was a combination of letting go but also really trusting the people you know, I had founder had in place. So that was that was a game changer for me.
David Ralph [9:38]
You had some big dots but we spoke about in the first episode, I went back and listened to it to see what it was all about. And research. Oh, I do my research. And one of the things that you spoke about there was two things I’m going to come with the first bit you’re stealing work and used to walk to work with a stomach ache for over two years, knowing that wasn’t right for you, but you were still doing it. Now you seem somebody that is more open to what life can throw at you. But then you were very much entrenched in the corporate land. Why? Because I think that’s where most people aren’t they do stuff that I don’t want to do, but I can’t step away.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [10:21]
Yeah, I think, you know, there’s a lot of fear, right? I was just at a college. You know, I had my mom and my year saying, you know, I have this dream job, you know, this dream life in New York City that people would you know, always the
David Ralph [10:31]
mother is always the mummy. Maria.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [10:35]
You know, it can be for sure. You know, and, yeah, there was a lot of fear. And I think ultimately, it was a decision of, you know, kind of giving up comfort and security, you know, to pursue my dreams and I think a lot of people are unwilling or unable to give up comfort and security and I realised after a while, after two years, it took me two years, you know, that you know, I had to because, you know, my dreams were just they were they were. I couldn’t I had a physical stomachache, right. So, you know, my dreams, were not letting down. I couldn’t suppress them anymore. I had to go after it. And I realised that you know, then was the time. I mean, I didn’t have kids. I didn’t have a wife. So my responsibilities back then were way less than, you know, than they are now.
David Ralph [11:21]
But you did fine. You left and I was cleaned up started really bad. You only had one goal when you left to pay your next month’s rent. And that was like, you know, that was it. That was the whole goal. That was your whole stumbling block that kept you in that position for two years. Would you go back and shake that person now? Or would you go No, you’ve got to go through it. You’ve got to you have to bide your time for when it’s right. But when it’s right, it actually ain’t too scary. Me.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [11:51]
Yeah, I agree. It’s not too scary. You know, I think that was my goal because I refused to move home and I wanted to stay No, I wanted to keep living in New York City, moving home was not an option. And perhaps that fear, you know, really drove me. But it was also, you know, my my dream and my ambition of kind of wanting to help people with an idea had at the time. Yeah, I mean, you know, if I can go back, I would say, you know, what are you waiting for, but I also think sometimes you have to go through stuff to kind of get to a point where it’s just like, you just can’t take it anymore. And I kind of had to be there. I think for that time to get to the point where, you know, I would being there was no longer an option. I couldn’t I couldn’t live like that anymore. If I were to, you know, pursue it right out of college. It would be a part of me that would always wonder, you know, what corporate life would have been like, so I’m really glad I had that experience to go through corporate life and realise, you know what, it’s not for me,
David Ralph [12:49]
I remember being in corporate land and when I hit 30, I had a kind of midlife crisis and just quit my job and walked out. didn’t know what I was going to do. got drunk for a whole Yeah, really and just kind of just, I was totally lost, totally lost. And then I went back into another corporate job. And after eight years, I knew that I was really lost. And my 40s were just dreadful because I knew I could deliver so much more. But I didn’t have the courage to do it because I had five kids either mortgage, I had a house, I had all the responsibilities. But I also think I didn’t really believe in myself. I think I was institutionalised, but my skills and talents were only relevant to the place that I was working in. And I find that with a lot of people now they don’t realise but all the bad jobs I’ve had actually a teaching them stuff that gets some stronger and stronger, it’s the reps and you would have learned so much from that corporate job that you now take into your own life, I would imagine in a similar way.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [13:53]
Absolutely. I think that’s very well said. You know, there’s a lot of organisation. There’s a lot of time management. There’s a lot of competing Man that you do that I did learn. So you know, and listen, the idea for my body to came to me while I was in corporate America. So I always had the passion for health and fitness and helping people. But I didn’t know how to put it together. I didn’t know what to do with it. So, you know, I’m extremely grateful for those two years. I mean, those two years are, you know, that’s what, how I got the idea. And you know, my life is what did it say? Because it was two years.
David Ralph [14:23]
Next, hey, some words. We’ll be back with Adam.
Oprah Winfrey [14:26]
The way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this stuff. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move and not to be overwhelmed by it because, you know, your life is bigger than that one moment. You know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [14:57]
Now, of course, was Oprah Winfrey. Grateful Nice advice, walking away being quiet and almost letting the decisions come to yourself. Now, when you started, let’s take you back to 2007. You quit your job, you bought a URL. And I find that although that’s great businesses bias that she gave us. In the early days, there’s almost like too many choices. It’s very hard to get clarity after that first three months where you set your business up, you get a website, and then nothing’s really happening. Did you have fun? Or did it just hit the ground running because you have a client base already asking for help in your corporate job?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [15:37]
Yeah, well, I didn’t have a client base. You know, I mean, I had people I was helping while I was in corporate America, but you know, one of my goals was I didn’t want to ask friends or clients or colleagues to be clients up front. Because I realised that this was going to work for the long term. You know, I had to find strangers. And thankfully, when we launched you know, in in February of 2007, I quit my job. January 2007, you know, we kind of hit the ground running. And you know, that first month was great. The second month was even better. And the third month, you know, it was really busy as well. Back then we were advertising and we had to stop advertising because I couldn’t handle the amount of clients we had. So I was very fortunate in that regard. And for me, the next question was, where the next move was, alright, well, how do I handle you know, more, more clients? You know, I can’t work with these people all myself. So then that’s when the idea of kind of building out a system to handle the clients and you know, kind of building a team of coaches came into play.
David Ralph [16:32]
So in summary, because the the line went funny, just for a moment, you threw up a website, you then started to advertise. Did you advertise? Extremely locally? Were you looking for people in your vicinity or because it was an online it didn’t matter to you?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [16:50]
It was all online. So I was advertising. Back then it was Facebook flyers. That was it was the Facebook’s products for avatar. into college campuses. So I was advertising to some local colleges, just colleges that I felt would kind of benefit from a service like ours, where I felt students were looking for a service like ours. And that’s how we did it. So because it was all online it was I was doing online advertising background. Now,
David Ralph [17:18]
you start to get that problem everybody likes but also is difficult, especially if you’re a perfectionist, but you’re getting the business flying in and it’s all going through you. You must have let some people down. Surely you must have had some complaints about you couldn’t be there for everyone like you authored right in the very beginning.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [17:39]
Yeah, well, you know, I would back then I was probably working 18 hour days. It was just absolutely absurd. Yeah, I’m sure I’ve let people down and you know, but I always try to make it up to them. But, you know, I think one of the reasons why I realised I needed a team in places working 18 hour days was just no longer sustainable. You know, I just couldn’t do it anymore. And I didn’t want to do any more. Because I, again, I felt like I was hurting the growth of my body tear. And I felt like I wasn’t serving our clients as best as I could, because there’s people who can do you know, some of the things I was doing back then better than I could. So, you know, the transition became somewhat immediate after a while because it just, you know, I just realised this is no longer sustainable. We need a team. So slowly, but surely I was, you know, training coaches on the side. And then, you know, I said, there was some clients who wanted to stay with me there were some clients who wanted to try new coach or they’re open to it, you know, and then that’s how we kind of transitioned from me just coaching to having other people
David Ralph [18:40]
now Steve Jobs famously went into Pepsi Cola or Coca Cola and said, Do you want to sell fizzy water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to change the world? Very difficult to to turn that down. How did you start recruiting people with your passion because your passion is obviously there for all to see for somebody to take the leap and leave their job and come and work for you, was it a side hustle base at that beginning? Where you allowing people to do sort of one leg in one camp and one in another?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [19:10]
Yeah, well, you know, I think the thing is, you know, I always thought that was gonna be the biggest challenge recruiting, you know, amazing people, because I know, we’re only as good as your coaches. But thankfully, from fairly early on, I started getting people, you know, emailing me and calling me and saying, hey, I’d love to work with you. And I can sense their passion and they kind of read through our website and kind of read through my story and, you know, something resonated with them, and they wanted to be a part of it. So, you know, for me, it was always like, Alright, let’s find people who are, you know, really passionate about helping people who, you know, have kind of dedicated their life to it. And for me, you know, you can’t teach passion, you can’t teach that dedication. And, you know, when someone has that fire in their belly, and they really, you know, love the idea of working for you, you know, you can’t turn that down. So the other, you know, aspects of it, whether they were working elsewhere, or they can only work for us part time, whatever. That to me wasn’t as nearly nearly as important as the other stuff.
David Ralph [20:06]
And so is it Haley your head coach? Did you say? Yep, okay, so she’s the one that is quality control. She’s the one that makes sure that your team is operating. Is that a daily process? Does she do Is it a micro management? Because I know a lot of people out there had this fear of losing control and having people almost tarnishing their vision by being not in control of sort of the main hands on the tail.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [20:35]
Yeah, well, I think it comes down to trust. I trust Haley immensely. I think she’s incredible what she does, and she understands my vision, My vision is her vision, like, you know, it’s with our executive team, right, like john, Jeremy Haley. You know, we all are striving for the same thing. And we all are trying to build something together and we really believe in the potential of what we’re building. So I think when you have that trust, it really becomes a lot more Easier to let go, you know, and Haley knows what we’re trying to do and, and she knows the type of quality we’re after. So, you know, it becomes a lot easier when you have that in place.
David Ralph [21:10]
So how did you actually find the right style? How did you make sure that these people were really fit for purpose?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [21:17]
Yeah. So you know, one of the things I would do is, you know, we get these amazing emails from people and they would pour their hearts out and how they want to work for us. And you know, how what I wrote resonated and all this great stuff. But, you know, I do like a simple test, I would say, Hey, can you do me a favour and email me, you know, in a week with a specific date, and it was surprising and scary, just how many people you know, kind of would miss that email that it would miss that date and forget to email me, they would email me a day or two later, and just that simple test kind of gave me you know, a window into like art, if they’re doing if they’re missing this, then they’re not going to be a good fit because we have people who are very reliable, and we need people who are very consistent. So
David Ralph [21:57]
if we look at your site, it looks very sexy. It’s very personal and it’s no doubt it’s a big success. Ugly time, very first websites when you throw it up and you put it together yourself. What was the difference when you look back on it? And we can all go back and look at it on wayback machine that sort of evidences, beginning stages. How ugly was it, Adam? It was pretty ugly.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [22:22]
I made it myself. I made the first few iterations myself from February of 2007, to April 2007. And then I remember one of my entrepreneur buddies, you know, I was telling him what was going on and how clients were signing up, and he’s like, I need a new website, you need a new website. So I flew down to North Carolina, and he helped me redesign a new site. So we had that for a little while. And then eventually I realised we needed you know, to upgrade and really get a professional firm to do it. But yeah, the early versions were absolutely hideous, very, very amateur. But I also knew they were amateur and I kind of You know, use that to our advantage. Right? So I had my phone number on there. Back then there was Instant Messenger, AOL, you know, it’s the messenger. I had my screen name on there. And I and I called out the elephant in the room. I said, Listen, I know this site looks very amateur. But you know, I’m extremely passionate about what we do. We offer money back guarantee, you know, just give us a chance, you know, and that’s what we did. And I, you know, spoke with every client before they signed up. And, you know, it was a, you know, people I had to earn people’s trust. And you know, that’s also why we offer the money back guarantee we still do to that point. But yeah, that’s what you’re doing back then.
David Ralph [23:32]
Well, what you were doing brilliantly, is you were selling the passion and you were giving people an end product, but they needed, it was always what they need. And I remember starting Join Up Dots and it was just basically a blog post. You know, I look back and I think my god, that was the first time I started, you know, and then I went through about a capital source. Change changes on there, but you can be ugly for quite a while. still be reasonably successful, I was still getting people lining up to be a guest on the show. I didn’t have an audience. I didn’t have a website, I had nothing but my own passion. And it shouldn’t hold anyone back from sitting there in a cubicle thinking, Oh, it’s got to be all professional. I got to spend five grand on a website, I’ve got to do this. I got to do that. All you got to do is get something out there. And proof of concept, isn’t it?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [24:25]
Hundred percent. I couldn’t agree more. I think there’s a part of us that I think it’s, you know, kind of a protection mechanism that says, you know, it protects you from putting yourself out there and says, Oh, I need to have everything in line needs to be perfect. But the truth is, what is perfect Anyway, what is does that even exist? Of course not. So, you know, you have to kind of try to embrace that discomfort of being less than perfect. And putting something out there and realise it can be to your advantage it really can be and use it to your advantage.
David Ralph [24:52]
Now with that sort of perfectionism that you said you you love perfectionism. How much of your business now Behind the scenes, are you not happy with because you know, I hold my hand up, I would say 70% of mine is streamlined. It’s brilliant. It’s fantastic and 30% It’s a bit of a mess behind the scenes, it still operates, but I’ve got people sorting this out and people sorting that out. The vision becomes bigger as you proceed, and then also be issues become bigger. How much of yours are the same?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [25:23]
Yeah, I mean, one thing I’ve learned, I mean, one of my, you know, one of the cool parts about I guess owning a business is you become friends with other business owners and you realise, you know, how many businesses that look unbelievable. From the outside, they have this unbelievable facade, you realise how many problems they have, just, you know, businesses that I always admired, and you realise everyone has issues and challenges they’re working through. I often joke, you know, being an entrepreneur is going from one problem to the next, right, you’re solving one problem and every business every every life, every person has challenges, right? And I think that’s just you know, that that’s just the truth. So whether it’s a As a person, you know, you can see someone who looks perfectly aligned. But then, you know, when you get to know them, you realise they have issues too. So just like people, businesses have issues, and we’re always striving to improve. I mean, that’s one of the things, you know, we’re obsessed with is how can we improve? We’re a constant work in progress. So you know, everything we want to improve. I mean, you know, I know we’re way better than we were a year ago, we’re way better than we were two years ago, we’re certainly way better than we were when you first interviewed me. You know, and hopefully, you know, we’re 13 years and hopefully in another 13 years, you know, we’re, you know, what we’re doing right now is unrecognisable in terms of our process improvements, and just how much better we can be. I mean, that That, to me is what part of the excitement and the journey is, you know, constant improvement and iteration.
David Ralph [26:41]
Now, yours is very much about getting your body in shape, or it certainly was the first time I looked in, it seems Now and as we know, there’s a big mental aspect that brings about success, whether it’s in business, whether it’s in fitness, has that element of actual mindset has that come into the business more Just getting yourself fit as it’s proceeded.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [27:03]
Interesting. So I think it’s just I’ve always felt, you know, your physical body You know, a lot of it is most of it is mental, right? We like to call it mph and for mindset p for psychology and age for habits, because the truth is you can have the best diet in the world, the best exercise plan in the world. But does that mean you’ll stick with it? You know, does that mean you’re going to implement it daily? You know, chances are not because there’s a lot of mindset and psychology and habits stuff that gets in the way. So I’ve always felt you know, tactics are only a small part of it. You know, to us and you know, what we believe is that you really got to get your mindset right your habits your psychology, and that’s a big part of what we focus on. We’ve always focused on because it listen if it was just that that knowledge everyone would do it, right everyone you know, if it was just about, you know, business tactics, everyone would do it. There’s clearly something else going on. And you know, I always say it’s what’s going on between our ears. That’s the hard part to master and that’s why we focus on it so much
David Ralph [27:58]
is I always say to people I don’t believe in the word entrepreneur entrepreneur is like, it’s like a god given gift. And I just think it’s persistence, the ability to keep moving on when you haven’t got all the answers. And when financial difficulties hit, you find a way through it. You know, I look back on Join Up Dots now, it’s brilliant. But in the early days, it was absolutely terrible. And it was terrible for about three years, where it was just an absolute slow from start to finish crappy clients that were sucking me dry, and it just wasn’t a happy place to be. But I still came back to it every single day.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [28:39]
Yeah, I mean, I think that resiliency is the single deciding factor in success in any aspect of life. It’s truly a calling, not just an opportunity, then success is inevitable as well because you’re gonna keep working and you’re gonna keep pushing through no matter what because you enjoy it. You know, and I think that’s a huge advantage is when you love what you do. You know, very different things. Somebody who slogging through, you know, but no doubt resiliency is you know, I think the deciding factor in success in any aspect of life.
Steve Jobs [29:08]
Let’s listen to Steve Jobs. Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [29:45]
Now when I listen back to our previous show, you very much referenced that you bought into Bose words. Now as it’s been moving on, that was seven years you’re now up to 13 years of my body tutor. Do you have to rely on trust Intuition always a track record that helps you move forward.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [30:04]
I think, you know, that’s one of the things I’ve certainly learned is to trust my gut to trust my intuition. So I think it’s a combination, right? We have to trust our track record, obviously. Or I should say, thankfully, you know, our clients love what we do. People are finding what we offer very valuable and helpful to them. So we have a track record. But I do think there is some level of intuition, some level of trust in your gut and you know, moving towards your vision, you know, and seeing kind of what you want to build before it’s there. So I think it’s a combination of both.
David Ralph [30:36]
And where do you find the support when you haven’t got it? When you’re not the Adam Gilbert back and push through anything, but you’re the Adam Gilbert sitting in your underpants thinking? I haven’t got a clue. And I don’t I don’t see it. It’s probably the bigger question those days when you just I don’t really fancy today.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [30:56]
Yeah. You know, I lean on my team. You No, we have I have an amazing team I’m very proud of. And I also lean on my family, you know, just getting out of my head a little bit and kind of spending time with my kids or my wife, you know, that always helps her or sometimes just, you know, going for, you know, a walk or a run or getting some exercise and really, you know, anything that gets me out of my head and into my body. You know, it’s always time well spent. And sometimes I find that when I’m trying to figure something out, not thinking about it is when the solution kind of just pops up in my head. You know, it’s like when you’re sitting there thinking, like, oh, how do I fix this? Or how do I solve this? It doesn’t come to you, but when you’re doing something else, and it suddenly just kind of pops up. So I guess it’s a combination of those three things. That’s why
David Ralph [31:38]
I love the words by Oprah because I think it’s so true. The biggest leaps I’ve had forward is when I’ve been on vacation, or I’ve been driving, it’s certainly not sitting in front of a laptop. And people come to me and they say, David, how do I find the motivation to keep going, and I more often than not say walk away from it, walk away from it until the motivation comes. Back to you. Think about your issues and stuff, but don’t just sit there in front of a computer for hour upon hour, thinking that you’re going to produce quality, because you’re not, you’re going to produce crap. And you’ll look back on it and all those hours have been wasted, because you’ll delete all of it anyway, it’s just not good stuff.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [32:17]
Totally, you know, sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. And it’s really hard to be inspiring, you know, when you’re not inspired yourself, and, you know, sitting in front of the computer all day, you know, and if you’re not feeling it, you’re not going to be inspired. So it’s important to kind of get out there and do things that you know, make you feel alive and that you know, reconnect you with yourself and and you know, get you energised. So yeah, I totally agree.
David Ralph [32:41]
So for the people out there listening just before we bring you to the end of the show and take you on another journey to speak to your younger self, what kind of what kind of person would be perfect for your business? What kind of person should leap over to my body tutor and give it a go?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [32:58]
Thanks. Yeah, I think anyone who has trouble staying consistent with your diet and exercise, you know, anyone who, you know has some health and fitness goals, someone who wants to lose weight and has trouble being consistent. You know, to me, consistency is the key to success. But that way easier said than done. And I really believe, you know, we’ve kind of I mean, our obsession is figuring out how to help you stay consistent. So if you need help staying consistent with your diet and exercise, you could have some weight loss goals, you have some fitness goals, we can certainly help you. You know, in one resource, I’d love to mention, you know, if you go to our site, you know, I certainly love for you to join and work with us. But we also have a free course it’s a seven day free course. It’s extremely high quality, you know, many people have told us their free course is better than, you know, some paid courses they’ve taken. So if you go to the website, you’ll see the free course as well. You know, and if you just want to be inspired and improve your health and fitness, I think you’ll find that really useful too.
David Ralph [33:50]
And a lot of the time I find that people say if this is what they’re giving away for free, how much is the paid stuff, you know, how much value is in the paid stuff?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [33:59]
Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, I think, you know, I mean our coaching is, you know, world class it’s, you know, you’re getting a very own coach. But I’m confident you’ll love the free stuff. It’s, you know, people tell us all the time how valuable it is.
David Ralph [34:14]
And for somebody like myself that is naturally fit looking, and I’ve just started cycling this week, I’ve been doing about three miles a day, just because of locked down I thought to myself, I’ll get me back out and give it a go. Is it is it for me as well, because I’m not fat. I haven’t gotten a bit of fat on me. Is it still a programme that would help me get to sort of peak fitness?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [34:36]
Are you lucky? Absolutely. You know, listen, consistency is the key to success. Consistency is the key to improving you know, improving wherever you are. So you know, there’s no doubt optimising your diet, optimising your exercise will help you you know, reach a higher level and reach you know, peak performance. So, sure we can certainly help you and we you know, we do work with you know, some athletes, we have some professional athletes You know, that’s, that’s always fun. Absolutely.
David Ralph [35:03]
You know, when you get on that we fit and you measure yourself. And you sort of set your goals. Have you used the we fit for years? You probably haven’t you know beyond that, but you can set your goals. My wife is always trying to lose weight and she’s always trying to get me to gain weight. And I find it almost impossible to gain when
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [35:20]
you are there’s a lot of people who envy you. That’s for sure. I hear you. I mean, you know, it depends on your goal. I mean, listen, we’ve we’ve helped people gain weight. Some people, you know, it’s hard for them to gain weight. And, you know, that’s one of their goals. And, you know, we can certainly help you and we can certainly help your wife I’d love to, you know, help you both. We joke around couples who do MBT together look great and are healthier together.
David Ralph [35:41]
I’ll rather work with her and see but she likes a bottle of wine and she likes a Netflix but she likes to lose weight as well. There’s a balance. Anyway, this is the part of the show. That’s called the Sermon on the mic. And this is the second time that you’ve been on this journey to speak to your younger self, but this time we’d like to speak to the Adam, who last appeared on this show. In 2014, so what advice would you like to give him that would help and maybe ease his way to where you are today, when I’m going to play the music and when it fades, it’s your time to talk. This is a sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [36:20]
We go with the best bit of the show.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [36:38]
Adam, what’s up, brother? Go with your gut. I want you to trust yourself. I want you to trust the part of you. That knows you know, we all have a part of us that thinks we have a part of us that knows. Look for people who you really believe in who you trust to mentally Let go. Let them help you build your dream, because it’s going to be their dream as well. Gather, you will build something much greater than you ever thought possible.
David Ralph [37:03]
Right, stop. So Adam, you’ve referenced it already. Let’s do it again. What’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you?
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [37:11]
My bodytutor.com
David Ralph [37:13]
Adam, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again when you’ve got even more dots to join up, because I do believe that by joining up the dots, and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Adam Gilbert, thank you so much.
Mybodytutor Founder Adam Gilbert [37:29]
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
David Ralph [37:32]
Mr. Adam Gilbert from my body tutor.com. So yeah, if you’re interested in the previous show, go back and look for probably about three months in on 2014 and hear the early part of Adam’s story to business success. Now what did we learn on that? Number one, accountability is something that people will pay for. So if you are thinking of creating your own business, can you bring that aspect into it, but daily support It’s all adding value to people. People can get fitness people can get diet plans, online, they can go to YouTube, they can do anything. But to actually get somebody keeping them on track. That’s a big value point. Now, Adam has referenced through that show many times, but it took time to get going. But it was quite a rocket ship as well looking at that compared to other people. And the vision may not have been where he wanted it to be. But he was making money when the business was ugly. So don’t get hung up with perfection. Don’t get hung up with trying to join up your dots in the early days. Just get something out there and test the proof of concept and people will start paying based on your passion and your vision and start watering that and you will start seeing your life changed forever. You Look after yourselves, everybody. And thank you so much to Adam, and all of you been with us on Join Up Dots seconded by.