How to Know When to Quit with Nick Snow

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 278. Today I'm sitting down with coach Nick Snow, and we're discussing how to know when to quit. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement, package and position their products and services, and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

What's up, coach? Thank you so much for pushing play on another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I'm your host, Beverly Simpson, and today I'm sitting down with coach Nick Snow, who is a personal trainer with a degree in nutrition and dietetics. He's been in the industry for nearly a decade and spent the last seven years building his own business called the Snow Personal Training, which is based out of South Beach, Miami, Florida. And in today's episode, he shares with us his story and how he recognized the tough decision in his life and the disappointment that happened in his life and how they were now the best things that ever happened and the advice he would give to new trainers and coaches just starting out. So without further ado, let's go ahead and roll that interview. What's up, Nick? Thanks so much for joining me on the show today. How are you?

I'm doing really well, Beverly. Thank you so much for having me on. And shout out to my boy Chris as well for giving me the connect.

Nick, Chris is the jam. I love him. So I'm super pumped for today's conversation. It'll be nice and casual. So for those of you who are tuning in, listening, and don't know the pleasure of your work, can you please share with us a little bit about who you are, who you serve and how you got there?

Yeah, that is a loaded question for sure. So my name is Nick Snow, and I've been a personal trainer for coming up on almost 10 years now. Somehow I've managed to make it this far. And I started personal training up in Connecticut, actually. It's where I grew up fitness. And so that's where I kind of cut my teeth as it were, doing sales and then eventually getting my own clients. Then I had the opportunity to move to Daytona Beach, Florida. I took the took the leap, never looked back. And in 2016 is when I kind of struck out on my own to kind of form my Own brand, no personal training. I know, very imaginative, very creative of a name. And from there I kind of did my own thing. And then in January 2019 I moved to Miami to go to Florida International University FIU to finish my degree. One of the things that was very pivotal for me growing up was I actually dropped out of College in 2014. I went from, to the University of U to Connecticut, UConn, go Huskies from 2010, 2014. And I loved near every moment of it. I loved it a little bit too much though. I was too much of a party.

You're almost done, you're almost done.

I, well, I wasn't, that was the problem. I, I four years, but I kept like failing classes, retaking classes. And my parents, you know, I love them, you know, God bless them, they paid for me for four years. But I got a brother and a sister and I woke up one day and I realized I can't keep asking them to keep paying for college. They gave me four years and I kind of just didn't do it, you know, and it's unfair of me to potentially hamper my siblings chance at doing college. So I realized then and there that I would need to pay for college my own self if I was going to keep going. So I started looking at the, at the numbers. I started looking at kind of where I was mentally, emotionally and of course financially. And I realized the hard truth of the matter was, is that I wasn't in the right place that I could smartly commit to the student loans that it would take for me to continue doing so. You know, I took the plunge against near everyone's advice and I simply said, I'm not ready for that. I'm going to drop out, I'm going to try this working out for money deal, you know, see what, see what happens. And the intent was just one year off and then that turned into five something years and going all the way down here. But Yeah, I remember 2017 or 2018, you know, I was kind of looking around, I was already doing my own business. I was, you know, making some pretty good moves. I felt very financially and emotionally and mentally secure and kind of who I was. And I realized, you know, like, it's time for me to go back to school. So I just Google, I just went on Google and I wanted to finish becoming a dietitian. So my major was nutrition and dietetics. So I guess Google, new dietetics degree, Florida and two options popped up. First was in Tallahassee and then the second option was in Miami. And I just thought to myself, where would I, a little brown kid who wears a lot of jewelry and tight clothes, fit in better? The Deep south or Miami? So, yeah, there I go now. Yeah. So now, though, for anyone listening and is curious, there's lots of different nutrition and dietetic didactic programs out there in the state of Florida. You. I know Gainesville has. Has a pretty good program. I know. Nova University, I believe, or Kaiser University, one of the two. I know they do something as well. In retrospect, I probably didn't even need to leave Daytona beach, but, you know, I really wanted to move to Miami. It was my first time. Like, Daytona is a city, but it's not the same as, like, New York City or even Boston or definitely not the same as mine. I wanted to wake up and be surrounded by skyscrapers and, you know, a lot of annoying traffic and, you know, that whole life. So, yeah, so I took the plunge, came down here, graduated in, I want to say, summer 2022 or something like that. And thank you. And weirdly enough, my original plan, and I think this is also important to my story, my original plan was to go into the army or they have something called the. Exactly what is the Baylor something program for nutrition. And basically it's a graduate program. So on the master's level. And you would concurrently do your classes, do your rotations, while at the same time you are actively in the Army. You'd be enlisted as a medical officer. And the army pays for everything. And you're actively being paid because you're, you know, you are actively enlisted. And afterwards you just work in the military as, you know, as a dietitian for like two years, four years, something like that. Obviously longer if you want to keep going. And that's a really sweet gig. Of course, the biggest caveat is you're now in the Army. So that is a whole host of, you know, that's a big consideration, very demanding, physically speaking. But obviously for me, it wasn't. That was an exciting fit to it. Well, long story short, I did not get in. Although for anyone listening along, I strongly encourage you, if that's something that you're interested in, to look into it. Because weirdly enough, it's actually not to say that it's easy to get in, but historically speaking, they've never filled their slots. In some cases, there have even been instances where they don't even have enough applicants. A lot of people don't even know this program exists. And it's, you know, it's obviously, again, not a lot of people, particularly in the major, in the profession of nutrition and diabetics, not many people think, ooh, I want to go into the army. You know what I mean?

Yeah. So what prevents you from getting it so?

Well, two things. Three things. Number one, the one year that I applied, they got like a ton of applications. I think it was because, like, post Covid, a lot of people that just didn't apply elsewhere had like an extra year or two to kind of look around. And then, you know, so they just googled different nutrition programs and this obviously kind of popped up. I'm willing to bet, you know, a lot of people who are in the military as well also was kind of maybe looking for. Everyone's talking about, like, health care and stuff like that. Everyone was looking at, you know, I don't want to just stay like a grunt for the rest of my life. I want to, you know, maybe stay in the military and go and do something else, you know, within that. Within that world. So I think the, you know, just more people were aware of it, more people applied. So number one, all of a sudden, instead of being one of like maybe 15 applicants, I became one of like 30 or even 35 or something like that. And number two, they prioritize people with previous or active military experience. And I, for one, am 100 understandable of that. I would encourage people to do exactly that. If you, you know, if you've served, if you're actively serving, like 100, it makes all the sense in the world both for me to say that, you know, you definitely have earned this a little bit more than I have, in my opinion. Also, number two, on the flip side of things, if you're the military, you don't want a civilian who has no, you know, real connection to the culture, to the history, etc. Etc. Compared to someone who's actively in the military or comes from, you know, the military or maybe their families in the military, it just makes all the sense in the world to prioritize them over someone such as myself. And finally, I messed up on one particular thing, which is it. It still bothers me during the interview because I'm usually very good at talking, I'm very good at interviewing. It's always been something I've considered to be a strength of mine. And she asked me, what do you have for volunteering experience, what have you done to give back, etc. Etc. And I just do a complete blank. In retrospect, I should have talked about how I was a resident assistant for like 3ish years. At that point. So nearly my entire career at fiu, I was working as a resident assistant, which for those of you who don't know that just is. You're basically a building supervisor. I described it as like a TA for one of the dorms, you know what I mean? And then through, yeah, and then through that, I was doing a ton of volunteering stuff. I was actively volunteering within my major within the, the department of nutrition. I was working and tabling events. I was meeting new hires. I was, you know, if someone was new to the school, like they would reach out and I connected them as well as just other like volunteering leadership experiences that I had done previously. But for whatever reason, I just completely blanked and I said specifically the words yeah, and I don't think I've done anything else, which was not true at all. And also in an interview, it doesn't sound good at all. And then in terms of just the Persona of being in the Army, I. It's something that, you know, hindsight is 20 20. It's always easy to connect the dots looking back. But another big thing that kind of hurt me. So anyone who does follow through, just think of this. Learn from my mistake. Listen to how I'm talking. I am very, you know, I'm energetic, I am expansive in how I'm talking. Like, you know, like the way I'm speaking and presenting myself is very, very distinct. And it's great for the public speaking. It's great for being a personal trainer and doing this. How many soldiers do you know? You know, not many. So here I am, a civilian with no real connection to the military, besides the fact that a lot of my friends happen to be marines and you know, one of 30 plus people. And don't, you know, I'm kind of like messing up on the interview, but just in general, like I'm fresh face, I'm excited, etc. Etc. Like a recruiter wants to see that. Not a, you know, you know, not someone who is going to have to deal with once they're actually inside the army. So I walked in with a couple of things that weren't working for me and unfortunately I got weightless. So on one hand I didn't get rejected, but on the other hand I got witnessed. And so I came to the, you know, it was hard news to take because that was literally everything I kind of been working towards. Not necessarily this particular program, but it was what I was working towards to become a dietitian for the last like eight something years. But believe it or not, you know, as the saying goes, when a door closes, a window opens.

Yeah.

As a resident assistant. One of my residents, like I was known for being a personal. Everyone knew me through the gym, through working out, wearing tight shirts, all of that good stuff. And one of my residents just remembered that like three something years later, he reached out to me while I was in the middle of the interview process and he was like, hey, listen man, my mom worked for a company that manages a building here on Miami Beach. You know, they're looking for a personal trainer. Are you interested? So I said, sure, why not? Like I was looking for a few extra bucks. I wasn't really thinking I was going to do it, but you know, I learned a long time ago to always have a plan B. So I said, yeah, you know, let, you know, let me, let me talk to her. So he, he gave me his mom's phone number and shared my contact. She gave me a call and she tells me, I know my son said, personal training position, we are opening for that. But listen, I'm actually looking for a director now. One of the biggest challenges, and any personal trainer, you know, listening, knows this. One of the biggest challenges of being a personal trainer is that it costs a lot of time and money to start up. You know what I mean? Like, even if you're getting paid to walk the floor, you're walking the floor for like minimum wage, you know, it takes a while to build up your clientele, it takes a while to build up your work roster. And all the while, if I'm commuting half, you know, halfway across Miami, and anyone who's ever tried to commute through a city knows that that's not the easiest thing to do. Yeah, like it's, you know, that's a lot to ask for someone just in the hope that you end up getting clients. And remember, I haven't, I wasn't a personal trainer at that point. Like online. Yeah, for like with like, you know, three, three clients at the time. But in person, personal training, I haven't done that in like almost close to five something years.

@ that point had you worked at LA Fitness at this point you had, right, I had.

So I had worked at LA fitness from like 2014 ish up until I left, which was in 2000, like end of 2015, like December 2015 was when I left and I moved to, and I moved down here in time for January 2016 in Daytona Beach. So at that point in Daytona Beach I also worked as a personal trainer. So at that point I did have like, gosh, 5ish years, maybe 6 or 6 years as a personal trainer, both working in a big box gym in a studio, as well as just kind of doing my own thing. But it's, it was still like a big, big jump. But being offered the chance to apply for the director position, you know, I realized two things. Number one, that's perfect because a director position is a salary position, meaning I have guaranteed money and benefits coming in that would give me enough of a paycheck that I could buy, not buy, I could rent. I wish I could rent a place here on Miami beach and I could get. Fix the commute. And yeah, I would get to be a director. Like, I was in the role of being. I went from a resident assistant to a building assistant, which is a bit of a promotion. You know, I got used to kind of being in the captain's role. I enjoyed being a manager. I enjoyed being, being, you know, being in the super supervisory role. So having a chance to, you know, to do it for real and actually do it, you know, in a professional capacity. Like, I was really excited about that. I've never run a gym before. And then she started, you know, then she tells me, oh, well, you know, biggest difference between this place versus, say, LA Fitnesses. We don't have members, we don't have guests, we have residents. And I tell her, well, as luck would have it, I've worked in residential life for the last four something years. And she was looking for someone who had a very specific background, which just happened to be my exact background. So it was a shoe in for me. I walked in, I w. You know, wowed them in the interview, and, you.

Know, amazing how things work out, right?

Exactly, exactly. And so, long story short, you know, I ended up working there while still seeing what would happen with the whole army thing. Army thing kind of fell through. When I, at the time, I had a choice. Do I want to stay doing this director role or do I want to, you know, do I want to look for more volunteering experiences? Do I want to immerse myself in the military a little bit more, Maybe get some better references that can back me up and say, yes, this kid would be a good fit. But I realized at that time, like I had restarted my life three times over when I dropped out of UConn, when I moved to Daytona beach, and then when I moved to Miami beach. You know, at that time I was like 28, 29 or something like that. Like, I was tired of constantly starting over and I just kind of felt to Myself, you know what, no matter what I do, I keep getting drawn back to being a personal trainer. I keep getting, you know, drawn back to this world. As much as I love nutrition, you know, looking ahead, like I would be doing exactly the same thing as I would as I'm doing right now, working one on one with people, working inside of the gym, aiming kind of more towards that area of the world versus working, say in a hospital or working even the military. Like, yeah, I was excited and I could see myself doing it. But you know, I always, you know, I wonder as well, am I simply justifying the choices rather than actually following? Yeah, so I, So yeah, so I was like, you know what? Screw it, I want to, I want to live my life. So I doubled down here, I moved here and about six months later, gosh, no, probably about four months later, I told them I quit or close enough. Director.

The director.

The director role. The director role was really, was really exciting, really, really fun. It was very, very demanding though. Very, very challenging. And I realized that it just wasn't where my heart was. Because in the director role, I also was only the only personal trainer that they really had. So I by default started getting all of these in person clientele that I haven't had in years. And I was, you know, I went back to doing what everyone does in the beginning. You know, you show up at like 8am in the morning or 6am in the morning and then you don't leave until 6pm or 8pm so from 8am until about 2pm I would train my clients and then from 2pm until 10pm I would be the director. And it was obviously not at all sustainable. I was not working out at all. I was making good money. But after a certain while, you know, you know, I'm not a, I'm not a 22 year old anymore. I can't be pulling those types of hours. So. So yeah, I made the choice, like, listen, I'm not really happy. I'm not really doing, you know, what I feel like I, I want to do, I should do. And I also told them straight up, like, listen, I'm making you way more money as a personal trainer than I would as a director. So trust me, let me, you know, and this is important too. I don't believe in burning, burning any bridges. I told them I made a commitment to be your director. I can't fulfill that obligation. However, I will 100% stay in this role until you find someone to replace me and I will train them so you will have a replacement. Of someone who is just like me, which is way more than what I, I was just hired on and I just kind of had to learn. So they knew that it would be a lot smoother of a transition. So thankfully corporate, because it was a corporation that I was working for, was fully supportive. You know, they could tell that was where my heart was. Plus, in a corporate atmosphere, it's all about numbers. They could see just how much more money I was bringing in in one world versus another. So they were just like, yeah, totally, let's, you know, let's make that happen. So that ended up happening. And long story short, the corporation that originally hired me to where I am right now left this building. They no longer manage this building. So then I was given another chance to, okay, do I follow them? Do they manage other buildings? I could go wherever, I could go to multiple buildings if I wanted to, or do I double down on the demographic here and then just stay here, be my own guy, see what happens and you know, the rest is history. I stayed here, built up my clientele and you know, I'm blessed to say somehow I've been making it. So yeah, that's, that's pretty much my story. That brings it up to today.

Yeah. So are you, so you're currently now working in your own business as a trainer?

Yes. So my own business is no personal training, it's an llc. And here's a funny thing, people are always like surprised and, and when they hear this. As a business owner, I've technically been in business since I've been doing my own business since 2000, 2016 in one capacity or another. My behind the scenes stuff is very, very new. And in other words like non existent. For example, I don't have an email list, I don't have my website, just went live like last last week. Snowpersonal training.com, check it out, link it up. And you know, like I, I, I never went on YouTube, like I never posted on YouTube. I talked a lot on like Facebook and stuff like that. But you know, it was still a mix between personal and professional. So like I have like in terms of like business administration and like how my business was set up for tax purposes and stuff like that. I didn't have a, I didn't have a business account. I had my finances in my business. It's kind of wrapped up with my personal because up until like six months ago, like that never really mattered to me because I wasn't doing it full time. I wasn't really making a ton of money in the first place anyways doing this. So, you know, like, I paid my taxes, I did everything legit, but at the same time, like, it didn't really make much sense for me to hire someone for, like, you know, three, four figures to set up something that isn't really going to pay off. Well, now this year, that's what I'm kind of in the middle of. Getting my website up and getting my email, you know, list back up. I'm starting to look at a little bit more for, like, online marketing. I'm looking at other revenue streams. I'm looking at expanding my brand as well. But a lot of things that a lot of trainers that go into business, into their own business get done, like, day one, like, all I got was my llc. And then I just started, like, taking money through, like, cash apps. So, like, it was not necessarily the best, you know, the best way to kind of go about it. But, you know, I think it's important for people to hear, especially new trainers, because when you first just think to yourself, oh, I want to do this thing, there's like a dozen things people tell you that you need to do. And I just want to say the most important thing is just to start doing it. All right? Then, you know, start, you know, prioritize. For me, I prioritized having an llc, and then I also prioritized having insurance in case something goes wrong. And then I just never really cared to look or expand in any other direction. Now, though, now that I am a little bit further along, my business is building and trying to, you know, add in those foundations. So, you know, those columns help support the thing that I am growing. But, you know, it took me 10 years to get to this point, so I'm just, you know, throwing it out there. Like, yeah, make sure you do everything legally legit, but don't, you know, there's a million things that you can do. The most important thing you need to do is get started.

Yeah. Yes. 1,000%. 1,000%. Okay. So now what I'm curious about, right, Is what's interesting to me is that it's very inspiring to me when I hear stories of people who have, you know, start over or feel like they have to go, you know, they feeling like they have to, like, restart. Like your words were restart three times. Right. And I think that a lot of people look at setbacks and think of that them as failures because we're just indoctrinated into this idea of quitting is a bad thing, when the truth is sometimes quitting is the best thing. That you could possibly do. So I'm curious for you, you know, did any of those feelings of like, I'm a failure come up? And how did you navigate it? How did you alchemize it, where you realize, this is what's best for me at this time?

Yeah, definitely. You're 100. Correct. I think the. You know, the. We're conditioned to just, like, hustle into your. Make it the grind until it's done. And, you know, anything outside of that, it makes you feel like a failure. And I definitely felt that. I was a college dropout. I made jokes about it. And for, like, the first year, yeah, I was making way more money than all of my friends because I was working an adult job while they were still in college. But then they left college and they started working in finance, where they were. You know, they became lawyers or engineers. All of a sudden, you know, they're like. They're buying places like their first apartments in, you know, in a city, you know. And as time continued to go on, like, in my mind, right. I really started to feel as if there became a growing gap between my life phase and where everyone else was. Now. I voiced that, you know, to all of my friends, and I love them. I love them to death. I wouldn't be here at all without any of them. And. But it was just like, you know, like, I'm staying in my friends on my friend's spare, spare bedroom, you know, in a house, you know, that costs, you know, like, close, if not seven figures, you know, And I'm telling him, like, man, like, I kind of feel, you know, like. Like we're the same age. Like, I feel like I should be at this point, because it wasn't like I was thinking to myself, oh, like, they're luckier than I am. They're smarter than I am. They had better opportunities than me. Like, I was looking at them, I was like, no, we grew up pretty much the same. You. You know, you guys put in the work. It's not like they had, like, family connections or whatever. No, they just. All of them, they just put in the work to get to where they are. And in my mind, I simply hadn't. And in the beginning, like, I. When I first dropped out of college, I saw that coming a mile away. Like, I knew that was how I was going to feel, but I also knew I needed to kind of leave and do my own thing and start over. So I accepted it as an eventual reality I would have to just live in. And then from there, I would do what I needed to do, but that didn't make living through it any easier. It would definitely kind of sat on me for the longest time and it 100% motivated me to go back to school and do it. Because push, like, truth be told, I didn't need to go back to school. Like, yeah, I have a degree in nutrition in dietetics with medical nutrition and stuff like that. If I wanted to, I could continue on that track and become a registered dietitian. And if I had stayed on that track, like, I could have become a dietitian without needing to go back to grad school. So that would have saved me two, two years and probably like 50,000 through loans. But, you know, I didn't really need to do it because I always saw myself as working in a gym. In that case, being a dietitian with an office inside of a gym, but still a gym, you know what I mean? And still working more or less with the same people that I cater to right now, which is, you know, people who are focusing on healthy aging, you know, healthy living muscle, you know, you know, lean out to the beach, etc. Etc. No, like medical stuff, like I wouldn't be trying to cure diabetes or trying to, you know, reverse, you know, like, you know, blood levels and stuff like that. Now maybe that would have changed if I had the liability to do it, but, you know, that was never really my, my call. So to kind of like, to, to kind of go back towards it, you know, Like, I definitely felt like I wasn't. That's another thing too. I was just a personal trainer. I was on track to become a medical nutrition professional. Like, that's a big, you know, that's a big jump, you know, a big difference between, between the two. And so it just, yeah, it definitely was very, very challenging and I had to, you know, kind of deal with that and, and thankfully all my friends again were just very, very supportive. My family supported me wholeheartedly and in me dropping out, as well as my reasonings why. And I'm not entirely sure possibly they were even the ones who asked me just straight up, you think staying in college is a good idea? My parents and I never saw, we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things with me growing up, as I'm sure everyone says, as many.

People feel that way. I'm sure you are not alone.

Yes. But, you know, one of the things that I got to say I love them to death for is that they were very encouraging of me doing what I felt I needed to do. They simply presented the question and then supported me without judgment. If they thought it was a dumb idea, they tell me, but they wouldn't stop me, you know what I mean? And now I had to fight for that. My parents and I butted heads a ton on a lot of different stuff. But eventually, you know, all that fighting, I guess maybe showed them that he's gonna do whatever he's gonna do, but he's also smart and capable enough that he's able to pull this off. You know, like I, I had to prove to them that I was self sufficient, that I was smart, that I wasn't, you know, going off in some, you know, cockeyed scheme or whatever. But you know, once, once I did have that trust, they gave that trust without any reserve. So, you know, I gotta say, I really do love them for that. If they had said it differently, who knows, I might have just doubled down, got student loans, just ended up. I hated school, I hated nutrition, I hated studying, all of that stuff. So I would have just stayed there, got a degree, done nothing with it, walked out with a ton of student debt, possibly not even had wanted to try being a personal trainer. I might not have felt like I could be a personal trainer because again, you don't make a lot of money in the beginning. And I would have had student loans at that point. So my whole trajectory could have been, you know, in another direction. Who knows, maybe I would have gone the military then. You know, life, life finds a way. But to answer your question, you know, like the whole feeling of, you know, that fear of failure and stuff like that and wondering. I think a big question a lot of people have is how. When do you know when to quit?

Yes.

Because you're right. Like you gotta, you gotta put in the work. You gotta, you gotta struggle. Like life's gonna suck a little bit, but it makes you a better person in the long run. You know, the old. Oh sure, if anyone here grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes, that's kind of, that's a bit of a dated reference. But you know, the father's always saying, suffering builds character. Well, it kind of does. You know, you could be bad about it, but it kind of does. You know, it all depends on like how you, how you grow up and how do you face adversity? So the question how do you know when to give up? Maybe give up is not the right term. When do you know when to change lanes? When do you know to change direction? Thanks to my parents, thanks to my friends, I've Always had a ton of faith in myself. Sometimes it would get me in trouble. I would jump in with both feet and then realize I need to learn how to swim while actively in the water. That's not a fun way to learn if you don't know how to swim. But, you know, that being said, I. I never felt like I was incapable of it. I just needed to find out what I wanted to do and how to pull it off. And I'm very, very blessed for that. I think that everyone internally, like, has the ability to realize when something is not working right. And it's not. It's more than just, oh, this sucks, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. You know, there's something about the situation that you're in that makes you uncomfortable. You know, like, that makes your soul, your spirit feel weird, feel off. You know, you can call it, you know, intuition, you can call it, you know, the voice in the back of your head, however you want to think about it. I think everyone has access to it. Everyone has that. And as we grow up older, we're told to rationalize and justify all these different options in a way to, you know, keep moving in a direction. Because, you know, kind of what I was saying earlier about, like, maybe if I was in the military, I, you know, I enjoy working in the military. I think I totally would. There's a lot of things that I do legitimately enjoy about the culture and, like, the job description, the title and potential career I could have. It wasn't just, like a plan B for me by any means. But at the same time, I also did say, I wonder, am I simply justifying that action in order to make myself feel better rather than making that choice because it would make me feel better? You know what I mean? And I think that's where it really kind of boils down to it. And it's why I've taken so many risks in my life, because I've just kind of just gone with my gut all the time. So if you're wondering, number one, if you're wondering, period, whether or not this is worth it to you, whether you're starting a business, you're working under someone else, you're thinking about switching jobs or, you know, whatever, if you're wondering if it's worth it, it's not a bad question to ask. And you should ask it, and you should ask it out loud. The more you talk about it out loud, the better you are able to process it. And, you know, two things are going to happen Number one, you're going to realize, yes, it is worth it. And you're going to feel so much more confident and so much more enthusiastic about whatever shift that you're kind of going through, that you're going to hit the ground running and no matter what life throws at you, you're going to be able to shrug it off because you know in your heart this is exactly what you want. You, no matter how much it's up, or number two, you're going to realize it's not for you. And that opens up a whole world of opportunities. And no matter how deep in the hole you might be, no matter how much time you might have invested, one of the most important lessons that I would learn growing up was it's okay to say no. It's okay to say not now. It's okay to turn down opportunities. Context dependent, obviously. Like if you're a personal trainer, brand new in the industry, like, I gave this advice to someone the other day, train everyone, Say yes to everyone. Like, get as many random people as you can, no matter demographic, no matter what they might be dealing with. And like, train them. And, you know, if you're unsure, like if you're working with an injury you've never had before, tell them up front if that's what you want to do. I encourage it. Tell them up front that, hey, listen, I've never done this before, but I have people that have and they're willing to work with me and together we're going to get through this. If you're comfortable trusting me, I am comfortable training. If you give me that trust and they'll love you for it and they'll say yes. I've never had anyone ever say, oh, no, I didn't know you had no idea what's going on. They'll trust that you, the fact that you're honest about your own limitations, but you're also telling them exactly how you're going to overcome those limitations will immediately sell you and there will be a clientele.

I mean, transparency will win. Deepen the sense of trust in your capability to, to learn it, to figure it out. Like, that's the biggest gift. Honesty is the biggest gift I think you can give someone.

Exactly. As trainers especially, you know, one of the things everyone is always really scared to say is, I don't know. But honestly, people love hearing you admit that. So long as it follows up with what I can find out and I'll.

Figure it out and we will do it until I figure it out.

Exactly. Or, you know, now that I'm a little bit farther along in my life. You know, sometimes I'll say, I don't know, I've never done that before. But I know someone who has. Let me help you get in touch with me. Them. Yeah, fully comfortable saying. And that kind of goes back to what we were saying as well about saying no. You know, eventually it's like it's okay to say no. It's okay to send another, you know, a client off to someone else if you're, you know, if you don't have a workload, if you don't have the emotional capacity to take them on, if it's an area that you're not really like comfortable working in or maybe personality wise, you know, you can just tell we're not gonna like this is we're good drinking buddies, but this isn't going to get us to where either one of us wants to go. Like, that's okay too.

And this is why I think networking is so important. Nobody wants to like go to live events or, you know, you know, it's very easy to get sucked into this, into a silo. But I just think it's essential because sometimes when we're doing this, it's easy to feel like you're alone.

100. You know, it's funny that you mentioned that. 50 50. It even sounded like you planned it. I just came from a live event, Evolve Strength Business and coaching conference up in Edmonton, Canada. Shout out Andrew Coates for putting on an amazing event. Shout out to Chris for helping him do that. I met Chris at that event and that ultimately is where we, we came through. I didn't expect, you know, any of my connections to, to, I don't want to say bear fruit as if it's a transaction, but I didn't expect like an opportunity like this to come over on my way so quickly. But I mean, it just goes to show, like you're 100% correct. In this industry, it is so easy to feel alone. Whether you, if you're a business owner and you're just, you're an independent contractor and you're working and everything, yeah, you might work alongside them, but you're not working necessarily with anyone. You don't really have a team. And if you do have a team, chances are you're probably the leader of the team, which is in some sense the kind of loneliness. And even then at the end of the day, like your people are your people. You're the one who's actively standing next to them. You're emailing them, you're texting them, you're dealing with all of the, you know, the emotional dumping and the physical demands of the job. And you know, that's unlike other jobs where you might, like, if you work like I work in the serving industry and you know, like, yeah, you have your own cables and stuff like that. But if you're, you know, if you're in the, you know, if you're in the reeds and you get to see a swamp, you have someone else like bring your food out, you can have someone else greet your tables and afterwards you all get together, you know, at the bar, you turn your shirts inside out so you don't get in trouble by the boss and you know, you start drinking. Like there's a camaraderie to that, that this doesn't really exist in our industry now. It is getting more and more common. Like, I do know, like certain, you know, there are now more, more teams, more businesses that have more of a team dynamic of it. And I think many of them, like Macros Incorporated, for example, I think they've done an amazing job of kind of building up that dynamic, that camaraderie between people that are their. And so they're, you know, there are people like all over the world, you know, like that all like work together and I think they have a really good, you know, camaraderie. Like I can see it when they were at the conference too. I can see it online, I can see it when they're in person. And it's great to see because I think it's something that's missing. Many people don't do well in like the whole like, you know, lone, lone wolf type of deal that I find myself in. So yeah, 100 to kind of go back to what you're saying, Beverly. 100 like go to these, you know, business conferences, go to these events, whether it's local, whether you're flying across the world, do it, you know, it's a tax write off if that makes you feel better. That's how I justified it 100%. You know, we, I, I don't regret it whatsoever. But yeah, it was definitely, I needed that justification to, to book that plane ticket to take. Not even like the cost outside. A big thing for me, I'm a bit of a workaholic, is that I don't like taking time off, you know, and when you travel, when you, when you take vacation in this industry, when I'm not actively in front of someone, I'm not making money. So not only am I spending money, I'M also not making. And that's always been a really hard pill for me to swallow, which actually is what I'm kind of focused on right now. Building up other streams of revenue where I am able to kind of go out, I'm able to take time off. If I'm sick, I'm able to, you know, recover and stuff like that. I want other streams of revenue coming in so that I'm not so dependent, so reliant on, you know, that in person, that in person work, if that makes sense.

Makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense. Okay. So, you know, with that said, thank you so much for, you know, pouring into us and into, into, you know, sharing your story. I think that it's, sometimes it's, it helps to hear what other people are doing so that they feel less alone. And so last question, because I want to be respectful of your time, is of course, if you could go back and, you know, if you were starting over, what is the one thing that you wish you, you would be able to tell your younger self?

Yeah, you know, this is gonna sound funny, but despite the size, despite the size of my arms, early on in my career, my lifting career, my working out career, I made the choice to go into bodybuilding.

Okay.

I had friends who are powerlifters and I had friends who are bodybuilding. And you know, the, you know, I was, I was a dumb kid. I didn't realize you could just do both. But, you know, I was like, all right, I'd rather just look strong than be strong. But back then, that was like early 2010, you know, the stereotype of like, you know, like power lifters are all fat and body, you know, so I didn't like that because I also had a, an underlying eating disorder and a body image disorder. So that was also, again, probably not the choice for me to go into bodybuilding. That was, you know, that left me with a lot of stuff I need to work through as well. So I don't at all regret going that direction. But I will say if I could go back and I, and I think one pivotal thing that would have changed a lot about me if I had told myself, if I had chosen to go into power, if I had started focusing on just putting more numbers on, on the bar, I think a few things would have happened. Number one, I would have been exposed to proper programming way earlier on. All right, so the whole, like, everything from theorization, it's just like simple stuff like having like a set. Like, okay, like today I, I moved 100 pounds with 10 reps tomorrow I'm going to move 100 pounds for 12 reps. Just like simple basic stuff like that I would have been exposed to from almost day one. Not to mention I'm a big numbers guy. So I would have fallen in love with just like have an Excel sheet or back in the day have like a little journal and writing all these numbers down and seeing like myself progress. It would have fed into my desire for improvement rather than fed into my desire to look better, which again probably would have been a little bit better for my, you know, my body image, my eating stuff, etc. Etc. Potentially I might have fallen down the opposite rabbit hole and I just ate as much as I could in order to put, you know, more weight on the bar. But you know, it is what it is. I don't think that ever would have happened anyways. And perhaps most influentially, deadlifting is my favorite exercise. But I only started doing it relatively like labor three years into my, my lifting career. It was my deadlifting that got me into training because people saw me deadlift and they said you're really good at that, could you teach me it? And because I don't ever want to do anything half ass, I went online and I looked up not how to deadlift, how to coach people to deadlift. And that made me start looking into training people and I was thinking to myself, I like this, people do this for money, right? I should think about doing this for money. And that would have kick started me going into personal training. That might have pushed me towards kinesiology as a major, but at the same time I don't really like kinesiology. So like, if you think nutrition science is boring for me, I can't, I can't go read any literature on exercise science. I'm sorry. But yeah, like it could have changed my trajectory in school. It could have changed it. 100 would have changed the trajectory. I think I would have made a lot more friends a lot earlier on just because again, like in powerlifting, like there's, I think there's a lot more camaraderie, especially nowadays. I think there's a lot more camaraderie in your average powerlifting gym than there is in your average bodybuilding gym. Now keep in mind, because I know that will probably bother a lot of people, me saying it out loud. Whatever, sue me. I'm also in Miami beach which is filled with some pretty big cliches and stereotypes. And don't get me wrong, like I love all of my bodybuilding friends. There's no More fun of a place for me than backstage day of the show, you know, like, I love that everyone's happy, everyone's hiking, you know, pumping each other up, Literally pumping each other up, feeding each other donuts, because now you don't need to worry about this shit anymore. But in powerlifting, that's every day in the gym. That's probably the two discrepancies. Donuts, now they're on to, like, what is it like? Swedish fish and gummy worms is not what they like. But. But. So, yeah, I think if there's one thing I would have said a little bit earlier on, that would have still given me the trajectory and left me more or less where I am right now, just maybe a little bit sooner, maybe a little bit happier. Not happier. Stronger, definitely, but not happy. But, you know, a little bit more quickly, et cetera, et cetera. I probably would have said try out powerlifting instead rather than going to body, because I think that would have, you know, that would have given me a lot more without necessarily taking away that which, in my mind, makes me who I am, if that makes sense.

It does.

And it's such a weird thing to say, like, oh, usually it's like, go to school earlier or, you know, talk to that girl like me. Like, not try, try. That's what I'm saying. Try paralyzing.

Yeah, but you bring up something that I. That is this part two. We're going to talk about this at another time because I have a client. But you talked about disordered eating for men. And I just think that that is something that we don't usually associate with women. And most people think that it's only a women's thing. And not enough men, in my opinion, are talking about it.

Oh, yeah, 100. I would love to come on and talk about it. I can talk about it just from a personal experience standpoint. But also, you know, I do have, like four plus years of being, you know, a dietetics major, like my degree. So I am very well aware of a lot of it in recent time as well. I've dedicated a lot of time into the psychology of it as well. So I would absolutely love to come back because you're right, we don't. Men's mental health has gotten a lot better, like the conversation surrounding it. But I think this is one particular aspect of it that still a lot of people don't think about. So I'd love to be. I'd love to have that conversation.

Yeah, for sure. Okay. So thank you so much for hanging out with me. And for pouring into me. Where are some of the best places that I can send people who are interested in learning more about you?

Absolutely. So easily. The place I'm most active on when it comes to social media is going to be Facebook. I don't have, I have like a business thing but, you know, no one, I don't use that. Just look me up. Nick Snow. N I C K S N O W I've been in this industry long enough that we, you know, if you're in the fitness world or you're interested in it, we probably have some mutuals. So come find me. Say hello. My website is just up right now. Snow personal training.com. it's brand new, so when you go through it, you know, be gentle. Please go easy on me. Instagram as well. I have, I have five Instagram accounts. The personal one, a personal lifting one professional one like another old, like a photography account. And then I recently bought, I got one for my car. Find me on. You can look me up on Snow at. There's like at Snow Personal Training and I'll pop right up. And then through there on all of my ones, there's a link tree that if you want to follow me to see like other aspects of my life, like a lot of people like following me not just for my professional side of things, but also my own personal lifting as well. Because that's, that's where I share like there's different shows, meets my friends, all that, all that stuff that actually makes the gym worth going to. So you can add me on that one as well. And that's at D T H E period abdominal. A D O M I N a L dot Snowman. And you can, I cannot take credit for that name. You can add me on any of those. And, and I'd love to. I'd love to get in touch with you. I love talking to people. I love helping people. Especially if you're brand new. Remember what it's like to be brand new and I'd love to be able to help you get to that next level. Love it.

Okay. And we'll make sure to link all of that up in the show notes. So thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I really appreciate it.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Bethany, thank you for listening to the PT Profit podcast. If you like this episode, chances are your friends will too. So it would be a huge service to us if you would please leave us a review and share with your friends on your social media channels. When you leave us a review, be sure to take a screenshot of it and email that screenshot to my team@info simpsonfitness.com and we'll send you a very special Instagram podcast that will show you how to create compelling content so that your idea clients come to you and you go from wanting clients to a wait list of clients ready for your services. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.