Wellness Professional Profile: Wellness Matchmaker

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What are you waiting for? Good night. If I had the music that was the intro for The Dating Game, I will play it right now. This episode is totally match.com for wellness. My guest today is making it easy for women over 40 to find the right coach, and she's also midlife herself. So this episode is so meta in terms of examples of creatively following your passion, finding a problem and solving it. Women in business are to be applauded, and women in wellness— well, don't, don't we all need not more but just better choices? We need programs based on science, science featuring women just like you. So if you happen to be listening as a health or a wellness professional, there's a special episode on She Means Fitness Business that releases one day after this one, and you're going to you want to listen to that. If you have ever struggled to find the right coach or trainer, then this is for you. I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50, where I address your top struggles and concerns, and we share how to move, what to eat, and how to change your mindset so you can have the energy and the vitality that you want, need, and deserve in this second and better half. My guest is Jill Beck. And in Jill's eyes, health and wellness for people over 40 is in dire need of transformation. Let's be honest, the industry has struggled to address the lack of fitness and wellness options for anyone who's not a fit 25 to 40-year-old white guy. Those are her words. I can't disagree. Once Jill left Wall Street 20 or more years ago, she started to get serious about her own health and fitness. Over that journey, she She saw firsthand how few resources and options existed for people over 40. Now she's on a mission to ensure that no one else has to go through that experience by themselves. Combining her expertise with tech and finance with her passion for wellness, fitness, and overall health, Go Long is currently her third business venture and the one she's most excited about. The major through line in all of her businesses has been wanting to help people become their best selves, however they define that. I can't wait to dive into this episode. Super fun. She is super articulate. And this is a little bit like you and I helping to give a sister a lift in their business. And it's a kind of business that all women will benefit from. I'm super excited about it. Let's go. Jill Beck, thanks so much for being here.

It's great to be here, Debra.

Okay. Everybody wants to know what the heck is a wellness matchmaker?

Yeah, yeah. Great question. I mean, basically it's around you tell me your needs and I find the best person or persons best aligned to your goals, budget, and mindset to help you. And what I cover with you has nothing to do with your height or weight. It has to do more with your personality and your learning style. Are you an introvert? Are you an extrovert? How do you like to receive feedback? And what's your day typically like? Those are the types of characteristics that I care about when matching up a client with someone in the marketplace.

Beautiful. Okay, so let's say you get someone and— oops, sorry about that, I'm so popular. Um, so you get somebody on, you're talking to them, and you don't have a match, are you doing research for them specifically to expand the possibilities for them, or are you pulling from an existing network?

I do both. So I'm working on something for a client right now where I basically just went through literally 12 different service providers, right, based on the criteria that this client laid out for me, right? And within about, you know, a half hour, I was able to eliminate like 3/4 of those service providers based on what this person's criteria was, which happened to be around commuting distance and accessibility to a bus stop type of thing, right? And once you then narrow it down, then you're just trying to figure out, okay, what are the other things that are part of the package? And really what you're doing is you're taking, say, what someone's fitness goals are, what their budget is, right? And, um, the things that they like doing and with the time that they have and marrying it all together. Right. And so sometimes that is within my network of people, but I'm not married to my network of people. I don't make a commission off of the people that I refer to because I want people to know that I'm being completely independent and looking out for their best interest.

I love that. And having been married to a financial planner who also worked like this, this was one of the distinguishing factors that, that really helped him be successful. It was just, you know, My, you know, biggest motivation is you getting what you want. And it— I clearly, that's what we're hearing here. I love it. So tell me this, is it, is it an algorithm? I mean, everybody thinks AI is going to rule my life out here, or are you Jill Beck, the person kind of doing the digging and the research? How does this work?

I mean, right now I am the algorithm. Right? You're talking to the algorithm. And I think, yeah, there are probably certain things that can be automated along the way, but at the end of the day, really what I'm looking for is picking up certain cues when I talk to my clients and understanding what makes them really uncomfortable. The other thing is, is that AI is only as good as the information out there. And if anyone's ever used ChatGPT, you know this, right? And there's a lot of information on fitness websites that's not out there. And you do have to follow up with the service providers or the dietitians for that matter to get really to the meat of what does a monthly membership really entail and what are you allowed to do. And you'd be surprised how much of that information is not on a website. And sometimes that's just because the website's fairly primitive in nature. And sometimes that's by design because they really want you to get into the facility and get you to sign that dotted line.

Yeah, great insight. What— and you think I have to ask this— so you've, you've been very clear in terms of how this supports a listener. I'm going to flip it to the other side. So listeners may also want to know, how does this support like health coaches or trainers? It sounds— and again, I'm going to ask you to repeat yourself most likely— but you're not vested in helping any any trainer or coach get more business, not necessarily. Is that true?

Yeah, I mean, the thing is, is that it's more of just a merit system, right? Like we all basically live by is that you have to go and earn it every day. And yeah, there are going to be people who I know I have a good track record with clients and I might be more likely to recommend those service providers, but that's because they have a track record. But I'm still not making any money off of them or taking any type of compensation off of them, right? So it's a matter of you're earning the goodwill because you're doing the work for every client.

Okay, so that brings to mind, uh, and I'm guessing based on your previous left Wall Street 20 years ago, I mean, I'm just doing a little math, you're, you're probably over 40 yourself, so How does a midlife woman monetize a business like this? How are you? How are you earning a living?

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm 52.

So we love that so much about you.

Yeah. I mean, so I'm 52 years old. I just turned 52 this month. And you know how I monetize this is through the consulting, right? So a client hires me to do their work, right? And like save them time. So you're a busy person, you're taking care of your kids. You're running your household, you may be working in a job outside of raising your kids, you're taking care of your parents, you're worried about your own health. A lot of this is referred to as the sandwich generation, and you know you need to take better care of yourself, and you don't know the questions to ask to find out if someplace is the right place for you to be, or if this service provider, whether it's a dietitian, someone who's like more of a mental health coach, or a fitness coach is the right fit for you. And I know those questions to ask, and I know where to kind of be like, wait, this sounds a little gray here, and I need to dig in on this to find out what actually happens here. And so that's taking my background on Wall Street and taking my background in tech and really working backwards from the client, as opposed to a lot of what happens in fitness is that someone walks into XYZ gym, they say, "Okay, I need a personal trainer." Personal trainer goes to them, is like, "Okay, you're gonna do this amount of bicep curls and this amount of squats," without even listening to what the client really is aiming for.

Yeah, we know that happens. Right?

Yeah. I was just at a focus group last night that I was leading, and I can't even tell you, How many times I hear in these focus groups how women just are really dismissed, right? And they're just— whether it's at the doctor's office or whether it's, you know, in the personal wellness space, they just feel like they're being pushed lots of supplements, right? I met one woman last night who spends $500 a month on supplements, and I was like, my mind was blown, right? And it doesn't change— what it's not solving is changing the mindset in terms of the things that you need to change in your life to be healthier.

Yeah, so good. Okay, so tell me this. So you know the questions to ask. Tell me how you know that. So you do have a background in finance and tech. You have a passion for wellness and fitness. Do you also have some qualifications, or how is it that you know those questions to ask? You are obviously, you are obviously very left brain. I mean, all the way through, obviously your background, but I can hear you like, here's the problem, I'm going to work myself backwards and problem solve that. I mean, I hear it, but talk us through that a little bit.

Yeah, so, um, obviously we're on audio, so, and even if we were on video, you probably couldn't tell. So I'm 4 feet 11, right? So not very tall. And when I left Wall Street, I weighed 25 pounds more than I do now, right? And I was already diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. There's a history of cardiac problems, um, in my family. My dad had a heart attack at 47. He's fine, but a lot of problems, right? And I was definitely heading that way. I was burning the candle at both ends, not taking care of myself, working 90 hours a week, doing all the things. And it was taking me 45 minutes to get out of bed, literally. And that was being on two very heavy-duty meds for rheumatoid arthritis. And my boyfriend at the time, who's now my husband, he just said, and in a completely nonjudgmental way, maybe if you started moving around more, maybe you wouldn't feel so stiff in the morning. Right. And little did he know what he unleashed, because eventually, you know, so I started with like changing how I ate and I had to totally rewire my brain on that. And then I started, um, walk running around this lake that's about 3 miles near where we lived, and I just wanted to not die, right? And, um, good goal, good goal. Yeah, you know, keeping it very simple, right, Debra? And I eventually built up to 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, and marathons. And that's where he was also like, all right, I'm done running with you, um, after like you know, the 5 and 10Ks. And, um, but that's really what started it. And what I do know about this process, which gives me credibility, is that I know it's not a linear process. I know those fits and starts. I know that life gets in the way. I know all of these things. And when I talk about Go Long, which, you know, is the name of my company, I talk about 3 things. I talk about being empathetic Because I do know how hard this is to rewire your brain for this stuff. I talk about being pragmatic. I'm not going to sit there and tell you, "Hey, here are 3 things you can do to get a 6-pack in 2 weeks for your daughter's wedding." And I'm going to be optimistic that you can change the narrative about your life and you can, right? It's just around really reframing the discussion. And that's what I have, that's what I offer clients is that I've walked that walk. And so I know how hard it is. I know how frustrating it is. I've done the tears. I've done the yelling and screaming, and I've done the celebratory stuff.

That is gold. Yep. So every woman listening knows she's been in your shoes. She knows it. She knows what you're feeling. She's had that. And that is something that no matter how empathetic an individual you are, I think nothing gives you an edge like, I've been in your shoes. I love that. So Go Long, first of all, I love the name. And I mean, it says so much. I think it's a lot for me, like, you still got it, girl, and hot not bothered. It says it without saying it, you know, exactly your philosophy. But if you had to define it, what is Go Long's approach or philosophy?

Go long is it's your life, go the distance, right? And breaking that down, some examples is that a lot of times people feel like they need to exercise because of something sporty, like they're training for a triathlon, um, a 5K, or, you know, whatever it is. And really, it doesn't have to be about that. Going long could be about traveling. And if anyone's been to Europe, you know that Europe is not what I would call ADA-friendly. And when you're walking around Rome along the Spanish Steps and on the streets, the cobblestone streets, there's no escalators, elevators, or anything to kind of get you around. You still have to do it. And wouldn't it be great if you could be on a trip like that every day and your back and your knees aren't pissed off at you from all the walking and you're able to see all that stuff? And that's what going long is. Another example of going long could be something as simple as like bathing your dog. You need to have a certain amount of strength and mobility to be able to do that. We all love our furry friends. And then if you like— my first client came to me and she calls every sport sportsball, right? And she came to me and she said, I'm going to hire you. And I'm like, what are you talking about? She's like, I hurt my back for the second time in a month gardening. And if I can't garden, I'm gonna be really sad, right? And that's something else I want people to take away from this. You don't have to be quote unquote playing a sport. Your first goal could be, I wanna stand on the sidelines of my kid or my grandkid's soccer game and not have my back essentially give me the middle finger.

Hmm, so, so good. All right, so coming back to like go long, your philosophy and doing the long game, the longevity game. A lot of clients still are— the thing that gets our attention is still concerned about size. It is concerned about looking good for my daughter's wedding in 2 months or weeks. How do you help clients kind of maybe redefine success apart from the typical, I want to lose weight?

Yeah. I focus a lot on movement. And I think it's— I'm glad you brought this up because I did talk about my weight earlier and I don't like talking about weight in general because I think that it really distracts from what really matters in terms of overall health, right? But I know people respond to weight. It's just a part of our culture and a part of our society, whether we like it or not. So, I did a blog post last week on— I had my body comp measured because I'm very worried about osteoporosis. My mom has osteoporosis, so it's something I'm very, very sensitive about, and it's why I do a lot of strength training and whatnot. And one of the things that I talked about is that you're doing your body comp and you're just like, "Oh my God, I'm gonna find out how fat I am. Oh my God," right? And everybody like freaks about that. And that's totally normal, right? I'm not gonna sit there and say, "Don't do that." But what I learned is that there's a difference between body fat percentage and visceral fat percentage. And visceral fat is the metric you really need to pay attention on, right? Because visceral fat is the fat in between your organs, which really is the high indicator for things like cardiac disease and metabolic disease. So, things like diabetes for that matter., right? And so, that's the number, like instead of worrying about having the perfect body fat amount, it's understanding what your visceral fat is and how you can change the game on that number if that number is out of the ordinary in terms of what's good for your age group, right? And so, I get people to focus on something like visceral fat in that example. Another example is just around like, how do you want to move? Do you want to be able to play with your grandkids on the floor, or do you just dread if you drop something on the floor that you have to bend down and pick it up? And so I talk a lot about how do you want to move and what are the things that you want to still be doing now that maybe you want to do 15 years from now.

Beautiful. Yeah, love that. Um, okay, so Walk us through this, would you? So let's say we've got a listener, she wants to get started, and of course we'll have links here in the show notes and we'll, we'll ask you what those are toward the end. But if she wants to get started, describe what it's like for somebody to reach out. How does that first initial call or contact work? What's the timeline between initial contact and actually reaching a match, for instance?

Yeah, so what I do is I have a free consultation, right? Because I want to make sure that you're comfortable working with me, right? Because you're going to have to trust me with a lot of personal stuff, and if you don't have that trust up front, then it makes it really hard for me to help you. Right. So we have an introductory call, like 20 minutes, half hour, right? We talk about it. And then if you decide to work with me, right, like, so I'll send you obviously an invoice. And then what I do is I send you a questionnaire, right, for you to fill out. And the questionnaire takes about an hour to fill out, but it really gets into me understanding what your day-to-day life is like. Because in terms of finding the right provider for you, I have to understand what are the constraints that you have. And literally, if your constraint is that the only time you can work out in between carpool pickups is between 2:30 and 4:00 on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, that's the kind of thing I need to tease out of you and understand so that this way I could suggest solutions that fall into that. Right? So, in that questionnaire, I'll pick up about, say, 10 to 15 things. That matter to you. And then when we get on the phone to follow up, I'll tease out what are the most important that are absolutely like complete showstoppers, right? And some people, they're gonna have a little bit more flexibility on budget but no flexibility on time. Some people are gonna have no flexibility on budget but more flexibility on time. Some people are like, I don't wanna do CrossFit. I've heard so many bad things about it. So it's more of just understanding what it is that they're doing, right? But it's also understanding, do they need nutritional help? Do they need stress help, sleep help? It's all of those things. And if they want, like, if it makes sense to have separate providers, or if it makes sense to have like one provider that provides all of those services together. And so it's just understanding what that is and how they like to receive feedback. Like, if you're in a group setting and you're getting coached in a group class, so let's say you're at like a cardio class at XYZ gym, do you want positive reinforcement publicly? There are people who really don't like that, right? Even though the intent is good, there are people who really don't like that. And it's important to find the coach that's going to get you and get you mentally and emotionally so that they can get the best out of you physically.

Great description. So how long does that take?

You know, it— so like, if I send you the questionnaire, it's as quick as you turn it around and filling it out and sending it back to me, right? Okay. And then it's about, it's about a week, right? And we set up time, right? And generally what I would say with a lot of my clients, it just depends on their availability, right? Um, but I say a week. Sometimes they can't meet with me for 2 weeks because of like XYZ thing going on and everything else. But then we have an hour talk and I just go through and I explain. I give them a report in writing and I say, this is why I chose these 3 options. I talk about options, other options I did look at and eliminated so that this way they have a method to the madness and they could see how thorough the thought process was. Because I had, in one instance, I had a client who said, Oh, you know what though? I heard good things about that place, so maybe we could think about it. And I understand why you eliminated it, but I'd like to— I'd like you to dig into that for me. And so, okay, we can definitely talk about that, right? So it's not hard and fast where it's like, here are your 3, that's it. If there's something that comes up, I'm not going to sit there and be like, okay, that's another X amount of dollars. Like, let's just have a conversation and find you the right fit so you can go from there.

I love that. Okay, so I would love to shift gears. So let's talk about you. So when, when did Go Long— when was it born? How, how old or new is it?

Yeah, so it kind of started in January of this year, and I was just talking to a friend, and I left my job in tech in October of 2022, just about a year ago. And I was talking about the job search, and she was talking about like something related to fitness. And I said, well, if you're going to do that, you might want to think about this, and here are the things I'd worry about, right? And we ended up talking for like 20 minutes. She's like, you should like build a business on this. And I'm like, no one's going to pay me for this. Come on. Like, I'm happy to just help people, right? And she's like, no, you should think about this. And I was like, all right, fine, whatever. And I had actually 4 networking calls later that day for my job search in tech, and they were all women over 40. And I said, all right, I'm just going to spitball this idea to you, and I want you to tell me what you think, and I want I'm originally from New York and it's like, I want New York style feedback. I don't want, you know, the blowing sunshine up my you know what feedback, right? Yeah. And all of them were like, that would be amazing. Like you matching people up would be amazing because no one does that. And each one of them had a story where they went to the gym and they hired a personal trainer who was generally a 25-year-old guy who like didn't listen to them. They got hurt or they just didn't enjoy the experience. Like they weren't engaged in it. It was just like not fun and not motivating to come back. And they felt body shamed and all the things. And they said, if I found someone like— this is them talking in first person— that like treated me with respect and understood that like my body does not work like a 25-year-old guy's body. That'd be great. And I mean, I used to do CrossFit and there were some CrossFits who would have this like, oh, you have to do extra burpees if you're a minute late to class. Like, go tell that to the mom who got her 3 kids out the door and into school and she's 2 minutes late to class. It's such a victory that she made it to class. Like, oh, okay, let's like put you into more punishment because you're 2 minutes late to a CrossFit class. For Pete's sakes, like, let's get a grip.

I love that. I so love that. Okay, so tell me this. No, for first of all, so your business is basically starting to walk. It's wonderful, right? You're about 10, 10 months in right now.

Yeah.

Where, where have you experienced the biggest challenges, and what kind of challenges have they been? Have they been mindset? Have they been literally tech or obstacles in in getting traffic or finding customers? Sounds like that's not an issue, but what have been your biggest challenges?

Well, I think that I put out a lot of content, and which will be in the show notes. And the thing is, is that with the asynchronous nature of putting out content, you never know if your content resonates, right? And, you know, I've been fortunate to have some clients, but, you know, I could always use more clients. And I think that right now it's coming up with leads from people that don't know me, right? That's, that's a big challenge in how to scale that because right now it's, it's very much a word of mouth, people who know me type of thing. And so obviously the goal is getting to a point where people find me and they don't actually know me personally or know someone who knows me personally, right? Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I would say that, you know, I'm putting out content like 3 times a week, you know, in different forms. Like my blog posts are under 5 minutes to read, my videos are generally under a minute. I call them grab-and-goes, and it's just getting people to have the time to listen or to read. I mean, most people in this demographic, of which I'm part of that, they have no time. That's the problem. To sit there and be like, how much time do you take for self-care, right? If you ask the listeners, how much— how many minutes per day do you take for self-care? It's probably going to be a shockingly low number, right? Let alone over the course of a week, because they're so busy taking care of everybody else that they're not focusing on themselves.

Yeah, so good. Okay, so question. You said, you said, listen, I know you put out a lot of content. Are you doing a podcast?

No, I'm not doing a podcast.

I do yet. Yet. You need a podcast, Jill, because here's the deal. This has come ringing true, and I want every listener, if you're listening or you found this on Facebook or Instagram or, or through a post, I want you to comment on this and tell me if you agree. But By hearing Jill, you now trust Jill. And you could read it, but that may not relay or convey the same feeling. Do you feel like you could do a podcast? Are you interested?

I mean, here's the thing with podcasts. The people who do them, there's a lot of work. Like, the people who do good podcasts, you don't just wing it. They might sound like they're winging it, but they're not winging it. Right. There's a lot of work involved. And so it's a matter of what's more scalable and how much time it takes. Like right now, I would say that even just like I'm getting video editing and audio editing is not something I've ever done in my career. And so right now I'm just learning all those steps. If anyone's ever started a business, um, from scratch, you, there are things you come to the table that, you know, you do really well. And then there are the things where you're like, I've never had to do this before.

And 90, 98 other things.

All these things I don't know how to do and I never had to do them, but now it's me doing them. Mm-hmm.

Sweet. Yes, yes. Okay, so what about a YouTube channel? Do you have one?

I'm getting that set up. I am getting that set up. I'm gonna have that set up in the next, um, 2 weeks.

That will, that will work for you. That would be a good substitute for a podcast, but I think it's the connection with you is is the, the turnkey, right? And then potentially you could interview or have on prior guests, you know, that would also be helpful, you know, talk to them about the match and how, how well you did and how it went. And, and there's a lot of ways that then you can lift and have double exposure. So anything that we can do from our audience to help get the word out so everyone One thing that you can do if you're listening, if you also think this is a great idea, you're helping twofold. And one is you're helping a fellow female in midlife right here build a business based on being a female entrepreneur who's solving a problem for a lot of other females. That's one. But two, you're helping all of the women that she has the potential to help but can't reach yet without your help. So share this podcast with everybody because that would give us lift in, in reaching more people. Jill, is there a question that I should ask you that I haven't about your business or your vision, where you see this going?

Well, one of the things, you know, you talked about like the interviewing other people. So one of the things that I found in my focus groups is that You know, time is a problem, as I alluded to earlier. And so one of the things that I want to be doing is bringing what I would call tangential experts in fields that are applicable to this Flipping 50 demographic, right? And so, yeah, you could say obviously there's like, you know, say certain strength trainers or say dietitians, things like that. Those are obvious. But less obvious, there's like stress management and not necessarily like psychiatric, right? Just more of somewhat more about mindfulness, things of that nature. But then other things that I've gotten a lot of feedback on is around retirement planning, saving for college, or, and a very, like, it's not, it seems esoteric, but it's actually not. What questions do I ask if I have to like put my parents into assisted living? And because when the thing, the thing is, is that when that problem happens, right, you are against the clock, your back's against the wall, you're under stress, and you make bad decisions when you're in that kind of situation. And that happens to everybody, right? And so it's bringing experts like that who are very, um, who are familiar with these problems that the sandwich generation faces. And helping them understand that they're not alone. And here are some tips and tricks in terms of— here are the questions you should ask if you're thinking about moving one of your parents into assisted living and another one's aging in place. All those scenarios that are very scary and very stressful and very nerve-wracking, and you don't want to screw it up.

So good. Yeah, that is awesome. And I think you've got a great idea here. So first of all, congratulations, and To all of you who are listening, Jill, where's the best place for them to go and connect with you?

So I'm on Instagram at Just Go Long. Um, I will admit my Instagram, um, presence isn't super duper like a lot of the influencers. We're working on that. Uh, I have a Substack which has all my blog posts and my videos. And it's at golang.substack.com. So, and in both of those places you can set up a free call with me.

Very cool. Awesome. Okay, listeners, now it's up to you. There may be a question that you wish I would have asked, but I actually think your questions are going to be more targeted at Jill, and they are going to go like, can you help me? So I'm going to send you over to the links. Those will be in the show notes, and show notes today will be at flipping50.com/find-the-right-coach. And what are you waiting for? Let's start flipping 50 today.