#22: Keep Pushing Forward with Celebrity Trainer Autumn Calabrese

Thank you for listening to this Podcast 1 production available on Apple Podcasts and Podcast 1.

Each week. When you join me here, we are going to chase down our goals, overcome adversity, and set you up for a better tomorrow. Come on this journey with me. Hi, and welcome back to Creating Confidence. I am so grateful you're here. It has been a crazy week, but a good one. And I have to tell you that today I'm recording this on Friday. You're gonna hear it on Tuesday. We just hit 500,000 downloads of the show, and I'm so grateful to you. I. I can't even. I can't even believe. It's so crazy, though. You have to stop for a minute every once in a while. I wrote down that I wanted to hit a million downloads by the end of the year, and I didn't really know what success was gonna look like.

Right?

Like, I didn't know, would one show do better than the other? You know, how would I get reviews? How would I get people to subscribe? Would people share it? You just never know what success looks like. But you have to set a goal and, you know, create a timeline in your mind that you're working towards and build a plan to try to get you there. So we are not at a million yet, but we're halfway there. And we've got three more months left this year, so it definitely is attainable. I so need your help to do it. No one succeeds alone, and that for sure is me. So if you could please share the show with your friends, post about it on social. I will repost. Tag me Eather Monahan anytime you do. But please share it. Share it with your people and subscribe and leave a review. It really helps me so, so much. And I'm super, super grateful for 500,000, because, you know, gosh, I just started this show in May, May 14, and with that Gary Vee episode, which was killer. Go big or go home. If you haven't listened to it yet, please do. It's such a good. Such a good episode. So I'm. I'm just. I'm really appreciative today and I'm feeling super grateful. So thank you so, so much. Means the world to me when so many people told me not to launch a new podcast that there were too many out there. So I'm grateful that I told them. Thank you for your beliefs. But I'm going to go ahead and move forward with vine, so let's keep going. One million. We're coming for you. We got three More months. We can do this. Okay, so this week was kind of crazy. And I. And I'll tell you why I had. I was doing an interview for my podcast and I like to go to people face to face. So I usually do a lot of my shows out in LA at the Podcast One recording studios, which are great. I live in Miami, so sometimes it's hard to get out there. So I've been going to New York a lot, and then, you know, when people come to Miami, I record here. However, this person was in Atlanta. I'm going to tell you who it is just because I have to give you the context. Kim Gravel, who I just love from qvc. She just launched her own show and I got the opportunity to interview her and they asked me, hey, Heather, do you want to go to Atlanta to interview her? And I said, heck, yeah, I do. And as always, I can't share this enough. Go face to face. You know, that's the real work. Yes. It's a pain to get on a plane or drive hours, whatever. It's not easy. It's annoying. However, no magic is going to happen unless you meet people face to face. That is just fact. Now, sometimes no magic may come of it, or it might not come of it in that moment, but it can start a series of dominoes falling that would have never tipped if you hadn't shown up. So I'm always so grateful to show up. I had such an amazing day with her. She is so cool and she's just. She's an inspiration and she's such a help to me. And it's so funny because when I first got fired, this is about two years ago, I went to the CEO of Perry Ellis International. And that's because you never take a no from someone who can't give you a yes. So go to the top. Go to the ultimate decision maker. And I went to him and I said, listen, I've got this great idea to launch a clothing line and here's how it would work and here's what it would look like. And he loved the idea and he signed off on it and we went into business together and we came up with this pitch for HSN to bring a clothing line to life, all around confidence and empowering women. And I was so excited. And it took a lot of work and a long time because Perry Ellis is a really big company valued at over a billion doll, massive operation. So you have to get a lot of approvals and things move more slowly than what I was accustomed to. And I wasn't a full time employee. I was a contractor working with them. So you're treated a bit differently when you're not on that full time team. So in the end, to make a long story short, we go to the pitch and I had worried so much about me and my part and, you know, the why Heather and the messaging around Heather and my presentation. And in the end, HSN said, hey, Heather, we love you and we love your messaging. However, the product Perry Ellis is so similar to everything we already have on the air that we, you know, we're not interested, come back with a different, unique product. And it was one of those moments that I thought, wow, sometimes I just focus so much on me and what could go wrong with me instead of taking that bigger picture, broader lens and viewpoint that I've got to look at everything and make sure not only am I unique, but the product and the ask is unique. Right. So that was kind of frustrating to say the least, because I put, I believe it was eight months of work that we went in on that and I really thought that was going to pan out for me. So I, during that time, I learned a lot about qvc, hsn. I met with different people that had products on air to find out what works because like anything, if I'm going to do something, I want it to crush. And. And I know a lot about that business now. Well, Kim Gravel is huge on qvc and she just got her own show there. I mean, she's just, she's an amazing woman. So I go there with this great podcast together and afterwards she said, I want to hear about you and I want to know what's going on with you. And you know, Heather, you should do a show. And so we were talking and I told her where I got stuck. And it was so interesting because she's so connected and so deep in this world. And she said, heather, I deal with so many manufacturers. They always want me to work with them on coming out with new products. Why don't I just connect you to one of my partners and you can get something off the ground. And it's interesting because in other industries there are people that have the experience, they have the connections. We might have the talent or ability, but we just don't have those connection points yet and that knowledge. So those little missing pieces can really slow you down and frustrate you. So, I mean, we'll see. Who knows what will happen. I'm so grateful for Kim's time. I'm grateful for her interest in helping me. And, you know, and it was funny. I said, gosh, I can't thank you enough, even just for being willing to work with me on this and come up, you know, brainstorm some ideas on the brand and potentially what we could do here. I'm just so grateful. And she said, but why? Someone did the same thing for me. And it was just so cool the way that she looked at helping me. I was. I was really, really appreciative. That was just an amazing meeting. But I can tell you this, that would have never happened had I not flown out to Atlanta, driven an hour and a half out into the suburbs, and I ended up missing my flight coming back because I was not going to leave her house. When she was in this mode of sharing so much insight and knowledge and help with me and brainstorming with me. It's, you know, chances like that don't come along every day, so. So I knew I was gonna miss my flight. I just didn't care. I figured, when I get out of here, I'll work on the flight and I'll figure that out. So. One of my best friends lives out in Atlanta. I called her as soon as I got out of there. I said, I'm coming over. I gotta get a flight. I was speaking at the Bacardi Leadership Summit in Miami the next morning. And I said, you know, we'll work this out. Let me get on the phone now at the airline. So I always try to do that, just tackle that next thing that's right in front of me. And so I did that. I got on a later flight, the last flight out, leaving at 8, and I went to my girlfriend's house, hung out with her for an hour, and then went to the airport. Get to the airport, get on my flight. Remember, I'm speaking The next morning, 9:30 in the morning, at a Bacardi International Leadership Summit in Miami. And our flight was delayed hours. I didn't get home until it must have been 1:30 in the morning. To say I was so frustrated is an understatement. But I shared this with you because it isn't always that people understand. Everyone's got it tough, right? The grind is there. Whether you're a podcaster or a speaker or maybe you're a sales rep or, you know, you've got a side hustle and a regular job. There's always going to be struggles. It's about not getting taken down by them, right? So I was in the worst mood when I got home because I was so tired. I'd just been really tired I went to bed, I guess around 2 in the morning. And I was up at, I don't remember, 6:30, probably to take a shower and start getting ready. Anyway, so I get ready, I'm exhausted and I have to really start thinking about, okay, I'm going to this conference. What am I going to talk about today? I was hosting a panel, moderating a panel, as well as I was doing a keynote and then I was doing a book signing. And I was very prepped on the moderator portion because we had had numerous calls about it. I had notes and I felt very prepar prepared. However, my keynote, I try to take different approaches in different settings. And I was just thinking to myself, wow, what do I want to make this about today? And as you know, I have my TED Talk coming. So I thought this is a great opportunity to test some of my material for my TED Talk. So I'm going to do it a little different today and see what happens, which was kind of cool. And again, I've been speaking for a really long time. So for me, I. I can pivot now. There are a lot of people will say, do not do that. Only do your one memorized speech. But. And hey, maybe people don't like the way I do it, but I get great feedback and I feel really good about it. For me, showing up as me being authentic and on my toes and just going with the vibe that I get from the. The event when I get there is kind of makes it work. So anyway, I go there. I literally like the button fell off this beautiful jacket that I had that I was gonna wear. I was so frustrated. Cause I was so tired ripping through my closet. This jacket's too big, this one's too small, this one's wrinkled. I mean, it was just, it was so first world problems. And finally I was like, whatever, I'm just gonna wear this totally different outfit that I usually don't wear. And anyway, went to the event and got there. It was a beautiful event. And they said, hey, hang out here for a few minutes. And I'm thinking, don't I need to go on soon. But okay, there no problem. Well, somehow there was a breakdown that someone didn't realize I wasn't mic'd up yet. All of a sudden I get called in, heather, you're going on. And we don't have you mic'd up. So they walk me around back, I am getting the mic on and they announce and Heather Monahan. And I'm literally not. The microphone is not on me. And so I'm Thinking, oh, this is mortifying because people only clap so long before it's like, okay, hello, sister, where are you? And I just had turned the mic on to the guy and I'm still hunched over and he's putting the mic on me and I start saying, hold tight, I'm coming. I swear to God, I'm on my way. And it was funny, so it got a good laugh. And then I literally ran. So they were thinking, that was pretty funny too. I was running out there and the wire, unfortunately was out the whole time. Because when you get mic'd up, usually you're able to pin it or put it underneath your shirt or down, you know, a side of your pants so that no one sees the cord. But we didn't have that luxury of time in that moment, which, you know, that happens, whatever. I'm sure I'm not gonna love the footage, but the speech went well and that's what counts. So, you know, the goal is to be able to reach one person and, and have people feel good about the event and take something tangible away and that. So it was really funny. I decided to share. Listen, I'm not apologizing for this, people. I know you see it as I'm late. This is just a hiccup in our day, and I don't believe in apologizing. Who's with me? And then I just started into my whole talk about the importance of not apologizing and giving everyone a seven day challenge, which is in my book, and these different ideas and ways that I have to manage situations where you might have said, I'm sorry in the past, but you no longer need to now. You can be grateful for others and make it about them and thank them for their support and their patience and their understanding, blah, blah, blah. So that's how I started my speech and I, for me, again, I believe, just showing up as you, who you really are, mistakes and all, running late with the wire out and not getting to wear the beautiful jacket, you know, just makes it more real. And I don't know, I'm kind of a fan of real these days. So I was really appreciative of the amazing feedback I got that day. Our panel went fantastic. One woman says to me, I just love your energy. And I said, I know, me too. And everyone started laughing. And it was just, it was funny. It was a really fun, funny day. And I was super grateful. I had spoken at the same conference last year, and it was fun to be back there this year now with my podcast, which is new now with me working on this new clothing line concept, you know, it just. It's interesting every once in a while to note, hey, a year ago today, where was I and how far have I come? Because sometimes I get really frustrated that things don't move faster and take off quicker. And, you know, having those missing pieces can be difficult. But it's also good to appreciate how far we've all come. So today I'm excited, excited for you to meet my next guest because you're going to love her. And I was super intimidated about having her on because, yes, she is one of the trainers for Khloe Kardashian on Revenge Body. So, you know, immediately I got in my head of, oh, my gosh, I hope I don't look so awful next to her. So much older, fatter, blah, blah, you know, these negative voices that sometimes we turn to. So here's the good news. The picture came out good.

And.

And the other good news is that she was great. So I hope you're gonna love her. Hang tight. I'll be right back. Hi, and welcome back. I'm so excited for you to meet Autumn Calabrese.

Yes.

Did I do amazing? I'm so not Italian. Okay. She is the celebrity trainer and nutrition exper changing the game for men and women everywhere. Calabrese is featured on the upcoming third season of E. Network, Chloe Kardashian's revenge body, which is amazing, but you already know her from all of her fitness ventures. The Beach Body trainer has developed several fitness and nutrition programs including 80 day obsession and 21 day fix. That's proven to be incredibly successful, helping millions of lose weight and keep it off and make you the happiest and healthiest without deprivation. Oh, my gosh. Sign me up. Autumn takes a positive approach to training, motivating, inspiring clients through even the toughest of workouts. She's appeared numerous times as a fitness expert on the Today Show, KTLA tv, other countless media outlets. Her celebrity clients have included Kendall Jenner, Tom Bergeron, Brooke Burke, and Rachel Zo. This is crazy. I mean, you are unbelievably busy. You have a cooking show, you have a the Revenge Body. You have the 21 day program.

You have two books.

One sold 500,000 copies, and now you have this new book selling hundreds of thousands as well. Well, I can't wait to hear the knowledge you can impart on us. Autumn, thanks for being here.

Thank you so much for having me.

Well, as. As I had mentioned to you, I'm really interested. I've never explored much in the fitness realm. That's definitely not my wheelhouse as a single mom. Having worked in corporate America for 20 years and traveling for work, fitness is something that I definitely make sure I fit in in my life, and it's a priority and outlet. I love working out. However, I've never figured out the right way to make it work for me. And I'm really interested to hear your story and how fitness became not only your passion, but your business and how you incorporate it all to stay as fit as you do and. And also create so much fitness and health for others.

Yeah, well, I think I was born with it in my genes. I will say that, like, I was always a very active kid. Loved being active. I was a competitive dancer in grade school, went on to major in dance in college, but I ended up with a bulging disc in my lower spine my junior year of college. So I actually.

Horrible pain.

Yes, horrible.

The worst.

Like, sneezed and fell to my knees one day and couldn't.

And if people have not thrown their back out or had back problems, you cannot fathom how painful.

Yeah, you're not functioning. You're just down and out. And when I went and saw the doctor, he was like, look, you can keep dancing and you'll be in back surgery before you're 21.

Oh, my God.

Or you can stop dancing this much, but still live a completely normal, active life and you'll be fine. So that was actually. That wasn't even the first time I was faced with an adversity like that. The first time was when I was five and I actually got up one day and couldn't walk. There was a pain in my hip. I fell out of bed, was rushed to the hospital, was in the hospital for two weeks.

What was it?

They still, to this day, don't know. I just got better. But tests and tests and tests were run on me. And because of that, actually, that's actually where it started. Because of that injury, if you will, when I was five, my parents were really cautious about what they wouldn't let me do. So I was still totally able to be a kid and run around. But when it came to signing me up for the extracurricular activities, for a long time they wouldn't let me do it. They wouldn't let me sign up for dance, they wouldn't let me sign up for gymnastics because we never found out what was wrong with my hip. So they never knew what would trigger it again.

So would you start feeling afraid to try to do things?

No, I Wanted to do everything. And I would beg and beg and beg. It wasn't until I was 12, almost 13, though, that my dad finally was like, she's fine. It's been long enough. She's gonna be okay, that he let me start dancing. So I have always been the underdog. I've always had to come from behind, because when you start dancing at 13, these girls have been dancing since they were 3 years old, and that's all I wanted to do. But I was missing eight years of training that they had. So if I wanted to compete with them, I was gonna have to bring something else to the table because my technique was never gonna be what their technique was.

What did you bring?

I think I just brought my passion to it. Like, I brought that feel fuel, that fire of like, I don't care that you have eight years. I want it just as bad, so I'll train just as hard. I might never have as beautiful of a turnout or as pointed as a toe, but no one's gonna get up on the stage and out dance me with passion. Like, I'll at least bring all of that. And I think that that's still what I bring to everything I do now. I'm not the smartest one in the room when it comes to fitness. I'm not a strength and conditioning coach. Like, I didn't get my master's in exercise science, so there's definitely people that know more than me. But I will research. I'll find the best, I'll ask the best. I'll test it on myself, and I will put my whole heart and soul into the project. And I think that that is what my community feels when they do my workout. They feel that passion coming through the screen. And even when I'm kicking your butt, you know, I've got your back, and.

They'Re in it with you.

I'm in it with you.

That's a great feeling, especially to know you're not alone when you are struggling or trying to push yourself to that next level and you don'. Know what to expect. It's nice to know you've got somebody there with you.

Yeah. And I actually think it's a little bit of, like, that misery loves company. So when I film my workouts now, I go rep for rep, and I go pound for pound in terms of the weights. So I'm out of breath. I'm screaming because my legs are on fire.

I love that you do that.

I want to quit as much as you want to quit, but none of us are quitting. Like, I want people to see. There's nothing different about me. I don't have a superhuman power other than I don't quit. So you can do it, too. I'm gonna struggle, too. Like, I don't. I'm not sitting there trying to be like, look how easy this is. I'm like, no, this is miserable.

And it transparent with everybody. You're keeping it real. Unlike for me, I'll take spin classes. Halfway through the class, the spin instructor's off the bike. And they're walking around. And I get. They need a break occasionally. But I'm thinking, come on, why am I dying over here? Get back.

Yeah. You're like, oh, sure, call out one more hill. You're not on the bike.

Exactly. So you're not calling out the hill unless you're on the bike.

I'm not calling out the hill unless I'm on the bike.

Okay, so how did you end up with Beachbody? And weren't you one of the first instructors there?

I was not one of the first instructors there. They've been around for. They had been around for 20 years by the time I came on. Tony Horton is one of the first instructors there. He's kind of the legend and the man. But, you know, Tony Horton paved the way. Shaun T. Paved the way. Chalene Johnson paved the way. These were all big names way before I got there.

So.

So I admire and appreciate all the work that they put in. In fact, when I first became a trainer, when I first got certified, I remember watching the infomercial for P90X and looking at.

I remember P90X.

Yes. And I bought it off TV and I was. Well, I was engaged at the time. And I looked at my fiance and I said, I wonder how you become Tony Horton. Like, it's so funny. Cause 10 years later, I got signed on to be with Beachbody, which is.

Sort of not funny, is it? Maybe you were putting it out.

Putting it out there.

You didn't even know you really were.

Yes, exactly. You don't even realize that you're doing it. But it started. I was a personal trainer. I had private clients all around the Los Angeles area. And at the time, there was no social media really. Like, Facebook was just barely becoming a thing. So really you had to hustle. And it was all word of mouth. So you have to train your clients and train them well so that they tell their friends so that the friend wants to call you and sign up. And I think I brought that, obviously, to my clients. And I ended up with several People, but not even, you know, not even the names that you listed. I ended up with a lot of people in the entertainment industry on the backside of it. People in sound editing and people like agents and things like that. And I was working on a nutrition product. I had seen a client struggling a lot, like kicking her butt in the gym, but kept gaining and losing the same £5.

So welcome to my world.

Yes.

And I started to be like, what's the problem? And we went out to lunch one day and we ordered these salads, California Chicken Cafe, if you've ever been there. And they're enormous. Like, they're enormous.

Like American restaurants.

Yes. And she ate pretty much the whole salad. And it was like the ding, ding, ding moment for me. And I was like, oh, that's our problem. And she said, what? It's salad. I'm like, eh, no, it's not a salad. There's probably four or five servings of lettuce in there. There's pasta in there, there's croutons in there, there's cheese, there's broccoli, and there's enough dressing to cover that salad. So I pulled out the menu and looked at the calories on it and it was like well over 1400 calories. Well, that was her intake for the day. Plus she had stretched out her stomach obviously, and it was only lunch. She was still gonna eat throughout the day. So that was like portion control is the issue here. Like this is you can overeat unhealthy food too. And people don't even realize that. So they overeat unhealthy, plus eat the junk. And they wonder why they can't lose.

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So in that moment a light went off for you that you you wanted to Create something around this. You want.

Yes.

You identified a problem. You wanted to solve the problem.

Yes, I identified, like, portion control is the issue, or at least it's one of the main issues. So that's what I wanted to focus on, was portion control. Everything is super size, oversized, family size. I'm not a licensed nutritionist, so I went and found a licensed nutritionist that I could work with and ask questions of like, hey, this is a product I'm creating. You know, if we had to start saying sizes of foods that you can eat, like what? Like, can you help me figure out the sizes? And that's what we did. But I wanted to create containers. You know, people say, oh, eat protein the size of a hockey puck. And, you know, when you're sitting at a restaurant, you're not looking at your steak going, is that the size of a hockey puck? So that's what I did. I had created these little clear containers, different sizes. It was called Change My Plate. I launched it on the Hallmark Channel on Home and Family. And that was just because one of my girlfriends out here was a producer on the show, and she said, oh, is it done? Like, we'll. We'll put it on the show. I was selling it out of my one bedroom apartment. Like, I was. I was customer service. I was packing and shipping. I was, you know, all right, wait.

How many years ago is this?

This was eight years ago.

Okay, so in that moment, in that time, fast forward to where you are now. Did you know how successful you were going to become with it?

No, I had hopes and dreams of it.

But you.

You.

You know, like, I thought just getting to launch it on Home and Family was like the coup de gras. Right? Like, I got to be. Yeah, it was like, oh, my gosh, I got to be on tv. Tom Bergeron was one of my clients at the time. He was friends with the host there. So he came on with me because I was training him. And it was like, we just had this fun. We did a little exercise segment. It was great. One of my other clients, who happened to be in the movie industry, sound editing, had somebody over to her house, a friend that was. This is. According to her, that friend was overweight, and she was trying to nudge him nicely to lose weight. She was concerned for his health. So she said, oh, look at this product my trainer created, kind of trying to get him to want to use it, and he had no interest in it whatsoever. But he said, I think I know somebody who might be interested in that. Can I pass it on? They called me, they said, hey, this is what's going on. Can you pass it on? I said, well, who does he want to pass it on to? And she said, I don't know. Somebody. Beachbody. Do you know them? And of course, I'm like, pass it on. Like, pass it on right now. So it was word of mouth and that's why it's so important. I can't stress this enough. Like, you never know who knows somebody. So it's not always like, oh, am I training the head of product development at a Beachbody? It's like I was training somebody who was friends with somebody who was the head of product development at Beachbody. I got lucky that, you know, I didn't get lucky. I worked my ass off, right? Part of my language that I had. She'll bleep you out, Okay. I had trained them so hard. I had been training them for years. I was on time. I was always prepared.

Exactly.

That they believed in me enough to show it to somebody else and say, we think this could work for you. And then that person respected their opinion and passed it on. And I think that's so important to remember as an entrepreneur is that you have to treat everybody like they are your best friend and your like can be the person that could launch your career because you just never know who they know. So you have to treat them like that best friend and your. And the dream client. Because even if they're not the dream client, they might know the dream client.

Well, I really appreciate that you just caught yourself and said, hang on a second, I'm not lucky. I really worked hard because so often. And not just women, but oftentimes women will attribute something great happening to, I'm so lucky. And I've done that myself in my career. But when you really take a step back. No, you've got to take credit for. Like you said, you were the one man distributor, you know, creating, packaging, doing. Those were not glamorous times for you, I'm sure.

No, no, I mean my back. You want to talk about your back hurting? I was sitting on my living room floor for hours on end packing these things and shipping them. Like I couldn't walk. Like my same. My disc would go out and I'd be in pain. But what do they say? Luck favors the prepared, right? So it's not really luck. It's when opportunity meets preparation. I love that quote because I really think that that is true. People will look at you when you're doing well and say, you're so lucky. And they Won't acknowledge the blood, the sweat and the tears and the years and years and years that go into it where your preparation met an opportunity. And there's your quote, unquote luck. No, you were ready for that opportunity. So that's all. All that really was. The other thing I have to say is so often people put a timeline on when they think it should happen, and they.

I do that.

We all do it. I do it too. And. But they give up if they don't hit the timeline. Like, oh, I failed. Had I done that, I would have never been where I was. There was plenty of times where I got knocked down. There was plenty of times where I was crying and saying, like, when is the break gonna happen? I don't even know what the break is supposed to be, but when is. When is my break gonna happen? Or when is my luck gonna change? And had I given up at any one of those frustrating moments, I wouldn't have been there for when the moment did change. So I wanted it to happen when I was 26. It didn't happen until I was 33, almost 34.

Wow.

It is what it is.

You know, how did you power through those moments when you were questioning, should I keep going?

I knew it was what I wanted, and that was the bottom line, is that if you know you want something bad enough, you really just can't give up on it. You have to say, like, if you are truly passionate about it, if you really want it, like, you really want it, nothing and no one is stopping you, no matter how long it takes. So I do tell people it's okay to reassess your goals because maybe. Maybe you thought it was a goal you wanted and you get into it and it's not, and you're like, this isn't fun. I don't like it. I don't actually want to be doing it. Okay, then move on. But if you, like, love it and want it and it's what you think about, then you don't quit. You just keep going.

That's so true. And that's. It's good messaging for me to hear. And when I'm hearing you talk about this, you know, we all want that epiphany moment, that tipping point that. Where is that? We don't know exactly what that looks like.

Right.

But can it please come now? And it's about powering through those other difficult moments to get there. Like you said, when you know this is what you want to do and you're not coming off that path. So you got through those next few years, what was that tipping point for you when you were like, okay, now I know.

I made was the night I got the contract from Beachbody. So I got the call. Obviously, they wanted to pass the product on to Beachbody. They did that two days after they passed it on. I was literally walking into my son's preschool. My phone rang from a number I didn't know. I answered it, and it was a head of product development at Beachbody. I had to, like, sit on a bench. I couldn't even, like, go in and get him. I was like, I got to breathe for a second. And they said, you know, we're interested in your product. We'd like to bring you in for a meeting with the CEO. This was beginning of December, and they said, but it's really busy the next two weeks. And then he's leaving for vacation with his family, so it won't be till January 15 or something like that. So I had to wait almost three and a half weeks to go in for the meeting. So for three and a half weeks, I analyzed everything that could go right and everything that could go wrong. And, like, what will I say and what will they say? And I tortured myself, because that's what we do. And I went in for my meeting and sat in a boardroom that felt enormous. And now looking at that boardroom, it's really not that big. But it was one of those moments where you're just like. Like, I hope I'm not sweating through my clothes. And he just made the presentation to me of like, okay, we like your product, and if we're interested, this is how it'll go. We'll buy it from you. We would like to keep you on as the face to also create workouts.

To go with it.

Why do you want to sell your product to us? And I. And I was honest because I really believe honesty is the most important thing. And I said, I hate business. I am a creator. I love fitness. I love teaching people. I do not love being customer service. I do not love being shipping. I would happily hand this over to you and let you take that portion of it. And I will happily take less money out of the whole thing, because you can do with this what I can. I'll never be able to do what you can do, because I don't have that kind of backing for myself. So I knew Beachbody could take what I had and elevate it. So I had no problem saying, you can take my concept and actually turn it into my full concept. The potential that I could reach with this massive team behind me that I can't possibly do on my own. And that's another important thing to recognize when you hit. Like, this is as far as I can go on my own. Now I need a little help. So ask for it. And we had that meeting and I left. And you walk out of the meeting and it's a blur. And you don't know if you said the right things or did the right things.

Did you know you had the deal done when you.

No, no, no. They just said, why did you leave it? They just said, like, okay, you know, great, we'll be in touch. Basically, they said, we'll be in touch.

That felt like death.

And. Yes. And so I sent a thank you email when I got home. And I also had a moment of panic where I was like, you know, in case I wasn't clear, just want to let you know, this, this and this.

Good for you.

To further answer a question that they had asked me about. I think they had asked me a question about myself and what makes me a unique trainer. And I didn't. I couldn't even remember what I had said in the moment. So I just took a moment to, like, gather my thoughts and I just. Just a short little, like, summary of it in the email to make sure I was clear. Thank you for your time. I really appreciated it. So weeks were going by, weeks were going by. I was checking my email every day. I wasn't hearing anything. And I kind of thought another opportunity had come, but missed me.

And that happened so many times, correct?

Yeah. And at the time, I was also up for Women's Health magazine has a competition that they do called the Next Big Thing or like the Next Big Fitness Trainer. And I had submitted for that and I was one of the five finalists that they had picked.

Amazing.

And they were going to bring us to New York and have us each shoot a little workout and do a photo shoot for the magazine and da, da, da, da. But if I went and did that, that was a contract. So it was like, if you win it, if you win that next big thing, you can't sign on for anything else because now you're with Women's Health. And it was coming down to the wire. Cause I wasn't hearing from Beachbody and it was days from when I had to make the decision on whether or not to tell Women's Health, like, yes, I am coming. I sent one more email with Beachbody and I didn't tell them. I wasn't about to be like, hey, there's this other opportunity because I didn't want to sound like I was trying to threaten them.

Interesting.

So I just was like, hey, I just wanted to touch base and see if you were still interested.

How many weeks had this been at this?

This had been over a month.

Okay.

And I did get an email back that said, yes, we are still interested, like attorneys working on things, blah, blah, but nothing concrete. But nothing concrete. Maybe two days before, I had to tell Women's Health, I think it was a Friday and I was gonna have to tell Women's Health yes or no on a Monday. It was like a Friday at like 10 o' clock at night. Like my son was asleep. He was like two, two and a half in bed. And I happened to open my email and there was the contract. And I'm like standing in my living room crying my eyes out. And I call my dad and it's. My dad had lived on the east coast at the time. So 10 o', clock, my time is like 1 o' clock in the morning. So I call him crying. He thinks something's wrong. And I finally got to say. And he's like, what's wrong? What's wrong? And I was like, nothing. Actually, for the first time, everything's right.

Did you think to negotiate or attempt to negotiate that contract at all?

Nope.

Okay.

That. Honestly, I was really. I will say this Beachbody is an amazing company. I have never felt gyps shorted like.

Like you just move forward in the trust with them. Yes.

And everything they offer always seems more than fair to me. So obviously I had an attorney read it, but. But I was more than happy with what they were offering to buy the product with what they were offering me in development fees. Now in my mind, I had made it. In my mind I was like, oh, it's Beachbody. It's like, it is like, you're done. You're gonna be set for life. Come to find out later on, yes, I ended up doing very well, but that it's never guaranteed. And I think ignorance was bliss at this point because I signed on, we went into full development. We were in development for a year. And when we were finally on set, and trust me, there was a million ups and downs. My ex husband lost his job. He called me to tell me he moved to San Diego with like 8 days before, not even he lost a job. He was moving to San Diego the week I was going into filming 21 Day Fix. And I was also a fitness competitor. So I was competing on a Saturday, going to Set on Monday. And he's like, I'm moving to San Diego. I didn't have a nanny. My son was three and a half. Like, I was like, what do you mean you're moving to San Diego? He's like, I, you know, I lost the job I got. I'm gonna go live with my family while I try to figure things out. And I was like. And he's like, can I take Dom with me? And I said, you absolutely will not take my child with now, mind you, my ex husband and I are actually best friends and he is now my assistant. But I was like, no, you're not taking our kid to San Diego. And I was in rehearsal. I was on a lunch break in rehearsal at Beachbody headquarters when I got the phone call. So I step outside, I'm like balling in a room. I'm like, carb depleted, I'm dehydrated, I'm exhausted, I'm stressed out. And my fitness expert comes in and she's like, what's going on? I tell her the whole story and she's like, okay, good news is you can afford a nanny. Let's just find one, let's move on. So that's what I did. Like, went into full mood, found a nanny that day.

Took emotion out of it.

Took emotion out of it. Made some decisions, competed, did great, went into set, filmed, started filming. Filming went way better than anybody ever expected. We wrapped filming five days later. And when we wrapped, you know, I'm like, again, I'm a crier. We're like hugging. I was like, oh my God, it's done. Finally. And the head of product development who found me said, now you know it's real cause it's in the can. And I like paused and shook for a minute. I was like, what? What do you mean? And she goes, oh yeah, nothing's guaranteed until you're done filming. She's like, he can pull the plug at any minute. Until you're like, until you filmed it. There's always the possibility that Carl will change his mind and pull the plug. And I was like, well, I'm so glad I didn't know that. Absolutely, you're right.

Ignorance.

Ignorance was bliss. Yes. And the product launched. And although there was a six month period from the time we finished filming until it launched and nobody knew, Beachbody wasn't announcing me, so I had to sit quietly. I still kept my job as a trainer. And that was a very weird, like, limbo period. Like, what's my life going to be? Is the product Going to do well. Should I start giving up my clients so that I could be prepared for this new job over here? It was this very weird.

What did you do?

I slowly started to let go of clients. And then the month by the month before we launched, I handed in my resignation at Equinox and let my private clients go.

So you did what you had to do until you could do what you wanted to do?

Exactly. I kept it because I was like, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna assume anything, but the closer we got, I was starting to get busier with Beachbody and I needed to make a decision as to what was fair to everybody, what was fair to my clients, what was fair to me and my son, what was appropriate and fair to Beachbody. They were the ones betting on me. I needed to give them my full attention. So I let everything go. We launched, we sold in one day what they expected to sell in a week. We sold in a week what they projected to sell in three months. And we went on back order for two months.

Amazing.

Yes.

And that was another epic moment.

Yes. That was like when they called me with those numbers and they're like, we sold today what we expected to sell in the whole week. I was like, did you project low? What does that mean? And they're like, no, no. We projected fairly, you know, not ambitious, but like fairly fair as a. Being a new trainer. But we didn't like under project you. But it was the Chinese New Year and the containers, the color coded containers are made in China, which is why we went on backorder for two months. Like we launched, we sold so much so fast, they thought we had three months. They didn't think we were going to need to reorder. And we had to reorder in a week. But it was the Chinese New Year and nobody was working.

Oh, gosh, that must have been frustrating.

Oh, yeah. So, you know, but it created demand. It created demand even more. And it's a funny story looking back, but everybody was ready to rip their hair out back then, I'm sure.

Okay, so now you've achieved this really high level of success. How do you transition from there to your books to Khloe Kardashian and Revenge Body?

The beautiful thing is most of my stuff is done with Beachbody. And that's what I love about that platform, is that I am tied into a platform that allows me the room for all this creativity that, you know, 21 Day Fix was doing so well. When 21 Day Fixed launched, it was just here's these rainbow color coded containers. Each container represents a different food group. You know, red is protein, green is vegetables. So basically, there's food lists that match. So you could say, oh, for dinner, I want to have chicken, and I want to have asparagus, and I want to have potatoes. Okay, great. You know what those containers are?

And you have it.

Well, people started asking for recipes. They're like, well, how do I containerize enchiladas? How do I containerize pizza? Like, what does that count for? And I was on a plane with my boss. We were flying home from an event, and I said, hey, I want to throw an idea out there. And he was like, what's up? And I said, I think we need to do a cookbook. And he's like, huh? And I was like, yeah. Like, people are really asking for these recipes a lot. He was like, all right, you know, we'll do this cookbook. You know, let's do a hundred recipes, whatever. So my team and I go into development on it, and we kind of make the announcement that the cookbook's coming, and everybody's really excited. And it was gonna launch at Summit, which is our biggest event of the year. There's like 20,000 people there. And they sit me down in a meeting, and they're like, okay, and we're gonna have 5,000 copies at Summit. And I said, you're gonna have what at Summit? They said, we're 5,000 copies at Summit. And I was like, are you crazy? You are gonna make some people real mad. And they're like, no, we don't think we'll sell more than that. And so I called the CEO and I was like, you have to have 20,000 books at Summit. This is crazy. And he's like, okay. He's like, autumn, it's just a little cookbook. It's no big deal. And we're very good friends now, so I can joke about this. And he's like. And I was like, arguing with him. And he's like, okay, fine. We'll bring 10,000 copies, and we'll ship 5,000 back. And I was like, all right, but you're gonna be wrong. And he's like, and if I'm wrong, I'll eat shit for. He's like, I'll eat shit on it. And I was like, okay. And I jokingly said, I hope you're ready for a shit pie. And we get to Summit. We get to Summit. And the 10,000 copies sell out instantly. Plus they're ordering online, and we sell 100,000 copies in the first week.

What I like that you did there. You didn't get the answer you wanted, so you went to the ultimate decision maker so that you could override it. You pitched him, believing wholeheartedly in yourself, not knowing what was gonna happen, but you went for broke on, you know, I want everyone to have a book there. And you believed in it, and then you created that success. And as well as you got a lot of credibility with that CEO after. After that sellout.

Yes, we have a good joke about it now to this day, but here's the one thing I'll say I didn't just guess. I have my finger on the pulse of everything. And that is one thing that I think in a lot of ways will set me apart in terms of other trainers and things like that. I am very involved with my community. Beachbody is a very big community. We have over 400,000 coaches. We have almost 2 million viewers on Beachbody on Demand. I am forever on social media. I don't let somebody else run my social media. I do it myself on purpose, because I want to know what they're asking. I want to know what they want next. I want to know what they need help with. So I knew without a doubt that there was demand for the book, because I was getting the questions, and I wasn't getting one question or two questions. I was getting tons of questions every day asking me for it on multiple platforms. So it is important to make sure that you're not just egotistically being like, I'm so great. I know it's gonna be awesome. It was like, this is the demand. This is kind of what you're paying me to do. Like, you're. You're also asking me to be responsible for my products and my image and my brand, and I'm listening to what people want from my brand, and they're asking for recipes. So I think we should give them what they're asking for. And being like, again, I appreciate that my CEO is so he'll listen. You don't always win. He's not always going to agree with you, but he will listen to your idea. He'll help you form the idea. If he believes in the idea, he will wholeheartedly back the idea. And he has no problem saying, like, okay, you were right. And that cookbook ended up being amazing. And we ended up creating a cooking show and now creating a second cookbook. But it started with him trusting enough that I was bringing an idea to him of value and that he was okay with somebody Else being the idea person and it maybe not just being his because I know he's a confident person. He is. And there are a lot of CEOs who might not be so open and receptive. So it is important to make sure that you're aligned with people who have the same beliefs and believe in you. They're not just like looking to make money off you. They really believe in your gifts and what you can bring to the table. So I am able to do all this with Beachbody, which gives me a huge platform. It makes it possible for me to be seen. I've had all these celebrity clients and you know, with the power of social media, people see and people have seen my following grow tremendously. They've seen how many. I mean, it's millions of people. And I don't say that as like a braggy, but that's just 20. One Day Fix has changed millions of lives. And so with shows like Revenge Body, they're watching like they're looking at who's doing what in the fitness industry so they can see what I'm doing and how many people. And so they brought me in for the interview and when I go in, I, you know, I, I full transparency. This is who I am, this is what I believe in. This is how I would help somebody. This is why I like your show. This is why I would want to be on it. And, and it, it worked. They had said I had been on their list for a while and it worked out in terms of filming purposes and what my schedule is like. And it was a really awesome experience getting to help Tara go through her transformation.

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Yeah.

So amazing you showed up as your honest, authentic self again just like you had previously and it went to work for you.

Yeah. And you know what? Here's the thing. I always people look at things as failures all the time. Like if an opportunity doesn't work out for them it's like oh, I failed and I have been there. Trust Me a million times. But I finally changed my mindset around that and stopped saying it's a failure. And I started looking at, like, when that door doesn't open for me, it's not because I failed. It's a. I call it a redirect now. You're being redirected to where you're actually supposed to go. Because I had it happen with me eight years ago. I was up for Biggest Loser. I was. Jillian wasn't going to be on the show. They needed to replace her. Came down to me and one other person. I had auditioned for it for months and months and months. The casting director called me two days before they were making the announcement, and she said, it's down to you and one other person. I can't tell you who the other person is, but just know that if you don't get it, you'll understand why when they announce who the person is. And I said, okay. Well, it ended up being the season they cast Anna Kournikova.

Oh, my God.

So obviously it was like, here's me. And. And at this point, I wasn't even with Beachbody. Like, I was practically an unknown. I had had a few little articles written about me in papers and magazines, but nothing big. So I was like, you picked Anna Cordonicova?

I got it.

I was devastated at the time. And I was like, I thought that was my big shot. But looking at it now, I can see that it was actually such a blessing in disguise, because had I gone with them, I would have never ended up with Beachbody. Being with Beachbody has been such a blessing. I've learned so much about the business, so much more than I could have ever learned stepping into that role at that time. I've been able to grow and learn and master my craft that much better. So that when I step onto a show like Revenge Body, I am able to even better help somebody than maybe I would have been able to at the time. So even though ego wise eight years ago, my ego was hurt that they didn't pick me. It was such a blessing every day. And you can't always see it when you're in it. Right. You don't know what that bigger opportunity is gonna be. So you have to just go, okay, let me pick myself up and keep going. Because that means there's something else that's gonna be better for me down the.

Road that's so good. That redirection, not rejection.

Yes.

Okay. So no one gets off this show without sharing what is the time in your life. You struggled the Most with your confidence.

Oh, boy. I mean, there's been a couple, actually. You want to know? It's been the last two years. You're kidding me. Which would be probably the hardest thing for people to understand, because it's weird. I grew up as a competitive dancer. I've never had an issue with my appearance or how I looked. But about three years ago, I started going through. I didn't know it at the time, but I was starting to have a bunch of health issues. And I couldn't figure out why I couldn't keep weight on, which I know most people are like, oh, that's great, but I'm lean already, need to lose weight. And I was starting to look sickly, and I was starting to have massive anxiety attacks. I was slipping into depression. And I didn't know why, because my life was amazing. So I couldn't figure out why. I had this overwhelming feeling of just sadness for no reason, which is more frustrating. And I was going to doctor after doctor after doctor, and they kept telling me nothing was wrong with me, and I'm in tune enough with my body to know something was wrong. And I kept saying, something's wrong, like, you're missing something. Look again. And two years of looking, and they kept telling me to go see a psychiatrist, that it was in my head. And I was like, it's not in my head. I'm telling you, I know what my body does, and this isn't normal. I finally went to a naturopath, talked with her for two hours, and she said, I think I know what it is, but let's draw blood work. She drew blood work. Sure enough, I came back with severe food sensitivities. And it happened to be all the foods that I was eating was severely sensitive to eggs. I was severely sensitive to nuts. I was severely sensitive to flaxseed. These are all really healthy foods, and these are all foods I was eating every day, all the time. Well, they were causing such severe inflammation in my body. My body. Even though I was eating really healthy, I wasn't absorbing my nutrients. I actually came back malnourished. I had no B vitamins. My adrenals were tapped out. Like, I was a mess. She's like, oh, my God. Like, you're a mess. We got a lot of work to do. So it has taken a lot of time over the last two years. Remove those food sensitivities, heal my gut, replenish the vitamins. I'm also about to be 39, and even though I believe age is just a Number all of that damage to my body for years without being able to figure out what it was messed with my hormones on top of it. So my testosterone fluctuates a lot even for a woman right now. I've always had a decent amount like, so I could build muscle easily. I've never had an issue building muscle, shredding out, leaning out, like I know exactly how to work my body for results. And in the last few years, I could be working out really hard and I can look great one day and I can wake up the next day and be completely bloated with no explanation. And it's frustrating because all of a sudden you're in the public eye and people are scrutinizing you. And even though my fans are amazing and 99% of them always have my back, there will be people who will be like, you look sick. Why do you look like that?

The haters.

Why do you look bloated today? And you're just like, because I'm human. But it's one of those things where all of a sudden when you have almost a million people commenting that you're, you can start to have self doubt and question like, am I doing enough? Am I putting out the best image to my fans? What are they going to think about my nutrition program if I don't look the part? So it's actually been the first time where I've really had to do a lot of my own work on myself and, and be mentally okay with like, this is where my body's at. It's a work in progress. I'm healing and it allows me to bring that learning experience to my community and teach them about food sensitivities and gut health and how it can affect everything from your weight to your hormones. So it's actually a blessing because I have a platform to talk about it and people need to know about it, but it's still hard.

So thank you for sharing that because that's really vulnerable and I'm so glad that you found that homeopath naturopath. That's amazing. Thank God you just kept searching for help and listen to your intuition that you knew there was something else wrong. So everyone's gonna want to find you. Where do they find you?

Out of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. It's all just Autumn calabrese. My website, autumncalabrese.com find me at any.

And all of them.

All right, well, thank you so much for being here. You're a joy to have and I know everyone loved hearing from you, so hang Take guys, we're gonna be right back answering your questions. Hi, and welcome back. I hope you loved meeting Autumn as much as I did and got some great takeaways from her. Really interesting path to success because it certainly was not linear for her, nor was it as easy as it might seem when you see her on Revenge Body. For sure. Before we get started, I of course had to share with you that Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service. You can watch over 100 TV channels and thousands of movies on demand, all completely for free. Pluto TV never asks for a credit card. You don't even need to sign up to watch for free. Pluto TV is the easy and completely legal way to watch your favorite TV shows and hit movies for free. What are you waiting for? Never pay for TV again by downloading Pluto tv. You can download Pluto TV for free on all of your favorite devices, including your phone, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Smart TV, PlayStations, and anywhere and everywhere that you stream. Okay, so back to our conversation. I really am interested to share with you some follow up. So I had shared with you guys, my one of my girlfriends was going through a tough time at work and she was deciding that they were going to change her role and make her basically be tied down to a desk. And she's a single mother and the whole new program wasn't going to work for her. So she ended up being right. They did come to her and say, listen, we're going to change your job. However she had prepared, she had talked to me, she talked to her father. She'd gone through some different scenarios in her mind, so she was really prepared. And when they had the conversation with her, she used the whole, I'm confused. This isn't the agreement that we had in place and I've been doing a great job. I don't understand why you're doing this. You know, she really pushed to get to the heart of the matter, and her immediate supervisor told her, okay, listen, this is just the way it's going to be. Everyone's going to this new model. It just is what it is, and there's no opportunity for anything other than signing up for this. So you're either going to do this or you're basically out. So she sat there, listened to it, and she turned the tables on him. It was really impressive. I didn't know she was going to do this. She said, well, then I guess what you're telling me is I'm fired as I know it because the job that I had is now gone. So what Will my severance be? And they were not prepared for that. So I thought that was a pretty cool pivot where she really put herself in the driver's seat and shifted the power. And, you know, he tried to challenge her at first that, no, she wasn't fired. They wanted her to take this new amended role. But as she pushed, she said, that's not what we had agreed to when I came on board. So you're essentially telling me this position no longer exists, and if this position no longer exists, I'm fired. And so ultimately, she did get paid to leave in a situation that they wanted her to stay in. So she bought herself a little time, which was really smart, and that's a great bridge play. However, she was a wreck when this happened. As you know, I was too. When I got fired and she really wasn't fired, she chose to leave. But still, there's that feeling of, how am I going to pay my bills? What does the future look like? I didn't want this to happen to me. I want it to be on my timeline. And I reminded her that she didn't like that job, and she'd been thinking of leaving and working and leaving. It was now just accelerated. So she took some aggressive action, reached out to a lot of people in her network, and got a great opportunity a week later for an interview. But she had those few days in the interim where she was getting really down, and she was sending me some texts saying, you know, I just heard that that boss that fired me, he was fired, and I don't want bad things to happen to people, but that's karma. He's a terrible person. She was really getting caught up in that negativity and just focusing on that negative situation, which is never going to bring more positivity to your life. So we got her to shift and start thinking about the new opportunity that she had potentially approaching and working on what questions she would answer in the interview, what would be the stories that she would share to provide real life examples of what she's achieved, how to get into that mindset, to put her best foot forward. Because if she shows up as her most confident self, they're going to be confident she can do the job. We talked about going in there, looking her best, being prepared, copies of her resume, copies of references, all of her interview questions answered and practiced ahead of time. And she went in there doing really well. However, the day before she was leaving, she was messaging me. I think I'm having a nervous breakdown. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm freaking out. And it was interesting because she was living in that space of the unknown, which I'm very familiar with. And it can be so scary and cause sane people who are smart and competent to doubt everything. And it's about moving through those spaces and focusing on what potential there can be, focusing on the good that you know that can come and really stepping into your power, which sounds super hard. And I know it can be, and it is, but it pays big dividends. So luckily she went, she listened to my podcast, she listened to the episode, the Jesse Itzel episode on the flight on the way out there. It put her in a really good mindset. We all have that opportunity to access knowledge, listen to a podcast, read something in a book. You know, there's so much information out there. If we want to shift our mindset, grab some knowledge that's out there online whenever you need it, really remind yourself of the things that you already know and put yourself in that good headspace so that you can go in and wow on the interview or on the meeting or whatever you're doing. And she did just that. I text her at the end of the day when I knew she had the interview and she said, I got the job and I'm so excited and I'm actually going to be using my mind and stretching myself and I couldn't be more proud or happy. Right now I'm feeling like a million bucks. And it's so interesting because I went back and looked at her thread and I wish you guys could see this. I'm just going to talk you through it. From when she was sure she was not going to be able to stay with the company to ultimately, she bought herself some severance and bought herself a little bridge play to then her reaching out to everyone she knew, letting everyone know that she was a free agent and she wanted to make a move move. And her lining up a bunch of different interviews to then nose diving and hearing about her ex boss getting fired and focusing on that negativity and then getting in a negative headspace and then thinking everything was a disaster and she didn't know how she was going to move Forward to literally 24 hours later being so excited and vibrant and. And couldn't be more happy with the situation, how it turned out. So what I wanted to share is that you just. 24 hours is a lifetime and so much can happen that we might not even be aware of, but it's really about, you know, just having that faith, stepping into your faith, believing in yourself, putting Good out there and taking the necessary steps to make things happen. Ask for help, do your homework, show up as your best version of you, get yourself in that right head space and take action. Because in 24 hours everything could be totally different. So I was so excited for her. Okay, one question that I wanted to get to today that actually came into me this morning was Heather. I've been working on my personal brand and this is someone who has a full time job but does a side hustle that she's working on building another business at nights and on the weekends. She had, you know, launched a brand, a website and a community and things were going well. But now she's thinking of launching a book under another name and she's wondering, this is what she wrote to me. I've been having thoughts lately that I want to change the name as my message has evolved, which would be the same as the title I'm planning for my book. I'd obviously have to pay to change the name, wait another six months, switch my domain and restart with my logo artist. Is this worth it or would having the book title suffice enough? What would you do? So this is interesting to me because these things sound crazy, right? Like waiting six months and switching a domain, paying a new logo, blah, blah, blah. Here's my takeaway on this number one. Speed to market is critical and my brand, Heather monahan.com, boss in heels. I launched that three years ago not knowing I'd have a book Confidence Creator. But when I came up with confidence Creator, I didn't think, oh, I need to rebrand everything. And if I did, I could have done that. But to me it was about speed to market with the book and getting confidence creator out there. And yeah, it would have been great if I had a confidence creator website and own that domain. But I didn't. And you know what, that's okay. You just do the best that you can. You don't need to get caught up in everything has to be perfect and everything has to align and I should reboot and you know, this will take this amount of time. Forget that. Who says, you know it's going to take. You already have your brand live. Now you want to bring a book to life, Go write that book and bring that book to life and figure it out on the way. It doesn't have to be today that you decide you're going to shut this thing down and then relaunch this thing in six months. My recommendation would to be move and move quickly and don't let Things like this get in the way of your book progress and your goals, because if you let them get in your way, they will. So if you decide you want to relaunch, rebrand, do it at any time you want. That works for you. That's helping and conducive to you moving forward and moving forward quickly. Because it's much more frustrating if you decide not to write the book or pull back and wait six months to rebrand and relaunch and then you find out somebody else launched with a very similar book to you and is blowing up and doing very well. I can tell you this, in hindsight, when I look back on my career, it's never that I think, oh, I should have perfected this more, or I wish I had, you know, done this or that. It's always, oh, my gosh, I wish I had taken that leap of faith and risk and jumped and believed in me and moved faster. That's. Those are the things I point to. You know, for 14 years, sitting in that same situation, not growing, not evolving, not investing and taking chances in me. That's the stuff I look back and regret. I wish I had just moved faster and break things. So I give myself that advice every day now. What can I do to go to market faster? What can I do to lean into me and let go of the idea of perfection because it doesn't exist? And actually stepping into your quirkiness and your mistakes, like I did at the Bacardi event, can make you so much more relatable and allow people to connect on a real and genuine level with you, which is. That's kind of what it's all about, right? So move fast, break things. Don't let excuses or what other people say get in your way and make pivots and mistakes along the way and own them, shine a light on them and make a part of your story, because that's what people like to hear anyways. And keep it real, keep moving. Thank you for being here again. 500,000 downloads and it hasn't even been five months. I'm so excited. We're going for a million. Go big or go home by the end of the year, I need your help to do it. If you could please rate and review the show, it means so much to me. And when you send me a screenshot of your review, you can DM it to me or send it to my email. I will buy you my $299 video course as a big thank you. Please share it on social and let your friends know. Join us creating confidence each week. I can't wait to see you next week. Thanks.