From One Client to a Global Franchise Empire with GymGuyz Josh York

Bring the Workout Right to you. And, uh, it's pretty incredible, but the only thing we did miss is that we are the largest because no one does what we do. We created the category. We're the first to professionalize it and the first to franchise it. I will tell you something that I do, and it's one of my secrets, and I'm sure you probably do it because I know you are very smart and you're all about obviously vision, but any meeting we have, we share our vision first and then we share our core values. We are building the largest global portfolio of in-home and on-site health and wellness and fitness franchises, and we own the most critical face-to-face relationship. Success loves speed, man. You gotta move, you gotta move, you know, you gotta take action. The action takers are always gonna be the moneymakers. Fortune always favors the bold. You gotta have that pace, you gotta be steady with it, and I couldn't agree more.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Unemployable Podcast. I'm Jeff Dudan. If you were a 23-year-old with a used van, a set of dumbbells, and a client list of exactly one, If you built Gymguyz into the one of the largest mobile personal training franchises in the world, thousands of trainers, hundreds of territories, and a model that brought the gym to the customer's driveway instead of the other way around, your name can only be Josh York. Welcome, Josh.

Thank you, Jeff. Appreciate it, man.

Yeah. Is it all true?

It is all true.

Yeah.

Well, I start— well, a couple of things. I started at 25, but I was training since out of high school and yeah, everything else is true. We bring the workout right to you and it's pretty incredible. But the only thing we did miss is that we are the largest because no one does what we do. We created the category. We're the first to professionalize it and the first to franchise it.

Well, I see the yard signs all over the place. I haven't— I haven't brought them in yet, but I'm close. I'm close. I'm waiting for that. I'm waiting for that Groupon, Josh, or, you know, a friends and family discount. But anyway, here's an opener. What has been the greatest impact of physical fitness on your life?

Oh my God. Well, I got into working out at a very young age. That's how I actually became a personal trainer. When I was in the gym working out, I used to watch these trainers with their clients and they were always smiling, having a good time, helping them get their results. And I was like, this is just such a cool job. I am gonna become certified and become a personal trainer. So that's exactly what I did. But you soon start to learn very quickly that being a trainer is not scalable. You're only good as, as the amount of hours you have in a day. And, you know, for me it's always been about making a living and making a difference. And the impact physical fitness has had on me is like, I could sit here, like I could probably even get emotional. I, I've gotten some crazy phone calls, some crazy letters. I've had a mother once call me crying how we changed her daughter's life. 'Cause we, you know, You know, not only do we do in-home and onsite, and you know, our youngest client is 7 years old, our oldest client's 103, but we also work with a lot of autistic children and people with disabilities. And you know, not too long ago I got a call from a mother. One of their daughters was severely disabled and exercising literally changed her life. And she is like a different person. Like she moves different, she walks different, she talks different. And the mother just called up one day, just wanted to let us know how amazing we are. So I called her back and she was literally on the phone crying to me. And just telling me how, how much she thanks me for starting this company and what we've done for her daughter. And it is like, I'm getting goosebumps actually even telling you like that, that, that, that to me is just absolutely incredible. And, and, and when I had the vision of building this into the largest, you know, fitness company in the world, which we're just getting started doing, but I've always wanted to help people, not just on obviously the consumer side, but also on the business side. So wanted to be able to help people be successful in business and be able to change lives for people who are, you know, looking to reach their goals.

Is Gymguyz exclusively a franchise model or do you have company stores?

We have, we have corporate locations as well. So it's, it's a, it's a mix.

Okay. And, uh, footprint in the US or international as well? Yeah.

So we're in 6 countries, 29 states. We service a little over 3,000 cities right now.

Okay. What, uh, what countries are you in?

So we are in obviously the USA, we are in, uh, the UK, we're in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, and Dubai.

Yeah. And when you think about the progress that you've made in a real short time, what's the vision? What's, you know, you're, you're, you're on top of this thing. You're, you're showing up every day. You've got a lot of people that are relying upon you. What do you tell them when you, when they ask, say, Josh, where are we going? Yeah.

So that, that is a great question. So I will tell you something that I do, and it's one of my secrets, and I'm sure you probably do it cuz I know you are very smart and you're all about obviously vision, but any Any meeting we have, we share our vision first and then we share our core values. So our vision, and everyone knows it, we memorize it, but we are building the largest global portfolio of in-home and onsite health and wellness and fitness franchises. And we own the most critical face-to-face relationship, bringing health and transformation directly to the world. And then we follow up with our core values and that's drive, determination, respect, integrity, versatility, and excellence. So we are gonna become, you know, a company that disrupts all other fitness brands because at the end of the day, Brick and mortar is very, very challenging. And I know you know this 'cause you run a very similar business model to me, but expenses are just too high. There's not much profit to be made. And you know, we live in a world of convenience. Amazon, DoorDash, Instacart, HelloFresh. That's not going anywhere. People want that convenience and that's what we bring and that's why we continue to, to succeed.

So when you were starting the brand, did you think that, is this a brick and mortar model? Is this a mobile model? Like what was the evolution of the brand? Did you ever have a brick and mortar location?

Never. So from day one, it was never to do brick and mortar. How everything kind of happened was I was, uh, training, happened to be training a client one day. This woman was always late. I mean, like always late. Like she trained 3 days a week. She was never on time. And one day she just happened to say, Josh, I really wish you can just come to my house. I don't have any equipment. And I just was like, this is like such a simple idea. No one's out.

It sounds like a, sounds like a proposition, but anyway.

It was, it was, it was just a very, it was just a, you know, like a kind of like that light bulb went on. I was like, you know, it's just a simple idea. No one's ever franchised it. No one's ever professionalized it. And a lot of people don't know this cause I never shared this, but people sometimes ask why franchising? So I was always different, like, and as you know, normal doesn't work and you never wanna be normal because normal is not gonna get you, you know, you know, outstanding results. But at a young age, at 13, I used to wake up around 3 in the morning and I would bike from my house. I don't know how my parents would allow this, but I would bike from my house about 3 miles to a local Dunkin' Donuts franchise. He was actually the top franchise owner in New York. And when I tell you, it was probably even illegal for me to even work at those hours. He let me deposit cash. He, he, I managed a lot of his business. I, I was very mature for my age and he taught me so much and I learned so much about franchising and I really always kept that in the back of my mind. Like, this is pretty incredible. I can build a franchise brand. And you know, I just, I just was seeing what he was able to do and even with his team members and the way he used to treat them and I was like, this guy's incredible. So I learned a lot from him and that's what always stuck with me and that's why I chose franchising.

One of the predictors of success as an entrepreneur is an early entrepreneur experience or exposure. And oftentimes when you have somebody that's built a great business like you, you go back and they've been in business their whole life, like from 10 years old.

Yeah. Yeah. Very, very, very true. Very true. Yeah.

You know, and so what was your, did you have any businesses before Jim Guys? Was this your first real business?

Well, no, I, you know, I used to go, I was always, I was always a hustler. I was shoveling snow for driveways. I would used to ring on people's bells. I would try to cut their, their shrubs. I remember one time this woman didn't want me to do it. I was like, no, I'm gonna show you how I do a great job. And she was really angry at me. She was very happy with me. I, you know, I would literally pull things to the end of my driveway to try to sell baseballs, cards, whatever. Like, and I was super aggressive. Like I would literally like make oak tag and write, like hold up a sign to stop. So cars would stop and, I was just, I was just, I was very confident too. It was like, and it, and it wasn't something that was, you know, was taught. It was caught, right? I always was watching, you know, like honestly, I, I, I really attribute all my success to my grandfather because, you know, I didn't have a great life growing up. My grandfather was my everything. And, you know, he always, you know, you don't really understand it at a young age, but when you look back, he always taught me the right thing. And I, and I, and I always remember the things he taught me. And a lot of those lessons that I learned have really helped to build some of the greatest relationships I have today.

So where exactly did you grow up? Were you in Long Island or New York State or right in the city? Yep.

Long Island in New Hyde Park. Long Island.

Okay. And you mentioned your grandfather. Do you have family now?

I do. Yep, I do. I have a brother and— but I don't have a great family. That's, that's for sure. You know, but I'm not looking for any type of pity here. But, you know, yeah, I don't, I don't even, I honestly, I don't even share this, but I don't, I don't even talk to my parents. I, I had, my parents are horrible, man. I had a very rough life growing up, but honestly, I wouldn't change it at all, you know, cuz it made me the, to the, to the, to the parent I am today. And, you know, my kids drop everything and run to me when I come into the house. They love me more than anything. So it's also taught me a lot about, you know, suffering and pain, which is a very important thing in business. And, you have, you, you look, You don't need to have a rough life growing up to be successful, but you better start learning of what it's like to really be in pain. Because as you know, there's nothing comfortable about being in business and growing a business. There's nothing comfortable. Someone's trying to, trying to crush you, take you out every single day. As you get bigger, people are coming after you, trying to sue you. The list goes on and on. So you have to really have that resilient mindset and, um, all that disappointment and suffering. I used to have as a young child really built me into who I am today.

As a father, uh, and also as a franchisor, I found that there's similarities in the way that you communicate to your kids and also the way that you communicate to your franchisees. Keep it simple. Uh, be clear. Uh, have accountability. Um, what have you learned, uh, in building this great brand and also raising a family at the same time?

You know, what's been, what's been amazing is, you know, what, what, what, what I'm able to do with my children. You know, like, you know, I purchased this building about 3 years ago and, um, it was always a dream to own a building and it's, and it's pretty incredible. But like, you know, they had these vending machines in the building and I left them. I was gonna get rid of 'em cuz, you know, it's not like you're gonna make a kill on the money, but I was like, you know what, I'm gonna leave 'em and I'm gonna let the boys manage 'em. So the boys manage 'em and they, they're like, My first of all, energy on my boys is like next level. But they, they know what slot this goes in. They, they, they're, they're smart too. Like, you know, I'll be like, well, listen, we wanna try to, you know, get as much as we can for and, and not have to spend as much so we can make more, make more profit. They're just super smart. And so like, I let them manage it, but it's given me the opportunity to really teach them. 'Cause as you know, like, you know, I always like to say similar to what I just said before, you know, being a leader, like leadership is, is, is, is caught. It's not taught. And you know, the majority of the things that I do I don't really have to even teach my kids. They just know what daddy does. Daddy's up early. Daddy's always working hard. Daddy puts, you know, pushes himself. He works out. Doesn't matter. He doesn't make excuses. You know, he's always working and, you know, and he's always positive, you know? And I, and again, I, I always try to teach them that. So I think business has really given me that opportunity to really, you know, cuz business and life are very, very similar. You know, like, you know, you, if you're not in business, you're gonna be, you know, dealing with similar issues in, in personal life, cuz you're gonna have problems all the time. It could be relationship problems, it could be problems with your family, um, whatever it may be. So very similar. So it really relates to, to, to, to the personal side of my life. And I've been able to really, you know, do that with my kids. And, you know, like when I come back from a trip for 2 days and both of my kids are crying when they see me and they run to me, like, I know I'm doing a great job and I know they love me. And that's, and that's an incredible feeling, you know?

Yeah. So what's in a Gymguyz vending machine? Is it like protein shakes, tofu, and salad? What's, what What happened?

You know, so I have Bank of America as one of my tenants in the building. So it's okay. I have all types of different stuff in there. It's not, it's not just healthy stuff. There is healthy stuff in there, but there's chips in there and stuff like I won't eat, but, you know, or drink like soda and stuff like that. But, you know, there's a lot of traffic down there. So that's why, you know, I keep the vending machines.

Now you got to give the people what they want.

Got to give the people what they want, man. There's demand there. You got to fill that demand.

That's right. Hey, so if I'm a candidate and I come into your building there for— do you bring people in for a discovery day or meet the team one day?

We, we used to, we do 'em more virtually now, but sometimes, sometimes depending on a situation, they will come in. But they, but people do come here for obviously for training. So they're here for our, for training for a week.

Okay. So if I join Gymguyz, what would I hear from you that is expected of me as a franchisee?

First of all, understand that business is easy to say, it's not easy to do. That's number one. Number two, understand that you gotta follow the model. We have a lot of success. You gotta follow it. Number, number 3, do not chase shiny objects. Shiny objects will be thrown at you all the time. You will get very excited as you start to taste some success, but you have to stay focused because most people lack that ability to be focused. And when you lack that ability to be focused, you start shifting and your business starts to suffer. So those are the, probably the top of the list, but then followed by discipline, right? You gotta do it when you wanna do it and do it when you don't wanna do it. On the days you don't wanna do it, you better love it. Act like, you know, act like you love it, smile and get it done. You gotta, you gotta obviously, be positive as a leader. Your team needs to feel that positive energy all day, every day. It's, you know, like I always say, we have great days and we have good days. Like if that tree in front of my building happened to fall down, I'd be like, you know what? I don't like that tree anyway. Move on and be positive. It's about positivity. And, uh, you know, that's what I always stress. And at the end of the day, you know, people need to understand you're also gonna lose. Like I always try to give an example of like, you know, when you see these athletes hysterical crying after they lose the championship game, and then next year or the year after or a year after that, they end up winning it. Like losing is a part of winning and, and people need to look at it in the right light because at the end of the day, you're not gonna always win. You know, like this too shall pass. That applies to success and that applies to failure. Yeah.

One of my questions for you is what are some of your beliefs on failure and how has failure shaped your resilience in your life?

Well, I'll tell you, in the early days of Gymguyz, I had more problems than you could ever imagine. We took off, we grew like crazy, brought a lot of the wrong people in. Mm-hmm. I had people being misled about what was actually expected to be in business, and I wasn't aware of it, and I had to really fix a lot of things, which took a lot of years. And I will bet my life on it, I don't know anyone who would have bounced back from it. It was so bad. And, uh, you know, you got to understand that, like, you know, you didn't come this far just to come this far. You know, I think the problem is people, you know, when, when they start something, if they're not like where they, they want to be, like towards the finish line, they just get discouraged right away and say, oh, you know what, this is not working. But You need to take your success and, and, and how you're growing in little bit of chunks, right? And look at little chunks. Like for example, if you've made the move from deciding that you wanna go into business to actually signing the agreement and doing that, and, and you know, that could be over the course of a month, 2 months, 3 months. That's progress. That's a huge step. So stop a second, recognize that and be like, wow, let me pat myself right now. That's, that's a pretty good job. Then you take the next step. I went through training, I did my marketing, I opened up, I got a couple customers. You take another congratulations to bow yourself again. And then after you do that for a couple years, you're like, wow, look at where I started. I used to be very scared about going in business. I decided to pull the trigger and make the move. I believed in myself. I decided to get into a franchise where I'm obviously gonna have a much higher probability of being successful. I'm following a system. I think the biggest problem with people is they don't, they don't look at it like that. And if things don't take off right away, they get discouraged, you know? And, you know, I know the saying comparison is the, is the theft of joy, but I agree and disagree with that because you do need to compare yourself to some degree to people, but you also have to understand everyone's journey is different. Like, right. I can look at, at someone who's, who's been in the tech industry and he's 25 years old and made billions of dollars. Okay, well that was his journey. It's not my journey. So you gotta keep moving your feet and you have to believe. If you believe You believe it, you can achieve it. That's it. And every single thing that I believed and I visualized in my life has come true and continues to come true cuz I make it. Now, yes, you have to do your part, but you also have to make sure you're, you know, you're moving the business forward every day. And I think also people like to talk about being busy. There's being busy and there's being effective. Like, are you actually working on tasks that are gonna continue to move your business forward each and every day? Most people don't do that. They sit around and they think they're actually being busy, but they're really not. And the problem is most people need to look in the mirror and be honest with themselves. And a lot of people or not.

It sounds like you grew up in challenging circumstances. So many entrepreneurs, great entrepreneurs come from nothing, come from challenging circumstances. I had my own challenges growing up. And you know, I've, I've come to believe that because I started with absolutely nothing, any progress feels like a win. And I feel every day like I've won life. I mean, I literally feel like I won life. I was telling somebody the other day that You know, if it all ended for me tomorrow, like, I could live with it because from where I started to where I am today, there's just been so much progress. And the chances of, of every time I had a challenge, overcoming it and climbing, then failing, getting knocked down, but coming back, uh, I feel like it's just been, been a great life. And, and it sounds like you, you know, have had a very similar journey. But as you've gotten older, and last time we talked, you were taking your family on a, on a great vacation, and I know you were, you expressed that you were real happy that, you know, you're excited that you have the ability to do that and spend that time with the kids. And like, what, what has, what is your current perspective on the concept of balance in life? Because on one hand, we could have balance and you could say, you know, and, and balance feels like an excuse. Well, I'm not gonna stay and make that extra call or do that extra 30 minutes or do that extra set at the gym because I'm gonna, I gotta go here and do this, or I gotta go here and do that versus targeted segmented intensity of focus, right? So I, I think there's balance, but the balance comes in where you allocate your focus as opposed to giving yourself an excuse, you know, not to finish.

I agree. I agree. And, um, look, I, I think balance also comes with growth and you look at things a little differently. Like, look, first of all, there is no such thing as work-life balance. You have to create the balance. Okay. But you also have to understand like, You know, and, and, you know, being really honest, like a couple years ago I would like probably have just, not probably, I had severe anxiety going away. Like I used to hate going away. I felt so uncomfortable. And by the time like the trip was over, I was finally like getting a little bit adjusted to it. It's like I, cause I'm like you, I'm all day, every single day, like 24/7, I don't stop. So as I've kind of learned and, you know, obviously built a great team, like if you want to do anything great, you can't do it alone. That's number one. And number too. I've gotten to the point where the business runs on its own. Like if I'm not here, the business is gonna run, which is also helpful. But I still, I'm on top of everything and I know what's going on all day, every day. 'Cause that's how I like to run things. But, you know, like going on a vacation, you know, I know my kids need to experience that and I want them to experience that 'cause I didn't get to do that. Like I would probably go away once every couple years, you know, like my kids are, are lucky enough to go away a couple times a year and you know, that's gonna eventually change and it'll be more as, as we can, as you know, they continue to go get older. I want them to travel and get those experiences. But you have to also understand like, okay, Like you gotta, you know, you gotta try to set it up with your schedule too, where, you know, maybe you're not as busy. Maybe you can, you know, coordinate a trip. Like sometimes, like for example, like we have our convention, you know, I'll, I'll let them come to the convention if they want, you know, that turn that into a vacation, right? So they're there, but I'm, I'm working, but then towards the end I could stay an extra couple days. And then during the times, during the holidays, you know, things start slowing down, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll take a trip and then I'll do another trip literally a couple weeks later around New Year's when it's also slow. So I try to, you know, fit it in when it, when it makes sense and when it works. And, you know, you you just gotta, you just gotta make it happen, you know? And if you need to get things done, you get up earlier. Like, that's why I get up so early and I've been doing it a very long time. 'Cause when I started the business, I was always training clients at like 3:30 in the morning. I used to work with some doctors and they would have their first surgery at like 5:00 AM. So, you know, I'm, I'm used to it. It took a long time to really be able to adapt to it. 'Cause getting up early is not easy, especially when it's, you know, when it's cold in the winter months, 'cause I'm in New York. But you, you gotta be willing to sacrifice. That's very important. And, uh, I feel like a lot of people will say, oh yeah, I'll do it, but they don't want it. Like for example, I got an interview to do on Saturday morning with this TV network, and they want to do it at 3 in the morning. So yeah, I don't question. I'm like, okay, yeah, no problem, you know, like, I'll do it at 3 in the morning. I don't know why, but that's how— that's when they're shooting it. But if you're not willing to be uncomfortable and do some things like that, you, you know, you don't really want it, you know. So you have to balance out and, and figure out what you want and how you're going to get it done, and you make it work. Like, everyone has the same amount of hours in a day. It's how you choose to use them. And then I also think a lot of people focus on too many things. They should be delegating things as they're building companies. And that's also why companies don't grow is because they stay in the same place cuz they think they need to do everything. And sometimes you gotta understand, like if you, if you have the ability to really create good systems, which you need, and operational manuals and putting the right people in place and you train them properly, business will run just fine, especially in the world we live in today.

That's a great segue into performance. You can't scroll on any social media channel without getting a GLP ad, watching somebody submersing themselves into a cold tub, getting into an infrared sauna, all, all of these things. Of course, you've got fitness, you've got nutrition, you've got supplementation and all of those things, but like, where are you on performance as it relates to some things maybe unusual or alternative, like cold plunging and things like that?

Well, I think first of all, I think everyone is looking for some easy fix. Everyone wants it the easy way. Like that, that's like the, like the easy way doesn't pay well. I hate to break it to you, but that's the truth. Okay. You ask any successful person, easy doesn't work. Like that's it. Like people want to take these drugs to lose weight. Like no one understands what, what the, you know, the, you know, the, the, the aftereffects of some of this stuff could be like, there's not enough research out on it. And you know, like I wouldn't be touching it. It's like, It's like doing drugs. Like, would you, would you do drugs? You know, like I, I don't put any of that stuff in my body. I've actually never been drunk. I've never smoked a cigarette. Like I never touched anything in my life. So, you know, I'm, for me that, you know, that's how I look at things now.

I, I think, I think you and President Trump are the only two people that could say that. Yeah. You know, that's, that's hard to say in this society that you've never, you know, I mean like that's incredible.

Yeah. Well listen, I, I literally, you know, I literally tell my kids, you know, and they know, like, you know, we go through this all the time. Guys, what do we do? We don't do drugs, we don't smoke, we don't drink, you know, we don't vape. I go— I literally tell them this every single day. We work out, we work hard, we get after it. And then I always have my little, my little saying with them. If you're not first, you're what? And they go, last. And I'm like, that's right. You know, like the teachers, you know, I was telling my wife, you know, that, you know, my little guy, he's like, you know, he can calm down a little bit. He always wants to be first. He's like, you know, he's first in line. He's first. And I'm like, I told my wife, yeah, okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Who cares what she says? He needs to understand that because second place is not a winner. First place is a winner, you know? And I wish the world would, would, you know, like when I was growing up, there was no second place trophies. Like it was like, you won first place, you win first place, you know? If you don't, okay, you cry, you're upset. And that's a good thing. Shows passion, right? It's very important. But for me, look, everyone doesn't have to do what I do, right? It's funny. I've been doing cold plunging. Before any of this even became popular. I started doing it at 17. I'm a very big ice hockey player. I still play every single week. And, you know, the coach at the time would always tell me to, you know, to, you know, after, after, you know, skating for a couple hours, going to the tub, you know, helps with inflammation. It gives good recovery. So I've been doing it for, for a very, very long time. I do the sauna as well. I've, you know, I've had a sauna for, I don't know, 15 years. Like I've always done a sauna. And for me, you know, my routine is very, very important. I work out every single day. Well, 5 days a week. I play hockey once a week. I'm very active and I need that. Like, that's, that's for me what I need. Like, some people might just need a walk in the morning or need some meditation or need to write in a journal. Like, you just gotta find what works for you and what sets you up to be ready for the day. Like, I like to choose very hard things that make me suffer in the morning because when I do that, when other things that are challenging throughout the day happen to hap— happen to just pop up and happen, it's really not that hard, right? Because you've already put yourself through hard. So that's what, that's, that, that, that's the way I like to look at it.

You have a good personal brand, you work hard at it, you have podcasts, you're on social media, uh, you've invested in it, which is increasingly important today in business. What are some of your beliefs around personal branding? And then what do you have your franchisees do to introduce themselves to the marketplace?

Great question. Well, I got a very handsome guy coming on my podcast tomorrow. I don't know if you know him, but, uh, you know, his name's Jeff, so I'll be seeing you tomorrow. But listen, it's funny. So I'm actually very introverted and people don't believe that. I'm very, very introverted. When I'm on for business, I'm on. But, you know, I have like 2 friends and I like it like that. I keep a very tight circle. Pretty much 99% of the time I'm with my family and that's it. Like, and that's what I— and that's what I love to do. Like, I don't like hanging out with the boys. I don't— it's just not something I like to do. But I started doing social media and I don't put anything out there personal. I don't show anything on my personal life. I don't, I don't, I'm, I'm very private. I don't like doing that. Uh, so it's all business, but I actually started it to kind of indirectly market to my franchisees, right? Show them that, you know, I'm consistent. Show them, I, I started with just, you know, taking a little video of the time I wake up every morning. I have not missed a day since I started social media ever. I don't ever miss ever, no matter what. There can be literally, the world could be coming to an end and I would still post. I don't ever miss.

Cause you post what time you wake up every day?

3:29 every single day. And I don't miss.

What time you go to bed? What time you go to bed?

I'm working on that, but usually like 9:30, 10. I'm trying to get to bed earlier. It's, it's tough, man. Cause I don't, I don't, I'm usually here till like 7, 7:30 and then I come home and I'm playing with the kids. We usually got like a game going on, soccer, hockey. We play downstairs or outside and then next thing you know it's like 9:30 at night. But I'm working on that and sleep is very important. But, You know, so I started to do that and honestly, I've been doing it for about almost 10 years. It recently, in like the last year, started to really take off. And it's funny because, you know, my podcast is now ranked number 17 on the top 200 in the business category and the top shows, I think it's like number 70-something. But, and that's overall. And I remember, you know, when I started a podcast, I saved this message actually. It was really funny. Some guys like, yeah, lol, like, yeah, good luck with your little podcast. Yeah, my little podcast. I was consistent. I continued putting content out there. I got great energy. I developed better confidence over the years. I got great guests coming on and I continue to just keep doing it and it continues to keep growing. And now I'm getting tons of tons, tons from the podcast, tons. And I've also been on some of the greatest podcasts out there as guests, which is great. But you have to put yourself out there. And the reason that I, when I, when I started what I was saying, talking about being introverted, this was very uncomfortable for me. Like when I was talking into the camera, I almost felt like weird, like, Why am I doing this? You just do it. And if you do it and you have something to say, people listen, right? People listen. And you know, not too long ago I just had a video on Facebook hit over a million views. It's the first time it's ever happened. Takes time, but you gotta be consistent. And the problem is most people just quit too early. That's it. Like when you walk into our headquarters, the first thing you see on the wall is we don't quit. That is the first thing you see in these huge, shiny, beautiful letters. We don't quit. I saw this comic and I loved it years ago. These two, it's, uh, there's their pictures stacked on top of each other. They're chipping away in a cave, right? One guy's chipping away. The other guy's got the, got the, the, the, um, whatever you wanna call it, the, um, sledgehammer or whatever. He's walking back in the other direction. He had this much left to go. The point being is tomorrow could be the day that changes everything for you. You just don't quit. And also, let me tell you something, and this is the honest truth, and Jeff, I know you can agree with this. When it's really bad and things are going really bad and you're having problems, it means something really good is about to happen and breakthrough. But you gotta just doggy paddle just a little bit longer. And most people don't wanna do that, you know? And I always like ask people like, what's gonna happen? Are you gonna die? Like, what's gonna, like, seriously, what's gonna happen? Are you gonna die? Right. So like, nothing's gonna happen. And honestly, the pain doesn't go away because You're still gonna be in pain if you stop. So don't stop, don't quit, and just keep at it.

Yeah. How many times a day do you post or is, or somebody posting for you?

So my team does it. Yeah, my team does it. Um, I think they do it a couple times a day. I, I'm not, I'm not even really too sure, to be honest with you.

Couple times a day. Any view on, on platforms, if you were gonna share your experience, uh, right now, uh, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, where, where do you seem to get the most traction when you're, when you're looking at results or something, something of yours pops off, right? Which is always exciting when you have something that pops off and it shows up in your own feed. Yeah. Or somebody else. It was funny, my— somebody took a clip from somebody we don't even know who it was recently, just grabbed some clip from our Undercover Boss episode where I got busted by the person that was, you know, I was working with.

Jeff Dudan.

Right. And they put it up there and I don't know how many views it had, but it had 37,000 likes. Wow. And, and it showed up in, yeah. And it showed up in my son's For You page and he's like, who's posting this? I said, I have no idea. That's awesome. Um, but you know, we just did buy that brand back, uh, advantageously. We just brought that brand back. So, you know, any, any, any, any, any pup, uh, anything that we're getting, you know, any pub that we're getting on it is a good thing, but So, but like what platform do you like? Are you a TikTok guy, a Facebook, Instagram?

I'm on all of 'em. You know, I really don't manage it a lot, to be honest with you. But like, yeah, if, you know, as far as like if I'm like sitting, you know, usually when I'm doing cardio or I'm in a sauna, I'll like look through it. I'll, I'll go through like TikTok. I like TikTok. I'll go through Instagram. I don't really go on Facebook a lot. But yeah, I don't really, I don't really like, And I try not to spend a lot of time on it cuz it gets so addicting, you know, and then you're sitting there just, you know, scrolling through. I don't, I don't like doing it. So, but if I had to pick two, I'd say TikTok and Instagram. Yeah.

Interestingly enough, your, many of your franchise owners are probably, unless they're young digital natives that have been posting forever, they're probably like you were, they're not comfortable doing it. They're not sure what to do.

Yep.

What, um, And so they've got— you have a digital plan for them. And of course, the more that they do, the more that they're going to get out of it. But what type of guerrilla things does Gymguyz do in market to build community or kind of boots-on-the-ground type activities?

Everything, man. Everything from marketing materials, signs, door hangers, everything. You know, obviously driving the van around, as you know, is a moving billboard. Same for you guys, right? Like, so you got to be getting that vehicle out there. But, you know, a very effective thing And you should try this. I think it'll be good. Just get in a busy traffic section, park the van in a good location. We have a sign that we made that says honk to be healthy, right? You can use in one of your, uh, one of your, let's, uh, you know, honk if you think it's great to have a railing around your house or a fence or what, whatever, you know, whatever it is, right? And people go bananas. And we tell people, you know, 10, 15 minutes, do it twice a day, 5 days a week. Recently we had someone shoot a video. And it went viral and it went viral and someone got a lot of business from it. So, you know, you gotta put yourself out there and, you know, it's funny, you know, a lot of people have been very uncomfortable with social media, but my social media for the brand has gotten much better and people are putting out more content out there and they're just doing it cuz we constantly keep talking about it. And I just always say like, guys, think about it. If you have 100 people that just watched your thing, 100, put 100 people in the room you're in right now. That's a lot of people. Yeah. Right? And it only takes one to close the deal. So you gotta get in front of more people. And when you think about it in that perspective, like, I don't even think I could fit 100 people in my office. Like, that's a lot of people, you know? So it's like, think about it like that, cuz it will grow. And all you need is one video that goes off and the rest is history. That's it. Like, you know, it's funny, I'm, I'm in this group with a bunch of guys. It's like an entrepreneur group and these guys are These guys are real high level, man. Real high level. And I made sure I was in the group because I want to be around only top performers, you know? You know, I write my goals down every single night. I, I've, I've been doing this since I'm like 16 years old and I do 10 goals every single night. Like there's a whole method to how I do it, but I have about, now it's what, 149 notebooks literally in my closet just stacked up over the years. And he was like in love with this and he runs a really big podcast too. He is a very popular guy. So he posted it on, on, uh, his social media and Richard Branson happened from Virgin happened to comment on it. Like it's a brilliant habit. I already know that, but it was pretty cool. But the point is, is like, look how that happened. Like he never even connected with the guy. He just happened to comment and now Richard Branson knows about me and Gymguyz, you know? So it's like that would never happen if I wasn't putting myself out there sharing stories. So you should just do it. That's it. And you don't know what could happen, right? It could literally, something could happen that could change your entire life. Entire life.

Yeah. Do you do a lot of motivational speaking?

I do. Yes.

What, what are the types of things that people are gonna hear from you? And do you have like a signature message that you deliver?

I do. So usually what I, the, my, my signature message, I talk around the three pillars of success, which is fitness, health, and mindset. But I also tie it into the story of what it took to build the brand because, you know, look, it's very, it's very, it's very easy to build a business that's out there that, you know, exists. It's very hard to build a business that never existed and create a category that, that had no demand and you had to, you know, bring something to market that, that the, just the, just the online marketing alone was, was probably one of the most challenging things we ever had to do. Because, you know, nothing, you know, even like for example, like I had to create an insurance policy. Like there wasn't even an insurance policy out to even, you know, insure the company because nothing like that was out or existed. So, you know, I'll share the story, I'll talk about that and I kind of tie it in how like, you know, like the first person you need to take care of yourself every day is yourself, right? Number one, like if you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of other people. If you're not leading by example, you can't be a good leader, right? You gotta always lead by example. And, you know, and then I'll talk about obviously mindset, doing hard things and why exercise is so important. And you know, when you exercise, you're just giving give yourself just crazy energy. Like, everyone's always like, man, your energy, your energy. I've never had a cup of coffee. I've never taken an energy drink. I don't do any of that stuff. And I'm like this all day, every day. But it's because I work out. I'm in great shape. And I know you said I was getting older, but I actually, I, I age backwards, right? Like fine wine, like you, right? But, um, you know, but at the end of the day, it's like, you know, I'll give you an example. Like, I play hockey. I play with these young guys, like straight outta college, and I still smoke 'em and I'm 43. You know, but, but that's what I believe. I still believe I'm very young and I act it and I feel it. So you gotta take care of yourself. But, but that's, that's the message I usually like to share. And, you know, I talk about some challenges and what it's like, obviously. I also have another message, like, you know, about like putting your stuff out there in the world. And, you know, I talk about challenging moments I've, I've experienced, and I'll kind of put all those stories into a bucket. And then at the end of the day, all those stories that you just added into the bucket are the stories that you post about and you put it out there to the world and, you know, great things happen.

Well, your leadership style is one that's particularly good for franchising because you've— they need inspiration. Many times it's the first business that they've ever had. They're kind of wading into it. They're expecting it to maybe be incremental. They're not expecting the type of transformational thinking that they're going to have to have. They're not expecting probably how hard it's going to be. They might not expect the scope of all the things that they need to do and the fact that when something goes wrong, there's nowhere to escalate it. Like it has, the buck stops with them and they've gotta get the job done. So, but that being said, you know, what's, what's the biggest mistake that first-time franchise buyers make? What do you see more consistently? And then what do you do to correct it?

Yeah, I think the, the biggest mistake is people thinking it's gonna be much easier, right? Like they think people just think it's gonna be easy and sure. I, I couldn't be more trans— I, I am very very transparent. Like you would almost think I'm trying to not sell a franchise. Yeah. Like that's how transparent I am. I, I, I'm literally that transparent. Um, so that's the first mistake. Second mistake is people think that you can, you know, do something part-time and get a full-time result. And that will never, ever, ever happen. Yeah. Never. And you know, people all twisted online. Like I hate when people are like, in order to be a multimillionaire, you need to have all these different revenue streams. Okay, there's truth to that, but first you have to be very good at one thing, perfect one thing, and then start doing that. It does— like all these people who are sharing these things are much older and have much more experience than you. It takes time. And people think like this is something you can rush. You can't rush greatness. Greatness takes time. You have to be patient and you have to understand that. And you know, like, again, I am so transparent about it. And, um, that's what I think, you know, that's where I think most franchisees have challenges, you know, and, uh, you know, and as soon as they get the first bad thing that happens, it's like they wanna crumble and, and just crash and burn. And they gotta be resilient and understand that this is a part of the game, you know? And it's like, yeah, you know, I don't, this business is not for me. And I've seen this happen before too. And then they go into another business. Oh, but that business is not for them. There's not gonna be any business for you because the, the basic fundamentals of it are the same across the board.

I think if I could measure for one thing in a candidate, uh, just where my head's at right now, observing what's going on in our organization here at Homefront Brands is I would measure for pace. I mean, pace is like if somebody, if you throw something to somebody or they walk out of a meeting and they don't do something for a week, you know, or if you send 'em an email or a message and something's needed and they they just never get back to you for a day. I mean, and how, how important is it when, like, if you send somebody a message and they don't respond, you feel completely unimportant. First of all. Second of all, that's just something that somebody needed that's not getting done today. And I think if a, if a franchise owner gets into it and they're, they get in and they're like, whoa, this is, this, there's a lot, there's a lot I need to learn and there's a lot I need to do, especially as I'm launching this business into the marketplace. If they're not willing to at least consider dialing up their pace, then, you know, I'm just going to get done what I can get done and that's just going to be good enough. They're probably going to struggle.

100%, man. Success loves speed, man. You got to move. You got to move. You got to take action. The action takers are always going to be the moneymakers. Fortune always favors the bold. You got to have that pace. You got to be steady with it. And I couldn't agree more.

What'd you say? Act— what did you say about the moneymakers?

The action takers are the moneymakers.

The action takers are the moneymakers. All right. Stolen. I've stole it. That is—

go ahead. Go ahead. That is my pleasure.

I'm borrowed it. Borrow, borrowing that from you. And at least the fir— the first time I'll say it, I'll give you credit after that.

Yep.

Mm. Not so much. That's fine. So it happens. Awesome. Well, hey, uh, Josh, this has been great.

Great.

Um, tell people where to get in touch with you.

Yeah, just go on Google, type in Handsome, I pop up everywhere, right? You know, that's— yeah, you could, you could search.

I typed in Vin Diesel and you came up as well.

I'm much better looking, but I do, you know, it's funny, funny story about that. I was actually on a trip a long time ago with my wife and, uh, they literally thought I was Vin Diesel. And I was like, I'm not Vin Diesel, look at my ID. They go, no, no, no, we understand. They, they put us in the top room Everything was for free. They were br— it was the craziest thing. I was in Antigua. It was the craziest trip I ever had. There's pictures all over the world, all over there of me. I'm telling you right now, it was, it was, I, 'cause I was like, you know what? All right, I might as well just go with this. I was signing autographs.

I was, oh, that's great. Yeah.

But, but, um, no, you could just search Jim, you know, Jim Guys. If you wanna learn more about Jim Guys, you can search me on the internet and follow me on social media, or you can listen to my podcast, which Jeff is gonna actually be a guest on tomorrow, which I'm super pumped for. Fuel Your Drive. And, uh, yeah.

Yeah.

You know, I'm out there.

Is that tomorrow or is that Friday?

You're right. It's Friday.

We'll, we'll figure it out.

I think it's Friday. I think it's Fri— I think it's Friday. You're right.

Yep. That sounds great. Looking forward to it. Okay. I've got a curveball and a fastball for you. Uh, if you wanna play.

Yeah, I love playing. Let's go.

Okay. Here's the curveball. Gun to your head. You've gotta start a business in the next 30 days. It can't be something that you're currently doing or engaged with. Where do you see the opportunity in the marketplace? What business would you start if you had to start one? Hmm.

That's a good question. I like that. Gun to my head, I had to start something. I can't do something I'm familiar with. I would, I would probably do something that had to do with contracting, contracting, electrical work, something, something, something that's, that, that's, that's not going anywhere, you know? You know, in, in a new world, that's probably what I would do. I would do something like that.

Yeah. I, I think a lot of people have come to the realization that, um, the trades are great and trades are great.

Trades are great. What you're doing is great. It's great cuz it's not going anywhere.

Yeah. It's not going anywhere. The supply demand curve is in your favor because there's less people doing it. The prices are up. Uh, and it's an, it's a needed service. It's, it's an essential service for people that to, you know, have places to live and, and work.

Yeah, I do have another really good idea, but I can't share that 'cause I might do that one day and I think it's incredible and no one's doing it.

That's all right. Nobody listens here anyway. Go ahead.

No, no, I can't, I can't, I can't share it. It's, it's something with convenience and coming to you, but it's not, it has nothing to do with fitness.

Got it.

Okay.

Well, fair enough. We'll, we'll look for it. All right. Last question for today. Fastball straight down the middle. If you had one sentence to make an impact in somebody's life, what would that be?

Life is very short. You need to go after your dreams and get after it and don't quit.

Perfectly said. Josh, thanks for being on, man. This has been a lot of fun.

Appreciate you having me. It's been great. Thank you so much.

Yeah, a hundred percent. So I'm Jeff Dudan here with the incredible Josh York, and we have been on the Unemployable Podcast. Thanks for listening.