Proud But Never Satisfied | Christian Guzman

You don't know how hard you're able to push and what you're capable of until it's literally all on the line. Like, actually on the line. Like, we— like, I could go down. Like, period, right? If I could go back to my 19-year-old self, I would say, "You're built for it. You can— like, pressure's gonna be a lot, but it's not gonna break you. Only unless you let it break you." Right. And just like, and just don't bet on, don't invest into anyone fully, fully. Like, don't ever like let someone else control you. Like, that is a golden key. Be sure through video, through an engaging format, that you can show your journey, show quickly like where you were, where you are now, what you've been able to do, what you are good at, and your credibility. And then you establish that off the bat. Got it. To like $1,250, $1,500 a day on average, or some days I was hitting $2,000, right? And then some days it would even go a little higher. And, but then though all that was great, now I was starting making $30,000, $35,000, sometimes $40,000 a month.

Christian Guzman, welcome to The Game Plan.

Rob Lipsett, thanks for having me, man.

No worries at all. We spend a lot of time with each other. We travel around the world with each other. We're always together, but we rarely actually get to sit down and have an in-depth conversation. So tell me, how are you doing truly right now? How is everything right now?

Man, I'm overall couldn't be happier with that. Like, obviously things are always a balancing act, right? And this year I recently committed to 10 big goals. So it's my first, like, getting into this next decade of YouTube and everything. So, you know, having Nabil back this week has been awesome. Just like a huge sort of like relief of just like comfort, you know, feeling comfortable and just trying to balance, you know, travel and focusing on prep while being away, right? But it's kind of funny, you realize like just 'cause you leave this like stressful kind of environment, at times you kind of get away, you kind of can't get all, you always can't get away from your shit, right? And so it's a nice kind of reminder like, the grass isn't always greener, you know, just kind of going away and doing this and like shutting off because you still got to manage your shit, right? So that's kind of in the overall— that's sort of what I'm dealing with right now, but it's good.

All right, and what do you think of Europe versus the USA?

Come on, uh, Europe is— I— it's great. Yeah, but everything's bigger in Texas.

This man hates leaving. Never mind Texas, you hate leaving Sugar Land.

I'll say, man, I've really like— it makes me realize how much I've made my life as— like, a lot of the smaller things, like, like the trash cans and this and that, like, as convenient as possible, like, as efficient as possible, just so—

yeah.

And it's wild, like, you know, it's just very different. And Marbella is so different than Dublin. Yeah, right. It's just, it's so different everywhere, I feel like. Yeah, here in Europe.

So Christian misses his trash cans. That, that's it. He just wants to get back. Yeah, Oscar the Grouch just wants to get back to, back to his American trash cans. So how would you describe this current era of life, you're prepping again, and you're someone that doesn't need to prep. Okay, you don't need to, you know, you don't need to like make it anymore. So what brings you back to competing? Not only every second year, every single year. What brings you back to stepping on stage?

It's funny, I think that I'm almost— I'm the least myself when I let myself just get too deep into the weeds with work. Right? And too deep into the weeds with people, too into HR, pro— just all the growing pains that come along with business and stuff like that. I'll go so deep in and so hard on that that I end up just like sacrificing my health, sacrificing sleep, sacrificing like myself for other people, essentially, right? So prep is the only thing that reels me in. So prep and making videos. So it's kind of wild. It's almost like the opposite. Like, I need it more than it needs me now, right? So it's, it's an interesting kind of dynamic, you know, and I think this is a big shift in just like shift in the life. This is a different phase of life, second phase, right? Yeah. So I think it's, uh, the first phase showed me where my, where I'm truly happiest and like most in the moment is when I'm doing those things. Yeah, right. And it's wild. It's like an opposite effect. I need it, you know.

Yeah, I obviously just finished my prep as well, and it was my first time prepping in years. Honestly, this is a big statement. I'm the happiest I've ever been. Actually, like Linda will even, you know, tell you that now. She's nodding in the back. It's so weird that when guys like us as well, our personality type, when we don't push ourselves in the kitchen, in the gym, in business, as Betsy in the bedroom, I mean sleep-wise.

Challenge yourself, Rob. Do something different. Come on.

But when we don't have that routine, when we don't, you know, really make sure everything's dialed in. I think guys like us, we get lost, we get led astray, and we go a little bit crazy.

What's your outlet? Do you have an outlet? Like, other than— it's fitness, right? It's the gym.

Yeah, it's the gym. It truly is. And, you know, I hate to say be so basic.

You can get tough with us, like, being our job, right, to like relate it around the gym, filming this, that, that. Like, so I, I don't know. I think, uh, the outlet is essentially— it's the getting back to the true outlet of You know, if it's training or if it's making video or if it's whatever, like brainstorming content. Like, for me, that was the outlet and that was the passion as well, which maybe I don't have— like, I'm gonna go paint art for 10 hours.

Yeah, sounds lame, you know what I mean?

But like, yeah, I think it's just— it's good for us to, you know, every once in a while just be sure that we're doing something for ourselves and for our— like, you know, people's zen, you know, do all this kind of whatever. It's like, I need prep.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we had it. We had a conversation.

I need an upload schedule, like, and I'm good to go.

We conversation in the car the other day about reading, and you're like, I don't fucking read.

I don't fucking read anything. I've read a book in second grade, man. I don't have the attention span, right? And prep just— it makes you slow down, man, really. Like, it makes you slow down. You know, cardio time is my time to actually like watch YouTube videos and not, not work. I'm watching videos that like are to take me to a different place. As I get closer to like show, I kind of mute all notifications on like certain you know, certain things that will be distracting to me and just like be more on the do not disturb mode for more of my day, um, and just kind of be in control of the day.

Yeah. What's your daily routine looking like, like with prep and everything?

With prep, I'm sleeping pretty much every night, which is great.

Are you now?

I am, yeah. And I'm honestly like, I log every single day if I don't sleep, what the reason was real quick, like a quick little brief thing, um, and But I'm sleeping great. Even like, even if I'm going to bed super late where I could just get up and start working at like 4:00, 4:30, 5:00 in the morning, if I'm still like tossing, I'll still be sure I just go to sleep. And when I wake up, that's when I'll start. So at least I'm getting something. Yeah. Which is a big improvement from the previous years during Alpha. Yeah.

Yeah. Typical fucking construction begins. Should be all right. But so you wake up at what time?

So right now I'm waking up about About 7, I'd say 7:30, which is like great on average. Uh, there's obviously something like 2 or 3 days a week I wake up earlier than the weekdays, but, uh, say 4, 4, 4:30. Yeah, but I'm— I like to take my time in the morning. Yeah, so I really, really just like, if I do that 4:30 wake up, I'll ease in, take like an hour, hour and a half, shower, don't check my phone, you know, just go down, make my breakfast, take an hour for a walk. Like that's my, my time to get moving, start work at like 8:30 or so. Yeah, like to start before, like before everyone gets there at 9. Okay, 9 AM chaos.

Yeah, yeah. And then so like, like what is the first thing you like would tackle in terms of work? Like what is, what is your actual day, your workload looking like as a CEO of Alphalete?

So it's, it's different on prep versus, uh, versus off and filming versus not filming. Okay. Because as I'm filming, getting everything uploaded, and just committing to like giving myself time and sleeping and things. I don't go to the office until— I literally don't clock into work until 2:30 PM because—

Slacker!

Yeah, yeah, fired! So I wake up and I work from home, right? I have a little space at home, noise-canceling headphones, only way I can work. And I just do— it's really computer work, but really the biggest thing, I don't take any meetings. I don't let anybody schedule anything I don't— nothing goes on my calendar unless I'm putting it on if it's before 12, right?

Yeah.

And that's every day of the week. That's been a new thing for me, and that's hard to do. It's really hard to do when you have so many people like actually need you for very valid reasons, right? But just being selfish with it— this is my time to— and a lot— most of the time I am doing design, I'm doing manufacturing, I'm doing that type, all the busy computer work, the number spreadsheet, which is like my holy grail, you know, like all of that. Seeing this, for me it's like the design stuff and the Like, that's just as important, that— aka production, ordering the clothes. If that doesn't happen, everything else— that's the— that's the— that holds everything, that feeds everything.

Yeah, it's the anchor of your day.

Exactly. And it's easy to kind of let all these meetings, like, shit like that, let you— they get you behind on that, right? So for me, if I prioritize that, that's what usually in mornings— work out at 12:15 every day, no phone, that's the rule.

Yeah, you, you took my— if you confiscated my phone the other day.

Yeah, it's a different time.

You're right, it's good though.

Yeah, yeah, it's It's, it's, I don't know, it keeps you, uh, thinking about what you should be thinking about. Yeah. And 12:15, finish up at 2:00, I'm all showered and everything by 2:00, start work at 2:30.

Yep. And then so 2:30 until—

that's my people time.

That's your people time. Yeah, because I've seen you in the gym, you're getting pulled in every direction.

In the office it's like— yeah, just, uh, and I've come to realize like I don't go to the office to work, I go to the office for my people. Yeah. So that time's from 2:30 until like 8:00 Okay, and then that's my time to work with my, my people I'm hiring, work the managers, work with, you know, and just do that type of work. I don't try to get my laptop out and like get quiet time at the office. Like, those days are over and I accept it, right? Yeah. So, but now allocation, allocating, and just being clear with people, training people to build their teams, working with them on like what I want to see, expectations, like writing things down, right? That's been, uh that's like really the main focus of my work day now. So, um, morning to myself, whatever work I need to do, whatever YouTube videos I need to do, workout 12:15, in office ready to go by 2:30 till 8:00. I'm there for everybody. Me and Heidi hang out at 8:30, 9:00. Yeah. And then, uh, yeah, repeat.

Chill out. Nice. Okay, that's pretty balanced. Yeah, yeah, that's not too bad.

Mom comes and brings lunch up every day, you know. Some ground beef, some chicken, whatever the summer shredding menu at Alfie's, and I do my day.

That's a good day. Like, my— and would you say, right, would you say that's your dream day? Like, your ideal day?

Damn good dream day.

Yeah, yeah, I would say so.

You have— and if I remember just chilling all day, I can't, you know. I like to think I don't like the people-building part. Yeah, but I know I do. Yeah, right. I know I do, and I would miss it if it was gone. And if I continue doing that, then I will have more time to myself and be a little less pulled. So got to do it.

Yeah. And so you're always like, you know, surrounded by other people, be it Nabil 24/7 or, you know, Alphalete members. Do you ever just want to be on your own and just detach?

So I— yeah, I think out of anybody that I know, I think I have the least amount of like one-on-one time with myself. Yeah, like, truly. But again, I feel like this is— I know this is definitely like a kind of phase with Alphalete, at least a big beast, to get systems operating and stuff like that. And I choose to do the video. I choose to get help. I choose to build a media team and like, you know, want whoever I'm working with to stay with me, things like that. Like, because I want to document. And ultimately, though I could say, oh, I wish I had more alone time, it's like I'm doing— I'm in control of my own situation. Yeah.

Would you consider yourself introverted or extroverted?

Definitely introverted. Yeah.

You know, I'm the same.

You know, people—

no, I turn it on though. Yeah. You know, people People think like, oh, Rob's the most extroverted guy ever.

Chris, shit. Rob the introvert.

I'm telling you. So the definition, I believe, of an introvert versus extrovert is where you get your energy from. So I expend a lot of energy when I'm with other people, but I gather all my energy when I'm on my own. Like yesterday, I had to just completely, you know, Linda chilled at home. I went to that gym Elements that you went to last night. I didn't record my workout. And I just completely shut off. That's actually my favorite time.

Yeah.

Is when I'm working out, but I'm not thinking about content. I'm not thinking about the angles.

And it's hard for you.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Rob's like, like I'll say, like, you'll be— I like to look over, you're like booking something or navigating. You're always, always like doing something.

Exactly. Yeah. So when I— my shut off time is— I'm actually— that's where I get my energy from. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, for sure.

You like being alone.

Yeah, yeah, I do. I do. I do.

And how do you do like in like, in like meetups or meet and greets and things like that.

That, that I like. So that's where, like, I expand a lot of my energy. Like, you've seen me at an expo, my voice always, always goes, and I love that.

Is it draining for you to do something like this? Like, for Max, for example, yeah, it doesn't tire him out.

Yeah, it's tired.

That's how he— it tires me out.

Yeah, I feel if someone comes up to me and they're like, hey, you know, I lost this much weight, I gained this much muscle, you know, I did this and did that, you if I don't give them 100%, I feel guilty. I feel really bad.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, the expo days, remember them.

I feel like those are every conversation I have throughout the day, right? It's like you want to get to give every conversation as much energy as you can. And naturally, like, when you do that, you know, people think I, I'm the most friendly conversational guy, but like, I've always got something. I've got— I, I always kind of look for those moments to be alone. Yeah. When I can, as much as— yeah. For sure. Good balance.

We've completely jumped straight into the Alphalete universe, but I want to strip it back to humble beginnings, and I want to discover how you started this whole ecosphere, this whole world, the Alphalete world. Okay, so I want to go back, right? We're in the college dorm now, right? What got you into the gym? What gave— what was that first entrepreneurial thing that you ever did How? Because you don't— you didn't get a big investment, you know? Exactly, zero. So tell people how you did that. Like, that's absolutely unicorn, unicorn stuff.

First entrepreneurial investment, honestly, I would say the first thing I ever did for myself in general was starting guitar lessons, right?

Okay, that was strange.

Before college, yeah, I was, uh, in high school before I even had my license. I was a guitar player, I was in a band, and I figure I applied at Mr. Car Wash, right? They said they didn't call me back. So I've never had a job, right? And so I was really like, in high school, I've never been hired. I've never done an interview. I've never, I've never been interviewed. I mean, like, ever. Like, isn't that wild?

That's crazy.

I've never gotten a call saying, hey, you got it, like, whatever. Like, I've never had that.

I had that for like when I was like working in like Hollister and like retail.

That didn't work out for me. Come on, we get this guy his job. Hollister. Yeah, we're jacked now. And it went to Hollister. I think they liked me, but then apparently I didn't answer the phone call, you know, and I just like never got a call back. So it's all right. But essentially my first event, my first venture was guitar lessons. So I printed out flyers. I was like, this is the only way I'm gonna make some damn money. Yeah, right. Because nothing else seemed to be working out.

Yeah.

So kind of taking that initiative to just, I guess you could say, think outside the box. But for me, it wasn't thinking outside the box. It was like, this is the only thing I'm good at.

Yeah, yeah, it's the only, the only option.

Yeah, and I was— I had always gotten guitar lessons, you know, like growing up. So I was like, I'll just do what he did. He came to my house, we paid him $15 every 30 minutes, right? I'll go, I'll charge $20, $25, you know, and do a number where I can get a little tip, you know, like $25 and you want to give it $30, you know, or $40. And, um, from there I was— I booked out like 8 clients, right, from just handing out flyers. Hey, you have a little brother, little sister, uh, can I— you know, I'm starting this guitar, I'll come to you, you don't do shit, like 30-minute or an hour sesh, and I'll be in and out once a week. And I was making like, what was that, $40? $40 times like 8? I got 1, 2, 16, 320, 300, about $300 a week. Okay, right, solid cash.

Absolutely solid.

Fucking, there you go, tax-free, baby. I was able to buy some— I bought like rims on my car, you know, all this stupid shit. But, uh, that was the first thing. And then the second thing was the coaching.

Yeah.

Starting the— getting the Square app, calling for credit cards and doing literally like adjustments to macros, a meal plan. But every meal is like, yeah, the macros on that kind of stuff. Yeah.

How did you sign your first client? Like, First Fitness client? Because I say there's a lot of guys watching this who want to be PTs, you know, they want to do coaching.

It's probably different now.

Yeah, probably. Yeah. You don't have to hand out flyers.

Yeah, you don't have to hand out flyers.

You got it.

You got a phone. Back then it was like you— it was— I would literally just answer emails for free, right? Yeah, same email, christianusonfitness@yahoo.com.

Yeah.

And like, from there, just answer people. And then my dad was like, why don't you start charging? Because I was spending so much time doing it. And from there, I was like, oh, I charge something, I need to level that up a bit and kind of create something. So I created my first— I remember, uh, I called the guy because, you know, he said, hey, I want to buy one. I said, here's my number. Call me. And through the app, you have to type in the credit card. It's something like on speakerphone, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're like, don't mess up. You got it. And it went through, first transaction, right? Didn't have my business account set up, didn't have anything like that. It was all just, you know, but I made a sale. Yeah. And that's all that mattered.

Good feeling.

That was, that was that feeling, just like, like, then it was a game. It was like, okay, now I need 2 today. I want to try to get 2. I'm going to try to get— and I want to be sure I don't lose that one. I want to give them the best experience, be sure, like they get good reviews, right?

Yes.

And like, if you— and that was the mentality. And then opening up to like a weekly check-in basis, right? That was, uh, the 90-day transformation I named it. Yeah, that's when Summer Shredding started on YouTube, and that's when I started doing a higher ticket item. So instead of $59, I was charging— was it $279? Yeah, I had like a $189 and a $279, an 8-week or a 12, I think.

Yeah, I, I did something similar as well.

And then I was like, okay, sell 3 of these a day, I mean like $600 a day, right? $600 a day, sell like 2 or 3 of the one-offs, right? Okay, $700 a day. All right. Let me see if I can get to a— that's like $15K a month. Wait, I'm making 6 figures. If you start doing the math, you're like, wait, how much am I making? This can't be legal. This can't be legal. And—

John, one of my favorite graphs and it's so simple and I feel like a bit of an idiot saying this, but it helped me so much. Have you ever seen like the calculations on how much you need to— what you need to do to make a million per year? It's like you need to get like 20 people paying you X amount, or you need to get 100 people to pay you X amount. I'll put it on the screen. It's like it shows every way that you can make a million per year. You know, you can get 1,000 people, you know, paying you $1,000 or whatever. It breaks down every way, and just the simple maths behind it, like what you just said there. When you have that, it's so simple. But when I saw that, I said, oh, this is what I'm gonna do, you know, for my app, for example, you know, I'll charge $39 per month and then all I need is X amount of clients. And so when you did that, you know, that's like, you see it in front of you and then it just—

you see it there and you see her doing it, then you're like, how can I sustain it? Yeah, that's question number 2, right? Like, can I keep this up and can I go a little— what's like the average? She's like, this is probably just a month. This has to be a good month. Yeah, right. This has to be a wild card. But then you kind of— then you start breaking down, okay, here's my sponsor— like any brand deal, sponsorships, commission stuff. Yeah, that's one table. All right, one column, one row. A row. Row. Yeah, row is nice. Uh, and then you, you kind of break down, all right, my only expenses are my laptop, my food, just like literally basic expenses, right? Time, which obviously when you're starting your own thing, it's like Fuck my time.

Yeah, it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. Yeah, right. It's endless, right? And then, yeah, man, it started hitting $1K a month. Then it started hitting like— or $1K a day, sorry. Yeah, got it to like $1,250, $1,500 a day on average. Or some days I was hitting $2K, right? And then some days it would even go a little higher. And but then though, all that was great. Now I started making $30,000, $35,000, sometimes $40,000 a month. $40,000 at 19.

That's great.

But then that all came with responsibility, right?

Yeah.

And so this is when, though these months, that was great, great, great, I had to eventually start limiting how much I could take because it was all— it was, you know, 8 weeks or 12 weeks these people were, you know, continuing on. And they all— and it was all text messages, all SMS, like, so— and I didn't want to do email, so it was guaranteed responses within 24 hours or less at all times. It takes me anytime, anything you need. Weekly check-ins, but I'm not responsible for following up with you. Yeah, you need to send your check-in or else, like, I'm literally not going to baby you.

Yeah, right, that's fair.

That was when they signed up. They signed, I agree, and probably about 30% of people would drop off after a few weeks, right?

Yeah, and fair.

It's like, that's on you, we're all adults here. Yep, right. But yeah, it led to a point where, like, I was so overwhelmed, man, with, like, my— I was never caught up.

Yeah, you never clear the inbox.

Never clear the inbox. You can't, right? Especially when it's that kind of online and just you. Oh yeah, yeah, I refuse to have anybody help me with coaching. Yeah, because I just felt morally like, you know, incorrect.

Would have been interesting if you went down like the coaching route. You know the way there's some people out there, YouTubers, and it's like they don't have a clothing brand, they just go all in on coaching and, you know, they make millions. You know, it's interesting that could have been you, but You went the Alphalute road. Okay, so you're in college, you know, you drop out. So what were you studying?

Health and fitness management.

Damn, that's kind of like applicable.

It is. But then I only got through like I went to a really like private kind of higher bougie school the first year because the girls were hot. Yeah, I followed that. Nice.

Follow the tail.

And then from there, just like didn't fit. It was all fraternity, sorority. Greek life was huge. Huge. Like, I was just into like watching motivational Eric Thomas speeches, right?

Greg Plitt.

Greg Plitt. Um, you know, if you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, just on repeat.

Remember that one?

Just on repeat, bro. Like, over and over. Like, uh, Les Brown. Just all of those guys. Like, just those speeches would just— I would save them as audios, just listen every single day. Engrained in my head. And then from there, um, yeah, man, it just— I forgot, I forgot I was dealing with that. Yeah.

So you, you're coaching and you got the money, and then how did you— you dropped out And then what made you start Alphalete?

So with Alphalete, I was— I kind of started doing the CG Fitness merch for probably like, I want to say like maybe a year it lasted, where I was doing just printing on, you know, good quality t-shirts, blanks, and I was doing $5,000 to $8,000 a drop every few weeks. So I was like, okay, that's, that's good. But Max Schoening had— fellow YouTuber friend that I had—

I miss Max. Shout out, Max. He should be here.

He, uh, he launched Ever Forward shirt that was mint green spandex. It was super, super— it was great quality, better than anything I could have, any of the blanks that I could print on, right? So I was like, I want to print on like something like that, right? Asked him for manufacturer, said nope. Cool, all right, no problem. Uh, reached out to my own, and the goal was to just build a brand that didn't have the, you know, Rob Lipsett on the chest.

Yes.

Yeah. And that, that started the clothing brand, honestly. Yeah.

And do you think that to become an entrepreneur, you need to have a certain stomach for it? Do you think anyone can do it or do you think it needs to be a special type of person?

I think you definitely need to have something. I'm a big jumper. And to be fair, you can be a big jumper or you could be the super analytical, more cautious, like numbers type. There's so many different types of entrepreneur you could be. And a lot of like, they can all work, but I don't think everyone's meant for it because it stresses a lot of people. I mean, it's very, it's all risk. It's all on you, right? Yeah.

How do you deal with that risk and that stress?

I'd rather it be on me than anyone else, you know. If I fail, I'd rather it come down to me. Yeah. And at least just like be able to, just because I know I'll continue trying, right? I'll find a way to make something out of nothing, like or something to continue growing.

Yeah.

You could wipe it clean right now and I could build it. I could build something back up. It may not be exactly the same. It may not be as successful, but I can build a successful thing from nothing.

Yeah. There's so many people out there that they want to start a business. They've got a good entrepreneurial mindset, but they just can't figure out what they want to start. What is your advice for somebody who wants to figure out what to do?

So, I do want to say there's nothing wrong with not being an entrepreneur. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that at all. Like, you can have a lot of benefits. You can be— yeah, a lot of benefits. But with that said, you don't ever get to shut off, right? That's part of the job, right? You can never clock out because if you do— I mean, especially when you have people depending on you, right? Yeah. But, um, the— what was the question?

Uh, how do you figure out what business to start?

When thinking about how to start a business, the number one tip, right? Look for a problem in your day. That's it. Yeah, look for an inconvenience. Look for a, uh, it's an annoying thing that you have to always like, I got, I gotta do, I have to go and grab this energy. I'm spending so much money getting these, like, I wish I had, and I wish it wouldn't make me feel so bloated. Yeah, there's a problem, bloating, right? How do I make something same without bloating? Cool. You just try to find the phone, this little phone holder. Right? How do you— like, just little, like, things you wish you had, or I wish this did that, I wish did that, this is that. And maybe, maybe it's a creative mind, maybe it's a— maybe you wanted a, wanted a protein pancake, right, that had macros that like were not too high, that were just less like, you know, what, textury.

And I didn't need 10 ingredients laid out on the counter.

Yeah, exactly.

That's it, convenience.

You want to pre-work instead of buying the citrulline malate and the creatine monohydrate and Yes, alanine, put it in one, right? There's a supplement brand. It's wild, but it's like usually really simple things and simple solutions equate to huge businesses if you, uh, market it right and get people behind it, right?

Boom, that is a fucking cliff.

That's a real—

that's it, that's a reel right there. And the video's getting all the reels in. So right, we have Alphalete.

Your memes are like popping, bro.

Yeah, I'm inspired to think that was, that was A lovely one. But, uh, so we, we have Alphalete, right? And then you moved on to the gym. What made you want to open up the biggest gym in America? And did you ever think when you were like 19 in the college dorm, like, how fucking crazy?

Signing up for checking off health— okay, so checking off health and fitness management when I was signing up in college, right? Fast forward a year, fast forward to having Alpha Land.

Biggest gym, biggest gym in America.

That's why.

Come on.

That's why.

How does that make you feel?

It's— you got goosebumps, actually. It's wild. It's, uh, yeah, you don't, you don't ever think like health and fitness management, I want to learn how to do that. I want to learn how to manage a fitness facility, right? Come to find out that's not what that was really about. But regardless, like, that was the goal, to own a small spot and have training, right? Um, so it's— I mean, I'm living the dream, bro. That's why I can't complain. It's like I don't say I'm tired. I don't say I'm this. I don't say I need a moment. Like, no, I'm good, bro. Yeah, you never fucking living, bro. I maybe I could be exhausted one day. Yeah, you could see it in my eyes, right? Or you could see I'm just kind of out of it. But I chose— I'm choosing to be there every single day and I love being there. I love the— like what I'm able to do. So grateful.

Yeah, you're truly about that life. And so tell me, what were the biggest challenges in building the biggest gym in America?

Uh, not knowing shit about construction and also being— I'm like the type that I'll literally, as decisive as I try to be, right, I'm not going to be— I'm not going to make my decision. Yeah, until I, I, I exhaust every possibility and every option, right? So until every stone, I turn it over, see what's under, okay, that's the one. I need, I need to be sure that this is the best of the best. This is what I want the most. I want to see what this looks like. Okay, never mind, we'll go back to this one. But, and so that's the huge— that process that I have to go through with designing clothes or designing anything, just, uh, that mixed with not knowing about construction and just anything, what was possible, was not, costs, you know, material costs, labor, like COVID, right? Yeah, all of that stuff, just, uh permits, right? Yeah. All of that stuff just combined into a 20— what was it, a 21, 22 month process of just not being open with a $110,000 mortgage due, $2 million down to get the land, right? $110,000 a month coming out after that.

That's just—

but that's no furniture, that's not construction, that's no— that's no— that's no nothing. That's just to have that blank canvas, right?

$110,000 a month.

Plus, I mean, that's, that's, that's, but that's before any expense. That's before any—

what's the total cost?

$20 million.

$20 million to build the biggest gym in America.

Yeah, that's— and I got the building for $8.5, which is wild because that property is worth way more. And it was worth about $10, right? Yeah, $10.5. Now that property, with just what I've done to the property, $18 million. Damn. Appraisal.

So you like exterior? Yeah. So you kind of flipped it.

I flipped it.

Yeah, that's insane. So $20 million to build the biggest gym in America.

$20 million.

Yeah. And what's your— like, have you—

I could have been less.

Yeah, no, you did not cut any corners.

That's also Alphalete headquarters. Yeah, it's headquarters. It's a combo building, so it's gym headquarters and leasing out two spaces to Shawley, Ever Forward, Max, and Fuel K soon. Fuel K soon.

Yeah, I need to show you the finished product.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I got it in the kitchen.

Yeah.

But so when you were building it, did you ever have days where you're like, is this going to fucking work?

Oh, every day. Every day. And it was just me in a shack, bro. And that was it. Like, it was— yeah. And that was probably— that was— I don't talk about it too much, but that was definitely like the— in the middle of that was the— because I was everywhere from the outside. Oh, he's just— he's in the trenches building Alphaland.

Yeah.

Little did everyone know, like 85 to 90% of my time was still going to Alphalete. And every single moment manufacturing, sampling, getting product. Because like I said, if the clothes don't happen, if we're not leveling that up— and we don't have this, we didn't have designers or anything like that, not at all. Like, that was just me, right? So it— making women's gear too, like, what the fuck? What do I know? What do I know, right? So that took, you know, good ass. Let me— you just let it out.

Yeah, yeah, I got started out there.

Yeah, but like, that was so much of the time. And that, like, I had to be alone to be able to operate at that level. To— in my nights were designing Alphaland, my days were, you know, Alphalete, any Alphaland, like anything I had to do on site for that. But yeah, it was just a never-ending cycle. It felt like never-ending, but it came to— I knew it would come to an end. That's why I kept pushing. It lasted longer than I thought it would, that phase, but I wouldn't take anything back, you know. I really wouldn't.

Do you think it really toughened you the fuck up?

You have— you don't know how hard you're able to push and what you're capable of until it's literally all on the line. Like, actually on the line. Like, we— like, I could go down, like, period, right? When that shit's draining and you're projecting out 12, 14, 16 months ahead on clothing deposits, and then things aren't coming in time, things are getting held up to, and you have to hold hold a whole ass like season, right? Because you don't have certain things from any— like, that shit was without accurate like accounting and metrics, numbers, without clear visibility where you're at, and without clear visibility of like what's exactly due in tax. Yeah, yeah, yeah, shit's wild, man. But there's like a gut feeling, all right, we're gonna be good, like we're gonna— it's gonna— it's fine. I just have to navigate, you know, this is this, we're golden. And I know I have my backup. I've been working on putting away, like, that's always there. Yeah, I'm not gonna try not to touch it, but worst case, fucking pull it, pull it, bring it in, put it in, like, all in, bro, you know. And I didn't have to do that, but like, I knew I could. And I— yeah, that was, uh, yeah, that was wild because like, no, all the employees, the word was getting around, just, yeah, you know, that it's not gonna open, it's not gonna open, it's not gonna open, it's not gonna happen, we're gonna go out of— then people get in their head. And if, if I wasn't aware they were talking, I can't go in the chat right?

Yeah.

So just that negativity, that kind of toxic, like, feeling, especially during COVID where everyone was just like— everyone's dead on edge already, right? Like this. And then you don't hear from the CEO, right? What's happening? Like, yeah, we're going down.

The ship is going down.

Everyone jumped. And I didn't know— I was like, what the fuck is it? What, what is— everyone fucking— but it was too late at that point. It was already like The words were already said, you know, and all this kind of stuff. So it was like, guys, we're fucked. Like, the signs— this is happening. Alphalete's okay. Like, launches are here. We have a launch next week. What are we doing? We need to get back on pace. Like, and, and so it was a big sort of wake-up for me. That was definitely like losing that chunk of the team, probably like 35-40% of the team. But it was a lot of like one big player going out trickles into endless just like, you know, amounts of chaos, but we did it. Fuck me, turn it around.

How did you get all this self-belief and confidence? How do you think you build confidence?

Day by day, I think, honestly. Like, day by day, from making that guitar flyer, yeah, to getting a client, to making that first sale with fitness, which is what I wanted to do, to uploading that first video, right, to hitting 10K on each— on YouTube, 100. Just like little, little moments like that just, uh, yeah, like I knew I've never failed at anything because I just keep trying. Yeah, right. So it's like I knew I wasn't going to fail at it, right? That's—

and I, I think the way confidence is built is— so I think it was Jordan Peterson who said you push the boat out a little bit further every time. So set yourself a small goal, stick to it, achieve it, right? No matter what. Set yourself a slightly bigger goal, get it done. It doesn't matter if you fail a couple times, get it done. And you keep going until you're achieving these fucking huge goals, like, you know, building these massive gyms, creating your dream life, to the point where you actually just believe you can do anything, bro. And then they're the people that change the game.

And it's not just a leap of faith guess, it's not— you're not guessing. You have this like log of just accumulated, literally like wins. Got it, got a W. All right, win, win, win. Like built up over time, but that it's all like scalable, right? It's all— yeah. So I mean, failure isn't an option just because I'm not going to stop trying, right? Yeah. You only fail when you stop trying.

If you could tell yourself 3 things before starting Alphalete and AlphaLand, what would they be? Just go back in time, be like, hey, heads up, heads up.

Oh man, that's a good one. Because I want to say, oh, nothing. Like, I want— that's what I want to say. But like, if I could go back to my 19-year-old self, I would say, you're built for it. You can— like, pressure is going to be a lot, but it's not going to break you, only unless you let it break you, right? And just like— and just don't bet on— don't invest into anyone fully, fully. Like, don't ever like let someone else control you. Right? Yeah, which that's huge, man. If, if you ever have any single person or job or anything that's in control of your strings, or if that puppet master lets go and, and you're fucked, right? Literally, even you have to— even you can fall apart because of that. You can't ever— that you have to be in control of your strings, right? So as long as you're in charge, then you're good, man.

I just— I haven't spoke about this on YouTube yet, but I just I told you I just had that moment with Fuel Cakes that, you know, I had the puppet masters, you know, I said, hey, this is not working out, there's a breakdown in communications, I'll just, you know, take the manufacturers there and I'll go do my thing. They go, nope, you're gonna have a manufacturer. So I'm like, oh, all right, I'll just go fuck off then. But look, now we've got a manufacturer in Ireland, much better one as well. But just when you said that, I'm like, that literally happened to me. You got to be in control.

Yeah, and that— and I always tell people, like, careful, careful, care— right, like, go very cautiously when thinking about partners when you're starting things. When you're thinking about if you can learn how to do whatever you don't— if there's a missing piece, if I'm really good at this and I'm good at marketing, yeah, but I don't know how to work the store shop, that doesn't mean you need a partner, right? Yeah, I would recommend starting the store, trying to learn some basics of it, and use the Shopify experts that you're paying for. Use, or maybe like bring a consultant in, pay him a few thousand, right, to help you get to X point, but explain and walk you through how, what he's doing and how, right? And of course, that's at the startup phase, right? You don't want to start hiring all these employees and stuff like that when you don't really know what, if you can really keep them busy long enough and have enough responsibility and enough like, you know, things for them to have to do. But just learning anything that you don't, or having a general understanding. Even negotiation with the UPS, with, with, with DHL. Like, or I'm sitting in those high-level meetings all the time. I'm asking the hard questions, right? I'm asking the questions and making—

you're learning.

You have to learn. If you don't know it, then you're just going to have somebody like taking a piece of something from you. Yeah, really. And that doesn't mean to micromanage every single detail of every step of everything. You're really good at— you're, you're really good at like You know how I say the approve kind of thing? Like, you're— I admire people like that because it's like you're so confident in that. And I feel like I'm sometimes slow and I'm like indecisive, right? But like, yeah, man, it's, um, it's a fine balance of just not trying not to micromanage but also move forward.

Yeah. And so you mentioned marketing there. Just a quick one: what are the main sources of traffic for Alphalete?

Uh, Instagram, right? Yeah, Instagram's like number one, like 70-something percent. Is all through IG. Yeah, which is wild.

What about YouTube and TikTok?

YouTube— TikTok's like, bro, people like— no, TikTok is— TikTok's great for visibility and for, for visibility. Yeah, right. But if it converts, unless you're doing content that's like very vlog-esque, very like full day of eating, you're talking, you're showing per— like you're cutting those clips into a day in the life, like this is this That's how you can build that following and that will convert. But I'm truly like YouTube, this goes for conversion, for marketing, if you're looking to hire influencers for a brand, whatever, right? Or if you are an influencer and if you put your time and attention as an influencer on YouTube, number one. Number two, IG stories specifically, like a lot, a lot of stories, a lot of video content, but you can always play off of your YouTube content. Yeah, so if you—

it all trickles down.

You can cut it up, talk about, make short-form stuff on IG, right? Then you go into, I would say, IG, then I would go TikTok, and then I would go— yeah, that's really all, that's all that matters. Then you can post on Snap, then you can kind of, you know, do all that. But like, YouTube is number one. Yeah, keep YouTube one for my— and I mean, I could be wrong, but from what I've seen convert YouTube, bro.

I, I hit 30K on TikTok today.

I'm 12 and a half.

Yeah, we're so quick. We're too old for the app, but I hit 30K today, right? And I literally said this morning, when I hit 30K subscribers on YouTube, I could quit my fucking job.

Yeah, when I, I had 18K subscribers, I was making crazy money.

Crazy. When I hit 30K on TikTok, did it improve my business by a single percent? Not one. It didn't, it didn't impact anything. So it's crazy. Like, I think to make any dent on your business with TikTok, you need like 300,000 minimum, which shows kind of the impact of it. I'm not, you know, I know people kill on TikTok and everything, but it's just so funny if you're going for view.

It's, it's just like, it's great. Yeah, but you just have to be sure with the view you're tying in your personality. That's the— that's what it all comes down to, right?

Yeah.

If you tie that in personality and then whatever you're in and usefulness, you need some of that. Like, what are you giving this viewer? Other— is it just like, damn, like a damn shot?

Yeah.

Or is it like a— all right, he's shredded, right? Yeah, that's sick. Cool body. But if you're— are you giving any nuggets there? Yeah. To take home with them? Yeah. And if you give nuggets in anything, any platform, that's how you'll start kind of gaining traction.

Yeah. There's some of the best coaches I know and they've got like, you know, 10, 15K on Instagram and it's just like amazing information. Like, it's like super evidence-based, really applicable, and they're doing like $10K, $20K, $30K easy profit a month in coaching just because they're so knowledgeable that people will build that trust. And you know a word I love as well? Building authority. Yeah, that's a good one, isn't it? Like, once you have an authority— yeah, building authority. Yeah, exactly. Once you have that, then people are more— so much more likely to trust in you. So let's say you're sponsoring an Alpha Elite athlete like myself, what we're filming here. What are you going to look for on their profiles and their day-to-day life, or them as a person even?

Number one, do they— number one, like, really, you can't tell shit from stories. That's the thing. Like, from finding somebody brand new and you go click their store, maybe they have a few pictures or something you can kind of tell, but you can't get their story.

Yeah.

The reason I love YouTube, when you click that link to take you to the YouTube channel the channel trailer or whatever, like that first video that comes up and plays automatically. That's your opportunity to say, this is who I am and what I, what I do, what I've done, what I'm going to do. Yeah, right. And this is my journey. This is what I can provide to you, right? You have to establish that without having to say it, right? So I always recommend, like, I mean, if, if you're serious, if you establish something and you have some income, like, invest into a constantly up, that's always my videos, right? That's always that one badass banger that I make every few years. That's that one. That one's the first thing that plays. That's what I send to anybody, anyone who's new, anyone who doesn't understand. If you can recap in a few minutes, yeah, that right there is the golden— I don't think I ever said this, but like, that is the golden key to it. Be sure through video, through an engaging format, that you can show your journey, show quickly, like, where you were, where you are now, what you've been able to do, what you are good at, and your credibility. And then you establish that off the bat, right? And you, yeah, you could do it by saying, hi, welcome to the video, I'm Christian Guzman, I own Alpha Athletics, we did over 100 blah blah blah. You could do that, fine. But I think the, or like, a storytelling, really like just nicely shot, easy to watch and easy to relate kind of video, um, has the most impact out of anything. Why do we love like these documentaries on HBO? Yeah, why do we, why do we love these like these really great TV shows because we're attached to those characters, right? And they're in— that's it, it's just emotion, man, and it's real. So I totally went off a tangent there.

So we're talking about YouTube and the fitness industry there. What do you think of the current state of the fitness industry? Has it taken a turn for the worse? What do you think of the current trends going on?

You know, I heard Nick Wright say, say something the other day.

I like this video, I watch it. Yeah, the fitness—

I really A good point.

I loved it.

He said, he, he said something along the lines of, it's like fashion. The fitness industry is, it's like any industry, right? There's trends. Things are going to come, things are going to go, things are going to come back, things are going to cycle through, right? And right now everything is quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. Eventually people are going to want things to kind of slow down a bit, right, to digest stuff, right? And eventually then it's going to go, it's just like full-on cycle. You can't ever like, oh, I don't like the direction of the fitness. Like, okay, then go change it. Then go work on— do your own style and see if— and make it take over, right? Or like, just keep doing you. If you don't like what they're doing, just don't do what they're doing. Yeah, I just don't— I try not to adapt to anybody else. So they're like, I don't really— I don't know, I do the same shit, just like now I'm breaking it up in the short form as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Or adapt in that sense, but like to creating more to be sure you're still hitting those eyeballs. But like The videos don't change, the way I film doesn't change, the way I, you know, the message doesn't change. It's just, yeah, there's new kids on the block, new people. That's great. I hope they fucking kill it. And they can— I hope they, you know, they know they can ask if they want to ask any advice or questions. Like, I'd love to help them, you know, skip some steps, you know, if you can. Yeah.

How long do you think you're going to be doing YouTube for, or social media in general?

Um, That's a good question. YouTube, at least 9.5 more years. Yeah, because I committed. Awesome. So we got like 985 videos to make. Fuck.

That's great. 985 more.

Yeah, I think I'm on like episode 15 or 15 out of 1,000 so far.

Is that including Shorts? No, no, long form only. What's the plan for that? What's the game plan for you? Like, are you just gonna like, are you gonna go go through a phase where you do daily?

I could, yeah. And I just didn't put a rule on it. I said 1,000 by the end of 10 years.

Do you know what I love, right? Okay, people always say to me, they're like, oh, you know, Rob, you're, you're 31 now, you're 30 as well. They're like, are you still going to be doing YouTube in, in 10 years? And I'm like, the biggest YouTuber in the world, essentially, Joe Rogan, he's 54, bro.

It's like, I hate when people— isn't it mind-blowing? Like, I don't know if you feel the same, but The older I'm getting, the more I'm getting sharper and sharper and sharper and like more experience and just like I'm leveling up mentally with my words. I'm able to like, if you listen to me talk 8 years ago, 7 years, I talk like this. Now I was a little bit slower and I like this and I was kind of really thinking. Now I'm bro, I'm maybe it's because the business, maybe it's because the people I have to work with, I'm able to talk quick. I can like get my point across. I can, and I'm just in my head, I'm understanding myself so much more. Yeah, which in turn is going to help other people skip steps, right? Which is what this whole thing is about. Yeah, right. It's scary how good we're gonna be in 5 years.

It's—

Gary Vee said it's fucking terrifying. It's insane to think when we're 50 how much, how, how much built-up just knowledge like we're gonna have and how we'll be able to execute, the contacts we're gonna have. It's fucking wild.

It's nuts. I was looking at like, you know, the way your phone gives you—

like, you're not as good looking. Yeah, no, it's okay.

No, no, I was I was just about to say looks, okay? I looked at a picture of me in 2018, obviously a lot less muscle, but my face, it just doesn't look as distinguished. Like, I was like, I held up and I was like, how would you fuck this?

Yeah, I was like, this guy looks like a kid.

Yeah, I know, like, this guy looks like a kid. I'm like, I would not listen to his advice. And it's like, the older you get, the more distinguished and experienced you are. Joe, I I had it on the podcast. He absolutely killed it.

Dorian Yates, fucking legend.

The absolute legend, like, was so sharp, didn't even stutter once. And you also get to the point where, like, you give less of a fuck. Like, he was talking about all the drugs he did, or even, like, the recreational drugs he did, going around South America doing crazy shit, because it doesn't matter, you know. When he gets that, he's like, oh, fucking cancel me. Doesn't matter.

And I'm already at that point. Yeah, it's like, fuck, ask me anything, you know what I mean? Like, there's nothing to hide. It's wild. Yeah, I think you can't be scared of it. I think the age is just experience, that's all.

Yeah. And so you are— you're a 1% man, without a doubt. Okay, what advice would you give to someone who wants to become a high-value man, a 1% man? So you did the podcast with Fresh and Fit, and those guys, they're big into that. So What's, what's your advice to the manosphere guys that want to level up?

Just stop talking about it, start doing it. Like, that's, that's all it comes down to. And that goes to, honestly, like, that goes to women as well that want to make something of themselves. Like, all you have to do, like, click pause on the damn podcast and come back and finish it later, right? Or whatever you're trying to, like, stop doing so much research and getting in your head about it. Because you may not think you're getting your head about it, but you could just sit down, get your pen and paper. What's step 1? And get your ass in the car and go do it, right? Like, that is going to initiate everything.

This man doesn't even read books.

I don't even read books. I'll listen to, like, motivational stuff on the same speeches I've been listening to for 10 years on the way to whatever I'm trying to go do. It's like, just, you have to start just moving, right, and taking action towards the goal. Like, get the business, get the LLC going, order your first sample. Pay for the whatever. Like, just get that moving and get— like, just get the money to get to get your first property. Yeah, make the first update, make the change, right? Like, get it listed on here. Like, whatever that is, just like start doing it. Yeah, stop fucking wasting your time, man.

And do you ever find yourself procrastinating? How do you battle it?

Like, I've— you know, I, I consider myself a huge procrastinator, but I know— and I think the better term that I would call myself is a really good prioritizer. Yeah, because I know— and I'm not procrastinating every little— it's like I'm prioritizing what I need to put focus on and what can wait, right? But I, um, procrastinating is— that's a detriment to entrepreneur, that's a detriment to society. Procrastinating, procrastinating, procrastinating, because you'll wait a day, turns into a week, a month, year, decade, then you're fucking done, then it's gone, the window's gone.

I've seen your, your notes, your Notions, the setup, the calendar you have on your phone. Insane. Surely that helps a good bit with your procrastination, your organization.

Well, what's funny is like the— what app I use the most out of anything right now is actually Things 3, but for the single feature. I don't like sort everything. Like, probably I'll literally— you click one button and you jot down any idea you have or thing you want to do. Right. If any, it's better to do it in an action. So, uh, I want to buy the curtains for the, for the room, right? And that's like any moment, one click, and I'm able to type out. And anything that comes to my mind, if I don't type it, then it's kind of lingering in my mind, then it wastes my energy because I kind of come back and think about it multiple times. So just write it down, right? Jot it down, organize it later, sort it later, prioritize it later, put it in your list and shit. Just like get it written. And get it. Yeah, if you not— if you jot it down, you don't have to think about it anymore.

Yeah.

If you track your macros and actually track them, you don't have to like worry about, oh, am I like in this range? Yeah, you know, you know.

Yeah.

If you build the house, you get the measurements. Yeah, it's sick. Like, it just, uh, it alleviates more than it hurts.

My system for getting things done and productivity, okay, I'll write down— I, I do pen and paper. Yeah, right. That's just me, you know. Some people like it better. I I think it's like when you— your motor neuron skills, when you write it down, you just remember it better. So I'll write down on a date 10 things I need to get done, okay? And the important part here is I'll write them in terms of priority. So number 1 is getting fucking done no matter what. Yeah, that's non-negotiable.

Like, is it like personal errand? They're also like— or do you do like as a whole? I need to get this YouTube video live and posted.

Well, that's often number 1. Yeah, but so I'll write down anything, even like do my laundry, whatever, you know, get the cleaner in, whatever. I'll write down everything. And usually there at the bottom, you know, there's the errands and stuff. But 1 is 100% getting done that day. 2 and 3, you know, most likely getting done, and onwards. Okay. And let's say I get as far down to number 4. Well, then 5 will become number 1 the next day.

Oh wow.

Yeah. So it— you're always— oh shit, that's interesting. It's actually— I, I don't really see many other people doing this?

Okay, I do the big 3. Yeah, I'll write 10 things. Yeah. All right, big 3 that have to happen.

Yeah.

And then the other ones that can— or other tasks I'd like to do, but a lot of times that'll lead to me just not doing any of those.

Yeah.

So it's interesting that you slot it up.

Yeah, yeah. So that you're— it's a never-ending list.

Even if it's a small thing, a smaller, like, less time-consuming thing.

Yeah, I'll still get it done. Yeah.

So to the bottom.

Yeah, exactly.

So it's a rolling list, and, uh, I've never completed it, but that's how it goes, right? Yeah, yeah. And now then it's gonna go to whenever you start getting more people you're working with in it, right? Anything you need, anything that comes to your mind, you write it down. Can this— and then you have other names at your list. You have Rob's list.

Yeah.

Then you have their name, their name, if that employee— what task or bigger thing, what ongoing things can I put over there? Can I put over there? Can I put over here in an assistant? Can I do the dry cleaning, the house, this, that?

Yeah, yeah.

This, that. Now your time's free to do bigger shit.

Do you ever feel like you've done enough, or do you ever feel fulfilled?

I feel fulfilled, right, bro. I could die tomorrow and be so, like, actually, like, so fucking happy and proud, man. Like, it's awesome. Like, I think it's just, uh, yeah, I think fulfilled's not the— I felt fulfilled when I had 2,000 subscribers. I was like, guys, thank you so much for the support. Like, I have an army.

Like, I thought, you know, I think I was happier when I had 2,000 subscribers.

I was on cloud nine. Yeah, I was in it. It's just wild. Like, yeah, I've been fulfilled for a long time. Yeah, that's awesome. I'm not satisfied. I want— there is— there's more I want to reach. There's more I want to like get to. There's more I want to— there's more people that I want to give something to.

Explain to me the quote, "Proud but never satisfied." How'd you come up with it?

What did you—

what does it mean?

Saw it on Instagram on Simply Shredded.

Yeah.

But essentially just, it's the first quote I ever painted onto the gym wall. And, uh, it just kind of goes to, yeah, you're— you need to be proud of what you've done, and you need to be— you understand, like, I'm happy with who I am, what I'm doing, and the actions I've done. Sick, cool. Not gonna look back at it for too long, right? Look back, all right, cool, proud, and keep going, right? That's all. That's awesome. Because if you just, like, sit and, like, keep waiting, keep looking at it bad, and keep reminiscing to that time or that era or that whatever. It's just like you're wasting your time. You know, it's done, past. Things move on, life moves on. The world don't care about you. They will for a moment, and then eventually, day by day, when we— it's like things move on. So you just got to keep moving on.

Yeah. And so one of your, uh, your goals on that 10-year video was one of them was to become more present. What have you been doing in recent months to make some progress on that goal? What have you been doing to become more present?

Honestly, the, like, filming and just doing what I love. Like, that's why the goal number one was 1,000 videos. Yeah, because I knew that would make me slow down, focus on the stuff I big picture want and need in my life. So I can, like, when I'm doing that, everything else seems to solve itself. You— we talked about this.

Yeah, yeah, you do that one thing.

One thing. Yeah, it all— you have you have less time for the bullshit. You have less time for the, for the waste office, like the walk, the walks in the office where those little conversations that don't need to be happening, right? It just gets eliminated. It's great. Yeah, right. When you just focus on the thing. So being present would be focusing on the videos. And number 2, like making— just reminding myself that I am in control of my time and where I put my time, who's in the room. right? And I'm choosing to do that, right? So like every single morning, instead of going to the office first thing, 4 AM, ready for like everything that like people want this, I need to do this, that, that manufacturer needs this, like, no, no, no. Yeah. Literally, I have nothing on my calendar in the morning to do whatever I need to do. If it's fucking cook breakfast and make my oats and take my time making them, that's what I'm doing, right? If it's whatever it is, right? Taking Nala for a walk. Whatever the hell I want to do. Take a long shower, watch— bro, I got a waterproof case now, so I'll like watch videos in the shower.

Oh man, I gotta get one of them.

It's great, bro. Yeah, it's great. But just being in control of your time is to me being present. Yeah.

Now recently enough as well, you're a couple months ago, you made that erratic video. What was going on there? What was like your current daily routine at that time that caused you to be so scatty on camera, you know, what were you going through there? Because I watched that and, you know, as a friend, I was like, I was worried. Even like, I remember Louis Armstrong, you know, and I think Mike sent it to me as well, and they were like, what's going on with Christian here, you know, is he okay? That was the only time I've ever actually seen you like that ever. What's wild is what was going on behind the scenes there.

What's wild is that state of me, that's just, that's simply an over-exhausted state. That state was a very frequent kind of thing during the last few years. Like, hi— like, Heidi wouldn't think anything else. You just think, I'm trying to get done so I can rest, right? Like, and that was after, what, a day and a half, almost 2 days no sleep. I had already committed to all these things. The 10-year video had dropped. Summer Shredding hadn't even been announced. No information for the SSC bodybuilding. There was a show in 5 weeks coming up. No one knew what the fuck it was. No one knew anything about it. All that pressure of just like, I have, I have to get this info out. I have no media team. I got no one helping me with this camera. Got no one helping with this editing. I had no one. It was literally just, and I have all this work pulling me. It's like the priority prioritization. Like I'd already tried to film it so many times. And I think because there was so much so much behind each of those 10 things, so much pat— and so much previous work. I'm just trying to get it out, being exhausted, filming, staying all night, you know, and editing that shit like to the best I could and just being like, that's the— that's all I got. Like, I, I can't have time to refilm it. I've done it so many times already. Like, just feeling that pressure, like, that, that, that was all I could— that's what I put out. And I— yeah, it's It's tough to see. It's honestly like, it's not an overwhelming— that it was over— it's overwhelming to watch, right? And it's just like, Jesus Christ, just slow down. Yeah, I would say, Jesus Christ, just don't let your— don't just like go to sleep. Take it, take it, it's okay. A day is not going to kill you. Go to sleep if you're not happy. Like, looking back at it, I was like, oh my God, even when I was editing, I was like, oh Oh shit, this ain't it, but this is gonna have to do. But instead of saying this is gonna have to do, like, and not just of how other people perceive it, like, I should have been, oh shit, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna go, I need to go to fucking sleep. I'm, because it's hurting at that point. My eyes are glazy. I'm just like fighting, right? And sadly, like, I've been with, those days have happened way too frequently in the last few years. Yeah, right. And that was— that needs to be the last time I push myself to that level.

Yeah, it was like a bottleneck, you know? You were trying to pour so much water out of this, like, a small narrow tunnel, and it all just, just came out like crazy, you know, wrong. But what have you been doing since then to, you know, get out and not have those frequent states? Your sleep, like, come on.

That's a Be Present.

Okay.

Yeah, it's the, the mornings I'm in charge of my time to myself. I'm, you know, building a big thing that people don't understand, like the people part. When you invest a lot of time into like, say, a whole department head, right, and you're building this stuff and then that falls through. Yeah, right. And which has happened many times in the last few years, restructures, things like that. Like, I'm still doing a lot of the— those responsibilities of Alphalete social media, all these kind of like things are I'm not done with that phase, the building phase, right? And I'm— it's also like the amount I'm operating just for that one company is a lot. Yeah, but it's getting there. We're getting the head— we're— it's like we can't rush the hiring process. You can't rush the team building process. Like, it's better to hire— like, for every one good person that like comes to your team and actually takes stuff off your plate, you're gonna go through 9 other ones. Yeah, that don't, and that fuck shit up, and that can cause chaos. So it's like, I know that that process is going to be a longer thing, but for me it's like taking action to initiate my media team, right, which has happened now, just started like 2 weeks ago. Yeah, fuck yeah. Now I'm getting— I have help getting content out. Number 2, think people like Kirby, right, really taking the time to be sure like that relationship is rock solid. So she can take all of that, like, the content right off of me. The social media, that's going to go under her as well eventually when we find the right part, right? So like, a lot of these things are getting put in play now. So it's just, uh, it's a process, man. But it's, uh, yeah, it's definitely— yeah, it's a lot.

Have you ever, or would you ever, consider going to therapy? I've never— I've never gone. I'm just, you know, just wondering.

I, I think we, we probably love to get like— like, I think I'm just I'm my own worst enemy for sure because I just keep putting more on my plate.

Yeah, I think it would be interesting for like some guys like us to go to therapy. Like, I think it's, it's kind of like getting a personal trainer for your brain, you know. And there is always like, you know, we're like, oh, we don't need it, and we wouldn't even think about it. Like, that wouldn't be even on my to-do list. But I think it would be awesome for you especially to do, you know. You're definitely need to iron out your thoughts a little bit. And I think it would be cool. Either that or going a week-long bender.

For me, the Caymans, 3 weeks when I do that, the trip, or even like I had a reset when I, for my birthday, me and Heidi went to Park City, right, for 8, 9 days. Didn't do a fucking thing. And like those moments, like as long as I have those incrementally, like, but maybe that's what's wrong. Maybe I'm using those like one moments at those single moments.

Yeah, like you should space them out a little bit. Like, you know, you you should do, like, you should do it, you should have weekends.

Yeah, you should have weekends, right? So it's getting a schedule that's going to work, but it's, it's also just the people part is tough, man, because not a lot of really— no one can really relate to the, the capacity of a lot of it.

See, like, there's— I don't know anyone else like you who does on your level.

There's a reason. Yeah, it's like I'm in some territory that if it is too much, I'm gonna have to trim down and be okay trimming down. Yeah, I'm gonna be— I'll have to be okay be okay postponing an upload for fucking 2 days if I need to. Yeah, right. I need to be okay with like maybe a video edit not having that final like, uh, critique that I wanted to see happen, right? And just like pushing it through because big picture it's totally good.

Yeah, it does.

I don't need that. I don't need that fucking like, you know, turning every stone every single time. Yeah. And that, that's what I need to grow on.

Yeah. And so when you're finished prep, have you got any like big travel plans or anything?

Yep, yep. Can't talk about it yet though. Okay, yeah, I'll tell you later.

Nice. Okay, nice, nice. I'm serious. But me and Linda, so I'm yet to go— like, obviously I compete on Sunday, but this week you need to— like, I know I'm doing— I'm— that was the longest monk mode I ever did, like since February really. So it's about 4 months, hard, no date nights, pretty much none.

Yeah.

And but it was like amazing. Like, I feel I earned it. I remember I went to I actually went to Al-Faleeda afterwards. I went to Tulum last year in January, January '22 or something. And I was building this house at the time.

And you can't shut off?

I couldn't shut off. I couldn't fully enjoy it.

Because you haven't earned it.

I kept saying to myself, I was like, Rob, you didn't earn this. You're just building a fucking luxury villa in Marbella. You know, you need to like do something. I wasn't uploading enough. You need to put out more content. It was honestly a horrible feeling. It was not good. I mean, like, the best place ever, obviously still had a great time, but there was, there was an underlying thing, just guilt at me every single day. And now the last 4 months, I feel—

now you've earned it. Yeah, then you can enjoy the vacation.

I feel, I feel so good. Like, I beat the trip, I'm gonna actually enjoy this villa. Like, I'm gonna— I was thinking, right, because like, where else would we go in Europe really, you know, to get a bit like this? But I'm gonna do a week holiday at home.

Yeah.

So I'm hardly gonna go on my phone, you know, not gonna worry about calls and uploading and everything. And I'm gonna treat this place as if I rented it for the week. Nice.

You know, put your phone out, put it somewhere you can't get it.

Exactly. Yeah. And I'm just gonna take over.

Yeah.

I'm going to take off, you know, a week and just spend it in Marbella and just really enjoy it. But we still got the, the Alfie video to film.

And it was wild, like just how we saw it, like the— in earning the vacation. Yeah, I think that's absolutely something to earning the time, earning the night's sleep, earning that, like, like being sure that whatever you're doing the day, you're pushing yourself to be able to justify— just feel like content. Like, when I go home at 8, 8:30, right, and I'm chilling with Heidi, I'm chilling with Heidi. Like, I'm not working, I'm not on my phone. If I am, I'm watching some random stupid, you know, meme or like funny cat video or some shit. Like, I'm not in that mind— in that mindset. And like, you have to earn the time, you have to earn the relaxation, I, I, I think. And you have to earn— because or else, like, if you're like me or like you, like, it's just eat at you, right? It's gonna eat at you. Just like, shit, I really, you know, I was kind of fucking around all day. Like, I didn't really— I didn't finish this, or like mid-hour Alfaland build. I'm like, not done yet. I'm not open. I'm still like draining. Everything's draining. Like, I need— I need to be there. Then be there. If you need to be there, then be there, right? And that's okay to be there. Like, it's okay to fucking work. Yeah, it's okay. Trust, it's fine. Let's go. Give in to the— like, just because some people, other people, some people need different types of different levels of, you know, scheduling your work schedule, whatever that shit is, right? That's not always you. Do what you need for you is the biggest thing.

I think too many people celebrating with nothing to celebrate.

What the fuck you celebrating?

Why are you popping bottles? Why you pop—

yeah, what are you doing?

Get back to work. You live in your mom's basement and get back to work.

And yeah, it's all relative, man, but it's like, Jesus Christ.

Yeah, you know, it's like, do you find, do you find always, you know, being on the go, how does this affect your relationships, to be in the past or current? You're definitely current because this is the most full-on you've ever been. But how do you balance like relationships and work?

It's a good question. I mean, honestly, like, the friends I've got are the, the friend— like, that seems as I'm getting older kind be more clear and be more, be more precise of who I can always know I can count on, right? And of course, you invest time into those relationships. You be sure, like, it's a two-way street, right? If you don't put anything into a relationship, you can't expect that to last long, right? You can't expect that to always be, like, strong. But with me and Heidi, like, bro, she's— what's so cool is she's in a phase right now where she's building, you know, new— but she's building it, but she would— we book our travel to be, like, in sync. So yeah, she's been gone for 11 days, right? She's in LA doing all this stuff, new teams, new developers and things like that. And, uh, meanwhile, like, I'm here focusing on what I need to focus on. Yeah. But when we come back together, right? Yeah. It's like, I— if she came here, she wouldn't be able— that wouldn't be right. I know that wouldn't be right for her. She needs to be doing her shit.

Yeah.

And I need to be doing my shit here. As long as that's understood and, like, discussed and you know, I miss— we're trying to, you know, at least see some FaceTime every few days or something. We don't text all day at all, bro. Yeah, we don't, we don't need that, like, at all. Like, we can go a while without talking. Yeah, but we know, we know we're fucking great. Yeah, I know I trust her, she trusts me. We're golden. Good.

And then when you don't see each other for a while, you see each other again, it's fiery.

It's fiery. Yeah, exactly. It's fire. And I know, like, when I get— it's like, then I'm prep mode. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna, like, bring in and be sure I'm giving attention to her, right? Doing special, like, little things, right? Like, that's all it— you just gotta make it, put it on your list, add on the list, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Do a thoughtful note, right? Write a thoughtful note for, for Linda, right? Just, you have to incorporate into your system, or else, like, you can't expect anything to, to operate if that's how you operate. Yep.

And speaking of, um, PrEP, how's the sex drive and the day life been on PrEP?

Others, they like, while away. Yeah, yeah.

No, he's been keeping it in his pants.

He's good. I never really have any problems.

Yeah, me neither. You know, people are lost in your head. Yeah, yeah, me too. One thing I'm like, in the final peak week and stuff, just because I'm always thinking about the competition, I just, you know, wouldn't be—

it's just energy going.

Yeah, it's just energy, but it's not like it's shit stops working or anything. I know that does happen to a lot of guys.

Andre, I'm gonna go. Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right, there he goes. And simply, simply 3D.

Yeah, papasialis, pum. And so you've been in a very long relationship with Heidi, like what, 7 years?

Almost 7 years.

That's crazy. So what are some keys to keep a long-term relationship going like that? That's like, there's not 5 years, it's 7 years. Like, that's over half a decade. It's a long time.

Married, then it's another third.

I know, you know.

Yeah.

So what are your tips for long-term relationships?

Any long-term relationship, any— I would just say being sure that it has to be like the most real you can get with, with the person. You have to be able to like literally speak, and when something's bothering you, be able— or if something happens that bothers you, or some instance, like whatever the shit is, I just don't bottleneck anything. Yeah, right. Addressing things and not in an aggressive way, just like bringing it up and making it a discussion, right? Like, I think that's always number one. Don't hold things back. And then number 2 is going to be, like I said, being sure that you're, you're inserting time and you're doing— you know, you're like, you shouldn't be able to look back and say, damn, the CG like 4 years ago, he would have probably done this for her.

Yes, don't let it slip, fellas.

Can't let it slip. You gotta— you can't let your old self outdo your current self. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, think of it like, like a, like a business play. You can't let— you can't get outbeat outworked by your old self. You got to be sure at, you know, in the moment you're still leveling that up in certain ways, right?

Yeah.

So, I would say that.

Yeah. Me and Linda were talking about this and one thing that I think people look at it as a vain metric but we don't think it's true at all. Stay sexy. Stay in shape. Honestly, keep putting in, keep hitting the gym. Keep, you know, focus on your appearance. Like, dress nice. Like, so many people, myself included, be in relationships for and you're wearing fucking like a stained tee and a pair of like cotton shorts and flip-flops around the house all day and you fix up, look sharp, you know. I think—

I think yourself—

yeah, I think that— yeah, I think that's a huge one as well.

And distance is good too. And distance is great. I think being sure there's like days, time frames in the year where like you're just— you're not— you're in your other— those other relationships you need to nurture. Yeah, friendships, like any of those kind of things, you have to go do that. And your person doesn't always have to be with you. Yeah, right. Because like you want them to have separate— you want them to have things on their own as well. Yeah. And if that's— if that is the case, and like, and you both like support that for each other, then I think when you do come together, there's— there's more of the fire, there's more desire.

Definitely. And especially if you're a guy, if you're like a Labrador and always just, you know, on every call— it's the most unattractive thing ever.

Yeah.

No, no, no Labrador.

She's like, no way, no, none of that. Just literally do Do your shit. Respect your woman and that be that, man. And level yourself up and be a good fucking man. Provide and do your thing. Yeah.

And so what are your thoughts on marriage in modern times? You know, because I've got a few different takes on it and, you know, it's something me and Linda have been talking about recently. But what's your thoughts on getting married? You know, do you want to settle down, marry? Do you care about the ring, the government paper? What do you think?

You know, like when I think a lot, try to really dissect the marriage thing. I'm not gonna lie, to me it doesn't— you know, there are a lot of things about it, it's like, why would I, why would I? And you get kind of in your head and like logistically I'm like, why the fuck would I like— but recently it's more of like, uh, okay, I, I know this is what Heidi, you know, Heidi wants and she has, you know, we spoke, we talk about it, it's a topic of discussion, right? Yeah. And you can't just be one of those like like, if it's gonna make your partner happy, and if you don't see like, well, why not? Like, I can't do it because of that, that's against my, my belief. Like, shut the fuck up. Like, if it's— is it gonna fucking kill you? It's like, it's not gonna fucking kill you. Yeah, right. And that's one of the things where it's like, if it's gonna be— if she want— I want to make her happy, right? So I, like, I'm— yeah, I would love to get married soon, right? Okay, that's— I want— I want to—

I want kids, Yeah, we need some mini CGs.

I definitely want kids, bro. Yeah, a kid first and then see how it goes. Yeah.

Do you know what I think?

I want a kid more than marriage.

Yeah, me too. So what I'm about to say is that I think the whole benefit to getting married is the kids. Now let me explain. You can obviously have kids outside of marriage, right? But in today's day and age, especially with social media, it's easy to sit, fucking get up and go. It's easy to just switch around, but there's a reason why marriage makes it hard to split up. You have to go to court, you have to get an annulment, you have to do all this, you have— you share each other's second name. I think it's more important than ever because in today's day and age, we all just look at where the grass is greener. We're all easy to hop off, you know, just, hey, whatever, I'm gonna go on to the next one. And I think that's the benefit of marriage, is it's tough to leave and it'll make you guys talk it out. you know, and sort shit out. And then in turn, you're going to have a better family environment. So I don't care about the government piece of paper or the ring. I think the whole benefit is to have a safe, secure family and for the kids. Yeah, because I want— I'm Rob Lipsett IV. I want Rob Lipsett V. That's why. Yeah, I know, it's crazy. My dad loved himself so much he named himself after me. But like, I I really want one kids as well. What is your type of kid? Uh, probably like, I, I have 3 older sisters, so there's like 4 of us in total. And like, I like it. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. I'd love like probably like 3, 4 kids.

Yeah, all just kind of same time, like pretty close time frame.

Yeah, I think so. So the gap between me and my sister, youngest sister, 7 years. So I was definitely an accident, but they're all, they're all with But then one year after watching that, August's story—

oh man, he's got like—

I know, he's popular.

He's like, he's like trying to work, there's two kids like running around, he's got a baby on, he's like, it's wild. I'm like, and I know how distracted I like— I, I know how like I need those noise cans in order to like kind of operate, and my home is kind of like my safe space.

Yeah.

So it's like 100%, right? See how it goes. But like having in a short time span multiple Gotta see how the first one goes, man.

I, I think if you got— I hate to say this— if you've got enough cashola, it solves everything. Just get it, get it, get a really good— like, get a whole team. Yeah, it's like McGregor. I was watching McGregor documentary.

I want to be there though, man. I want to be there mentally, like, physically. I just want to be able to, like, have my team sorted. Yeah. And then the business shit sorted to where I can, like, you know, just actually just, like, you know, pay the, the coach to be the assistant so I can be the assistant coach, you know. Yeah. And, like, enjoy the game, just, like, not give a fuck about the phone, be sure and know like nothing's getting on fire and it's just gonna burn, you know. I think, uh, so yeah, that's pretty good. I want kids soon, man, honestly. I'm good.

And so on the note, kids, what type of legacy do you want to leave behind?

And kids are kind of—

I mean, and like, you know, in terms of like how many people you impact, like when you—

when people— many as I can before I go.

When people think of Christian Guzman and people bring up your name in 30 years, What do you want people to think? What do you want people to say? I would say that's the guy that changed the fitness industry. He built the biggest gym. He made the biggest community. Do you know what I think about Alphalete as well? It's one of the reasons I'm so loyal to the brand. You can say there's bigger brands like Nike, Gymshark, whatever. I don't think there's a bigger community. There's not. No, there's not. Like, I really would confidently say that, that it's the biggest community. Not only does it have physically a physical space, not only is the biggest, but I think there's something like if two people are wearing Alphalete, or, you know, I'm wearing Alphalete in the gym, people always come up to me and say like, hey, what's up? Hey Rob, how's it going? I think if two people wear like, you know, well, if two people wear Nike, it's fucking nothing. Yeah, you know, but even like with other brands like, you know, Gymshark or whoever, which are amazing, you know, I just don't think there's the same level of community.

Like, and, and, you know, kind of a deeper kind of fucking dive into myself, like, thinking is the reason that's so strong. It's because I, I, it has to be correlated to how tied in I am, right? And therefore I ain't gonna lose that community. That's like, I will not— I won't sacrifice any of the company directions or the way we do things, right? The attention to detail. So it becomes an— it's an internal battle. Yeah, it's like, right? And I know I'm building my team slowly, but I know I'm always going to be involved. I'll never be— I'm never— I never want to just like go and let's, you know, let someone take the reins. I would like to see a CEO eventually, and how— right? But to make, you know, operate decisions. But I'm still overlooking that shit.

I don't think you'll ever retire.

I don't need to be CEO of this brand, either this this company, then Alphalete, then this company and that, right? I need to— I'll never retire. Yeah, no, I want to be always going. I want— and I feel like if I pull away too much, if I allocate too much, that's where shit goes bad.

I think that I'll lose that sense.

As soon as you sell a piece, or if you want to do that, or you get someone in to bring that, it's like, that's where— and so I'm good holding a lot of pressure on myself because I— because I— it's worth it to me. You know, even if we stay the exact same size, I can make things more efficient. I can put things off my plate a lot right now and stay the same size we are and be golden. So like the content sort of state where I'm more enjoying the moment, like that's in— the sights are there. I can see it because I know, I know the things that— the very simple things I need to do to get there, right? Now if I want to scale for that 4x, 5x That's a different story. Yeah, I don't give a fuck about scaling 5x. I really don't.

You're in it for the community.

I'm in it to keep it tight, keep it tight, keep it like exciting, keep it fun, keep it personal, and build good people, man.

Yeah, even, even the way you look at like the, you know, the athletes that, you know, you work with and get on the team, it's like what you just said there is just the god honest truth. Yeah, you know, like you love the team.

I love the fucking team. They're all my best friends. Yeah, that's it.

So on the community note, how do you think, like, why do you think Alphalete became this like family compared to like some other brands that would probably try to replicate it but can't? Like, why, why did Alphalete just click it off?

Rob Lipsett.

I, I am an athlete, bro.

I mean, I really think it's because those relationships are everything. Like, you you know, back in the day in 2016, 2017, like, you— we didn't invest into anybody, especially like more so then than even now. But like, we test out a fair amount of people with affiliate codes and things like that, but you don't see us traveling to fucking like across the country for 2 weeks, 3 weeks to, to come and focus on one. For like, those, those people that we choose to really, really invest into, like, they have— they live The whatever the brand like wants to be, the messaging, like you're whatever you're doing, whatever those people are doing on their daily, in their daily routine and how they hold themselves, they are an athlete.

Yeah.

And we just want to like invest, really trim down and who are those people. It's like just putting time into getting to know everyone, right? Like the, like World Tour, Instagram, fucking like doing shit that like we've never just experiencing all that kind of stuff, like I think keeping it tight, more people is always better. Bigger is not always better. More revenue is not always better. It's just like spending good time with people.

You know, you mentioned World Tour, right? The last point that I've got jotted down and it was what are some of the best moments that we've had together?

World Tour. The World Tour, man.

So for anyone listening, there's a story. It's me, you and Mariah, okay? There was a moment and there's a photo of it. I'll see if I can find it. It's over the water. We're sitting there. It's got to be 10 AM. We've been partying.

I think it was like 8, 7:30, 8 AM.

Sun's up.

We're like, wow.

It was very bright. People were in suits walking to work. And we are just coming in from the best night of our life. We're looking like zombies. We're laughing though.

We're in Amsterdam. Got to go catch a flight. Yeah.

And I think that was my favorite Christian Guzman moment.

And then London was the second one.

One.

Yeah, that was the second, right? And, and honestly, like, this is a fucking— this is gonna be up there too, because it's— yeah, man, it's— we grew up together.

We did. We actually— we really did. Yeah, no, we actually did. It's like we kind of met when we were like kids, like, you know, 21. Like, that's your life. Yeah, you're a baby at 18. You're still a kid.

Yeah.

And that's—

so we've grown up and we're living the— like, we We are living our— like, this isn't a click record and like turn on a show. Like, this is actually our life.

This is actually it.

You can't turn it off. We're cool with it. And this is our— like, we're about to go to— I'm about to go to Greece with Alex for his wedding, like throwing his bachelor party. It's like, man, you'd never— and he was just a summer shredding competitor that came in with a, you know, sick physique. Like, you never really realize like what people are going to— what position they're going to kind of evolve into in your life, right? Yeah, so appreciate you, man.

It's absolutely nuts.

Christian, pull it here.

Fuck, fucking love you, bro. Yeah, perfect timing, perfect time. But here, that was, uh, absolutely unbelievable. I'm pumped, I'm motivated.

Fuck yeah, go enjoy that week though.

Yeah, no, I will. We're going on date night tonight as well.

Yeah, fuck you.

But so wait, last one, right? The podcast is called The Game Plan. What has been your game plan for success?

Do a little better than I did yesterday. That's it. Boom, done.

Christian, pull in there.

I love you, bro. Aah!