S2:E2 - How To Overcome The Odds - The Mark Ottobre Podcast

Hey, hey folks, it's Mark Ottobre here presenting a very new podcast show, one that I actually don't have a name for right now.

So if you've got any good names, hit me up, it's info@enterprisefitness.com.au.

Side note, but back to it. This is a different podcast show. This podcast show is all about you. And what I mean by that is this is the show that you get to speak to me and I record the episode and impart wisdom onto you, you impart wisdom onto me, and we share it with the world. So whatever the topic as it relates to health, fitness, nutrition, and mindset, I wanna speak to you, I wanna help you with your goals, I wanna go basically belly to belly, eyeball to eyeball, confront the challenges that you're facing right now. Get in contact with me, Mark Ottobre, on Facebook. Make sure it's the fan page and not the personal page. Or email me at info@enterprisefitness.com.au. Love to get on the line. But what we've got here today is the first episode which is with Richard. And the name of this episode is How to Overcome the Odds. And the reason why I named it as such is Richard is a guy, he trains at Enterprise with us, and he's got some challenges that he's facing in his acting career. And he asked me some really fantastic questions. And I know that he benefited from the conversation. I know I benefited from the conversation. So this is what it's about, folks. Get to see the way I consult with people, the work that I do. I do have many talents in different things, whether it be, you know, working with people's mindsets on eating issues and disorders and things like that, or whether it be, you know, the stuff that Richard and I speak about, or whether it even be the hardcore kind of training, what to do, the nutrition and the how-to. So love to speak to you. Hope you enjoy this one. I'll see you on the other side of this podcast. And if you do enjoy it, please share it with your friends. And this podcast is proudly brought to you by my personal training studio, Enterprise Fitness.

Hello, Richard. Hey, how you going, Mark?

I'm very well, thank you. Alrighty, well, we've got the recording going, and, um, I was just speaking to Richard just off the line just briefly before about how we're— this show is all about people calling in, having a conversation with me, asking me their questions, what they've got around health, fitness, nutrition, wellness, mindset, whatever you need basically to help you on your way to further success. So Richard, yeah, lay it on me. What would you like to discuss today?

Um, yeah, pretty much I've got a bunch of questions in front of me, um, and a lot of them revolve around mindset and mentality.

Awesome, I love it.

Yeah, it's something that I'm very attracted to. I love listening to, you know, how to grow as an individual and how to be your best self and all that. And yeah, I just started away. I remember watching a YouTube clip you were in and you were discussing how you used to work at Goldie's Gym before you started up your own business. And I was just wondering through that transition in starting up your own brand, how mentally challenging was that? And what advice could you pass on to myself in regards to the best ways to build up your own profile? Because currently I'm an actor and building up a profile is very significant in regards to getting work. And I just want to know the way you went about it.

That's a great question, really great. And thank you for asking it because it makes me really think and reflect on on that. So, you know, to be honest, just had so much fun, so much fun doing what I'm doing that I kind of forget that I'm supposed to be building some, you know, awesome brand or, or doing that. It's really just, I suppose, living, living in the moment. And when I was at Dougherty's, what a lot of people don't know, when I was setting up Enterprise, I was actually training twice a day. As well, and training is very high on my values. And it was just a very intense time for me. I remember getting up at 5:00 AM, coming home at, you know, 9:00, 10:00, 10:30 sometimes, because I'd train very early. I'd train clients, then I'd have a break. I would head down to where the location is in Richmond, start setting up things in Richmond and doing some work in the gym. Whether it was like handiwork or anything like that, getting contractors in to do stuff, supervising walls getting put up, painting, all that kind of stuff. And then I'd head back to the gym at night at Doherty's and I would train. It was usually about 4:00. And then I'll train my clients right through to about 9:00. And then I'd go home. Fortunately, obviously, I just also didn't have any children back then because it was a very intense time. And I imagine with children it'd be much harder. I did have my wife, we weren't married at the time, but it was just kind of a total immersion time where I was really dedicated to doing it. But I didn't really think like, how am I going to get through this? What am I going to do? Where is this brand going to take me? I don't even think I was really focusing on necessarily building a brand. I think what I was really focused on is just doing my best work. I think that's probably where the magic is in finding your enjoyment of what do you enjoy. I think there's something to be said for If you find what you love, then you'll never work a day in your life. And for me, certainly when I was opening up that period, it really didn't feel like work to me. I was just so enthralled in the process and every day was exciting. So I don't know if that helps or if you have a follow-up question on that.

Yeah, no, definitely that helps a lot. Which puts me onto my next question. How important is it to be yourself and have your own style in the industry and not just go down the path of trying to copy other successful individuals' blueprints? Because there's like a trending thing going on in the acting industry where everyone idolizes like the the A-grade actors in Leonardo and Tom Hardy, and they sort of forgot to bring their own flavor. So I was wondering, from your perspective in your industry, how important was it to be your own self and build your own style brand?

Well, if I understand the question, it's how important it is to be yourself. I think there's probably a deeper question there, but let's go with the first one. The first one is how I think— what is it? Imitation is ignorance and envy— no, sorry, envy is suicide and imitation is ignorance. I think that was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said that so eloquently. So I think if you do try and be someone else, you are ultimately killing yourself. And to think that someone else has a better deal than you is very ignorant. So how important I think it's it's hugely important to be yourself regardless of whatever industry that you're in. Because ultimately if you water down yourself, and that's the thing, right? When you are yourself, it's a little bit scary and it's a little bit uncomfortable for a lot of people because when you are 100% yourself, people can then turn around and say, I don't like this, or I don't like you. And if you don't develop a thick skin around that, you take it personally. And the reality is the reason they don't like you is because they're not, they're not, they don't get it. You know, it's like if I say I'm a vegan, there are going to be people who love that and they're going to be people who hate that. Obviously I'm not a vegan, but my sort of, my more to the point is I'm not a vegan. So by saying and having a stance on that, you know, I want to encourage for, you know, muscle building purposes and getting lean and body composition reasons to eat protein, animal protein. Obviously organic, I am against factory farming and, you know, making sure it's bio, sustainable farm, biodynamic farming. I think, you know, we all really need to get behind as consumers in Australia and, you know, the big supermarkets are pulling the wool over our eyes and we really need to stop shopping at them and shop locally. But without going on too much of a tangent, when I say things like that, I've just off-put a whole bunch of people. Because now what, what do you mean? What do you mean don't shop at Coles? Don't you know it's around the corner from my house? Yeah, because I want to create— I'm all for sustainable farming, local farming. Let's put the dollar back in the farmer's hands. So I've just offset a whole bunch of people, but that is, that's me. That's, that's, that is what I, what I believe. And I think if you're going to have a stance on something, you need to have a fucking stance. Because if you don't, that's where people don't take notice. When you can back up the stance and you back it up with reason, authority, and evidence, you become an expert in a lot of people's eyes. And obviously, you get experience and you get results in that. But if you just try and be carbon copies of everyone else, ultimately, people are going to lose interest, I think. And ultimately, people are going to say, in the example you gave with Leonardo DiCaprio, if you're trying to be Leonardo, as amazing of an actor as he is, if you water yourself down to be him, well, people are just going to say, well, You know, you're kind of like a D or C grade Leonardo. Not really unique, not really memorable, you know, but Leonardo's film, and they start talking about Leonardo. It's like, well, why are you going down that path? Oh, he reminded me of a young— and you might, you know, draw— it's not to say don't draw influence, and it begs a further discussion around what is the line of modeling and not diluting yourself to someone else. Obviously, we admire people and that's great, but I think admiration shouldn't then turn into, "I'm going to try and be this person," if that makes sense. And obviously, we draw things. That's why I think it's very important and so important to model a bunch of people because there is a lot you can learn from different people. But then really, that's where I think technically, Leonardo might have some acting skills that you want to model technically from a technical level. But if you start modeling other people as well, I would imagine that that's where the art is because you might say, I really like the way he does this technically, be able to present that technically, but then the art, I mean, that's the difference between being a master versus being an artist. The artist can then take all those technical tools that they're masters of and then weave it in a way that no one else has. So I think it's hugely important to be technically intuitive and technically, I suppose, technically competent at all the skills that Leonardo or whoever it is you're modeling has. But the art is then putting it and filtering in with your eyes of the world and expressing that, if that makes sense.

Yeah, no, no, absolutely. No, definitely.

Um, that's how I've done it in my industry. I mean, I have a lot of love and respect for Charles Poliquin. A lot of love and respect for Andre Benoit, Derek Woodsky, you know, Frank Zane, Arnold Schwarzenegger. But ultimately, I don't want to be any of them. I suppose the unique thing to me from a training perspective is that, you know, I'm at a point where I've never— I don't ascribe myself to being a bodybuilder or a powerlifter or a weightlifter, but I certainly want to be proficient. I am proficient in all those modalities. And then as a trainer, I look at those modalities, and that's where the art— my training is an art form. I've got it down to an art form, but that's where the art form comes from, because I've mastered technically all of those skills at a very high level. So then when I'm training a client, I can have artistry and then place those skills in front of me so the client says, wow, that was a really great workout. Or, you know, they got results when they didn't expect to get results so fast, and they All those little tweaks and changes that you're able to create. So yeah, that's how I've applied it. So admire people. You're going to probably model them to a degree, whether you admit it to yourself or not. Subconsciously, you're going to model them. You're going to probably model their language patterns and their behaviors. Then you need to stop and reflect and say, okay, right, let's not become them. Let's use this to improve ourselves.

Yeah, no, absolutely. That, that definitely some very good points made for sure. Um, and, and, and speaking of how you're saying being your own self, when you talk about having to have that thick skin when people start to like speak towards what you're doing or what you're aiming at, um, how hard is it like— because I have this downfall of myself where, um I have confidence in what I'm doing when I've put a lot of work into my study and I've studied with a lot of great drama practitioners that have got a lot of great credentials and I know they know what they're talking about and I know every time I walk away from a class I know I've learned a lot and it's pointed me more into the right direction but there's always those individuals that, you know, try to come up to you and try to like say, no, that, that's not right, that's, that's not the correct way to do it, and how you're doing it is wrong. And they try to be, um, very negative towards your, your outlook, and, and they doubt what you're doing. They try to get under your skin or whatnot. Um, and I really struggled to push all that aside. And they seem to— I believe I'm a mentally strong person, but it still gets under my skin a lot. What advice would you give to me to help me block all that out and go, no, what, what I know is correct, I'm learning it from great people, I can't let everyone continuously get into my head Because otherwise, I'm always going to doubt myself and I'm going to feel like I'm never going to really get there.

Fantastic question. Fantastic. Okay, so I'm just going to preframe with a whole bunch of ideas to begin with. And the first idea that I'm going to begin to preframe with is that we have altruistic and narcissistic parts of our persona. We have certain and uncertain parts of our persona. And I suppose it's a little bit of, well, understanding that you have both. You have the narcissist and you have the altruist. So in saying that, they did a study in Hollywood and they are— some psychological study, don't ask me to quote it, but I heard about it. And what they found basically is that most, if not all, Hollywood actors have a tilted narcissistic personality. And it's not to say all Hollywood actors are narcissists, inherently, but they certainly have narcissistic tendencies. And the reason why I think the researchers came to that conclusion was simply because of the fact, to make it to Hollywood, you need to be inherently narcissistic. So what he meant by that, that if you go for an audition and the people at the audition, the directors, say, you know, Richard, you're a piece of shit, you shouldn't be acting, fuck off, right? And they just say it like that. It's like, whoa, they just crushed my dreams. No, no, to the inherently narcissistic person, oh my God, are you serious? You just kicked out the next Hollywood A-lister. I can't believe you are such an idiot. You're not even a director. Who the hell are you? Okay, I'm just going to go to the next audition because you're a moron. I suppose the point that I'm getting at is that you need to be a little bit narcissistic to survive the onslaught of naysayers in this world, and especially in Australia. Because, and this is the thing, people confuse confidence, or they confuse, yeah, confidence with narcissism. But inherently, it's a very— whether you label narcissism or whether you label it confidence, you need to have that to a degree. Because the reality is you are going to cop a lot of rejection from whether it be people or actors or directors or, you know, people who you're applying for, or friends and family thinking that you're crazy. So So there needs to be a thick skin. Absolutely, there needs to be a thick skin. And if you speak to, hear some of the stories, like Sylvester Stallone has a cracker story around how he got into acting. I'm not sure if you've seen it, but I'd encourage you all to Google Sylvester Stallone's story around how many times he failed before he got into Rocky. But there's just that underlying belief that yes, I can do this. And when someone gets kicked out from, when you get kicked out from that audition or you don't get the role, it's not, "Oh, I didn't get the role." It's, "This person's an idiot. They didn't hire me. I've got so many gifts to share with them." It's kind of that attitude to keep going forward. I suppose that's one way you can look at it, is that belief. The other part that I wanted to say in that is as you grow as a figure, as you grow as a leader, whether it be in business celebrity, whatever it may be, and you start and begin to have social influence, you're only going to rise to the level of support and challenge that you can handle. So what that means— what that basically means— that if you can only handle your mom challenging you, then you're not going to go very far, right? If you go home and say, 'Mom, I want to be an actor,' and then your mom turns around and says, 'No, that's a bad idea,' and then you go, well, I think it's a bad idea too, and you can't stand up to your mom, well, guess what? You're not going to go very far. You're not going to go very far in life because your mom's probably, you know, for most people, the kindest, most loving person they've ever met. And, you know, if they can't handle that from someone who loves them, then how are they going to go about when they get, you know, to say a Donald Trump level? And I'm not, you know, agreeing or disagreeing with anything that there are people who want him dead, but he just keeps focused on the mission. Same as Barack Obama, same as all great leaders in history, whether it even be ones that we label as awesome, even Martin Luther King. People wanted these people assassinated and they just stayed steadfast to their mission. So, you know, they were undeterred. And I think, you know, when you do look at political leaders, there's a lot to be said about the character of a political leader because, I mean, it's pretty fierce, it's pretty vicious. I know I wouldn't like to be in that position of waking up every morning and knowing that there's groups of people who ultimately hate me. Um, you know, that's a, it's a, it's a very interesting proposition. You know, you need to have that unbelievably thick skin. And that's the thing in Hollywood, I mean, how many Hollywood actors get spoken about badly. You know, they do a great performance. Oh, Leonardo, he's gay, isn't he? Or Tom Cruise, he's gay, isn't he? No one knows. Are they gay?

Who cares?

Who cares? Does it affect— does it affect their performance? Absolutely not. So let's get the facts, you know. Let's, let's stop caring about their sexual orientation, number one, because it really doesn't matter. And, um, number two, I mean, these guys and girls in Hollywood are getting all kinds of abuse from people every single day. So even when you make it, Richard, even when you make it and you make it beyond a shadow of a doubt, you are going to get hate. You are going to get people who challenge you. Look at Justin Bieber. Wow. That kid is amazing. That kid is unbelievable, what he's done as a 13-year-old pop star into the superstar that he is today. There's no doubt about it, the kid has talent. But I mean, if you type in Justin Bieber in Google, I think it's, you know, you type in Justin Bieber is, And there's a whole bunch of, you know, really negative connotations associated with his name. You know, Justin Bieber is gay, Justin Bieber is this, Justin— not that being gay is negative, but that people— Justin Bieber is a girl, Justin Bieber is weak. Like, it's like, what did the guy do to anyone? You know, all he did was have a great voice, be a good-looking kid, and get famous. So what is the big deal? Why do people hate him? I don't understand. Why do people hate Justin Bieber? He's a pop star, but people absolutely hate the guy. I mean, I saw one meme with him and he compared what, what's her name, Dana Lynn Bailey, who's a, you know, figure pro model, and put a, put a meme, put a thing, picture of him flexing his muscles, put a picture of her flexing her muscles and said, oh, you know, you can't even build muscle. It's like, you know, it's like, hang on, Dana Lynn Bailey's a world champion figure competitor. Justin Bieber's a pop star. I mean, give the kid a break. But this is my point, is that if we, if we get caught up in the fact that, you know, we're not just going to like this person because we're not supposed to like this person because the media— and we look at why people are saying these things about it— there's really no substance to it. There's really no substance to it at all. And we need to know that, and we have faith in our ability and belief in our ability. And if you call that narcissistic, well then call it narcissistic.

I call it belief.

I call it confidence. I know for me in business there's been many challenges, there's been many naysayers, there's been many people who bag what I do and, and take digs at me and shots and all that kind of stuff. You know what, let them, let them. Build your castle on a solid foundation because when you do, there's nothing that they can do. Because, you know, every day of the week Every day of the week, Justin Bieber can get up on stage and rock the concert like no other. Every day of the week, I can train someone like no other. I can get on a podcast, give you the results, give you the breakthroughs that you need like no other. I think it's true the same for you, Richard. You want to develop a belief in yourself when you audition and you go for those classes. You go, "You know what? I can do this like no other." If you get naysayers and kickback, I think a mistake is to shut it out and block it off because sometimes the naysayers are actually what is needed for the next level of growth. Embracing that is huge in the sense that if you do have naysayers, then when you can embrace the criticism of what they're saying, that can often help you get better. I remember I had a guy on YouTube watch one of my clips and he made fun of the way I dressed. And you know what? The guy had a point. I should have dressed more professionally. I should have dressed, uh, you know, in a suit. I should have made more effort. But that was at the time. I took it as a dig at the time. I was like, you know, who the hell is this guy to have a dig at me? You know, you've never done anything well and you're just getting on to troll. But at the same time, he's trolling was actually a really good point and it actually made me, you know, reflect after some time and go, hmm, there's some— there's something there, you know, I can learn something from that. So that's why, like, I would never encourage someone to completely shut out the naysayers because I think, you know, in a lot of the criticism, if you can look at it objectively, there's actually some good advice there, you know, if it's grounded in substance. So, that's the key thing. Is it grounded in substance or is it grounded in, you know, Justin Bieber's gay. Why? Because he's a good-looking young guy? Like, and who cares even if he is? Like, how is that even an argument? So, he likes other guys. Who cares? It's the 21st century. Homosexuality is not a big deal, people. Let's all just move forward. So, does that answer or give you some kind of food for thought?

That's fucking amazing. To put it plain and simple, that's like— that is like you're coming from different angles which I've, I've never heard before. And it's just— yeah, that's really, really made me look at things in a completely different perspective. Like, normally when I pop that question or like try to look that stuff up on the net, they sort of have like the same sort of question over and over, but some of the ways you went about it, it's just, yeah, that's, um, that's really made me look at things completely differently, eh, for the absolute better. Um, so I can definitely take a lot of positivity out of that and definitely grow from that in many ways, not just as an actor, but my personal life as well, for sure. Like, that was That was spot on. Yeah, exactly what I needed to hear, I guess. Yeah.

Fantastic. Glad I could be of service. But just, I suppose, just before we move on to the next one, I just really want you to get that, Richard, when you make it, you know, you're going to have the same challenge. You're going to have the same love. It's just going to be at higher levels.

That's it. Yeah.

You're going to have challenge and support at higher levels because now you've built the character to build that bench press. It's like training. When you're doing a bench press, it should never really be easy. You don't want to use as much load that it's going to crush you, but you want to get tight under it. And always, once you can bench press 100, you're going to go for 102 or 105, and that's going to become the next level of what you can achieve. And I think that's the same thing in terms of handling criticism.

Yeah, no, that definitely makes sense. It's really resonating with me a lot. Fantastic. So yeah, saying that, have you always had belief in yourself throughout your whole life, or was it something that you've had to work on?

Hmm, have I always had belief in myself? I mean, part of me, yeah, absolutely, of course I have. No, I don't think I was that guy who had this rock-solid belief in himself necessarily. I think it's more of a thing of like, I'm just gonna do this and if it all goes to shit, the only person I can blame is me. So I'm just going to give it a red-hot crack. And I suppose what a lot of people don't know about me is how many failed businesses I've had before I smacked it out of the park with Enterprise. So, you know, and then I smacked it out again of the park with Wolfpack. But before that, I had Transcend Training, I had Maximus Mark, I had The Alpha Body, I had The Truth About Supplements, I had Eat Your Way to Abs, I had Transcend Training. There were a lot of attempts, and there was another business I was going to do called Happy Healthy and Hot. There were a lot of ideas, and I think it's through the ideas that you come to a point of going, "Well, this is actually gold. This is really good. This is what I want to do." I suppose for me, I'm constantly creating, and that's what I really, really love doing, and really, you know, that's where I get a lot of enjoyment from. So, no, I don't think it's this absolute belief of that. I don't necessarily think, like the way I think about things, it's not necessarily I'm absolutely going to do this. I kind of like to think about objectively and I think about things in steps. So I suppose to relate it back to you, if I was an actor, if I was going to say I want to be in Hollywood, I wouldn't necessarily focus on being in Hollywood. I would go, well, what are the steps involved in me getting to Hollywood? Okay, well, I probably need to move to LA, I'm guessing. I probably need to become a good actor. So I'll start studying and become the best actor that I can be. I start auditioning, maybe I build up my resume here in Australia before I move to LA. So, I think of the path that is going to give me the highest probability of achieving that whilst still being open for it to be flexible because the goal may change, the goalposts may move. So, yeah, I kind of, whether it was competing, for me, when I competed, I didn't have this absolute belief that I was going to get up on stage and win. I thought of it more from a process-based level of, okay, what are the steps for me to get up on stage? What do I need in order to do that? And there's a lot of doubt all the way through, but I knew that if I just followed the process and didn't get in my head about things, I would meet to eventual success. Same thing with business, and that's how I think about it with business, right? I've had a lot of failures, but if I just stick to the process, I can get where I'm going. And, you know, with the Alpha Body, Truth About Supplements, Eat Weight or Abs, all these websites aren't online anymore. and you can look at that and go, "Wow, wasn't that a waste of time, Mark? You just invested all this money and time into something that didn't work." No, not at all. Not at all. It was some of the best hours I've ever spent investing in me because what it did was it taught me not how to run a business. It taught me all of the skills that I need now to run an enterprise and then to leverage and be where I want to be in life. So if I didn't have those failures, I would have never in my wildest dreams been able to do what I've done with Enterprise, if that makes sense.

That's fucking so inspiring. I, I had— I've watched a lot of your things. I don't know, like, if you heard, I've watched a lot of your videos, um, on Facebook and YouTube. It's still like, they're just these 6-minute videos or whatever that I've just binge-watched. And the longer ones, I've just sat down with my roommates and we've watched it. I had no idea about that. I had no idea that you had a lot of failures before. Like, I obviously couldn't see any of that on the internet, but to hear you constantly overcome them hurdles, um, that's very, very inspiring to say the least. Um, yeah, um, just—

well, thank you. Just to put some context on that as well, People watch me on camera now and they're like, you're really good on camera. Just FYI, folks, I had at one point, I had 300 videos on YouTube. Just to give you some idea, it was 300 videos on YouTube, all of which I have deleted. I had a YouTube account, I deleted over 300, probably closer to 400 videos. If you look back in the old days of like Maximus Mark Alpha Body, I did over 300 videos and I have now deleted all of them, because they went up to the standard of Mark 2018. And people go again, well, isn't that a waste of time? Why did you do that for? Well, it was practice to get good in front of a camera.

Wow. Okay, yeah, that's— yeah, I know, I just— I had no idea, because that's definitely something that, um, every time I've shown someone something that you've said in one of your videos there, like, oh, Mark's very captivating and very easy to listen to. And he's, um, yeah, but just to hear you—

literally, I've done it over 10,000 times, right? And that's what people don't see. They see the end product. And it's the same thing whether you get any goal. If you want to be masterful at something, you're going to have those, those hours of failure and, you know, just adamant failure. I mean, was it Michael Jordan? Cut from the basketball team. I mean, imagine that, cutting the greatest basketballer of all time from your college basketball team. But, you know, that was probably his lowest moment in life. I don't know, I can't comment, but let's imagine it was his most lowest moment in life. But from that, wow, rises this phoenix from the ashes that becomes the centerpiece of Nike. And wow, what a man, Michael Jordan. And one thing, just one thing I do before we move on, to the next question is I'm not sure if you've seen, uh, what's it called, that Disney movie Inside Out. Inside Out, the children's Disney movie. So everyone listening on the, on the, on the line, my homework for you this evening or today is to go out, get that movie Inside Out. It's a Disney movie, it's, it's brilliant. And without giving anything away, there's this whole thing around joy and sadness Joy and sadness, the way they visually represent this idea is it's a ball. But joy and sadness ultimately live in the same ball. So, through the most joyous moments, the most joyous moments came out of the saddest moments. And it was those sad moments that gave rise to joy. And I think of success and failure as the same thing. It's the same ball. It's exactly the same, and you cannot have one without the other, and you have to embrace both.

Okay, well, yeah, no, that's a very good way of looking at things. Like, this is just very mind-blowing shit that I'm listening to, to be honest. Like, I, I'm a sucker. I always get up in the morning and I always just try to listen to, like, different people speak on YouTube, like yourself. I've listened to a lot of, like, sportsmen. I'll listen to a lot of politicians and all that sort of stuff, and Yeah, no, the stuff that you're saying right now is just— yeah, it's really, really, really sitting with me very well. Um, so my next question is, so obviously with your business booming and you have such a great reputation within the industry, do you sometimes become complacent or content with where you're at, or do you always feel like you have more to achieve?

[Speaker] I think the answer to that is the minute I get content with where I'm at, life comes in and equalizes me, if that makes sense. So, you know, I think that content feeling, I think, you know, if you're there, yep, look, I've made it, what will happen is you'll attract challenges. And those challenges are there to break you from the fantasy because there's always another level. There's always more to grow. And again, it's that same thing of success and failure. And I certainly have made the mistake in the past of being like, yep, everything is set, everything is great. I can just cruise on like this. I don't have to change anything. I'm the man. And as soon as I get that I'm the man, I get humbling circumstances to make me realize, you know what? You've got a lot to work on. You could do this with your business. You could do this with your business. You could do this with your business. So there are opportunities. So yeah, I've been— I'm human like everyone else. I've been naive enough to think that and have that period. And don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with where we're at. But I think also there is a desire for more. There is a desire for better. There is a desire, I want to take enterprise to the next level. If we do a call a year ago, I would have said the same thing. If we do a call a year forward in time, in 2019, I'll say the same thing. I want to take it to the next level. I suppose there always is that next level and there always is that growth of just getting better at what you do. And I mean, again, if you love what you do, then you're naturally going to want to do that and get better. And I just think, you know, support and challenge, look at both, don't be overwhelmed by either, but use the wisdom of both to guide you on your mission in life. And I think that's going to be the best teacher.

Okay. Yeah, no, that's— So just always look to just keep on stepping it up. And as long as you're enjoying it, it will just sort of come naturally.

Yeah, I think so. But I mean, I suppose to relate it back to your question, have I ever felt like content? The answer is yes, but it doesn't last for very long. And I think probably a lot of people, I don't know if you can relate, but you know, you get to a level and it's like, well, okay, this is what's next. And it's like getting in a relationship, for example, you know, you get in a relationship and the relationship beginning is, "Oh my God, this is amazing and I've never met anyone like you." And then you flash forward maybe that last 3 months and then at the 4th month you're like, "You know, now I'm over the physical attraction. You're really not that interesting." Or, "You know what? This really annoys me about you. We are actually not compatible, but you know, I actually want kids." "Oh, you don't want kids? Okay, I don't think this is going to work." "Oh, I want to get married." "You don't want to get married?" Wow, okay. Like, there are things that come up and they're challenges to take, and all of a sudden that person is maybe no longer amazing because the infatuation with them has been broken by all the other things that you didn't accept because you were blindsided by the attraction of that person initially. So, that's what I mean. When you look at a goal or you look at a place in life, it's easy to get content, but you're not going to stay there. Life is not static. As humans, we kind of, the greatest lie I think in some ways that we tell ourselves is that this is going to be the way it is forever, but nothing really is going to last forever. It's going to be evolving. I don't mean that things aren't going to last necessarily forever, like a Microsoft, for example, as a business. That's a business that's lasted quite a lot. Coca-Cola. I mean, but who knows if that's going to last forever. My point is, even Coke, it's transformed many times. It's not going to stay the same company. It's going to have to evolve. If you look at Amazon, Amazon is evolving. There are companies that are getting bought out. Kodak is a great example of this. Kodak was a blue-chip company that lost a lot of market share. Well, ultimately went out of business because of the fact that they didn't adapt to the market. Prior to that, people wouldn't have said, "All right, we're going to start taking cameras. We're going to start taking photos on digital. We're going to keep it print." They were blind to the market. They didn't change with the market. I mean, they could have changed, but I suppose the one truth in all of this is that you were going to have to change and adapt and nothing is gonna remain constant, so.

Yeah, no, that definitely makes sense because just speaking of it this morning, my goal pretty much when it comes to like fitness is like, I just wanna get to like 8% body fat. Like I've never ever got below 10%. And that's my goal. And obviously I come into your gym this morning and then I've done my scans and all that. And I'm at finally for the first time in my whole life, I've got to 8%. And now—

Congratulations.

Thank you. And now I'm sort of like, all right, let's get to 7% or whatever.

There you go. It doesn't last very long. So to answer your question about, am I ever content in my business? The answer is yes.

And?

It doesn't last very long. And one other top thing on top of that is I train my mind as, as much to not ever be content, because I know when I search to be content, that's when I'm chasing a fantasy. So yeah, I just look for better versions of—

but also, also saying that, um, do you sometimes give yourself a bit of a pat on the back for getting to a certain stage where like you had a goal set and enjoying that you got to it and then you're sort of like, all right, now let's move on?

Um, yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm not the best at that. I'm very much right, this is what's going to happen, this is what needs to be achieved. Okay, for me, for me, I get a, uh, I suppose the, the reward in achieving it It's, yeah, I got a pat on the back, great, stroke of the ego, let's celebrate. But yeah, there's not, for me, it's the achievement of that. It's like, yes, I can tick this off. This is a feather in the cap. This is another notch in the belt kind of thing. So it's not, yeah, pat on the back is great, but again, I suppose the thing is if you pat yourself on the back too much, then you're inflating your ego, which then is going to attract, well, it's not even going to attract, you know, balancing circumstances, you're allowing yourself to build yourself up. And then when you build yourself up and you're not centered, you're blindsiding yourself to the fact that there are other things that you're not paying attention to. So for example, like, you know, if you're— if you start believing your ego builds too big, for example, you don't see your backswing, that's when it can come a problem. Like, you want criticism, you want critics, so it keeps you balanced and centered. And because there's power in that. You know, I don't, I don't ever want to build myself up so much that I don't see my backswing, if that makes sense, or don't take advice from people that I trust that have my best interests. And because, you know, my ego is too big, if that makes sense.

Yeah, I actually, I can't wait to show my, my roommate and my very close friend exactly what you just said, because yeah, Yeah, it's just spot on. Like, he sometimes falls under that and we can't even like give him advice anymore about stuff that we know because I'm 5 years older than him and, um, he's just like, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, whatever, whatever. But pretty much what you said, um, it's very good to hear. It's very good to hear. Yeah. Um, all right, um, my next one is Obviously getting to where you got required a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice. Um, do you sometimes like just like to step away from it and like not even think about, um, Enterprise and Wolfpack, or like just have like sort of like a mental break? Or is like your business always sort of like in the back of your mind?

I'll put it to you like this. Eminem, the rapper, he— all he does is really think about rap, as in he thinks about rhymes. And it's not necessarily something that he, when he had, like, he developed that, I think it's a skill that he developed, but had a natural inclination to go to. And I saw this interview with him which I found fascinating, but he carries a notebook everywhere he goes to write down lyrics and words. Now, is he doing that because he wants to sell another million records? I don't think he is. I think he's doing it because he's a rapper and that's what rappers do, you know. I think he's a lyrical genius and that's the downside of being a lyrical genius is that you think about lyrics all day. So in relation to me, Do I want to step away from doing what I'm doing? I suppose the superficial answer is no. Are there times where I want to take breaks? Yeah, I only want to take breaks from things that I don't enjoy. So I don't necessarily enjoy admin and the red tape and the management of things, but in order to run a business, I've had to learn those things because I really wanted to share my message and I've had to learn sales and marketing and mindset and communication and all those things. And I've had to discipline myself in order to grow, to learn those things, even though they're not highest on my values, because that's what was necessary for me to go to the next step. So yeah, I want to take breaks from those things. But in terms of training, nutrition, supplementation, mindset, getting on the phone and talking to great people like yourself and sharing what I love, it's not really something I want to get away from. Actually, you put me on a holiday, I'm finding people in the gym like you who want to train and want to train hard. So yeah, for me, do I want to take a step back? It's no, I want to take a step forward. And to take that step forward, it's just more a matter of sacrificing that time to systemize so that I can go forward, if that makes sense.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I've always, I've always heard from when I'm in class, it's like, oh yeah, okay, they should step away, not think about it, and just have a break, and then, and then sort of like mentally not think, switch off.

And I think that's very positive. I think stepping away once you learn something to, you know, review it and do all that kind of stuff. But I think if you can go away and kind of integrate it with kind of white noise, integrate it as a part of your being. And I think when you integrate, you need that time away. So for me, I love PlayStation. I'm a gamer at heart, I always have been. So for me, that's that time where I'm integrating new learnings and thinking about things subconsciously whilst playing a completely immersive video game. I think that's good, but I think if you have the feeling of, you know, I should be working on my craft. Like, now is not the time to celebrate. Now is not the time. I mean, you know, if you've done a big day and you want to keep going, well, my approach to it is keep going. But there is going to come a point where you're going to need to— I think kind of to put another word on it, right? Reviewing technically often will make you technically brilliant. So you need to practice. However, I think for me it's the time away that makes me the artist, that makes me— it's artistry, if that makes sense. It teaches me how to integrate what I've learned technically. I don't get those ideas of innovation, of individualism, and of being unique by, you know, practicing the same thing over and over again. It's actually the opposite. You need to pull yourself out of that environment and look at how you can apply this in a completely different context. And the only way to do that is to take time away.

That, that, that makes a lot of sense because, um, I, I do these, um, these ones during my study. We've got like an 8-week intensive, um, block where we're every week where we're studying and rehearsing and then learning off the teacher and learning off students and discussing stuff and la-dee-da, and like you're so consumed by it and so focused on it for the 8 weeks. And then once you have like this small break and you sit back and you're sort of like away from it, all these like things start to come to you like, oh, that's what that is, and oh, that's how I can use that. And you start to even understand it a bit better, even if you're outside a class. Then when you go into your next term block, yeah, next 8-week block, you feel like you've grown so much more even though you've had that break outside the classroom sort of thing. Okay, that, that definitely makes sense.

It's like, to put it in context of your world, being a drama actor— and I don't know if that's an actual technical term— but being an actor who specializes in drama, and then what you do is you, you you take a break and you go spend some time doing something that's totally unrelated to drama. You go to a restaurant, you go away, you're on a holiday, and then you see this couple and they're fighting, and for some reason you're drawn to it, and there's this drama, and you start looking at what they're doing, their body language, the way they're talking to each other, the way they walk off, and you're like, "Oh my God, I just get it. I get the technique of what these people are doing and how to recreate it as an actor," if that makes sense. But you got it through taking time time and space to actually look at the world through the new learnings. And I think that's when you reflect and get those learnings is when you're able to integrate those learnings and then see the world with those learnings and actually understand what technically is going on. I'd imagine that's how it is for an actor. I've never been one, but I'd imagine that's how it is.

No, that's spot on. I have these discussions with my friends who are also actors and it's sort of like I'll be on the tram or I'll be, I'll be at work and I'll just be, for some reason, just get caught up at staring at just people and just studying them. And I'm just like, why am I doing that? And it's, it's just like the whole thing of like studying acting is just understanding human behavior and all that stuff. And I guess it's sort of like, yeah, so it's, it's a lot of people can look at it and be like, that's very weird, but it's, I don't, it's not in a creepy way, it's just sort of like No, I get it.

Yeah, totally.

Yeah, it's something that I, um, I do a lot actually, and it's not until someone pointed it out to me, it's like, what are you doing? And it's just like studying, I guess, without sort of being in a classroom. It's just in a different sort of like format, and, um, it's extremely beneficial for sure. Like, yeah, it's weird to explain, but you understand what I'm saying.

Yeah, totally. So, but basically, I mean, to be an actor, you need to recreate human emotion. What better way to learn human emotion than from seeing humans actually emote? So I would imagine that, you know, you would go out and do a lot of people watching because that is what you're trying to recreate. And when you break it down of what this person is doing, what they're saying, how they're doing it, it's like, all right, yeah, that's what anger looks like. Yeah, that person's very angry. I can see that. And you can relate to it. And also, once you understand it, it's, I can recreate that. Yeah, I think I can do that.

Yeah, no, that, that definitely 100% makes sense. 100%. Um, yeah, well, that was pretty much, pretty much all the questions that, like, I just really, really wanted to hear from your point of view and just see how you went about it. And, um, I had a lot more questions, but like within those questions that I asked, answered the other ones. Um, but yeah, I thank you so much for, um, for letting me be a part of this, Mark. I, um, that whole thing with the negativity and the haters and the doubters, that specifically, that question is like, you don't know how beneficial that is to me. And like, I can't wait to start bringing that into my life personally and professionally and all that. And yeah, I just can't thank you enough for helping me out with all my, my, my questions that I wanted to ask.

Well, my pleasure, Richard. It's been an absolute pleasure. This is what I love doing. So I am glad we have recorded the conversation and that people can download it. And if they enjoyed it, you know, PM me on the Mark Ottobre page. You can look that up, Mark Ottobre, not the personal page, but the main page, the fan page, or find us at Enterprise Fitness. If you want to be part of this show, love to chat to you. Do send us a message. You can also send it to info@enterprisefitness.com.au. Check us out online, it's melbournepersonaltrainers.com.

Love to hear your thoughts.

Share the show on Facebook, get the good word out. And thank you again, Richard. I know a lot of people will benefit from this conversation, and I'm very grateful to be able to share the knowledge with everyone.

Thank you so much, Mark. Thank you.

Well, have a good night.

Yeah, yeah.

There it is, folks. The episode, the episode one. My apologies about the audio quality. That is a work in progress as all of these things, but we want to get started. We want to start sharing the content.

We need a name, we need a direction for the show.

We want you calling in. I want your questions. I want to consult with you.

I want to know how I can be of value to you.

So yeah, hit me up info@enterprisefitness.com.au, or just jump on my Facebook, Mark Ottobre. Shoot us a private message on Facebook. Just make sure it's the public page and not my personal page on Facebook because they both have the same name. But yeah, love to hear from you. Hope you enjoyed the show. Let us know how it went. Love to get the comments in wherever you saw this, you know, shoot up the page.

So let me know what you think.

Anyway, yeah, hit me up and I hope maybe you're the next person who jumps on the line with me and I help you with your goals. So yep, see you on the next one and do check out my personal training studio, which is melbournepersonaltrainers.com or Enterprise Fitness, easy enough to remember, just Google that one. Anyway, train hard, supplement smart, and eat well.