Start with What You‘ve Got - Hunter‘s Garage Gym

gym, coaching, people, hunter, work, training, lifting, rocks, build, workouts, instagram, tatianna, alaska, money, hunters, sandbag, sleeping, owner

Tyler 00:13
Welcome to the podcast Hunter was the hardest thing you've had to learn since becoming a gym owner?

Hunter 00:18
Um, the hardest thing that I've had to learn since becoming a gym owner probably is when you open your gym, regardless of how much money you have, or you think that you have number one, it's less money than you think that you have, and you should put your money into shit that is going to immediately make you more money. When I moved in, I built a really cool lock about a year ago, the loft is still not finished. lounges and a bunch of cool shit. And if I had put that into maybe marketing or some other ideas on how to make more money in the gym, the law would probably be done by now. So that would be the biggest thing. At least one.

Tyler 01:06
Well, it is interesting though, like, cuz I'm gonna lead you in the next one. Because kind of how you started with this gym. This business, very specifically, is the opposite of the strategy. You went with kind of here though, right? Because you did start just coaching outdoors, right? You started like that minimalist. Here is me out in the world doing the thing. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got that role? Hunters in Alaska, by the way, those of us Yeah, those of you that don't know Hunter hunters, gyms in Alaska, meaning outdoor training year round is probably not viable. But that's like how you got off and got on your feet to get started. Is that right? Tell us a little bit about that.

Hunter 01:43
Yeah, so COVID hit, and I was training a few people in my mom's garage, and my mom was like, you know, you can't train people in the garage anymore. For the time being, and I was like, alright, well, I'm gonna go on a little hunt for some rocks. And I drove out to a beach, brought my homies and we just filled up my car with a bunch of rocks, we got heavy rocks, and light rocks. And we brought them all to a park. And we had them all, you know, in this park, kind of by our side of town, and I just started inviting everybody that I knew on Instagram, Facebook, calling people and we just did super simple workouts. We had a light rock, heavy rock band and a peck stick and a PVC pipe for every person that came in. And I started doing classes at noon, I filled that class up. So I started doing classes at 630. fill that up. And then as it got colder, we moved into my stepbrother's garage. But yeah, that was a that was actually like the biggest catalyst in the gym growing was the whole stone that being in the park thing, which who would have fucking thought that just kind of happened?

Tyler 02:56
Yeah. Well, there was a thing that John's kind of said in the beginning, when you when you first got the ball rolling was it like that project actually, though, like the way you started, that's like the perfect way to start to your business rolling because it is just you This is me, this is how I would do this I got fucking rocks, I got this like, like that is it is building yourself into your business in a way where like, it stays aligned with who you are and what you want to be doing. And I really, really like it. Also, it's like kind of really fits into a lot of what you do for your training, which is like some classic strongman training with like respect for everything else that goes on and still like a intense bodybuilder building vibe, which I fucking really really, really love. I just think I think that's fucking hilarious. So so. So you did this gradual sequence of responsibilities like, No, I go in and I just I coach, and then the demand leads me where I need to be and then and than and then you move into this kind of a bigger facility here, like, almost spend all my money. Yep. He was like, I was doing everything right about just reasonable. They like that time to go.

Hunter 04:03
It's great. Yeah, exactly.

John Fairbanks 04:04
Now one of the things I know has been awesome, because we have followed you now for like, a number of years. How you have gotten equipment for your gym. Like is not the stereotypical way. Right, you have some really cool equipment, you have some really cool dumbbells, you have some old school stuff that would cost anybody that would be looking for something like with that vibe that matches the vibe that you want to be able to kind of put out there would cost people a pretty penny. But you've always had a creative way of doing it. So I want to have you tell the story of how you outfitted your gym because again, you spent all your money on lumber when lumber was the most expensive thing next to gold for a hot minute there during the pandemic. And that was you know, hey, whatever, but you have really crushed it in other areas where people for sure just will happily Low 510 grand, and you have not done that.

Hunter 05:04
Yeah. So I've always kind of been into strength history. So I like those old school gloves, dumbbells and just cool old school pieces of lifting equipment. And I had already kind of outfitted a lot of the gym that I had for either Craigslist or shopping around at the US weight stores in town. And basically, during COVID What happened was the demand for home gyms was just super crazy. And everywhere like rogue fitness was sold out. And all these equipment manufacturers are sold out. So I realized that I could sell because I had a few things I wanted to get rid of in the gym, and I put them on the marketplace and I got like 50 messages and I was like damn like marketplaces pop. And so then I realized if I went and bought some like cheap weights from people, I could go resell them for like four times the price if I just clean them up, you know, like, if they're rusty weights, we can get a drill and a wire brush, clean them up, or we could clean them up with a vinegar so and so all my friends were like, Dude, we just want your fucking gym to be open. You know, like, Let's do whatever we can. And it was like nobody had a job. And so kind of

Tyler 06:11
True everyone at times. Yeah,

Hunter 06:13
Listen this way. It's what helped Hunter open his gym. So yeah, basically, I would. I mean, I was making, like so much friggin stupid money on this shit, because I would just collect weights all week. And then we go over to my boys house on Sunday, which is where the gym was. I'd watch football all day. And I'd have like 11 or 12 people just coming to the door. Hey, man, can I buy this? Can I buy this so I was making like, I mean, I think I did like three grand and like three weeks flipping weights, which was ridiculous. And then during that process, I was also keeping whatever I saw that I wanted to keep. So I got a lot of pull down, I got a leg press, I got hamstring curl, calf raise machine, all this shit for like, maybe $1,000 total, you know, chest press machine, like just everything that I mean. Now we're like, fine, we should get rid of some of these. We have too many

07:08
Too many of these pieces of equipment.

Hunter 07:10
And then the other thing that was happening was a bunch of gyms were going out of business. So I would go to different gyms, like that's how we got the flooring for the gym when the gym was going out of business. So we took the flooring, we took their mirrors, we took a squat rack, we flipped some of their stuff. So we ended up making $1,500 and we flooded the gym and we got mirrors. So yeah, that was basically the story of me flipping all the weights and kind of fun in the gym that way from the beginning.

Tyler 07:37
That's like that is by definition, that is like resourcefulness. Like maxed out. I mean, you know what I mean? Like, if you didn't have, at that point, if you needed $20,000 To start the gym, how are you going to get it? You know, none of the three of us are good looking enough to hit the streets. So, like, what are we going to do? What do you know, and so, I think that being that resourceful is like it is just so funny the way you had started, which is this very much conservative entrepreneurial approach. And then gradually, you know, it's like, gradually you ramp up your entrepreneurial skills as the demand arises, which I think is the way to do it. And now you're in a facility where you've got a spot now like, that's your spot, that's where things are, you can run classes and do coaching and you can do, you can do all that stuff. At what point in here did this become real? Where you're like, oh, shit, I'm on the hook. This is not what I do. Yeah, yeah.

Hunter 08:33
Well, it's interesting because I think a lot of people like I've wanted to own a gym since I was 14. And I'm 24 now. So it's been like a really big training of mine and I think a lot of people think owning a gym is like being happy ever after. Kind of like that's an

Tyler 08:48
And that's an end target. Once the gyms open and I have clients I'll be in the gym long enough to do so where I can be as fit as I've ever wanted to be. And then, geez, if I'm just if I'm fit, and I make a comfortable living, we're fine. And then all sudden that either doesn't work that way or that's not enough because we are ambitious.

Hunter 09:06
Yeah, yeah. So I get in the gym, and then I'm like, damn, we're in the fucking gym and it's cool for a few months. And then I got like, I kind of like took a step back and kind of chilled out for maybe like three or four months because I was like, Oh, we're here and then everything just started to like, not go well because I didn't have my foot on the gas and I was like, okay, all right, this was not the end. This was the beginning like, gotta get my head on straight. gotta realize like, it was nice because like I had wanted to open up the gym for so long. So when that happened, I kind of like breathed the sigh of relief but it ended up like it is so much fucking work running your own business and it's awesome. Like, I wouldn't want to do anything else but just the amount of weird shit that I do for the gym that nobody would ever guess that I'm doing for the gym. That's what I got real. Yeah.

John Fairbanks 10:02
So what's the weirdest thing man like, you don't really just leave us on the hanger like on the hook.

Hunter 10:06
It's just like it's a bunch of just funny stupid shit you know that you wouldn't ever think about like going and getting water, you know, you have these big ass jugs of water, I don't have like a, I don't have a water fountain there. So I gotta go get water for everybody. That's not something that I was expecting to do. But like, once a month I'm doing and I'm filling up jugs of water, I got to make sure we don't run out of Expo markers. I gotta make sure that this is fucking model. It's just shit that like, when you're thinking about owning a gym, you don't really think about all those little things that you're gonna have to do. But then you're like, making fucking move on graphics on the internet trying to get people excited about your sandbag can't be like, Oh

Tyler 10:48
Well, I also think like, you know, you're so early in the process that there's, like we've talked about a lot as in the evolution of how it rolls is like, everything falls to you in the beginning unless you have enough money, right? And so we already know you, you didn't come into this with a stack of cash that you were going to spend to operate that thing. So it does. Oh, shit waters gotta be God. Well, I'm the getter of the things that gotta get God. So off you go. And then and those become surprises, they start taking more time. And being in that point, it's important to know exactly what that costs you, you know what I mean? I think this is what you learned throughout this, you're like, Oh, well, now I know what time this cost me and how all these unexpected things were I bleed time here I bleed energy here I bleed stress here and, and you start gradually laying out processes and steps to get that thing off your plate and onto somebody else's or, or you get paid to have thing a taken care of. So you can worry about thing B and 100 shit at 24 years old, having gotten to this point. And having to having gotten like gotten through most of those things, plus a COVID Fucking pandemic. Like you don't I mean, like you're sitting in a place, you're like, I could probably survive and pull off about anything right now.

Hunter 11:58
Yeah. Yeah, definitely gonna make it work out.

John Fairbanks 12:07
That's awesome. One of the coolest things that I've also enjoyed watching is that you're really confident with your pricing. And so when we've talked to people, I want to give up the shark of like, what you're pricing. But how did you come up? Because when I think about when I look at other folks that Tyler and I have worked with, and we look at just the market in general, we kind of get a basic assessment where people ask, what are they pricing? Where did they put a value on their services? You're already kind of in that spot where we're kind of like, this is where you want to be. That is more rare to see people kind of already established especially when how many people you got in your gym working for you for you. Like, is it you? How many coaches do you have?

Hunter 12:56
Yeah, so the whole time basically, I had my cousin, Colton, and he trained with me from the time we were 11. And he's been to several weightlifting national championships. And he's coached me at weightlifting nationals. I've coached him at Nationals. And so I've been working with him the whole time. And he's just kind of been shadowing me and his growth from like last year coaching people lifting rocks in the park to now all the people that he's coaching the gym is awesome. And I got him working on commissions. And then I just recently hired a lady who works in town and aims at Tatianna. And she's super cool. And she brought in a bunch of cool chicks with her, which is great. So I got two people working for me now. So yeah, I'm, I'm a frickin excited about it. And they're both being paid actual money. That was not the case for Colton, for a while we love.

Tyler 13:48
That's interesting to talk about 200 Yeah, like, talk to me about how you said you, you've got them kind of on commissions. And it sounds like she told people that you have built a system where you've allowed your coaches almost an entrepreneurial path within your gym, which I think in my opinion is how it should be. I think they shouldn't be on this transactional stuff time for money, shit, I think you have a code new coach that comes in who brings in her own clients, what a great opportunity for you and for her. And I think keeping it that way is super, super valuable because a coach, John, you and I see it all the time, a coach who's ambitious, and can build relationships and grow and says I want to do this or I want to build this within the gym. Let me take this vertical and you take this one, like those are the things that we build a foundation on, you get this going and you let that person run. And then you let that person run and you let a guy like me get your people huge and you let someone who looks prettier, get them lean and you get you don't make someone who's a little fitter, teach the general fitness, but whatever it is, you let people kind of carve your own their own niches within your gym and build it and so maybe tell me a little bit about how that's structured and how that goes and why you didn't just be like, can I just pay you guys $11 For being a group class, yeah,

Hunter 15:02
Yeah. I mean, something for me is like, I want my coaching to be the best coaching in the state. I mean, I want my coaching to be the best coaching in the world. I don't want people working for like a minimum wage and not really being super passionate about it. And that's something that I talked to my coaches about was, you know, if you are going to work here, you really, really have to care about people. And that's the number one thing and I'm okay with them doing things differently than how I do things. I mean, I've been coaching with Colton for or training with him for like 1015 years and we have totally different classes at the gym. He's training. Basically, I'm training mostly guys my age, maybe guys a little bit older, some ladies and then Colton is training like all their moms in the morning, you know, like,

Tyler 15:47
Is he the handsome 185

Hunter 15:48
Year old ladies and then Tatianna has kind of like ladies my age and then a little bit older in their 30s. But basically, I like Tatianna, I just reached out because she had posted something on Instagram, and I was kind of disagreeing with it, but she was super responsive. She was like, oh, that's actually really interesting instead of just being like a bitch about it. So then I was like, okay, like, we should go to coffee and we went to coffee and I just talked to her and she was telling me all about like, you know, the this work that she's done and how at the gym that she's at, she feels like all these people are getting injured from the way that they're coaching people. And I was like, dude, just fucking come to an assessment. We did an assessment she's like, alright, you need to raise your prices for all your shit like this is way better like we like her.

Tyler 16:36
Well I already Hunter good.

Hunter 16:40
She She's definitely one of the reasons I was like got more confident my pricing because she was like, every other gym in town, everybody's backs are fucked up. Like everybody shoulders are fucked up, just charge whatever the fuck you want. Because like nobody here is hurt. So I was like, okay.

Tyler 16:55
Let's I think that's a really interesting, this is a pattern that we've seen before John, John and I have, we're like, getting somebody in who is an ace, who maybe you hired from outside who sees the value in your whole system, and maybe didn't have to come up from within it. Those people are really, really valuable to be building, building your business forward. We've seen it a couple times, John, and another one recently, where it's like, man, you got someone who's ambitious and understands, really understands what you're trying to do. And it's gonna stay out of your way in their own way, and really is ambitious. The sky's the limit and the wind. So that's why as soon as you should like, just raise your prices, I see what you're gonna see why you're better when you get someone who gets it. And they're not just about showing in their own spot, or just being professional exercisers who also happen to have a coaching slot a couple times a day. This is this, it's the key to being able to build like we talked about before, like, give her her section and scale it up to get people to sail and they can sell and you can sell their stuff. And I just think that a coach who has their own ambitions and their own understanding of your process and gets it I think that is the thing that we all seek to search for. Because otherwise you don't it's tough to find coaches anywhere actually, let alone ones that are willing to do kind of a lot of this next level stuff and do it right and not be crooks. So yeah, Jonathan is here is both perked up as soon as you said as I was like, Yeah, hang on to that one.

John Fairbanks 18:21
For sure. Yeah, that's it. It's the she's the she's the she's the key right it's that like Tyler saying is that demeanor is that attitude that's crucial. That's

Tyler 18:33
It proves your concept and we get into this about sales stuff. Have tons of Connor and we talked about it a different time, but like, where you need people to know that the shit works. And so you need to know that your shit works. So you know from somebody who understands the value proposition goes, dude, you're fine, charge more. And now that's off you. Right? You don't feel that pain next time you ask for more like she was in my corner. You know, I mean, somebody at least you know knows the deal and, and I think that gives you a lot of confidence. Another one of the things that I wanted to point out as far as like hunters confidence in setting a kind of a good premium price is what a lot of people don't know, aside from hunters still just insultingly young age come when compared to myself, that just makes me furious Hunter we met was your 21st birthday, I think wasn't it? Yep. Yeah. Yeah, and so it is St. Louis and but I had heard I've heard a lot of stories over the years from Hunter. One of them though. I walked away with from the impression with the impression that Hunter has invested and paid dues like real fucking dues and bought in, in training and in everything for ever in every single thing that you do. And in weightlifting, I was introduced when I was introduced to a hunter who was like, what did you weigh? What did you weigh? Four years ago?

Hunter 19:51
Probably like 165 pounds or so

Tyler 19:54
Compared to me. Hunter was tiny. I don't want to say it's a tiny guy, but compared to me, Hunter was this tiny kid Edie, right? At that time, at that age, I was like, Who is his kid? And I remember Julian's like, he was like a silver metal nationals weightlifter, like a huge lifter. You don't mean, he was pulling out your numbers. And I was like, Oh, what the fuck? And then we started talking like hunter goes, all in all in all of these things to this point where for your birthday, your wife had surprised you within a week. Seminar down vacation away. And though that was pretty dope, and as a surprise, yeah. But you told me the story about how you had uprooted and gone to speak of paying dues with your weightlifting, when you went and trained at mash for a while. Can you tell me the story? Because I think that people want to know what it takes to really try to like to make a thing. Invest on that level and everything you do, and you'll find the thing that works. So will you tell the story a little bit Hunter?

Hunter 20:50
Yeah. So basically, when I was like 1718, I started thinking about joining a really good weightlifting team. Outside of Alaska and Alaska, we don't really have any weightlifting teams, definitely the best way lifting team was my garage. In the local meat legends. Yeah, I just kind of wanted some coaching outside of, you know, YouTubing, how to snatch and stuff like that. And I had trained at the Olympic training center for a minute when I was a kid, maybe when I was like 15, because I got invited for a little camp. And I just kind of liked the vibe and the experience and just having somebody really knowledgeable and a bunch of other training partners that are shorter than me. So I reached out to the guys that matched and said I could come to try out for the team. And basically, I bought a one way ticket and I booked an Airbnb with some Buddhist lady. I didn't know she was Buddhist at the time. And it's not a problem that she was Buddhist, but she was doing Buddhist chants every morning, like very loud in their living room, and I was just living at this Airbnb. But I went into the gym, I talked to Travis mash, and basically was just like, I really want to join the team and I you know, I bought a one way ticket, whatever. And he's like, okay, like, let's see how you do.

Tyler 22:08
He's like, Well, I can't fucking let you sleep on the streets.

Hunter 22:13
He was like, he was like, Dude, you can stay at my place if you need to. So yeah, I just wanted to surround myself with strong people. And those farmers were crazy. Like the people in there were like 1718 squatting like 700 pounds, like, several times a day,

Tyler 22:28
You're doing a multi day training phase and getting as many calories in as possible. Like, tell me about the eating you were doing to support the training volume.

Hunter 22:37
So all those fuckers are just eating waffle house there's this there's this Chinese players called Miyagi that they also eat a lot. A lot of chocolate milk, a lot of fucking pizza, just alcohol it's pretty bad. It's definitely not the best for long term health but yeah, multiple training sessions a day. I know furniture in my house is sleeping on the floor. I was biking to the gym up this giant fucking Hill every day and I was just in pain like my back was hurting my shoulders were fucked my knees were flagged and I get to the gym like after stretching for like an hour and then riding my bike and then I just like and max out every lift at maximum a back squat snatch depend on swatches as heavy as possible, like no regard for form or like how you feel and like if you think this is like the heaviest fucking set you're gonna do? Don't worry. It's not because everybody in the gym is still like, Dude, you're still a fucking pussy like Joseph can do it? You know, I don't get what it did.

Tyler 23:40
There. I remember you telling me that story first. And you were telling me that the visit always stuck with me. You're like I'm sleeping on the floor. I've got a blanket, no pillow. And I have my cell phone charger, my cell phone, and a bag of clothes and nothing else. You're in a fucking you're you're from Alaska and you're in North Carolina, right? Yeah, you're in North Carolina sleeping on the floor with no nothing and because that's the level of investment you wanted to take into the thing that you're doing. And that's the thing that I think entrepreneurs do well, and coaches do well in general were like, well, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. Right. Your level of commitment is bolder and more intense and probably dangerous. But I will say this and have that level of commitment and well you're not you're not risk averse at all. I mean, you're not afraid of any of this shit because what's the worst is gonna happen now you have a family. So you know, ideally, we don't want them all to be sleeping on the floor. But, but I do think that you have a lot of you've learned lessons about like, what's the worst that can happen? Like fuck, dude, what are you afraid of? What are they gonna do to close your doors? Who gives a shit? You know, I really I really I really like when people have at least got out there and like, really stretched themselves out and pushed and really paid some real fucking dues and bought all the weigh in on something. I think that's one of my favorite stories you ever told Hunter for sure.

Hunter 25:00
Yeah, no, that was definitely a learning experience. And that is I fucked myself up so bad that that's how I met Julian so

Tyler 25:10
Well, but that but then again because you went all in and then you had to learn how to undo some of the damage and then that made you a better coach and that did put you here and now you can sit here and go guys, you know you're you're you're an attorney, you train three days a week, don't separate your shoulder for some snaps that you don't give a shit about, you know,

Hunter 25:27
Man for real.

John Fairbanks 25:29
But, it didn't stop there. So I think it's important where you went all in as for your own, like, so you could get better, right? Whatever you were passionate about as a client, right as someone who just wants to train and then you got introduced to the coaching side of it. Didn't you spend a month in Amsterdam? Like a month out in the Netherlands?

Hunter 25:55
Yeah, man man, Tyler had some friggin fun times out man. Yeah,

Tyler 26:00
We Yeah, it was that was great because so this Yeah, Hunter did the same exact thing with coaching you and now with coaching is many seminars as you could you got to as many of the in depth shit this, this concept of investing in yourself, not just time, but like energy, like fuck it this is I gotta I gotta give myself time away and space to make this the thing that I give all my energy to are because you know what it takes to be good at something and you know, that, like, half measures don't fucking work either. And I just, and yeah, you went off. And look at how much ground you've covered now as a coach over these last four years.

Hunter 26:34
Yeah, man, it's, it's been incredible. It's been really nice meeting, you know, people like you guys, and just networking and seeing, like, all these different passionate coaches and mentors, and I just wanted to throw myself in it as hard as I could and just be the best that I can. You know, I'm always kind of thinking about life, you know, on a macro scale, and I want to make a really big impact. I don't want to look back, you know, when I'm 60 or 80, or however fucking old and just be like, damn, I didn't really do shit. Because I know that. Like, I do have energy. And I know I got a weird fucking brain like, I know, I don't think like normal people think so I might as well take advantage of it and just like give everything my all instead of, you know, just coast by so.

Tyler 27:18
Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm keeping your identity. And this has been, the most interesting thing for us to watch is like, your branding is on point. And it's not because you're doing anything. That's not you. It's like everything. When I look at hunters garage, I'm on Instagram. It's like, oh, this is just Hunter, you know? And that God does that to crush man. That is if people could just learn to do that piece. What am I? What is my gym? What do I want it to be? And accurately fucking depict that our lead? That is a lead. That's a million dollar lesson that a lot of a lot of businesses never ever, ever learn and pay off right away. But she had if she got misaligned, 510 years down the road. It's just crazy problems over and over and over and over again. So having covered that is what keeps you in this Hunter. What keeps you in the game?

Hunter 28:03
Man, I mean, number one is I really just love the craftsmanship of it. Like I love to break down movements. And I mean, there's things like there's Okay, so I have this guy at the gym. He comes to me three times a week. I've been training him for a few years. And about five months ago. He's like, Hey, man, it was only him in the gym. He had started talking to me about some stress that was going on. He's like a younger kid and some stress that's going on at school, some stress that's going on with his parents. And I'm like, okay, like, let's give you a workout and they gave us the workout. And it was kind of like a variation of one of Richard's workouts where you carry a sandbag out as far as you can drop the sandbag and bring it back in. Anyways, he ended up like going from he couldn't sleep any night because he would lay down on his bed, he'd have to wake up, he'd have to reorganize everything in his room. And you do this for like an hour to two hours every single night. So we're suffering from a massive OCD, to having a huge expression during this workout. Crying we don't want to walk he's telling me all this stuff and all these feelings that he's having about self doubt and not feeling good enough and just letting all the shit go and then to like four months later, he hasn't had like he's been able to fight the OCD off and basically have a good night of sleep ever since. And he said he wasn't sleeping for three years before that. And that's just shit that like, that kind of shit happens all the time. Like almost everybody , which is why I like the premium pricing thing. Like I'm not selling like fucking workouts and an hour of my time. Like I am here to develop a really, you know, awesome vision for your life and try to give you the tools to achieve that vision wherever, you know within fitness outside of fitness, like I mean the we just had our anniversary party and the cards that we got from people about how we've changed their lives and they feel like we're a second family to them and like their kid was going through this and They came in and helped or this mom had this issue and it came in and it helped like, like, that kind of shit will like if you're having like a bad like six fucking weeks at the gym one day, okay, all right, I'm gonna another like few months because just realizing like the actual impact that I'm making and, you know, even though like my gyms, not huge I don't have like, I don't even have 50 members, you know, it's not like I'm training a bunch of people, but I know that everybody that is there is getting so much benefit from it outside of just, you know, physical training that it just really means a lot to me in it. Like, it just warms my heart when I hear stuff like that. I mean, I was crying reading these fucking cards that people you know, sending me and I'm like, oh, no, like not at the anniversary party.

Tyler 30:54
I'll give you another piece of advice on or take the last minute and 45 seconds. From now I'll write down the timestamp and you're probably gonna want to clip that out. Put that on your social media. Okay, fucking sell time, and I don't fucking sell workouts. What I sell is boom, boom, boom. That's money. I like it. I like that a lot. John, what did you have before I roll into the fucking hammer at the end here.

John Fairbanks 31:23
I would say it's just as if you're on the right track 100 Everything is pointing to where it's, you have people that are good, that are with you. And you have the mentality of like the rising tide, right is lifting all the boats that are around you. Right, your clients are getting better. The people that are on your team, right, are getting better for you. It's watching this elevation of being a really good athlete to a really good coach, and then becoming a really good gym owner. And then you're doing the things in sequence, where maybe originally, you would have been out of sequence originally, right? You and I start doing work together because we need to build an online course. But it's like, yeah, but I don't have fucking gym, or I don't have these things like are trying to get built at the same time. And so we know what it looks like. When something is in a sequence. We need to build the loft. Right now the loft is the most important thing. And then what ends up happening is that it still kind of just sits there because maybe like you said, to start off, it's in a sequence. And then all of a sudden, what you did is like you got back and you started getting the right people and doing all these right things. Man, this is like your investment, as now as a gym owner, to give your people the tools to make them great coaches. Those are the moves that now like you start to elevate. And now you're playing a whole new game, that I'm excited to see what you do, right. I'm excited to see what you do next.

Tyler 32:57
You know, because imagine if you had rushed to get 100 members, right? I don't quite have 50 Right now, well, what if you had 100 right now and you didn't like half? Right, and your coaches are stretched thin or the culture sucks, like you've got as long as things are within this space, where we always talk, you know, objectives versus constraints, like you have a constraint Well, right now you do it has to fit in with what you do well, what your coaches can fulfill with fits your price, you're not just going to bastardize your prices, so that you can just get more bodies in. And so you're doing good work for good people that fit your thing. And then I mean, that's exactly exactly in sequence, you could have twice as many members and be in such an infinitely worse situation, because you have to walk some of that shit back. And so I really, really think you're on the right track brother, I really I'm stoked to be able to check in with you on how the business stuff has been going on. We've been watching diligently for a long time. So seeing go from starting to coaching to little coaching here to just trying to fix yourself, right was thing one and then into coaching and and then taking the this as a vocation and really giving that calling what it deserves by investing yourself fully into it and to being good at it and not just having to do what I think is really commendable. So we're gonna get to the last question, Hunter. Are you ready? All right. So Hunter, if you had to give a piece or give some advice to somebody who's looking and walking following in your footsteps, whether it's becoming a gym owner, coach, or somebody who sees Hunter and goes, Man, I'd kind of like to do that. What advice would you give to somebody who's just starting down that path?

Hunter 34:36
Yeah, so this is the same as my dating advice when people ask me about dating and how to pick up hot chicks. And I'm always just being yourself. Because if you're not yourself, then you're not going to attract the type of people that you actually want to coach and that you want to work with. And if you are yourself and you're fully yourself and you know who you are, and you can express that then you're going to start attracting people that allow And when that aligns with your vision of where you want your business to go, you'll start attracting better coaches, you'll start attracting better clients. I know for me, like that's been hard is to not try to copy what anybody else is doing. But just try to really, like, be the best version of me. And I know that I'm on my way, I'm definitely not perfect, but I am getting better. And I think that if you are the most authentic version of yourself, and you continually get better, you will eventually get awesome coaches, you will get awesome clients because they see your big vision about everything and they want to be a part of that journey with you.

Tyler 35:36
I love it. 100 Thanks a bunch for joining us, guys. Hunter. How can people get a hold of you, Jim?

Hunter 35:43
Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram at hunters garage gym, I think I also have a website called hunters garage gym.com, which you can check out but Instagram will be better I will respond to you on Instagram. So I would say do that.

Tyler 35:58
Alaska Hunter rock lift in Alaska excursions gotta be made to happen. There's got to be some sort of weekend getaway up there that should be put together for sure. Once the rock lifting stuff becomes the stuff of legend, we're like, do you remember that this was 100 got his start. Now we're gonna be able to charge a premium for people to come up and hang and lift rocks and take their shirts off with you. It'll be a blast. So awesome, brother. All right, man. Well, I appreciate you joining us with everybody else. Make sure you can follow the code as John tells me all this stuff. I'm gonna not have it in front of me.

John Fairbanks 36:35
You're doing good. So you can follow us. If you are watching this video. You are already in the Facebook group. This is the gym owners movement Facebook group. If you're not watching us, you're only listening to us. Join the gym owners Facebook group, but please know that it is open to gym owners specifically. So if you're a gym owner, you love a gym owner, you sleep with the gym owner, you are in it. Right? Go ahead and join the group be able to come in here and be able to participate in this community that we're curating and building together folks just like Hunter and every other gym owner that we've had the opportunity to be able to interview right there in there. We're having these discussions. And you can follow us at the gym owners podcast, right on Instagram. You can follow me at Jay banks FL and you can

Tyler 37:21
Tyler, Tyler F and still on Instagram. Thanks, John. Nailed it. My pleasure, guys. Thanks a lot for listening to everybody. We'll see you next time Hunter. Thanks a lot for joining us brother. Thanks, guys.