Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Do you every feel stuck?

Entrepreneurs Unstuck is here to help you, the entrepreneur who is stuck, unable to take the next big step in your business or is killing it in business but your personal life is a mess-so that you can have the complete and fulfilling life of your dreams.

On today’s FIRST episode I have Adam Scheauble. Adam is the host of three podcasts and an entrepreneur with big ideas. Adam does not just create big ideas though. One of his strongest superpowers is being able to go from an idea, to a plan, to action in a heart beat.

Adam Schaeuble is my podcast coach and has helped me make this important pivot on this podcast, so who better to interview on the first episode. Today on the podcast Adam shares his entrepreneurial journey and what he has learned along the way.

Adam helps short the learning curve for entrepreneurs who are struggling to have it all.

If you would like to be the guest on the show and have Kathryn help you get “Unstuck,” apply here! To join Kathryn’s monthly mini-mastermind, click here.

Meet Adam Schaeuble

Adam Schaeuble aka The PHD (previously heavy dude) hit a rock bottom moment in his life where he weighed 327lbs. He then went on his own 100lb weight loss journey and as he was on this journey he started to inspire people in his home town to join him. He started a gym and a bootcamp program and helped his home town lose over 35,000 lbs in five years. Now he’s the host of the top ranked health podcast The Million Pound Mission where his goal is to inspire one million pounds of healthy results (which he tracks on his website (MillionPoundMission.com)

 Adam is known for helping females(and a few men) over the age of 30 that are super busy being employees, entrepreneurs, partners, friends, and moms. These are the people that tend to put themselves and their health last on the priority list and Adam teaches them how to escape the Black Hole of Weight Loss Doom which is where most people get trapped in the vicious cycle of losing weight and gaining it back over and over again. Adam impacts his community by teaching them his 7 Necessary Steps For Long Term Weight Loss Success that have produced a total 55,000 lbs of results for his clients and community members so far.

Check out his website here, and follow him on Instagram @lowcarbhustle and subscribe to his podcast on iTunes.

In This Podcast

Summary

• Adam’s business transformation
• His struggles and how he has moved past them
• One thing that is causing Adam some “stuckness”
• How Adam enjoys his relationships, while pursuing his entrepreneurial dreams

Adam’s business transformation

Adam got his degree in exercise science and started a gym, which he ran for a decade. He went on to help his hometown lose 35,000 pounds.

Adam started to lose his excitement for it though and handed his gym over to his lead trainer. He realized if he’s not enjoying what he’s doing, he’s not operating at his best capacity. Adam immersed himself into podcasting, which he was already involved in. Being mentally prepared to dedicate more energy to his side hustle of podcasting helped it evolve into a full-time gig. Adam knew it was time to turn the page so that he could continue to impact people the way he did at his gym.

His struggles and how he moved past them

While Adam does get in his head about things, he tries to do it with a smile and enjoy the ride.

Right now it’s saying yes to too much. As opposed to the beginning of his podcasting journey when he was often begging podcasts to be a guest, he’s got lots of opportunities that are packing up his schedule. He wants to help everyone. As a result, his calendar is completely booked. However Adam sympathizes because he’s been in that position, and feels guilt around saying no because of it.

One thing that is causing Adam some “stuckness”

Adam admits he doesn’t like saying no to people was a result of wanting to be liked by everyone. He doesn’t like friction, letting others down, or disappointing people. He’s also been on the receiving end of plenty of “no’s.” In order to get out of this fear of judgement, Kathryn suggests that Adam connect others who can fill in for spots that he’s getting opportunities for. What better way to add value than to connect someone who is hungry and available with someone who has a need. Using his natural talent for connecting and networking, Adam is able to say “no, but I know someone else who can” making it a win-win for all involved.

How Adam enjoys his relationships, while pursuing entrepreneurial dreams

According to the Kolbe test, Adam is unique in that he is a systems and process oriented creative. His work hours weren’t necessarily bleeding into his family time, but he was taking on more in the same amount of time. That naturally led to being less present, more exhausted and stressed during family time. However he recently explored using the services of a VA to delegate tasks that he would begrudgingly complete after procrastinating. His organization and systems weren’t developed over night, either. It took years of developing and navigating through the growing pains to get where he is today.

Are you enjoying this podcast?

If yes, would you please review and rate it on iTunes here? Thank you!

Useful links:

• Three Powerful Questions You Must Ask Yourself Right Now | IT 065
• Imperfect Thriving Facebook Group
• Imperfect Thriving on Instagram
• Imperfect Thriving Free Email Course (Your Blueprint To Thrive)

Podcast Transcription

Kathryn:

Adam, I am so stoked about you being here and sharing your wisdom with us today. I’ve met a lot of bright people in my life and you are at the top of my list, almost with my husband, but you aren’t just bright, you’re quick and creative. 

I think one of your strongest superpowers is being able to go from an idea to a plan to an action in a heartbeat. So I can’t think of anyone that I would rather have as my first guest on Entrepreneurs Unstuck. Thank you for being here.

Adam:

Kathryn, you know, I’m a big fan of you and what you got cooking. So I’m just glad to be here to contribute. And I appreciate those compliments.

I accept them. I I really enjoy getting to connect with people like you. And that’s kind of what we all have to do as entrepreneurs is help other people shorten their own learning curve with our own unique ability and skill sets. So that’s kinda what we both do. 

Kathryn:

Well, you definitely do that too, for me, for sure.

So I would love it if you could take us through your entrepreneurial journey to where you are now.

Adam:

Well, it depends how far back do you want to go. Cause I was straight up that kid, like in second grade, like this explains me really well. I saw an opportunity where I had whole bunch of friends and we all liked to like draw and stuff and I was like, Hey, let’s all make greeting cards.

And sell them in the neighborhood and everyone’s going to love it. Cause we’re a bunch of like eight year olds selling greeting cards. Somehow I got like, I was like the CEO and they had to give me a cut of the cards that they sold. And like today this wouldn’t fly, we were just going around eight years old knocking on stranger’s doors and like just us by ourselves, back in the eighties.

And yeah, we made a pretty healthy profit and that lasted for a few months. Then we went on our way, but I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spirit.

Sophomore year of high school and that was the only time I’ve ever worked for anyone else on it. So I’m basically unemployable. I’m like a wild stallion out there in the entrepreneurial world. My entrepreneurial journey started as in the fitness industry as a gym owner and a community builder.

From there, we got into the podcasting space where I looked at that as a medium or a tool to impact more people. That’s what we’re focusing on today. So I’m a recovering gym owner. I’m a full-time podcaster and a full blast unemployable entrepreneur.

Kathryn:

know you’re a part of Winject Studios, and you’ve got a lot going on there.

Now tell us a little bit about that.

Adam:

Yeah Winject is awesome. It’s my first like official collaboration with other podcasting entrepreneurs. My partners in there are just as wild and full of energy as I am for people in the podcasting space. But we’re basically looking for a place where podcasters can come for community and the ability to learn from each other to collaborate and create a collective impact.

We’re organizing that because we believe in it. There’s obviously lots of opportunity for everybody involved. It’s always a win-win situation and you’re somebody that’s experiencing some of that. With any opportunity now, like, you know me well enough to know that I do a lot of stuff. There’s a process to it.

It’s like, all right, if I add this next thing to my plate, what kind of do I have to take off my plate. Cause there’s only 24 hours in a day and I’ve had people tell me, like, how did you discover the extra five hours in the day that you’re getting? Because I don’t know how you get all this stuff done.

The real trick of it is being very strategic with my time. Being very efficient with my time. Using processes. I’ve got three podcasts now. I’m helping set up a podcasting network with Winject. I’ve got businesses in different lanes with my health show versus my business shows and the key to it all, and I’m doing it as a solopreneur.

Like I don’t have any VA’s yet. I’m actually, I think I’m going to hire one for the first time on Monday, which is in two days from now. But making it through 600 plus episodes of all my shows without a VA that blows some people’s minds. 

Kathryn:

Definitely want to dig into that a little bit later on in the conversation.

Right now another thing that I think you are the period at is pivoting. I have so many clients who get caught in that sunk cost fallacy, believing that you should keep doing what you’re doing, because you’ve invested so much time and money into it instead of shifting to something else, even when they know it’s not working for them.

Tell me what it is that makes you able to pivot. And is it easy as it looks for you?

Adam:

 Well, this is a great question. Maybe I can just give an example, like with my gym, that’s what I went to school for. I got my degree in exercise science and I started a gym. I did it for a decade and I helped my hometown lose 35,000 pounds.

You talk about sunk costs. Like there’s a lot of emotional sunk cost and investment there with the relationships, but in 2018, 2019, I’d walk through that door,  I’d be like, I don’t feel this anymore. I’m not excited to be here. I’ve kind of said what I had to say.  I felt like I accomplished what I came to do. Major impact, and I was slowly pulling out of the business and my clients were feeling that.

I feel like I drug it out a little longer than I probably should have. Like, that was a mistake where I stopped doing the weigh ins and I had someone else do it. I stopped teaching so many classes and I was having somebody else to it. That community that had shown up for me and my energy that they wanted to plug into that they became a little disgruntled.

So the last six to nine months weren’t super happy times. And the one day in late 2019, I struck a deal with my lead trainer. And I said, this is your ship now I want you to take over. I’m just going full blast into the podcasting space. So like that friction was there. If I’m not having fun, if I’m not enjoying it, I’m not operating at my best capacity.

Like what you’ve seen me when I’m at my best. And like, we’ve had a few coaching sessions where it’s like full creativity mode and we’re both like mind blown. We get so much done and it just wasn’t like that anymore with the gym business. I knew I wasn’t able to impact people the way that I wanted to anymore.

And it was just time to turn that page. To transition, I look at what I am excited about. What I have learned and how I can create processes and systems and programs and teach other people and help them walk the path a little bit more efficiently than I did.

So as I was wrapping up my gym career, my gym ownership career, I was doing a lot of podcasting and that’s why I already had that next thing kind of, I didn’t just pump the brakes on the one and start something new. I had already started the podcasting journey. I just knew that that was the thing that I wanted to go into. I wanted to make it a full-time gig instead of a side hustle. That’s a great place to work on transitions or potential pivots is have a side hustle, but you have to be able to kind of mentally handle that as well.

Kathryn:

Yeah. So I love how you give yourself the grace of listening to not just what your thoughts are, but how you feel about something, right. When deciding what your next move is. I really love that. It’s great that you were able to accomplish what you wanted to accomplish with the gym before you moved on.

Has there ever been a situation where you didn’t reach your goal or didn’t accomplish what you wanted, but still knew you needed to pivot? And give me an example of if there is one. 

Adam:

Yeah. As I was a gym owner, I was really trying to figure out selling what I knew in the online space in the health space.

Which is ultra competitive and ultra hard to stand out with. And it’s hard to market like you can’t run Facebook ads with before and after pictures, they don’t let you do that. And that was my like bread and butter with the hometown market. People knew these people that were losing a hundred plus pounds and they just all wanted in. I couldn’t show that to the masses online that I was trying to attract. Especially like through my podcast.

I created so many programs, products, courses, trying to figure out the health market. It was just like beating my head up against the wall. I was making some money, but I wasn’t making like career money or enough that had me confident in like, Oh, like I could do this full time.

And it was real hit and miss people would come in, they would go out.  I had three different memberships and I just kept on trying to tweak it, tweak it, tweak it until I realized. Like, all right. Is it worth it to keep pursuing this or do I just do a slight pivot? That’s when I discovered like the whole niche, the power of the niche.

I’m like, I need to dive in and stand out in a little bit of a different way. Like in the health space, that’s when we branded down into low-carb hustle. So we had a double niche where we’re speaking to entrepreneurs in the low-carb space. So it’s not even like health, technically speaking any anymore.

We’re trying to coach entrepreneurs that are in the low carb genre or people that are trying to be influencers or experts in that space. So that’s just an example of, I mean, it’s not necessarily a failure like Tony Robbins says, like there’s no such thing as failure, as long as you learn something.

So it’s just like, learn, learn, learn, pivot, pivot, pivot, build up little scar tissue, figure it out. And then every one of those learning opportunities usually comes out for me as a podcast episode. Like this is what I teach people. talk about all the time. I’m like, listen, if you’re in the health space, I’m gonna shoot you straight.

You can’t charge as much as if you’re in the business space. We’ve had this conversation, it’s like people in self improvement and health will not pay as much as the person that wants to learn how to make more money or how to start a business. Just facts. So I can teach that to people like you and go, all right.

If we are a little frustrated by this, we need to find a way to serve entrepreneurs and serve businesses. That’s what I’ve done with even the pivot with my health podcast, but more so with podcasting business school and my business based podcasts.

Kathryn:

Yeah and that’s exactly what I’m doing here.

It’s not like my area of expertise has changed as a licensed counselor. I know how to get to the bottom of what is keeping someone stuck, whether it’s personally or in business. Because we don’t check ourselves at the door. What is that saying? Wherever I go there, there I am, you know?

I look at the word failure in the very same way. If you can analytically look at what you’ve been through without beating yourself up for it and find little nuggets to take away from it, then there never is any wasted time. So I love that out of that little bit of a struggle and a little bit of this not working the way you wanted it to, and that not working the way you wanted it to you discovered the power of the niche or niche. So time well spent, right?

Adam:

Yep. 

Kathryn:

I know so many of my clients are perfectionist who procrastinate, many buy into the myth that procrastination is somehow a result of being lazy. It’s really caused by setting the bar too high, then criticizing yourself when you don’t reach the impossible goal, which is negative reinforcement.

Now, I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this question, but for the benefit of everyone else, I want to go ahead and ask it. Do you ever suffer from procrastination because you appear to be one of the most productive people I’ve ever seen?

Adam:

Well, there are certain elements of procrastination and I’ve even got like a brand new thought about this since I’ve been exploring the whole virtual assistant opportunity.

I feel like a big point of procrastination is the email inbox for people. It’s just overwhelming. Like I look at my wife’s phone and she’s got 5,000 unread messages and I’m like, Oh my God, this is crazy. So I hit inbox zero every single day. 

Why I do that.

First off the way I use a Gmail app called boomerang and it starts off free. And then if you do use it a whole lot, like I do, it’s like $15 a month. So what I do with my email inbox is if it’s not something that I need to look at or answer that day, I boomerang it to the day that I do need to look at it.

So essentially when I’m up in the morning between 5 and 5:30 and I start working, only the things that I need to look at an answer right then are in my inbox and everything else shows up after that. I do a quick scan and I boomerang it to when I need to know it. So I’m not doing very much email every single day, and I’m only answering things or taking action on things that need to be acted upon right then and there.

So that’s one way that I stay efficient and I avoid procrastinating. I just know, like whatever’s in the email, I got to take action on today and that’s just the flow that I’m in. The newer thing that’s sparked into my mind. I’ve been talking to this VA and of course I have the greatest system before I even get into the VA thing.

I’m like, all right, here’s how we’re going to do this for two weeks, I’m going to just make notes every single day on things I could potentially delegate to you. The signal, like the mental signal that I was looking for like procrastination equals delegation. So if there’s something that I kind of want to put off or don’t want to do, I’m putting that on the delegation list and we’re going to explore that opportunity with my VA, like, could I teach her how to do this and just delegate it.

So that’s kind of the newer idea I’ve been exploring. It hasn’t been implemented yet, but I feel pretty good about it. But, I mean, there’s a reason we procrastinate and like you’re the expert in that area. Like whatever that friction is that scar tissue, maybe we lean into that and look at it and like, is this something that I shouldn’t be doing?

Is this something that I could delegate that someone else should be doing? Little things, like one of my shows my low carb hustle show, we have sponsors. For whatever reason, like maybe I was a disgruntled secretary in my previous life or something. I procrastinate and hate printing out these invoices and then signing them and then scanning them and sending them back.

It takes five seconds. They’re paying me money to do this. And I’m like, Oh, I have to print a thing out and sign it and scan it, kill me. And for whatever reason, that’s something that I was like, okay, I can delegate this. Cause I don’t know why it just bothers me. So that’s that’s another example, I guess.

Kathryn:

Most of the time though, you are so decisive and productive. Like I said earlier, able to go from like, getting an idea in your head to creating a plan, to taking action on it. What do you think it is about you that makes you so decisive and productive, or that has helped you create a system to be that way?

Adam:

I’m a big fan of like, the efficiency tests and personality tests and profiles and all that. And the one that really kind of perked my ears up was one called a Kolbe assessment. Have you ever done the Kolbe? The Kolbe. 

Kathryn:

I haven’t, but you’re the second person to mention that to me, so I will be doing it.

Adam:

They have a whole bunch of them and I don’t even remember which one I took. But I know that I’m a three, six, seven, three, and what they told me was having somebody that had almost equal and high middle numbers is one of the most rare things that they see because the two middle numbers talk about how you like or dislike organization, but also creativity. 

Normally super creative people aren’t super organized. But I am. So they’re like, what you like to do is create things or have big ideas, but then you love to put a system around it and then you can teach someone else that system. And they said that is just like, it’s the rarest combination that they see, like less than 5% of the people that they test have those two high leading middle numbers.

So I’m kind of a freak of nature, I guess, with that. But I mean, I think anybody can do this. If they find the other person that fits that puzzle. Like if you aren’t that person, I don’t think you need to force yourself into being that person. I think honestly, that’s how I’ve gotten this far along with that, having a VA is I have those two assets.

So, but if you’re the idea person you need to partner with or hire that person that likes to create a process and kind of wrap it up and then teach it to whoever it needs to be taught to. And if you are that person, you need to partner with the big idea people so you can put systems around their ideas and you’re adding value to each other.

So I feel like that, that explains it a little bit, at least. 

Kathryn:

Yeah, it absolutely does. It completely makes sense to me. So as perfect as you look, I know that no human is perfect. So, is there anything that you are struggling with right now on your entrepreneurial journey?

Adam:

Yeah, for sure. I struggle with stuff all the time.

I get in my head about stuff. But I try to keep a smile on my face and have a good time along the way, regardless. So like with me right now, it’s saying yes to too much. I get a lot of opportunity. It’s interesting because I remember the first year of my podcasting journey, I was begging for anyone to let me on their show.

I’m like, give me a platform. I have so much to say, just let me talk. I was just like, trying to figure out how do I get on other shows? How do I like, I know that what I have to say is high value. Flip it to now, like I still have that hungry drive inside of me and I also know where these other people are out there asking me to come and speak on their platform.

I know where they’re going and I want to help. And I want to help everyone. And it’s like, Oh, I guess I’ll just give up my calendar to these people. Like they’re opportunities that I know I should probably shouldn’t be saying yes to and I hate to not say yes, but maybe in my mind, I’m like, maybe I can say not today.

Cause it’s super packed, but in a month, yes. Like I get asked to speak on Clubhouse 12 times a day and I’ve only spoken at once. I got clients when I did, but I’m like, I kinda got enough clients right now, too. Like that’s going well too. So it’s that enough versus more. And I feel the guilt of it around it.

Kathryn:

Let’s dig into that.

Adam:

I saw your eyes light up a little bit.

Kathryn:

Yeah. We’re going to get to what’s going on underneath that so that you can really get a hold of it and make a determination. Do you think it could be that it’s important for you to be liked by everyone? What is it about saying no, that’s so difficult for you?

Adam:

Well, yes, I do like being liked by everyone. I don’t like friction, I don’t like letting people down, I don’t like disappointing people. Like I’m terrible. Like back in the day, I would never break up with a girl. I would just act weird until she broke up with me. Cause I couldn’t handle that shit. Firing employees, worst ever.

I was terrible at it, I hated it, I had some really bad experiences with it. So I’ve got some scar tissue builds up there for sure.

Kathryn:

What’s the worst part about saying no? What does that mean about you if you say no to someone?

Adam:

I know how many nos I have gotten from people that I had hoped would share a platform with me. So I kind of like see myself in somebody that’s asking me. I respect it so much. I will never be that, like, I’m just not going to email them back person.

Like even the podcast booking agents that I know are just spamming and half the time they don’t even say my name, but like dear podcaster. I’m like, come on, you didn’t even say my name, but I’ll send them a reply. Like, I appreciate this opportunity to have someone on my show or to speak on someone else’s show.

But I’m not doing that right now or whatever. So everybody gets a heartfelt response. I’ll at least be able to do that and be respected. I fear that negative voice out there. Like they go on social or they form an opinion about me. They’ll tell more people than even my super fans will tell good things about sometimes.

Kathryn:

So fear of judgment of others.

Adam:

Yeah, for sure that, yeah.

Kathryn:

I’m wondering if, when people ask you to do things and you feel the need to say yes, if it would help you to think about the fact that they need someone to do what they’re asking you to do, but it doesn’t always have to be you that gets it done if it’s taking away from your own agenda and your own path and your business.

Adam:

I like that. Yeah, ideas just start automatically popping into my head. Cause I’m a big value add guy. But I also have a Rolodex of hundreds of people that could fill a spot that that’s needed. So if somebody hits me up, I get hit up for online summits a lot, in Clubhouse a lot.

And people are like, I’m looking for people to speak about blah, blah, blah. I’m like, well, maybe not me, not right now, but let me introduce you to my friend, Kathryn, who can speak on the same topic. Then they hit you up and said you know, instead of me, if you’re looking for opportunities. I feel like I’m at least adding value, bringing the positivity.

Kathryn:

Because most of the time the guilt comes from us putting so much pressure on ourselves and us giving ourselves more power and credit than we have in situation. As if they need us. Well, if a friend called to ask me to give her a ride to the store, does it need to be me that takes her to the store?

Or does she just need someone with the car? So it’s sort of assessing that situation. Is it just me that they need for this? Or do they need someone for this?

Adam:

Yeah. 

Kathryn:

And that can help decide what you want to do about it and whether or not you want to put any guilt on yourself about this situation.

Adam:

I like that idea a lot, because then it’s almost like a double value add where I’m helping the person asking and I’m helping a person I’m referring them to, that I know is available and hungry to do it.

Kathryn:

There you go. And what do you do better than network and put people together.

Adam:

True. 

Kathryn:

You walk away feeling good about yourself, but you’ve kept your own agenda clear for what you need to prioritize to move forward.

Adam:

Yeah, I love it. 

Kathryn:

Well, thanks. So what is your definition of success?

Adam:

To me, I feel like success is somebody doing what they love to do with like the time parameters that they want to do it in.

I look at it like filling up cups. So I want my cup to be full to the brim, not spilling over, not empty. I want my family and relationship cup to be full, not spilling over, not empty. And I want my community and business relationships cup to be full, not spilling over, not empty. That’s the trick is that balancing act of getting, sometimes we ignore one of those cups and it gets empty or we put too much in and it overflows.

So finding that balance where you’re always engaged, passionate, having fun, feeling fulfilled in those key areas of our life. It’s pretty easy to take on too many clients. And I love it when I have the right amount and the bills are paid and that’s fun, but too much is that cup’s overfilling and it’s spilling out and then it’s taking away from the other ones.

Then that creates a compounding effect of negativity. So that’s kind of how I’m viewing it right now is like finding that balance in each area and really focusing on that.

Kathryn:

So really by looking at all the domains in your life, prioritizing, which ones are most important and finding the time on your schedule to make sure that you take action toward each of those.

Adam:

Yeah. 

Kathryn:

Love it. So let’s dig in a little bit deeper into a way for you to figure out more, what do I want to say yes to. What do I want to say no to so that I can have the schedule and the balance I want to be able to take care of my personal life and thrive there as well. Cause it sounds like your plate in your entrepreneurial business life is kind of overflowing right now and there’s some regrouping going on.

Correct? 

Adam:

I agree.

Kathryn:

One thing that’s getting in the way is I must say yes for people like me, or I must be likable and you can have that thought, do they need me, or do they need someone else? But let’s look at some of the other factors. What is most important to you when it comes to work? Is it the flexibility and freedom of having different hours free during the day?

Or is it maximizing the amount of money that you can make in a particular number of hours in a week?

Adam:

I like the time freedom to be honest, like that’s why I’m an entrepreneur is like, I can’t see myself working a nine to five. I like to be like, all right, I’m going to work for two hours and here’s the theme of those two hours.

Then I’m going to get my exercise in, and then I’m going to go pick up my kids from school and then I’m going to be a dad and I’m going to do another two hours once they go to bed or whatever. Like, I like being able to structure that and having that freedom. I’ve got unique views around money as a whole.

Like, I’m not one of those people. It’s like, let’s see how much I can crank. Nothing against that at all. Like that’s just I look at it as like once, once I’ve got enough, then I’m good. Like a good example is when I sold my gym, I took the first six months of 2020, not purposely trying to make any money.

I did this little experiment where I was like, all right, I know how much it takes for us to live. Once I make that much during a month, I’m just going to kind of chill and just be as much of a dad as I can. It’s like a six month pseudo sabbatical. And it was an interesting experiment.

It really opened up my eyes. I’m like, wow, I don’t have to work that much just to cover our bills. Then I can just have all this other time to be me and to be a dad. And then I was like, all right, after the six months, I’ll start thinking about new ideas, projects, things like that. And that’s where this giant explosion of creativity came because I’d give myself that much time just to kind of reset.

So I feel like that kind of explains my views around money a little.

Kathryn:

 How do you decide what is enough money?

Adam:

Well, for me, obviously, like I’m very dialed in with like how much it just needs for like bills and things like that. And then I am very into like power investing in retirement, making sure like I’ve got goals there as far as like getting, making sure that we’re covered there, like maxing out my 401k and my IRA and all that stuff. 

So that’s what I base all of those goals around. I’m not the I’m saving up for a Corvette type of guy. I have like the nerdiest car ever people are like, Oh, you drive an electric car Tesla. Like a Nissan leaf.

And they’re like, what is that? It was the first electric car and it looks like a frog. I drive around a frog and it’s really little and I’m six foot four and 240. I go to pick up my kids from school and the teacher’s like, how do you fit inside of that Mr. Schaeuble? I’m like, I don’t know. I got good limbered legs, I guess. 

I’m not a big let’s see how big of a house we can get. Nothing against that. It’s just not who I am. I love studying minimalism. And one of my favorite quotes or definitions of minimalism is you maximize what adds the most value in your life.

And you minimize the rest or anything that would get in the way of that. That’s how I am. I’m not a big material thing guy. I have 80 items with the clothing. That’s my wardrobe, like right now, more than 10% of my total clothes. If I get a new hoodie like something like this has to go, it goes out the back end.

Cause I don’t want to have like all these decisions and my wife loves it cause she has the entire closet. I have two drawers that I keep all my clothes in two drawers. I roll them up tight, like army roll, boom. Put it in there. So yeah, that’s, that’s how I roll.

Kathryn:

Yeah. I love that. I think my son is a natural minimalist too.

He does the very same thing. I’m not going to bring anything new into the house until I get rid of something or vice versa. So how many hours a day would you say you’re working right now and how many hours a week?

Adam:

Okay. So ideal situation it’s different each day because my wife and I tag team the kid school situation, as far as taking them to school, picking them up from school So, for example, like Mondays and Wednesdays I take and pick up from school and then we do like after-school activities.

I run the kids through workouts and stuff cause that’s just how we roll. So like those days I probably only work for four and a half to five hours total. During each one of those days. And then Tuesday, as you know, is my big like connection day with my community and with my clients.

That’s where I’ll put in a mega day. Like I start early you know, before everybody wakes up, then I help get the kids breakfast going and all that. And then I come back and I’ll work from 11 to 8:00 PM, right. Maybe even 9:00 PM straight through. So that’s a bigger day than Thursdays. Kind of in-between, that’s more like a six to seven hour day, depending on the kid situation.

Now, if the school calls and says, Hey, we’re e-learning this week, then everything goes out the window. At the beginning of the pandemic last year, I was at home doing e-learning. I’m teaching kindergarten and fourth grade, all of a sudden and adding that in to the situation. So I’ve been trying to give myself some grace around that.

And ideally I’ve tried to take at least every other Friday off, so I have a three-day weekend and no work Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And then if I’m doing like project work or sometimes client work or interviews like this on the alternating Fridays. 

Kathryn:

It really sounds like you, you are not having many problems at all when it comes to your business life or your personal life.

It’s so well orchestrated, like everything is intentional. Everything is mindful. What told you it was time to get a VA?

Adam:

Some of my peers and mentors, they saw it. I did a little strategy session with a couple of my friends, JJ  and Doug Sandler. And they’re like, Hey, you’ve got a lot of things cooking, which we love. You got a lot of ideas, which we love, but you may be spreading yourself thin and you may have diminished results because of how you’re spreading yourself.

I just described it. I’m not the guy working 18 hours a day every day. I have barriers, but I pack in as much as I can. And maybe I could pack in higher quality activities during those times that I’ve got scheduled out to work. And that’s what they’re saying. Like, Hey, just talk to our VA Ashley.

She’s super cool. Just have a conversation. That’s all we ask. And it’s like, all right, cool. I talked to her and I was like, Oh, and then we were doing that whole experience experiment with me, jotting things down on how she could help me out. And I’m like, okay, I see how this is this could be very beneficial.

Kathryn:

Yeah. So I see that a lot with my clients. It’s not just how many things you have to do, or how many hours you work. It’s the pace at which you have to work that can lead to so much stress. What I’m hearing from you is it’s not that your work hours were bleeding over into your family time. It’s just that you kept saying yes to more and more things that you were squeezing into the same amount of hours.

Adam:

Yes. And that does stress you out and then your family time and your personal time isn’t as effective. You don’t have that quality because it’s like lay on the couch and recover time.

Kathryn:

Because you’re just absolutely 100% spent now. Yes. Before we wrap this up, is there any other sort of nuggets of advice that you’ve learned, the hard way that maybe you could share with entrepreneurs who are a little bit newer to the game?

Adam:

Yeah. I mean, you can talk about how I am now, but that was a process of getting there. It wasn’t snap your fingers and all of a sudden I’ve got all this organization. Like when I was the first three to five years, I think it was more like four or five years of me being a gym owner. The gym exploded like the membership exploded, and I’d never seen that much money in my life before I was unprepared for that.

I went from me figuring it out to having 30 employees. That was a shock. Most of them were like twice as old as I was. I was in my mid twenties and they’re in their forties, fifties. These are adults and like I’m having to like fire people. I had somebody that I find found out was taking like cocaine before they were coming to work.

And like trying to just teach classes. I’m like, how does a 25 year old have that conversation with a 45 year old? It was just like crazy, but it was going so fast and it seemed like five years. I blink my eyes and like, it’s just totally different. And over that five years, I worked myself into the hospital three times.

One time fell asleep while driving.

Kathryn:

 Oh, wow. 

Adam:

Next time. I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, passed out and whacked my head on the sink and I was out cold with the door shut and my wife couldn’t get it open. Cause I’m a big ass guy and she couldn’t push. She’s just, you could see in the crack that I’m just there on the floor for like seven minutes out.

And then I came to moved enough. She got in there, I passed out again, like kept passing out. So that was a whole thing. Then the third time was anxiety thought. I was having a heart attack Christmas day. I was having a heart attack and went to the hospital and they said, you’re the healthiest, damn person we’ve ever seen you’re just super stressed out. 

So there was a learning curve that of me being that guy that was working all the time, just cranking caffeine and just trying to figure it out. Like this was before like easy payments, everyone paid you by check or cash pretty much. And I remember showing one of my buddies, I don’t know, I had my wallet out for some reason.

And there was just like wads of checks in there, like hundreds of checks. And he’s like, are you a drug dealer. I don’t even have time to go to the bank and these checks. Like, that’s how crazy it was.

But I’m grateful for all that and learning like, okay, like I learned how to take care of myself and that’s why I’m so structured now. I damn near died from not being structured in the early days.

Kathryn:

What you really could have used then was a coach to help you with boundaries so that you could maintain your health and your physical wellbeing and your mental wellbeing.

And so you learned that all of that in such a hard way, that you’re so good with organizing and having bright line boundaries for yourself now. 

Adam:

Scared the hell out of me. So I had to.

Kathryn:

Absolutely. Well, I have enjoyed this conversation so much. Thank you for being my very first guest on Entrepreneurs Unstuck.

Adam:

Kathryn I’m super excited about this show. Like you’re going to serve the people like me that needed a you back in the day when I’m passing out and all that stuff, like you’re gonna save entrepreneurs from being that person that works himself into the hospital. And I’m really, really proud of you for doing this.

I’m excited to be number one here on the show. And can’t wait to see where you go next with it.

Kathryn:

Thank you so much for being here and before I sign off, I want you all to all think about what is one action that you can take today so that if you took it, you would move your life in the direction that you want it to go, go do that and meet me right back here next week.