In this podcast episode, Sal and Bryan discuss the importance of surrendering to the process, maintaining a positive mindset, and having a supportive community in achieving success. Bryan emphasizes the importance of having a purpose and enjoying the process, both for clients and as a business owner. They also discuss losing weight, breaking bad habits, and giving meaningful gifts.
Connect with Bryan:
https://www.fit40coaching.com
https://www.instagram.com/coach_fitzz/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fit40family
https://www.tiktok.com/@coach_fitzz
Connect with Sal:
https://www.908ent.com
https://linktr.ee/908ent
In this podcast episode, Sal and Bryan discuss the importance of surrendering to the process, maintaining a positive mindset, and having a supportive community in achieving success. Bryan emphasizes the importance of having a purpose and enjoying the process, both for clients and as a business owner. They also discuss losing weight, breaking bad habits, and giving meaningful gifts.
Connect with Bryan:
https://www.fit40coaching.com
https://www.instagram.com/coach_fitzz/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fit40family
https://www.tiktok.com/@coach_fitzz
Connect with Sal:
https://www.908ent.com
https://linktr.ee/908ent
Sal: Welcome to 908ent: The Podcast. I'm your host, Sal Liberato. We're here to help you take another step towards success. Now let's get ready to learn the basics from the best. All right, what's going on everyone? Thank you for tuning back in. Today we have a special guest. Bryan Fitzsimmons goes by Coach Fitz.
Bryan, thank you for coming on today.
Bryan: Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
Sal: You got it. Bryan is out of the health and fitness industry, so we're gonna get a little insight into that world. Just from Bryan's website and all his content, he seems to guide people against these fad diets and quick fixes.
He really, you know, helps people change their life and have things that are meaningful and not just, they're not sustainable. So Bryan, you wanna elaborate on that a little bit?
Bryan: Yeah, I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head, just trying to guide people in the right direction because right now it's like the wild west when it comes to diets and nutrition or fitness.
So just trying to guide people in the right direction so they know what's real and what's bs.
Sal: Yeah, and I mean, every industry has that, but especially the fitness industry, I feel like a lot of people can get taken advantage of, especially if they don't have, you know, the knowledge or information that you have.
Bryan: Oh, absolutely. Happens on a daily basis. But we fight, we keep fighting.
Sal: Yeah. So that's great. So just starting it off, I always like to see what are the three simplest things that you think that lead to success? It could be fitness, health, personal, you know, anything in general.
Bryan: Yeah, this one's a good one because like I tell my clients all the time, like I'm in the process of building my own business, which feels a lot like a weight loss journey.
There are a lot of parallels and you can see the people that lose the most weight and when I follow my own advice, good things happen. So like, for example, one of the things is like straight up, just surrendering to the process. Like figure out what works from. Somebody who's ahead of where you're at or somebody who is good at coaching other people and just do it.
Don't even ask questions. Just run it and see how you feel on it. And then kind of Bruce Lee it from that point. Take what works and leave whatever doesn't. So surrendering to the process would be number one. Number two would be a positive mindset the entire time. Not a past fail mindset where it's like, oh, I messed up, or, ugh, I finally did it.
It's more along the lines of, I'm either winning or I'm learning. So there's really no downside. It's like the Edison thing where it's like he didn't fail a thousand times. He figured a thousand ways not to do it. So now you don't have to waste time doing it the wrong way.
Sal: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Just like the Green Bay Packers never lost a football game. They just ran out of time.
Bryan: Exactly. They just ran out of time. Yeah. I mean there's something to it. And I mean, those are like the big two, but I'm trying to think of a third. And honestly, if I was gonna like round it off with anything, it would be a community that supports you.
Like with my clients, we have our online community and we're always like going on Zoom calls throughout the week or even just popping on the phone with me where it's like you can talk each other off the ledge a little bit. You could get a different fresh perspective on your situation because so many of us are so good at getting in our own heads.
And just making everything worse than it actually is. And then just bouncing ideas off somebody, or just hearing yourself say something, puts it in perspective and you're like, all right, it's not that bad. And then you're back on track and you're pushing forward.
Sal: Mm-hmm. Definitely. And like you said, having that support group I think is beneficial in anything.
Athletics, business, personal. Cause if you're hearing good things and positivity, you know it's possible. If you got people that are telling you, “Hey, come this way”, this is, you know, whatever. It's a lot tougher.
Bryan: Yeah. And I mean, when it comes to business, for example, I mean, I've been in a bunch of groups where people are trying to build their businesses. And in recent ones, like past ones I've known some people that transitioned to different careers cause they couldn't figure it out and they're, and some of them are a little bit of negative Nancy's, and then I go to the conference I just got back from and there's people doing what I'm doing, making millions of dollars and it's like, okay, that's possible.
So being in the room with the right people also helps too. Like you want to be around people that are on the same mission as you. Not ready to call it quits.
Sal: Yeah, well I did see you posted something about that. That was nuts. There was a lot of big names there. Yeah, that looked pretty neat.
Bryan: Alex and Leila Hormozi for some people that know those names.
Sal: Yeah, I mean that's enough right there.
Bryan: Tom Bilyeu. It was nuts.
Sal: That's awesome. Where was it?
Bryan: Yeah, that was in Phoenix.
Sal: That's awesome. I'm sure there was crazy good information from all those different speakers.
Bryan: Oh, absolutely. And anybody who's ever been to a conference for anything knows speakers are great, but the real value is in the hallway, like at dinner, at lunch, when you're out with people and you're just shooting the shit. That's where the value's at.
Sal: That's awesome. Did you get to talk to, you know, the speakers or was just, just the people that were attending?
Bryan: One guy I actually got to spend a lot of time with, wasn't a speaker at this one, but he was when I went to Raise the Bar, which is another conference in Dallas in February.
And I also saw him in New York at Strong New York in October. And his name's Andrew Coates. I don't know if you've heard of him. He's a big dude with red hair.
Sal: Okay, yeah maybe
Bryan: Yeah. He's Andrew Coates, I think is like the Instagram handle and me and him got to chopping it up a little bit and that was really awesome, just being able to hang with him for a little bit. And he's a veteran in the space, so pretty cool.
Sal: That's awesome.
Bryan: Yeah, and I mean, my mentor that, like I'm in the mentorship for right now, Jason Phillips like owns and runs the whole NCI and all that. So got to see him, my other mentor coaches. So it was really cool. But the individual speakers were pretty much like in and out because they're those types of people that are like, I got like a thousand other things to do today. Nice to talk to you, bye.
Sal: Yeah, I'm sure that's really neat though. So, I mean, fitness and all this stuff has kind of been huge in your life. Do you have any specific experience or kind of what led you to pursue this career and wanna be in health and fitness?
Bryan: Yeah. Well, I mean, it all started with, I guess you could put it all the way back to high school trying to beat the s*** out of, or sorry, am I allowed to curse on this podcast?
Sal: Yeah. Yeah. You can curse.
Bryan: All right. I wanted to beat the s*** out of the Summit Hilltoppers. And that was a prime driver. But no, I mean, like any dude does in the beginning, like I started lifting in like maybe seventh, eighth grade, cause my parents had one of those like machines that they never used.
And I'm like, I'm old enough to lift now. Right? And my dad's like, yeah, screw it. It's a machine. You can't really hurt yourself. So started on that to try and get some muscle for the ladies and then from there, did it for football. And got that high hitting the thousand pound club and all that and like really falling in love with the gym environment.
And then in college it was just to offset the booze. And then from there I did it part-time when I was trying to be a firefighter or a police officer.
Sal: That’s awesome.
Bryan: Yeah, and then like that was a political minefield that I wanted no part in. That I'm like, I like the fitness thing way better. I'm over here, I'm good.
And then I found out that training moms and dads over 40 I really found the most fulfilling, and that's what I'm doing to this day.
Sal: Yeah, the Fit 40 plus Club.
Bryan: Oh yeah.
Sal: Yeah. And you do have your own podcast too. You're over like a hundred episodes now, no?
Bryan: Yeah, just put out number 113.
Sal: That's awesome. And then that's, that's your main clientele. It's mainly the moms and dads over 40.
Bryan: Yeah, mostly moms because I mean, it's known in the trainers space that women are the best clients. Not trying to generalize by gender, but it is true that 9 times out of 10 when you meet a dude, he's like, well, I used to lift in high school, I kind of know what I'm doing, so just gimme like one or two things. And then the women are like, just tell me what to do. I'll do it. Which as a coach is like awesome cause they're like a blank slate. So you pretty much can tell them exactly what to do.
Sal: Yeah. And I'm sure you got people that this is their first experience with a trainer or even trying to totally change their lifestyle.
Bryan: Yeah. But the sad fact of it is, it's actually more times the opposite.
Sal: Oh, really?
Bryan: Not so much working with a professional. But I mean, by the time somebody's come to me and reached out they've probably tried anywhere from like 5 to 10 different diet attempts in their life. And some of these people have lost insane amounts of weight, like 60, 80, 100 pounds, and it all comes right back because we don't really have a weight loss problem it's a weight maintenance issue.
Sal: Yeah, all the stuff I see you post and like all your type of content, it's just like against that quick fix cause it's not sustainable, it's just too hard for anybody, no matter if you're a prime athlete or you're just, you know, an average Joe.
Bryan: Yeah. And there are specific situations like one of the guys that I did get the opportunity to listen to speak at that conference in Dallas, I mentioned prior, he's Ryan Reynolds trainer and Blake Lively.
And when you have those like 8 to 12 weeks before shooting, it's like, that's when that like a lot of the approaches you see makes sense. But people take that and they're like, oh, a movie star did it, so that's what I should do. But they don't realize that like that movie star grinded for like 12 weeks with no intention of actually keeping it.
Sal: Mm-hmm. No, that's good. And then that kind of leads into just like an interesting topic. So that's like a very hard thing to do, 8 to 12 weeks like that. So do you find that passion or motivation is more important then. In somebody, we could do a twofold, you could talk about a client and somebody on their health, you know, journey and then you as a business owner.
Bryan: Yeah, I mean, I would say those are both great, but the one that trumps the both of them is purpose.
Sal: There you go.
Bryan: Like getting into like the why of it, because as soon as s*** gets hard and you don't have a legitimate why or a legitimate purpose pushing you forward. It's like, what the hell am I doing this for? Like I want the easy route because any normal logical person would be like, screw this I wanna do the thing I actually want to do.
Sal: Yeah. No, that's great.
Bryan: Yeah, but it just comes down to mapping it out. Because that's like what works best for me is like, I need to know I suck with long-term planning, like the whole 5, 10 year thing, not my jam, not my jam. But like a year from now I'll be like, all right, if I could grow X amount, then that's great.
Now what do I have to do to get there? And then every time I'm like, ugh, I don't wanna do this, then it's like, all right, that year goal is staring me in the face and do I actually want it or does it just sound nice?
Sal: Yeah, but that, that falls back to what you said earlier. So cause you said you gotta have the purpose for it, but then you also gotta l fall in love with the process too. That was one of your points for the leading to success, so it goes hand in hand.
Bryan: Absolutely. If you're not enjoying it, what the hell's the point?
Sal: Yeah. And then you think that purpose is definitely for you as well. It's just those are both for somebody doing, you know, health and fitness and then you as a business owner.
Bryan: Yeah. I mean, I've come to the conclusion that like all of us are pretty like selfish in our endeavors because we always, we gotta look out for number one. Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with that, but there's a way to do it in a way that makes you happiest. And for me, if I could put a roof over my head, like take care of my family, and do all these other things while helping other people, then that's what I want to do. Like, we all gonna make money somehow. That's just my way, my preferred way.
Sal: Yeah. And you're helping people every day, which is great.
Bryan: Exactly.
Sal: And then when you're working with people, is there like any type of quote, motto, mantra, or just anything you try to instill in your clients?
Bryan: Good thing were on video. I got right here. Better beats perfect.
Sal: Okay.
Bryan: And it gets at the whole idea of like, if you want to be perfect, you're setting yourself up to fail.
Sal: You’re never gonna start.
Bryan: Yeah. One, you're never gonna start. And if you do the second it goes wrong, “ugh, I give up”. But if you're always striving to be better, then it gets back to that original point where it's like, we're either winning or we're learning. And if you're learning, you're better.
Sal: And then perfection, you're gonna be chasing it forever.
Bryan: Exactly. Nobody's ever perfect. And honestly, that was probably the biggest thing I noticed from talking to people at those conferences and stuff. Like every person that you could look at and say, damn, they've made it. All of them are always working on the next thing, or one more thing, or how to make it better.
It's a never ending game. And I actually heard this on Hormozi podcast recently. He put it really well when he's like, we're trying to apply finite game theory to an infinite game. So it's not win or lose when you're talking about business, when you're talking about your health, it's you win and you keep winning and you keep winning. It's not like you just stop.
Sal: No, that's great. And then I like that better beats perfect. I mean, I see that with businesses, brands that I work with, with content. I mean, just put it out there and just start posting. Because if you're trying to get it perfect. It's probably never gonna get posted and it’s probably never gonna get out there.
Bryan: Yeah. If you want some motivation look at my TikTok from the very beginning to now.
Sal: Yeah. Bryan started right at the prime time for TikTok. What do you have, like over 30,000 followers?
Bryan: Probably like 36 right about now. But it stalled like TikTok gave away free followers pretty much.
And now it's just like, nope, we're making money. So I struck while the iron was hot.
Sal: Yeah, a hundred percent you did. And then you're on YouTube too, no?
Bryan: Yep. I'm pretty much everywhere. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. But Facebook is the one I'm diving into most now.
Sal: Oh yeah?
Bryan: Yep.
Sal: I mean that's where your clientele is too.
Bryan: We’ve got that Facebook group. Yep, I mean, one thing I did learn from my previous employer is that when you're trying to find people in the 40 plus population that you're gonna actually like, provide value to and eventually work with, Facebook is the place to go.
Sal: Yeah, definitely.
Bryan: And then from the Facebook groups are awesome at providing nurture.
Sal: And the private Facebook groups, it goes back to what you said about the community. It provides a whole other support group for those people in that group and then especially if you're running it cause you have the Fit 40 group, it's just all in one, which is great.
Bryan: Absolutely. It's a fun time because it gets you out of the traditional model of selling where it's like, make a product, advertise the s*** out of it, and then pray to God the people buy. There's like really no other process than that. But when you can nurture them through a Facebook group, it's like the 90% of people that are gonna be freebie chasers are gonna get their fill. And then the other 10%, you could keep them around and try and teach them, and hopefully they hop on.
Sal: Well, yeah. I mean, you're providing all that value. So eventually when somebody wants to take that action, they're gonna be like, all right, well this dude's legit. Let me start working with him.
Bryan: Yeah. It's that front of mind presence where it's like if they got a problem, they have one person in mind where they're gonna go to. You just wanna be that person.
Sal: A hundred percent. So you've been doing this for a while now. When’d you start like 2014, 2015? Like professionally?
Bryan: Yeah. Oh crap. When was that?
Sal: I saw you when you were doing your internship. It was probably like 2014 or 15 I feel like.
Bryan: Yeah, I think 2014 was about it because I worked at well, it was basically a curves before that, and that's actually where I got to realize that I like working with the ladies that are older and trying to work on stuff that matters a lot more than on field performance. So, yeah 2014.
Sal: Yeah. So over those years, if you have a setback, how do you move forward past that?
Bryan: I mean, it all depends on what it is and identifying it first. Because like, It's weird, like I'm actually a big fan of horror movies. So like, this is gonna come full circle, don't worry. But one of the movies, it's like these demons and stuff. And it's like one thing you have to do to defeat the demon is to name it first. And then you know what to do next because you know what their weaknesses are, you know how to fix it.
And I'm like, that's how, kind of how I feel about like, when clients are on the phone with me and they're like stressed out beyond belief and they're like, oh my God, I feel like I'm not making progress. Oh my God. Like, this is terrible. I gained a pound, and it's like pump the brakes. What happened to get us to this point?
And a lot of times it's like, oh, my job just got overwhelming because somebody quit. Or like they had a family issue and they didn't bring that up, but they were like, oh, it's the weight. Oh, it's this. Oh, it's that. And it's like, let's identify what the real thing is and then we could go after that.
And then for me, like from a business standpoint, sometimes like you have those like random moments where you're like, oh my God, the ship's sinking. The ship's sinking, and you're like, Wait, no, it's not because I always had my numbers. Like one thing I always fall back on, especially with clients too, is data.
So having the numbers to compare and contrast, like literally right here, I have last year's April, and then this year's April, and it's like, it keeps things in perspective a hundred percent.
Sal: That's great. I mean, like you said, any anybody's gonna come across some type of setback and that's definitely a great way to go after it. Gotta name it.
Bryan: It all, it all depends on how you frame it. Is it a setback or is it a learning opportunity?
Sal: Yeah. It goes back to your whole positive mindset type thing.
Bryan: Exactly. And that's the frame of mind that helps you be in a better place to make better decisions. Because if you're in this defeatist mindset of like, I tried it, I failed, I suck. Where do you think that line of thinking is gonna take you?
Sal: Yeah. So, and then another, we, we have another this or that type question. So does hard work beat talent or does talent beat hard work? I know that there's an actual phrase saying for it, we're gonna leave the end off.
Bryan: hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
Sal: Well, that's the, that's the saying. Yeah. So you're sticking with the full saying
Bryan: I think like, To bring it back to like, say a guy like Hormozi, for example. Okay. Like that is one talented dude. He went to Vanderbilt, graduated in three years. Had a like six figure job right outta college, and then he transitioned his purpose to fitness and then boom, it exploded. Yeah, like that is talent that works relentlessly hard. Now you got me on the other hand, who was never good at anything. The second that I tried it, I still like, I literally just hit a bunch of golf balls today. Still suck, but. Like with business, I like got a little bit ahead cuz of that TikTok bump.
And the fact that like mentors are so readily available, so I'm hauling ass, just trying to be like decent. So I think that everybody, if they work hard, is capable of doing way better than 99.9% of people out there. It just depends on finding that purpose and then surrounding yourself with people that'll drive you forward. And like mentors or peers that are doing it too. And then, Busting your ass doing the boring work.
Sal: Yeah because the boring stuff is what gets you there.
Bryan: unfortunately
Sal: Yeah. It's like anything else.
Bryan: Yep. It's like, again, where Mosey keeps coming up, but he, he's got a really good saying , no, he's, he's
Sal: no, he's, great. I mean, I watch all his content,
Bryan: so yeah, he, he's got a point that he drives home all the time. Then he is like, you usually don't have to do something different. You just have to identify the things that you do really well and do more of those. So like for a lot of people that could be really good content or really good writing, or like the fact that you're really good at working with clients, maybe just like having them on your podcast or something like that.
Sal: No, definitely. So I feel like our listeners are gonna want a little bit, you know, of a tidbit of information here so everybody asks, which you're totally against, like a quick hack or a quick diet or something like that. But like what's something that if somebody's listening to this right now, what can they implement right now into their life that. Maybe we'll help them take that next step in the health or in the fitness journey.
Bryan: Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, the majority of people want to lose weight. Because right now, obesity is somewhere in the ballpark of 40 to 50%, like. Two thirds, or sorry. Yeah. Two thirds to three quarters of adults are obese or not obese, overweight.
Sal: Oh, wow.
Bryan: So I'll just attack, yeah. It's kind of a scary statistic, but I'll just attack this from the standpoint of like, people want to lose weight. Because that is a distinction we have to make. It's not just fit or not fit. So when it comes to like losing weight, one of the only way to do it is to reduce your calorie intake regardless of whatever some hormone guru tells you.
Like you need to find a way to reduce your calories, and that's why like these hormone protocols usually result in eating more whole foods. Because whole foods you can eat so much of that. You. It's so hard to get too many calories by eating nothing but lean meats, veggies, and healthy fats. You can, but it's hard.
So the easiest way to go about it from the beginning is to increase or even substitute. Whole food options or very minimally processed options for the stuff that's very highly processed. Because when we get into that like gray space of what's processed, what's not, like the stuff we all know, the stuff that comes in, like packages and boxes and plastic wrap usually is loaded with salt.
It's usually loaded with like the fats that we don't want and it's usually not that filling. So it's delicious. It's not filling, and we eat a crap ton of it, and it usually has a lot of calories in it, so it's like a set of,
Sal: and it lasts forever
Bryan: it lasts forever. Yeah. Yeah. So getting away from those or just making sure that we have some sort of structure around it.
Like, I don't like using the word restriction, but like when we have like a structure to follow, say like 80 20, 80% of your food is whole or minimally processed. The other 20 are stuff that we absolutely love to have that we can't have all the time. And that's a good place to go. And another one would be just getting your calorie count in check.
Like, I wouldn't say going into like a 1200 calorie deficit is not ideal. It's not ideal for most people, but I would just like track just to see what certain foods are, throw it on the scale. Be anal about it because guesstimating is the reason that people fail on calorie restrictive diets cuz they don't actually measure anything.
So if you measure everything to a tee and see some of these calorie or high calorie foods that you might not necessarily think are high calorie, you'll. You'll naturally start to make better decisions because tracking in itself as a tool actually reduces calorie intake just because nobody wants to put down, yeah, I just ate half a cake.I have done that, but that's not here nor there.
Sal: Yeah. So then what about the like a lot of people talk about when you're shopping at the grocery store, does that sticking to the perimeter, like actually work
Bryan: Absolutely. And the other thing I tell people when they go to the grocery store is to have a list, because bad decisions happen when you don't know what you're going in for and you're like, I'm just gonna go through every aisle.
Let's just, I'll grab what I need as I go. And that's a money saving tip too, because then you end up buying stuff that you don't need. It sits around and you don't end up using it, even though in, in the grocery store, you're like, I'll probably end up using that.
Sal: Yeah. That's definitely great information for our listeners, so thank you.
Bryan: Yeah, of course. I say that as I have like one of those Thai chicken, like pre-packaged things in the, in the pantry for the last six months. So yeah. But I'm guilty of everything I'm talking about. Mm-hmm. But it definitely helps to reduce how many times you do it.
Sal: Yeah, a hundred percent. I think everybody's guilty of, you know, having something unhealthy and then, you know, not shopping on the perimeter, but like you said. If you're doing it every day, it's probably not good. If you're doing it maybe on the weekend, then you might start to see some results.
Bryan: Yeah. And if we're on the topic of groceries and stuff. I mean, one of the best things you could do is like, only buy the essentials. And then if you want those sweet treats or those snacks and stuff, just don't buy them at the grocery store.
Like, just make a make a conscious effort that it's either gonna be, you gotta go out and get it at the convenience store when you have a hankering for it, or the grocery store or whatever. Because that's like productive laziness. Where it's like, do we really want to go and grab a tub of ice cream and throw our sandals on? And throw the sweat shoes or sweatpants on, get in the car, go there, wait in line, like I'm getting annoyed, just listing off the things to do. Yeah. So it's a way to put a productive barrier in between you.
Sal: So that's, yeah. So what you just said, have you read the atomic Habit's book?
Bryan: That's where I got it from.
Sal: Yeah, so I was just gonna mention that that's literally what it says to make, however you wanna stop, just make it harder and harder to do that. So that's basically what you're doing.
Bryan: It's logic. I mean, if you're, if you're lazy, use it to your advantage . I'm really freaking lazy, but it makes me more productive cuz I put out the least amount of effort possible so I could put high energy into that brief moment of time.
Sal: Yeah, no, that's awesome. And that was one of the big takeaways I got from that book. I mean, I've used some of the stuff too, just like putting something somewhere and then you don't even think about it. Or it makes it that much harder to, you know, do the bad habit that you wanna break.
Bryan: Yeah. One, one thing I tried from that book actually that worked really well is like on road trips and stuff. Like, you know how we all get the bag of like Skittles or like we go for fast food or whatever. And it just sits there and we just smell it. We look at it and it's like only a matter of time before we eat it. Throwing that in the glove compartment or in that like middle thing, like if it's a protein bar or like a candy, like out of sight, out of mind works incredibly well.
Sal: No, that's great. So you read that. Have you read any other books that you think are great or what are you reading right now if you already read the Atomic Habits book?
Bryan: Atomic Habits is good. I got a long list. My audible is stacked.
Sal: Do you read it from the phone or you listen?
Bryan: I would prefer to listen while I read it because apparently that's the best way to do it. But I'm honest with myself. Like at night, I don't want to read a book. I really don't. So I just, like, I still train people in their homes, like a handful of people. So when I go to train them, I just pop it in on those drives and I knock out a good amount of books.
So one of the ones that I'm glad I pulled up. Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink.
Sal: Okay. Yes. I've seen his videos on YouTube and his podcast.
Bryan: Yeah, that's like Atomic Habits, how to Win Friends and Influence People, and then Extreme Ownership are like by top three.
Sal: Yeah, I just got done reading How to Win Friends and Influence People was definitely great.
Bryan: Yeah. That's a must read for anybody that has to like work with other people. Like if you're not like one of those tech people that just locks yourself in a room and doesn't associate with anybody. If you're in that space where you have a team or you have clients that you have to service How to Win Friends and Influence People is just, it's invaluable.
Sal: Yeah. And it ties into the whole positive mindset, like you said, because not criticizing, just keep encouraging people.
Bryan: Yeah. That's a hard one. Like for me personally. Like I also, oh, Daily Stoic is another good one because like when we're talking about how to get outta ruts and stuff, that helps make sense of things a little bit.
But one of the rules in that is don't complain and try going an entire day without complaining. Especially in our neck of the woods with the drivers and the other crap we have to deal with. It's hard. But you feel really good at the end of the day.
Sal: Yeah, that's definitely hard. One that I've read was actually cause , all the ones you listed, like I said, you look on top business books a lot of people have read them.
Giftology. You ever heard of it?
Bryan: I have, I wanna dive more into that one.
Sal: I read it. It's actually really good.
Bryan: Yeah. That's more about getting people like the right gift, not like an expensive one, right?
Sal: Yeah. Well it, yeah. So it's like they talk about like luxury, but not luxury, spending a lot of money.
They're talking about luxury where you can't get the gift that's that accessible. So like if you want to get your client a nice gift, or your boss, whatever, a nice gift. Don't go to like Target and buy something. There's nothing wrong with Target, but let's say you bought something for full price. When you bought it, you actually bought a full price.
But now they got that thing on 75% off. They go in there with their family. They're like, oh, what? Like even though you didn't get it, they're in that sale. That’s just what they think right off the bat. So it's finding like a gift that's not that accessible to people that you can gift that's like special.
Bryan: Yeah, I like that. And it also, you gotta make sure that you know the person you're buying for.
Sal: Well, that's what they said. Don't get a gift that you think that they're gonna, like, you got a gift that they actually like.
Bryan: Yeah, I'm gonna be given that a read through around like October, November, like right before Christmas and see if it works.
Sal: Yeah, but in the book it says you're not supposed to gift at that time of year, so read it then and wait till March to do it. That's a good time to read it.
Bryan: No, I'm glad that you said that because I totally would've like, gotten halfway through the book and been like, damn.
Sal: Yeah, no, that's, that's a perfect time to read it cause they even talk about like the holidays. Everybody, no matter kind of what you are, you're celebrating some type of holiday around New Year's, whatever it is, Christmas, Hanukkah, you know, whatever it is, most people are celebrating something. And they're getting all nonsense, like sending somebody a gift basket of food and stuff they don't even like. Like it shows no effort. And that person might not even like the stuff that's in it, or they might be allergic to it.
Bryan: It's true.
Sal: So they're like, don't do that. Everybody's getting bombarded with those gifts. You wait till February, March, get them something that's actually meaningful to them. Boom. So much more of an impact than just the generic let me have my assistant send a fruit basket to you.
Bryan: Yeah. And one of the things that I know hits big, like I've heard people like in MySpace talk about. Not MySpace, but my area.
Sal: MySpace is done.
Bryan: Yeah. Don't go to MySpace, they're dead. But in the fitness space, One thing that hits really well that I think hit in a lot of different industries is a handwritten card. So, I gotta get my penmanship up because mine sucks. But that's one thing going forward that I'm gonna try and get more involved with and like do more of.
Sal: I mean just for a gift, but also for like marketing too. Like think about all the stuff we get now that's all just either digital or just printed out. You do something handwritten, boom, you're making a huge impact.
Bryan: Absolutely.
Sal: No, that's great. I have people that I work with that they still do handwritten, you know, cards and postcards to people they just did business with, or people they're trying to do business with. It converts like crazy.
Bryan: Yeah, absolutely.
Sal: No, that's awesome. Well, Bryan, thank you very much for being on the podcast. I feel like this information was very valuable to all our listeners. Before we go, what's one final piece of advice you would give to our listeners? Just to help them take another step towards success.
I know you touched on a little bit with the, with the health and fitness, but like just in general.
Bryan: Yeah, I mean, it plays into both. So if you're listening to this because you're trying to lose a few, or if you're trying to build your business or like grow success is to take it slow and have a handle on your metrics, like make sure you know what your data is and make good decisions going forward based on data, not emotion. And more times than not, you're good to go.
Sal: That's awesome. Like I said, again, thank you very much for being on. If anybody has any questions, feel free to reach out. And Bryan's on almost every social media platform. He's got his website. Do you want to give any of those real quick so everybody can connect with you if they have any questions?
Bryan: Sure. I mean, best place to find me is like to connect is Instagram or Facebook. So Instagram is coach_FITZZ. Facebook is just Bryan Fitzsimmons, and our website is www.fit40coaching.com.