Episode #49 - The Community Kick Bag Of Inspiration: An Interview With Elizabeth Lehr

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Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

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determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

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This is Speaking From The Heart.

Joshua: 00:00:11

Welcome back to episode number 49 of Speaking From the Heart.

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Today our guest is Elizabeth Lear, which she is the general manager of

Joshua: 00:00:20

KickHouse in York and Hershey, which if you're not familiar with the concept

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of KickHouse, it is a kickboxing gym in which has many different places

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across 13 states of the United States.

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They're not just a kickboxing studio though, they are available for people

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of all fitness levels, and they also are a place of good vibes and a

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mental escape for all the different types of stresses life provides.

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She's been involved in the fitness field for over 15 years and enjoys

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the energy of group fitness with the motivating and energetic atmosphere.

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Now KickHouse, although a franchise, provides some aspects such as

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ClassicKick, PowerKick, RecoveryKick, FamilyKicks, KicksOnDemand, which is

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their virtual platform, amongst other types of kickboxing style classes for

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30 minute sessions in a class format.

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Now for Beth, I was really thrilled and excited to hear about her journey

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getting into the fitness industry, and even some of the most unique

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travels that she's been involved in to get to that point in her life.

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I will also say with this that although we have featured many different types

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of gym owners and franchise owners in the past when it comes to the fitness

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community, I really found this episode to be very interesting and helpful, even for

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my own perspective, because it doesn't matter where you are in your life, even

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with the biggest challenges that we have faced over the last several years,

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especially with the COVID Pandemic, I find it that the biggest joy isn't just about

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exercise, but about community as well.

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But with that, let's go the episode.

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All right.

Joshua: 00:02:05

We're here with Elizabeth Lear.

Joshua: 00:02:07

Elizabeth, thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

Beth: 00:02:11

Thank you for having me, Josh.

Beth: 00:02:13

I'm excited.

Joshua: 00:02:14

I am too, and I want to thank you for taking some time because we were

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talking right before the show and the audience heard everything that you are

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doing and it's incredibly busy for you.

Joshua: 00:02:25

I'm sure.

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I want to start off with this because I've had some fitness gurus on my show

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already and I'm really curious about what got you started in the fitness industry,

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because every time I ask this question, there's always seems to be a unique story

Joshua: 00:02:42

behind it and I would love to hear yours.

Beth: 00:02:45

Well it's a good one.

Beth: 00:02:46

I had my third child 16 years ago, and I was like, "Okay, he's six weeks old.

Beth: 00:02:54

He can go to a babysitter at the gym, so I got to get back in shape with three

Beth: 00:02:58

kids I'm chasing around now", so I went to the YMCA and put him in the little

Beth: 00:03:02

daycare and I was actually walking past kickboxing class on my way to a

Beth: 00:03:08

treadmill because a lot of people go to the treadmill when they don't really know

Beth: 00:03:11

what to do in the gym, which I didn't.

Beth: 00:03:14

Then I'm walking past the kickboxing class and I saw someone I knew

Beth: 00:03:17

and she's like, "You should try this", and I was like, "Mm.

Beth: 00:03:20

I don't know if I'll like that."

Beth: 00:03:23

16 years later, I am the general manager of two kickboxing studios.

Joshua: 00:03:27

Wow.

Beth: 00:03:29

So it literally took about two classes and I was like, "This is the

Beth: 00:03:34

best thing I've ever done in my life."

Beth: 00:03:36

I was completely obsessed with it, and next thing you knew, I got a

Beth: 00:03:41

certification that came to the YMCA and I got certified to start teaching some

Beth: 00:03:45

classes here and there, and then I was asked to be a master trainer through a

Beth: 00:03:51

company out of Florida; a professional kickboxer who owns that company.

Beth: 00:03:55

I went to Florida and I became a master trainer for kickboxing,

Beth: 00:03:58

and like I said I've been pretty obsessed with it ever since.

Joshua: 00:04:03

First off, I have to say that kickboxing is definitely

Joshua: 00:04:05

a unique sport in itself.

Joshua: 00:04:07

I know a few people personally that have been training in that sort

Joshua: 00:04:12

of sport for a number of years.

Joshua: 00:04:14

I've been influenced myself by some likeness of kickboxing, I guess you

Joshua: 00:04:20

could say, by those like John Claude Van Damm and the movies, although

Joshua: 00:04:24

that's not really kickboxing, that's something completely different, but I

Joshua: 00:04:28

almost think of that in the same genre.

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In that vein of questioning, because of my ignorance of it, can you explain the

Joshua: 00:04:35

difference between what I usually see on movies as maybe martial arts as opposed

Joshua: 00:04:41

to what you do, which is kickboxing?

Joshua: 00:04:43

What's the difference?

Beth: 00:04:45

What I do is definitely fitness only.

Beth: 00:04:48

The studios that I run, KickHouse, our studio is filled with bags

Beth: 00:04:52

and you put some gloves on, and it is you versus the bag.

Beth: 00:04:56

We do not do any sparring in our studios.

Beth: 00:04:59

There is no contact.

Beth: 00:05:00

We get a lot of calls about that.

Beth: 00:05:02

" Hey, do you do s sparring?

Beth: 00:05:03

No, we're fitness only, but I can tell you a couple places to do

Beth: 00:05:06

that", and advise someone where to go, or I get the "Oh my gosh, do

Beth: 00:05:10

you spar?", and it's fitness only.

Beth: 00:05:15

It is you and your bag, so our classes are designed for all fitness levels.

Beth: 00:05:21

You could have Floyd Mayweather at one bag and you could have a

Beth: 00:05:25

60 year old woman who on the next bag that could be the same class.

Beth: 00:05:29

It's just where everybody takes what level they want to be at.

Beth: 00:05:32

How hard do you want to hit?

Beth: 00:05:34

Where do you want to take it?

Beth: 00:05:35

The difference is we are just fitness only.

Beth: 00:05:37

No sparring, but those movies; they're pretty cool though,

Beth: 00:05:40

and they get people excited.

Joshua: 00:05:43

They got me excited, especially being a young boy myself, wanting to

Joshua: 00:05:47

get involved with violence, which that's a whole other subject matter, but-

Beth: 00:05:52

We get some husband and wives that come in and couples

Beth: 00:05:55

and stuff, and they're like, "Oh."

Beth: 00:05:57

I'm like, "Listen, not in here."

Beth: 00:05:59

Anything that happens outside of the studio is all you,

Beth: 00:06:01

but in here, it's no contact.

Joshua: 00:06:03

Beth, I want to ask you, when you were talking about how you got

Joshua: 00:06:09

to this journey, especially becoming a general manager, were there some

Joshua: 00:06:14

people along the way that helped you and influenced you to be able to become

Joshua: 00:06:20

a general manager of these locations?

Joshua: 00:06:23

Tell us a little bit about who those people are, and you don't have to

Joshua: 00:06:26

necessarily share names if you don't feel comfortable, but I would love to

Joshua: 00:06:29

hear how those people influence the Beth that I'm talking to right now.

Beth: 00:06:35

When I was telling you that I became a master trainer, Thomas "The

Beth: 00:06:39

Promise", he was a world known kickboxer.

Beth: 00:06:43

He was actually the first American kickboxer to go and fight in Korea.

Beth: 00:06:49

I was invited by him to go down to Florida and did his, it's like a retreat.

Beth: 00:06:55

It was a few days that we spent in Florida, and that group

Beth: 00:06:59

of people changed my life.

Beth: 00:07:02

That was my first.

Beth: 00:07:04

I had already told you now, I just had my third child, it was just exactly

Beth: 00:07:09

what I needed at the perfect time.

Beth: 00:07:11

I was a mother with three children.

Beth: 00:07:13

I still hadn't really figured out what I wanted to do with my life.

Beth: 00:07:16

Is there a career in fitness at that point?

Beth: 00:07:19

I didn't know.

Beth: 00:07:20

I was just here and there and I'm paying for all these certifications

Beth: 00:07:23

and my husband's like, "You're kind of dishing out more than you're making.

Beth: 00:07:28

You know what?", and I'm like, "No, I'm telling this is going to pay off.

Beth: 00:07:30

This is going to pay off.

Beth: 00:07:31

This is all going to be worth it.

Beth: 00:07:32

I want to do this.", so I went down to Florida, and was the first

Beth: 00:07:36

time I, you know, I'm a country Pennsylvania girl right here.

Beth: 00:07:40

I was in a facility with 20, 30 people from all over the United

Beth: 00:07:45

States, so I had no choice but to be outgoing and these were the most

Beth: 00:07:50

motivating fitness people I ever met.

Beth: 00:07:54

It was just good vibes and made me feel good, and I mean, this was now the first

Beth: 00:07:59

time I went there was 14 years ago.

Beth: 00:08:02

I'm still in contact with those people.

Beth: 00:08:04

Those are the people that are the first on my Facebook to say, "Way to

Beth: 00:08:08

go", " Oh my God, look at you doing the thing", and no matter what, that

Beth: 00:08:12

is a group of people that I know I could go years without talking to and

Beth: 00:08:16

still reach out to them, and they would answer my questions or, I needed some

Beth: 00:08:20

advice a few years ago on nutrition.

Beth: 00:08:23

We have some nutrition certifications through that company.

Beth: 00:08:25

I reached right out and I had five people just getting right back to me.

Beth: 00:08:30

"Oh my God, Beth, how you doing", blah, blah.

Beth: 00:08:32

That was really life changing, and when I flew home, that was like

Beth: 00:08:36

my first time flying by myself and going there, I was a nervous wreck.

Beth: 00:08:41

I walked on that plane on the way back with more confidence

Beth: 00:08:45

that I had ever had in my life.

Beth: 00:08:48

I was just determined I was going to nail this, that those people lit a

Beth: 00:08:52

fire under me that I did not know I had, and I came home and at one point

Beth: 00:08:57

right before KickHouse happened, I was training at five gyms in one day.

Joshua: 00:09:03

Wow.

Beth: 00:09:04

Yeah, I was like, personal training here, and then I'd go teach a

Beth: 00:09:07

class here, and then I'd hit this one.

Beth: 00:09:08

I'd start at 5:30 on the other side of Harrisburg, and I

Beth: 00:09:12

would just work my way home.

Beth: 00:09:14

I was home by 6:00 PM but I was just hitting all these gyms on the way home and

Beth: 00:09:18

it was like, "Okay, I'm going to do this.

Beth: 00:09:20

Something is going to work out here."

Beth: 00:09:21

Then I met my owner Carol, at KickHouse, and my life completely

Beth: 00:09:26

changed, and I feel like I was just set up for this; it was really hard.

Beth: 00:09:31

It was really hard, but I'm just so happy now, and I think if I had to

Beth: 00:09:35

pick people, those were the people.

Joshua: 00:09:37

I appreciate you sharing this because it made me think of somebody

Joshua: 00:09:41

that I just interviewed, about two months ago, where I actually had a high school

Joshua: 00:09:49

friend that I haven't talked to in over 18 years, and we interviewed for the first

Joshua: 00:09:54

time on my podcast and we talked about what some of those things are that we

Joshua: 00:09:58

have been able to grow in and been able to achieve, although there has always

Joshua: 00:10:03

been some struggle along the way, but I find it really empowering that those

Joshua: 00:10:07

are still the people that are still your cheerleaders, which I've always said in

Joshua: 00:10:11

my practice, especially being a coach myself, of having those people in your

Joshua: 00:10:16

corner, literally, when it comes to-

Beth: 00:10:19

Yeah.

Joshua: 00:10:19

Having those obstacles that you're overcoming, so I really love that you

Joshua: 00:10:23

said that, Beth, because I think that we often don't have those people, especially

Joshua: 00:10:28

when we're going through all kinds of different types of things and different

Joshua: 00:10:32

types of stresses, which now leads into my next question, speaking of stresses,

Joshua: 00:10:37

because I'm definitely one of those people that I sometimes go to the gym, I feel

Joshua: 00:10:43

great, I'll do my workout, and I want to do what I need to do, and I go home.

Joshua: 00:10:48

Well, other times I go in and I'm like, "Ugh.

Joshua: 00:10:53

Why am I here?

Joshua: 00:10:54

Why did I really do this?"

Joshua: 00:10:56

For you as somebody that, as a general manager, someone that has become a master

Joshua: 00:11:01

trainer yourself, what do you say you do differently at KickHouse as opposed to

Joshua: 00:11:06

some of these other gyms, because I've asked this question and other people that

Joshua: 00:11:10

have been on this show have talked about all kinds of different things that they

Joshua: 00:11:14

do, and I find them all unique and I'm sure that you have a unique proposition

Joshua: 00:11:19

for people that would join or want to at least try it out, so can you share a

Joshua: 00:11:24

little bit about what makes you different?

Beth: 00:11:27

Well again, we're all group fitness and we offer personal

Beth: 00:11:31

training, but to speak of just what we mainly do, it is group fitness,

Beth: 00:11:35

so exactly what you just said.

Beth: 00:11:38

When we get a new person in for their first class, one of my questions

Beth: 00:11:42

right to them is, "Do you work out?"

Beth: 00:11:44

Again, this is not something you have to get in shape for.

Beth: 00:11:47

That's what you're here for; wherever you are is fine, and they're like,

Beth: 00:11:50

"Well, I have a gym membership", and I'm like, "It's okay."

Beth: 00:11:55

What I think happens a lot, and I've worked in a lot of gyms, I think

Beth: 00:11:59

that a lot of people right now, my members, are a lot of my age.

Beth: 00:12:05

I'm the demographic; twenties to fifties.

Beth: 00:12:08

Our kids are grown.

Beth: 00:12:09

We took care of them for so long, we don't know what to do.

Beth: 00:12:11

It's a big demographic here.

Beth: 00:12:13

We're kind of lost.

Beth: 00:12:15

They go to the gym, they walk in and they have no idea what to do there.

Beth: 00:12:21

They're not taught.

Beth: 00:12:22

It's always an option at the gyms, you have to just talk to someone, but a

Beth: 00:12:26

lot of times, unfortunately, we walk in and we just kind of like I said

Beth: 00:12:30

earlier, we go right to the treadmill.

Beth: 00:12:32

How boring is that?

Beth: 00:12:33

Nobody wants-

Joshua: 00:12:33

I just did that today.

Joshua: 00:12:35

Guilty as charged.

Beth: 00:12:36

I hate it, but I think that that's a big thing, so when you come

Beth: 00:12:40

in my doors, you're done thinking.

Beth: 00:12:43

You're done.

Beth: 00:12:44

You're done.

Beth: 00:12:44

We tell you, you leave everything outside of that door, all stress in

Beth: 00:12:49

your life, anything going on because clearly something brought you in.

Beth: 00:12:53

You need some relief of some sort.

Beth: 00:12:55

Right?

Beth: 00:12:56

Leave it outside.

Beth: 00:12:58

I'm going to put you with that bag, first of all, I'm going to introduce

Beth: 00:13:01

you to people that are probably thinking the same thing you are when

Beth: 00:13:05

you joined, so I'm going to introduce you to everybody so right away you're

Beth: 00:13:08

comfortable, and then you're on that bag.

Beth: 00:13:11

We turn that music up.

Beth: 00:13:12

I always joke around, I say sometimes we dance more than we kickbox because

Beth: 00:13:16

the music's pretty freaking loud.

Beth: 00:13:17

We're going to tell you exactly what to do.

Beth: 00:13:19

You're done thinking.

Beth: 00:13:21

The warmup is four minutes long.

Beth: 00:13:23

Okay, here we go.

Beth: 00:13:24

Some mountain climbers; and there's modifications for everything.

Beth: 00:13:27

Then we get those gloves on and we're going to show you with a combo

Beth: 00:13:30

on the bag, and we're going to walk right over and show you exactly how

Beth: 00:13:33

to do it, so there's no thinking.

Beth: 00:13:36

There's nothing to get stressed out about.

Beth: 00:13:37

We want it completely stress free.

Beth: 00:13:40

Completely.

Beth: 00:13:41

I think that's what makes us special.

Beth: 00:13:43

Number one, we're going to introduce you to the most awesome people that I usually

Beth: 00:13:48

tell who to introduce them to by their personalities when they come in, you know,

Beth: 00:13:51

who they're going to mesh with, put them near a bag with someone that's going to

Beth: 00:13:54

make them comfortable, because our members have no problem talking to everybody.

Beth: 00:13:58

We're all pretty outgoing, and then like I said, there's no more

Beth: 00:14:00

thinking, and you get to hit something.

Joshua: 00:14:04

Yes, I would love to hit something myself, but I can't

Joshua: 00:14:08

hit the gym equipment where I go otherwise I will be paying the fee.

Beth: 00:14:13

No, you can kick ours as much as you want.

Joshua: 00:14:15

That's what I love is that at least, in some places like yours, I

Joshua: 00:14:19

could be able to do that, and Beth, I was checking out the website where I know that

Joshua: 00:14:24

this is a franchise business, but I've seen that there's 13 states that at least

Joshua: 00:14:28

have one location, and I know that there's a couple of places that you work out of.

Joshua: 00:14:34

Do you mind telling a little bit about both of those locations?

Beth: 00:14:38

Sure.

Beth: 00:14:39

We have our KickHouse in York.

Beth: 00:14:40

It's on South Queen Street.

Beth: 00:14:42

We've been open almost five years down there.

Beth: 00:14:45

We were a franchise called I Love Kickboxing when we first opened, and

Beth: 00:14:49

then after the pandemic, we were shut down for the three months like most

Beth: 00:14:53

other gyms were, and then when we came back, when we opened back up, we got

Beth: 00:14:57

offered this other franchise KickHouse that opened during the pandemic and

Beth: 00:15:01

we went for it and it's been awesome.

Beth: 00:15:03

It's very, very awesome.

Beth: 00:15:05

Our second location in Hershey we're very excited about that.

Beth: 00:15:08

Hershey Road, in Hershey.

Beth: 00:15:10

It's just as awesome as the York one is.

Beth: 00:15:13

I know it's as awesome.

Joshua: 00:15:15

That's fantastic, and I'm glad to see that there's people that are

Joshua: 00:15:18

interested in being able to explore that sort of community with you,

Joshua: 00:15:23

especially as you enter into Hershey.

Joshua: 00:15:26

Given the fact that you have been a part of that group in the past, and you

Joshua: 00:15:31

were just talking about a little bit about the COVID shutdown and all those

Joshua: 00:15:35

things, what do you say has been one of the biggest struggles as especially

Joshua: 00:15:40

being a general manager, especially through these turbulent times that

Joshua: 00:15:43

we've had in the fitness industry?

Joshua: 00:15:45

In other words, what would you say has been something that has gotten you

Joshua: 00:15:48

through now to the other side since we finally have been able to reopen and

Joshua: 00:15:53

we've been able to have that sort of resuming of normalcy, quote unquote,

Joshua: 00:15:59

but I think for some people, they are still kind of struggling to maybe get

Joshua: 00:16:03

back into that routine and things of that nature, but that's just my opinion.

Joshua: 00:16:07

I'm just curious what yours is as to what has been some of those challenges.

Beth: 00:16:12

So I would like to say, when I talk about the community of people that

Beth: 00:16:16

we have in our studio, just because we're on the subject, it was so amazing.

Beth: 00:16:22

We just went there one day and they were like, "You're closed for three months."

Beth: 00:16:25

"Oh my gosh.

Beth: 00:16:25

We're a small business."

Beth: 00:16:27

We only make money from memberships and we clearly had to turn them

Beth: 00:16:31

all off, so that was very scary.

Beth: 00:16:34

This will just tell you how awesome the group of people we have down

Beth: 00:16:37

there is we actually had numerous people email us and insist us not

Beth: 00:16:43

turning their memberships off.

Joshua: 00:16:46

Wow.

Beth: 00:16:46

Yeah.

Beth: 00:16:46

We didn't of course, but the fact that they were like, "We need you to

Beth: 00:16:51

open back up.", like, we've changed so many lives for people, mentally

Beth: 00:16:56

and physically, and just like I said the vibes in there, people found

Beth: 00:17:01

something they've been looking for for so long and they were like, "Please.

Beth: 00:17:05

Keep my money come into you so you can stay open and open back up after

Beth: 00:17:11

this is all over.", so that was just an amazing, absolutely amazing thing.

Beth: 00:17:16

The night that we had our last class before we were shutting

Beth: 00:17:20

down the next morning, we actually had a couple that comes.

Beth: 00:17:23

They're a couple and they're awesome; they come couple times a week.

Beth: 00:17:27

They stood in front of our merch wall and bought all kinds of stuff they

Beth: 00:17:31

didn't even need to buy, and they said, they were like, "We don't need

Beth: 00:17:34

it, but we needed to support you.

Beth: 00:17:35

We know you're shut down.", I just want to just tell you that the people in these

Beth: 00:17:39

studios are amazing and they're just good vibes and good hearts, and it's just

Beth: 00:17:44

really, really awesome, but I'm sorry I went off a little bit of your question.

Beth: 00:17:48

I think coming back, it's been a little while now, but I still get

Beth: 00:17:52

people every week that say, " I'm still losing weight from when I was

Beth: 00:17:57

home for so-", we ate, what did we do?

Beth: 00:17:59

We sat in our houses and we ate.

Beth: 00:18:01

Ooh, we walk the dogs; like it's not enough.

Beth: 00:18:04

Not enough, and I think we just got so used to it.

Beth: 00:18:07

I mean, I know I'm home more now than I ever was before that.

Beth: 00:18:13

I couldn't imagine being home as much as I am now, but now it's just become

Beth: 00:18:16

a thing, but like I said, we offer a place where if he's got to get back

Beth: 00:18:21

into the groove of things, even if it's only two times a week just to, but

Beth: 00:18:25

again, the feedback I get is the weight.

Beth: 00:18:27

I put a lot of weight on when the world was shut down and I was

Beth: 00:18:30

working from home, and you can definitely lose weight kickboxing.

Joshua: 00:18:33

I know for me, I also was a victim of having that weight gain, especially

Joshua: 00:18:37

when the gym that I was going to, not the one I am going to now, but a previous one

Joshua: 00:18:42

shut down, and I sort of lost my routine.

Joshua: 00:18:45

I gained over 50 pounds actually as a result of all that, and I finally have

Joshua: 00:18:50

been back on track and lost about 15 pounds as of this recording, which has

Joshua: 00:18:56

helped me a lot and also getting back into the routine because I am like you,

Joshua: 00:19:01

I also had been working full-time and I was working at home all the time, but

Joshua: 00:19:07

now I've been going back at least three days a week, so although I'm not quite

Joshua: 00:19:11

there to where it was before the pandemic, but I have been more active as a result

Joshua: 00:19:17

and I think it's all about changing that attitude, which is actually something I

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:21

how do you have the attitude of wanting to help

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:27

all these different types of people, and I've had guests on that I've asked that

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:31

question with because I've always been fascinated about what drives them to

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:35

just want to help or want to be involved with their field, and for me, I always

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:42

find it fascinating that there's always so many different types of people that

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:46

have different missions in life, and I'm wondering what your personal mission is

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:50

and what you have gotten out of it so far by just continuing to do what you do.

anted to talk to you about is: 00:19:56

Can you share that with us?

Beth: 00:19:58

Yes, it is, so, I almost say it sounds cliche, but it is so rewarding.

Beth: 00:20:04

I'm like everybody else.

Beth: 00:20:06

We have days where I'm like, "Ugh, I'm not motivated.", you know what I mean, but I

Beth: 00:20:11

go to that studio and they motivate me.

Beth: 00:20:15

They come in that door and they know, like I said, leave it all

Beth: 00:20:18

outside and I know I get criers.

Beth: 00:20:23

A lot of people cry, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

Beth: 00:20:26

When you're hitting something and you're letting that aggression

Beth: 00:20:30

out that you have built up your emotions, just get the best of you.

Beth: 00:20:34

I mean, can I tell a little story really quick?

Beth: 00:20:37

Do you mind?

Beth: 00:20:37

I-

Joshua: 00:20:38

Absolutely.

Beth: 00:20:39

This is really great.

Beth: 00:20:40

I had a member who was having some problems with her son with a drug

Beth: 00:20:44

addiction, and she was coming into the studio and I mean, to the point it was,

Beth: 00:20:49

he was in and out of rehab, but now she was taking care of his children, and

Beth: 00:20:54

this woman is older and the children are small, so she would come in and every day

Beth: 00:20:58

she would say to me, "I might cry, but-", and I said, "You do what you need to do.

Beth: 00:21:03

This is a safe place.

Beth: 00:21:04

You know what I mean?

Beth: 00:21:04

You just get it out here, whatever.", so we were in class one day and I

Beth: 00:21:08

looked over and she's kind of leaning against the bag and she was crying.

Beth: 00:21:11

I just walked up and I just touched her shoulder just a little like, I don't

Beth: 00:21:15

want to make her embarrassed or anything, just a little tap like it's okay.

Beth: 00:21:18

I know you're going to be okay.

Beth: 00:21:20

I walked around, we finished class.

Beth: 00:21:22

I'm in the lobby.

Beth: 00:21:23

She kind of pulls herself together and she comes over and she's like, "Thank you.

Beth: 00:21:26

It feels so much better and" da da da.

Beth: 00:21:28

Another lady is walking off the floor and she's crying and I'm like, "what?", and

Beth: 00:21:33

then I made a kind of a joke, I'm like, "What in the world is going on here?

Beth: 00:21:36

What are you crying for now?"

Beth: 00:21:37

She goes, "I saw the way you treated her while she was crying and it

Beth: 00:21:43

was so nice and it made me cry."

Beth: 00:21:45

I'm like, "Oh my God, we're nuts up in here.

Beth: 00:21:48

We're nuts.", but, I'll never forget that.

Beth: 00:21:50

It just feels good, you know, and like I said, I know that woman, her life,

Beth: 00:21:54

she needed that 45 minutes every day to just get away from what she was dealing

Beth: 00:21:59

with outside of there and if I can do that for someone, it just feels awesome.

Beth: 00:22:05

It just feels awesome.

Beth: 00:22:06

I come home and realize I'm just lucky.

Beth: 00:22:09

I'm lucky I get to do that.

Joshua: 00:22:12

Wow, and I'm reflecting on the fact that you're talking about women,

Joshua: 00:22:18

maybe even men sometimes, crying because-

Beth: 00:22:21

Oh, I get men criers sometimes.

Beth: 00:22:23

They get a little teary-eyed back there, but I just give them hell.

Joshua: 00:22:28

I'll probably be one of those being like, "Oh my gosh, this

Joshua: 00:22:31

is life-changing", and I'm having wiping it with those big mutts of a

Joshua: 00:22:34

gloves of trying to get the tears off.

Joshua: 00:22:36

I would probably be one of those people, but Beth, I enjoy the fact that you really

Joshua: 00:22:42

resonate and create that connection with so many different types of people that

Joshua: 00:22:46

are walking through, because I think, especially nowadays, it is so tough to

Joshua: 00:22:51

find that, especially when you know that you have that sense of community and

Joshua: 00:22:55

family and it sounds like even the last several years you've been able to build

Joshua: 00:22:59

that, not only through the training that you have undergone to become a general

Joshua: 00:23:05

manager to get to this point, but also just with the people that you have been

Joshua: 00:23:09

involved with in their lives to just get to really where they need to be.

Joshua: 00:23:16

I'm curious.

Joshua: 00:23:18

I know that you are opening up the Hershey location and you are

Joshua: 00:23:23

really looking towards the horizon.

Joshua: 00:23:27

I want you to put yourself in the moment that maybe in the next five or

Joshua: 00:23:30

10 years you're looking at yourself again, and you're looking back at

Joshua: 00:23:34

all the things that you've done.

Joshua: 00:23:36

Is there something that you're still yearning to achieve or still yearning

Joshua: 00:23:40

to do in your life, especially even through KickHouse, or maybe even

Joshua: 00:23:44

something more personally as a result of all these experiences that you

Joshua: 00:23:49

want to achieve yet, and if so, what is that achievement that you have in

Joshua: 00:23:53

those five to 10 years and why that?

Beth: 00:23:58

That's a hard question.

Beth: 00:24:00

That's so hard.

Beth: 00:24:01

You got me on this one.

Joshua: 00:24:02

Good.

Beth: 00:24:05

I guess I kind of look at it personally.

Beth: 00:24:08

I love what I do and I can only hope that I have the same community and that

Beth: 00:24:14

I build at Hershey that I have built in York, but I really like to take care

Beth: 00:24:18

of my family too, I mean, as much as I take care of my career and I want to

Beth: 00:24:22

succeed, I always want more, more, more.

Beth: 00:24:25

My children are just now at ages where they're succeeding.

Beth: 00:24:29

They're doing their adult jobs.

Beth: 00:24:30

They graduated from college, they're buying their new cars.

Beth: 00:24:34

I got one left that still is here.

Beth: 00:24:36

I think I'm at a stage right now I just hope I look back and we're

Beth: 00:24:40

all doing what we want to be doing and we're just comfortable.

Beth: 00:24:45

Does that make sense?

Beth: 00:24:47

I definitely professionally would like to have a third or

Beth: 00:24:51

fourth studio in five years.

Beth: 00:24:55

I mean, let's go.

Beth: 00:24:56

We're on a roll.

Beth: 00:24:56

Let's keep going, but again, the personal part of it, I just really

Beth: 00:25:00

hope that my family keeps succeeding and that in five years that we're all

Beth: 00:25:05

together and everybody's just happy and doing what we need to be doing.

Joshua: 00:25:10

We're almost at the end of our time, and I know that you

Joshua: 00:25:13

have already shared some of these awesome people that have been able

Joshua: 00:25:18

to help you out, even through the thickest and the thinnest of times.

Joshua: 00:25:24

Thinking about all those people that you have been able to touch and even help out

Joshua: 00:25:28

and continue to have them lose weight even after they were with you or with somebody

Joshua: 00:25:33

that is part of your training facility.

Joshua: 00:25:37

Who's the one person that stands out the most to you that

Joshua: 00:25:40

has been the most successful?

Joshua: 00:25:41

Again, you don't have to mention their name, but who is a client or maybe

Joshua: 00:25:45

somebody that you think of right away that has truly embraced what you had set

Joshua: 00:25:51

out to do and has just been receiving dividends upon dividends upon dividends of

Joshua: 00:25:57

what they have become as the best version of themselves through that experience.

Joshua: 00:26:02

Can you share who that person is, or maybe there's more than one?

Beth: 00:26:06

There's definitely more than one.

Beth: 00:26:07

I've seen so many success stories in our studio.

Beth: 00:26:11

Again, not even just physically, but mentally, overcoming stress in

Beth: 00:26:15

their lives and things like that.

Beth: 00:26:17

There's one person that sticks out and We've become

Beth: 00:26:20

friends outside of the studio.

Beth: 00:26:22

She's an amazing person, but my story with her is years ago.

Beth: 00:26:26

Four years ago, the studio hadn't been open very long, and she came

Beth: 00:26:30

into the studio with jeans on.

Beth: 00:26:33

Jeans and a big old belt buckle.

Beth: 00:26:37

And I was like, "Who is this person?

Beth: 00:26:39

We do kickboxing.

Beth: 00:26:41

What in world?

Beth: 00:26:42

You can't kickbox in jeans.

Beth: 00:26:44

What is going on here?"

Beth: 00:26:45

this woman now has been with me since that day, personal trains with

Beth: 00:26:50

me, has completely just changed her body to what she wanted it to do.

Beth: 00:26:57

She has become out of her shell and I think like I said about the mental

Beth: 00:27:04

part of it and the friends and meeting people, I think she's finally met

Beth: 00:27:08

a group of people that she's needed in her life for a really long time.

Beth: 00:27:12

You can just see the smiles now and the attitude has changed and

Beth: 00:27:16

they go for beers after classes.

Beth: 00:27:19

She's just amazing.

Beth: 00:27:20

She's an amazing person and I can just say that I watched her come in there

Beth: 00:27:24

in jeans and now she's wearing spandex.

Beth: 00:27:28

It's a big deal.

Beth: 00:27:29

It's kind of a big gap there, but like I said, there's so many.

Beth: 00:27:32

There's so many.

Beth: 00:27:33

We did a challenge a few weeks ago, an eight week challenge.

Beth: 00:27:37

We had 28 people in our challenge that took part and finished it the

Beth: 00:27:41

whole way through the eight weeks.

Beth: 00:27:43

28 people lost 215 pounds.

Joshua: 00:27:47

Wow.

Joshua: 00:27:47

That's a whole person.

Beth: 00:27:49

Yeah.

Beth: 00:27:49

I mean, it was unbelievable just by changing their eating habits,

Beth: 00:27:54

learning to eat healthier and cleaner.

Beth: 00:27:56

It's not a diet, it's just changing your habits and hitting so many classes

Beth: 00:28:00

a week and I've seen so many lives change again, just for mentally and

Beth: 00:28:06

physically, all of it, and again, I can only hope and wish this is, all I

Beth: 00:28:11

want for Hershey too, I hope all of the studios are this successful with the

Beth: 00:28:15

type of people coming in these places.

Joshua: 00:28:18

Given the fact that I've interviewed people that have been

Joshua: 00:28:21

successful in their own right with how that works, including Jenn Dusart,

Joshua: 00:28:25

which we talked about even before we started this episode, and how she's

Joshua: 00:28:29

doing that with Workout with Jenn.

Joshua: 00:28:31

I encourage my listeners to go check out that episode, which is

Joshua: 00:28:34

a great compendium to this one.

Joshua: 00:28:36

I think that this is really about understanding how we can get to

Joshua: 00:28:41

the heart of really creating that culture of physical fitness so that

Joshua: 00:28:45

we have a community surrounding ourselves throughout those difficult

Joshua: 00:28:49

challenges that might face us.

Beth: 00:28:51

Mm-hmm.

Joshua: 00:28:51

So, Beth, I want to give you the last few minutes.

Joshua: 00:28:54

Tell us a little bit about how we can get to KickHouse, checking out even

Joshua: 00:28:58

your locations that you're the general manager of, and anything else that you'd

Joshua: 00:29:02

like to share that the audience might be able to do to help maybe bring some

Joshua: 00:29:06

awareness to the kickboxing industry, or even how to get in touch with you to

Joshua: 00:29:10

have more of a conversation about it.

Joshua: 00:29:12

I'm going to let you have the last few minutes.

Beth: 00:29:14

Awesome.

Beth: 00:29:15

Thank you.

Beth: 00:29:16

This was great.

Beth: 00:29:16

I love talking about KickHouse and because, like I said, I do truly

Beth: 00:29:20

believe that it is life-changing if you're looking to get physically fit

Beth: 00:29:24

again, you just are very stressed out.

Beth: 00:29:26

Again, you get to hit and kick something, it's a no-brainer, but all

Beth: 00:29:30

the things, it's just an amazing place.

Beth: 00:29:31

We do have our studio in York.

Beth: 00:29:33

First class is always free.

Beth: 00:29:35

You just have to go to our website and follow the steps there and

Beth: 00:29:38

you can come take a free class.

Beth: 00:29:40

Again, Hershey, and yeah, so I said first class is free.

Beth: 00:29:43

Come in.

Beth: 00:29:44

The trainers are amazing.

Beth: 00:29:45

You'll feel so comfortable.

Beth: 00:29:47

You can always find me, Beth Lear is my Facebook page, and you can message me.

Beth: 00:29:52

I'd love that.

Beth: 00:29:53

I'd love to tell you more if you're interested, and I truly

Beth: 00:29:56

believe kickboxing is for everybody and everybody needs to try it.

Joshua: 00:30:03

Well, you didn't have to convince me of that because I really would love

Joshua: 00:30:07

to try it out sometime because I have never done it before and I would love

Joshua: 00:30:11

to at least have one time to have that experience, so I'll have to definitely

Joshua: 00:30:15

talk to you about that afterwards, but Beth, I want to say that it's always

Joshua: 00:30:21

encouraging to hear people in the fitness industry are making significant gains,

Joshua: 00:30:26

not just with themselves, but also the clients that they work with and that's

Joshua: 00:30:29

really a reflection of your true character and I definitely felt that throughout

Joshua: 00:30:34

this whole conversation that we've had.

Joshua: 00:30:36

Beth, thank you for Speaking From The Heart today.

Joshua: 00:30:39

It's really been a privilege to get to know you a little bit more along with

Joshua: 00:30:43

KickHouse, which I'll put all that stuff in the episode notes so that if you want

Joshua: 00:30:48

to go check out the closest location to you, no matter where you are in the

Joshua: 00:30:52

United States, you can certainly go and do that, so thank you so much, Beth.

Joshua: 00:30:56

I really appreciate our conversation today.

Beth: 00:30:59

Thank you, Josh.

Beth: 00:31:00

This was wonderful.

Joshua: 00:31:02

I want to thank Beth for being part of this show and definitely

Joshua: 00:31:05

watching from a window to see what was involved, especially the kickboxing

Joshua: 00:31:11

is really a great story in itself to eventually transform into who she became

Joshua: 00:31:19

and what she's been able to do as a result of all the different experiences

Joshua: 00:31:23

she's had in the fitness industry.

Joshua: 00:31:26

It was a really exciting interview for me just because I could tell from her

Joshua: 00:31:30

story, from her promise that she had with other people that were part of the gym

Joshua: 00:31:37

in York, to say that she was going to reopen and she wants to make sure that

Joshua: 00:31:42

people are taken care of, but yet at the same time, she wanted to make sure that

Joshua: 00:31:47

they were taken care of at the same time and that she was being taken care of as

Joshua: 00:31:53

well, was really something of a remarkable nature of how, even during the COVID

Joshua: 00:31:58

time period, how we all pulled together to make sure that even small businesses

Joshua: 00:32:04

were taken care of, but yes, this is an epiphany for not only us as listeners to

Joshua: 00:32:13

pay attention to what we can do when we build a community, but what a community

Joshua: 00:32:18

can do in the greatest time of need and this is really a highlight of the fact

Joshua: 00:32:24

that our relationships, which is not only one of the values of my business, but is

Joshua: 00:32:29

also one of the values that we should all have in our life when it comes to building

Joshua: 00:32:34

that opportunity to connect and become something that we never thought possible,

Joshua: 00:32:41

but it's about also seeing through that work that we're doing in the gym or what

Joshua: 00:32:46

we're doing outside of the gym, that helps us to understand and create some

Joshua: 00:32:50

of the best opportunities of confidence.

Joshua: 00:32:54

Being confident, again, one of the other values of my business is not

Joshua: 00:32:59

necessarily about seeing what's inside of yourself and saying that I am

Joshua: 00:33:03

going to press forward and be able to do this with my head held high.

Joshua: 00:33:09

It means so much more than that.

Joshua: 00:33:11

As a matter of fact, it can mean things that we do on a daily basis, and we're

Joshua: 00:33:16

changing that to confidently lead in a completely different direction that

Joshua: 00:33:21

we never thought we could ever lead in, and I think that's why having this

Joshua: 00:33:26

discussion with Beth, especially as she opened her second location in Hershey

Joshua: 00:33:31

since this recording of the episode, really shows that we can do some

Joshua: 00:33:37

awesome things to create connection, but also create opportunity, and I think

Joshua: 00:33:42

the opportunity is really something I wanna reflect on for a moment.

Joshua: 00:33:47

I think that we often get tied up and connected with the things that

Joshua: 00:33:51

we think are opportunistic, meaning that we want to do the things because

Joshua: 00:33:56

we see the inherent value in it.

Joshua: 00:33:58

There's an opportunity to do just that, and I've worked with people that want to

Joshua: 00:34:04

change their careers in the professional realm to pivot and examine the goals in

Joshua: 00:34:08

which they really want to truly accomplish in order to set that goal and achieve it,

Joshua: 00:34:14

and I get to celebrate with them as well.

Joshua: 00:34:17

We have to realize that the opportunity in itself has to be based in some

Joshua: 00:34:22

sort of realistic standard, so one of the things that even corporations use

Joshua: 00:34:26

in which I even use for my own small business, is the principle of SMART.

Joshua: 00:34:31

Now, if you've never heard of a SMART goal specifically, let me

Joshua: 00:34:34

walk you through the acronym.

Joshua: 00:34:36

SMART stands for the following: specific, measurable, actionable,

Joshua: 00:34:42

realistic, and time-bound.

Joshua: 00:34:45

These sort of aspects help us to set the direction that we ultimately

Joshua: 00:34:49

need to go in order to create some of the best opportunities in our lives.

Joshua: 00:34:55

Those could be things that even if they don't work out very well, we're still

Joshua: 00:34:59

able to create some of those opportunities again, knowing what we have learned

Joshua: 00:35:04

from the first round; and that's what's really important, is that when it goes

Joshua: 00:35:10

wrong, we know that we can change our mindset and get back in the ring and

Joshua: 00:35:15

kickbox our way to that next goal.

Joshua: 00:35:18

I think that we heard that quite a lot in Beth's story today about going to

Joshua: 00:35:23

places where we might not otherwise feel motivated, but we know that if

Joshua: 00:35:28

we do it, no matter what it makes us feel, even if we're crying out for

Joshua: 00:35:33

help, it can make us be able to reach destinations and opportunities that we

Joshua: 00:35:40

otherwise would've never been able to see.

Joshua: 00:35:43

Essentially, it's seeking out that ability to truly connect with those that need

Joshua: 00:35:48

that connection desperately, and I think that we all have our unique stories,

Joshua: 00:35:53

especially when it comes to the COVID pandemic, of when we lost that connection.

Joshua: 00:35:58

I've even shared that many times in some of my monologue episodes about

Joshua: 00:36:02

that deep despair of depression, anxiety, and even hopelessness in

Joshua: 00:36:07

the world, just not being able to do just that; but that's the thing.

Joshua: 00:36:13

I could have sat in that for the rest of my life, would've never been able

Joshua: 00:36:18

to do the things that I've been able to do in my life, even to this moment, or

Joshua: 00:36:21

even be successful overall, because what I've been able to do is look into the

Joshua: 00:36:26

window of opportunity, look at what I can potentially do, and then start setting

Joshua: 00:36:33

goals for myself in order to achieve them, whether I write them down or not, those

Joshua: 00:36:38

are goals that we still achieve, and it helps us to change what needs to change.

Joshua: 00:36:45

We need to set our self promises.

Joshua: 00:36:48

Do you have someone that invites you to be changed?

Joshua: 00:36:52

Do you have someone that helps you to create some of that

Joshua: 00:36:54

opportunity in your life?

Joshua: 00:36:57

Do you have someone that helps you become more confident in yourself?

Joshua: 00:37:03

Coaches aren't just necessarily people that give you advice or

Joshua: 00:37:06

help you to guide you into a direction that you need to go in.

Joshua: 00:37:11

They're there alongside of you, almost like an accountability of sorts,

Joshua: 00:37:16

but you have to do the hard work.

Joshua: 00:37:19

We're not going to do it for you.

Joshua: 00:37:21

We have our own work that we have to do.

Joshua: 00:37:23

We've already done it.

Joshua: 00:37:25

We already have made it so far as a result of all the things that we've been

Joshua: 00:37:29

able to accomplish, and even if you say even in this episode that Beth's story

Joshua: 00:37:35

certainly exemplifies the tenacity to keep building that community so that you

Joshua: 00:37:41

can have that opportunity, especially when it comes to even opening a second

Joshua: 00:37:45

location for a franchise that you've been involved in for so many years,

Joshua: 00:37:50

you can still do what you need to do.

Joshua: 00:37:54

It's about finding that unique purpose.

Joshua: 00:37:57

It doesn't matter what kind of demographics you have.

Joshua: 00:38:01

It just means that you have the ability to be accepted no matter where you're coming

Joshua: 00:38:05

from, and it's almost like being at a gym.

Joshua: 00:38:09

There are people that are absolutely gorgeous and fit because they have

Joshua: 00:38:12

been taking care of themselves for years, to people that

Joshua: 00:38:17

somewhat go on a routine basis.

Joshua: 00:38:19

They might have some problems trying to stay consistent, but you see them

Joshua: 00:38:22

every now and then, to the people that when they're walking in for the first

Joshua: 00:38:27

time, they have never been there for 15, 20, even 30 years, and now they

Joshua: 00:38:33

realize the certainty and the urgency of taking care of not only their physical

Joshua: 00:38:39

body, but of their mind as well.

Joshua: 00:38:43

For the longest time in my life, I wish I would've took care of myself.

Joshua: 00:38:48

I wish that I would've kept myself that promise of wanting to keep pushing forward

Joshua: 00:38:54

despite all the obstacles that I face as a child being bullied, having the

Joshua: 00:38:59

emotional turmoil in my life that would've shut every single door in my life.

Joshua: 00:39:04

I wish I would've reached out and asked for help, and I think that's

Joshua: 00:39:11

what makes the biggest difference in this, is that we have to go to a

Joshua: 00:39:15

place that makes us feel motivated.

Joshua: 00:39:19

No matter what you might feel, no matter what kind of opportunity it is,

Joshua: 00:39:24

having that relationship with someone that holds you accountable along with

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the confidence that you're building, creates the third opportunity in itself:

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determination, and with determination, we can prove everything wrong that anybody

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ever has as a thought or a feeling that is so uncontrary to what we really are.

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We can be something in which we certainly thought we could never

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imagine in doing, even being that physically fit person, just like Beth is.

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Just like Beth's clients are, and I think that for many of us, just taking

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that first step, as I've mentioned even in previous episodes, can be just

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one part of it, but you have to ask yourself, what is the opportunity that you

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really want to have in the first place?

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You have to have the opportunity to rise not only with the sun, when you especially

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get up very early to work out maybe before you start your workday, but you have to

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have the realization that you are doing something that will take a while, and if

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you build that empire for yourself, the opportunities will come alongside of it

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and that is something that we can never teach in any sort of coaching lesson.

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If you're willing to do that and you're willing to put in the hard work,

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you're going to get the hard reward.

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The hard reward of being able to say to yourself that you did it, and that

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you are opening yourself and the doors that have been closed for a long time

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to being able to walk through and make it happen, and just think, maybe

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you'll be able to kickbox by just not looking at the window of everybody

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else, but joining them in that class.

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Maybe you will have a PowerKick of your own, into the future, where

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that future awaits you to become something you never thought possible.

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Thanks for listening to episode number 49 of Speaking from the

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Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart very soon.

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Thanks for listening.

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For more information about our podcast and future shows, search for Speaking From

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The Heart to subscribe and be notified wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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services that can help you create the best version of yourself.