As president of the U.S. expansion at F45 Training - the Australian-born fitness franchise - Marc Marano's job is as much sales as it is strategy. He's here to make Americans fall in love with F45 - and to get more franchisees in the process.

And as you'll hear Marano talk through on this week's episode of #WeGotGoals, getting to F45 - the big goal he accomplished - required a giant leap away from his family's legacy business passed down from his grandfather to his father and finally to his cousin and him.

As difficult as it was for him to leave the business in property, for Marano, it was even more difficult to watch friend Rob Deutsche. He opened the first F45 in Australia in 2014. “He was former banker, but again like me, decided to hang the tie up for the last time because he needed something better in his life,” Marano recalled.

After six months of careful deliberation, Marano made his decision.

"That goal was achieved only to walk out of a business that I knew everything about to walk into the fitness world that I had only ever been a consumer," he said.

Now the he's in the fitness world, there's no turning back and no slowing down as he chases his next big goal - total market penetration. The franchise is in 22 states in two years.

"In the last 24 months, we've awarded over 300 F45 studios in the U.S. We have currently, I would say it's just about to topple over 100 studios that have opened," Marano said. "We are awarding anywhere between 20 and 50 studios across the country a month."

How's he doing it? "By traveling wherever I have to go, by speaking to whoever I have to."

Uprooting his life on one beach in Australia to another beach in the US, Marano moved to spread F45 to the US from Los Angeles. But he isn't going it alone - he noted that his fiancé Emma Rose - also Australian and known for her time on the Bachelor Australia - has been a steadying presence in his life. A big goal he stated for the future was building a family of six kids.

But first he'll have to wait for his life to settle down - he spends more time in the air, traveling to new F45 locations than he does on the ground.

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JAC: Welcome to #WeGotGoals, a podcast by aSweatLife.com on which we talk to high achievers about their goals. I'm Jeana Anderson Cohen; with me, I have Cindy Kuzma and Maggie Umberger.

MU: Morning, Jeana.

CK: Good morning, Jeana.

JAC: Hello.

MU: Jeana, you spoke with Marc Marano, the head of North American Expansion of F45 training this week.

JAC: I did. Marc Morano's whole job is to plant as many F45 franchises across the United States as possible, which is super interesting because it's a fitness franchise that comes from Australia, which Marc, you'll hear say in the interview, is not super common for Australia, it's not a franchise sort of country. It's more of like a one shop family owned kind of country.

MU: Well, funnily enough, he also left his family business to do this job. Right?

JAC: He did, yeah. It was a a real emotional struggle for mark as he sort of looked at an opportunity to work with F45, which was started by his friend and help grow that company beyond the borders beyond the continent and country of Australia.

CK: It's interesting too, right, because he kind of talked about even though he had a love for his family business and it was emotional for him to walk away, he had this sense of freedom in doing something that was a little bit more meaningful to him even though ultimately he was then going to be executing someone else's vision instead of carrying his own family legacy forward. Can you talk about how we kind of sorted through all that?

JAC: It was a difficult decision, but at the end of it all, he said that he followed his heart, which is important at the end of the day because you have to get up everyday and do a job. You're spending most of your time at a job and I think what it came down to is he surrounded himself in business originally with family. It was the company that he was working for, it was a multigenerational. Companies started in Australia in real estate that was handed down to him and his cousin by his father and his uncle. He has a big family and family is a huge priority to him. So as he was looking at the business and walking away from it, he did so really respectfully and after some heartfelt conversations because he wanted at that point to follow a passion project and to do something different. He didn't really talk through sort of the idea of legacy, but I would imagine that he had to think long and hard about legacy and about what he was walking away from because he talks about how his father is his, his greatest inspiration and I can only imagine how difficult that must have been. But now mark is on an airplane a lot of the time traveling from city to city in the United States. He's based in L.A. now, he and his Instagram famous slash the Bachelor, Australia famous fiancee, get to travel a lot together and get to do some of this work side by side because her job is really portable and he talked about how having her by his side made it a whole lot less lonely. Because again, I would imagine that going from being surrounded by a support system of your family to sort of striking out on your own is totally different and it's sort of a unique challenge, but here he is doing it and he's built his own sort of family and support system within that business as well.

CK: So we're really excited about hearing this interview with Marc and Jeana.

JAC: And stick around listener for the end of the episode where you'll hear from real life goal-getters and what they're achieving out there in the real world today.

JAC: I'm Jeana Anderson Cohen and I'm here with Marc Marano on the #WeGotGoals podcast.

MM: Thanks Jeana, thank you for having me on.

JAC: So mark, how do you spend your days?

MM: Now, I'm very fortunate to be in a career path that um, and we'll go into that a little bit later, but in something that I really, truly love. I felt that for a long time, even though I was working in a position with family and in a family business and you know, putting on that suit and tie every day that I was a corporate refugee, I use the term corporate refugee because I was not working for the man so to speak, but I was working in a career path that was financially rewarding, but it wasn't giving me any soulful gratification.

JAC: That sort of tells me what led you to do what you do every single day, but what you do every single day is F45 and you are in charge of ...

MM: I'm the president of the U.S. expansion at F45 training, so I try and bring F45, which is the world's fastest growing fitness franchise, to people around the U.S.

JAC: World's fastest growing fitness franchise. That is a big title and a big responsibility for someone who's in charge of bringing it to the United States. Wouldn't you say?

MM: Very much so. Very much so.

JAC: Is it a, is it a lot of sort of responsibility to continue that growth?

MM: Yeah, I mean we're not in any great rush. This has been a very organically grown business. To give you a little bit of the history of F45. We were born in Australia in 2014. One studio, a very good friend of mine, Rob Deutsch, opened up a group training facility. He was former banker, but again like me, decided to hang the tie up for the last time because he needed something better in his life. He opened up a group training facility and kept asking me to come along and try it and I was happy in the existence that I was currently living in both work life and in my exercise life, but to support a friend. I said, OK, I'll come and try it. and was immediately addicted immediately. So much so that fast forward a couple of years I decided to leave my family business to pursue journey of bringing F45 to everyone's life.

JAC: And before we get into the big questions, obviously F45 is a big part of your life, but it, it sounds like F45. You two were born in Australia and I've had to transport or transplant yourself from your homeland to the US. So what has that process been like?

MM: I think Americans and Australians are, they have a lot of similarities and you know, I'm based predominantly in, and I use that loosely, but I'm based predominantly in Los Angeles where our headquarters is in the U.S. Um, the transformation from Australia, Sydney, Australia, which is a coastal city, beautiful beaches, to Los Angeles, which again is a coastal city, beautiful beaches was not a huge culture shock, you know, and I've had the pleasure now of seeing so many different cities of America, meeting so many great people. Every city almost of America for me is like a different country, you know, you have so many different cultures from east to west, north to south.

JAC: We are a hardy stock in Chicago where we are right now filming this or recording this. So I hope that we've been friendly to you.

MM: Chicago is definitely in my top three cities of America.

JAC: Big thumbs up to that. So let's get into the questions. Marc, can you tell me about a big goal that you've accomplished, why it was important to you and how you got there?

MM: Yeah, so for the better part of six months, I knew that I wanted to leave--I don't like the term leave because I was working with family, but I wanted to transport myself from corporate Australia, being in involved in property, in a family business, to joining friends and family at F45. It was just a really super difficult decision to make. The process was not easy. My family thought immediately that I was making a mistake. It was a business that was handed down from my grandfather to my father and his brother and then from my father and his brother when they passed to my cousin and I, and we ran the business for almost 20 years. So that was a very--but the goal was there. The intention was there. I was freed almost when my cousin who was my business partner, gave me the keys to the car and said, go for it.

MM: You know, if this is the decision you wanted to make, then you know what's right in your heart and that goal was achieved only to walk out of a business that I knew everything about to walk into the fitness world that I had only ever been a consumer. I'd never been somebody that was trying to welcome F45 into or, or any business into their life. I'd never been in franchising. Australia is not a big franchise country, so it was exciting. It was nerve wracking, but that goal was achieved and now when I look back, the obstacles that I had to overcome were not that big, when I look back in hindsight.

JAC: So it sounds like there was an emotional obstacle more than anything else because you had to follow your heart out of your family business and into something that was calling to you that you didn't necessarily know that much about. How has your relationship been with your family after?

MM: Fine. Fine. I mean family's most important. It's one of my pillars of, of how I live my life. It's family first, always, and now I have another family. You know, with everyone that I've been involved in with F45, all of the I look after the expansion of the franchise, so I try and find people who we are partnering with to open up their own business and a lot of them have shared the same journey that I currently did where they were potentially stuck behind that desk, what I call the corporate refugee, you know, doing something for 10 or 15 years that they did because they thought it was right or because they went to college and they studied accounting or business or banking and that's what they did because it was the natural progression and they ultimately love the fitness industry and they wanted to help change other people's lives as well as potentially owning their own business in the search for that ultimate financial freedom that everyone wants.

JAC: Would you say you're very risk averse?

MM: Me? No, not me.

JAC: It didn't take a lot for you to overcome fear because there wasn't that much there, right?

MM: Um, the fear was I think more so letting people down. The fear that I had was, am I, am I not making the right decision for Marc Marano, but am I letting down my family? Am I letting down my father who's not with us anymore? You know, there was still--he still is the one person I look up to in life. He's my mentor even though he hasn't been with us for so long. That was the fear of letting my family down, fear of letting my, my mother and my sister who aren't part of the business, but I'm making a decision that ultimately they're going to have consequences because they're going to have to put up with me if this doesn't work, you know? So that was the, the, the biggest fear I had not in the actual work itself because fitness, anybody who likes fitness, anybody who has an affinity with exercise, you know, it's, we're helping people. So if you're involved in fitness, whether you're on the consumer side or you're a personal trainer or you are a, an owner of a gym, I think the motive there is fantastic because you're, you're looking at helping people. So the gratification you get from that is incredible because you're having somebody say to you at the end of the day, thank you know, thank you for changing my life. Thank you for a great workout. Thank you for helping me on that one exercise that I was having difficulty with.

JAC: So it sounds like you changed sort of the expectations that, that maybe you were thinking about. You went from worrying about letting people down to thinking about all of the people who you could help or lift up.

MM: Yeah, very much, very much. And fast forward, again after the real estate is I owned and I owned a couple F45s, I started them in Australia and it was from the onset that I saw that change in people, change in not only people's energy levels, the community that were built around it, the amazement people were by the actual product itself and that really inspired me. It really uplifted me to go out and bring this to more people. That's I guess where the journey started in America for me was I have complete belief in it like most people would in their own product, you know, so there's obviously a bias there, but I tell people in the first educational step that they have to take in any career, but talking about F45 is I say go and take a class, just go and see what F45 is. I believe that they will love it, but they need to go and appreciate exactly why the world over has fallen in love with this product is just to go and try the product

JAC: sweatlife we always talk about how fitness is the catalyst for living your best life and it sounds like through F45 you're helping other people do that, but you two are probably living a better life. Would you say that's true?

MM: I am. I mean I. There are sacrifices in I'm traveling a lot, but greater good is, you know, I am taking advantage of seeing some incredible cities around the country. My health has probably been better now than it ever has been. Working in the fitness industry, it's kind of, they go hand in hand. I am Italian, so sometimes my food deviates a little bit been in. I've been very fortunate in being able to travel. My life is much happier and healthier and I'm so grateful that my partner has been able to share the journey with me. She's been probably my biggest support system since the onset since I was in the US breaking ground, staying in Airbnbs and hotels and getting on a plane and flying people around the country to see F45. That was the extent of what I was really doing was I was literally saying to somebody who I felt could be a great candidate in opening up their own studio was saying, I'll meet you in X, Y, Z, or meet you at this city because there's a studio open. Let's fly there together. We'll take a class together and we can talk about the product and that's how it really started, you know.

JAC: And just to touch briefly on your partner, I know that you were mentioning that she's been a great supporter of yours. The entrepreneurial journey is lonely. Being able to bring someone along the way with you is incredible and some listeners at home may recognize your fiance from

MM: instagram, instagram, she's insta famous--she's probably gonna kill me if she hears this. She's an an influencer, a blogger and my fiance now.

JAC: Congratulations.

MM: Thank you. And she's been, as I said, the biggest support system for me and to all of the listeners who have the, the privilege of sharing their journey with somebody else and having that support, it really does strengthen you, you know, to be able to move mountains.

JAC: And it probably does help that she can do her job most anywhere so she can really be there with you along the way.

MM: Yeah, very much so.

JAC: Soet's get to the second question, the future. So talk to me about a big goal that you have for the future and how you intend to get there.

MM: Right. So I believe in all my heart that F45 is the greatest training platform on the planet, I really do. So my goal is to bring F45's name into every home in the U.S. especially that's that's my immediate goal. How do I intend on doing that? By traveling wherever I have to go, by speaking to whoever I have to, by making sure that every single one of you listeners out there pick up your phone, Google F45, find the closest destination to where you are. Seeing whether or not it is something that you love as much as I do, as much as the rest of the world do, and I guarantee it'll change your life. There is four, for example, there are four challenges we do a year which is called the Body Transformation Challenge that incredibly changes people's energy levels, their body-- obviously, it's called the Body Transformation Challenge. Where F45 has, it delivers you meal recipes. It gives you a point system on what your daily routine is, your sleep, what you should be cutting out of your diet, and we have people that literally changed their life after eight weeks. You know, we had a studio that I own. I had a lady who wrote a letter to the head trainer to tell her that she had tried everything. She had tried every product in the marketplace. She had tried to do it herself and just could not change. She did two, eight week challenges in a row and she lost over 70 pounds, which was life changing. It truly is life changing, something like that. So what I want to do is I want everyone in the U.S. to try an F45 studio. That might be a big goal, but I believe that we could open three to 4,000 studios across the country and at least give people the opportunity of seeing the success that I've witnessed around the world.

JAC: So let's break that down. There are two sort of big goals within that goal and there's one that's sort of the, we'll call it the intangible, 100 percent penetration in the United States, which is lofty, but we like a lofty goal, a big hairy audacious goal here at aSweatLife. And then there was the more tangible goal, which was the 3,000 to 4,000 physical bricks on the ground studios in the U.S. How is it going so far?

MM: We have awarded in the last 24 months, we've awarded over 300 F45 studios in the U.S. We have currently, I would say it's just about to topple over 100 studios that have opened. Tomorrow for anybody that's in Chicago, and I don't know when this is going out, but Schaumburg in Chicago, he's actually opening. Very much looking forward to seeing that studio, I hear Schaumburg's a beautiful part of Chicago I've not been there yet. Yeah. We hope to have by the close of 2018, we hope to have 200 studios opened in the US. We are awarding anywhere between 20 and 50 studios across the country a month and the more we open, the more people, as I said it is infectious. It's something that people become addicted to very, very quickly. And it's amazing how many people that go and exercise inside of the studio turn into their own business owner. They turn into franchisees themselves from seeing the magic that occurs inside of a studio, the communities and families that have built inside of that studio

JAC: And for for a studio that is franchise driven, there are two sort of audiences. There are the owners and there are the consumers. So for your owners, you're empowering them. With that I a different set of tools and resources and for your consumers, you're empowering them through fitness. When it comes to your owners, what have you sort of seen as far as personal journeys and success?

MM: So the owners of F45 studios, if we were to look into in a room filled with people who were the owners of the studio? And I would say the personal trainer who has always had that heart to bring fitness to people's lives to help them along their fitness journey but has never really had a financial roadmap laid out for them. F45 is, we being a franchiser, we've really tried to simplify that for them. There is the, the pure investor who looks at the dollars and cents, you know, they look at 100 businesses and they see the financial sense in F45 and they plug in their employment staff and, and, and away they go. And then there's the, like me, there's the corporate refugee who has sat behind the desk for far too long doing what they do in a monotonous wave for far too long.

MM: They're tired of being tired and they want to bring their own business to the market. Something that they believe in, something that they can bring their skillset, whether it's on the floor or behind the scenes, they want to go and open up their own business across the board. So we have now 1100 studios awarded around the world in over 40 countries, about 40 percent, 39-40 percent of our franchisees own more than one location. So the and that, that's a really great success point for me is for somebody who's never owned their own business, somebody who's never been involved in fitness to go and open up a studio and the success that they see there, they call me and then that's the best phone call I can ever have is Marc, I'm ready to open up my second studio. For me, that's it's very empowering. It's that is the gratification that I didn't have in my former life was to have somebody that they're passionate about, someone that has never owned their own business to open up an F45 studio and a short time afterwards call me and say I'm ready for number two and that's shows me the success that we're seeing.

JAC: And gym ownership is hard. We hear time and time again from people who start their own gyms and scale them themselves and build number two and number three, that that process is very challenging. So how are you sort of helping these owners go from taking your idea or F45's idea and building a business from from sort of the point where they sign the contract forward?

MM: We basically have a five day orientation course to get them from zero to 60--you say zero to 60, here in America we say zero to 100 kilometers and miles. We get them from zero to 60 during that five-day course in everything. Marketing campaigns, client interaction, what the collateral that we offer in our intellectual operations manual that they have access to in how to set up the studio. The biggest access point, the biggest assistance, the biggest tool that we afford our franchisees with is the F45TV. F45 TV is a technology system placed around a studio so that you as the consumer would walk in and you would see nine televisions around a studio of which when you're about to embark into this group training class, you will see each of the exercises actually video taped and displayed on these monitors.

MM: You also have timing technology on there. So what it in essence does is your group training exercise program that you're about to embark on, is pre programmed F45 itself three weeks in advance. So you as the owner, you as the trainer, you don't have to worry about that constant headache. How do I innovate my workout tomorrow? How do I create a new product, a new platform that's going to excite my clients tomorrow? So we've already done that for you so that you as the owner building out your studio, building your business, you know, giving, giving everything you can to that investment is, the biggest headache is looked after. We also have a F45 FM, so we have over 800 playlists that have been worked out for you that you can plug in. The way that we have these systems, processes and procedures in place really allows the investor, the gym owner to scale their business, worrying about who in the organizational chart they need to plug in to the respective fields. Personally, head trainers, a membership manager, a studio manager, and it allows them to replicate that very easily.

JAC: So you started your journey with F45 and 2015. What has been your greatest learning about the fitness industry in that time?

MM: My biggest learning experience in the fitness industry, and I'm going to compare it to my previous world, was, I was in property and property is something that you either can or can't do, that that's it. You either can go and buy a property or you just, you know, you don't have the means to. Fitness is very different because firstly our entry point is very small relatively to an investment and people from all walks of life--it's, that's what the incredible part is, all love fitness in some capacity. I remember high school, college, university, the camaraderie you had in sports and when you went into your working life, you miss that. You miss, you know, the competitiveness, the, the sports I miss that. I missed being able to just go and run around and whatever it was that soccer, basketball, football, tennis, whatever it was. And I think in the fitness world, everyone who is still enamored with health and fitness, love that camaraderie.

MM: They love the community. There's a number of fitness organizations around the world that are based the success on that community. You know, F45 now has an incredibly growing, fast-growing community. So that was one of the first things was the biggest thing was that my client, whether it was inside of one of my studios or it was somebody that was looking to to open their own business, was huge. It was anyone could, could go and open up their own business. You know, they just had to have the desire, the passion, and the want that. That's the big thing is for all those people who are motivated by being an entrepreneur motivated by potentially opening up their own business is number one, you have to take that first step from the precipice of the, of that cliff. And number two is that desire needs to be there. And you mentioned how difficult owning gyms were. Not that I disagree with you.

JAC: You can disagree.

MM: Can I?

JAC: Yeah.

MM: I disagree. I think that running a gym is not a difficult business. I think that your desire, your want is the same as those people who are coming in there. You don't need, we're not a big box. You don't need 10,000 members to making an F45 successful. Two to 400 members and and you know, you've built your community, your highly profitable and it's a very easy career path to be happy, you know, to have that soulfully rewarding daily wake up as to what you're doing.

JAC: It's an. It's an interesting take because I, I guess the reason why I say owning a fitness studio is challenging is because when you're, when you're going from perhaps someone who has a passion for fitness, but maybe you haven't owned a business before or you're starting from scratch, you're starting all of your systems from scratch too, from getting a lease on a property to hiring a staff to marketing that. So I think we're saying the same thing, but I think we're saying them differently. So going it alone ...

MM: Going it alone very, yeah very much.

JAC: Challenging. But if you have sort of the systems in place and perhaps the help to get you there can be a lot easier. And that's what I think I hear you saying that F45 does.

MM: That's I guess at F45 is tested, tried, trued, failed so many times now in the past that we have not the magic recipe, but we understand I guess what, what footpath people need to take to to reach that success point and any business is not going to be a walk in the park. Anybody that's opening up any business, whether it's a retailer, a fitness business or otherwise, you know, there's always going to be obstacles and challenges. But that's what makes the journey so much better.

JAC: Well, let's talk about. Let's talk about your big hairy audacious goal now. The goal of 100 percent penetration in the United States. Every American citizen trying F45. We love a BHAG here at #WeGotGoals; we've had other entrepreneurs tell us that they wanted to have a 100 percent penetration in coffee production for example, when we talked to Matt Matros who started Limitless Coffee, that was his big goal. So when you go from saying a goal like that allowed to actually executing the steps to get there, what do you actually do and what? What does it look like for you? Do you set small goals along the way? Do you envision the big goal everyday as you start your day? What? What actually goes into it?

MM: My goal, my goal setting techniques is to make sure that it's not a wishlist in any goal setting, whether it's I'm writing my New Year's resolutions, but they were more goals than they are resolutions is there needs to be trigger points, there needs to be milestones that are achieved from go to whoa. So in my hairy--what did you call it?

JAC: Big hairy audacious goal.

MM: Big hairy audacious goal. Big hairy audacious goal. OK.

JAC: BHAG.

MM: So in my BHAG my milestones are to number one, open up as many studios as I can in as many states as I can. So we are in 22 states in 24 months, which has been a huge success. It makes it a lot easier for me because of the overwhelming response from people who also want to bring F45 into their journey to call me and say, Marc, I'm, I'm, I'm intrigued. You know, I don't know if I'm interested, but I'm intrigued. Tell me more. And the first thing I say is the first thing I said to you is you need to go and try a class. The more states and more cities that we have it in, which is my small, my first goal, the easier it is to facilitate people visiting a studio and people experiencing it. 40th five, the, the conversion rate of people that go and see a studio to people that want to bring F45 into their life is incredible. Whether it's as a consumer or potentially owning their own it, it is overwhelming. Yeah, and I guess one of the reasons why we are seeing the growth we're seeing so, so rapidly around the world.

JAC: So let's talk about personal goals before we wrap this up. We talked a lot about business; I know you're engaged and getting married in the future. Are there any other sort of personal goals or health and wellness goals that you're striving to accomplish outside of work?

MM: I'd love to do a triathlon.

JAC: Like an Ironman?

MM: Yeah, but um, I've never been the strongest of swimmers and I'm Australian, so it's difficult to say to people because we have to swim at school five days a week, but I don't ...

JAC: At all ages?

MM: From you're, when you're 12 years old you must swim. I can swim, but I'm just not a triathlon swimmer. I'd love to go back to playing sports. Yeah. I had a couple of injuries in, in my youth and through work I just always put them to the side. Um, I feel like F45 is actually made me stronger in the, my knees aren't the best, but F45 was able to, to, because of the functional movement, it was able to strengthen my, my injury. So I'd love to go and play sports again. Personal, which is the most important, is marriage and a hundred kids.

JAC: 100 kids!

MM: Well I want six.

JAC: You want six kids? So what's interesting is I've always wanted to ask this question, but man, so I'm very excited for it. How are you going to balance it all? Six kids and this big career.

MM: It can happen. My Mother's one of 20.

JAC: One of 20!

MM: Yes, same mother and father.

JAC: How many cousins do you have?

MM: On my mother's side? Just over 50. Wow. First cousins. First generation cousins. Yeah.

JAC: Okay. So you want to have a family as well. That's incredible. Is there anything else that you want to talk about in regards to F45, your goal and the future that we didn't touch on?

MM: The only thing that I want to say F45 has been a truly life changing experience for me and for so many people. Google F45, go and take a class, I guarantee you'll like it. That's it.

JAC: Thank you so much Marc for being on #WeGotGoals, truly enjoyed chatting with you and we hope that you continue down your path towards your BHAG.

MM: Thank you. Thank you so much Jeana.

CK: Hey, goal-getters, cohost and producer Cindy Kuzma here. Coming up next, we've got something special for you. It's one of your goals recorded live last month at the Hotel Moxy. We also recorded a few more real-life goals last weekend at the Michelob Ultra #SweatWorkingWeek Fitness Festival. We're going to have those for you in the weeks ahead also in the weeks ahead, stay tuned because we're going to give you lots of new opportunities and ways to share your goals and be a part of this awesome goal-getting community on #WeGotGoals. Thank you so much for listening, and here is one of your goals.

JAC: David from Chicago. So can you tell me about either a big goal that you set and achieved or a big goal that you have set for the future?

D: So, uh, one of the things that I'm really into besides my freelance contracting is competitive volleyball.

JAC: I love where this is going.

D: Not, not connected at all to have different facets of life course. Uh, so I got it back into volleyball that I'd been playing as a kid and then got back into it as an adult, had some knee injuries and then was like, but I was like really encouraged to like, I want to like be really good at this again. And uh, I got back into playing some leagues. I got back into doing some travel tournaments actually as well. Um, it's sort of a, it wasn't, not a concrete goal, but I was like, I want to be, even though I'm like about to turn 30 years old, like I want to be the best volleyball player that I can right now and keep getting better at it and I'm, at least right now, I feel like I've certainly succeeded in it and gotten better. Um, and one of the ways that I've done that is crazily finding a gym that specializes in kettlebells, so they operate under this thing called strong first.

D: Um, so it's all kettlebell technique. And when I went in the first day had no idea what I was doing. I walked in and was just like, why not? Let's give it a try. This place is around the corner from my apartment and I have just been now going for almost two years consistently, like three times a week and like my body feels completely different than it did two years ago. No more knee pain. I have like lost 30 pounds and I'm just like in the strongest, best shape of my entire life and I'm like, had my 30th birthday a couple years ago. And I'm also like feeling like I'm at the best peak volleyball that I've ever been at in my entire life.

JAC: Well that is fascinating, first of all because it's, it's sort of like, most people share goals that are professionally linked and I love, I love hearing that your goal is sort of outside of the four walls of work or probably for you sometimes four walls, sometimes coffee shop walls. So I'm interested to hear how people in your life react to you saying I want to be the best volleyball player.

D: Um, it's interesting because I think I grew up in my sister's footsteps. She was a volleyball player first and I think um, she has been really encouraging about it and um, is really proud. Um, and I think, uh, the people that I played volleyball with are also really excited and they've even been the ones to tell me actually that they notice my improvement more so than I have, like I was at a tournament last month and someone just stopped me that I'd been playing with for years and they're like, I just want to let you know, like, you're not only playing better physically but also mentally like I can tell you're just making better decisions on the court. So actually everybody around me has been really positive and pointing it out and maybe even more than I realize

JAC: This is incredible. Last question and then I'm going to set you free. Have you noticed that your ability to crush it on the volleyball court has impacted your ability to crush it at work?

D: You know, not that I've seen yet, but I have, I can tell that I'm at least an entertaining thoughts of taking a step forward and like doing things that I wouldn't have tried before from a career standpoint or at least even like putting myself out there to find another client and I think it is all wrapped up in this same sort of mindset of just like I'm succeeding at what I set my mind to. Everything's going great. Like, what do I have to lose?

JAC: So the work that you're putting in in the gym is impacting the rest of your life. That's incredible. So thank you for sharing your goal with us.

D: Yeah, my pleasure.

CK: This podcast was produced by me, Cindy Kuzma, and it's another thing that's better with friends, so please share it with yours. One of the best ways to do that is to listen wherever you get your podcasts and then leave us a rating or review in Apple Podcasts or iTunes. Special thanks to J. Mano for our theme music; to our guest this week, Marc Morano; to TechNexus for the recording studio and of course to you, our listeners.