Boys and girls absolutely epic episode today. I'm buzzing for it before I get stuck into who we have on today. Please. Do me a favor head over to your podcast provider and give this show a five star review because of the rating and reviews. That I've had so far. It means I can get people on this show like the yes that I have on today. Okay. It's really important the more people listen to it and we'll notoriety this show gets and it means you guys can carry on listening to some epic stories. I was absolutely ecstatic to do this episode today. I've listened to been Coomer radio for a very very very long time. I've stepped in and out of several podcasts over the years, but Ben's is the one and only that I've stopped with I've taken so much from what he has said over the years and I still do to this day Ben has interviewed some seriously high profile people over the years CT Fletcher for Learning and for Grand being just a few but in all honesty. It's his personal 10-15 minute episodes. I always tune in for us his mental Clarity and his knowledge is extremely infectious on everything to do with mental and physical health a couple of weeks ago after listening to an episode of his I was like fuck it. I'll reach out to him and see if he wants to come on the show on the off chance. He might The amount of times I've done this now is hilarious. But what I do notice is that it's the people who really do have the ability to provide value that say, yes, when I ask them this was one of those made me super super pumped when he did say yes that honestly I was so excited and the fact that he came down despite being seriously busy, you know with his BTN Academy his new supplementation range awesome supplements sort of called and a few other amazing project. He's working on was Really amazing in all honesty. I could have sat down with been four hours and ask him questions, you know question after question after question on Health Fitness business, whatever it may be this episode, you know kind of jumps around on several topics has to be honest. I kind of used it as an excuse to ask them some questions. I wanted the answers to but all of those questions will be relevant to you guys. Honestly, this is an episode that you should all listen to he's answers are incredible and I've listened to it three four five. X over already I enjoyed every single second. It's an absolute screamer. So get involved. First of all, I want to say a massive. Thank you for coming down. This is this is big for me because I started listening to you as I was sort of starting my journey out of uni. Sure. Yeah. I mean you and JJ Frazier. I don't know if you know Jeffrey I listened to him for years. I listen to you for a bit and I kind of stopped listening to podcasts work appeared as I was sort of moving start to move. We've been on two books a little and then I sort of sort of mix between the two now when I can but yeah, I've really started over the last six months really changing back into U. So this is massive for me. I really appreciate you coming down which side of it. Yeah. Absolutely. So obviously you're busy busy man. So you admit you're doing you owner of BTN color. We recording already. Yes. All right. Oh you didn't give me an inch. I'll make this natural combo bro. Don't incriminate yourself, mate. So you'll be 10 Academy. Yes. You are Ben Cooper radio. Obviously you have just a massive component of what you doing. You do just a ton of stuff your now your own of awesome or supplements. Yeah. Awesome has I get how is going very well? Yeah nearly three years from me epic look before we get really cracking on. I I was actually unaware of your until I did my research last week or so about your background. Where you came from? So I think that would be amazing because I think it we touch we're going to touch on a lot of bits like change and motivational that kind of stuff. I think it'd be really awesome to hear a bit about your background where you've come from and is kind of your journey. It's to into the fitness industry and obviously where you are now sure. Yeah. So when I was younger I was going to be an actor. That was my thing ever since the age of eight got to 18 looked at myself in the mirror and I was like, I don't feel like I'm a success of my life. Looking this way. So I went on a big personal journey of Just self-improvement body-mind Fitness everything and I hit a lot of roadblocks. Like I was really struggling. I remember I'd been at it for about 5 months and I've lost like five pounds of body fat and for anyone on a diet, that's pretty depressing and remember having an argument in the kitchen one day of my brother and I was teasing him and he was like make you're not so perfect. Look at the state of you you doing this diet. It's not even working. I just had to stare at myself in the mirror and it forced me to rethink what I was Like turn the system on its head so joined a gym happen to fall in the hands of a great trainer really compassionate newest stuff or back then and he said right let's lift some weights a bit. Let's cut down on this kind of stuff and your diet. Let's pay attention to your body bit more and I lost four stone in four months and I lost another stone and a half over like three or four months and it was just that rapid transformation of myself. I was like shit this time. It's really cool. Wow, and I just as I was going through kind of the acting stuff if like auditioning for drama school and that kind of stuff my interest just naturally went towards Fitness. Like I'm just super passionate about it ended up doing loads of travelling all through Asia went away for a long period of time came home. And I was like, that's it. I want to go into the fitness industry to track trained as a personal trainer. It's very fortunate that my mum gave me a chunk of money. That was for my uni fund my acting school fund. So I went and trained would like pull checking California. I did Sykes really cool education early days, so I'm very grateful. Fool for that so became a trainer then went to Unique is our got itchy feet then worked in Pro Sports Elite level rugby then was working with kids them and started my first online Fitness business that kind of failed miserably then kind of thought to myself. What do I really want to do? Well, I want to be on a bigger stage. I want to speak and then I started this kind of the social media journey of podcasting and video and in all the rest of it and then yes or six seven eight. I don't know how many years later here. I am with the few few fingers in a A few Fitness pies amazing. I mean like your thirst for knowledge. Where did that I mean as soon as you start to see results that when it's kind of start to settle in when you just kind of just wanting to learn as much as you can. Yeah, when I was a kid, I always focused on the Arts and the Arts is a very you've always got to think critically you got to express yourself to be better. You have to constantly self-reflect and I think in more like the science Realms, you don't develop that as a personality trait you just like learn this and you take a test and you know stuff. Words, I think the Arts taught me how to constantly re-evaluate where you are how to be better how to put on a better performance for yourself and other people and that probably gave me a young thirst for knowledge and then when I did so much so wrong then found a better Fitness path. I was like well, hang on I've got better knowledge here. I've created a better solution. I've got really dramatic results and I don't think that thirst is just ever gone away and I almost think why wouldn't you develop yourself as much as possible? Why I can't you why shouldn't you be the best human being that you can possibly be on here is 100 said I mean you didn't just suffer with being bigger you had other issues like IBS and all this kind of thing and changing and learning and then changing obviously improved you and all these the compartments. And is that what drove your passion for helping others? Yeah, definitely, you know just on a weight level. It's obviously life-changing you get more confident, you know, you feel good about everything that you do your fit. You don't get out of breath and then solving the IBS meant that Wasn't tired anymore wasn't lethargic solving miasma gave me a new lease of life and my fitness and I just thought I can't keep this information to myself the whole world needs to know about it. I need to get Spire people. Yeah, it's a gift to give so yeah, that was why I just wanted to teach and spread the love. I think well, I think change is a massive thing. I mean, I mean I come across people every day. They come down. The first step for me is then coming down the steps of that this gym and saying that they want to change. What I have discovered, I'm sure you obviously have been in history 10 years. I'm sure you've been through it time and time again is is the difference between that first step and then people actually having the motivation to stick with it or fall off. Mmm. What are the biggest blocks in your experience that stop people from really going from? Okay. I want to do that and then actually doing it. So firstly goes people probably don't have an honest enough gold. Like what really is it? Like the amount of people that walk down your gym steps and go I just want to lose fat and get fit and then when it actually you peel open the the onion and get to the core it's that they want to be happier more confident feel like they did when they were 22 like all that kind of stuff. They just want to have that new lease of life. And actually it's very important to focus on all of that because that's what's really freaking important. So goal setting is important being able to maintain daily. Momentum, I think it's an important thing. So I always tell people I have a little task I do with clients and it's called a person personal time sheet and you write a timesheet of your day and it's like I got up at six o'clock. What did I do from half six to seven seven five seven two seven and you you go through your day and Trunks and it's important to me to identify where momentum slips off where habits are may be negative. And actually the reason why we have to do that thing that personal time sheet is if you don't have data, Te you have nothing to react obvious all very subjective and as a nutrition coach you sit down and you're like, okay, so tell me about it. But because it's now eight hours in the past. You don't really know what happened. And because it's a habit you're not really fully aware of it because a lot of our habits our self conscious self conscious subconscious and a product of our environment. So I break down all this stuff and it's like, right. Okay, you always seem to go off track at lunchtime like taught me through what happens at lunch and it might be that they work with some crappy. People and the people that they work with annoy them and then they get hungry and then they go and eat some crap at lunch and then actually they feel tired at their desk and then that means they don't feel motivated in the afternoon to go to the gym session whether it's whatever they're doing and actually you as the trainer might go a why didn't you turn up to training today and they said, oh I felt tired, but that wasn't the actual reason of the back it was way further back. So if I can fix where momentum was lost I can now create momentum through The rest of the day and I think that's powerful so it's the power is power of self-awareness essentially a hundred. I mean that is something that I was I mean I listen to me recently says his self awareness is the first part of self-mastery. Mmm, aren't I when I heard that I was like fuck that is so fucking true. Hmm. It really is because if you can cess where you're going wrong and your weaknesses and your strengths then surely a lot of gate start to open a lot of gay start to open up for you. Yeah. The problem is people are scared to look at that. Slayer and it's you know, people might look at you or anyone that they perceive to have got their shit together and I are but I'm not like him like I don't have this like he thinks like this and I've got this negative habit and it's like every single one of us has negative habits negative character traits things that we were going to say, we don't like about ourselves but it's about optimizing that and just focusing on your strengths like there's many behaviors that if I talk people through it you'd be like, oh actually I wouldn't have known that. About you and it's like yeah because I manage it. Yeah, you know, I managed it every day. I've had it some routines. So it's not about being perfect or you know, being this idea that people look up to us about just look at yourself and going okay I can deal with this. Let's just make it better one step at a time. I'm sad and then you actually talk about it. I think you've written a book like I've written a few Loosely and yeah, I mean that you talk a bit about the tart the day you actually realized you weren't a great a good personal trainer. I think you said yeah. That was my book how to be an awesome person. I think that that was that the sort of beginning of your Fitness self-awareness will most often realize where you had to get better. Yeah, I think I had an a maturity Epiphany. Well, I had to get out of my own ego and stand back and go why not being successful. I'm doing all this stuff. I've done all these courses and I just saw someone else who I saw as an inferior trainer do way better than me and I was like, hang on but I was vulnerable enough to stand back. And ask myself as hard questions and then I started to go through the process of like, okay. Well, how do you become an effective coach what is an effective process of change and actually it's not just about knowledge. Everyone's got knowledge. It's about empowering someone understanding them working with their environment. So yeah, so self-awareness having the vulnerability to go in side yourself and really critique that and optimize it and if you're scared of doing that if anyone listening is like, you know, I'm still a bit scared of looking at that person. Pretty clean the mirror. It would be really valuable to hire a coach, you know, the amount of people that I say look don't come and buy my fat loss program or don't come and do this go and sit down with a psychotherapist or a mindset coach and just pay that 50 pounds and just get them to help you a little bit because as we always come back to In the Journey of success, it was comes back to the mind and if you're not going to win to master your mind, you're not going to master yourself 100% I mean, like even though people do come downstairs this gym and they taking the first step wanting to change. JH that I mean, I read a book ages ago thats for a change my way of thinking about human beings is the mindset by Carol dweck brilliant book or any boat. So you go growth mindset. You got fixed mindset the amount of people that come down these stairs, you know, the wanting to change they still have that fixed mindset with are just and I think actually the biggest thing with a fixed mindset is people just accept how they are. They don't look into themselves and see where they can improve and they almost don't want to that's the hardest part. So seeing that that's why I kind of like Take coat the coach. This is my equivalent of a coach no down here. I actually think it's the community in there and the the atmosphere down here that changes people not in that regard. So I see people every single day that I know in a couple of weeks time their body language will change their way to towards other people change. It's simply because they're starting to let down those barriers and they're realizing actually what they're capable of they probably never thought. They were eight. They they never they never thought they were able to that. So in that regard, it's just like completely agree. I'm and that's what I think that Fitness is just the best thing in the world because they know they can start to control elements of their life and you know, obviously that natural endorphin rush and the atmos the feelings that you generate from from being fit and healthy just it's the biggest game changer. Definitely. This is where group fitness is more powerful than personal training because it's an interesting. I know. Yeah. Got let's say you've got 30 people in a class. Let's say all 30 people are on a positive fitness journey that new person that 31st person is now getting little bits of input from everyone else's transformation. And now they've got an opportunity to resonate with three four five people in that class. It's like are there similar to me? They're in a similar environment and they're doing it and they're making changes and they're cooking this and they're going to bed on time. I can do it and that's very hard to do. Sometimes when you're a personal trainer one-on-one with the coaches. Like you're just you've just got this stay or one-way relationship of like do this try that but sometimes people change the best from kind of just transient exposure to a positive motivating environment. Yeah 100. I mean I fell out of love of Pete. I've been to a lie about little bit about my background, but I was a one-on-one PT for two years. I just fell out of love with it because I threw so much into it and because you only see that person once twice a week, I didn't feel like a have the impact that I wanted to their on. That's why I love being down it like a lobbying the gym. I know pretty much everybody's name. They come into the same time. So every day and they walk out of that building from like a million dollars and that is why it's just the best feeling in the world. And I'm really that was amazing to hear that you actually think the group group training can be as if it can be even more effective than one-on-one busy. I'd probably say for the general population. It is hands-down more effective hands down because it's scalable. Most people want it. Not many people want person. I'm training. So if you want to take the next level in your Fitness, yeah, go get a specific program written all the rest of it. But you know Group Training can provide for the masses is also a cost component there. A lot of people can't afford personal training that is the reality. So I think trainers definitely need to embrace it and it's nice that trainers have started to say, you know, employees semi-private training models and all that kind of stuff is way more positive. I would rather train with a group of four guys all looking to build muscle for example than just one trainer be more fun bit of I'll be a bit competitive to the guy next to me. You will always push yourself harder as well 100 ways. So when did your career take the next level? So you went through uni, then you went into that's when to professional sports are correct? Yeah that were so 2009 was my last year of uni, right? That was the year that I was in Pro Sport while I was at Uni decided I didn't want to do Pro Sport because it was just very self limiting. It was very limiting on what you could do how you could impact change. Was this an A nutrition standpoint always this since I was actually assisting strength and conditioning coach and I worked as I could do with nutrition, but they were quite closed off to change in nutrition. It was all protein shakes and going down for a Nando's afterwards. So that was the approach to Pro rugby nutrition, which is fine the real big goals and thereby big guys and they need to eat a lot. So then 2010. I launched my second online business and it was from there that 2011. I started the podcast. Cost and doing videos and all the rest of it and it is about 2013 or essentially three years of hard work pays off. I started writing for every Fitness Magazine podcast hit number one, you know is doing loads of cool stuff. And what's the recipe there? I can just hard work. Yeah. It was it's funny like, you know this podcast I adore adore. It's you know, it's I'm not monetizing it. But what it does is it's given me a platform to speak to people such as yourselves and learn and that's what actually used it for from day one. I never really claimed to kind of be like or you know, I'm an expert on this. I've got x y z because I don't you know, I have good understanding of straight conditioning. I'm good at understanding of nutrition. I'm not saying I'm up here, but you know, I'm not understanding but I used it as a platform to get to to learn and it's come from more empathetic standpoint, and that's why people Machine in because they're kind of on a journey and I mean you started yours went six six six years ago and you've had what CT Fletcher you've had some huge huge resource. Who's the person you've kind of was like, have you ever sat down and being like This guy's really big deal and you like move it kind of taken back or do you have the mentality just going to go a couple I do I do have the Met like people ask me if I've ever been like do I ever get Starstruck and that kind of thing but I always see other people is just humans. Sure. Like you're a guy I'm a guy like we've both got value. I'm not above you below you or anything like that. We just do different things in different worlds and have you know different jobs for people and for ourselves, so, The I always come back to the number one interview I've ever done is actually Martin Rooney training for warriors guy has like a group fitness kind of concept in America. Okay, but he listened to him. This is a very motivation motivating guy. He's just brilliant the way that he presents himself. So that's one of the best interviews of ever done, you know, some recent amazing guest deliciously. Ella was really good. It was really nice compassionate conversation around talk plant-based nutrition. That was really nice, but it's really hard when you've done. And two shows to pick out a favorite I tell you I don't upset anyone now. I tell you what I've listened to I'm just about 50-60 of yours. And the one that had the biggest impact on me. Okay was I don't know why I keep looking at my watch is broken she habit it was your your reflection on this year the last year starting in 2017. Sorry mate time flies 2018 mm. Well, let me What you've got to say and then we'll maybe start a fight. Yeah, you learn a couple of things but the one that was massive for me and this is somebody who obviously you've got a ton of knowledge. I mean you've done you need you've been learning for for a long long time on things that you're most passionate about and you said something which had been stuck in my own mind ever since I've opened this gym and you said One thing I learned about myself was I stopped learning you stopped and obtaining knowledge. Now was it you became too much of an action Taker and then you go on to talk about the balance between obtaining knowledge and action yet and how if you're an entrepreneur, sometimes you can steer weight or way way more towards the action side of things and you stop obtaining on it and I was like Jesus that is fucking so true because of the thing I used to love doing more than anything was Being a podcast re of reading a book and and obtaining knowledge and writing about in my journal and then talking to people about it. That's yeah, I used to go there and I was like, that's because this gym I love it to Pieces my happy place, but we're here, you know in the early days of the first four months. We were here from R5 until 10:00 at night, you know, and you're doing something all the time, you know, cleaning toilets, whatever you're selling a membership, whatever it may be but I knew there was something missing like it was Who's niggling at me? And then I heard that was like that's it. I'm not I don't feel actually feel like I'm going the other direction. I actually feel like I'm forgetting stuff and that's a frightening place to be. So yeah that I just thought was fascinated me in regard to you is it similar was it's it was a pretty much a similar thing you would you're so busy and what you would do in that you kind of weren't making time to obtain the knowledge. So I'm unsure the podcast that you're referencing just because I do a lot I ate all about Mama and my head and I think that's why people like my podcast because it's like I haven't got all this figured out of my head. I'm going to tell you where my head's at. He'll give some clarity to you. I got to a point where I was learning a lot and I just didn't have the time to implement it. So I put a learning ban on myself thick because the problem is the ideas that I had kept getting manipulated a little bit as a new idea came in and it's not to say that that idea can't be better but an idea executed is better than an idea not execute because you still just go And over it. So I had a learning band and I had a big argument with a friend. He's like how arrogant to say that you're you know, you can't learn and you know, you're not not engaging in learning as I'm not I'm not saying that I'm saying I've just done so much as any time to let it settle affect me like how many of us now read a book and then we're straight on to the next book. So true, right you should probably scan through the pages and just pick up the real key stuff that you took away that you may be highlighted or wrote notes on because if you don't, you know I would say five to ten books could radically transform someone's life the right five to ten books, but do people really engage with those right five to ten bucks or are we just moving through more and more information on some so these days I'll probably learn about three hours a week and that's it. That's all anything more and I just ain't got the time to implement and yeah, do yes true, but you to structure that into your routine. I take a very compassionate approach to it and I do it when I travel and so I switch off. My phone when I travel and I listen to an audio main core I read I don't try and multi-task with learning and doing other stuff because I'm hoping that the stuff that I'm learning is very important. I want to take it in. I don't want to be engaged in a transient process of trying to learn. All right, here's a question two books. Yeah have had a huge impact first one job already straightened choco willing extreme ownership, like life book. You've got to read it. And probably is it the Ben Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey. Yeah, just an incredible Life Book interesting. Like people think it's a business book. It's not it's a life book. It's like how to be a better parent how to be a better human like just everything loved it in those two books interesting interesting. Okay while we're on this. Yep, two individuals that have you don't have to have known them. Yeah that have had a huge impact on you and why Jamie Oliver Jamie Oliver. Yeah, I am going why love the guy he's always challenge the status quo has been willing to put his neck out when it comes to health like that Matchstick that guy gets in the media and everything and it's like he's genuinely trying to the night the right thing and he's honest. He hasn't worked out all the answers. He's like, but we need to have a stab you know, those turkey Twizzlers you served in schools. We should probably think of something different to kid. I could feed our kids. Yeah, you know, he's not saying he's got the solution, but let's talk about it. Also, you know, he's been very passionate. You know, he's always trying to reinvent just food food simple, right the guys bought out like 10 cookbooks. They won't teach - yeah find that inspiring second one maybe like the rock or Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's like that just that tenacity to challenge yourself always be humble even like I love the rock is like the most humble guy but literally the most sex sex for guy in so many different disciplines and I'm like, that's cool. Yeah, that's cool. That's great. Listen to without an old Schwarzenegger. That's the only one I've actually it's in fact if you time with Tim Ferriss the red AV listeners that one I have here twice goddess a good one. Yeah, he's a cool dude. He succeeded in so many areas. Yep, like always he property he was properly was bodybuilder property lightning-like laborer labor labor of fed into the property. Yeah, and then yeah and then and then acting came the high most highly paid actor on the planet. I think it was I which is a rock now probably about these Legend. Yeah and He obviously went on to been governor governor of a state American. So the thing is like it's really hard to go back into real and stuff. But he's like I didn't know how to act but I'm the world's best something he was the world's best bodybuilding and he could have stayed there and it's like I'm just going to forget it all and retrain as an actor and I literally can't act but I'm going to learn. Oh look now. I'm the most paid. Yeah actor in the world. This is see love that humbleness to be able to just go back to the most basic form of a skill and be willing to relearn it all. Brilliant, it is some of you touched on just now when we talk a little bit about like knowledge and I think actually warms Loma phrases is there's a lot of information out there and I feel like somebody from the outside especially I would say Fitness and Nutrition is a very difficult thing because there is so much out there and we're in a day where social media is so present and everyone's got an opinion. What's your advice to somebody who may be listening who's in that struggle? They're not kind of sure what to listen to what what kind of pickup coming into like trying to get into fitness. What would you like on a primary sort of advice be in regard to making that first step not overloading yourself with too much. Just trying to started to introduce a few little I know it's Unique to everyone. Yeah, just overall speaking the kind of starting point. Uh, yeah. Yeah how Common, is it now but I try and exercise as much common sense as possible. So let's just look at the human bodies and basic tool. It should probably eat real food. It should probably sleep. Well, it should probably drink a lot of water. It should probably move with purpose. It should probably lift some heavy things because that's a functional thing for the human body to do. So, if you start following and listening to too many people that are opposed to those Concepts, you've got to say that just doesn't even make sense. I mean come on we're essentially an animal and a very Advanced world. Start to have a bullshit radar well and truly turned on so when you hopefully listen to me or you when we're doing stuff like podcasting, we never really ever talk in absolutes. You should do this. You shouldn't do that because that's just not true. You know, there's many different tools for many different jobs. So I think if you find the right kind of people talking the right kind of way in a very compassionate way and just sort of saying to people, you know, this is what the research says and we've applied this with our clients and this kind of works go and have a play with it. Have a try of it. If in that process, you know, you're keeping to the basics, you're always building on the basics. You won't go too far wrong with your health and fitness so true. It's so true. And I think I mean I had James Smith on this show. I think James is a real character or a lot time from I'm he's quite out there in the way he does stuff but he's he's cut a lot of the BS out of this game, and I just I just I love the way you kind of He's not like you have to lock yourself away in eat chicken and broccoli. I like and I kind of like the way he's kind of he's gone. The other way is kind of ramen that down your throat. Now that you know, you need to be able to live your life to have long-term sustainable improvements in terms of how you feel. But big thing I know with you is, you know, the introduction of sort of habits and I mean I've listened to Jay through here for years and that's kind of where I started to accumulate mine and then obviously I've heard a lot of you wasn't in the past as well. Help me. I building habits. I mean how important is that to specially like you and introduction into your clients. I mean, I'm interested. Well, we're a result of our habits. So I'm fortunate. Well, I suppose I'm not fortunate because I designed it. My home environment is built so that my habits can be really positive how long's that take a few to accumulate? Well, you know, I always had a plan that when I bought my first house and it would look this way and that's it wasn't going to compromise. So I just saved up and waited till You know the right house can it came along? So like even you know, my bedroom, it's it's in a really cool spot with with where the sun rises or doesn't like get too hot and stuff. I've got a beautiful amazing big bed of Super King. So I don't have to touch my wife during sleep so I can sleep nicely. You know, when I go down. I've got a massive double American fridge that means I can store lots of beautiful food in it. You know, I've got a water filter. I don't have a coffee. I've just have a mocker pot. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, that's way. Yeah, and I Only 20 quid. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I've got a utility room so I can put all the pots and powders and all sorts of random stuff out there. I've got a gym in my garage. So it's like I've set up my home. So if I don't leave I can be as healthy as humanly possible and I think that's really important. So my habits in that environment can be always positive that's not as easy for other people where you've got to travel a lot this work colleagues friends and family all that kind of stuff. So don't get me wrong. I've built my life to allow that but again you need to Systems and habits and routines and probably mindset narratives to help you deal with all that stuff. But ultimately all of this comes down to planning and preparation. If you want an outcome, you got a plan for it. So however much a client sits in front of me and gives me excuses and weaves different stories and shit. I'm like if we're to planned we would have got a better outcome and the reality is people could have planned better for the outcomes. That isn't saying about you you avoiding, but I think that's so cool man. Yeah, that's that's That's that's epic. I mean literally is a nice out. Yeah, that is. Okay. Well, we know I've got a question here say, you know to daily habits that you can live without I mean that must be hard for you because if everything is literally is like a puzzle being put together could you dissect to that you just simply yet couldn't first one is getting outside for a real nice walk in the countryside got a dog every day. Yeah, and that force it twice a day every day get outside gives me Clarity even Okay, 15 minutes sometimes ago for an hour. Sometimes I switch my phone off and be quiet and then sometimes I'll take like a cool, you know and do a bit of business on the Move kind of thing. The second thing is probably either eating. Well, just making sure you are fuels my body and mind that all switching my phone off for periods of the day and just you know, I'm someone that wants Clarity in my life. I need time to do my job. And the mobile phone is an epic way to procrastinate and just gets in the way of stuff sometimes and run. Yeah, I think we could all be better off with putting Aeroplane mode on a little bit more. I'll salute Lee. I mean your jaw. I mean I say your job you've got so many things going on. I mean, what would you say you've got about how many different separate sort of entities if your business is there's three core entities in quizzes. Yeah. I mean you did a podcast on time auditing. Yeah, and I thought that was fascinating. I start something I really want to implement. I mean, how do you go about sort of yourself to your sort of time management? I mean obviously depends day-to-day, but do you have a kind of structure that you have in place of kind of? Allocating your time and I don't know. I mean, yeah, it's a show is a lot going on with you three to four days a week or work from home. So I get up in the morning put the coffee on. I have a car with a dog go outside for a couple of breaths of nice cold fresh air, and then I'll keep my phone off and I work for like a good three hours or so, you know on like a project or an article. I'm writing or something like that then I'll turn my phone on and I work with my team for a good hour and a half. Like what are we doing who need support like all that kind of stuff then it's like emails podcast interviewed like all that kind of stuff. Off then I'll usually turn my phone off again and then I'll go back into like a project to finish the day with so roughly. I work anywhere from 6 to 10 hours a day, and it kind of jostles between those two things. But I've got a good team good systems, you know building a business in a way that hopefully it still works and it's sustainable. So there's a lot going on, but I'm hoping it works. I mean, it's think it's working. Yeah. Well, yeah, obviously, I mean it's something that means method try hard to do every day, you know, we're trying to obviously we want to expand in In this franchise game you want to have as many as we can almost who are trying to find systems that work like you just said and I think leadership is a massive Point. I've actually thought I would dotting around on so many different points here and I it's just because I've told you there's so many different things. I want to talk to you about but that's quite an interesting one. I mean in terms of, you know, entrepreneurs a lot of intrapreneurs listen to this podcast, I mean as a sort of leader of your business, I mean, is there any sort of one piece of advice you have and sort of In regards to sort of keeping your team productive and happy and you know moving forward constantly. Yeah, it's probably two things and I've probably pieced this together a lot over the last six months is it takes way more time to lead people than you think it does, you know, you can't just get great people to be like, you know, I'll give you an hour a week of my time. It does take a lot more. So the I suppose the reality of building a team is you know, They are there to perform a role and function in your business through but they're still not you your chances are you probably would have done that job better. Especially if your business is small because you built it from the ground up and as soon as a business gets bigger, then your hands off like, you know, there's loads of people that could do the jobs within the business. So understand that that person really does need clear guidance from you, especially if it's a small business because quite often still about you. Mine is kind of my brand. I've built all these businesses. Rely on lot of my personal profile. So I think leadership takes more time than people realize. Otherwise the problems come further down the line. If you don't spend enough time of your staff now, they'll be pissed off in three months time when they don't feel valued and all that kind of stuff. Secondly, I think leadership still needs to be strong. I tried to implement too much autonomy in some of the roles and actually people are here quite often because of the leader, so I want to know what we're doing today. Like why are we doing it? It rather than like oh, you know you're happy to go off and create it when they come back and create your like or would have done it that way and this could be better and all that kind of stuff. So I try and get this fine balance of like autonomy in a role but really saying right this is what we're doing today. This is why we're doing it. This is how it needs to look don't forget to do that. Make sure you talk with that contact and I really like quickly lay out the foundation. So I just think is a leader you have to be very good at time management very clear with your instructions, but also very supportive and don't get me wrong. It's Very very fine balance that I will always try and get better at but I think if you do that, you'll have a great business and ultimately highly productive staff lead to a highly profitable business concern. So we're what's going to what's really major happening the in the next 12-18 months of your businesses. Is there anything you can talk to us about any projects major projects you're working on that. You're really excited about. Yeah, the key things for us in the next year are the supplement business awesome supplements. We wanna we've got some protein bars come in there are Absolutely, mind-blowing compared to the rest of the markets and working on them for the next two years. As you know, the snack Market in Fitness is thriving so we want to take a chunk chunk of that. We want to be in it. We want to be well known for it. So that's the key thing for me. I want to be talking a lot more I kind of it is very hard as a leader to tend to your business and your team or less of it and always be on social media and all that kind of stuff. So I feel that I've built a good team now and I want to be on social media a bit more again on video a bit more. Because there's a lot that I'm passionate about love talking about all sorts of stuff. So they're probably like the two key things. Hopefully two books will come out this year as well. So yeah, that's probably enough for now. Maybe it's super assign. It honestly has been an absolute pleasure to have you and I probably could ask you about a thousand different things where you've got a bit of a time limit today the thing I kind of want to finish on. Yeah, I don't I don't know if you listen to any of these podcast before but essentially this Cast originated off the back of me going through a really difficult time early 20s. So I just I was really lost for a direction kind of stepped into fitness, which I thought was what I want to do, but I was unsure as or went back and forth and I just kind of lost that sort of mental sort of Direction. I wanted to be going in so I'm you know suffer with depression and so I was always kind of thing that's kind of why I started this to kind of speak to people I use for people who are in a similar situation to me can become inspired sure. So I asked everybody on the show I go, you know, what is one lesson? Life lesson, you've learned that if you could speak to somebody in that situation you would pass on. And for I'll show you have a hundred but I'm just actually it's a tricky one to dissect one. But if there was one that really kind of so probably I probably give my mum credit for this She always told me from a young age. She says there's a matter what you do doesn't matter how you do it. Just do what you're passionate about that point in time and from an early age despite what my school said of like you should be doing maths. You should be doing science or these academic subjects. I just always focused on the Arts as well. I was passionate. Bow and I didn't know what making a pot in clay class was going to lead to or doing a silly photo for an art project was going to lead to but now actually my creative habits and ability is my most powerful business and life asset. I'm a very creative person if you sat down and said Ben we want to do some film with social media you got any ideas and I could just probably real your 50 ideas because I've developed a very creative brain, but that was a result of following my passion. Passion and you know school and parents and environments are great at trying to force us into a mold. The reality is now in the modern world. You can be successful at absolutely anything and be you know, and learn lots of money doing absolutely anything. So whether you're into making pots and clay or you're into fitness or you're into doing stocks and shares and doesn't matter just follow your passion and at least your wake up every day going I want to do that today. I want to do that today and then I think when there's problems that are coming D there like depression and feeling low and all the rest of it. They just slowly start to dissipate because you have so much energy for a thing, and I think humans need purpose and if we're not doing something that gives us purpose makes us get up every day makes us passionate about it and wanting to get other people involved in it, then you are going to find life pretty tough epic epic met. It's been an absolute pleasure. I really honestly really loved having you down. Thank you. Please come down for a session. If you like and quickly, I'm sure everyone does but where can people follow you where can people get your content because it's unbelievable. Thank you Vancouver all over the Internet Co mber Ben Cooper radio and iTunes Instagram. However, people like to follow people then go there and type Vancouver and you'll find me brilliant. We also it's nice, isn't it? That's right. It was it's now fueled vehicles and fuel fueled by oils, and they really appreciate it. Thanks very much. Thank you, dude.
I was absolutely ecstatic to do this episode today! I have listened to Ben Coomber for a very very long time. I have stepped in and out of several podcasts over the years but Ben is the only one that I have always stuck with. I have taken so so so much from what he has said over the years and still do to this day. Ben has interviewed some very very high profile people over the years, CT Fletcher, Phil Learney and Phil Graham being just a few, but in all honesty it’s his personal 10-15 minute episodes I always tune in for as his mental clarity and knowledge is extremely infectious on everything to do with mental and physical health  A couple of weeks ago after listening to an episode of his I was like fuck it I’ll reach out to him and see if he wanted to come on the show. The amount of times I have done this is now hilarious. What I do notice is that it’s the people who really do have the ability to provide value that say yes! This was one of the ones that made me super super pumped though. There are a handful of people that have helped shape my knowledge and view on nutrition and Ben is certainly one. The fact he came down despite being super busy with his BTN academy, his new supplement range Awesome Supplements and few other amazing projects he is working on was amazing. In all honesty I could have sat down with Ben for hours and asked him question after question. This episode jumps through several topics - I used it as an excuse to ask him some questions I wanted the answers on in all honesty. However all these questions will be relevant to all listening. What we spoke about:  * A little bit of background on Ben! He talks through his journey through obesity!! * Ben talks us though some very clear and concise changes that he made to his lifestyle to help him get to where he wanted!! * Ben talks about the topic of ‘Change’ Lots of people love the idea of change but very few actually manage it. * The power of group training! * Self awareness is the first part to ‘Self-Mastery’. * I ask Ben whether he has always had that entrepreneurial drive. Where has it come from? * Two pieces of leadership advice. * The balance between knowledge consumption and action. * Two daily habits you couldn’t live without. * Two people who have had a significant impact on your life!! * I ask Ben to share with us a life lesson he has learnt to an individual in their 20’s / 30’s who is a little bit lost for a direction. * What is on the agenda for Ben over the next 12 months! This is an absolute screeeeamer! Get involved! 