Surrounding yourself with greatness often means having individuals around the community support you in all kinds of unique times of our lives. Whether that is for the personal or professional developmental reasons that we have inside of ourselves, we can create works of art through physical and mental conditioning. In today's episode, Elizabeth Lehr, General Manager of KickHouse in York and Hershey, describes the innate strength she receives not only from coaching her clients in kickboxing, but in the ways of how she has been empowered by gifts of the community in return. She demonstrates that friends and family are not only far away, but close to home as well.

Guest Bio

Elizabeth is the general manager of KickHouse in York and Hershey. They are not only a kickboxing studio for all fitness levels, but are also a place of good vibes and a mental escape for all your stresses. She has been involved in the fitness field for over 15 years, enjoying the energy of group fitness with the motivating and energetic atmosphere. KickHouse is a franchise brand that provides ClassiKick, PowerKick, RecoveryKick, FamilyKicks, KickOnDemand, amongst other types of kickboxing style classes for 30 minute sessions in a class format.

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Intro/Outro By: Michael Dugan, Podcast Host: Voice4Chefs

Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

This is Speaking From The Heart.

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

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

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

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

across 13 states of the United States.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

30 minute sessions in a class format.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

exercise, but about community as well.

But with that, let's go the episode.

All right.

We're here with Elizabeth Lear.

Elizabeth, thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

Thank you for having me, Josh.

I'm excited.

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

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

doing and it's incredibly busy for you.

I'm sure.

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

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

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

behind it and I would love to hear yours.

Well it's a good one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First off, I have to say that kickboxing is definitely

a unique sport in itself.

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

of sport for a number of years.

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

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

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

almost think of that in the same genre.

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

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

to what you do, which is kickboxing?

What's the difference?

What I do is definitely fitness only.

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

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

We do not do any sparring in our studios.

There is no contact.

We get a lot of calls about that.

" Hey, do you do s sparring?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How hard do you want to hit?

Where do you want to take it?

The difference is we are just fitness only.

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

and they get people excited.

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

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

We get some husband and wives that come in and couples

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

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

Anything that happens outside of the studio is all you,

but in here, it's no contact.

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

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

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

a general manager of these locations?

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

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

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

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

Promise", he was a world known kickboxer.

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

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

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

of people changed my life.

That was my first.

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

what I needed at the perfect time.

I was a mother with three children.

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

Is there a career in fitness at that point?

I didn't know.

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

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

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

This is going to pay off.

This is all going to be worth it.

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

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

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

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

motivating fitness people I ever met.

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

time I went there was 14 years ago.

I'm still in contact with those people.

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

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

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

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

advice a few years ago on nutrition.

We have some nutrition certifications through that company.

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

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

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

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

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

that I had ever had in my life.

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

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

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

Wow.

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

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

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

would just work my way home.

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

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

Something is going to work out here."

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

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

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

pick people, those were the people.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

corner, literally, when it comes to-

Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why am I here?

Why did I really do this?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

little bit about what makes you different?

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

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

so exactly what you just said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm the demographic; twenties to fifties.

Our kids are grown.

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

It's a big demographic here.

We're kind of lost.

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

They're not taught.

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

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

earlier, we go right to the treadmill.

How boring is that?

Nobody wants-

I just did that today.

Guilty as charged.

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

in my doors, you're done thinking.

You're done.

You're done.

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

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

You need some relief of some sort.

Right?

Leave it outside.

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

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

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

comfortable, and then you're on that bag.

We turn that music up.

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

the music's pretty freaking loud.

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

You're done thinking.

The warmup is four minutes long.

Okay, here we go.

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

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

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

to do it, so there's no thinking.

There's nothing to get stressed out about.

We want it completely stress free.

Completely.

I think that's what makes us special.

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

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

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

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

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

thinking, and you get to hit something.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sure.

We have our KickHouse in York.

It's on South Queen Street.

We've been open almost five years down there.

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

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

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

offered this other franchise KickHouse that opened during the pandemic and

we went for it and it's been awesome.

It's very, very awesome.

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

Hershey Road, in Hershey.

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

I know it's as awesome.

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

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

especially as you enter into Hershey.

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

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

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

being a general manager, especially through these turbulent times that

we've had in the fitness industry?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh my gosh.

We're a small business."

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

all off, so that was very scary.

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

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

turning their memberships off.

Wow.

Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

it, but we needed to support you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We sat in our houses and we ate.

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

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

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

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

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

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

again, the feedback I get is the weight.

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

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

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

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

shut down, and I sort of lost my routine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

how do you have the attitude of wanting to help

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can you share that with us?

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

I'm like everybody else.

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

go to that studio and they motivate me.

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

outside and I know I get criers.

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

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

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

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

Do you mind?

I-

Absolutely.

This is really great.

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

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

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

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

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

This is a safe place.

You know what I mean?

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

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

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

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

I know you're going to be okay.

I walked around, we finished class.

I'm in the lobby.

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

It feels so much better and" da da da.

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

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

What are you crying for now?"

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

was so nice and it made me cry."

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

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

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

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

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

It just feels awesome.

I come home and realize I'm just lucky.

I'm lucky I get to do that.

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

maybe even men sometimes, crying because-

Oh, I get men criers sometimes.

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

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

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

gloves of trying to get the tears off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm curious.

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

really looking towards the horizon.

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

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

all the things that you've done.

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

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

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

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

those five to 10 years and why that?

That's a hard question.

That's so hard.

You got me on this one.

Good.

I guess I kind of look at it personally.

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

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

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

succeed, I always want more, more, more.

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

They're doing their adult jobs.

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

I got one left that still is here.

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

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

Does that make sense?

I definitely professionally would like to have a third or

fourth studio in five years.

I mean, let's go.

We're on a roll.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

that is part of your training facility.

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

has been the most successful?

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

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

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

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

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

There's definitely more than one.

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

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

their lives and things like that.

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

friends outside of the studio.

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

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

into the studio with jeans on.

Jeans and a big old belt buckle.

And I was like, "Who is this person?

We do kickboxing.

What in world?

You can't kickbox in jeans.

What is going on here?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

they go for beers after classes.

She's just amazing.

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

in jeans and now she's wearing spandex.

It's a big deal.

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

There's so many.

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

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

whole way through the eight weeks.

28 people lost 215 pounds.

Wow.

That's a whole person.

Yeah.

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

learning to eat healthier and cleaner.

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

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

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

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

type of people coming in these places.

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

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

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

doing that with Workout with Jenn.

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

a great compendium to this one.

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

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

we have a community surrounding ourselves throughout those difficult

challenges that might face us.

Mm-hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

have more of a conversation about it.

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

Awesome.

Thank you.

This was great.

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

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

again, you just are very stressed out.

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

the things, it's just an amazing place.

We do have our studio in York.

First class is always free.

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

you can come take a free class.

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

Come in.

The trainers are amazing.

You'll feel so comfortable.

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

I'd love that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

this whole conversation that we've had.

Beth, thank you for Speaking From The Heart today.

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

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

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

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

I really appreciate our conversation today.

Thank you, Josh.

This was wonderful.

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

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

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

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

she's had in the fitness industry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

of the best opportunities of confidence.

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

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

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

It means so much more than that.

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

changing that to confidently lead in a completely different direction that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

we see the inherent value in it.

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

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

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

and I get to celebrate with them as well.

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

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

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

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

walk you through the acronym.

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

realistic, and time-bound.

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

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

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

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

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

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

kickbox our way to that next goal.

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

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

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

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

otherwise would've never been able to see.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We need to set our self promises.

Do you have someone that invites you to be changed?

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

opportunity in your life?

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

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

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

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

but you have to do the hard work.

We're not going to do it for you.

We have our own work that we have to do.

We've already done it.

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

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

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

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

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

you can still do what you need to do.

It's about finding that unique purpose.

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

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

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

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

been taking care of themselves for years, to people that

somewhat go on a routine basis.

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

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

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

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

body, but of their mind as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

place that makes us feel motivated.

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

having that relationship with someone that holds you accountable along with

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

really want to have in the first place?

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

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

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

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

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

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

you're going to get the hard reward.

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

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

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

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

else, but joining them in that class.

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

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

Thanks for listening to episode number 49 of Speaking from the

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

Thanks for listening.

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