Hey guys, welcome back to Top Five brought to you by DefinedTalent a DefinedLogic service. We are a results driven service working with clients to connect them with quality talent as well as working to make an impact within the recruiting industry. We talk straight about today's professional world with real world professionals, experts in recruitment, job seekers and business owners alike. Have a question for us send it in and you might spur
our next conversation. I'm Tara Thurber, Director of Talent Innovation. And joining me today to discuss his Top Five tips for finding true authentic talent is Andrew Stern, part of the founding team and Vice President of Talent and Programming at Rumble Boxing. Hey, Andrew, how are you today?
Good, Tara, thank you for having me. Absolutely. Super excited to have you on. I know this is cutting into daddy time. And I'm sure a lot of other things that you have going on. So it's really a pleasure to bring you to our podcast Course. I'm happy to be here and hopefully I can give some knowledge on recruiting talent.
Awesome. So you know, over the course of this past year, it's been pretty crazy. How has the fitness landscape changed since the pandemic?
Ah, I mean, every industry pivoted right, I think that words been thrown around a million and a half times but fitness in general, it was a really cool opportunity inside fitness for a lot of trainers to kind of build their own personal franchise, call it business. Get into the to the entrepreneur spirit, you know, which I think brought out a lot of creative juices and trainers, which was really encouraging to see.
Because I think the challenge right off the bat was we didn't notice two weeks is two months, two years.
Unknown gray area.
Which is scary.
Yeah, very scary.
Especially For a trainer who, whose money basically comes from when they work, right. Yeah, like, you know, a lot of industries. But trainers if they don't teach, they don't get paid. So it became this, you know, overarching fear of, well, if I'm not teaching classes, because the studios and gyms are close, how am I you know, paying the bills.
Right. So I know with Rumble Boxing, you guys did a big pivot recently, you guys just launched online classes, right? How?
Rumble TV? Right, right. So we, you know, like every other brand, I think really out the gate, putting out free content on Instagram Live, which was an amazing platform reach, you know, we grew our social following to well over 200,000 followers. And in part, a lot of followers from that aspect of giving value. You know, I think we'll talk about that later. But providing value aspect for us, you know, staying connected to our audience. And growing that audience beyond the
four walls strategy. During a pandemic was it's pretty eye opening. We then shifted to zoom, which most you know, people did, we kind of broke the system a little bit so we could share our audio and create visual aids. And we had trainers teach it from all over the country, which was really awesome. And then, you know, in the same time, we were building what we call Rumble TV, we built out a little studio in one of our New York studios, we film live classes, we create on
demand content. So we definitely took the premium level to it. So now there's a subscription service for clients, which really just elevated the whole product of rumble.
That's really awesome. And you know, I was thinking about it this morning, as I was doing my at home workout. And, you know, I had gotten into riding the peloton. And I was like, you know, individuals trainers probably get really into it's the energy that of being at a space, right that you guys can really motivate the people that show up and finding those people that can keep that energy going. And that motivation going while being in a studio I bet is super
important. But how I mean, how hard is it now that they're alone in a studio teach up to a screen? How are they handling that?
I recently kind of thought through this myself and I think I could summarize it by saying this an in studio trainer and the digital trainer. One needs to know how to react and one needs to know how to act. This person that's in class with 60 people, six people, 6am 6pm, Saturday morning, Monday morning. All of those elements, you have to react to them. They have to be genuine, you know if we're going to talk about authenticity, but yeah, I need to know that you're in that room
with me. Right then on the other hand, you know, like great TV hosts and in game show host like everything on camera has to be bigger, has to be bolder has to be more energetic because a lot of that energy doesn't just, you know, get through that camera lens. So in studio, you got to react on camera, you got to act, and it's not acting where it's fake, right acting, you have to be bigger, you have to particularly have to be slower. If the mindful of you know my
going up and down. So now that the client is like, well, am i crunching, am I jumping jacks? Like, I can't see them? Yeah, job. So there's a lot of elements that don't necessarily translate into the main studio. And honestly, some great talent could do this. Some talent could do this. Very few could do both. And that's where you got to really just source the best.
Yeah, I mean, even I doing things digitally. Now, I found that I was having issues. If I'm, if I'm talking to somebody, and they're not on the screen, I feel like I'm not able to see you, I don't feel that connection. So that is such a huge struggle when it's just somebody in a studio, like trying to be at their 150%, you know, authentic, authentic self, but yet, it's just them.
Very tough. And honestly, it's you have a challenge. When you're in the studio specifically, it's right. It's a variety of levels, which you can then combat that challenge by seeing where people are at, like, if you see somebody can't do a certain exercise. Intuitively, you give
the regression. Yeah. Now, when you're on camera, and you don't see these people, you have to understand, like, not everybody can do the burpee, you got to think who else is in this classroom that I don't necessarily see and is not going to get defeated and be like, forget that guy. He's just doing 100 burpees? Like, yeah, no, hey, if you can't get to the burpee, it's cool. Let's get the mountain climber, we're lucky to have something else that's a
little more inviting. Yeah, because it's very, very easy to teach to one audience on the camera, because you don't see anybody you got to right. There's people all over at all levels, all ages, you know, all stages. So really tough to not know who's in the room, when you're doing this digitally.
It's almost like a form of role playing to like, you have to pretend like people are in the room with you. And you have to kind of keep that in your in the back of your mind as as your main motivator.
Definitely.
Wow.
You know, and honestly, it's like teaching. One of the biggest things I try to teach somebody is make every person in the room feel like the most important person in the room. Right? So when you do that on a digital screen, which is obviously challenging, you got to make someone feel like encouraged if they did something a little harder than expected and not discouraged if they couldn't get to that level that you were trying to push them to because very easy to get frustrated client, right? Just
close the computer. Just shut it off.
Yeah I'm done. I'm out of here.
No one's no one's gonna yell at you.
No one is holding you accountable.
Excatly we're doing a plank, and you're just laying on the floor? I am not going yell at you.
No, that's, that's great. I totally get that aspect of it. Now, you know, being the Vice President of talent and programming, you know, what? What is it like out there? How do you go and find these types of people that you can be like, okay, that person's got it. I know that they'd be a great trainer. How? What are you measuring? What are you looking for in people?
That well, everyone talks about the it factor, right? In fact, there's definitely different in every industry, but specifically for fitness. It is almost like it's almost unfair how fortunate I am to be in my position to recruit. Because the best are putting out the talent right in front of me. Right? Like, I don't have to go anywhere I could. And I give this note to a lot of trainers. Learn from the industry, right? And learn from your peers, learn from other brands, you have it
at your fingertips, right. And it's amazing, because the best trainers are putting that content out there. And if I could just sit on my couch and be like, wow, that person is great. Write it down, you know, like or kind of just keep track of who am I seeing whom I gravitated to? Who are the people reposting? It's almost just like a job board is coming to me without me actually looking for talent. It's remarkable.
That's awesome. And that, you know, I think you can find that in a lot of different industries as well. Because you want to see, especially today everything's digital. So no matter what industry you can look, I think the biggest what you just said to is, is continue to learn. You want to learn what other people are doing because that's what is
happening out there. And that's where you as an individual can build your own personal brand on top of what other people are doing to be different, you know, tweak it a little bit because you want to be different. You don't want to be like everyone
You have to be different. I posted this else. yesterday on my main page on Instagram, it was 2010 to 2015 I was just dressing up in like Oscar the Grouch costumes funny around reindeer, like, I was putting out some fun videos of fitness like, you know, we were in a shopping center at Kmart once in New Jersey and I was carrying the cart, I said, Don't push your card carry your car. It was in one parallel, it was like me trying to find a character that I was in second
parallels. That's me, like, I'm gonna make this thing fun. Like, you know, I would say first to do squat, anybody, anybody like I'm not teaching a revolutionary exercise, I'm not creating something new, that says, I want you to do that squat with me that makes it like, Okay, let's do it again tomorrow. So for a trainer to you brought back that authenticity piece, gravitate towards these amazing trainers, because they're amazing for a
reason. But don't just do what they do say what they say dress or how they dress like you got to create your own or else they can just be like, Oh, that's another, you know, to duplicate?
Yeah.
And we see a lot of that, right? Because everybody just thinks do what's working. What's working for somebody might not work for you.
Exactly. And I think to your right, you have to find that inner you in order to be showing up. Because it'll look like you're faking it. And that doesn't work anymore. You know, it's not that fake, it will see right through that? Absolutely, absolutely. Especially when you know, somebody in that sort of role, you're dealing with so many different types of other people, like you're in the spotlight.
100 percent!
So you have to show up as authentic as you possibly can. And I think that, you know, in any industry, individuals, need to take a step back and just breathe and realize that when you show up as authentic as yourself, that's when you're going to get noticed, that's when you're going to shine and that's when you know you're gonna go above and beyond.
Definitely
Where you're at.
Definitely, it's, it's it's a challenging skill for a lot of trainers, especially early on to, you know, get that confidence of who they are and who they want to be and, and how they want to train. And, you know, even when we started Rumble, I brought in an amazing group, the founding training team, you know, and a lot of them had, you know, I was in New Jersey get right,
Yeah.
Middle of New Jersey, I was doing really cool things but just like a local town and you know, bounce around, teach you a ton of people, but small pond, you know, very, very, small pond, I shipped to New York City. Now, I'm working with some of the best in the world, massive followings. And like, I was at this confidence level of where I was just talking about trying to replicate, right, I was trying to be a little bit of my team.
And I never felt confident when I got on that stage until I eventually just, it was just a moment it clicked, which takes time and it was just be vulnerable, be yourself. You've done this for a decade, you know, I wasn't a new kid on the block. I knew I've had the skill set. It just took a little bit of get your feet wet, find your voice, find your confidence, and see if it works. And sure enough, it did. So I was fortunate enough.
It sure did. I mean, I what you're doing is amazing. I actually brought up rumble boxing to some a client I was speaking to and she was like, Oh my god, I used to go and she's in New York. And you know, it's it's great when I've spoken to other people about because they all of a sudden their energy changes from the
experiences that they've had. So you know, the trainers that you're bringing in and the people that you have, I mean, you've found those people that have there its you found those people that are able to show up authentic. So tell me...
A big challenge though with that it .Yeah, it's I think for you know, we could dive into this further.
Yeah.
Is development, right like and and I'm a big fan of the WWE and big fan of pro wrestling and what they do with character development, I think from a storytelling thing, just like any TV show, right? You invest in the character, you don't invest in the story. It's always about, you know, friends succeeded because you felt like you were friends with the entire cast. Same with Seinfeld, same with all the major shows. You felt a part of them. For trainers, that it factor is
important. But who is on the cusp of maybe maybe they just have the I don't have the T right. Maybe they're just they're almost there. How can you help them, develop them? groom them, teach them and invest in those people? Because what if you invest in the right people, right? There's only a certain amount of superstars that are now but it's not about them now, superstars. It's about superstars in tomorrow that you could start to develop and oh my god person, boom, elevates,
right? There's always somebody the Rock leaves the industry. JOHN CENA takes over right somebody Hulk Hogan passes it to the Rock and so forth. It's, it's a baton style. And it's really hard. It's really hard for a lot of trainers, to and I'm in a nice position with rumble where where I that is my focus, but it is now at a point of helping the generation sound like I'm not that old. But you know, take the time. Yeah. The talent behind.
Yeah.
Who is gonna up and come and yeah, how do I get them to that level of, you know, feeling like that person is connected to them?
Yeah. What would you say? What would you say? Like how? How do you go about helping people develop and helping people to refine the T to their I or you know, just to grow?
Every trainer learns I've recognized this still now we've have recruited over 100 trainers for Rumble, five markets, New York, LA, San Francisco, DC and Philadelphia.
Yeah.
And we've we've recruited Robin from London, you know, she's, she's amazing, you know, across the globe, really just coming over to work for us, which is amazing in itself. But you think about how does this person how are they going to absorb the information I'm giving every, like I mentioned, everyone learns differently. I remember, in I used to play high school baseball, right, I would watch my swing. And you know, a coach could say, oh, you're dropping your back shoulder.
That's why you're popping up. And I, I understood what he was saying. But until I watched it, I recognize it, and I could fix it. So some trainers, I'll go hand in hand where it'll just be an email, hey, you know, I love this, this and this, let's think about this, this, this, you might know it. But now if you're more conscious about it, you could, you know, deliver it a little bit better. While some trainers need practice, and we'll, we'll do stage practice
will stay after the class. You know, I'll pinpoint a certain point of the class, I'll say, let's run this round back. or third, we'll watch tape. Yeah, well, we could pull up some cameras and say, and now again, with this digital world, easiest to be Watch yourself, you know.
And that's, you know, to me, I'm like, Oh, I don't want to watch myself.
Most people dont, most people dont.
But I think thinking about that, I'd want to because then I can look at you know, the body language that I'm giving
Yeah
Or the different you know, the type of movement.
Your eye level, your volume, your like your drop down for push ups. And like, while you're while you're facing the camera, like face the side, so that they can see your body.
So like these small little things, which, when your client, you appreciate when it's happening, and you don't even recognize it, but you recognize when it's not happening, you're like, yeah, they're doing lunges towards me, and I don't understand, like how low that back leg should go, you know, how far apart of their feet but now all of a sudden, a seasoned trainer, somebody a little more conscious about that positions the body so that they see the feet a certain angle, certain
depth, posture, Okay, I get it now. And I learned.
That's great. I mean, that's three different ways that somebody is going to be able to grow. And in so many different aspects to it's not just it's visually, but it's also internally. And I think that that's huge. That's huge as you continue to build out your team.
Yep.
What would you say? Um, you know, and really, what would what would your top five tips be? For really, if somebody is going out there? And, you know, recruiting talent or, and I think it covers all industries. What would your top five goto tips be for people?
Yes, finally prep me on this. You know, Presley was born, the prep kind of got lost in the mix there. Hi, the top five tips in general, I'm gonna definitely strike towards fitness because obviously, that's how I've recruited
Absolutely, absolutely.
I found finding the talent in their element to be the number one successful thing as many times as I've invited trainers to the rumble brand, take class, jump on stage and try to replicate what you just saw. It falls flat. And it's no disrespect any of the trainers that have tried it. But it's when I go out to their home field advantage.
Their home field. Yup.
They see out in the industry, right? It could be like it could be a spinning instructor or yoga or something where they have the most confidence. I could right off the bat say they have it now can I can I connect that it to this our platform, our brand, our energy, our DNA? That's the question mark and that's where you invest a little bit of time and money and resources. You can get to the point of knowing you know, some of the best can't do
that. And some of the best can correlate and transfer like some of my best pts personal trainers. Yeah. Have gravitated towards fitness groups.
Yeah.
Some can't. And some don't want to so i think the on one thing is finding out where they're at in their in their element, right and understand what they're really confident. That's their A game. You want to see them at their A game. You don't want to Bet on somebody looking at their C - Game look at their A, take a bet on them.
I like that. I like that. And it's, you know, it's it kind of it creates that open ground. And like you said, it's where they're most confident when somebody is in their own environment. That's where they'll they'll shine the most and be the most confident.
I mean, I've taken, you know, BODY ROCK classes, I've taken spin classes, I've taken yoga classes to recruit a star, an entirely different modality.
Yeah
I can understand how they connect to a crowd, how they cue their energy. And like I said that that reacting that, am I taking this class on Sunday morning, and you're, you know, dropping F- bombs and playing music that's not Sunday morning vibe, you know, what are you doing? How are you creating the
scene? How are you setting this whole movie up from start to finish from the moment you get me into the door, with a high five from eye contact from, you know, personal name, from connection to personal touch to all of those elements, differentiate between somebody that's good at something, it's really a superstar?
Yeah, I think that that's even when you're looking at all the different ways to find those people, those are all super important factors, whether it's seeing somebody in their element or, you know, hearing about somebody and then looking at their background, you still because of your industry specific you need all of those in order
Oh yeah its alot.
To a lot feel, feel that that person is going to be a right fit for your team.
You need to you need obviously the education background to understand, you know, some exercise science and certifications, which you've now invested your time and knowledge in, you know, is important. And then you go into the entertainment aspect. You gotta have somebody that has that
Yeah. confidence to publicly speak to motivated, you know, really just be that almost Life Coach, you hate to say it, but a lot of these trainers and myself included, have helped clients through things that you know, I'm like, teaching a workout, but it's bigger than the workout, right? It's how somebody feels. And then the third element is the hustle. In this I say that with humble tone. Because when I first started, right, it was the same kind of humbling hustle
45 in the morning alarm at 5am 6am 7am. I was doing part time work in between I was either substitute teaching or doing some event work, and then teach again at night because that's when clients want classes right? Morning or night. Yeah. And that is a six to seven day a week grind. And, you know, unless you have that in your DNA to really want to do this.
Yeah.
This industry might look glorious. Oh, you get to work out for a living.
There's a lot more that comes to it. There's a lot of different juggling, and being able to
You have to show up when you don't want to. You know. You want to, you know.
Excatly
You got to show up the best is when like, I wouldn't feel 100% and I would just remind myself, these clients are paying top dollar.
Yeah.
And they're not just spending money. They're spending their time which now I learned as a dad is even more valuable.
Yeah.
They're spending that time. I gotta bring it. You don't say I can't worry. I can't be like, I'm a little tired. A little cold. Like,
Yeah, that doesn't matter anymore.
That doesn't exist. gotta bring my a game. Yeah. Well, and I think to, you know, kind of full circle and making sure I find that. There's been times I've worked, I've gone to a hot yoga class, and, you know, they've shown up and they're like, dragging, and because they were out the night before, but soon as that person gets in front of that class, you'd have no idea. Yeah, that's the preformer in them.
Yeah, and I think that that's such an amazing aspect to really look is, you know, showing up and, and being in it, but also having that fire within you. And I feel that that you know, comes full circle with us talking about authenticity and being who you are, in order to show up the best that you possibly can be. And that's really the core aspect of what it is to find that top talent.
100% I think that like if we go into the number two, I would say when I brought up the word A game.
Yeah.
You know, a lot of people always think a game at 100 miles per hour, you know, in the most and I think it's the exact opposite. I think the A game changes, like I said before, when you react changes, because you know, my a game to six people that are beginners is totally different than 60 people that are, you know, college students coming out there for a good time. It's just a different energy.
Yeah.
It's energy. No doubt about it. I'm not going to be you know, a slug, but I having to dial it down. Slow it down. Educate and motivate not just via, you know, Tony Robbins life coach you I gotta give you some substance so that you're absorbing your learning. Because ultimately at the end of day, right, the, if you could teach somebody, that's they're gonna feel good. Yeah, if you're just going for the entertainment aspect. People take group fitness classes all the time for
entertainment. It's great. Do that go to brunch? Cool. But if you're gonna try to get someone to come and back. Yeah, You got to teach them some
Make it more of a lifestyle. Yep.
Yeah. And if I can teach you the jab, cross in the first class, and now better Hey, next class, we're going to really work our hopes up for cuts. All of a sudden, you've got something. It's just like a TV show? Like, yes. rolling into the next episode.
Yeah, yeah. I think that that's really important. And I feel, you know, you you need to also as as a trainer, and as somebody that's leading something, you have to also be the judge and really pay attention to everybody around you.
You have to be sharp.
So that you can hit that target.
Yep. You've got to, there was a quote, and I was, I've tried to, like replay it in my head a lot. It's like walk in the room. Not so that you can see everybody. We're not so that they could see you. But everyone can you know.
You can see everybody.
Let's rephrase.
Rewind, rewind, go ahead.
Everybody. You see everybody? Yeah, so right. So like, I think we get egos as founders and rightfully so right. Our followers go up, brands want to work with us, you know, likes go up and all that good stuff, which is a part of the industry and a part of being an influencer. But don't lose sight of what you're ultimately trying to do in this industry specifically, is help somebody? Yeah. You know, in it helping somebody physically, but also mentally.
Yeah.
It's very easy for people to get caught up in their own smoke.
Yeah.
I'm great. You know, there's 50 people in the class. Notice, there's one person 50 times over, like, you got to teach each one of those people because they're all there for different reasons.
And each person wants that attention too you know.
Even trainers. Like when I get called out, I'm like, Alright, I'll go a little harder.
Yeah. Yeah, I love that aspect of it. So what would you say your next tip would be?
Honesty. And I know everyone throws that out in every industry, but honest to your team, honest to your clients, honest to yourself, it's, again, going back to that that authenticity, which I really think it's parallel to it. You know, the clients will know if you're, you know, nailing it in and bullshitting the brand.
Yep.
Your teammates. And it's just when you're honest in anything, you know, you put your name on it, it's a stamp of approval. Like this is what I am this is what I'm bringing in and sometimes it's even better to be honest to the class when you Hey, guys, I'm not at 100% but you got to give me 100% you gotta give me 110 because I'm only at 90 so carrying up my way today and all of a sudden clients like the real guy he's a
real person you know? It's it's being truthful and then to yourself too right so sometimes if you don't have it and I mean this honestly, take a day.
Yeah.
Take two days you know like reset recharge those batteries take a walk don't even take another class just simply remove yourself from the element because sometimes myself included the burnout happens in fitness very easily because we are engolfed guy watch what we eat right we got to do this yeah, we feel guilty if we don't do this and for us, our bodies are like you know our car right the piece looks good. But inside if that engines not working right the cars I can operate.
Yeah.
So you know you got to make sure you take care of that mental health too.
Well, and I think that's you know, honesty not only with others but with yourself and making sure that you are being honest with yourself because you know, your physical aspects your body is your lifeline so to speak, right.
My mom would say that to me when I would do stupid stuff like you know any activities with my friends it would just be like you remember like your body is your your your lifeline.
Yeah.
Like if I hurt my knee all of a sudden I can't do x y&z and if I would hurt my shoulder, I can't do it. So I've always had that conscious. Be careful.
Yes. Exactly. Exactly. All right. I love that one as well.
What do we got? What are our top three so far?
So so far I've got make you know, finding talent that are in their element. That would be your number one tip or one. The second one we came into are we got into a little bit of you know, making sure individuals have the hustle.
The hustle is necessary.
And then make sure
Not just the passion, the passion, Right? Passion. There's all this these applicants i get i love fitness. I love working out. I love fitness. I love fitness. I love eating. I'm not going out. To be a chef, I don't know. No, it's a big difference.
Right?
Oh, it's it's hustle that understand, know the industry that you're about to break into or trying to break into.
Yeah.
And don't jump ship. Don't lose that stability. If you have a nine to five and health benefits and all, you know, for what kids don't jump ship until this this passion, this hustle can become your profession. A lot of people do it. And a lot of people are starting to be like, wow, that that's, you know, it would look good. The grass look green, right
On the other side. But then they're not they weren't.
All day for it to be green. It's lucrative, right? When it's green, it's green. It's nice. And do you have clients, your turn away clients, and you're making a couple 100 bucks an hour, you're not this is this is wild. But to get to that level, takes a lot of attention. And like I said, if you jump ship from your stability at this point, especially in a pandemic, it's Yeah, it's it's a risk. Big, big, big risk.
Yeah, that I get that and you need to make sure you're you're ready for it. You know. Next one, the next one we had was being on your A game? I think that was the third one. And then honesty was our fourth. So tell me what is your big fifth.
Goodness, number five. Number five. I feel like I'm gonna leave this and then be like that should have been number five. We have six. Huh? Well, we got our we got our, I'm trying to just summarize in my brain we have, I'm going to find that confidence in you from your from your home base.
Yeah.
You're going to respect the hustle and understand the industry, you're going to bring your A game, which means you're going to react to the elements that you're in, you're going to be honest to yourself, your teammates, your clients. The number fifth thing and interesting. Could there only be four successful tips to be a successful fittness trainer?
Think overall, we come to the table with again, authenticity and your it. I mean, I think that that is is all this all encompassed. With that being your highest one. I mean, your charisma. Yeah.
Undoubtedly your personality, which it parallels to all of it, right, your confidence is going to bring out your personality or A game, your hustle all that's going to bring your IT so you're ultimately right, that the what we talked about the it factor that everyone has differently in each industry, a big one for us is charisma. Somebody needs to feel connected. And a nice word I want to hit on here is vulnerability.
Yes! I love that!
That connects people. Someone could relate to you know, like, I'm
Yeah. very open, I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer, I lost my dad to a heart attack. I'm a very, you know, young guy to lose two parents in three years, I lost my grandma in between that, too. So there's three massive deaths in a short time, but and we got married. And we moved to New York, and we opened up a new
company. So when I could tell my story of just, you know, being open and honest, it not with a solution, not with an answer, but just simply This is my story, the amount of people that can relate, you know, that are going through a heart attack issue, or or or family have had a heart attack or cancer, just getting married or just trying to move all of those real life things connect you and I and then it's like, let's take class
together. And if I could speak a little bit of that vulnerability, truth in my class, you feel like we could, you know, almost go get a beer together. And that's what you want to, you know, kind of instill in somebody, it's just like that person I trust, honest, relatable, genuine, and I'm charismatic. So it's like, all of those kind of perfect storm elements make somebody like, that's who I want to do squats with. And you dont have to have one guy you know, you can have on two people.
Right, yeah! And I think, you know, hitting the vulnerability aspect, I found as recruiter, you know, talking to so many people every single day, the most important part to connect with somebody is being honest and open and, and allowing myself to be vulnerable, because that's where
I find that connection. And that's when, you know, it eases the tension of the interview process or it eases the tension of somebody calling me that has been looking for a job for six months and is struggling or somebody that just got let go or somebody that's at their current job that are just completely miserable. And you can tell that their energy is so so low, that when you can say hey, I get it. You know, I understand what you're going through. here's
here's my story. And then once you can start relating to somebody, I feel that that the barriers are dropped, the barriers are dropped and That person now has a space to show up as their true authentic self.
100%. It's you know it you brought up a good point like, when you interview question I always asked is why Rumble, right? We're one brand. We're a hard brand to teach, right? There's boxing, there's running, there's there's dumbbells, there's a lot of modalities in that. So why do you want to teach for rumble? And a lot of times some of the answers right off the bat, I don't want to disqualify the candidate right off the bat. But when they're like, I love your
Instagram. Like, that's cool. But that's not you know, thanks a marketing thing for us.
Yeah.
Like, that's, that's not our full DNA. That's a strand of it. That's, you know, yeah, we showcase some of the cool people we've trained, and we make fun videos and things. But that's not why you want to work for us. That's Yeah, there's got to be a bigger reason why you want to work for us, or else it's not gonna work.
Yeah.
And at the same time, it's, it's, if that answer doesn't really mesh, as you know, as recruiter, like, you're interviewing me, I'm interviewing you, it's got to work for both of us where you're going to be bitter if you get hired, and it's not what you expected.
Yeah.
I'm going to be bitter if I hire you, and you don't deliver what I expected. So having that open and honest and vulnerable conversation of this is the job. You know, if you're just starting out, you might have some tough hours, and you might not get the full class load. And you might get this this this. And it's not to say you can't rise up, there's growth, but growth takes the hustle. And that's where that third element comes in. Like you got to be willing and able to
grind. It's it's the damnedest truth, sometimes that hustle, I don't wanna say it doesn't pay off, may not pay off at this platform. It may pay off later. And I'm happy for you, I want you to, you know, if an opportunity comes about where this hustle, humbled, you taught you educate you gave you everything that you could you squeeze everything out of it.
Yeah.
And you now get to somewhere else because of it. And you're more successful, whatever successful means to you. Great. Yeah, no, don't just assume like, Oh, I work super hard. I deserve this. I want this. I want. Yeah, a lot of people want that a lot.
Right, Yup.
Deserve that. Yeah. Which it's a very competitive industry, where everyone feels like they deserve something. And everyone deserves something. But there's not enough to go around sometimes, you know, there's only a certain amount, amount of camera time of spots on stage at certain hours in the day where the most people are there. You know, it's frustrating for a lot. And I get it, because I've been in that spot. And it's not to say, you can't get, you know, little piece of the pie and grow.
Yeah.
But there's also like, self worth, self valuation, how hard and how long were you hustle? And if you don't get to whatever spot you want to get too? Is this platform, the right platform for you? It might not be? And I think a lot of people need to do that for every industry, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah, it's okay to look other ways if you know, just don't look right away, right? Don't be like I didn't get I'm not successful. I'm not on the main page. I'm not on the main time slot. I'm not, I'm not there. I'm on you know, overnight.
Well, and I think to individuals need to not look at the end result or end and not look at comparing themselves to others. But to really look within and really look at where am I at Where have I been? And where am I now? And how can I grow because I think to and across all industries, individuals needs to do that. Because so many people, especially with social media, you're looking at other people, you're comparing yourself to others
Always, always!
And when you do that, you lose sight of who you are. So I think that that's so true.
I am a big big fan of that. I look back a lot on my, my trajectory of fitness. And it's, it's important to always look back because, you know, sometimes I even get caught up in like, why aren't I at x level or level or x? And it's like, Andy, remember, wasn't too long ago, you know, you were doing this, this and this. So it's, it's humbling, but it's also really important
for trainers specifically. If you're not, if you're comparing yourself to my story, right, my stories, my story, you're never going to get to my story.
Yeah.
And it's not a brag it's my story, right? So you need to and I did this for myself in about 2018 and I give the advice anybody define your success? Because I was chasing an Instagram following number. I was chasing a bank account number I was chasing something that you know, while it's great to have those attainable goals, I was continuously to as soon as I hit the number I was chasing get ready to go back to fitness my clients like I want to lose five pounds and I was asked
like, why that five? Why? Why five pounds? Yeah, because what happens when you lose five pounds? You're gonna be like another five pounds.
Yeah.
And then if you if you set that, then all of a sudden you're defeated, right? So it's more about defining what success means for you. That is that is your success and You brought it up. You're comparing stories. If I know my success, I'm not even worried. I'm cheering for people. I want to see you succeed. Because when you're not, when you're slightly bitter towards somebody success,
Yup.
You didn't define your success yet. You're watching somebody here little aggravated that they're reaching something that you didn't reach. You might not even want it to reach that level. But you're like, wait, you should be on his cheering and people respect that. I'm happy for that person. Glad you got that job. Glad you book that gig. Glad you got those lights.
Absolutely.
If you're not, you're literally not focused on your defined success.
Yeah. I like that.
It's hard to do.
Very hard to do. And it's very hard to do and keep keep focused, too. I feel that that's something that can lead us down a totally different rabbit hole of a conversation.
100 PERCENT! Close the app though close the app. You know what i am saying. If you are at that bitterness.
Shut it down.
Take that walk. We talked about taking
Yeah.
Because you're not happy every day, right? Nobody is. And sometimes you look at stories and people on Instagram and you're just resentful and you're frustrated. And you're like, you know, you get that competitiveness. If it's there that day, close it.
Walk away, and can move forward, move forward.
Don't get to work backwards against you. You just keep going down that rabbit hole. So.
So true. So true. Well, listen, Andrew, these are awesome. Thank you so very much. And I have to ask you one last question, too. Now that you've got a family, how are you balancing at all?
Yeah, that's, there's Well, we'll leave it on this. I hate the word balance.
Yeah, okay good.
I don't I don't think it exists. It's it's levels of extreme at the moment. Right. And I think my stream when I'm when I got my 30 minutes to go out and run, I'm running.
Yeah.
Not sending an email, not tweeting, I'm running. When I'm with the baby, it's with the baby. You know, when I'm when I'm with Julia, when I'm watching TV, it's got to be present. And it's hard, you know, because we're all multitaskers we all got like your attention spans ,the issues, but the balance at this point is go extreme. Whatever that is.
Keep doing that time. I love it. I love it. Well, listen, Andrew, thank you so much.
Thank you Tara I appreacite it.
It was a pleasure speaking with you and you know, good luck to your family and that beautiful little girl.
Thank you very much. Looking forward to seeing this.
Awesome. We are DefinedTalent at DefinedLogic service coming to you at Top5. Make it a great day.