Matthew Januszek - Escape Your Limits

This podcast is sponsored by TalkSpace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. In TalkSpace, the leading virtual therapy provider is telling everyone, let's face it, in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at TalkSpace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits, or another challenge that you need support to work through. It's easy to sign up. Just go to Talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider typically within 48 hours. And because you'll Meet your therapist online. You don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, TalkSpace is in-network with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 co-pay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with TalkSpace when you go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S space 80. That's SPA CE 80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code. Hi everyone, it's Bill Black, the exit coach from the Exit Coach Radio show. You know, one of the biggest questions I get on the show is what exactly goes into a business exit plan and when should I start creating mine? Well, I always tell people that the best time to start was 5 years ago, but the next best time is now because you never know when you might need it. So we put together a free report that describes what an exit plan is and what you should know. You can get it free by texting exit plan with no spaces to 44222. That's exit plan to 44222. Again, text exit plan to 44222. Welcome to the Exit Coach Radio show, the show for baby boomer business owners who are looking for cutting edge information as they plan their 3 to 10 year business succession and exit. Every week we interview top professional advisors for their best tips, strategies, and precautions so you can be well planned. And now here's your host, the exit coach Bill Black. Well, hey everyone, thanks so much for joining me today. Always a pleasure to have you with me. My next guest has been an entrepreneur for 25 years, has built multiple successful businesses in the UK, Germany, Poland, and the United States, and Matthew now sits on the board as director of 3 companies. So Matthew Janizesek is a co-founder of Escape Fitness. Which is taken from a startup with minimal capital to a major international business chosen by Premier fitness brands around the world with growth across all markets including North America, and he knows what it's like to build and start to start and build a business with hands-on experience in multiple startups, overcoming the challenge of financing the business and raising capital, innovating, reinventing the offering to remain relevant and expanding international markets. Uh, so Matthew is a serial learner, always listening to what successful people have done, and we look forward to listening to what he has to say. Matthew, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for joining me today. Thank, thank you for inviting me and, um, thanks for that impressive introduction. I'm, I'm, I'm impressed with myself. Well, well, I don't have many people that say they've, uh, they, they've started businesses in Poland on this show, so, uh, you're, you're in good shape there. Tell us a little bit more about you and your background. Yeah, I am, I'm a very, very sort of ordinary ordinary person, wasn't very good or very talented at school. I didn't like people telling me what to do and and so I sort of left as soon as I can, trying to, you know, really, really trying to find my way in the world, and the two things that I did know is I wanted to work. I, you know, I did that when I was a kid in my School holidays and that, uh, work, work for sort of family members and, and, um, so that was one of the things I, I, I knew I wanted to do. And then the second thing is I, I really had this passion for fitness and, um, and my, my, my father, who was also working for a, for a business most, most of my growing up, when, you know, when, when I got to about my mid-twenties, he was sort of thinking. About doing something different in his career and we, we just, you know, we said look, let's let's look at creating something for the family, a family business, and we both agreed that we'd go away and if we had any ideas we'd connect and, and see, um, you know, if, if anything had legs and, and, um, you know, we, we came up with a very simple idea and um and and you know, and that was it really, you know, it was, it was a. Um, you know, no, no sort of sophisticated business plan, no, no big funding from investors or anything like that. We, we just, you know, we had a bit of an idea based on our both of our passions and and managed to turn it into a business. What was your, uh, a lot of businesses start with a what if, what if statement. What was your what if statement with your dad at that point? What if we Yeah, well, he, he was, um, he was a trained engineer, so he, he was good at making things and inventing and, and manufacturing. That was really his skill and he had an idea that, that, that, um, Poland, that this, and we're going back quite a while now, you know, 25 plus years, um, and so at the time, Poland was a was a closed country, um, and but, but he knew it was going to open up and. And and become part of the European Union at the time and so he had a view that Poland was going to be a great Central European manufacturing location that could compete with Asia. That was his, his idea and he, he knew how to make things and set up factories and mine was, was in, as I said, was in the fitness space, and we, you know, I used to work out as a kid and I the gym I went to had An area where the serious weightlifters would work out, and these were the guys that did the competitions and professional weightlifting, and they always had these really, really nice rubber weights and I always was very envious. If I ever got into the gym, I'd I'd go in and try and use them when they weren't there. And then the bodybuilders like myself had these kind of, you know, battered cast iron ones, and so the idea was to say, well, look, you know, if we could make these, these weight plates, these rubber ones at an affordable price, then I think it's something that a lot of the gyms that I know I work in would want. And so that was it. I said that to my father. There was a long journey of trying to find a product in a factory, and we went through a number of ups and downs for a few years, but we we started the company. With a rubber dumbbell and a and a rubber weight plate and um and that was it really, that was the beginning. Interesting, interesting. So the combination of of your dad who knew how to make things and you, you just kind of with your eyes open as to what what you saw was an opportunity came together and built that. And, and since then, if you used that, it looks like you've started many companies in the fitness space especially has that, has that been kind of how you've built upon that for future opportunities? Yeah, I guess I, I, I think we have, and, and, you know, sometimes you kind of forget where you started and, and, and you, as we've grown, as, as everybody does, you know, you get the danger of, of going into other directions and, and trying things that probably, you know, we've had a lot of failures, probably more, way more failures than we've had successes and. I think when your business starts to develop, you, a lot of people start to come to you and give you opportunities to sell products or to distribute products or to go into new markets. And, and if you've never really had a lot of success in your life, it's very tempting. It's like being, it's like going to a bar and suddenly all the girls are standing around you and you've got your attention. And you kind of don't know, you know, it's like who do I talk to first kind of thing, and obviously, you know, you know where that goes if you if you talk to too many of them. So you, you gotta, you gotta narrow down and focus and, and I think when we started the company, I'd identified an opportunity that I'd been aware of for years and, and so I kind of knew the gap in that market. And, um, and my dad, you know, sticking to your core competencies or your core strengths, my dad was an engineer, so he knew how to make this and And I think combining a a a a a good understanding of a market with um capabilities that you've you've either got or you can, you can bring together. is probably the thing that's been consistent in the areas where we've been successful, and it's been the areas that have brought us down where we've not been successful because the areas we've not been successful is when we've gone outside of our expertise, gone into markets that we didn't fully understand and probably required skills that weren't within our core competency that was very difficult to sort of be, you know, the best in class because we just didn't really have those skills like, you know, other people had. And I think that's a very valuable lesson for our listeners too is that if you, you really need kind of the mastermind of of of people thinking about concepts and ideas because the world is full of those untethered balloons that are just floating around in space, right? They were great ideas, but they, they, nobody tethered them down and so they got away and And didn't really work out. So and now you've been doing a podcast called Escape Your Limits podcast to bring others the opportunity to learn from your experiences and those of your, your guests that you talked to who are entrepreneurs. How does that tell us about, you know, some of your your latest episodes and what you tend to talk about. Yeah, thank you. Um, we, we, we, I started this really um because when I, when I went into business, you know, I lived in a small town um sort of north of London in the, you know, farming community, and there wasn't anything around. There wasn't any, there wasn't necessarily many people to inspire me. There wasn't a lot of businesses. Most people worked for, you know, farming and big factories, so there wasn't a lot of entrepreneurial people that that you could learn off. Um, and so, you know, what I, what, what I Managed to do as I developed my business is I was traveling a lot, I was, I was fortunate to meet a lot of very successful people within the health and wellness and fitness space. And um and I used to sit down and we'd have lunches and dinners and meetings and I'm and I was, you know, I always used to think, well, there's some great information here. I wish some of the people from my team were in this room because they would learn so much from these people and, and that was really the idea. I, you know, I was just getting all this information that that I just wasn't sharing and and I was investing a lot of time, you know, I'd traveled to different countries around the world and And, and that was expensive both from time and, and, and, and, and from a monetary perspective. So, so it was like, OK, well if I can sit down with these people, record it and then distribute it to the people who work for us, our customers and everyone else, and you know it can, it can educate, inspire and hopefully sort of bring. Um, you know, bring, bring everybody up at the same time and, and, and obviously, you know, there was a strong link to the values within our business as well and so that was really the reason we started it and I guess for me I get hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of coaching every month now speaking to some fantastic people that are at the top of their game. Yeah, that's it, and it's an amazing, um, it's an amazing field um in that, um, things like COVID have created brand new opportunities to bring fitness to, to home using technology. There's so many things going on in the fitness space right now. What are some of the biggest trends that you see and opportunities for people that are entrepreneurial? Well, one of the things that most, and I'm, you know, I, I'm, I'm generalizing, but in, in most cases, one of the things that people think when they're starting a business is, you know, they, it's, it's like, you know, sales and marketing and finance and finding new, you know, finding new customers and developing relationships and developing products, you know, and, and most people I'm, I'm sure this resonates because I've been there and I've got many friends. It's, you know, for the first few years, it's 24/7. Um, you, you, you don't get a lot of time with your, your, your partner, your children, and, and, you know, you kind of relationships suffer, and your health suffers, and a lot of people I know, you know, quite quickly, um, people generally start business in a lot of cases a little bit older in life and, and so they, you know, they, they, they, they start getting a little bit out of shape and there's a lot of stress. Which and it becomes this vicious cycle, so you know, the more stress, the more weight they get, and, and, and, and then when, you know, when you're, when you come into your business and, and you're meant to be this sort of elite athlete that's making decisions and inspiring people and having all this energy, you, you become totally the opposite. And so one of the things I've found, and I think, you know, if anybody takes anything away from this, uh, this interview, it's like, put, put your health and wellness first because if you do that, Everything else will fall into place and, and, and you know, if you, if you look at an elite athlete, whether they're for the NFL, NBA or whatever, you know, these guys are on, you know, they're playing just for a few hours in, in, in a, in a, in a season, you know, they're not on the on there very often, but if you look at what they do off, off the court or off the pitch, you know, they, they, their diet, their recovery. recovery is really important. The training, everything comes together for those few hours of performance. Now, when we're entrepreneurs, we're, as I said, we're performing 24/7. So, you know, we've not just got to be ready for a few hours for a game, you know, we've, we've got to be ready all the time, you know, for when that phone call comes at the end, you know, at the end of the day and something's gone wrong and to fix it or whether you've got an issue with your key employee, you, you've got to have so many things going on. And so, and, and, and so all I would say is, you know, think about getting, you know, whether you go and get an expert or get some advice or do it yourself, but put fitness before your business and, and if you do that, you'll find everything else starts to figure itself out. And for people who say, well, I haven't got time, I'm too busy, then, you know, at some point your body is gonna dictate how much time you've got and it will shut you down. And then you're screwed and it and it's too late to do anything about it and so if you, you, you invest that time and it doesn't take a lot, a few hours a week, um, you'll find that you'll be able to perform a lot longer, you'll make better decisions, you'll be a better leader, entrepreneur, husband, wife, father, and you, you'll find that your life starts looking a lot different. What what would you say like for the, the person who's listening to that and saying, you know, that's a great idea. I'm going to start tomorrow, where, where should they, you know, where should they start? What what would you say would be a first step towards um towards wellness and and getting their health back on track? Well, one of the things, you know, in, in your business, when you, you know, if you think about the health of your business, one of the most important things is your finances, you know, you, you, you get a good finance person, depending on the level you are, you get a good finance person, and you create these habits, whereas, you know, every Monday, Or every day, you know, you're gonna look at your numbers and at the end of the month, you're going to do a monthly P&L and you're going to do a yearly budget and, and most people kind of make that a habit, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's the lifeblood of your business. If you're not looking at your finances, you're screwed. So, you know, those are habits that you've got to put in place and you've got to meet together on a regular basis to do it. And, and most companies when they get to a size. That that that's just what happens in every, in every company when you're just starting, you're figuring it out, but if, if you're successful over a period of time, that happens. And, and, and, and your personal health is exactly the same. You've got to, you've got to create a habit, um, and, and it's got to be part of your lifestyle. It's not something that you do for a little while to get in shape. It, it's something that you're going to do every day or every week for the rest of your life and So what I would say is, you know, break it down, start very, very sim you know, start, start on a very, very, very simple level and, and just make a commitment that you're gonna, you're gonna have a regular time, you know, every week where you're just gonna do something, and it could just be initially going out for a walk for an hour and. Listening to podcasts like this and, and just, you know, having some time where you're getting your body moving and you're getting blood flowing and, and, you know, you, you're in a, you're in a good place. That's what I'd start and then, you know, once, once you've got that habit, then depending on You know, I'm I'm generalizing to a lot of people, but then, you know, try and do some strength, strength training is really important, particularly for guys like this is for over 50s. When you get to about 30, your muscle mass starts to decrease, and the more it starts to decrease, the more fat you're going to put on because you're not burning it like you did when you were younger. So you really need to be maintaining your muscle mass. It's very, very important for, for men, uh, in particular, as, as, as you get older. So try and incorporate some sort of strength training into your, into your week. Um, and then, you know, look at your nutrition, and I would suggest again, you know, investing a little bit of money, go and find someone that can point you in the right direction, get you started, you know, there's plenty of people out there and trainers that can. Give you a, you know, meal plan and a workout plan and get some weights at home. But so you can buy that knowledge, but what, what you've got to do yourself that you can't pay anyone to do is you need to carve out that time and have the discipline to say, I'm going to do this no matter what, no matter what happens in my life, I'm gonna do this 3 times a week. And, and once you've got that, once you've got your shoes on and your shorts and you're out there, the workout will happen and you know, I don't think you want to put too much pressure on. What you do in that workout. The main thing is that you do something, you get your shoes on, you're not in the office and you're doing some form of movement and exercise. And then I think if once you've got that habit, you know, baked in, then the rest of it will start, you know, it, it, it will start to sort of build up and you'll gain momentum and you'll be going in the right direction. But just start very simple. Let's say 3 times a week, I'm going to do something for an hour, I'm gonna move. I'm gonna get a little bit sweaty. And I'm going to look at, you know, get some advice in terms of my diet, because your diet as well, you know, most people get to the afternoons and they crash, they're drinking loads of coffee, they're not thinking, and when you, when you're stressed, you know, the, the hormones in your body, they'll, they'll, they'll cause you to hold weight. Stress itself is something that will cause you to, to build up fat in, in your body, and it will also prevent you from thinking clearly and, and, and it will reduce your energy. So, you know, one of the most important things for a business leader is you want, you need energy. And you need to be able to, to think clearly and make good decisions. You know, if you don't have those two things, you, you're not gonna be a lot of use to anyone. And, and being healthy and having a good diet will, will, will help make you a much better entrepreneur. Very good tips, and I noticed that in your background you've done quite a bit in the Tony Robbins Mastery University and worked with neurolinguistics and other, other mental sides of the game as well. Uh, how do those fit in? What would you suggest on the mental side of things? Besides, uh, of course, listening to the, uh, uh, the your podcast as you as you walk. That's a good first step right there. That's just getting positive. How, how do you suggest people stay positive through very difficult times like these? Yeah, it is very difficult, and the good thing about exercise is it improves your mood, you know, within your muscles, your muscles are an organ, and when you actually exert stress on a muscle, it releases these happy hormones into your body. So one of the things that you'll find is if you are under a lot of stress and life looks bad. Just exercising and moving those muscles at the end of it, you're going to be in a different mindset straight away. And you know, you can look into this, this is relatively new science, but that's a fact, you know, working out is going to make you happier, it will reduce stress and you'll have a much better view on You know, on, on, on life and on your business if you do that. So that's the first thing. The second thing that's really good and I like to do is, is, is, it's almost like, well, I haven't got too much time to, you know, study and then work out and everything. So I, I do the two together. So I say, right, I've got 45 minutes. There's this really good podcast that I've seen or there's this audio book or or whatever, and I'll plug that into my earphones when I go for a run and I do a workout. So I'm actually listening and learning. You know, I'm I'm, I'm thinking about new ideas, you know, and, and I'm, and I'm moving my body and. And when you start getting your blood flow and your oxygenate your brain, you do actually come up with some really good ideas and solutions that you're not coming up with when you're in the office, because stress, you know, you're in the fight or flight mode, and when you're stressed, even artificial stress that's created by emails and problems at work, you narrow your focus because, you know, your body thinks it's trying to, you know, there's danger it's escaping from a wild animal or whatever, so it narrows down. The the way that it thinks and and and and and it's just survival where you don't want to be in that frame of mind. You want to be, you know, open to opportunities and you've got to put your body into a different, um, you know, chemically and mental state, and that's from being calm and exercise will help you to do that. It will help you to look and solve problems in a much better way. Um, so, so, yeah, to answer your question, I would, you know, there's, there's a tons of cars out there and, and I would just sort of use that workout time to feed your brain at the same time. That's an excellent idea. A lot of our, a lot of our listeners, of course, like everybody, are a little limited on time and with the advent of different types of, uh, audio uh information out there, they can certainly find something that they like to, uh, to feed their mind and while they're, uh, while they're uh exercising their body and, and like you said, 11. Um, one feeds the other. So it's a great, great idea. So, uh, how often does your podcast publish? where should our listeners go to listen? Yeah, so we, we put it out every single Monday every week, um, you can, um, you can, it's called Escape your Limits, and, um, you can, you know, we, we post out little clips on my, uh, personal LinkedIn page. So if you want more information, you can go to, um, Matthew Janny Zic on, on LinkedIn. Um, there's the Escape Fitness website where we, we have a bunch of stuff on there. Uh, or you can go to iTunes or we've got Escape Fitness YouTube channel. We, we, we do an audio and a video version there. So if you just put in a Scape its podcast, you'll, you know, there's a ton of stuff that will come up on, on Google. Um, and then if you want any more, you know, if anybody, any of your listeners wants any more information or pointing in the right direction, you, you know, you can contact us on the website and we can You know, we can hook you up with places to go and, and resources to look at and, and, and people that, you know, could probably help people just get started if that's, if that's what they're struggling with. I really appreciate you coming on, you know, your work is vitally important to everyone out there, and I think it's very important for our listeners to hear this message every so often. It's like, don't, don't forget that, uh, your health and wellness are key to everything, um. whether you're planning for the next 5 years or the next 50 years, you've got to get on a path of taking care of yourself. And of course there's a lot, you know, there's a lot to it, but like you said, establishing habits, getting out and just, just do it, to paraphrase. A large company out there, I guess just just get it done, Matthew. Hey, thank you so much for for joining us, and I wish you the best of luck with your podcast and with your efforts, and I hope you'll come back and join me again sometime and we can go a little deeper on some of these topics. Absolutely, thank you very much for for inviting me on. Thank you for listening to Exit Coach Radio. This podcast is sponsored by TalkSpace. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and TalkSpace, the leading virtual therapy provider is telling everyone, let's face it, in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at TalkSpace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits, or another challenge that you need support to work through. It's easy to sign up. Just go to Talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet. Your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, TalkSpace is in-network with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 co-pay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with TalkSpace when you go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S space 80. That's SPA CE 80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to Talkspace.com and enter promo code S80.