Ep. #1065 - Staying Healthy as an Entrepreneur

Andrew Morgans 0:00
Hey, what’s up, Hustlers? Welcome back. This is Andrew Morgans founder of Marknology here as today’s hosts of Startup Hustle covering all things e-commerce, Amazon entrepreneurship founder stuff, you name it. Today’s episode is one that’s close to my heart and something that I’m very much focused on. Staying healthy as an entrepreneur, and I think that can have so many different sayings, or so many different perspectives on what that even means from, you know, your, your physical health, your mind, in your mental health. You know, all the aspects of, you know what that looks like for all of us. And I know as a busy entrepreneur doing so many things. For me, sometimes, my health and being healthy can take a backseat. And, you know, it’s something that I feel guilty about, I shamed myself for it. In a lot of ways, you can be crushing in so many different areas, and then really missing the mark when it comes to your own health, you know, working on the health of other businesses, even giving out advice, knowing what to do, but just not find the time to fall. So before I introduce today’s guys, super excited about the conversation. Today’s episode of Startup Hustle is powered by FullScale.io, hire software developers is difficult, Full Scale can help you build a software team quickly and affordably and has the platform to help you manage that team. Visit FullScale.io. To learn more. Today’s guest the company is Neurotype Training. And we are with Mike Milner, the founder, super excited to have you on the show, Mike.

Mike Millner 1:28
Thanks so much for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Andrew Morgans 1:31
Yeah, I’m excited about today’s topic. I know you can tell. We talked about it earlier. It’s just one I’m I’m obsessing about early in the year, you know, and trying to stay focused like, this is always a crazy time for me. So it’s like I’m really being challenged, even right now trying to stay healthy. Let’s let’s go back before you know, you started this company, and let’s talk about you and your early days. I like to know kind of the origins of an entrepreneur, what got you into what you’re doing now? Did you see yourself as being a business owner? I know I surely didn’t. In my early days. So you know, how far back does it go for you, Mike? Where you kind of started on this path for where you’re at now? Yeah, so

Mike Millner 2:11
I, I’m similar to you, I had no, no idea that I was going to end up being an entrepreneur or business owner. And it just kind of happened. There’s there’s a couple of different inflection points in my life that led me down this path. And I was kind of the standard, like check the box type of person. And you know, it was go to school, go to college, get your degree, get a corporate job, try to work your way up, you know, get the house, get married, do all the things. And it just never felt right. To me, especially working for somebody else. I never thought I was going to be an entrepreneur. But I always had this feeling that I didn’t quite fit in as an employee. So it was like there’s just this puzzle piece that didn’t seem like it was in the right place. All the way back I grew up, which I think is important context, like I was an athlete my whole life and played sports played soccer, tennis, basketball, competitive throughout high school. Even in college, I played in like every intramural league that I could play flag football league, soccer, leagues, whatever, you know, basketball leagues, and it was just part of my life and really a big part of my identity. And the reason why that’s relevant is because I grew up in a family dynamic where dieting was the norm, body image issues were the norm. I always remember my mom like counting points or being on a diet. And then my oldest sister almost lost her life to anorexia. And I always thought I was the lucky one that I played sports, I was active, I had the fast metabolism, I could eat whatever I wanted, never had to worry about my weight or anything like that. But after school, when I graduated college, I had picked up a lot of typical college kid habits. So I was drinking a lot of alcohol, I was eating a lot of fried food and fast food. And then all of the sports that I was doing, like the organized sports was, it was over and I was just kind of sitting on my ass and not really doing much. And I gained a lot of weight very quickly. And it felt like it happened overnight. And I just remember there was one morning, I went into the bathroom and I looked at myself and I was like, holy shit. I don’t even recognize this person that’s looking back at me. And because I was so wrapped up in that identity as an athlete, all I could think about was all of the people that were going to have comments about how did you let yourself go, like I was going to go home and see friends that I hadn’t seen in a while and they’re going to be like what happened to you, you know, used to be this athlete that we knew and I’m pretty introverted. I made all my friends through sports. That was how I got with people. So it was kind of this identity crisis of who am I if I can’t feel confident getting back on the basketball court or playing tennis or doing things like that. So my solution was to get this weight off as fast as I possibly could to get back to being myself. And that led me down a really dark path of restriction, eating as little as I could doing hours of cardio every day and just really hating my life but for the purpose of just Getting back to me. And all the things that I thought I was avoiding that I had witnessed in my family. I started to see happening in myself, I had horrible body image issues, I became Orthorexic, I had disordered eating tendencies, I had a horrible relationship with exercise with food, and just really was trying to hate myself into this body that I thought was going to get me my life back. And it ended up destroying a lot of relationships that were close to me. And it was just finally getting to a place where I recognized that I needed to heal myself and do it the right way. And that led me down the path of really falling in love with fitness that kind of saved my life, and understanding how to do things sustainably. Once I figured that out for myself, I knew I wanted to pay it forward and help other people. And I found so I started as a personal trainer. But I quickly realized that I was more passionate about the nutrition side of things. Because I saw people who were consistent at the gym, I would train them for an hour, they would show up every week, they would show up to their sessions, and they just were never changing. And they were always frustrated. And every time I would have conversations with them, they just be like I don’t, I don’t know what to eat. And I don’t know how to control, you know, my nutritional habits. And so I went into the nutrition side learned everything that I possibly could about human metabolism and nutritional science and behavioral psychology and how we actually what do we know about transformation and how it happens. And that led me to become a nutrition coach for another company. And ultimately, there was another inflection point in my life where I was previously married, I was going through a divorce, I had moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. And then back home after we separated in about a four month period. My grandfather who was like one of the biggest mentors and role models in my life kind of suddenly, and then the company that I was working for kind of pulled the carpet out from under me unexpectedly where I had this nice salary, I was doing well as a nutrition coach. And all of a sudden, that Job was gone. And it was kind of chaotic in my life at that time. And the only thing that I could think was now this my opportunity to do this the way that I want to do it. So I started my own business, and four and a half years later, that’s kind of where we are today.

Andrew Morgans 7:17
Well, thank you for sharing that. We have so many parallels, I actually found fitness like going from I’d always just played sports, it was really skinny and lean. I grew up in Africa, strung around, moved back here when I was 16 years old. So moved to America when I was 16. I had a family that just you know, we ate well, we ate where we were, you know, they not a lot of college education, not a lot of nutrition education, none of that. And also had a very interesting palette growing up in Congo in different parts of Africa where, you know, Mom would make comfort foods from back home from scratch, you know, like, which isn’t the healthiest, I mean, but it made us feel like we were home sometimes. And you have basic, very basic ingredients, chicken and rice. And, you know, you can make homemade tortillas or whatever. But like, you know, very, very bland palette, so to speak. And didn’t really understand I had lots of fruit, so lots of sugar. But that’s what you can get off the side of the street all the time oranges. And I mean, it’s delicious. But it created some habits for me as a kid came back was always just playing sports, never played in college, because I was always working three or four jobs to just try to get by really, and I didn’t come in as a kid. So it’s just like really hard if you’re not, you know, a world class athlete to just get on a team like that. And so playing, playing, playing, playing, got married, long story got divorced, wasn’t eating out a lot of those body issues. Seeing myself just wither away really, like you know, I’m probably sitting in like 195 or something right now, I think at one point, I was like 155 So six, three and 155 as a skinny person, to anyone out there, you know, it’s just like, I’m pretty lean at that level. And I knew it wasn’t healthy. I just had no motivation to do anything. And it was really like a friend that was into nutrition and, and working out that really kind of just like said, Hey, come with me and started taking me down that path and not like first confidence kind of after that divorce started being getting back in the gym and wanting to eat healthy and it really felt like it saved my life as well. And that wasn’t a turning point. That was also the turning point when I started Mark Knology, which is why I am today. Nine years later, 10 years later, but it all started around fitness so I can totally understand that a couple of questions just about your story. Like whenever you started getting into nutrition how how’d that go over with the family like where are you bringing those conversations home like to some mom and your sister and kind of saying Guys I’m learning this guy’s I’m learning. You know what You know, that was a career change for you, I guess I’m just interested to know, like, if you had a relationship with your family at that time, or if you guys were, you know, pretty individual or what? Yeah,

Mike Millner 10:09
it’s actually a great question. I’ve never been asked that before. But it’s it’s relevant because my family is very close to my immediate family, I should say, I have two older sisters, both my parents, and we’re all extremely close. And it was a topic that I had to tiptoe around. Because my oldest sister, we definitely don’t see eye to eye, she is actually an eating disorder therapist now after having her own bouts with anorexia and overcoming that, and she is very extreme on the side of like, nobody should try to manipulate or change their body just like let it be what it is, and be happy to accept it. And I agree with parts of it. But I say if somebody has a goal of wanting to get leaner of wanting to change their body composition of wanting to get stronger, then absolutely go for it. As long as we’re educating and we’re doing things properly, then there’s nothing wrong with that. She’s very much anti diet culture, which I am as well, she sees a lot of the things or she saw a lot of the things that I was doing at the time as part of diet culture. And I understand her perspective, she feels like radical change is needed. So my parents were kind of caught in the middle of seeing both sides and understanding that and it was it was very tense for a while. And we had a few, like, really heated conversations. And I would say like, my, my other sister kind of falls in the middle as well, where she’s like, I don’t understand what you’re doing, I understand what she’s doing. And you guys just, you’re just butting heads, it’s never, you’re never gonna see eye to eye on this, I think you just have to agree to disagree. And so we’ve kind of navigated that and edited our relationship. So it’s more we talk about other things, we share a love for sports, we share a love for obviously, our family, she has twin boys that are my nephews that, you know, we focus on those dynamics instead of the nutrition and things. So I really don’t talk to her about my job, I really don’t talk to her about work, it’s something that we’ve just kind of had to navigate as a family. But yeah, it definitely it for a while it was very tense. And fortunately, over the years, we’ve been able to just kind of alter the relationship a little bit to make sure that it stays healthy.

Andrew Morgans 12:32
No, thank you for that. I just, you know, I was just very curious, like, as someone that’s overcome a lot of trauma and religious beliefs, and things like that, that were just like, you know, really impacted, my family were really, really close. And they were just hard conversations, as I was working through those things, working through my own, you know, understanding of fitness, you know, not trying to shame how we were raised to eat, but like, talk about it a little bit and be like, you know, in front of this, I have two sisters. And so I’ve talked to them about, I’m talking to them about what I’m learning about mental health and about, you know, working out and physical fitness, and you know, but at the same time body acceptance, and, you know, we were raised very religiously were like, legalistically, like, you know, if women were showing any parts of their body, or like, you know, so shamed on so there’s a lot of like, a lot going in there. And it’s not just nutrition and dieting, it’s also like how you feel about your body and how other people feel about your body and what they’re telling you and how judgment, judgmental, it was when you’re getting raised, and like, you know, what those things were about? So, you know, it’s been just a journey for all of us to kind of tackle that and, you know, talk through it and almost every, you’re working toward the same problem or your work, or are we working toward the same solution in a lot of ways, just like the way you’re going about it is different and as long as we’re like, a line in the way that we do things, you know, that’s what I tell them and I’m like, we’re gonna be okay. You know, even if we’re going to buy a different ways, but okay, let’s talk about it because I’m honestly I’m on a search personally, right now, just to share with you of personalized nutrition. You know, I’ve been just I listen to a lot of podcasts and reading a lot, and they’re just really talking about that kind of being the future for health. And, you know, I specifically think that I’m a unique bird, I just, you know, growing up in Africa, you know, even down to the science of like, you know, the pesticides and stuff in our food without getting too crazy into that. I just didn’t grow up on any of that. So I think I’m pretty sensitive sometimes to like grains and different things like that, because I just grew up with like, all natural food, like, it was simple, but it was just, I mean, think about it. It was literally like sometimes picking it off the tree or off the side of the road. Bread bread was made every morning like with fresh ingredients. You went and bought that bread, it wouldn’t last much longer than that, you know? And so I’m trying to understand today, you know, Like, okay, so how am I different than like everything that’s getting mass produced in America? Why is my body respond differently to all these different things and you know, it’s a whole journey, but it’s something I’m, I’m interested in right now trying to be like, I am trying to get those results, you know, I have, I don’t have these crazy, like fitness goals, I’m 36, I don’t have these crazy fitness goals where I’m trying to compete or anything like that. But I do want to be healthy, I do want to be able to have a like, healthy relationship with my kids, if and when I ever have them and be able to do things with them and show them how to play softball, not just tell them, you know, and, you know, all those kinds of things that I won’t have, if I don’t take care of my body, you know, right now I’m working 1216 hour days behind the computer and have been for a long time. Got to get up and move, you know, and so, if I could hack it with nutrition, as well as body positivity, like, you know, I would do both of those things like, you know, that to me, that’d be a one hit to a one, two combo, so to speak, if you could fix your body, your perspective of your body and accepting it as it is, and at the same time, just getting absolutely healthy as you can. I know personally, my goal is to have joy and be happy. And I think that nutrition is a big part of vino conquering depression, anxiety, and those kinds of things. And so these are all things that are part of my goals in everything that I do. And I can just see the passion that if this was my career, like being able to see people start to get those results, you know, because they’re getting their nutrition. So you talk, let’s talk about neuro brain. So you said the last four years you’ve been doing this, you are kind of at this low, where your job was pulled the rug out from under you, you’re going through a divorce, moving across the country and back home with your parents. You know, step back, never feel as great as you know, as a man, even a woman, you know, just sometimes you’re like, wow, okay, I was live look completely different for me six months ago, whatever, you’re back home, you’re like, This is my chance to try what I what I’ve always wanted to do. What happened from there? Yeah, so

Mike Millner 17:02
the reason that I didn’t see eye to eye because you really touched on something that’s important. You mentioned how you feel like you’re a unique bird. And the reality is you are because the I think the fundamental flaw that happens with dieting with nutrition with the fitness industry is that we try to place everybody into a box, just by this the way that we’ve approached nutritional protocols. And if you think about like a named diet, like if your diet or your your plan has a name, it’s kind of created for the masses, meaning everybody’s following the same set of rules, but everybody’s not the same. Your metabolic fingerprint, so to speak is different, your gut biome is different, the way that you processed foods is different. All of these, even if you take identical twins, the biggest difference, if you look at identical twins, the biggest differences in their gut, that’s where we see that, you know, they’re pretty much the same in every other capacity that you can measure, except for if you look at the microbiome, and so that would look like how do you process foods? How do you output energy, you know, any food intolerances, there’s also a strong connection with your brain health and mood and mental clarity. So it doesn’t very interesting, I would have never guessed that it’s really interesting. Yeah. So it really doesn’t make sense that we would try to prescribe something for the masses, although I understand why it’s, you know, it’s kind of this like I can, I can reach more people, if I say this is the one way this is the best diet ever. But ultimately, it falls short and sistex, of dieting. Depending on what research you look at, it’s somewhere between 95 to 97% of people who lose weight will gain it back within three years. So results aren’t great. And that’s a big reason why I think it’s because we’re trying to prescribe for, you know, placing everybody in a box instead of looking at the individual as an individual. So the reason why I had this falling out with a company that was working for us, because they were going down this path of, of cookie cutter, you know, way of doing things and they started out very personalized. And then just from a business perspective, they’re like, look, we got to, we got to make more money, we need to be able to serve more people. So we’re just gonna do this standard across the board protocol for everyone. And then I voiced my concerns, and I think we’re stepping away from, from what we believe in our morals and values. And so we kind of were butting heads, and then ultimately, they were like, look, you know, we’re going to do this our way and, you know, have Have a nice day and, and it was a lot uglier than that I can spare you the details. But ultimately, what happened from there was I got to do things my way. And really, what that looked like was a true understanding of each person and taking an individual approach to nutrition. And, you know, I had a lot of clients that I had worked with at that previous company. And it was just through those conversations that I realized the missing piece really had nothing to do with the food that they were eating or the exercise routine that they were doing. It had everything to do with the thoughts that they had about themselves, their identity, kind of those that internal belief system that they had. And once we started addressing those things first, it was just incredible the amount of change that happened in a short period of time, people telling me that they’ve been dieting for 3040 years, and have never been able to keep the weight off. And then all of a sudden, we don’t even talk about food for, let’s say, a couple of weeks. And we’re literally just talking about your identity, your internal beliefs, the you know, the patterns that have developed over time, the habits that you have the the behaviors, your outlets, your coping mechanisms, and all of a sudden, we address these things, and everything else just starts to fall into place. So that was really like the lightbulb moment for me, which I call like the top down approach. If we just start with the physical change, you can get some results, but it probably won’t last I can I can send a meal plan to somebody, I can tell you here eat these foods, you’ll probably lose weight, I could give you a workout routine, you’ll probably see success with it. But is that going to be built on a solid foundation? No, because what does it mean? You’re just following a set of rules. Ultimately, you’re gonna get sick of following those rules, you’re gonna be like, Screw this, why? Why am I even doing this, even if you like the results that you’re seeing, if you still have this internal belief, like, for a lot of people, they’ve grown up with this, this internal dialogue, that they’re not worthy, that they’re not capable, that they’re not lovable, that they’re not enough. And if that is playing in the background, eventually your brain will confirm that belief. So you will sabotage yourself, you’ll gain the weight back, you won’t understand why it happened. You might binge you might over indulge, you might find yourself back at square one being like, what just happened I was doing so how can I end up back here. That’s because we haven’t addressed any of the fundamental changes that need to happen for you to actually keep the results. And that’s really the disconnect that I think exists, which is the gap that we’re trying to bridge that we have bridged with with 1000s of our clients, but also trying to figure out how to impact more people through that process, because it is very personalized. It’s not just here, you know, here, follow this meal plan and have a nice day.

Andrew Morgans 22:06
I couldn’t help but thinking the like the analogy or like, you know how similar it is to like thinking about dating, right? And just like, bringing it home, but like, you know, your you can put your your yourself together for three months or four months or whatever I’ve been like, Okay, I’m going to change with this relationship, I’m going to act different, I’m adjusted for and I’m going to like not verb around her him or I’m going to, you know, make sure my mom always shaved and I’m, you know, I’m looking like I’m into fitness, and I’m working on and I know she’s into that. And, you know, but with relationships people go through, they’re like trying to do things differently. And they can for three or four months or so. And then they that that self doubt that self worth belief in their mind, it’s like, I can’t make this relationship work, I’m gonna sabotage this one, just like the last one, or, you know, they’re faking it, so to speak, to try to get these results and be different. And so similar to any area of our life, though, you know, you can kind of bandaid it. But the root of it is like, you know, that you deserve a healthy relationship that you deserve someone that loves you, and you’re not perfect that you just, you deserve someone that wants to help motivate you in the gym. Not that you’re just like, you know, a crazy fitness freak that you know, so that she likes you or like whatever the case is, it’s like, it’s that belief that you’re not worth it and you have so then you attract the wrong people and you know, the relationships not gonna work. And so, you know, that’s something that I just, you know, business and relationships to me are so hand in hand in the same way that like, same thing with our relationship with ourselves, you know, and that is, that is the hardest thing you know, that that self worth limiting belief that I’m not worthy, or I am enough, you know, they come out with these fitness lines that say it and like all of that and it’s like, I am kind of a fake it till you make it type of person if that’s where you have to start, you know, so you can at least have that positive, looking in your mirror and giving yourself that positive affirmation until it starts to kick in. Just like your subconscious negative belief will kick in without you knowing too if you keep telling yourself that so when I say fake it till you make it, that’s what I mean. Like if you have to, like be that serious about you know, loving yourself and just like force it until you start to believe in like I’m about that because once you get that once you get that mindset part. You know, I call it running on habit. But you know, you’ve got these things in your mind, you know that these are the healthy ways to be, whether it’s about your nutrition, mainly, your mindset is what I’m talking about. You’re just even when you’re not feeling it, you’re still going because you know that that’s how you love yourself and how you appreciate yourself. Okay, so you’ve worked with 1000s of clients and for years. Talk to me a little bit about honestly, I want the details of like how you made that come to life like a dad’s house, a mom and dad’s house, I guess like, you know, did you have some clients that kind of left with you that still wanted you you’d like work with them. And so that became kind of consulting working with them until you put some framework around like a company and a plan and a mission.

Mike Millner 25:08
Yeah, so fortunately, I didn’t actually have to move back in with my parents. So I was able to get my own.

Andrew Morgans 25:13
Okay, I, you just went back to the coast. So I just assumed I’m just like, I want to know, that come from behind story, you know, I want to know how that came to be I love that

Mike Millner 25:22
was, you know, I rent in an apartment, it was a tiny little apartment. And, you know, I was strapped because I no longer had that income. And if anybody who has been through a divorce knows that it can be pretty difficult financially. Felt like my back was against the wall. And I fortunately, had a lot of clients that I’d worked with at the other company who sought me out were like, you know, where are you because because they, you know, immediately took me off of all the Facebook pages and all the things so I couldn’t reach out to anybody, but I had a lot of clients that came to me are like, you know, we don’t see your name in there anymore. What happened? Where are you, we want to keep working with you. For that I had a nice little, you know, base of clients that I could start working with. And, you know, the first thing was just burning myself out, I was doing everything, I had no background in owning a business, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know how to market I didn’t know how to sell, but I knew how to get results. And I knew how to I knew how to communicate with people. And I knew how to connect with people. And that’s how it started, I ended up with about 120 clients to myself while doing everything. So I would be working with clients, you know, from wake up at 5am. And, you know, go to bed at midnight and be on the phone all day doing client check ins and, you know, trying to figure out the administrative stuff that I needed in my business, and then do it all over again. And it really got to a place where I was like, you know, I don’t I don’t know if I can do this, I was completely burnt out, had no energy, no sleep, no time. And that was when I started recognizing like, I need to figure out who not what needs to be done. Like, I made my first hire, I brought in another coach, I brought in somebody who could handle some of the administrative stuff. And then I really had to start, you know, offloading some of the clients that I was working with, because there was no way that I could give them the experience that they deserved while I was running on empty all the time. So that was a big transition phase for me, where I felt like, Oh, this is this is real, it’s no longer just me like this is real. Now there are people that are actually putting their faith in me they believe in this mission, they believe in what we’re doing. It’s a crazy feeling. It’s just it was just wild, like, Alright, now I got to figure this out, I got to figure out how to sell I really even the process of getting those clients, I didn’t feel like I was selling because I had previously previous relationship with them. They knew me. So it was kind of just a cordial, like, hey, you know, we want to work with you. Okay, cool, here’s the price. And so I had to learn all of these different skill sets in marketing and sales. And you know, a lot of a lot of growing pains, but a lot of development that happened and still happening. So you know, I still invest a lot in myself to acquire new skills and to get better as a person. And to be a more effective leader. That’s probably been the most uncomfortable part for me is from the person that’s doing everything in the business to leading a team, and, you know, trying to get all of the crazy ideas out of my head and get other people to help me to integrate and believe in what we’re doing. So it was a, it was a process, you know, getting getting the right people on board, and putting some actual systems in place that help the business run without needing my, you know, 24/7 attention, and continuing to deliver at a high level for our clients. So we’ve gone through several iterations of just recognizing where we needed to improve, you know, the gaps in our fulfillment, or in our marketing plan. The one thing that I will say that was a lucky accident was from day one, I had a bunch of people that were reaching out to me, and I was just like, hey, you know, what’s your email address? I’ll put you on my list. And I didn’t even have a list. But I was just like, I’m gonna start writing every day. And I didn’t have the fort. I wish I could say it was like a brilliant move of mine that I knew that, you know, having a nice email list was going to be so helpful. I had no idea. It was just a thought. And it was just, I’m gonna write to these people every single day, and share whatever I’m feeling that day. And I’ve been writing an email every single morning, Monday through Friday for the past four and a half years haven’t missed him. And it just it just started to pick up like traction of more them sharing it to friends be like, Oh, you got to subscribe to this email list. And that was, I would say probably the thing that saved me from actually being able to have a sustainable business without knowing what I was doing and then being able to figure it out along the way to your point kind of faking it till you make it. I always tell our clients like, try the late like, we always have these labels, I always labeled myself as not a good writer, but it’s like, try the label on and see how it feels. And it’s probably going to be like a new pair of shoes where it’s a little bit uncomfortable. It’s not, you know, you haven’t broken them in yet. But if you keep wearing it for a while, like that label might start to fit and might start to form fit a little bit better. So you know, a lot of clients are like, well, I, I can’t go out with my friends without drinking, it’s like, cool, let’s try the other label on the first time you do it, it’s going to feel really uncomfortable, because you’ve never worn this label before. But just try it on, see how it feels. And then they’re like, actually wasn’t so bad, like, cool, let’s try it on again, see how it feels. And then you keep trying on that label, eventually, it starts to feel a little bit more comfortable, and it just becomes your new normal. And that’s really the thing is like, a lot of people who have always known they wanted to be business owners or entrepreneurs, they like truly identify that way. I never identified that way I had to kind of label way over time and accept that that’s my reality. Same thing with people who want to move more like, you’re not going to the gym three days per week, you are somebody who goes to the gym consistently. Like you’re not trying to follow your diet, you are somebody who likes to eat healthy food because of how it makes you feel. So sometimes we just have to try those label labels on and wear it enough so that it gets a little more comfortable.

Andrew Morgans 31:20
Like I love that. That’s beautiful stuff. Shout out again to our sponsor, FullScale.io. Finding experts, software developers doesn’t have to be difficult, especially when you visit full scale.io We can build a software team quickly and affordably. Use the Full Scale platform to define your technical needs, and then see what available developers, testers and leaders are ready to join your team. Visit full scale.io to learn more. I love that and I’ll be taking something away from you know that last statement that you said this, like I’m not trying to go the gym three times a week, I’m someone that goes to the gym, you know, just a lot more confidence in that. And I think you know that, try that label on, you know, you’re talking about when you’re when you gain weight in college, like coming back to your friends and all people because all your friends are athletes. And so you know, you have no shame coming back to them and be like guys, like, you know, I’ve let myself down. Same thing with going to the bar, you know, we’re afraid of what people think if we tell them, hey, I’m not drinking in February, I’m not drinking in January, or I still want to hang out. But 99.9 times out of 100. You know, it’s not really that conversation with ourselves is that we’re embarrassed or ashamed or we’re like don’t have the confidence to, to handle those people that are going to say those things. But what you have to realize is that those are just filters, it helps you just feel throughout the wrong people for you, I think. And maybe you fight for some of them, that might be your sisters or something like that. But the rest of them, you just kind of kind of treat as a filter and let them go. You know if they can understand what you’re trying to be a healthier version of yourself, or help you with that moderation or help you with that balance. And you know, I don’t think they’re free there for you. And so many people will just when I really get to the core of why they’re not doing something or why they don’t want to do something or why they’ve been resistant to it or they know, it’s usually about what someone else thinks, maybe their parents, maybe their friends. And when you’re able to get over that. It’s insane what you’re capable of, from, from fitness to any goal. Let’s Let’s spend the next like 10 minutes or so talking about, you know what you guys are doing at the company that you’re really excited about, like something that you’re really excited about whether it’s a new offering, or just like, you know, a growth direction the team’s going, I love to just kind of hear, you know, some something coming into the new year, you guys are pumped up about? Yeah, so

Mike Millner 33:46
we just released a new app that we’re launching, or we have launched, but we’re integrating it with a new coaching program. And what I’ve done is kind of take my expertise in transformation. What I feel like my, my superpower is so to speak is that I’ve kind of been able to drown out the noise about what we think we know about transformation and just cut to the chase of what is science based what has been proven to work, not just in research, but also in application and anecdotal experience. And really make it simple and actionable. So it doesn’t make it easy. Because simple and easy are not the same thing. But it is simple, even if it’s not easy. But we’ve I’ve taken all of that and kind of distilled it down into a process of helping somebody just go from point A to point B, like the person that you are right now and the person that you want to become, there’s a bridge that we need to build to get there. So what we’ve done in this coaching program is just help people build that bridge for themselves. So it kind of walks through the process of what we know about behavior change and how it really occurs, what we know about transformation and how it really occurs. And so we’re going to be rolling that out in the next month. Right now we’re getting people in using our app through some of our training programs and nutritional programs that we offer. But the full rollout will be in March, once we have that all fully integrated with from the tech side of things. So I’m super excited about that, because it allows me to, again, like, use my superpower in a way that now I actually have the technology behind it instead of just the one on one conversation. And I think a lot of times we feel like, it’s not about it, to me, it’s not dehumanizing the experience, it’s just making it more efficient. Yeah, we’re super excited.

Andrew Morgans 35:40
And it’s scalable, you know, like, business is there to make money, you’re there to help people, you’re there for a cause. You know, I can’t have a one on one conversation on how to start an E commerce business, like, a million times. But you know, you’re getting into a course you get into something digestible. That’s pretty cool. Would you say that, like, you know, the, the real kind of, I think what I was getting you hearing is like, whenever you talk about working with someone for the first time, there’s two, maybe three weeks or so we’re just talking about, you know, mindset and really like what’s important and what to think about, before we even get to nutrition? Is that kind of what you’re talking about a little bit in the app, like it’s having those kinds of conversations? Yeah. So

Mike Millner 36:20
we’re always going to integrate some of the things that, you know, maybe we can improve upon very small steps. You know, from a nutrition standpoint, or a movement standpoint, I don’t believe in trying to change everything all at once, because that’s been proven to be ineffective. But if we notice that there’s some stuff on the nutrition side, that right away will make a huge impact. We’ll start to piece that together. But yeah, a lot of it is getting very familiar with what does success look like for you and defining, a lot of people are afraid to define success for themselves. Because once you define success, you also define failure. And that can be a vulnerable, scary thing to come face to face with. The other thing is getting really familiar and comfortable with the future version of yourself. A lot of times, we treat that future version of ourselves as if they’re a totally different person, either. It’s a total stranger, or it’s a superhero, right? The stranger is the person that we sacrifice, because we’re like, Yeah, I’ll make this decision now for instant gratification, and then future me, well, we’ll deal with the consequences. Or we treat them like a superhero. Like, well, I skip the gym today, and I didn’t go all week, but it’s okay, because future me will go seven days next week, your your future you is not a superhero, it’s not going to save the day, it’s still you. So if you skip the gym this week, you’re probably going to skip it next week. Those are the things where we are really trying to get people to be very comfortable with what they want, what that looks like, why it matters, and then who they need to become to accomplish those things.

Andrew Morgans 37:43
I love it. Okay, my talk to me about where people can sign up for this email that you send out all the time, and how people can get informed of the app. Since it’s not now we got a month or so for them to wait. I’d love people to just know where they can follow along and learn more and get involved.

Mike Millner 37:59
Yeah, the easiest thing to do is go to neuro type training.com/email. So you can sign up for my email list there. And then all of the announcements about the the app release and the coaching program and everything will happen. And you know, through my email list or listening to my podcast, which is called Mind Over macros. So those are the easiest two places to follow along.

Andrew Morgans 38:21
Okay, awesome. I love that mind over macros, and I’ll have all of this in the show notes for anyone who’s driving, or, you know, didn’t get a chance to write that down. And once you just know, you know how they can follow along with like a contact with Mike and his team. I love what you guys are doing. I love the message behind it. I love the path that you took to get there. I think it’s a fresh message that, you know, a lot of people are going to be very open to hearing and just like, you know, it’s gonna really help a lot of people. So I’ll definitely be tuning in myself. And, you know, really appreciate you being on the show. Yeah, thanks so much. I appreciate you having me. You’re welcome. And once again, shout out to our sponsor FullScale.io. Do you need to hire software engineers? Testers are leaders let Full Scale help. They have the right people in the platform to help you build and manage a team of experts at Full Scale. They specialize in building long term teams that work only for you learn more when you visit full scale.io. You know, great place to get developers if you’re building an app building software, I’m an E commerce lots of software all the time FullScale.io awesome company to find the right team members for you. If you’re looking for developers, Mike, again, thank you for being on the show. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, your story, your knowledge. I plan to follow along and just see everything that you’re about to build. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. You’re welcome. Thank you, Hustlers. We’ll see you next time.