Joe Villegas, tell me about your vision, man.
Yeah, my ultimate vision is really to be able to connect with people and help them to realize
like real actual strategies to improve their health and wellness in a sustainable way.
So I think, you know, we had talked about this previously, right, where there's a lot
of BS information on the internet and all kinds of, you know, it's all true, a little
bit.
There's a lot of products and junk out there that gets peddled.
I want to help people kind of cut through that stuff and realize like, hey, if we just
get to the fundamentals and figure out how to make it work for them and their lifestyle,
like meet them where they are, but they can make this a long term sustainable approach
to their health and well-being.
So that's my mission to connect with folks and help them do that.
I love that.
Okay.
So super, super ideal.
You won the pageant on that one.
And let's see here, which way do I want to go with this?
What's the story behind your why?
We'll choose that one.
Why don't you get to this point where you care about this?
For sure.
How much time do we have to go for the elevator pitch version still?
Yeah, yeah, we'll keep it the bridge version.
So you know, I didn't grow up an athlete at all.
That was my brother in the family.
I'm like the band kid, math nerd of the family.
But basically like the typical story got out of college.
I had gained a lot of weight in school, you know, shocker.
And basically had a visit with my doc and he was like, hey, man, like, you know, you're
300 pounds.
Like you need to like get your act together basically.
And so, you know, sort of had that, that, that moment, like that defining moment, like
I need to make a difference and do make a shift, you know.
So I joined a CrossFit gym that had just opened up near me and down here in Princeton and
started training and had really great results.
Like within six months, I had dropped like 60 pounds.
I was getting stronger.
I'm more confident, all those things.
And the owner actually approached me and he was like, hey, man, he's like, you're here
all the time.
He's like, people seem to like you a lot.
Would you have any interest in coaching, like becoming a coach and working on staff here?
And I really, I was like, yeah, absolutely jumped right on it and just sort of fell into
the position of being coached.
So I didn't, you know, I didn't grow up with the, the dream or desire of coaching people.
It just is something that happened organically and I just fell in love with it.
So I started coaching folks at the physical brick and mortar location.
And then I had clients that, you know, were like, hey, man, like I see what you're doing
online.
Like I can't be there in New Jersey.
Is there a way we could work together like over the internet?
And so I joked that I started coaching people online, like before it was cool.
This is like years ago, spreadsheets and email.
That was, I started coaching across it in 2011.
Okay.
So it was like shortly after that.
That's fine.
I had just learned about CrossFit as well, cause I was a lifetime fitness representative
and some guy came in talking all about it.
He's like, you're so cool.
And like, I mean, like you, a Kool-Aid drinker, he was, you know, like, but it, you know,
it was, all of a sudden I saw like, wow, what everybody else in the world now knows.
Yeah.
No doubt.
Yeah.
So, so I started kind of growing like an online base of, of clients outside the gym.
And then that progressed to, I had like a smaller contingent of that group were like
business owners, entrepreneurs and things.
And they were saying, Hey, can you come in and like talk to my staff?
Like your approach is different.
It's been working great for me.
And that's how I got into like kind of doing seminars and talks.
And from there I was like, you know, I really like being here and serving these people,
but it would be cool to help them for longer than an hour, you know, like just this one
seminar.
And so that's what kind of spawned like the corporate wellness side of Paragon, which
is my company.
So we work with like small mid-sized groups, typically companies that, you know, are forward
thinking, they care about their employees, but they're not afforded like the access to
these bigger vendors because they're a small organizations.
Yeah.
So, you know, we'll do like wellness challenges and like kind of ongoing programs for them.
And then I have the one-on-one online coaching side of it as well.
So I, I joke, I retired from coaching CrossFit like a year and a half ago now, but my wife
and I moved a little too far away from the gym, but, but I've kept up with the online
stuff and I do that now.
So that's how I got here.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned into Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time
and attention.
I hope you have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro
yourself.