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Hello everyone, this is Ryan and you are listening to The Vegan Report.

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Today we are once again discussing the topic of vegan entrepreneurship, but this time with

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Maxime Seguin.

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He is a fitness coach with over 10 years of experience in the fitness industry.

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He is also an athlete who has competed in Ironman and Spartan races as well as cycling

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events.

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But most importantly, he is the founder of Fit Vegan Coaching, a company offering coaching

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for people who want to get and to shape.

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In this episode, we talked about everything related to entrepreneurship, from getting

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past your fears to managing money.

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But be careful, disclaimer here, after listening to this episode, you might be tempted of launching

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your own vegan business. Maxime's passion for entrepreneurship is quite contagious.

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So Maxime, thank you so much for being here.

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Thank you for having accepted my invitation.

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Yeah, of course.

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Thank you for having me.

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So my first question for you is about the health problem that we have in our society

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currently.

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Let me tell you a story. During the COVID pandemic, I went grocery shopping at one time

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and I was in the parking lot in my car and I looked around at people and I realized how

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many of them were overweight.

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And I guess because we were during the pandemic, the thought crossed in my mind, you know,

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this is also a pandemic.

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You know, the overweight pandemic, we often hear it, but at that moment, you know, I truly

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made that realization.

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So as someone who thinks a lot about health and how to help people get healthier, what

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do you make of that problem?

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What are the causes?

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So yeah.

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Yeah, for sure.

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I think it was epidemic before COVID happened, to be honest with you.

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There's still a lot of overweight people before.

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I think COVID made it a little bit worse, but honestly, I think it's just a result of

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how society has been built and shaped and what we chose to prioritize as a society.

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Right?

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You know, maybe if you back up like a few years to maybe a decade, if you go to Europe,

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like there's not a lot of overweight people in Europe, just because culturally they value

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different things.

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But here we value hustle, we value, we were being busy as a badge of honor, we value convenience.

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We value just being on the go.

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Compared to if you go to Europe, it's like, no, you're going to sit down, you're going

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to have a family meal, you got to work.

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But you know, like I used to live in Milan in Italy and you have a little siesta in the

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afternoon and it's a lot more relaxed of a lifestyle.

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And it kind of forces people to be outside, to be in community versus here is no, you're

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on the go, therefore you're making on the go decisions and these fast foods are so accessible,

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they're so dense in calorie, they're so addicting that as soon as you kind of get into that

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world, it just kind of starts to feed itself.

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And then it becomes really hard to step out of it until you have a moment of awareness,

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which could be caused by sickness, heart attack, diagnosis, you know, whatever it may be.

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But yeah, it's I think it's the way that society and the culture has been built, at least here

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in North America, that is causing people to kind of go down that path.

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The word addictive resonates with me, because when I think about the people around me, friends

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and family who are overweight, and try to lose that weight, it's just that, you know,

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they can't change their habits, and they truly have that addiction with food.

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And I think we can make parallels with, you know, non vegan food, like cheese or meat.

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In his, you know, most important speech ever, you know, Gary, you have, you've Oski makes

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the point that meat is the biggest addiction out there.

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So can food be considered as addictive?

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Yeah, I, I would say that yes, because I have had my own personal experiences with binge

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eating, where I wanted to diet for something.

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And I was doing using unsustainable methods to kind of get there.

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And then I would have my moments where I was like, I would eat a, want to eat a box of

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donuts, and then I'd be like, No, I shouldn't eat those donuts.

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And I throw them in the garbage.

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And then I'd sit there and be like, well, the donuts are still in the box in the garbage,

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it didn't touch the garbage, I go back and kind of like eat the donut.

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So to have that type of behavior, there's some type of, you know, addiction, not to

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compare to being addicted to drugs and all that, because that's a whole other level.

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And I want to make sure there's a layer of respect between the two of them.

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But I also think not to blame it all on the food, the food is, is definitely a big component

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of it.

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But I think a big component is that change is hard.

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And people have to in order to change a habit, nutrition is one thing, but people have to

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confront the fact that they have a behavior that isn't serving them, that they've become

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someone that are not necessarily happy with and that in order to become the person that

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they want or the vision that they have of themselves in the future, they have to confront

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potentially, you know, past trauma or just a lot of things that are very uncomfortable

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to deal with.

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And I think people struggling to get healthier to get fitter is one part like yes, the nutrition

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is not helpful, but the second part is that it's very hard to kind of, you know, face

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your demons in order for you to get past those barriers that you have for yourself to become

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the version that you want.

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I'd say it's a two way thing.

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I'm interested by that, but by the relationship we have with food, because it's a big part

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of vegan advocacy.

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You know, the goal is to convince people to radically change their diet to a vegan diet.

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And it's a big ask, if you ask me, you know, it's a big request that we put on people.

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And you know, I try to think why have people like myself made that transition and it was

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easier for me and why is it harder for other people?

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And you know, what insight you might offer in, you know, helping advocates out there

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to convince or make it appealing for the meat eaters out there to adopt a vegan diet.

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Yeah, well, I think there's multiple causes, right?

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Fear, lack of knowledge, insecurity.

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There's so many components that goes into people not being receptive to the idea of

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kind of changing their nutrition.

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And you know, there's different forms of activism to kind of help people to get to that lifestyle.

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There is people that are going to be more in your face, right?

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They're going to be in the streets, they'll be doing some actual activism, there's going

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to be people that are going to have some podcasts, they're just going to have people that are

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going to be coaching.

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There's different ways to do it.

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And I think it's important to have all those spectrum.

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I don't think there's one that's more important than the other because some people do need

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you to be in their face for it to click for them.

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Some people that's a little bit too aggressive for them, they just need to be led slowly

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to it.

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They need to kind of have that understanding.

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So my form of activism is let me lead by example, let me help people transform, which therefore

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they become living examples of what can happen when you do it right.

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And then it kind of opens the door for people to ask questions.

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So to me, I'm more of a fan of planting a seed and watering the seed over time.

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And eventually people come to that realization for themselves.

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But to answer the question is still like why people struggle to come to it.

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It's just maybe they haven't encountered the right form of activism for them, right?

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Maybe people around them have been too soft about it and they need someone to be in their

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face and be like, look what you're doing.

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Because sometimes people have been surrounded by people that have been in their face and

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they need a softer form of activism to be like, okay, let me just like ease into it

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and be open to the idea of changing my nutrition.

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That's one way.

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That's one thing.

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The other thing is I think that in our society as well, there's like, especially for men,

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it's like, oh, you need to eat meat to be manly and have testosterone and blah, blah,

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blah.

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So there is an ego component to it.

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First outside of the norm of what they grew up with.

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And they're like, well, it sounds appealing.

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I hear all the benefits from it, but I don't know if I will be able to do it properly to

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not get sick, right?

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Because there's all the propaganda out there that you gotta be protein deficient and all

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of these things.

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And just a little bit of a fear and lack of understanding of how it actually works and

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actually how simple it is.

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And for them, they just need a little bit of education.

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So I think people are coming from different places and you kind of different forms of

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support.

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And I think that's the beauty of being online is we're going to have podcasts like this.

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There's people that are going to be on Instagram, on YouTube, they're going to be in the street

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doing some activations.

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And then people will kind of get to be exposed to all of these things.

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And eventually one of those methods will resonate.

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And then the like, I think the biggest scenario is someone, you know, gets a heart attack,

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gets diagnosed with cancer, gets diagnosed with MS or some type of autoimmune or chronic

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illness.

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And that's kind of the thing that makes them realize like, I think I need to change how

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I'm living because it's obviously not working.

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So I think that's a big one that brings people to our world is sickness and disease, unfortunately.

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I'm glad you're bringing that point because it's a divisive topic among activists.

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You know, do we get in the face of people and are more abolitionist in our perspectives

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and approach to vegan advocacy?

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Or is it more of a, you know, like you said, soft approach and we advocate for reducing

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animal consumption instead of, you know, going vegan right away.

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So yeah, it's a big divisive topic and I think it needs more nuances instead of an ideological

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approach to it.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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If you treat veganism as like a business, it's a numbers game.

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If you have like in your face activism and like slow transition activism, if you put

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a hundred people through here and a hundred people through here, you will never be able

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to convert a hundred percent of each group, right?

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But you might get 40% of people here and 40% of people here.

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That's a significant amount more of people that are going to turn vegan or start to eat

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more plant-based than if we just relied on one form of activism, right?

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Because there's never a hundred percent conversion rate on one methodology.

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So like, can we have three, four or five of them and convert as much as possible in all

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those areas, you're going to get way more people that way than like everyone having

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the same method.

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Then what about the argument?

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We talked about the problem, the obesity problem, and I guess health is a big topic in people's

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life.

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You know, they think a lot about health, but at the same time, when I look at studies and

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my own experience, if we sell veganism using that business metaphor, if we sell veganism

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to people using the health arguments, then they're less likely to stay vegan in the long

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term.

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So what do you think of the health argument for veganism versus maybe the ethical argument

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or the environmental argument?

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Yeah, well, let's just be frank.

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I've never met a vegan that came in from either one of the path, right?

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Environment, animal cruelty, health, and all that, that as they got into it, they all discovered

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all the other aspect of it.

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And then it became about all those other reasons.

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So I came in because I lost my late partner to cancer.

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I lost my grandfather to cancer.

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I lost my late partner to cancer.

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And so health is the thing that brought me in.

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And then I got exposed to those other areas.

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And then it became about all of these reasons.

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And so to me, it's kind of the same thing of like, the different forms of activism as

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like, I don't care how people get in.

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But once they get in, they get open to a whole new world of like, wow, actually benefits

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environment, actually saves animal actually like prevents all of these other things.

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And so again, to me, it's just more like, the more people we can get in to be exposed

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to this to this truth in this world, then it's a win win everywhere because now they're

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having reinforced arguments of like, why they should continue to do this, because maybe

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they came in because they had a health scare, right?

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Like, hey, you have a tumor, but it's not active, whatever, maybe then they get into

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it, then they watch forks over a knife and cow's piracy, and they're like, Whoa, there's

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so many other elements to this.

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And then to me, it kind of just seals the deals as to why people should continue to

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move forward with it.

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And what about the the the worth, you know, the value of the argument itself, you know,

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the health argument?

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Is veganism truly healthier than a diet, including, you know, meat and animal products?

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That's layered.

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That's later of a question, especially nowadays.

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So for sure, like, let's be honest, there's there's there's like, there's whole food

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vegan and there's junk food vegan, right?

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So we could debate that like eating meat and blah, blah, blah is worse than being a junk

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food vegan, right?

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Because you're not getting the cholesterol, the inflammation, the mucus and all that crap

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from animal products.

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But then there's like being a junk food vegan and being more whole food, plant based oriented

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vegan, like that would be the healthiest, right?

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Being a junk food vegan, I still believe is healthier than eating animal products, but

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it's still not the healthiest, right?

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Everyone should be leaning more towards like eating all foods.

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But then who should we listen to, you know, to give us the guidelines to what we should

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be eating?

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Because there are a lot of people who label themselves as health experts.

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And how do we, you know, identify, you know, who's the real expert versus the person who

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might mislead us who doesn't know really what they are talking about?

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Yeah, the big people, the movers and shakers in this space, Dr. Neil Barnard, Dr. Gregor,

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Dr. Clapper, Dr. Esselstyn, Dr. Cable.

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If you read their books and you listen to any of their talks, they're pretty much all

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saying the same thing, right?

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So like the truth is basic and it's so basic that people don't believe that that's the

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solution, right?

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But if you focus on eating whole food, plant-based and a wide variety of plants, you're in a

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good spot, right?

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If you have different goals, like being athletic or shifting your body composition, same principles,

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but with certain guidelines to be able to accomplish that goal.

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But ultimately the basics is going to work.

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Eat a variety of whole food, plant-based and you'll be in a good position.

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Yeah, I like Dr. Neil Barnard, he's the one who wrote How to Live...

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Power Foods Diet, his latest book.

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I just had him on the podcast to promote his book, The Power Foods Diet is his latest one.

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Oh, but did he write a book called How to Live Forever or something like that?

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How Not to Die?

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Yes.

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That would be Dr. Gregor.

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Dr. Gregor, that's the one I love, Dr. Gregor.

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And he always says that health, it's relative.

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An ice cream could be healthy relative to something else less healthy, like a bag of

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chips, and so on and so forth.

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So I like that relative approach to things and I guess that's what you're trying to express

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here.

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Yeah.

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Again, it's layered, right?

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There's layers to what's considered healthy.

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Like, is it if you're going to be eating, like you said, ice cream or eating two steaks,

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right?

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One's going to be worse than the other.

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So one technically would be a healthier option, but there will always be a healthier option

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than the healthier option you're selecting.

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Well, whatever we may think or what opinion we may have of the health argument, it is

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the easiest one to make in terms of selling veganism because the ethical one, that's a

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harder one because sometimes it touches people feelings and it upsets them.

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And then some might argue, that's the goal.

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That's the way we plant the seed.

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But I feel like people are more receptive to talks about health and how to get healthier.

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It's less of an offensive and disruptive topic of discussion.

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For sure.

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But the health element will only convert people if a, the person themselves get sick, or b,

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if someone has someone that they really care about and love gets sick, then those are pretty

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much only two scenarios that would wake someone up.

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You can go to someone and be like, hey, this is healthier for you.

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But if they're healthy and they're eating, if they're considered healthy and they're

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eating meat, they won't listen to you, right?

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Unless they get sick or someone they care about gets sick.

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The animal cruelty aspect is we have as people more control over that because it's not waiting

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for sickness to happen, right?

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It's more like, hey, this is a truth that you get to look at.

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And it's not dependent on you getting sicker and sicker until the point that you realize

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that you should change.

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It's like more upfront.

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I was just actually, I have a, I have fit vegan athlete shirts, because that's my company.

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And I always wear them at the gym.

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And I had a guy come up to me, really big muscular guy, the gym's like, hey, man, are

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you vegan?

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I was like, yeah, I'm going on a decade this year.

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And he was like, dude, I just transitioned.

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I think it was like four weeks ago.

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He's like, I saw a video on animal cruelty.

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He's like, I just couldn't take a part.

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I just couldn't take part of it.

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And I think that was beautiful because he's a pretty in shape guy.

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He was younger.

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I was like, he's probably not going to get sick until, you know, he's in his fifties.

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So it's beautiful that he got to watch a video and realize that at such a young age.

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You know, when you become vegan, you don't have a choice but to get educated in nutrition

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and health and because you get so many questions and it feels good to point to models out there,

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vegan models.

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And I don't mean like fashion models.

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I mean like examples, like ambassadors, like Maxime, you know, let me show you.

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There is an example of a vegan who's fit and who's healthy.

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And you know, this helps a lot because you're always put against this image of a sickly

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vegan that is, you know, present in people's minds and I guess propagated on social media

299
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and stuff.

300
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Yeah, for sure.

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And, you know, I tell people like, hey, come and do an Ironman with me, come and work out

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with me and, you know, see if vegans are weak.

303
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And also like, you know, we've transformed always 800 people at this point.

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I'm like, I have 800 proofs of people between 20 and 82 years old showing you what happens

305
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when you get fit on a whole food plant based lifestyle.

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It's like there's so much proof out there that it's undeniable that it works is just

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the people that are getting close minded to it are going to choose to kind of ignore these

308
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things and be like, ah, these people are special or I'm different.

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My body needs meat, you know, but people come up with a lot of weird stories.

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So lastly, I want to talk about the social media part of it.

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As you might know, you know, I'm not very sympathetic to social media and the platforms

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out there.

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I think, you know, they do a lot of harm in terms of misinformation, in terms of, you

314
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know, biases and the echo chambers and the list goes on and on.

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And you're in the health world and I always feel a bit, you know, it feels funny to have,

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you know, health content on such toxic platforms.

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And I'm thinking, you know, yeah, maybe you're getting, you know, healthier physically through,

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you know, being exposed to that kind of social media content, but you're not getting healthier,

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you know, mentally.

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And, you know, I wonder what is your, what are your thoughts about, you know, social

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media and, you know, the mental health aspect of getting healthy in terms of, you know,

322
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physically adopting that discipline and so on.

323
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:34,920
Yeah, that's a great question.

324
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:41,800
So if I did not have an online business and I was just like a regular person that had

325
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a regular job, I would not be on social media, right?

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So for me, every two months, I take one week off of all screens.

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So I had no devices, no electronic devices for a full week I go offline.

328
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I'm blessed to have scaled my company to a point where I do have a team that will post

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my content for me.

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So I don't really need to spend too much time on social media.

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And yeah, there was a phase when I started, I was spending a lot of time on Instagram

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and on YouTube creating content and I was like, man, like, this is affecting me in a

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negative way.

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But at the same time, I had to realize that it wasn't about me, that there's people out

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there looking for help and that that's where the majority of people that are struggling

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with their health and their weight are spending time on.

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And so it felt like it was a duty for me to be on those platforms to educate people to

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offer a service that would be life changing for them.

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And I had to just not make it about me.

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But what I did to kind of protect myself and layer myself is I do take these one weeks

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where I do a digital detox for seven days every two months.

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I do have a team that helps me post the content so that I don't have to be in there every

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day kind of posting.

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I pre create my content like this week I will have done, I will have record the next three

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months worth of content so that I don't have to kind of like focus my my mind on that all

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the time.

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But yeah, the big part is if I was a normal person working a normal job, I would not be

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on social media.

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But again, it's not about me and the people that do need help are on these platforms.

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I just honestly personally invite for people to curate their profile, right?

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To me, my one of my main platforms is Instagram, like you choose who you follow.

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So if you follow a bunch of people that make you feel anxious and negative, just don't

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follow them, right?

354
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Like screw their feelings.

355
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,480
There's a lot of friends that I have that I'm good friends with that I don't follow

356
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on social media because I don't want to see their shit, right?

357
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It's just not what I want in my life.

358
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And I still love them, but it doesn't mean I have to follow them.

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And at first it offended some of them.

360
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But I was like, hey, if you're offended by that, like maybe we don't have the relationship

361
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that I thought we did.

362
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But yeah, ultimately you get to curate your feed.

363
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So have things on there that you want to see and there's been points in my life as well

364
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:06,640
where I just unfollowed everyone.

365
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,000
When I opened my Instagram, there was nothing.

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There was nothing for me to look at.

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So yeah, just curation of what you choose to consume.

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And second is if you don't make a living out of being on social media, like just don't

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have those apps on your phone.

370
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Like I don't have those apps on my phone.

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They're on my computer or my laptop.

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So when I go somewhere, I can't be on them.

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So it forces you to be present because there's literally nothing to do on your phone.

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That's amazing.

375
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People take notes of that.

376
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Those are great recommendations.

377
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:46,040
Okay, let's get into the business part.

378
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,840
You talked about having a team, staff.

379
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,080
When I hear that, I hear you're successful at doing business.

380
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:56,640
We're doing good.

381
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:03,000
Well, then let's start with the people who are listening to this and thinking, okay,

382
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,000
I want to start a business, but why a vegan business?

383
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,780
Is there a demand?

384
00:26:10,780 --> 00:26:17,080
Is it not more difficult like an added challenge?

385
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:20,400
What do you think of vegan entrepreneurship in general?

386
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:27,200
And is there a place for initiatives, innovation, and entrepreneurship in that field?

387
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,240
Yeah, that's a loaded question.

388
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:34,720
So every business you're going to start is going to be hard, whether it's vegan or not.

389
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:35,720
It's going to be hard.

390
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:36,720
It's going to be challenging.

391
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,800
There's a reason why like, what are the stats?

392
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:44,640
Like 95% of businesses fell within five years, right?

393
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,600
So whether you start a vegan business or not, vegan business, like I'm not saying like starting

394
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,040
a steak business, but I'm starting like you start like an iPhone case business, right?

395
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:56,720
Not necessarily vegan or not vegan, but like any business you start is going to be hard

396
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:58,120
and challenging.

397
00:26:58,120 --> 00:27:01,400
So for me personally, it is because I lost my grandfather.

398
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,000
I lost my late partner to cancer.

399
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,520
She passed away like three years, over three years ago now.

400
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,000
I've always been into fitness since I was 12 years old.

401
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,160
So I've been in the fitness world for over 18 years at this point.

402
00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,960
And so to me, it just made sense to go in this path because when I saw my late partner

403
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:22,800
suffer for almost five years through her cancer treatments and ultimately losing her health

404
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:28,000
and her life, I was like, man, I don't want anyone to have to go through that.

405
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,520
And so to me, I was like, how can I help people reduce their risk of going through cancer

406
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:33,520
the way she did?

407
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,760
Well, like if I can get them to move their body, have a healthy body weight and eat whole

408
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,800
food plant based, which has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease,

409
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,600
diabetes, and all of these things, then I'm doing my part in the world.

410
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,800
I've had so many experiences in my life that led me to beat down this path.

411
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,200
It didn't just happen.

412
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:56,240
I had a lot of bad experiences and good experiences that led me to be in this position.

413
00:27:56,240 --> 00:28:03,800
So my biggest piece of advice is if you are passionate about veganism, veganism is pretty

414
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:04,800
broad.

415
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:05,880
So obviously, it would need to be a bit more niche.

416
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:07,880
You can just start a vegan business.

417
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:08,880
What are you going to sell?

418
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:09,880
What's the service?

419
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:16,000
There's just so many types of, there's like four types of businesses you can start.

420
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:21,260
You can have a physical product and do B2C, so business to customer.

421
00:28:21,260 --> 00:28:23,560
You can have a service B2C.

422
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,500
So like for me, coaching, business to customer.

423
00:28:26,500 --> 00:28:29,680
You can have a physical product that's B2C.

424
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:36,120
So physical product could be like you sell desks, you sell iPhone cases from business

425
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:41,160
to customer, or you can have a service base or a software B2B.

426
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:44,160
So like I invented Zoom, I sell it to other people.

427
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,960
So this is pretty much the only four types of businesses you can start.

428
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:51,080
Like a physical product or a service slash software and then business to customer or

429
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:52,840
business to business.

430
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:57,800
I invite you to pick something that you have knowledge in, that you have skills in, and

431
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:04,680
that you enjoy doing because every new thing is exciting at the beginning.

432
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,200
There's always that honeymoon phase when you start a business, but then there's the part

433
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,240
where it's like you get, can I swear on this podcast?

434
00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:16,040
I would say, yeah, you just get kicked in the nuts and you're just like, oh man, this

435
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:17,100
sucks, right?

436
00:29:17,100 --> 00:29:18,320
Like we're short this month.

437
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,320
I got to pay 20 grand out of my pocket to kind of keep everything going.

438
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:24,240
And then you're like, whoa, is this really worth it?

439
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:28,760
I just spent 20 grand to kind of maintain things for a month, right?

440
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:31,560
And it's during those times you're like, no, I'm committed to the mission.

441
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,080
I'm committed to the vision.

442
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:38,480
And so if I have to do that for another month, I will do it to just keep everything running.

443
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:41,880
But if it's something that you're kind of just like, man, I don't care too much, you

444
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,800
might just shut down the business and lose money ultimately at doing it.

445
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:50,080
And so pick something that you're good at, that you're passionate about, that you know

446
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:56,280
you have the ability to serve the world in and then start with that and start small.

447
00:29:56,280 --> 00:30:00,960
So whether it's offering a service like coaching, whether it's starting a product like a good

448
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:03,800
friend of mine, Robert Cheek, I was recording with him yesterday.

449
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,600
He does those like goodie boxes that he sells online.

450
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,940
So it would be like a physical product, right?

451
00:30:08,940 --> 00:30:11,200
It could be something as simple as that.

452
00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,880
Yeah, I would just say start small and test it out.

453
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:17,880
Just tell people like, and you have to tell people, right?

454
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,760
I have to tell people all the time that I do coaching, even though I've been doing it

455
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,860
for four plus years and we have almost 800 transformation.

456
00:30:23,860 --> 00:30:26,320
Some people still don't know that I'm a coach.

457
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:27,640
That's the thing with online, right?

458
00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:29,960
Not everyone, the algorithm doesn't show your stuff to everyone.

459
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:32,880
So you just have to keep repeating people the thing that you do.

460
00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:38,280
But yeah, just getting started and ultimately not to get too far ahead and to kind of overwhelm

461
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:42,320
people but there's going to be a point in your business where you have to decide, do

462
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:49,040
I want to make it like a lifestyle business where it's just like me offering the service,

463
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:53,840
selling the goods, making some great money and just kind of keep it that life or do I

464
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,160
want to scale?

465
00:30:55,160 --> 00:31:00,120
And when you go into scaling, you kind of stop doing the thing that you started off

466
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:01,120
and that you love.

467
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:06,280
So for me, I don't coach as much anymore because I have a team of coaches now because I cannot

468
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,740
coach everyone coming in because you have too many people coming into our program.

469
00:31:10,740 --> 00:31:16,040
And so then I've kind of, I don't do as much coaching as I did when I first started.

470
00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,600
And so yeah, does that answer your question?

471
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:19,600
Yes.

472
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:28,160
I want to get back to this intention concept because often when I encounter entrepreneurs

473
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:37,440
or people who want to go start a business, their only motivation seems to be making money.

474
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:45,760
And it's a total contrast with other successful entrepreneurs like yourself who I listen to

475
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:52,440
and who are talking about their impact and their passion and the good they're doing,

476
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,400
but never really about the money aspect.

477
00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:04,360
So what do you make of people who are motivated by money, by becoming wealthy?

478
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:05,360
And yeah, yeah.

479
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,640
Again, there's so many layers to that as well.

480
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:14,320
I think it's a really, I'll give you a complex answer to it.

481
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:15,560
I'll be transparent.

482
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,400
To me, the impact is important because I don't want people to be in the position that my

483
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:23,080
late partner was because I saw what it was like 24-7.

484
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,840
And so I created this mission for myself to help 10,000 people get lean, thrive, disease

485
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:31,240
proof their body on plants by 2033 and a million by 2050.

486
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:34,720
Massive goal, which will require massive amounts of action and a lot of risk to kind of get

487
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:35,720
there.

488
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:39,940
So that's going to help me have that impact.

489
00:32:39,940 --> 00:32:44,140
On the second side, I do enjoy making money for multiple reasons.

490
00:32:44,140 --> 00:32:47,600
One of them is every single month we donate money to cancer patients that are on their

491
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:49,220
own healing journey.

492
00:32:49,220 --> 00:32:52,360
Because when I was going through it with my late partner, I was dead broke.

493
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:53,360
I had nothing.

494
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:54,400
I lost my apartment.

495
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,240
I got into thousands and thousands of dollars in debt for paying for treatments.

496
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:02,500
And so if I can go to other cancer patients that were in our position before and I get

497
00:33:02,500 --> 00:33:08,140
to give them a thousand dollars, $2,000, that feels so good to me because I wish someone

498
00:33:08,140 --> 00:33:10,720
did that for me.

499
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:20,080
And from a selfish standpoint, I'm trying to have a ton of money in my bank account

500
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,520
out of my pure trauma.

501
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:24,300
And here's what I mean by that.

502
00:33:24,300 --> 00:33:28,280
When my late partner was going through cancer, I was working at a smoothie bar making $12,000

503
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:29,280
a year.

504
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:34,360
I was spending about $5,000 to $10,000 a month on cancer treatments.

505
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,400
So spending almost more than a month that I was making in a year.

506
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:38,400
Right?

507
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:43,960
And money was the thing that prevented me from offering her treatments that would make

508
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:48,280
her feel better and that potentially would have helped save her life.

509
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:53,500
And so for four and a half years, I hated myself for not making enough money to be able

510
00:33:53,500 --> 00:33:57,860
to pay for the treatments that would have potentially increased the quality of her life

511
00:33:57,860 --> 00:34:00,380
or potentially saved her life.

512
00:34:00,380 --> 00:34:04,320
And so to me, again, I understand that it's my own trauma, but I'm trying to get to the

513
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:09,600
place that if my mom gets sick with cancer, if my dad gets sick, if my wife gets sick,

514
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:13,840
I can just be like, Hey, we will spend any amount of money necessary for you to get the

515
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:15,480
best treatments in the world.

516
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,600
Because I personally don't want to have to go through that where money is an issue for

517
00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,520
me to try to save someone that I love.

518
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,600
So it's not coming from the place of like, I want a Ferrari in a big house.

519
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:29,600
It's like, I want money so I can save the people that I love in case they get sick.

520
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:30,600
Right?

521
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,000
But I understand that that's my own journey.

522
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,480
That's kind of my own trauma, and that's kind of driving that.

523
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:38,580
So that's one side of the question.

524
00:34:38,580 --> 00:34:42,680
But for people, I feel like a lot of people that want to get into business potentially

525
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,000
grew up or with not a lot of money.

526
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:46,000
That was kind of my scenario.

527
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:47,560
We didn't grow up with a lot of money.

528
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:53,000
So I always try to like start small businesses as I grew up to try to get out of that and

529
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,840
try to have a better life for myself where I didn't have to work a job where I didn't

530
00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,640
have to work for someone else.

531
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:05,860
But then as you kind of start to make money, you kind of fall into and I've never met anyone

532
00:35:05,860 --> 00:35:08,600
that has it, but you fall into the hedonic treadmill.

533
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:09,600
Right?

534
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:13,040
Which is, oh, you make a little bit more, you spend a little bit more, you make a little

535
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:15,220
bit more, you start to spend a little bit more.

536
00:35:15,220 --> 00:35:18,400
And then next thing you know, you know, you're spending a significant amount of money for

537
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,020
you to maintain your lifestyle.

538
00:35:21,020 --> 00:35:24,680
And I fell into that because I grew up with no money.

539
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:26,840
And then I had access to a lot of money.

540
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:28,900
And I didn't know how to deal with it.

541
00:35:28,900 --> 00:35:33,220
Like people think that they would know how to deal with it, but you don't.

542
00:35:33,220 --> 00:35:36,740
Once those transfers hit your bank account, you don't know how you're going to deal with

543
00:35:36,740 --> 00:35:38,660
it until it actually happens.

544
00:35:38,660 --> 00:35:40,940
And so to me, my lifestyle crept up on me.

545
00:35:40,940 --> 00:35:45,400
And then I had to come to a point of like, okay, I don't need all of this stuff.

546
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:47,520
Let's just scale back.

547
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:51,920
Because I've made a significant amount of money in the past four plus years.

548
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:56,380
And I had some mentors and I just realized that it's not about how much money you make,

549
00:35:56,380 --> 00:35:58,100
but how much you keep.

550
00:35:58,100 --> 00:36:02,820
Like what's the point if you make a million dollars a year and you spend 950,000 of it?

551
00:36:02,820 --> 00:36:06,120
Yeah, 50,000 left at the end of the year.

552
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:07,800
There's nothing impressive about that.

553
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:12,900
Someone that makes 100 grand a year would be able to potentially put that aside, right?

554
00:36:12,900 --> 00:36:16,040
And so you kind of have to go through that.

555
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:19,800
It's kind of like your parents telling you not to touch fire because it's hot.

556
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:24,260
Like you kind of have to get your hand close to the fire to be like, oh, this burns, this

557
00:36:24,260 --> 00:36:25,260
sucks.

558
00:36:25,260 --> 00:36:27,200
I need to go backwards.

559
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:32,880
But unfortunately, some people like get really close to the fire and end up kind of losing

560
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:35,620
it all and it kind of creeps up on them.

561
00:36:35,620 --> 00:36:39,120
I'm just blessed that I had good mentors around me to kind of be like, hey, you need to be

562
00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,560
smarter with your finances.

563
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:51,740
You gave an example of spending 20k on a month in order to keep your business afloat.

564
00:36:51,740 --> 00:36:55,520
And that example gave me chills.

565
00:36:55,520 --> 00:37:04,600
And I think this is the greatest obstacle to people becoming entrepreneurs.

566
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,360
The fear.

567
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:08,840
They're afraid of failing.

568
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,660
That's I guess the first fear.

569
00:37:11,660 --> 00:37:15,740
And then they're afraid of a number of things.

570
00:37:15,740 --> 00:37:20,200
And I think every person, it's personal.

571
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,880
They have their own thing.

572
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:28,480
But what do you say to the fearful people out there?

573
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:37,040
How do we address our fears and how can we overcome that obstacle in order to get to

574
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:39,160
that entrepreneurial island?

575
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:40,160
Yeah.

576
00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:41,400
Well, you know what?

577
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:42,720
I saw you bring that up.

578
00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:43,720
I was thinking of a quote.

579
00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:49,280
I was listening to the Kevin Hart video on Netflix that came out because he got like

580
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,280
the Mark Twain award.

581
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:56,160
And his speech at the end made me tear up because he was like, it was a gamble.

582
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,120
It was a gamble for me to build all of this.

583
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:04,520
And then he's like, in life, you have to take the gamble because you may choose to take

584
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,400
the safe path and kind of keep your job.

585
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:11,240
And let's be honest, we have a job and you have a family and you have a house and a car.

586
00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:17,080
You're not stashing that much money aside per month.

587
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:23,640
And most people don't have a security account that if shit hits the fan, that they'd be

588
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:25,680
good for a long period of time.

589
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:32,040
And so even if you choose the safe route, you may still fail because what if you lose

590
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:37,200
your job and then the interest rate goes up on housing or whatever it may be, and then

591
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:42,080
you have two months in your bank account to live and then that's it.

592
00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:46,560
And so to me, I was like, well, that doesn't make sense to me.

593
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:48,240
I know that I'm a hard worker.

594
00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:49,440
I know that I'm smart.

595
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,440
I know that I will do what's necessary for me to succeed.

596
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:59,240
And so let me take a bet on myself and go on my own because then now if it fails, I

597
00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:00,560
can blame me.

598
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:06,520
But if I have a job and I get fired, why can't really blame me like my before I started my

599
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:12,920
company, I was working at a corporation and just randomly one day they call me into the

600
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:14,720
office and like, hey, man, we have to let you go.

601
00:39:14,720 --> 00:39:19,440
And I said, guys, I'm one of your best employees like we know, but everyone else has been here

602
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,560
for like longer than you and your last person hired.

603
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:27,360
We made bad financial decisions and you know, we have to let you go like effective immediately.

604
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:28,360
I didn't have a car.

605
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:32,560
I had a company car, which I was using to drive my ex partner to my partner to get cancer

606
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:33,560
treatments.

607
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:35,280
That was my income to pay for cancer treatment.

608
00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:38,000
So I had no job and no car.

609
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:39,000
And I was like, I got home.

610
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:43,280
I was like, man, because of these schmucks that made bad decisions, my whole life is

611
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:44,280
in shambles.

612
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:49,040
I was like, never again, I'm never putting the quality of my life in the future of my

613
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,720
life into the hands of other people.

614
00:39:51,720 --> 00:39:54,800
It's my it's it's I have to take ownership of that.

615
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:58,400
I cannot leave that to another human.

616
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:03,000
And I went on my own and became really successful.

617
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,040
And man, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbow the whole way through.

618
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,640
Like I said, like, there's there's months I think, like over the course of five months,

619
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:14,760
I bled like 60, 70 K just because I didn't want to fire employees.

620
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:17,920
I wanted to hold on to them and trying to turn things around.

621
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,520
But I could have let them go in the first month and not bled all that money.

622
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:22,880
But I was like, no, like this is a good team.

623
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:26,580
I'm trying to make it work and turn it around.

624
00:40:26,580 --> 00:40:32,640
And so to me, like, I just don't like the aspect of putting the future of my life and

625
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:36,440
the quality of my life in the hands of another human being.

626
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:41,560
And I from a personal level, like my my wife works for me in the company.

627
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:45,320
And sometimes she's like, oh, like, I I kind of want to have like my own things.

628
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:47,680
I'm thinking of going to get a job.

629
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:52,680
And I'm like, you want to go to a place where you have to ask another adult to go on vacation?

630
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:54,840
I'm like, that's this that doesn't make sense to me.

631
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:56,920
I'm like, we go on vacation whenever we want.

632
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:58,680
Like we're going to Hawaii, we're going to New York.

633
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:00,200
I was like, I'm not going to go.

634
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:04,420
I'm not going to I didn't build this life for you to have to ask another human for us

635
00:41:04,420 --> 00:41:05,420
to go on vacation.

636
00:41:05,420 --> 00:41:07,560
I was like, I'm going to help you start your company.

637
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:08,960
She's going to start her skincare company.

638
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:10,700
Like, I'm gonna help you start your company.

639
00:41:10,700 --> 00:41:16,340
There's no way that we'll ever be in a position to ask another grown ass man or woman if we

640
00:41:16,340 --> 00:41:18,160
can go on vacation.

641
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:24,000
And so to me, that's like, yeah, that's why I took the bet on myself because I get to

642
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:25,820
choose if it doesn't work, it's my fault.

643
00:41:25,820 --> 00:41:28,760
But if it doesn't work, I get to turn it around.

644
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:29,760
Right?

645
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:30,760
Like I have full control.

646
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:33,320
It's not like I'm making less money at my job.

647
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:34,820
And I work harder.

648
00:41:34,820 --> 00:41:35,820
Doesn't matter.

649
00:41:35,820 --> 00:41:40,560
My boss still gets to decide whether I have a job or not, whether I get a raise or not.

650
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:45,480
And so to me, I'd rather have my my revenue related to how hard I work and how smart I

651
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:52,040
work than to the opinion of another human that goes like, yeah, I think you deserve

652
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,360
an extra $5,000 per year.

653
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:59,800
And I guess you failed multiple times and on so many levels.

654
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,440
You know, let's talk about some of your failures.

655
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:07,640
Man, I did I did my math, I probably made a million dollars worth of mistakes in the

656
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:09,840
past four years.

657
00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:15,400
Like just me hiring coaches didn't work out trying different strategies didn't work out

658
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:20,280
invested in some stuff thought it would turn around didn't work out.

659
00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:25,320
But there was million dollars was like my education, it helped me learn lessons that

660
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:30,120
I would have never learned if I went to school that I would have never learned otherwise.

661
00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:37,480
And I'm so much more wise and educated now when I move forward, I move forward with efficiency.

662
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:42,180
And you know, one of my good mentors always said like, with new levels comes new devils.

663
00:42:42,180 --> 00:42:47,500
And I've had to like, face all those devils to continue to get to a new level.

664
00:42:47,500 --> 00:42:49,720
And right now I'm in a great place.

665
00:42:49,720 --> 00:42:53,360
I'm facing new devils now that's going to help me get to that new level.

666
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:57,460
Once I get to that new level, hey, something else is going to hit the fan.

667
00:42:57,460 --> 00:42:59,660
There's always going to be something.

668
00:42:59,660 --> 00:43:02,960
And that's why I said earlier, it's important for you to enjoy what you do.

669
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:07,320
Because if you don't, you'll want to quit as soon as it gets hard.

670
00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:12,180
And you know, for those people listening that are in business, you'll relate to the moment

671
00:43:12,180 --> 00:43:16,240
so I'm like this, this is kind of my studio slash office, man, there's days when on my

672
00:43:16,240 --> 00:43:19,040
computer and I'm like, yes, we're crushing it.

673
00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:21,240
Like we're taking over the industry.

674
00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:24,320
And then two days after I'm just laying on the ground crying and I'm like, what the heck

675
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:25,560
is happening?

676
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:26,560
Everything's falling apart.

677
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:30,280
Yeah, it's literally it's it's a wild ride for sure.

678
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,720
Okay, let's get technical now.

679
00:43:33,720 --> 00:43:36,400
You talked about the different failures.

680
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:44,320
And my question is, how do you evaluate what is a good idea and what is a bad idea?

681
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:51,360
And how do you even, you know, get the idea to start your business?

682
00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:58,200
Because maybe listeners are thinking, okay, I'm vegan, I have the passion, I want to make

683
00:43:58,200 --> 00:43:59,200
a difference.

684
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:07,080
And I love that pitch from Maxime, I want to the life of an entrepreneur, but I don't

685
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:14,660
have any good idea, any worthy idea, you know, to pursue.

686
00:44:14,660 --> 00:44:21,600
And even if I did, how do I evaluate that it's good enough for me to bet my life on?

687
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:23,200
So what do you say to that?

688
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,240
Yeah, well, hey, we live in a beautiful world.

689
00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:28,040
We don't need a lot of money to start a business.

690
00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:29,040
Right?

691
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:34,000
Like, let's just say like, I don't know, what is something that you enjoy?

692
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:38,220
Plants, gardening, I love gardening, and it's summer.

693
00:44:38,220 --> 00:44:39,440
So I'm thinking about it.

694
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:40,440
Okay, shit.

695
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:45,840
So what you're about, you go on like, Kajabi or school.com, and you build a whole course

696
00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:47,520
on gardening.

697
00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:50,960
And then you go on social media and then you create content on gardening.

698
00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:55,760
And if you guys, hey, if you guys want the full details as to how I built my beautiful

699
00:44:55,760 --> 00:45:00,320
garden and blah, blah, blah, join this course for nine bucks, 10 bucks, 50 bucks, 1000

700
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:01,920
bucks, whatever it may be.

701
00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:02,920
Right?

702
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:07,600
Like, what you are selling, knowledge is the easiest thing to sell, to be honest, right?

703
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:11,360
Because if you're going to build like a phone, a phone case, you need a prototype, you need

704
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:16,560
to sit on inventory, you need to pay for shipping and you know, deal with all that stuff.

705
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,400
So I'm not a fan of physical products.

706
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,280
I've invested in companies that are physical products because I don't have to run it.

707
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:23,680
I don't have to deal with the headache, right?

708
00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:25,660
I just give the money.

709
00:45:25,660 --> 00:45:29,340
But from my personal standpoint, I love service based business because it's purely knowledge

710
00:45:29,340 --> 00:45:30,340
base.

711
00:45:30,340 --> 00:45:33,480
So to me, I have the knowledge of how to help people transform like that.

712
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:34,480
Right?

713
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:36,480
So that's the thing that I'm selling.

714
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:41,080
And so whatever knowledge you have, there's probably someone else out there that would

715
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:42,080
want it.

716
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:48,100
And so what I would say is start with something small, see if you can get people to buy it.

717
00:45:48,100 --> 00:45:50,960
And then as people buy it, you can just even run like a case study.

718
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:52,720
They know it's 100 bucks.

719
00:45:52,720 --> 00:45:55,480
Now it's 50 bucks for the first 10 people that join.

720
00:45:55,480 --> 00:45:59,160
Get those 10 people that come into the program, pay 50 bucks, you just made 500 bucks.

721
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:03,160
And out of those people's like, hey, the exchange, I give you 50% off, but I need your feedback

722
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:05,160
on how I can make this better.

723
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:08,240
And then they give you feedback on make it better, make it better, sell more of it, get

724
00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:12,360
the feedback, make it better, sell more of it, get the feedback, make it better.

725
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:19,360
The program I have now is world class compared to when I first started over four years ago.

726
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:22,780
It's over shit over four years ago when I started.

727
00:46:22,780 --> 00:46:24,960
So yeah, it's just like start with something small.

728
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:30,460
It could just be like you coaching people one on one or building a course.

729
00:46:30,460 --> 00:46:34,120
And then yeah, just offering people to come in at a discounted rate in exchange for their

730
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:35,120
feedback.

731
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:39,760
How can we make this better and then make it better and then continue to sell it.

732
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:43,600
And that's literally the game is you continue to make your service or your product better,

733
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:48,160
get the feedback, sell more of it and just kind of continue to grow that way.

734
00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,480
But I think people are looking for the million dollar idea.

735
00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:56,560
They want, you know, to invent the iPhone or something like that.

736
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:59,320
Yeah, man, I'll be honest with you.

737
00:46:59,320 --> 00:47:05,160
Like when you listen to those stories of people that actually are billionaires that own like

738
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:09,320
jets or that live this lavish lifestyle where they're not like flexing, they're secretive

739
00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:11,260
about it, right.

740
00:47:11,260 --> 00:47:13,920
They own like Horto potty business.

741
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:20,480
They own like moving companies like they own some of the most basic non flashy companies.

742
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:24,320
But everyone sees like the Alex or Moses, the Steve job, like all the people that are

743
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:27,800
on TV that are all over the news and they want that.

744
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:31,600
But I think I think you just have to choose what you want for your life.

745
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,080
Like are you trying to be flashy because you want to impress people?

746
00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:37,560
You're actually trying to make money so you can provide for your family and be there for

747
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:39,180
the people that you love.

748
00:47:39,180 --> 00:47:43,560
To me, I'm trying to be the guy that's loaded wearing jeans and a t-shirt and a time X and

749
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:46,240
no one knows that I'm making money.

750
00:47:46,240 --> 00:47:47,360
Like that's who I'd rather be.

751
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:49,080
And that's who I'm being now.

752
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:50,080
Right.

753
00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:52,200
Like fun story for your listener about business.

754
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:56,720
So you know, growing up, if you had a Rolex, you were like, you made it right.

755
00:47:56,720 --> 00:47:58,340
If you bought a Rolex.

756
00:47:58,340 --> 00:48:02,080
So when I made a million dollars in my business, I went to go buy a Rolex because to me that

757
00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:03,080
was growing up.

758
00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:05,000
That was a sign of like, I've made it.

759
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:07,800
And so I paid 15 grand for my first Rolex.

760
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:10,760
I've never spent that amount of money on anything in my entire life.

761
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:13,240
My credit card got declined because they thought I was getting frauded.

762
00:48:13,240 --> 00:48:14,240
Right.

763
00:48:14,240 --> 00:48:16,120
I had to like, I was at the jewelry shop on my phone.

764
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:18,280
I was like, Hey, just let this go through.

765
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:21,420
I look stupid right now in the store.

766
00:48:21,420 --> 00:48:22,880
And I bought the watch.

767
00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:28,680
I got in the car with my wife and I started crying and I just realized that it wasn't

768
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:30,160
about the watch.

769
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:35,200
It was about me being in a position to be able to buy that watch and not have to worry

770
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:36,200
about my finances.

771
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:40,480
When I came from struggling with buying cancer treatments, sleeping in my car, eating at

772
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:42,840
food banks and all this stuff.

773
00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:47,000
And then I bought the watch and then, you know, I wear it from time to time, but it's

774
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:48,000
an expensive watch.

775
00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:49,320
So I can't, I live in LA.

776
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:51,000
I can't wear that stuff everywhere.

777
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:54,520
Like it's pretty sketchy, you know, depending on kind of where you go.

778
00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:58,440
And then I came to this realization like a few months ago and I was like, man, that's

779
00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:01,280
probably the stupidest purchase I've ever made.

780
00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:06,520
I was like, I don't want to like show people that like, Hey, I've had great money and all

781
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:08,040
of these things.

782
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:12,520
And so I was like, I need to get myself a humble watch, like just a watch that is just

783
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:15,320
like the most basic watch ever.

784
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:17,120
And so I bought a hundred dollar Timex watch.

785
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:18,400
That's what I have on my wrist now.

786
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:20,320
It's what I wear all the time.

787
00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:25,960
And I told myself that for the next decade, I'm not buying another watch just as like

788
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:29,080
a delayed gratification thing for the next decade.

789
00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:32,840
But like just to be like, Hey man, you need to continue to be humble.

790
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:34,920
It's not about trying to impress others.

791
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:39,160
It's about thinking to build something that's going to change the lives of people and screw

792
00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:41,240
spending money on those stupid things.

793
00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:48,600
When you look at the vegan movement and the vegan activism world and the vegan advocacy

794
00:49:48,600 --> 00:49:58,840
space, do you think, you know, Oh, I feel positive about it, you know?

795
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:02,120
And yes, the future is vegan.

796
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:05,280
Yeah, I think the vegan movement is going to continue to grow.

797
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:09,320
I think it was doing really well before COVID and it kind of took a dip during COVID.

798
00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:13,540
I know a lot of vegan restaurants kind of had to close down and everything.

799
00:50:13,540 --> 00:50:19,000
I have for some reason, I have a sense that people will develop a new model for vegan

800
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:24,720
restaurants, that it may just be like, I don't know how you call those, but like, I'm making

801
00:50:24,720 --> 00:50:27,160
this word up like a white label kitchen, right?

802
00:50:27,160 --> 00:50:30,520
Like one kitchen that cooks food for different restaurants and ships them out where there's

803
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:33,640
not really any like physical locations for it.

804
00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:39,560
I feel that it's going to grow over time, but we're still like far from it becoming

805
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:40,840
the norm.

806
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:46,320
I don't want it to come to that, but I feel like once there's like a catastrophic environmental

807
00:50:46,320 --> 00:50:51,920
event and that like the government has to step in to kind of change of like, Hey, everyone's

808
00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:57,640
eating plant based, like we're, you know, running out of trees and blah, blah, blah.

809
00:50:57,640 --> 00:51:03,560
I think it takes for the government to step up if they want the world to change to that

810
00:51:03,560 --> 00:51:05,240
extent, right?

811
00:51:05,240 --> 00:51:09,320
Like they're, and I think unfortunately it's kind of like humans, they're going to wait

812
00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:12,840
to have like that cancer moment to be like, Oh, I need to change.

813
00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:17,200
I think it's going to take like a cancer moment for the world, for the government and those

814
00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:21,160
big organizations to step in and be like, Hey, we recommend this and we kind of need

815
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:22,920
to change this.

816
00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:28,920
Or I think that once they figure out how to monetize the heck out of the vegan movement

817
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:33,280
and they can make more profit from that, then they'll potentially ditch it meat.

818
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:34,520
It's a money thing for them, right?

819
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:39,000
So I'm like, if they can make more profit from plant based eating, then I'm sure that

820
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,320
they're going to push it a lot more if they can get their hands in it.

821
00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:47,400
And if we can have more vegan entrepreneurs, more people starting those businesses, you

822
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:51,680
know, that that's one way to kind of bring more money into that space and to show those

823
00:51:51,680 --> 00:51:54,940
big organizations of like, Hey, there's funds to be made.

824
00:51:54,940 --> 00:51:59,200
And I think they know because more companies are coming out with vegan lines or plant based

825
00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:00,680
lines of product.

826
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:06,740
We're subsidizing a big ag, you know, the meat industry, but I feel like we should be

827
00:52:06,740 --> 00:52:12,240
subsidizing you because you're making people healthier.

828
00:52:12,240 --> 00:52:17,080
So yeah, the government is putting its finger on the scale.

829
00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:19,480
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

830
00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:21,160
And it's a yeah.

831
00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:24,840
And it's you know, like there's places that are like food deserts and you know, we didn't

832
00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:28,760
talk about that earlier, but man, eating junk food is so cheap.

833
00:52:28,760 --> 00:52:31,200
My wife and I were on a road trip.

834
00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:34,240
And you know, when you do road trips, it kind of across the United States and some of those

835
00:52:34,240 --> 00:52:41,800
small towns you see by the obesity epidemic is happening, why it's where it's happening.

836
00:52:41,800 --> 00:52:45,920
And then you go into a restaurant and it's you can get like 700 calories for like a buck

837
00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:47,560
50.

838
00:52:47,560 --> 00:52:50,720
You know, and it's not filling, but it's a buck 50.

839
00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:54,160
And it's food for them if they're especially they're on a tight budget.

840
00:52:54,160 --> 00:52:58,000
And so yeah, like making that healthy food as much as it's affordable, like let's be

841
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:01,920
honest, rice and beans and it's cheap, but it's not as convenient as going to a drive

842
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:04,960
through and paying a dollar 50 for burgers and fries.

843
00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:05,960
Right.

844
00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:10,680
And so there's still some work that needs to be done in that space.

845
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:18,880
Well, at least don't build the McDonald's of this world near your neighborhood school,

846
00:53:18,880 --> 00:53:27,600
you know, and I'm saying that as you know, the neighborhood school in my in where I live

847
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:30,200
is just next to a McDonald.

848
00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:36,840
Yeah, you know, at lunchtime, you see just a flock of students going to that McDonald

849
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:38,840
getting their lunch.

850
00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:44,720
And I feel so, you know, I guess the depressed about it, you know, I know those kids are

851
00:53:44,720 --> 00:53:49,840
now building a habit of eating junk food.

852
00:53:49,840 --> 00:53:53,280
I was my wife sent me this video on Instagram.

853
00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:57,760
You know, it is your partner sends you a bunch of like a reels and by text, look at this

854
00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:04,360
video, it's funny, but it was just like this, just like average American overweight mom

855
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:10,440
and like she was like, Hey, I'm making lunch for my kids, right.

856
00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:11,440
Because I loved them.

857
00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:16,520
And I was like, I can feel the love that she had for her kids in that video.

858
00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:21,960
But man, it was like Lunchables and Kit Kat and sugary Gatorades and blah, blah, blah.

859
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:27,680
But like, I can, you can tell in the video, she really loved her kids and she was so happy

860
00:54:27,680 --> 00:54:29,120
to make a meal for them.

861
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:33,120
But you can tell that there was a massive lack of knowledge because she didn't have

862
00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:35,280
those habits for herself.

863
00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:37,960
And therefore she would definitely not have them for her kids.

864
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:42,760
And so yeah, for the parents listening like, man, you're the biggest leading example.

865
00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:47,360
If you gain more knowledge for yourself, you're going to start feeding your kids differently.

866
00:54:47,360 --> 00:54:49,100
And it drives me nuts.

867
00:54:49,100 --> 00:54:53,360
When people say like, you make your kids eat plant based and people go berserk, but they're

868
00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:56,840
going to feed them McDonald's and Coke and Gatorade and Kit Kat.

869
00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:58,800
Like that's crazy to me.

870
00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:02,020
Rice and beans in a kale salad versus a Big Mac.

871
00:55:02,020 --> 00:55:04,400
Like I don't know why people go nuts over that.

872
00:55:04,400 --> 00:55:09,200
So we're getting near to the end of this conversation, Maxime.

873
00:55:09,200 --> 00:55:13,200
And I wanted to ask you quickly three health questions.

874
00:55:13,200 --> 00:55:16,760
And I know my listeners will be grateful for that.

875
00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:20,400
So first question, your favorite vegan hack?

876
00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:21,400
Air fried tofu.

877
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:22,400
I see.

878
00:55:22,400 --> 00:55:26,640
I just in between meetings, I'll go throw in the air fryer, I'll come out and it's

879
00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:28,360
it's ready to go.

880
00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:30,000
That's my number one hack.

881
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:37,440
Okay, best physical activity to lose weight.

882
00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:40,000
It's general but strength training, resistance training.

883
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:41,760
That would be the biggest one.

884
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:44,760
And concretely what does it does that mean?

885
00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:52,120
Any, any type of like big movement, like assisted pull up, push ups, squats, deadlifts, things

886
00:55:52,120 --> 00:55:56,160
like that, the things that are going to help you strengthen your bones, build lean muscle

887
00:55:56,160 --> 00:56:00,440
tissue that will help increase your metabolism far more than running, hiking, Pilates or

888
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:01,880
all of those other things.

889
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:02,880
Really even jogging.

890
00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:03,880
Oh, yeah, for sure.

891
00:56:03,880 --> 00:56:06,080
It kicks jogging in the butt for sure.

892
00:56:06,080 --> 00:56:10,400
Is jogging overrated?

893
00:56:10,400 --> 00:56:13,880
Some people like it from a mental health standpoint, I enjoyed from that standpoint, because it's

894
00:56:13,880 --> 00:56:16,800
just like it's peaceful, not thinking about anything.

895
00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:19,920
But if you're looking to kind of shift your body composition, which means like building

896
00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:26,640
muscle and losing fat, strength training by far outbeats any other form of exercise.

897
00:56:26,640 --> 00:56:29,240
And you know, jogging, some people hate it, right?

898
00:56:29,240 --> 00:56:30,820
Some people hate running.

899
00:56:30,820 --> 00:56:36,360
So if you hate running, don't run, go bike, go swim, go play soccer, like you go to there's

900
00:56:36,360 --> 00:56:39,360
other ways to do cardio than than than to run.

901
00:56:39,360 --> 00:56:44,440
And lastly, a general question, but I have to ask it.

902
00:56:44,440 --> 00:56:47,800
What's the question people should be asking you but are not?

903
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:49,440
I've never been asked that before.

904
00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:50,440
That's a good question.

905
00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:56,920
Man, like thousands of podcasts, I've never been asked that question.

906
00:56:56,920 --> 00:57:02,840
You have a question people have never asked me.

907
00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:03,840
Do you stop me?

908
00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:05,920
I always have something to say.

909
00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:07,360
I always have something to say.

910
00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:09,280
I think that's the best question.

911
00:57:09,280 --> 00:57:11,880
What's the question that people don't ask me?

912
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:20,600
Yeah, ultimately, like what's the what's the biggest factor that prevents people from moving

913
00:57:20,600 --> 00:57:22,120
forward with their goals?

914
00:57:22,120 --> 00:57:24,920
That would be the biggest question that people don't ask me.

915
00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:31,000
And the answer would be that people are too attached to the timeline.

916
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:36,640
If you can manage your expectation, if you can, if the goal is that important to you,

917
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:40,920
and you can detach yourself from the timeline, you will always reach your goal.

918
00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:45,600
I'll just give like a small example has nothing to do with health and fitness.

919
00:57:45,600 --> 00:57:50,120
But like, I have a picture up here with Mr. Tony Robbins.

920
00:57:50,120 --> 00:57:52,480
When I was 15 years old, read his book.

921
00:57:52,480 --> 00:57:55,320
And I was like, I'm going to meet this guy in the next two years.

922
00:57:55,320 --> 00:57:56,840
I want to have a photo with them, right?

923
00:57:56,840 --> 00:57:59,000
Like you have a photo of the president with them, right?

924
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:01,360
I was like, I want to photo with Tony Robbins.

925
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:06,160
Two years, it took me 15 years to be able to do it.

926
00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:08,160
Do I care that it took me 15 years?

927
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:09,160
No, I met him.

928
00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:10,160
I chatted with him.

929
00:58:10,160 --> 00:58:11,680
I got a photo with him.

930
00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:16,000
And so when you actually really care about the goal, you don't care about how long it

931
00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:17,000
takes.

932
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:18,280
You're just committed to getting there.

933
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:22,360
And once you get there, everyone that I know that has had a lot of success and has reached

934
00:58:22,360 --> 00:58:27,720
the goals that they wanted to always say that it took longer than expected, and always say

935
00:58:27,720 --> 00:58:31,480
that it happened perfectly whenever it happened.

936
00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:36,640
And so whatever your goal is, detach yourself from the timeline, just keep showing up consistently

937
00:58:36,640 --> 00:58:40,480
until that thing happens, and you're going to be stoked once you get there.

938
00:58:40,480 --> 00:58:41,480
Amazing.

939
00:58:41,480 --> 00:58:45,920
What a great way to end this interview.

940
00:58:45,920 --> 00:58:54,120
And I have to say, so funny that I had, I fell sick and I had to do this interview while

941
00:58:54,120 --> 00:58:57,000
being sick while talking about health.

942
00:58:57,000 --> 00:59:04,320
And if people could see the video contrast, I'm gray, I'm all looking sickly while you're

943
00:59:04,320 --> 00:59:06,760
in this glow of health.

944
00:59:06,760 --> 00:59:09,240
I got a big light.

945
00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:11,920
I got a nice studio.

946
00:59:11,920 --> 00:59:12,920
You look great.

947
00:59:12,920 --> 00:59:13,920
Don't worry about it.

948
00:59:13,920 --> 00:59:16,360
Well, I thought it was really funny.

949
00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:23,800
But Maxime, thank you so much for your time and for your precious answers.

950
00:59:23,800 --> 00:59:30,320
And I hope you're inspired plenty of listeners to consider entrepreneurship as a way to make

951
00:59:30,320 --> 00:59:31,800
a difference in this world.

952
00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:32,800
Beautiful.

953
00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:34,000
Well, thank you very much for having me.

954
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:35,200
I appreciate it.

955
00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:37,800
And you don't want me making a little plug.

956
00:59:37,800 --> 00:59:43,120
If there is someone listening that wants to get into vegan fitness coaching, we're actually

957
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:45,200
expanding our coaching team.

958
00:59:45,200 --> 00:59:50,240
And we're actually teaching our coaches on how to earn six figures a year working from

959
00:59:50,240 --> 00:59:53,680
online without running a business.

960
00:59:53,680 --> 00:59:58,600
And so if you're someone that loves to create content and it has a heart to serve, just

961
00:59:58,600 --> 01:00:01,280
head over to our website, fitvegancoaching.com.

962
01:00:01,280 --> 01:00:06,120
There's a career tab and you can kind of apply there just for the people that don't necessarily

963
01:00:06,120 --> 01:00:08,880
want to be have a business without wanting to work online.

964
01:00:08,880 --> 01:00:09,880
Amazing.

965
01:00:09,880 --> 01:00:12,280
I'll add that link to the description below.

966
01:00:12,280 --> 01:00:14,120
Thank you everyone for listening.

967
01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:18,480
I kindly invite you to share this podcast with the vegans you know.

968
01:00:18,480 --> 01:00:21,400
Let's encourage more people to take action.

969
01:00:21,400 --> 01:00:31,600
Again, thank you so much for caring and I will see you next Tuesday for a new episode.