Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans; for today’s guest, we have Victor Straw. As a fitness professional and business owner, Victor has spent 26 years in the health and fitness industry. 

He was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. When he was 18, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Persian Gulf War in 1991. After spending numerous successful years working for a large fitness company, he decided to venture out independently to chase his dreams. Victor has owned three fitness businesses: a personal training studio, a large multifaceted fitness facility, and a boot camp group training business. Before COVID-19, he grew his boot camp business to nearly $30,000 monthly in revenues.

Victor applies training techniques and methods from the US Marine Corps. His passionate style, high-intensity workouts, coaching, and positive attitude offer extremely fast results in his training. Victor claims that this method works for one of the fittest fighting forces on the planet. Then why not train others? In the same way, he has a passion for serving others to experience greatness and build resilience to overcome obstacles and rise after setbacks. He’s an extraordinary American, and I’m glad to have him on the show. Victor, are you there?

I am.

Victor, thank you so much for taking the time to do this podcast with me. I am honored to have you on the show.

Thank you, Cosmos. I’m super excited.  I’m happy to be here, buddy.

So, Victor, I know you’ve been in the Marine Corps. You’ve been in the fitness industry and are a business owner. Can you tell me more about yourself, your background, and how you started?

Yeah, for sure. I’ll give you the Cliff notes. I’m from Wisconsin. I was raised on a dairy farm. So, I’ve learned the value of hard work from a young age. And I played sports. I’m an outdoorsman. I love to be outside. Right out of high school, I entered the Marine Corps, serving my—country and myself.  I was in the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and learned a lot—principles of things that just build. You build yourself up to keep going and keep trying to do the right things in a tough situation.

So, I learned many of those qualities by age 22. Growing up on the farm, going into the service serving my country, and then getting out, I got a degree in health, human performance, and business. 

And for the last 2 1/2 decades, I’ve been in the fitness industry and owned it like you. Like you said, I have multiple or different gyms and have expanded my businesses there. And I’ve had the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I’m sure we can talk about those.

And so I’ve experienced great success, but I’ve also experienced great failure in business and my personal life.

So, I’ve been through a lot. But I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve grown a lot. The one thing that I think my message is or that I try to convey to people is to get back up, you know, to come back, and if there’s one word, I would say that would describe me…  It’s resiliency, and I try to convey that message when I speak with others when I do my speaking engagements or with all my coaching clients.

I can teach you to be resilient because it’s not a matter of whether we get knocked down, fall, or fail; there will be things along our path that could almost destroy us. And I think if we can have that mindset that we’re going to get back up and get back in the game, we’ve got to keep going. And there’s more. There are better days in front of us. Not that it’s always easy, but that’s sort of my mindset, theme, or mission that I can convey to people: get up, keep going. We got this.

Victor, thank you so much for your service in the Persian Gulf War because I know he is a soldier. It was a really tough time, and my parents were living in Kuwait at the time when Iraq invaded Kuwait. And so, I, as well as my parents, am thankful for the American forces pushing back the Iraqi army. So, I wanted to thank you for that.

Thank you. Thank you. Sure. You. You lived it. You went right.

Through it? No, I was. I was actually in my mother’s womb at that time, so I wasn’t even born, but they were refugees and immigrants. And then the army invaded, and they had to go to Jordan and then fly out to their home country from there. And so, yeah, they told me about the war. It was pretty intense. 

But I wanted to ask you, Victor, that you went into the fitness industry from there. What was the transition point where you decided you wanted to enter the fitness industry?

Well, it’s funny because I’ve always enjoyed fitness. I’ve always enjoyed working out, and like I said, I was an athlete and played sports—baseball and football in high school. And then I played some football in the Marine Corps, and I’m like, gosh, you know what, I was considering going to the FBI.

And I tried some things or did some interviews, but it didn’t work out, and I’m like, you know, I’ve always loved fitness at the time. And again, this was 26/27 years ago. Fitness was just getting on the scene; before that, there wasn’t much of a career in personal training or fitness services. And then I was like, this is sort of fun, and I enjoy fitness. I love to work out and do all that.

So, I ended up getting a degree in that and then a minor in business because I knew that, hey, if I could do anything, I wanted to have my gym someday and help people get fit. And I enjoy that line of work. It was more of a passion project that I thought I might do for a while—you know, maybe 5–10 years—and have a gym, and you know, I never would have guessed that, you know, 26 years later. I’m still in the industry. I’ve just connected the dots to see if I can make money at something I enjoy. 

And it was fitness, and I love to work with people and help, encourage, and inspire people. It was just a perfect fit for me. So, as things have changed and transitioned through the years, I started with a large corporate gym. You know, I learned to learn the ropes a little bit. If you want, you will. It’s like, so I’ve learned how to, you know, sell. I’ve learned, you know, some soft skills, some, you know, just how to communicate and how to present, and then you know you grow that and after a while, almost seven years. I’m like, alright, I’m ready to go on my own.

So I took the jump. I opened up a small personal training studio. And I didn’t have that much time. That was 2 1/2 years, and I remember looking up that one day, we only had 2000 square feet. And I think there were 23 people packed in this small, really small room. And I’m like, OK, I’m outgrowing this; we got to. So then, now I say that’s where I should have. I sold the business. I went bigger. I should have stopped while I was ahead of myself. I got a little cocky. We ended up getting two investors.

We ended up opening this multimillion-dollar facility. Just gorgeous, gym. I call it a tweener. It wasn’t a big gym. It wasn’t a small gym; it was in the middle. I was midway between gyms; everything was like the Taj Mahal of fitness. Everything was super nice. From our countertops to the flooring to everything, we did that for about 3 1/2 years, and then the recession hit. We hung out until 8. We made it until June. 30th of 2009, and then our doors got closed, and long story short, we went through bankruptcy.

That’s when a lot of, I would say, my problems either came to a head there or things started to fall apart personally. Professionally, I was at the bottom and had to look at where I would go from there. How am I going to reinvent myself? Or, what’s my next move? So then, I just. I don’t know if you want me to keep going, Cosmos. Just please interrupt.

No, no, no, no, I want. It would be best if you kept going because this is.

So, we’re doing decent up to that point, but again, we couldn’t weather the storm. You know, at the time when the recession hit, you know, businesses were closing down left and right. You know what we sell: personal training and fitness services, massage, and nutrition coaching.

So, it wasn’t a need that people needed to have what we had. We were at a high-end gym. So, one of the first things people cut was their memberships, or they stopped using our services.

So, when that all disappeared, I had 90 days to figure something out because I had to make some money, so I ended up 90 days later. I opened up a group training facility, a boot camp training facility, and many others. I did in the Marine Corps. Like you said, when you introduced me, I used that in my training, which is why it’s been so successful.

Again, if the Marine Corps can do it, and that’s how we train our young men and women to defend this country, I want to use a lot of this protocol or some of it. Of these pillars, my training was over, so 90 days later, I opened up across the street and just started getting my clients back and people to come back in so we could get this thing going again. 

And then it made it. It helped me get through that tough time. I mean, there were moments of, believe me, it was like, oh my gosh, like here I am devastated. I’ve lost my business. And then, at the time I was going through a divorce, my first wife said,

I divorced and had three small girl daughters at the time, and many things in my life were just like that. I felt like I was losing. I’ve lost it. I don’t know if I can do this or keep going. I went through a period where I struggled with severe depression. I almost took my life. It was a very hard time for me because I had a lot of my identity and success up to that point. And then, when it all fell apart overnight, it was really hard for me to keep going again.

So it took a lot. They had the support of other men, who helped me walk through that counselor. I leaned on faith. I learned. I have faith. I leaned on God a lot, and he helped me walk through many of these things so that I couldn’t reach the other side. So then, anyway, I opened up this boot camp training facility, and it grew. It grows. It grows. We have had super success. 

We were doing that. I don’t know if. That was 7-8 years. And then, all of a sudden, I hit the wall again, but now, this time, I’m just physically and emotionally tapped because I’m working too many hours. Some days were 14 hours, and I had a small staff of trainers working for me, and we were just it. On the one hand, it was going well. But on the other hand, we were just. Burning ourselves out, I remember sitting down one day and writing the rent check to pay the rent for the facility, and I’m like, I just can’t do this anymore. I just. I don’t. I got it in me. I don’t know if we finished up another 3–4 months. I didn’t renew my lease; we just shut it down and have the same thing again. I’m like, Oh my gosh, what will I do? What am I going to do? I’m at the end of my rope, and this time, I’m just emotionally tapped out. But this is what I know. This is what I do. This community sort of knows me. As you know, this is this fitness guy, this fitness guru.

So I started to get back into it, and I built the backup again and tried it a little smarter this time. I’m working a little bit more, you know, on the business instead of in the business. And you know, we did some aggressive marketing campaigns and built this thing up to be pretty nice, and it was going super well again. And we had a new location, and then COVID. Now that COVID has hit, in 2020, you couldn’t do anything in person if you couldn’t go to a gym.

So it’s funny because, on one hand, I was like, Thank God, I’m so burned out again. This is, you know, it’s been going well for the last few years, but I don’t know if I can just keep doing this. And it was a wake-up call for me. But on the other hand, that took care of my revenue, you know?

So, we were wiped out for a few months. I had nothing. It gave me some time to sort. Figure out how I’m going to do things or what I’m going to do. You know what? My pivot’s going to be.

So I started this online coaching, high-performance coaching, executive coaching, in which I take the fitness and health sides of it and then tie it into more personal development as well because I believe there’s a. There is a strong synergy between the success that we can have with our fitness routine and taking care of our health, our hearts, and our muscles in our minds. It can bleed over into having success professionally in our daily habits and our environment in those we surround ourselves with.

So I think there’s a lot of. The synergy between fitness and business growth lies in the strategies to become successful. So. COVID is going on. I started this online training and coaching business, which started taking off. It started getting some traction, so it sort of brings us up to today, and this was a few years ago.

So, part of my business is still boot camps and in-person, and the other part is online executive health. I call it health leadership success coaching because I want to do more. And just. Help someone get a good fitness routine or lose 50 lbs. I want this new routine and the new habits you will create to have an impact and change the rest of your life. So that sort of gets us caught up to speed for today or where we’re at.

No, Victor. Uh. What? What I noticed is that you went through a lot of ups and downs, and you went through, like, depression, and a lot of people, like when they try to do business and then they fail, and they feel depressed or anything. They don’t feel like they do. Go on or, like, start, and many people are afraid to even try.

So what’s yours? What was your mindset going through? Like, how do you, how did you push past that negative, uh, spell altogether? It’s really hard to do, you know, for most people.

I agree, and I think it is. A mindset that you just make up in your mind that you’re going to do, and I don’t know if everybody has that or not, or, you know, to be honest, I think maybe some people are just, you know, I’m not. I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree. I’m not the smartest guy.

But I think when I put my mind to something, I decide that I will do this. I’m very loyal to the cause. I’m very loyal to the purpose, and when I find something to get behind or fight for, for me, it was. I think I like to help people. I like to help people change. I like to help people grow, and I just happen to do it.

I think my natural bench, or my craft, is in the fitness industry, and I’ve never struggled with losing or losing a lot of weight. I just like to do this because if I can relate to you when you’re down there trying to give me some push-ups or squats, and you can’t have any, there’s none left in you. 

I want to coach you and inspire you to do one, two, and three more, which fulfills me if I can. If I can get the best out of you as a good coach, It’s about the team. It’s about the person, so. Through these failures and these setbacks, you know, there were times when I’m like, I’m done. I can’t do it. I’m just tapped out. I’m. I’m just. I’m a broken man. But whether it was at the end of the day, the end of the week, or, you know, a couple of weeks later, I look in the mirror, and I’m like, this is what I’m supposed to do. This is what I’m supposed to do.

So just having that again—the word—I might say resilience or resiliency 20 times today, but it’s like having that. The backbone of resilience is that this is how we will do it now. I might have to return to the drawing board and change some things. You know, I’ve had a small personal training studio. Then I had the big, multifaceted gym, and now I have a boot camp training facility.

So, I have a niche that works for me. That I like and that I’m good at. And then. And you know the failures of the recession, but there are things I could have done better as a business owner. I could have run the business better and more efficiently than I did. 

So we go through many of these things and learn them, too. And then, when we learn it, it’s like, alright, now that I have experience here. What can I do the next time it’s going to be better? You know, there might be ten things that I know I will do differently. 

And again, the hardest. I hate to go through the negatives or the failures. None of us want to. But that’s when we learn. That’s when we grow. That’s when we can glean those. Those things, hey, if I had just applied this last. I don’t think I would have struggled in this area. This revenue stream or something is here. And again, I don’t like to. No one likes to fail.

But failure is probably the best thing for many of us because that’s when we learn. That’s when we get those nuggets to apply to that next. It could be our next career move, relationship, or whatever. But now that we have those things, we can apply them. We can grow, expand, and become successful from that. I’ve always said that if people ask if you could speak on one thing and get up on stage and speak on one other than resilience, I’d probably say failure because I’ve learned so much in my life by overcoming failure setbacks. 

Again, growing up on a dairy farm, my dad was pretty firm with me. I remember being a young little boy and having to get up at 5:00 AM to milk the cows, but he instilled in me to get up, go to work, make it happen, and be a hard worker. And then I go into the wrinkle, and you’ll learn all this. You know what? You know, when you fail, when you slip up, when you screw up, it’s like you have to get back up and get going again, and you know. We’re here to fight; we’re here to defend.

We’re here to protect and to have that tenacity and resilience. And then again, you know, professionally, too, through my life and even just going through, you know, depression and mental health struggles. It’s. I could end it all today, but what good does that do? I let the enemy win, and then I’ll say I let the enemy win. Then, I let the enemy win. I have to rise. I have to figure this out. I have to get my head straight. I’ve got to do things that help me, such as preaching about drinking water, eating vegetables and fruit, etc. And protein. Getting your exercise by doing those simple things and then getting your mind on the right reading and listening to the right things put me in the right mindset to face and tackle the state.

So, if I can do those things, Or I’m good and strong mentally, or I’m not going to take this dip down into a depressed state and be there for days. Here I am for weeks. I’m not going to anybody. And the enemy wants us to quit and give up at that point. But that’s when we can’t. We have to rise back up and get going again.

Victor: What you’re saying is pretty true, like resiliency. And, like, the way you look at failure is that it makes all the difference between overall success and many people they’re afraid, like emotionally attached to the idea of cause. Failure comes along with shame and humiliation, like self-esteem issues altogether. Right. Because it goes a lot into a lot of people’s self-esteem. So my question is, You would be. 

How would somebody develop the resilience to combat setbacks if they don’t already have it? Or is it already innate in people, or can it be built up over time?

That’s a great question. Some of us may have different levels of innateness in us. But I think you only get stronger as you go forward and go through the trials. When I face tomorrow, or whatever I’m going to face tomorrow, that will be my trial for that day. How will I persevere through this, you know, and we can? I believe we need to, you know, have mentors in our lives that we can follow and adhere to, people that we can look up to. People that we can lock. Arms with you know whether it’s. I mean, it could be a good friend. It could be a counselor. It could be a spouse, somebody that we can continually have that person’s support. And it may not be just one person. It could be a handful of people. But the more that we can.

But we have to keep walking that journey, I think. It’s important that I read my Bible every day and some personal development every single day. I get up super early. Early, and I have to spend the first hour of the day doing that. If I don’t do that, if I don’t set that tone for the day, and again, not to say this has to be for everybody at all, but for me, my day is off, and I’ve ingrained it in me because I love that habit. 

I love the ability that I have. I’m going to sit. I’m going to meditate. I’m going to pray. I’m going to try to fill up this mind with positive thoughts. I have a positive mindset and am ready to go because once I walk out that door, all hell could break loose. Challenges are going to come. You know, there could be customers or clients that are, you know, having issues, or you know it. It could be a litany of things.

But I can handle those arrows with my head straight when I walk out the door. I am coming at me left and right, left and right, and again. This is not to say I’m perfect or have it figured out, but I believe we can. Follow people. Whether it’s a mentor or friend, a sage, or someone that we know, Oh my gosh, this guy is good, and feed off of that, their wisdom follows them.

And then also us, you know, reading the right stuff, feeling our heads with the right stuff. We’ll listen to the right music that puts us in a mindset that, hey. This is a battle I’m going to fight, and I have to go forward. And how am I going to do it? 

So the more we can fill ourselves up, you know, with the right curriculum, the better we can face those battles. And I think we’re going to have a lot more success. And again, we will have some failures along the way, even though we’re doing all the right things—the ABCDE. But then we’re going to get over it. We’re going to get back up, and we’re going to go to that next level. And then the next failure that we have down the road could be different. But again, now we’re at a new level, you know, so new level, new level, new level, which is what I think we want to do.

I would like to add to that that I think, like you know, like competitive sports and like doing competitive sports or going into military training like you did in the Marine Corps, and going to fitness also helps a lot with developing resilience because your body can do only so much. You have to develop something called willpower. 

I know this because when I was in school when I was 16 or 17, I used to run track. It was competitive. I was running competitively right for the long disc.

And when I’m running with this other person and going at a certain speed over a long distance, my body wants to stop, but my willpower and my will to win keep me going on and on and on. And I realize that when I train that way, I’m going on track and practicing like that, and I developed my resilience—a lot.

And you nailed it, which is why I love the fitness side of things more than the real-life side. You learn from both, but when you want to run and quit, your legs are tired, and your heart will pound out of your chest. But there’s something about you. You know what? I can see the finish line or know what I just got. Another one could be 100 meters or a half mile away. You have to keep going. You have to keep going.

And if we can have that same enduring mindset when we hit the real hard things in life, we go through a divorce, a bankruptcy, you know, for me, battling mental health. You know, there are so many challenges in our lives, and we’re all going to experience different ones. They won’t. Everybody is going to have their own set of circumstances. But if we can do that with a fit body and mind, we can take on those challenges better. You know, some people are naturally able to do it; they can handle it. But. I don’t think many, but I think most of us. Do you need that fitness routine? We need that daily routine where we’re filling our minds and bodies with good nutrition, a good mindset, etc. Listen to good podcasts and listen to the right music. 

We need others to glean from who can encourage us and inspire us to keep going, keep moving forward, and stay in the battle. Sometimes it’s like, Hey. This is tough. This stinks, but I just have to stay here. I have to keep persevering. Persevering. I mean, I think nowadays this is, in my opinion, something we’re sort of losing. Persevering, but also the patient side of things, I think we see things with everything that happens so immediately, which is amazing as our technology nowadays; it’s incredible.

But I think because everything we get quickly with technology, we want it quicker too. And I think there are things we’ve got to go through in life; there are seasons. Seasons of struggle are part of the challenge. And if we know, and if I’m training for a marathon, I’m not going to train for a marathon in one week and be ready to go; this will take me multiple weeks. There are months to be ready for this marathon, and that’s what life is about. 

So, if I know that I’m starting a fitness routine today, I need to lose 30 lbs. I’m going to stay here and just keep chipping away. One day at a time, one step at a time. I’m just going to climb that ladder. But that’s the same mindset. I think we should care about our lives, no matter what we’re going through. We could all be going through something hard right now. But if we can, hey, you know what? What can I do? Or I will need to encourage or inspire myself to keep going. Do you know what I want? I want to quit. I want to give up.

And there are times when we might just need to take a break. I tell my clients, Hey. You want to. It would be best if you had a break. Just take a break. We need a two-day break. Take a two-day break. I’ll see you on Monday. And sometimes, we just need to sort of take a break. 

But you know what? That break has to be pretty short. Now, We have to get back in the game and get going again. We don’t have to run a marathon on Monday, but we have to return to our training program and start doing those things once we return to the game. You feel better. You feel better once you start doing it. You don’t feel better beforehand because you don’t want to do it. I would say, you know, no one wants to work out. I mean, you might. 

Some people might enjoy it, and it’s fun, but most people don’t like to work out. But once you do it, I’ve never had anybody leave a workout say I wish I wouldn’t have done that. I’ve never had anybody leave the gym saying, Oh, I wish I wouldn’t have come in today.

Nobody said that they’d done it. And they feel like 1,000,000 bucks when they walk out that door. But again, that’s life, too. We go through those challenges, those struggles, those things that, you know, I’m walking through the pit. I’m walking through this valley, and it’s. It was tough, but we had to keep going because a light was up there. There is an end, and the tunnel is it. It’s up there. It’s coming. We just can’t stop for too long. We can’t lie down, die, give up, and let the enemy win. We just have to keep going, get up, and keep going.

I believe you talked about it beautifully, and I wanted to add that knowing your why and having a powerful why helps you do that. If you have an emotional why, like something deeper, like it’s nothing to do with money or anything like that, it could be your family, your faith in God, or your vision for your entire life. Life, then, is like when you’re going through the worst times in your life, you know that if you survive through this, you can make an impact. It’ll be a story.

And you can change the lives of other people. Right now, Victor, look at this. There’s a time when you want to give up and want to take your life, but you fight through that. 

And now, here we are talking. Somebody could be listening to this, and they might be in a depression or something, and they’ll be like, no, I got to be like Victor, you know? And it makes all the difference in the world that having a powerful life and knowing that your life can impact others through your story play a big role for you. 

Add that to the cosmos. You’re Exactly right. And that’s just it, and I won’t give you the whole details of this story, but when I want to take my life, I’m a hunter. I’m a big deer hunter. I remember getting home. I sat on my, my, my, the deck car patio, and I took my rifle out, and I was going to be. I was just. I was going to put it in my mouth, and I was going. I was done with it, and I remember meeting three little daughters in a few minutes.

Like I said at the time, this is, you know, years and years ago, and they’re going to get off the bus, and they’re going to walk in that. As soon as you walk in the doorway, you can see back on our deck or the patio area. And in my mind, I’m like, they’re going to see their dad lying here in a pool of blood that’s not home when I just want this to end.

I just don’t want it to go this way. And talking about why is like I want to have a dad my daughters look up to and admire. And they said he made it through these tough times. He made it through his pit or one of the pits he had to walk through. 

And that was, again, a very, very low spot in my life. The divorce and, you know, being a business success and then a business failure business person pretty much overnight and then not knowing how I will pay the bills now that we have all this debt. How am I going to get out of it? It is very, very, very low for me. But am I having your why? I get that for me then; it was my daughters, and just like, Oh my gosh, I have to do this. I have to figure out a way. I have to figure out a way. I don’t know how. But all I have to do is worry about today. 

I’m OK, and then you know, and then there’s other things to worry about tomorrow. But if you are strong enough, you can walk it out, which might be baby steps. It might be a little bit at a time. And it’s why I love the philosophy of one day at a time. One day at a time. You get a plan for 3069 days out in a year or two, but hey, if it’s when we’re going through, you know, when that song is, like when you’re going through hell, keep on going. And it’s just a one-day-at-a-time mindset. That’s alright. We just have to keep doing it.

No, I mean, you couldn’t have said it better enough. You know, like that. That inspires me because family is also a very strong motivator for me. I think about my dad and mom, and sometimes, I feel like I would want to make them proud. So. Yes, that comes to mind. 

So, Victor, one of the questions I wanted to ask you is, other than understanding, resiliency, and all that, what is the biggest lesson you learned overall about just business over your entire life, all the ups and downs that you’ve been through other than resilience and how to deal with failure and all of that?

There’s a lot. I gosh. Oh my gosh. I’ve because, again, I’ve had so many failures. There’s a lot of lessons that I’ve learned. Probably the biggest. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is, and I mentioned earlier, Being the architect working on the business instead of in the business so much is one of the things that I like to do, and I didn’t mind if I had long days—you know, 12 hour days, 14 hour days, 16 hour days. Sometimes, I didn’t mind that for a while; at least when I was younger, it was not a big deal that I would wear too many hats. I would be the one. 

OK, I’m going to do this. OK, I’m going to. Do that. Oh, I don’t want to pay for someone too. I would do some of the cleaning so that I would do that, you know, or even just the bookkeeping and the accounting, and like, OK, I’m sort of the face of the business. I need to be out in front of people, but I don’t need to do these 22 different things behind the scenes just to try to save a buck or two. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learned. And that was sort of hard for me, too. I’m like, oh, I can just do this an extra, you know, 30 minutes here. Hour here. It wasn’t that big of a deal. I didn’t want to pay for it.

So when I follow, you know, learn the hard way again, follow my pride. Putting the right people in the right seats on the bus was a huge thing for me. So. Now that you know, my business is expanding. I’m doing stuff in the online world; I’ve got people that again are so much better than me, whether they’re, you know, doing my website, you know, setting up sales calls, this is what they’re good at, and they get to serve the community, or they get to serve other people. They get to use their gifts and talents. Too. So instead of me being so selfish as to take away their gift, I’m having them, you know, work for me. And they’re getting paid for that.

So it’s a win-win. So probably that’s one of the biggest things. And then I just think, because I work with so many people, it’s like one of the things that I like to do when I talk to people is I just want to listen to them. Everybody’s in a different spot. Everybody has a different challenge. Where are they, and how can I help them? Maybe not everybody I talk to, but I may. Not be able to help Them. 

But if I can listen to where they’re, what they’re saying, I can hear or sense, you know, what they desire or maybe what they’re saying. I want to help them in shape, form, or fashion. And it might just be that instead of having a 20-minute conversation, we might talk for an hour, and hopefully, I will help them, and I may never hear from them again, or they may come back, and we might have a few conversations before we end up working together. 

But you know, they just needed someone to listen to them. Not to be sold. What I was selling them, or my services, even though I know what I have can help them, I like it. I think I’ve, you know, learned that through the years, people just want to be heard and listened to, too. And then, obviously, just. Uh, you know from? You know, having your business structured right, knowing some things from a legal standpoint in the back office, having all of that, you know, running a business—there’s lots of little things. There are lots of big things. That’s when it comes down to it.

You just want money to come in the door and need to, you know, work with people like me because I’m in the service business, I just need to. Help and serve more people. If I keep that as my focus, it seems like many other little things take care of themselves, too. 

And then, if I again put the right people in the right spots in the right seats, we run. We can run this thing better, and then I can do what I must. As you know, the president, the CEO, or whatever. But then I don’t need to Be the accountant. I don’t need to be the janitor. I don’t need to, you know, work with the vendors that leave that for the pros. And I wear the hat I need to wear, and the business runs more efficiently.

So Victor, as a continuation of this, let’s say they’re like the people from the military; they’re coming out, right, you know, like you have war veterans and everything. And there’s a saying that, like, a lot of people say that it’s really difficult for them to adjust to society after being over there for many years. 

So if, let’s say, you had to advise them, How do you go about starting a business in the fitness industry?

You know, the funny thing is the adjustment that it takes U.S. military guys or veterans. We’ve got such a gift because we do have a heart, or, you know, this backbone of great resiliency. We don’t typically have the soft skills to be softer, easier, and even more empathetic.

So I think veterans who have been in the military already have probably the big rocks, if you will, to do to have success. And it’s the least of the veterans I’ve worked with. I talked to them, or I guess I would encourage them if I were talking to them. A group of them right now. Do some of the smaller things, the little things, or maybe even in our mind’s mindset. The things that I don’t want to say are not as important, but I think, you know, typically U.S. military guys, we’re like, OK, we’re going to take this hill. We’re going to go in this direction. We’re going to. This is the track we’re on.

So, I mean, it’s. Just like A to B, we do that. We forget some of the little details, but if we can pause and slow down and sort of backtrack and worry about the details or get someone to help us with those details again, we can successfully build the business we need to build. But I think it’s; you might even start with a good, honest look in the mirror and say, where do I lack? What do I need? I mean, is it sales? Is it communication, or is it a business account? And you know where I need it? Or maybe it’s partnerships? Maybe I need some partners to help me do this. And then you sort of take that honest look at yourself and say, you know, for me, it was just work, work, work, work. I’ll figure it out. I’ll just work. I’ll work, work, work. And again, t{that was pretty dumb of me. Now, I want to work smarter. I don’t have to work all day long just to. Try to keep the doors open and keep everything afloat.

So I would say To these veterans, you know? See your strengths, then assess your weaknesses or where you need to grow. And then there are so many opportunities and programs nowadays that can help us.

So we would just have to look up, research, and find the right fit for the people we will go with. How can we grow in this area? How can I, you know, be a better entrepreneur? You know, what can I do to increase my sales? What can I do? I don’t know how to sell or how to talk to people. What can I do? And we just started a plan. 

And with the 3690 plans, and then we get after it. And I think that military guys like a plan. Love is a sit-rep, something to follow, or we just. 

1. I have to do this on Monday. This is on Tuesday; this is on Wednesday. And you know, we know where we’re at after two weeks and four weeks. We know where we’re making progress, and we can see. That, and then. Once we start making more money, we will have more success. Everybody likes that because we all prosper together.

Yeah, that’s true. You know, like a plan of action. For me, I would want to have a plan of action as well. How do I get from A to Z? I’m coming out of something now. How do I get to where I need to go? So that’s true. 

So Victor, if you could go back in time and talk to your 10-year-old self right now and then, with all the knowledge and experience you have right now, what would you do, and what would you tell him? What advice would you give him, knowing what he has to go through?

That’s a great question. My first thing to say is to slow down and enjoy the ride—a little bit. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Uhm, I had fun, but I would almost say, hey, you know what, have a little more fun. Life goes fast. It’s not all about, you know, being number one. It’s not all about making the money you want to make a bigger impact in people’s lives, but I think that’s why it’s important to me that I listen to people and learn that through the years, just so you know, next, next, next, I want to stop and listen to you. I want to hear what you have to say. I want to know how you’re doing, and again, if I can help you, I want to. Help you? But I would probably say. Enjoy the ride. Have some more fun and laugh a little bit.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. And again, we all heard this. You know, life is a marathon, not a sprint. I think there’s a lot of truth to that. I think enjoying these stages and these seasons of your life means you know whether you’re just getting out of high school or getting out of the military. We’re getting out of college. I mean, that’s the season, and then, you know, in your 20s and 30s, as long as we’re growing, I’m a big advocate for growth. We keep growing, we keep evolving, and we become better.

And so I love our minds, the mindset, and the training that I do with my clients. I want you to be resilient, but I also want you to grow and prosper mentally. You know, where you have more peace, where you have a stronger, you know, mindset, and you can. Help other people because I think we’re challenged right now in this country with mental health challenges, whether it’s anxiety or depression or whatever the case. If we can have a good grip on our thought processes, our perspective of things, or how we can communicate when two of us disagree with a topic, The only way we’re going to get through this or get it solved is if we can. A mature conversation about that where I will hear you and respect your side, and you will hear me and respect my side, and then we can make progress moving forward.

So, I think the more we can have, the better our mindset. And I think, in my opinion, we need to have, you know, love, grace, and compassion. But if I know that, OK. How can my perspective be different? You know, I don’t see how they do. But maybe there’s a reason why they see it so differently than me.

So, if I can put myself in their position and again take my eyes off me for a minute and listen, it can be a different conversation. We can, you know, move forward so much quicker, from simple things in this country to big things in this country. Things can move further if we get along but have a foundation of grace, love, and compassion. But I don’t know. I guess that’s the big thing I would say. Slow down, enjoy the ride, and maybe have more fun. It’s not necessarily party-party fun, but I don’t take myself seriously and enjoy it.

What? What do you talk about regarding the country? Is it true? If so? If we looked at each other’s side and listened to others more, we would not have the polarity we have right now. You know, because I feel like everybody’s in their camp, but they’re narcissistic too, and so yeah. What you’re saying is true. So, Victor UM, can you tell me in the audience a little bit more about your online coaching business, its premise, and all of that?

I have a couple of the most popular online programs. I have a six-week program and a 12-week program. It is my kind of baby. It’s called the secret weapon. I love it because the weapon is an acronym, and it’s taking your fitness side of things and applying that.

The same concepts and principles apply to everything you do every day. It’s. Getting up in the morning and having a good, strong routine means drinking water and eating healthy foods. It’s getting your steps in and exercising every day. It’s training your mind for battle again, whatever it may be for your battle that day. It’s about having an A and never giving up. Never quit. Attitude. No, no matter what I go through. What is my best version if I’m going through tough times in my relationship? What’s the best? What’s the next best thing that I do?

So, I talk about all these things in my program. It’s fitness-focused, but then I take that and extend it out, and then we talk about how we can apply these pillars and principles to your life.

That’s awesome, Victor. So, are there any other projects you’re doing besides this that you’d want the audience to glimpse into?

The 12-week program is pretty powerful. That’s probably my favorite. I do some. I also sell a 21-day-to-win program. If someone’s just looking for a quick start, It’s in e-book format. It’s a book that I wrote that’s a 20. One day, it’s workouts. It’s a daily mindset, and nutrition advice is also in there.

So it’s a quick but great way to start your fitness. And then I also love to do speaking engagements too. So I have those services on my website, and there is more information there if anybody wants or is interested in them.

So how? How would the audience connect with you and learn more about you, your programs, and your website?

Yep, just go to my website, itsvictorstraw.com; it’s Victor Straw, just like it sounds. And you can see my fitness services, online programs, and speaking. What I do as far as speaking engagements and then masterminds as well.

Victor, thank you so much for giving us these pearls of wisdom regarding how to view life and everything because this is pretty inspiring. I was inspired by myself because many people go through many struggles, but somebody could be listening to this right now and be inspired.

So, I’m grateful you took the time to do this podcast. Please share your story with me.

Well, I’m honored, Cosmos. Thank you for asking me. And if anybody is listening to this and wants to chat or have questions, I’m pretty transparent. I’m a pretty open book. I would love to be that person where I could chat with somebody if they ever wanted to.

Victor, I want you to return to the show later. You know, because of this. Is this a pretty good interview overall? I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us, and we must awaken it and unleash it until next time. Bye for now.