so Tim you obviously man there's no
shortage of people who speak so highly
of you I mean Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan
Charles Barkley Dwayne Wade you name it
how do you even become the trainer to
these amazing NBA athletes everybody
wants to start there it doesn't start
there all right it starts many many
years ago knowing exactly what you
wanted to do I was fortunate enough when
I went to college I have a master's
degree in exercise science and
kinesiology so what I wanted to do was
when I told my parents this is what I
wanted to ourselves gonna train
professional athletes and everybody says
what are you gonna study I said I'm
studying kinesiology Exercise Science I
said oh you're gonna be a gym teacher
said no I'm gonna train professional
athletes you know we're going back into
the 80s you know I'm a couple of months
older than you share several months you
know so people I kept telling myself
this is what I want to do this is where
I wanted to I had a big passion and I
always loved sports
the passion and action behind the sport
so I was like okay ha but I wasn't good
enough to be a professional I knew that
you know I was not going to make any
money playing basketball that was my
sport sure I still wanted to be involved
in it at the highest level at the
highest level still how can you make a
difference and still work and be in the
same mindset as these individuals so
what I did was I finished off my degree
I went to work in a local health club my
hourly rate was three dollars and 25
cents as a personal trainer and they
won't even hire me as a personal trainer
when I came into the health club you had
to work here's a word for you Fitness
people out there for young guys that you
might have not heard the Nautilus room
the Nautilus room yeah well you had all
the quick equipment and there was just
enormous so you had to go in there and
you everybody who came in joined the
health club they got a free session of
how to use the Nautilus equipment there
were 12 pieces there and you went that I
was that individual with a master's
degree with a master's degree teaching
these people but I was like just one of
the best things that happened to me
because what it did was you go to
college you learn everything from a book
but you don't really get a chance
to apply it and to actually use it so
now it gave me a chance in this
environment to actually learn how to use
everything with real people with real
people and I suppose that's probably a
good thing that you weren't working
without these through out the gate
because the last thing you want to do is
get your hands wet with athletes right
exactly and here's the thing everybody
wants to go there but they forget that
you got to do all that other stuff first
nobody wants to do that people come in
they apply for a job they've never
worked in the industry first thing they
check off managerial position managerial
position but what have you done over
here so I learned my craft I worked with
every possible individual in there
anybody that wanted to lose weight
gained weight had injury any kid that
wanted to be a perform better and
learned everything I learned how to
apply everything learn how to do
everything the word kind of spread that
hey there's an actual individual in it
he's just not doing training he's doing
more like movement stuff he's making
people better as recreational tennis
players as recreational basketball
players and so forth and I made a lot of
mistakes during the time I would write
programs out and I'm like this isn't
gonna work and that allowed me to have
the trust in myself to know when the
opportunity came and I didn't say if
when the opportunity came what made you
so confident that the opportunity was
gonna come that he would say when and
not if there was no other option for me
I was going to make it happen I wasn't
relying on somebody else to say I'm
gonna figure this out let me make a
contact here let me you know you do find
your resources in different places but
still the onus is on you so what I did
was I sent out when I was confident
enough in my ability I sent out a letter
to every single player in the Bulls
organization there's 15 players well
there's a mistake I made all right I
only sent out 14 letters and this was
when you and you had to handwrite the
letters don't get post-office tab there
was no emails back then I sent out 14
letters who was the 15th I did not send
out one letter to Michael Jordan why in
my mind I was like he's
the best at what he does why would
somebody who's as great as they are need
help
Wow I got one reply back from the one
person I did not send a letter to him oh
the one person I did not send a letter
to he contacted the team athletic
trainer he contacted a team physician
and said hey find out who this guy is
and what he's about so there's a lesson
over there there's a reason why
individuals that are so successful
business sports athletics whatever you
want to do the best of the best are
always looking to get better they're
never satisfied they're always looking
for that competitive advantage no matter
how much they've won they want to win
more one of the greatest things that I
said now I know you understood the book
you did not call yourself a cleaner okay
and we'll get into it later about what a
cleaner actually is cleaners don't
recognize themselves as cleaners because
they're never completely satisfied with
what they've done they've never played a
perfect game they've never had a perfect
anything there's always they could
figure out something that it just didn't
go right he's tell people about a story
about Michael Jordan and his statute
after every basketball game there's a
statute you know how many points you
scored how many rebounds assists all
that other stuff used to give that to
Michael Mike's and never bring me that
stat sheet again he goes this is all I
want to see on the statute I want to see
how many turnovers I had how many missed
free-throws and how many fouls I had he
goes I'm supposed to score points I'm
supposed to get rebounds I'm supposed to
make my teammates better I'm supposed to
play defense I don't need to see a stat
of things I'm supposed to do I need to
see a stat of the things I'm not
supposed to do how many people cuz
you've coached the best or you've
trained the best how many of the
athletes that you've come across in your
time have had that mindset versus
wanting to see all the Pat's on the back
of how well they scored and how they
rebounded how many there's less than
that I've dealt with and I've talked to
I'd say there's less than 20 less than
20 there's less than time talking about
in all the sports that I've had to
actually had a conversation with not all
these athletes you know the Michaels the
Kobe's the Wade's I've actually had a
chance to work with those individuals
you know personally for years and years
but through them I got a chance to meet
so many other people I'm not just
talking about a what like a one-off on
time I've been four years you know like
a Wayne Gretzky and you know Derek Jeter
yeah you know Roger Federer to see those
individuals to put them in a room and if
they all spoke exactly the same way you
didn't know who was who was speaking
they're talking about the same thing
over and over again they can't tell you
all the points and all the games they
won but they can tell you every
opportunity that they didn't capitalize
or the game they should have won and
they made a mistake that's what sticks
with those individuals so would you say
these are people who are like super
achievers they're just unreasonable
expectations like how do you define this
cleaner mentality like what the
makes someone so relentlessly focused on
the things that they failed at versus
the I mean the things that they're so
amazing at that less than 1/10 of 1% of
the population can achieve you know what
I always tell something happened we all
have that ability this is not something
you're born with I love how people say
all that this person is born with that
you're not born with that you know when
you're born the doctor doesn't say this
kid is gonna be relentless this one's
gonna be a winner this one's gonna do
this know like everyone has the same
opportunities now what happens is
through your childhood and he may be on
even later in life something happens to
you there's some kind of decision you
have to make there's some kind of
obstacle that came in your way something
that you had to deal with and how you
dealt with that situation pretty much
determines how everything else is gonna
go
did somebody handle that for you or did
you own up to it and say I'm gonna take
I'm gonna take care of this and I think
how you
and I don't think I know those
individuals if you look at all their
stories every individual that's been
successful you know bill Bill Gates Jeff
Bezos
all that other stuff if you look at
everything that they've done some kind
of something happened in their life
early on in their life they put that in
this relentless mindset to just be an
overachiever set unrealistic goals
because they saw something and they did
not want to go back in that direction so
when something happens you have two
options you can either curl up and just
say yeah you know make excuses after
excuses or you can own up to it and turn
around and figure out how to do it you
gave a perfect example about the
building block before this building yeah
you could be whoa with me I spent seven
figures here what the hell am I gonna do
blame everybody else okay and your wife
came up with the idea you guys came up
with a concept look what happened yeah
it doesn't happen right away people want
it to happen right away yeah all right
it doesn't happen right away all right
it's only a failure when you decide it's
a failure not when somebody else tells
you it's a failure
so Tim I'm curious because I imagine
that if you're someone who's training
like the not even the tip of the spear
I'm talking the razor's edge
in a particular sport here like in the
NBA you probably see common denominators
from the sport that can be translated
into entrepreneurship and business sure
and since this is a entrepreneurship and
business podcast if I were to say all
right Tim what talents ability skill
sets habits belief systems do the
viewers and listeners of this show need
to adopt to even begin to think or
operate like a cleaner well the first
thing you got to do you know we have 13
traits in here of quote unquote the most
competitive cleaner cleaner individuals
out there the one thing you have to do
is you have to know exactly who you are
so many times you're not living your
life you're living what somebody else
wants you to live they're trying to make
them
you become the person they want you to
be I always said somewhere down the
lines a lot of individuals somebody
takes their identity or you give them
your identity and now you've become the
way they want you to be these
individuals know exactly who they are
and they're that way all the time you
know people always say listen one of my
biggest faults is I'm the same person
all the time no matter what the
circumstances is what does what the
situation is I'm going to give you the
straight answer whether you like it or
you don't like it don't ask the
questions I know and these individuals
know exactly who they are they're the
most competitive individuals out there
and everything they do you know people
always say you know I love when people
get on podcasts and you know these
different shows and they tell you the
same thing over and over there you gotta
get up early you gotta outwork the
competition you got to work harder you
got to do these things we all know that
we all know that if that's all it took
then we'd all be super super successful
all right it takes way more than that it
takes the mindset to put those things
into place if you're going to get up
earlier than everybody else are you
using that time productively are you
doing what you're supposed to be doing
you know I get people hours tell people
I've never worked out an individual I've
trained individuals there's a big
difference between working on the
difference and training somebody I can
take anybody into a gym and work them
out get their heart rate up you know get
them doing these motions and literally
ten minutes later they're pouring and
they're pouring and sweat all right man
I had a great workout yeah you had a
great workout but now did you train did
you actually train in your sport did you
train yourself physically did you train
yourself mentally to give you that
competitive edge and what you need to do
it in and that's what these individuals
do everything they do is focus it could
be even in their personal life it
focus to give them that competitive
advantage and they surround themselves
with not with friends they surround
themselves with allies and the
difference between friends and allies
his friends tell you what you want to
hear allies tell you what you need to
hit