The G.E.M. Series EP 23: Transforming Lives through Business Success With Yuri Elkaim
[00:00:00] Blake: Welcome to the G.E.M Series, powered by Rocket level. On this podcast, we empower entrepreneurs to succeed by setting big goals, executing like a pro, and having a fearless mindset. The G.E.M Series is all about investing in yourself. We're here to share the path to getting what you want out of life by sharing the stories of entrepreneurs who have.
[00:00:21] They provide thorough research from our team on what careers and habits are yielding the best results and discuss the mindset it takes to overcome the obstacles that all future entrepreneurs will face. Investing in yourself starts with putting in the work every single day, and this podcast is here to help you do exactly that.
[00:00:39] My name is Blake Chapman. I'm the Vice president of the Ambassador Program here at Rocket Level, and I am thrilled to be your host for the G.E.M.
[00:00:49] Hello everybody and welcome to the G.E.M series. I am thrilled to welcome today's guest, Yuri El came. Yuri is a former pro athlete leading health expert, New York Times bestselling author, and the founder of Health Entrepreneur, where he helps health entrepreneurs, coaches and practitioners start and scale online businesses that create more income and freedom and ultimately lead to some better results for their clients.
[00:01:15] I guess what I'm getting at here is he is a wealth of knowledge and inspiration and we're gonna learn so much from him today. Yuri, welcome to the podcast. How are you 
[00:01:22] Yuri: doing today? I'm doing great, Blake. Thanks for having me. Hey, 
[00:01:27] Blake: thrilled to have you on board Yuri. So for anybody that doesn't know you, which they maybe have to be living under a rock a little bit, , cause you were, you were everywhere.
[00:01:36] Could you just share a little bit about yourself with the audience? 
[00:01:40] Yuri: Yeah, sure. So from a young age wanted to play pro soccer. That was, was my goal from like 10 years old, I think. So I dedicated the next decade to training and becoming the best I could be. And in that process, although I was fit, I didn't realize I wasn't healthy and I lost all of my hair when I was, I was just 17 years old to an autoimmune condition.
[00:02:00] That was a big wake-up call for me. I didn't know why it happened. So it started this journey of like, what happened? Why did this happen? So my passion for soccer and now obviously this investigation into my health issues prompted me to get into it. Going to school to study kinesiology and health sciences.
[00:02:19] Then I went back to school afterward to study holistic nutrition. It was kinda like an eight-year journey. I'm trying to figure my stuff out and in that process I realized, huh, this stuff can help a lot of other people as well. Yeah. Before all that, I was able to play pro soccer in my early twenties for a few years, which was awesome.
[00:02:35] And then I just retired very early cuz I realized. I don't know. I just had bigger things I wanted to do other than play soccer. Not there's anything wrong with that, but it just, was what it was. So I started training clients and working with nutrition clients one on one. Did that for about seven years.
[00:02:50] Burnt me out, working 12 to 14 hours a day, and then in 2006, I was working as a coach. She's like, Why don't you set up a website? I was like, What's that? So we did, had no clue what I was doing, and for those three years, from 2006 to 2009, focused a lot, a lot more of my energy. Building the online business because I was like, maybe I'll just live the laptop lifestyle.
[00:03:12] That's gonna be easy. Make some passive income. Sure. I made some passive income, but it was nothing, so, So I was living, I was living, I was living on poverty line income for three years and I was struggling big time. And then I was selling, you know, like courses, eBooks fitness nutrition stuff, just trying everything.
[00:03:33] I had no idea what I was doing. And so in 2010, hired my first coach, got some clarity, obviously got surrounded by the right people just started to learn how to do things properly. And then eventually we built that business to multiple seven figures, helped half a million customers around the world, and sold that business a couple of years.
[00:03:48] And then in the process a lot of other health experts came to me for business advice. So I started doing these small masterminds, bringing people together, and, and then I was like, I think there's a big opportunity here. Like there are a lot of amazing health experts to have this knowledge. But just don't know how to get in front of the right people that they wanna, they wanna serve.
[00:04:08] So Health Partner came out of that because I, I, I had spent so many years having to understand marketing and business and learning those skills. And now I was in a position to teach others what I had learned. A lot of the mistakes, obviously stuff that works well and that's really where he, where Health Printer was birthed out of, you know, And our goal is to help a billion people.
[00:04:30] Eventually, I don't know when that's gonna happen, but I figured that it, it might just be a little bit easier if we can help the health professionals who are themselves helping the end user, their clients. So by helping them, we can influence and impact more people. And our goal is to like, I fundamentally believe the health professionals.
[00:04:49] Do the best work on the planet. I mean, I don't know of any other profession, no offense to anyone, like who can, who can leave such an impact on people's lives, and Sure. The sad part is a lot of 'em, the health professionals are martyrs in the service of other people, and they're underpaid. They're overworked.
[00:05:04] our goal with health partners, not is only to impact more people but health, health, and h, pro health professionals to make their dreams happen in the service of others. And that's really what we're here to do bridge the gap between them and they're, and their market and help them build, the business acumen that none of us were taught in school, which in and of itself is a crime.
[00:05:22] So. That's why we exist, that's what we're here to do. And it's been an awesome ride. Can I just 
[00:05:27] Blake: say as I have listened to your story and, hearing you, you know, share the succinct version of it too, right? You're great at turning any of your challenges into your next solution. It almost reveals a new clue to you of what you should go after next.
[00:05:44] And I, I think that's kind of a common thread in entrepreneur sometimes, you know, is this ability to see any kind of challenge in life and, and go into that. I mean, how much of that do you think is a. Let's start there. I mean, how do you think your athlete mind has impacted what you're doing right now?
[00:06:00] You know, that mindset of being an athlete? 
[00:06:03] Yuri: Yeah, I mean, I think it's, it's huge. I always had a lot of confidence as a soccer player. I called it delusional optimism, so, I fundamentally believed that I was the best goalkeeper. On the planet, not just like in my city, but the world. Yes. And I call it delusional optimism because it's delusional.
[00:06:24] It's not based on reality, but it's optimistic. And I do think when you look at the highest performers in the world, you know, I remember seeing an interview with Chris Rando and he is like, I'm the best. It doesn't matter what anyone else says. I'm the best in my mind all the time, You know? And so he is, you know, there's like, you know, is, is messy better or you better?
[00:06:44] He's like, I'm the best in my mind, so that doesn't matter. And I think there's a level of self grandiose, I don't even know if that's the right word, but like this, this, this high sense of self, this high sense of confidence that, yeah, I don't know where that came from and I don't know if that was developed, but it certainly has.
[00:07:03] Built upon itself over time, but also I think I'm very rooted in reality. Like I can see, I, I mean, none of us can share our blind spots, but I think I'm very self-aware to the fat, to the point where I'm like, Hey, man, you don't have all the solutions. Maybe you gotta get some help. And I think that the mistake I made in the first couple of years of my business was I thought I had all the solutions, even though I had none of them because I wasn't where I wanted to be.
[00:07:29] Mm-hmm. . So I, I've made. Like an enormous, like an enormous number of mistakes and failures upon failures in my journey. Yeah. Yeah. But that's why I'm here because we're always testing things. I'm always learning, there are always setbacks and I get pissed off for like a moment. And then I'm like, What do we have to do so this never happens again?
[00:07:52] Mm-hmm. . And if those things don't happen, then we can't improve the situation. Like we just notice something in our hiring process. We are, we are in the process of hiring two people. Yeah. And in the kind of falling through the cracks of that process, we're like, Thank God those two interviews or those two things happened because had that, had that not happened, We would not have been forced to clean up some of the stuff that was not quite cleaned up yet.
[00:08:16] And I, and I think as an entrepreneur, you have to recognize that the problems never go away. You just can roll at the punches, deal with the challenges, solve the problems, and understand that the problems only ever get bigger if you want your business in your impact to get bigger. And I think.
[00:08:33] For me at least. I love growth, and growth doesn't happen without challenges. Mm-hmm. , you know, that's, that's my journey and, and so far, I used to be like, when I played soccer, I was very hard on myself. I'm like, Man, that was a great game except for that one moment. And I was like, Oh, it's a travesty. And I wish I had this mindset back when I was playing because I probably would've been happier.
[00:08:57] Whereas at the time it was. Very hard on me, feeling shitty a lot of the time. Yeah. And now it's like, I don't care. There's no good or bad in my life. It's just it is. And I just keep moving forward and everything's happening for me and it's all working out perfectly. And that's just the belief system that I think helps me get through my days with more grace.
[00:09:18] Blake: Yeah. And you know, I. I had this conversation with somebody a few podcasts ago about the experience of, as an entrepreneur, when you start experiencing your challenges and almost getting a little bit excited because it's a new part of your journey, you know, and it's a new thing to overcome, and you realize that, hey, You're gonna deal with it regardless.
[00:09:39] I mean, the problems are never going to stop. Like you just said, they're gonna only get, continue getting bigger. The only thing that you can hold onto is your mindset going into that. And you know, that's where maybe a, a little bit of that delusional optimism comes into play, and being able to use something like that can strengthen you, you know?
[00:09:59] Yuri: Yeah. I mean, I would rather have that than the opposite of like, I don't believe in myself. Right. Like, as I would, I would rather, if someone calls me arrogance, I'd be like, I'll take arrogance as opposed to massive self-doubt. I don't think I'm arrogant, but I would say I have a high degree of confidence.
[00:10:16] But confidence is also very situational. Mm-hmm. , I'm not a confident dancer because I suck at it. Right. I'm not confident in certain areas. I'm more confident in certain areas of business than others. That's because I'm better in those areas. I'm very confident as, or at least I was as a soccer player cuz I knew my skill set.
[00:10:37] But I also knew as a defender, I was terrible. So put me in defense. No way. Put me in nets. No problem. So I think confidence is very contextual and very situational. And, you know, recognizing where we're good and where we're not so good. Yeah, 
[00:10:53] Blake: yeah. And, you know, thinking about becoming the best, I, how, how the hell would you ever become the best if you don't believe that you're the best?
[00:11:01] You know, you gotta step into the shoes of that to be able to start leveling up. So now I, it's funny, I, I, I get so pumped up talking about mindset type stuff and what it takes to, too. You know, get to that, get to that next level for you, what do you think your first, before becoming an athlete, anything like that, what was your first goal?
[00:11:22] Because you just, Yeah. I, I always love to dive into the minds of my guests a little bit more and figure out why they're so motivated, you know? Or what do you think your, first goal was whenever you were, you were younger? 
[00:11:35] Yuri: To be honest, I mean, the only goal I can think of and give you an honest answer around is, was playing pro soccer.
[00:11:40] it was an obsession of mine from a very young age. That was it. Like I didn't wanna do, like, there was no other life beyond soccer for me. It was, I gave up family trips, I gave up jobs. I, you know, like all I remember from being in my early teens at least, was playing soccer in the summer. I don't even remember going to school.
[00:11:59] I mean, I, I did go to school, but I don't remember it, and it was just, mm-hmm. Soccer in the wintertime, outside in the snow, soccer in the summer, playing hours on the fields, then going to soccer practice like it was, I was, there's nothing else in my life that I wanted more than that, and that's all I was focused on.
[00:12:16] Like, honestly, there's nothing else. That was it. 
[00:12:19] Blake: Yeah. And is that how you typically operate? You're able to hone in on your number one priority and remove some of the complexities out of, out of what your, you know, whatever your, objective is for the moment. 
[00:12:31] Yuri: Yeah. I think the more I've learned about myself, the more I've realized that I'm very good at focusing and I almost have to, because my natural tendency is to be very scattered, like many entrepreneurs.
[00:12:43] So I did the Clifton Strength Finder a little while ago. Cool. Yeah. And my number one strength was the focus. I was like, Huh? Because a couple of years ago when I'd done it, my number one strength was maximizer, which was essentially taking things and making them better. And both of those are very true for me because I love, gardening as an example.
[00:13:04] I'm like, Why do I enjoy gardening? Not that I like it, not that I'm good at it, but like, why do I make, why do I enjoy making our backyard look nicer? Mm-hmm. , that's just how I'm built. Like, I like making things nicer and better and it's what we do. With our business now. So my first business was very complex.
[00:13:21] There wasn't much focus like we had hundreds of product lines and funnels. It was a nightmare. When I started Health Printer, I'm like, We're gonna do one thing and only one thing and do it very, very well. And so it's extremely boring. But where the joy comes out in that process for me, Is cool. This is good, but it's not great yet.
[00:13:41] And then when it's great, it's not great enough. So it's like never enough. We're always looking to make it a little bit better. 1% improvements here and there, and I get pumped up about that. We're going through that process right now of updating a bunch of our content for our clients, and it's a version like 8.0.
[00:13:58] Mm-hmm. , because we look at where our clients get stuck, where can we do a better job? And taking ownership of. If our clients never spoke to us, how much better would our teachings and training have to be to get them to expert-level clarity and what would that look like? And it's a like, it's just like, I don't know how to better teach this.
[00:14:19] Let me figure out how to better teach this. So it's just a fun troubleshooting, problem-solving process. And so I think the ability to, my desire, I guess, innately to wanna make things better and my strength of like hyperfocus. Is pretty much what has allowed me to do what I do. And having the perspective of the experience of having the opposite of like massive amounts of complexity and scatteredness and all that kind of stuff.
[00:14:48] So I know I'm happiest when I'm focused. So if I have like, you know, my to-do for the day, I've got a few things I'm working on. I turn off all the distractions. That is a great day for me. The worst days are when I have nothing on my calendar. and I just do whatever I want and there's no structure, there's no process.
[00:15:08] And they become very, very inefficient days. And at the end of the day, I'm like, Why do I feel irritated today? I'm like, Yeah, oh yeah, that's why. 
[00:15:16] Blake: So, yeah. And I think so many entrepreneurs struggle with trying to simplify everything that they're doing down to providing something that's, you know, their number one priority.
[00:15:28] I mean, I, I. I would even go as far as to say that it even tangles up people and prevents them from being able to grow whenever they're dealing with something extremely complex. What's your take on all of that and do you have any advice for people that are struggling and are like juggling several different things and can't seem to grab a hold of what's going on for their business right 
[00:15:51] Yuri: now?
[00:15:52] Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing is just. It's almost like water skiing. Just, yeah, hang onto a boat. Just hang onto something that's already moving in that direction because you'll just get there faster. So I think one of the first things all of us need to do is hire a coach or a mentor, someone who's been where we want to go because that's the fast track to getting the results you want because otherwise, we're trying to figure out how to create something or achieve something we've never created or achieved.
[00:16:20] It'd be like me wanting to play pro soccer. And never working with a coach and expecting me to get to the highest possible level. I mean, it's just, it's crazy, but it happens so often in business and it's usually because, well, I don't have the money to invest in a coach. Well, it's like that's the exact reason you need to invest in a coach because you don't have the money to invest in a coach, which means you have to build the capacity and the skill set to earn more money so you can continue growing and building your business, et cetera.
[00:16:48] So I think that's the first place. I think the second thing is so like part and parcel of that is we don't know what we don't know, and that's the biggest danger in our businesses is, mm-hmm, we can't see our blind spots. And our blind spots are often our biggest. Dangers. So at least in a car, you can see the side view mirror, but, it would be like driving a car without a rearview or side view mirrors, and like you change lanes and all of a sudden you're like side swiped, by a pickup truck.
[00:17:15] Yeah. That's how a lot of businesses are operating and it's very hard to have perspective on your business. Especially when you don't have a tremendous track record in terms of longevity. If I remember, like when I was in year one of my business, I had terrible decision-making because I had no experience.
[00:17:35] Mm-hmm. , 18 years later, I'm very clear on when I look at my business and where the constraints are. I'm very clear about, here's the major issue, here's how we're gonna solve it, and if I don't know how to solve it, I'm gonna reach out for help to figure out a better way. But you have a lot more. Experience from which you can make better decisions, which if you're relatively new in business, you don't have the luxury of having, So that's again, the benefit of having someone like a mentor, coach, whatever.
[00:18:08] Yeah. That they have, ideally they should have that experience. They should have been where you want to go and help others do that. and they should very easily tell you, Don't do this. This is gonna end up like this and do this instead because this is gonna be a faster or safer way. Safer way. So I think those are, you know, like getting, getting around other people who've been there and done that is very, very important if you want to accelerate your progress.
[00:18:35] And then I think the second thing to remember is that complexity fails and simplicity scales. Mm-hmm. , it's very hard to. Scale two things at once that can be two separate businesses. That can be two product lines. That can be two coaching offers, right? Yeah. Like I tell my clients, one target market, one traffic source, one offer, like one coaching program until you make a million dollars.
[00:19:02] That's it. Don't talk to me about anything else. Like I had a client who was like last week, she's like, you know, thinking of doing like a YouTube channel so I can create some videos for a local doctor who refers some people to me. I'm like, Why would you do that? Are you at a million dollars yet? It's a waste of time.
[00:19:14] It's only gonna divert your focus and energy, and it's not gonna move the needle. And so a lot of the conversations I have with my clients are like the conversations I have with my kids, which is just staying on the sidewalk. Just please stay on the sidewalk. Squirrel. No, don't worry about the squirrel. No, just, just on the sidewalk.
[00:19:31] We're gonna get you to where you want to go, but if you don't wanna follow this recipe for making chocolate cake, you might end up with a recipe where you're making chocolate poop. Right? Yeah. . So, 
[00:19:42] Blake: you know, it's my, it's funny that we're talking about this cuz my mentor shared something with me this week that I, I think is extremely, it stuck out to me and that's that priority.
[00:19:54] It's not a plural word. It should never be thought of as a, as a plural. It's always, it's always singular, and if you start noticing that you have multiple priorities, then that's a problem. And, and you're not gonna be able to make it happen, you 
[00:20:07] Yuri: know? Totally. It's like, you know, it's like those restaurants that have like 20 pages of menu items.
[00:20:13] Oh yeah. And you're like, How do I make a choice here? And it's the same thing as when you have a million options, you have none. When you have two priorities, you have none. It's the same idea. So I'm, I'm with you on. 
[00:20:22] Blake: Absolutely. Absolutely. So you, you know, you, we've, we've talked a little bit about mindset.
[00:20:30] What does the other side of the coin look like? I mean, have you ever had a moment where you're like, Gosh, I am, like I am, I kind of want to, you know, give up on this, Or, or how do you, how do you bring yourself out of those down moments and what is navigating around that look like for you? Typically? 
[00:20:46] Yuri: Yeah, I, I think part of it, you have to have a strong why.
[00:20:50] You have to have a strong desire for wanting to do this. Mm-hmm. , because building a business is hard. If you want an easier job, just, go work for someone else, even though that's not safe or necessary. So I think you need to like you have to, It's like Rambo like you just gotta put on the frigging belts of bullets and guns and arm yourself with all the reasons why.
[00:21:13] So that when you're under fire, you can pull out the bazooka. Whatever else you need to just keep going. That's the first most important thing and, and your reason why. It could be selfish. It could be like, I want a better house. It doesn't have to be like, I wanna transform people's lives because the thing that I've realized in my journey is that the reason why I have changed over time, right?
[00:21:34] Yes. I absolutely, fundamentally want to help people because that's why I'm here on this planet. I know that I'm like bored out of my mind, which is the worst emotion for me to feel. If I'm not contributing. So if I go lay on a beach for three days, I'm like, put a fork in my eye. I'm finished. Yep. I need to be contributing and adding value.
[00:21:52] It is how I stay sane, and that's why I know that my purpose on this planet is to help others. However, there are times in my life when I'm motivated by buying a house. And I'm gonna use that to get up earlier in the morning to get shit done, to keep focused, to keep pushing through. So whatever it is you have to use, it's like us to fuel what you have to do to keep moving forward.
[00:22:17] So that would be kind of like where I started is, you know, there, there are so many times where you're gonna fail. Like, I mean, I can't even like. I'll give you one example. So 2009, as I was starting to get a little bit of traction online, just before I hired my first coach, I thought, Hey, it'd be amazing to interview like 13 health experts and do this whole behind-the-scenes type of interview series about how they stay so fit and healthy while they've built these businesses.
[00:22:46] Mm-hmm. . And I'm like, This gonna be the biggest launch of all time in the fitness space. We're gonna do seven figures. I had all these big guys supporting the launch. Yeah. And we launched it. And then in five days, we made $5,000 and I spent seven months building up to that. And, I looked like an idiot.
[00:23:03] Like it was, like, that was early on, a moment in my life where I'm like, Man, there is major stuff. I don't know. Yeah. And I kind out to this and then I just kept moving through it and learned from that and kept getting better. But there's been multiple, multiple examples of that in my journey.
[00:23:21] Mm-hmm. where. I'm like, the thing though is like I, I love, I love the process of business. I love the game of business. Just like I loved playing soccer regardless of the outcome. Like I love the pitch, the grass being outside of the sun, like being in that zone. I love that. And in business, I would 1 million times do it over again knowing full well all the failures and challenges and the punches in the face compared to going to work for someone else.
[00:23:53] I know I'm unemployable. I've worked with other people. Mm-hmm. in my early teens, early twenties, or late teens, early twenties, and I'm like, I'm, I'm a disaster. I'm not gonna follow your rules. No way. . I mean, I remember when I was training in the G.E.M, Yeah. I would wear my polo shirt instead of the club's polo shirt, just because I didn't want their logo on it.
[00:24:13] Mm-hmm. like, Yeah. Even now, like I was telling my kids, we went to a Toronto FFC game, which is the soccer team in Toronto, and they're like, Hey, can I get a, an ins like Lauren Lorenzo and Senior is a big signing for. The club just signed. And so they're like, Hey, could I get a jersey like his, his name on it and stuff?
[00:24:30] I'm like, You can get a jersey, but you'll put your name on it, not someone else's, you know? Yeah. So it's, yeah, like these are just some of my philosophies and stuff, but No. 
[00:24:42] Blake: Yeah. No, that does. I mean, and I, I love. The term unemployable because that's something that you know, does happen whenever you get to a point where you have such a strong vision of what you want to be able to do in the world and what you want out of life.
[00:24:59] I think, you know, not that everybody has to become unemployable, but. If you wanna be an entrepreneur, like maybe those things that other jobs traditionally might view as a weakness, you can start realizing, Hey, this is, this is my strength and I just need to tap into this a little bit more.
[00:25:17] You know? So, and, and 
[00:25:18] Yuri: be able, to deal with the uncertainty and the risk. That's what most people who work in your business or work for you maybe are not able, to deal with, right? I can handle a very high amount of risk and stress. I would say fairly well. Mm-hmm. and I always, have a core belief that no matter what happens, I'm gonna figure it out.
[00:25:39] Absolutely. 
[00:25:41] Blake: Absolutely. And from all of these experiences, I would imagine they probably help you get to the point where, hey, you know, when you start seeing something pop up again that looks like a familiar problem or a, a challenge that you've experienced in the past, it probably helps you address that a little more quickly.
[00:25:59] And I, I think a lot of it is about you. Being honest about what is, what is great about your business and what sucks about your business sometimes. Do you have any advice generally for entrepreneurs that need to address some of the kinds of core constraints in their business that are, that are out there right now?
[00:26:16] Yuri:  Yeah, I think so. First and foremost, you have to know what your business model is because if you can't, let's say, map out your business model, you can't identify where the constraints are. Yeah. Because. There's no logical flow to what's happening for generating leads, enrolling clients for customers, and then delivering on the back end.
[00:26:34] In our business, we have a very clear system, a very clear business model, and we can look at our data and, and very clearly say, Here's an issue, here's what we have to do to fix it. So if you don't know your business model, number one, you have to clarify that. And the second thing is, once you have your business model, most often the number one constraint to focus on is gonna be the highest upstream.
[00:26:53] So, as an example if you don't have enough calls, like just in the context of a coaching business, right? If you're speaking to people on the phone and enrolling them in your coaching program, if you don't have enough calls booked, is that the core co. Well, it depends on what's happening upstream, because if you're getting leads in and you're running ads, for instance, mm-hmm.
[00:27:09] and your cost per lead is astronomical, that's where you have to start because you're not gonna get more calls booked until you unwind the kink in that part of the hose. But if your cost per lead is amazing and you're still not getting calls booked, Well, there could be another constraint, maybe a little bit further past the initial lead gen piece that then has to be fixed.
[00:27:31] But you can't, I, you can't identify core constraints appropriately without having a business model. Very much. Like if you had a factory line, assembly line type of thing. It would be relatively simple to know where the issues are. If you didn't have that and it was all over the place, it would be very tough to identify where the problems are.
[00:27:49] So core constraints are massive. I think, you know, we, we tell our clients and we help our clients every day with, All right, you have this issue. What do you think the issue is? I'm not sure. Cool. Let's look at your critical numbers. So looking at your numbers, this one's way out of whack. What does that tell you?
[00:28:07] All right, This is the core constraint based on where it is in your, you know, business model, your pipeline, whatever. How do we fix it? Knowing what you know? All right, well I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. Awesome. Cool. So do that. And then let's look at how things progress in a couple of days. And this is why it's hard when.
[00:28:25] You're doing things on your own, because most people don't even, they're not even, maybe they've never even heard of a core constraint. They don't know where to start, right? Yeah, yeah. Where their business model is. I post on Instagram, I get some word of mouth. I do the occasional podcast like what's like, What's the flywheel, and what's the business model?
[00:28:44] Right. They don't have one. So where do the core constraints? I have to be clear in my message. I have to do better dancing videos on Instagram. Like I, I don't even know. Like it's all over the place, right? Yeah. Yeah. And that's why most businesses online struggle. 
[00:28:56] Blake: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, cuz at the end of the day, If you're not able to look at every single broken down piece of what it takes from start to finish to achieve the objective that you want, then you're just gonna be left in the lurch and never understanding.
[00:29:14] So it sounds like you probably had, I mean, did, was it your mentors that showed you some of this stuff? How did you get to the point where you knew all this stuff? 
[00:29:23] Yuri: Honestly, it's, it is a tremendous amount of learning from other mentors and coaches, colleagues, You know, I'm, I'm a big believer in surrounding yourself with other very smart people.
[00:29:35] So looking at, you know, what they're doing, what's working, what isn't a lot of reading, you know, I think from, I'm a very system-oriented person because for me, systems, Create peace of mind in my head. Mm-hmm. instead of all the chaos. So, you know, I'm just looking at my bookshelf. You know, like work the system scaling up.
[00:29:55] Eli Goldblatt, I think has some really good books on core constraints. There's just, you know, learning and reading through, over, over time, just a lot of good learnings and little perspectives, and I'm all like, I'm not a big reader. I, I don't have the patience to sit down with a book and sit on the couch and read cover to cover.
[00:30:12] Not anymore. At least I've got four kids. I just don't have the time or the patience to know. Yeah. So I turn to things when I need something specific where I'll go through a book and I'm like, Awesome, great. I got what I needed. I'm gonna put this book down, I'm gonna take action. And maybe I put that, pick that book up again in the future.
[00:30:29] So it's been a tremendous amount of like self. I've invested a lot of money and time in my developments like coaching masterminds, experiences, and courses a lot, and I think that is the only reason why. I know this stuff. 
[00:30:44] Blake: Yeah, Yeah. No, and I, I le what you said too about the reality of just gegettinghat your need out of the book too.
[00:30:51] You know, you don't have to necessarily go cover to cover because that might be a waste of your time as well. But dive in and, and remain extremely curious. And you'll be .e to, to get wherever you, wherever you need to go. Yeah, I, I know right now a big thing that it's, it's kind of funny cuz I talk about coaches and mentors and sometimes it's kind of like, it's almost kinda like dating in a way cuz you're like, how do I, how do I, you know, proposition myself to, to have a, have a mentor, you know, what's your advice for getting out there and you know, cuz I mean, I'm pretty shameless.
[00:31:25] I'll go up to anybody and I'll, I'll ask them any question. I don't care if. Seem silly or anything like that, but I know some people you know and  could be hard to figure out how to navigate through getting in front of people. Do you have any advice for where to get started for people that are trying to get a coach?
[00:31:40] Yuri: Yeah, I mean, good for you for being like that. Cause I, I think that that demonstrates a level of coachability that maybe a lot of people don't have. Although they say they do. I think our ego gets in the way, and I'm guilty of this too. Like I, I, I fundamentally believe that. Maybe that's a strong word I've noticed that I'm, it's easier for me to give help than ask for help.
[00:32:03] And that's something that I have to work on. And I ask myself, Well, why is that? Why is that challenging for me? And I think part of it is that if I ask for help, it shows a certain level of weakness that I have an issue with. Right. And so that's something I'm very aware of that I've, I'm like, Why? What's, what's going?
 on[00:32:20] What's going on there? Yeah. So I think that might be, that might be real for many people. Absolutely. I think also, Some people don't really understand how bad their situation is, so they think they have stuff figured out and they're not even close. You know, like we had one of our, one of our sales reps had a conversation couple months ago with someone who was like, Yeah, like, you know, I wanna take my business to this level.
[00:32:43] And she was nowhere near that, right? Mm-hmm. . And then I had been in communication with her on Facebook previous to that call and I, you know, I just wanted to follow up with her like a week or two later. And so I said, Hey, like, you know what happened with so and so, like, what you know, cuz there was a bit of a fallout with the sales rep for some reason.
[00:32:59] Yeah. She said I just didn't see the value in what you guys are doing or offering because I'm already pretty advanced and I didn't feel like you guys were working with advanced people and I'm. Sorry, what? You wanted to make this amount of money in your business and you're barely able to pay the bills.
[00:33:13] That's pretty advanced. I'm like, you're fucking delusional. I apologize for the, the story. No. Yeah. It's like this and, and it is shocking how many people live in that world of I'm, I'm good. You, you're barely able to cover your bills. You're not good. And I think more people have to be absolutely disgusted with their current situation in order to reach out for help because the, the problem in North America is this whole mediocrity is okay mentality.
[00:33:47] Totally. Like all in full transparency. Like over this past weekend, my mom had a tiny stroke and her mom hear that had a stroke. Thank you. She's okay. Okay. But when when I was very young, my grandma, so her mom had a stroke that paralyzed half her body. So my mom has always had this belief like, when is this gonna happen to me?
[00:34:07] And then it kind of did, but not to that level. And I was at a place on the weekends and. You know, my brother was like yeah. Like, you know, there's no, there's no sense in making, like talking to my mom, like, there's no sense in beating yourself up. And I'm like, there kind of is because this is 100% your fault.
[00:34:25] Right? And I'm trying to like, share this with a level of compassion. But that's the reality's, like, if you are overweight, if you whatever, like if, if shit happens in your business, if you're not where you want to, It is always and only your fault, every single time, no exceptions. And I don't think enough people take enough ownership of their life in their business to even recognize that.
[00:34:49] So they blame other people. And when you blame circumstances or other people, you are never in control of your future. So therefore you're like totally. Well, there's nothing I can do cuz it's not in my fault. Everything's great, but this person sucked. I hired, this coach knows a waste of time. I bought this cor, this course knows a scam.
[00:35:09] Like, huh? There's an interesting pattern here, but there's one thing in common every single time it's you. Mm-hmm. , right? Look in the mirror. Absolutely. Until we as people are willing to understand that we don't have our shit together. to whatever level it is, we can never get help. Yeah. And I think we have to get out of our own way, because if we don't, we'll always be where we are.
[00:35:33] And the problem, just going back to this whole kind of like, things are okay, mentality is that things are okay for most people in North America. They live in a house, they have food on the table, they probably have a car, they have a decent job or something, and it's okay. People need to live on the sidewalk.
[00:35:49] Mm-hmm. , you know, and have some contrast. Like when I was in Brazil when I was 17. I was down there with Sao Paul fc, which is like one of the bigger football teams or soccer teams down there. Cool. And I remember on. One of the bus rides going to training. One of the guys was saying like, Hey, for us it's the, it's FU ball, like soccer or the faves.
[00:36:10] It's soccer or the slums. There's no like, it's this or nothing. Yeah. Here it's like this or this, or I'll live with my parents or I'll just get checks from the government, or I'll just go make lattes at Starbucks and there's too many Plan Bs and Cs and Ds and E. Right? So there's no's. So many. Yeah, it's just, it's so, it's like, eh, there's no big, like worst case scenario, I'll just get a job.
[00:36:35] No, no. Worst case scenario is you're gonna put a knife in your face because you have to get a job. And that like, I know it's a little bit graphic, but 
[00:36:42] Blake: No, but it's real. Yeah. Yeah. It's real man. I mean, extreme, extreme accountability. We have to like, we have to start taking ownership over our own shit. Like regardless.
[00:36:55] Regardless of you know, any scenario that you're in, you always need to look back onto yourself because you also thank yourself that you did it. You know, if you're in a relationship, if you're at your job, if you're, you know, trying to take care of yourself and get healthy, like you can't go blaming everything else out there.
[00:37:12] Cuz I think you hit on it perfectly, like, You can, you don't control that. All that, you know what that is? That's a false coping mechanism. And that's exactly what that customer had that you were talking about. You know, it's a, a false 
[00:37:24] Yuri: coping mechanism. Yeah. And it, it is like it lets us sleep better at night because if we were truly realistic, we'd have this massive internal cognitive dissonance, which would drive us crazy.
[00:37:36] Like, I think I'm pretty good, but actually I'm pretty shit. I can't live with myself at that level. But you know what? You shouldn't live with yourself at that level. Because if you wanna get better, do something about it. Otherwise stop talking about it. Yeah. You know? Absolutely. 
[00:37:51] Blake: I totally, totally agree.
[00:37:52] Yuri, you saw, you saw how big my eyebrows went up, cuz that gets me pretty fired up too. Like this
[00:38:02] Yuri: have I have compass, I have a lot of compassion for people. Like I really, truly care about people, but I don't give a shit about their stories. Right. I'm like, totally. When circumstances change, your commitment needs to go higher. Oh, well my kids are going back to school. Oh, I got covid. Oh, the weather's getting colder.
[00:38:21] I don't give shit. Mm-hmm. . Right? Because there are people that are a hundred times worse than you who are making it work. So all you're telling me is that this isn't important enough to you. Totally. And if it is, do something about it. Yeah. Because if you're not doing anything about it, either it's not that important to you or that's pretty much what it comes down to.
[00:38:45] Yeah. You know, so it's, yeah. Yeah, that's what I love about coaching is I have the permission to call people out from a place of love. Like, I'm not doing this as an asshole, I'm doing this because your stories are not serving you. Mm-hmm. , your stories are what are, what are, what's keeping you here and like, I'll give you an example.
[00:39:02] So I haven't done enrollment calls for like four years, but two of our enrollment specialists for away for a few days last week. So I did a couple calls, this one call I had with this lady and you know, super sweet. And she's telling me that she made $12,000 last year. And I'm thinking to myself, that's kind of where I was in my first year of business, but she's been there for many years and I'm like, Cool.
[00:39:21] So like, what's gonna change now? And what's interesting is she, she started the conversation talking about how, you know, many years ago she had to go through a lot of, like these limiting beliefs around money. And she has all that solved now. And I'm like, Okay. And so, We get to, you know, possibly our opp, you know, the opportunity for us to help her.
[00:39:41] And then a lot of those money beliefs and, and demons started coming up for her of like, Well, you know, I don't know if I can like do this and blah, and all the excuses in the book, everything that has kept her where she is. Started coming up again. Mm. And what it comes down to is either I don't believe your solution can help me, which is very true in many cases, or I don't believe in myself.
[00:40:07] Which, which is essentially means, you know, in her case she had some debts to pay and some other stuff. And some other stuff. And I'm like, Hey, I get that. I understand that cuz I was there, I had $35,000 in debt before I hired my first coach and it was more money than I made the previous year in business.
[00:40:21] I get that the difference. Is that I believed I can make this happen. Mm-hmm. , I'm not getting the same sense with you. And she said it's not as binary as that. And I said it is as binary as that. Mm-hmm. , right. Lose at a shadow of a doubt you would make it work. This is no brainer, but you don't believe in yourself or you don't believe in us.
[00:40:41] Which one is it? It's not as binary design. Everything else is bullshit. Right? That's what it comes down to. I, that's, 
[00:40:48] Blake: I couldn't agree more. I mean, you gotta double down on what you actually care about. And , you know, that's, it's just as simple as that. If you're not doing that, then frankly, it just, maybe it's, it's not something you care about, which is okay, you know, But don't be, But you can't, you can't start blaming other people when it doesn't work out the way you want it to.
[00:41:06] And I think that, There's a distinction there between this ownership and also this sense of like hustle culture that I've been seeing people getting into a little bit. What are your thoughts about, I guess, how do you feel about hustle culture and all of that terminology that's been thrown around recently?
[00:41:25] Yuri: Yeah, I mean, I think there's a season for that and, and those seasons can come and go in your business depending on what you're doing. If you're, if you have new initiatives, you know what your team looks like. If you have no team or if you have a bigger team or money by speed, right? Money can reduce a lot of the hustle and grind, and I think.
[00:41:44] For a lot of us, we would, I think most people would rather work smarter than harder. I think most entrepreneurs want freedom more than anything else. Mm-hmm. . But freedom isn't doing nothing. Like freedom is doing what you want, when you want, for me at least. Mm-hmm. , Yes. I work, I work like a madman. I love, I love working.
[00:42:03] Right. I love my brain. Can't stop. I mean, that's why I have to engage in. Intense exercise, like a three hour tennis match where I'm sweating, just so I don't focus on, you know, thinking about businesses. Yeah, yeah. But I would never trade it for the world. I love that. But I, I do think you have to, for me, the grind and the hustle is when your body feels like taxed.
[00:42:27] Like when you are exhausted. I work, you know, I get up at, you know, 4 35. Not 4 35, but 4 30, 2 5 every day of the week. Pretty much, yeah. And the weekends, I'll work an hour or two in the morning, but you know, Monday through Friday I'm putting in probably eight to 10 hours, but intermittent, I'll throw in a workout, go for a walk, I'm going for a hike with a weighted vest on.
[00:42:51] I'm playing with my kids and all that time. There's space, and in that space comes clarity. And I still consider that part of my work. And I don't feel exhausted. I don't feel like, Oh my God, I have to do this again. Like I, I, I mean, I don't need to work as much as I do, but I love it. But I, for me, I don't consider that like hustle and grinding away.
[00:43:12] When I was starting back in 2006, Yeah, that was, that was grinding, like I was, there was no rhyme or reason. I was exhausted. There was no momentum, no forward progress. And I, and I think there is way too much, you know, Great job. You've been busting your ass. Like that type of celebration. I don't think it's, I don't think it's useful because I think, again, there are times where you have to put in the work.
[00:43:40] 100% totally. But I think if you're gonna work hard, you gotta build systems that are gonna work for you in the long run. Because a business in my mind is a collection of systems. That produces a profit for the owner. And if you are like, what most people are doing is they're buying McDonald's franchise and they're taking the order, they're flipping the burgers, they're making the fries, and they're doing all the admin and stuff on the back end.
[00:44:06] Instead just buy the frigging McDonald's, have the systems in place and have people run it. Yeah. That's what a business is. So if you're gonna hustle, hustle on the right things, build systems and assets, hire the right people, number one, make money so you can actually do that stuff. So if you're gonna hustle on anything, hustle to make money, initially hustle to get clients.
[00:44:29] Mm-hmm. hustle to get those enrollments, to get the money coming in instead of. Writing the 10,000 word blog post that no one's gonna see. Yes. So if you're gonna work hard, work hard on building systems and assets that will work for you in the long term. Very much like, you know, working hard for money and then investing that money so that that money creates more passive income and growth for you over time.
[00:44:53] Blake: Yeah, I feel similarly about that. I mean, cuz whenever I see a friend or a colleague just dumping hours and hours and hours of. Into whatever they're doing, even whether it's their job, their business and they don't really understand the results that they're getting from it. Then I'm like, that's a clear problem.
[00:45:13] Like if you're gonna hustle, then put that towards things that are gonna multiply your time and give you back time. You know, that's, that's what you work for is like you, you know, systems like you're talking about being able to set up something that, where you're like, Hey, if I do this, this is gonna set me up to make you.
[00:45:31] Twice as much money or it's gonna, I improve conversion by this much, or whatever it is, you know? Cuz otherwise, yeah, I mean, you're just working to work and at the end of the day, like every, every entrepreneur and every business owner at, they're just looking at what are the end results that are coming out of what you're doing.
[00:45:49] So it's, I think, yeah, when it comes to hustle culture, I, I do think we glorify just working for work's sake, sometimes without actually looking at. What are you getting done, 
[00:46:00] Yuri: man? Yeah. And it also becomes a bit of a habit too. Like I, I've, you know, I, I have a tendency to revert, like if I don't, if I don't have anything else to fill the space, my go-to is, let's get to work.
[00:46:15] Mm-hmm. , so. I really have to fill my space, my calendar, my my time with other stuff that's like in my calendar in a lot of ti in a lot of cases, like if I don't work out first thing in the morning, it's probably not gonna happen. Like, I mean, I do work out later in the day sometimes, but it's just a lot easier if I just get it done first because now no matter what happens for the rest of the day, I've got that most important thing done.
[00:46:38] Yeah, I don't know. 
[00:46:39] Blake: 100%. 100%. So I always like to wrap up the conversation with a couple of a couple of standards that I always ask. One of 'em is, are there any you know, any, any kind of commonly held truths that you think entrepreneurs should know are not actually true? 
[00:46:58] Yuri: Yeah, I mean, building a business is easy.
[00:47:01] That's not true. Mm-hmm. Being an entrepreneur is easier than being an employee, for instance. That's not true at all. I don't, maybe that's the belief. Me, I don't know. There are way more downs than there are ups, so just enjoy the downs because Absolutely. When you. When you change your perspective of what down is, it actually feels like an up.
[00:47:22] So basically enjoying the process as opposed to being conditional upon outcomes in terms of your own happiness, I think is massively important. And then I think another myth is like growing a business free and organically is not, I don't think, a smart move for most people. And The alternative is paid traffic, which is what we do, and I build my first business organically.
[00:47:46] It took me seven years to make my first million with health per, it took seven weeks. Wow. Because number one, I had the experience. Number two, we leveraged paid traffic and that's how fast I can happen. So anyone who thinks free organic content marketing is the way to grow business. I just don't agree with that.
[00:48:03] And I, and I speak from having done that, you know, our blog was 1.4 mil million visitors a month. We got our YouTube channel to like 296,000 people. It took like a long, long, long time. It's growing. Yeah. And, and with that said, I still do a lot of content marketing because I do think for the longevity of a brand, , it's amazing.
[00:48:27] Mm-hmm. and it's essential, but it's not paying the bills today and it's not gonna get you financially where you want to go in the near future. Like our health for our YouTube channel, we started maybe two years ago. We have like 3,700 subscribers. I'm like, I don't care because it impacts our business. 0% if we have it or don't.
[00:48:46] Yeah. But I understand that tens down the road. I want my stuff to be everywhere and when people are searching for stuff, we all show up. So, If I had to rely on YouTube to generate revenue, I'd be screwed. Mm-hmm. . So I, I I, the belief that we can do, especially online, Oh, it's online. I can just do stuff for free.
[00:49:08] You're crazy, man. Yeah. Think of your online business, like you're opening up a restaurant and treat it the same way. Mm. That's great. Otherwise, otherwise, it's like child's play. Mm-hmm. 
[00:49:21] Blake: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, that's the whole thing, right? I, I word of mouth is just different now. It's just not as valid of a channel, and honestly, it's not even that, it's not as valid of a channel.
[00:49:33] It's, it's that. There's so much that can be done whenever you leverage some of these digital channels that are out there and there's so many resources and it's totally worthy investment. So yeah, no, totally, totally sync up with you on that too. That's great advice. The other thing I was gonna ask you is, What's your favorite part of what you do?
[00:49:56] Yuri: I love, I love creating things at a thin air, so I, I love the, I love the, the process of, I have an idea. Let's bring it to life. You know, so right now we're doing some really cool stuff with with video cuz a lot of our videos are very boring. Like me talking to the camera like this, it's useful, but whatever.
[00:50:18] But I also have a lot of creative ideas that we haven't brought to life just based on the fact that, you know, we just didn't make an investment of time and money to get into that. And it's it's something that we're doing a little bit more of in terms of using that for, you know, YouTube ads, Facebook ads, et cetera.
[00:50:34] And I freaking love that process. Like I love the process. , How do we tell a story that obviously is in the best interest of the prospect in terms of what they want, but how do we tell a story in such a way that is entertaining, it's fun. How do we make you know what it is that we do? Like I don't take myself seriously at all.
[00:50:54] I take my clients' results seriously. So I poke fun of myself, and I love that process of that creativity, that ideation, whether it's, you know, shooting videos or. Making something better that already exists. That's what I love the most is, is bringing things to life out of thin air or looking at what's working and making it better so we can see how that amplifies, whether it's on the marketing front or on client delivery.
[00:51:23] I'd probably say that's, Yeah, those are two things, 
[00:51:26] Blake: and that's a skillset that I, I feel like the job market. Requiring more and more it's becoming more necessary. It's funny cuz companies are looking at companies like yours and being. How is, how is Yuri getting so much traffic and like creating all of these these campaigns that are doing so well?
[00:51:46] And meanwhile they're churning out these, you know, stale, overly branded, you know, branding's great. But these, these stale, you know, posts that they'll throw out every so often ex and expecting a miracle to happen. So yeah, I feel like the, the market. Demanding that more than ever now that, that kind of that kind of creative approach to, to getting, you know, content out there.
[00:52:08] Great. And then last thing that I was gonna ask you about, Yuri, is what would you tell to somebody who's curious about becoming an entrepreneur like yourself?
[00:52:16] Yuri: Just check yourself and just make sure you have the goal to, to go through the ups and downs. And it's, I think, again, like, I think it's the most rewarding journey to go on. You learn a lot about yourself. You're forced to grow more than probably anything else you'll do in your life. So if you're okay with that and you're okay.
[00:52:44] Cryptocurrency like volatility and you can still keep going because you've had a strong why and you know that you can create more magic in the world doing your doing it your way versus someone else's. Mm-hmm. . And go for it. And then just tap into people who've been there and done that before you, because that'll just be.
[00:53:06] Accelerating your progress you know, at warp speed. 
[00:53:10] Blake: Absolutely. All right, everybody, I told you we were gonna get some some incredible wisdom and, and knowledge out of Yuri today. Man, that was great. Thank you so much for for joining the show. Where can everybody keep up with you? Cuz I know you're gonna be doing all kinds of stuff.
[00:53:23] Yuri: Yeah, I think probably the easiest place is Instagram. I'm at Health Printer and then if you want to watch any of my videos on YouTube same, same username, health, health printer. I just put everything up for free. Like I don't hold anything back. You know, whether it's tactical, strategic around marketing, sales, mindset.
[00:53:42] Coaching, delivery. It's all that we have hundreds of videos, so whether or not you're a health professionals or relevance, like we have people asking us like, Hey, this is like the best video I've ever seen on Facebook ads. But I'm not a health professional, Does this supply? I'm like, We're in a business.
[00:53:55] It's applicable. So yeah, it's those are probably the two best places. All 
[00:54:00] Blake: right. Excellent. Yuri brother, thank you so much for coming on. It was, it was great to meet you everybody. Thank you for tuning into the G.E.M series and have a great day. Bye.
[00:54:16] Thank you for joining us on this episode of The G.E.M Series, the podcast for anybody dedicated to investing in themselves. If you'd like to see the resources mentioned in this episode, learn more about what we are up to a rocket level or come over and join our team, just click on the links below. Until next time, this is Blake Chapman and remember to be awesome and do awesome things.