Path for Growth with Alex JuddTrailerBonusEpisode 242Season 1
Core Transformation Principles for Fitness and Leadership with Andrew Simpson
Core Transformation Principles for Fitness and Leadership with Andrew SimpsonCore Transformation Principles for Fitness and Leadership with Andrew Simpson
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Path for Growth with Alex JuddTrailerBonusEpisode 242Season 1
Core Transformation Principles for Fitness and Leadership with Andrew Simpson
The same principles that Andrew Simpson uses to train athletes have helped him own and run a business more successfully. In this episode, he joins Alex on the Path for Growth podcast to discuss some of those principles, along with his own incredible story of faith and leadership transformation. Andrew is the founder of Player’s Fitness Performance, a personal training gym focused on young athletes and people over 40. He explains why fitness is such a powerful medium for helping people transform their lives and discusses the different seasons he’s experienced through the last 12 years of business ownership.
---------------------------------- Struggling to make success in your business repeatable? Path for Growth created a free workbook and video course to help you operationalize—so you can build consistency, reduce stress, and create space for growth.
How did a search for significance lead you to starting a business and building a relationship with Christ? (0:00:00)
What traits from those first five years of business still impact you today? (0:07:39)
Can you talk about your relationship with your business partner and how it’s evolved? (0:13:04)
What have the different seasons of your business looked like? (0:16:47)
How do you stay willing to take more risks in service of others? (0:27:43)
What rhythms have you developed to cultivate gratitude in your team? (0:38:40)
What is the 5 Step Magical Experience, and how does it foster transformation? (0:40:42)
How do you stay relevant in a constantly changing industry? (0:50:48)
Why are you so passionate about mindset, and how does that impact your leadership? (0:52:47)
How can applying mindset principles with intensity help leaders win? (1:06:20)
What are you excited about right now? (1:12:47)
---------------------------------- Make your business feel less chaotic and more predictable. Get the free workbook and video course from Path for Growth to start building the clarity and structure you need for healthy growth.
The same principles that Andrew Simpson uses to train athletes have helped him own and run a business more successfully. In this episode, he joins Alex on the Path for Growth podcast to discuss some of those principles, along with his own incredible story of faith and leadership transformation. Andrew is the founder of Player’s Fitness Performance, a personal training gym focused on young athletes and people over 40. He explains why fitness is such a powerful medium for helping people transform their lives and discusses the different seasons he’s experienced through the last 12 years of business ownership.
---------------------------------- Struggling to make success in your business repeatable? Path for Growth created a free workbook and video course to help you operationalize—so you can build consistency, reduce stress, and create space for growth.
---------------------------------- Make your business feel less chaotic and more predictable. Get the free workbook and video course from Path for Growth to start building the clarity and structure you need for healthy growth.
Andrew, tell me the story about why you started your business.
Andrew Simpson:
Well, it was an accident for sure. I was convinced that I was going to work for this guy. I was 19 years old when I started in the fitness industry, and training young athletes, mentoring them, coaching them, helping them get bigger, faster, stronger, I was convinced I was going to work with work for this guy and help him open up all these locations. And then fast forward a few years, and I came into my relationship with the Lord gave myself to Christ. And I started to see things in this business that were just not aligned with my new direction in life and my morals and values.
Andrew Simpson:
And I realized pretty quickly I needed to make a pivot and not work in this business anymore. And being a 23 or a 20, I guess, two at the time, I didn't have much fear about what's going to happen if I just quit this job today. And I literally just did that. As soon as I had the realization this is not aligned with where God wants me, I googled, you know, how do you write a resignation letter and and and quit the business. And then I was like, oh, man.
Andrew Simpson:
I gotta figure out what to do next. And so I I reached out to a couple of my clients, and I was like, hey. I'm I'm leaving. I'm sorry. And they were like, you know, can we please, you know, go where you're going?
Andrew Simpson:
I'm like, yes. But I don't know where I'm going. They're like, you don't have a plan? And so, man, I I started training some clients. I rented space from a fight club in our area.
Andrew Simpson:
And you know what we do at PFP. We mentor and coach young athletes, life lessons, physical fitness. And so a bunch of guys punching each other in the face in a boxing ring while I'm trying to, you know, develop and mentor a young nine ten year old kid was not the most most conducive environment. And man, God started to, I don't know if it was God or what, doors started to shut. And this business that I was renting space from, they called me at two in the morning and said, Andrew, we're moving to a new location.
Andrew Simpson:
You're gonna have to call your clients and tell them we're in a new spot tomorrow. I said, It's two in the morning. Is this normally how people do business? Okay, well, that's fine. And so went to a new spot the next day, started training my clients there.
Andrew Simpson:
Three months later, it happened again. Got a call the day before there. And so I realized they were just filing bankruptcy. They kept going under and then having to open a new spot. So it was very sketchy.
Andrew Simpson:
It got to the point it happened three times. And I finally said, Okay, I'm either supposed to do something different with my life, or I need to open up my own spot. And decided, I'm going to look for some warehouse space. I signed a one year lease in an 1,800 square foot warehouse, we had, you know, 10 to 15 clients, I say we it was just me 10 to 15 clients. And that's where you know, that's the the starting story of what happened.
Andrew Simpson:
And man, in that first year, I did not have plans for it to turn into what it is today. And we went from 10 clients to 100 clients in a year. God just blew the doors off that place, because we had something uniquely different, as Andy Stanley would say. And so we didn't realize it. But by having customer service focus, having a beginning and end to your workout experience, making it more than just a gym, more than just a workout, that's what people were craving.
Andrew Simpson:
And and so we grew pretty quickly.
Alex Judd:
Thank you for sharing that. I like to pay attention to what I think of as LCEs. Right? Life changing events. And obviously, surrendering your life to Christ in your early twenties is a life changing event.
Alex Judd:
Quitting your job to start your own business accidentally is also a life changing event. How do you think it impacted you that those two things almost happened in lockstep with each other? Like, how are things different because those two things were so closely tied together?
Andrew Simpson:
That I mean, you know, like, I've never been asked that question before. But that is probably why we take this business as a ministry concept so seriously at PFP is because that that that might be part of the reason why I leaned into that concept so strongly once I realized like, hey, it's one thing to have Bible verses up on your wall in your gym, but how do you actually make this a ministry? I think that might be why is because of the way that it all started. Great question. Thanks for asking that one.
Alex Judd:
Oh, yeah, of course. So like, your decision, and you can share what you would like to share, but your decision to surrender your life to Christ, like, what factored into that decision? Had you never been exposed to church, the Bible, the the story of who God is before? Or, like, what led to that surrender moment in your early twenties?
Andrew Simpson:
Well, from age 15 to 19, I was going down a really bad path. I was far from the Lord. I was making all sorts of really destructive decisions with my life, and really just getting lucky. The Lord preserved me through that time now looking back, but I just got lucky that I didn't end up in jail or end up with some other negative impact of my decisions. And so at 19 years old is when my first mentor that I can remember came into my life.
Andrew Simpson:
And it happened to be this guy that I was working for, interestingly enough, the one that was not aligned with my values and morals, But he, God used him to get me on the path away from hanging out with friends who were not doing anything with their lives. And he used, that guy to get me to focus on personal development, business, leadership, a very secular view of it all. And then that led me to church eventually. And then that led me to give my life to Christ.
Alex Judd:
What were you hungry for at that time that at first, the business development, leadership development, like, scratched the itch of, do you think?
Andrew Simpson:
Being significant. Mhmm. Being seen as successful. I really admired this guy that was that came into my life, probably not for the right reasons. Right?
Andrew Simpson:
I admired him because he had money and he had influence and charisma. And I again, I looked at the past four years of my life and and how I was living my life, and I'm like, well, this looks a lot better than that. So I'm gonna go for that. So that was yeah.
Alex Judd:
It's amazing to me how accelerated your journey is in that, like, some people pursue the business the secular business leadership, personal growth approach to significance, and they'll do that for forty years until they realize, oh, this mountain is ultimately gonna be empty and I need to give my life to Jesus. It's very in alignment with your personal brand, Andrew, that you just put it on overdrive and did it in like, what sounds like under two years. What was it that caused you to see maybe the flaw in the secular approach to significance so quickly?
Andrew Simpson:
Well, before I share that, I will say, I mean, it's very easy to slip back into that, right? I'm far from over that, right? I'm far from past that. I have to obviously have rhythms and people in my life like yourself and Path4Growth community that help keep me centered. But it was actually Ken Blanchard who I'll never forget reading his book, Lead Like Jesus.
Andrew Simpson:
And it just called me out right where I was. He said, a lot of people aim for success first. And that's partially where I was, but I had really transitioned to like level two, what he talks about, which is significance. And they think that being significant is the thing, right? It's like, that's what I'm aiming for.
Andrew Simpson:
I want to be significant in people's lives. But he talks about in this book, he's like, ultimately, like, that's still kind of focused on you, right? It's pointing back at you and how can I be significant? And so he says level three is self surrendering service and obedience to build God's kingdom ultimately. And so that just hit me like a ton of bricks.
Andrew Simpson:
I'm like, well, I need to I need to make some changes here as well.
Alex Judd:
Yeah. Yeah. Man, thanks for sharing that. Is it fair to say that there's, like, early years operating out of the bankrupt fight club and all these other, like, wild things that you were doing, is scrappy the right word, or what's the word you would use to describe the early years of business?
Andrew Simpson:
Scrappy is a word. Free and fun is are are some words. Right? Not that we don't have that now. It's just different.
Andrew Simpson:
We also have structure. Sure. Thank god, literally. But yeah. Just like free and fun and do whatever you want.
Andrew Simpson:
And, yeah, I mean, the early years, we're very fond of those years. But Proverbs also talks about how, you know, do not be fixated on those past years and think that, oh, I wish things were that way, and I wish things were the way they used to be, right? Because the future is much brighter always. But, you know, I think that the earlier is scrappy is a good word. Yeah.
Andrew Simpson:
Scrappy and fun and free and chaotic, as Joe would tell you.
Alex Judd:
My business partner. That's right. It's so was Joe was Joe with the business at that time?
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah, he was hired in the first four to six months of opening the doors.
Alex Judd:
Wow, I don't know that I realized he had been with you that close to the beginning. That's amazing. That's kind of what I was gonna hit home on though is like, I mean, it was chaos and it just sounds like your experience of chaos is free and fun. Is that like a character trait of yours? Or like maybe we should ask Daniela this question, I don't know.
Alex Judd:
But like, how do you explain that, that you were able to experience that as fun? Because it sounds like for most people or many people, that would be a nightmare, Andrew.
Andrew Simpson:
That's true. I get asked similar questions sometimes and I tell people like, think that I'm grateful that God has not given me, I don't really have much fear about taking risks and about, again, the early days of business. I was never scared of not making it and not being successful. Not that I always thought we were just going to crush it and do so great, but I just didn't ever have really fear around it. And so that's one element of it.
Andrew Simpson:
But the other part of it too is that was probably not a great thing for the first five years of our business that I had that view of it because, like you said, most people don't. So not knowing our team, right, 80 percent of our team was probably like, this is not fun. I don't feel free. This is this is not okay. Right?
Andrew Simpson:
And I'm over here like, just, hey. Let's do stuff and make stuff happen. Right? And yeah.
Alex Judd:
I get the image almost of, like, you see sometimes two people in a roller coaster, and one person's having the time of their life while the other person's about to have about to have a seizure. And it's like, that was PFP for the first five years, it sounds like.
Andrew Simpson:
That's right. That's right.
Alex Judd:
What were the character traits that God developed in you in those first five years that you look at now and say, man, those things really impact the way that I lead today so many years removed from that time?
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah. I mean, the one biggest one that sticks out, honestly, and it's a work in progress, it's probably the hardest character quality to develop and maintain personally is humility. And I say that because, you know, I think that those early years of the business, I thought that I was so much better than I was as a leader and as a business owner. And, you know, I think it's Jim Collins that talks about being a genius with a thousand helpers. Like, I thought I was a genius, but all like, now I realize, like, I wasn't the smartest person on my team.
Andrew Simpson:
I just didn't honestly, like, this is such a big flaw of mine in those early days. I didn't seek out my team's opinions on anything. I would go to conferences, go to learn stuff, and then bring back all the solutions and be like, guys, this is what we're doing. And lo and behold, we had a team full of people, three of them are still with us today that started with us, who just had gold in their minds. They could have helped us in the business.
Andrew Simpson:
And so I always think back to those first five years, and it humbles me because I know we we could have done so much more, been been so much better if I would have engaged my team earlier on and and led led better at the end of the day. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:
How did you eventually learn that lesson?
Andrew Simpson:
I think it was multiple things. I think, honestly, Joe coming in, not coming in, because he was with us since the beginning. But as he started to step up in his role as a leader in the company, and his voice started to grow, and he started to learn and develop, he helped me recognize that, man, like we have a company filled with red language, right? David Marquette turned the ship around, red language, blue language. We have a company filled with red language, and and that's why we're we're not getting our team's buy in on things.
Andrew Simpson:
We're not getting enough momentum because, know, we're not engaging our team with the right questions. We're just giving them all the answers. And by him saying that, it was his nice way of saying, Andrew, this is actually you. This is on you, man. Like, you need to you need to lead this team better.
Andrew Simpson:
And so that was one, getting another mentor in business who interviewed each of my team members that are were on my leadership team at the time and asked them questions about me. Oh, man. That was that was hard and and revealing. Right? Like, he asked the right questions and got their honest, open answers about what Andrew does well, but what Andrew needs to change as well.
Andrew Simpson:
I would recommend everybody does that sometime, actually, often. I need to do it again probably here soon. But yeah, I mean, that was that was another thing that helped me recognize I need to change as a leader.
Alex Judd:
Man, really powerful. Can you give people a little bit insight into your relationship with Joe? Because you've used that name a couple times now, I know it's kind of an integral part of the PFP story.
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah. So Joe, in his interview as a 19 year old kid who just dropped out of college to work at the front desk of a startup gym, asked me if he could buy into the company someday ten years ago.
Alex Judd:
I was like He's go getter is what you're saying.
Andrew Simpson:
He is a go getter, right? I was like, I don't even know what that means, man, but sure. And so anyway, he is my business partner and he is our integrator. So we we have the visionary integrator model, CEO, COO model. And he is great at everything that I am bad at.
Andrew Simpson:
He is an incredible leader, incredible at organizational structure and operations. And we see the world like, I never knew you could see the world so differently from somebody else. Our values are aligned. Right? Our value that's the most important thing.
Andrew Simpson:
We believe in the same thing. We love the Lord, and and he's a great man of God. But man, we see things so differently. And over the last three years of us really having this visionary integrated relationship, I still feel like we're just getting started in our relationship. We're still learning how to work with each other and how each other thinks and operates.
Andrew Simpson:
But man, if I don't tell you that every single night, every single morning I wake every single night I go to bed, every single morning I wake up and I am thankful for that guy and grateful for him that God put him in my life because PFP wouldn't be what it is today without him. I mean, I probably would have burned myself out and ran the business off a cliff with all my crazy ideas. And then he has a way of leadership, a way of communication and language, and and just his his integrity through and through. So that's Joe.
Alex Judd:
And really, y'all have engaged in the the visionary integrator, CEO, COO model just in the past, what has it been, three or four years. Correct?
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah. About three.
Alex Judd:
What had to change in you individually as a leader to be ready for that model to go well? Or do you think you could have done it eight years ago and it would have gone just as well? What had to change in you and maybe even what had to change in Joe from your perspective?
Andrew Simpson:
Well, I'm glad we don't have foresight and I'm glad we can't see the future because I would probably not have done it if I would have been able to see the future. That that might have been enough fear for me to pull back on it. But, no, I'm basically, like, I had to give up so much control, at least perceived control of what I thought I could control about the business. I had to give up so many of my tendencies and my, quote, unquote, freedom, my fun and freedom. I had to give that up for the benefit of the mission, right, and knowing that this thing is not gonna be able to to to accomplish what God wants to accomplish through us if we don't have structure.
Andrew Simpson:
And so, you know, I had to change those things. And then I had to become an employee in the business. Right? I I am the visionary CEO, but I'm also in the marketing seat. And when I'm in that seat, I report to Joe.
Andrew Simpson:
I have one on one accountability meetings with Joe. And that's just it's still a work in progress. Right? But it's we've made a lot of progress. And, again, talk about humbling you.
Andrew Simpson:
And so, you know, that's something that had to change. Yeah. Those are those are some of the biggest things.
Alex Judd:
What's been the biggest benefit to the business as a whole of you and Joe working together in this capacity over the course of the past three years now?
Andrew Simpson:
I think we're I I still think we're early in the process, but I think we're learning how to defer to one another for our strengths and what we're great at. I think that two is better than one, right? So it's a relationship. It's at the end of the day, and when two people come together and have ideas together that can create, you know, better decisions, better growth.
Alex Judd:
If you think back, we kind of have looked at the first five years a little bit. If you think about the story of PFP as a whole, I mean, you and I learned from some of the same men, right? Tony Robbins, Dave Ramsey, John Maxwell, right? We could list the names. One of the things I love about them is they kind of teach and think about business as a series of seasons and stages.
Alex Judd:
So if you were kind of going to high level look at the story of PFP, how do you categorize the stages, if that's possible? How do you think of the story in terms of chapters? And where are you at right now?
Andrew Simpson:
It is so unique, I feel like for us, because for the first seven or eight years, I was dead set on the vision of having one big facility in Frederick, Maryland, and then writing books, speaking, creating online programs. And that's how we were going to expand our message and our mission. And so like for seven or eight years, that is my one track focus. That's what I told told the team we were going to do. And so you know, so that had its own seasons and chapters, right?
Andrew Simpson:
When when that's your vision, just one location, that's very different than what our new vision is. Everything's different about that. And so 02/2021, after we had expanded to this big facility that we're in now in Frederick, I was on a run, and I was listening to a podcast by the woman who had expanded Soul Cycle, a cycling studio, and she was sharing how what they do in their cycling studio is so much more than just fitness. They build communities. They change lives.
Andrew Simpson:
And I was like, I said out loud, I was like, my goodness. Like, we do that on a whole another level, in my opinion, right, with humility. Right? Like, we are doing that, and we're but but I I believe so strongly in raising up the next generation of leaders through middle school, high school students, college students. And it's like, they're the ones that are gonna change the world in the future.
Andrew Simpson:
And that's what we do. Right? We're raising up the next generation. And I paused the podcast, and this is the only time in my life. Well, there's been two times, but the only time in my life that I heard the audible voice of God.
Andrew Simpson:
Like, I heard him say, my light and my love will shine through PFPs all over. He said, my light and my love will shine through PFPs all over. And I was like, well, that's pretty clear, but is there a way I could spin that to say, well, technically having books and coaching and all those other things is doing No. No. What we do really well is we create a safe place, an inspiring place where kids and adults can come to after work, after school, after sports, to be poured into to receive the love of God.
Andrew Simpson:
We're very intentional about loving all people, and they come in in different ways. And that's what we do better than anyone that I know, right? Like, that's our secret sauce. And we can do all those other things too, but we you know, so that's what God said to me. And so now, you know, that was 2021.
Andrew Simpson:
I went to the team. I said, Guys, I think that well, I know what God said to me. And they were like and Joe and the rest of the team, they were like, let's do it. Like, that makes sense. I was expecting to have a little like, no.
Andrew Simpson:
I don't think I don't if we should do that. Like, they were all like, let's do it. And and so that's on honestly, like, feel like the start of almost a new book.
Alex Judd:
It's not even a new chapter in that way.
Andrew Simpson:
No. It's like a new book with a whole different set of rules, whole different set of, you know, challenges. And so it's almost like, in a way, we started over, I feel like sometimes in 2021, '20 '20 '2. And I say that because I have to give myself the the grace to say, hey, it's okay that we haven't figured all this out yet. Right?
Andrew Simpson:
We've got three locations now that are open, we're still learning how to scale, how to manage our finances, how to scale our leadership, right? Joe and I went for from seven years of working in the business in a location as the coaches as the leaders, to now we've got site leaders over each location, we've got layers of leadership in between us. How do you lead through people instead of being the one that makes all the decisions? And we've got 30 miles between locations, we're trying to keep them somewhat close. But you know, it's, it's a whole different ballgame.
Andrew Simpson:
And so, yeah, I just feel like we're just now we're just getting started on this new vision, and I'm excited about it.
Alex Judd:
Yeah. It's also interesting that it's like, well, actually, walk me through this. Say, number one, you you say like, man, I audibly heard the voice of God on my run. Yeah? Yeah.
Alex Judd:
And what was the phrase that he told you again?
Andrew Simpson:
My light and my love will shine through PFPs all over. And and it wasn't out loud. It was Sure. In it was it was in my mind. It was in my heart.
Andrew Simpson:
It was in my spirit. It was the holy spirit was speaking to me for sure.
Alex Judd:
Yeah, and it's a sense of intuition and direction, and it sounds like out of that, there was a deep seated sense of conviction and decisiveness that almost it's is it fair to say like you needed that sense of decisiveness to call such a tremendous audible because this was basically a different entirely different business strategy than what you had previously pursued for seven years?
Andrew Simpson:
So different. Yep. So different. And I kind of knew what we were getting ourselves into. I knew it would be a huge pivot and a huge undertaking.
Andrew Simpson:
But yeah, it it was like, I I knew that that was God's voice, and I knew that that was the right thing. Right? If I get myself out of the way and I just looked at PFP as a vehicle to change lives, like, dude, like our vision is a fitness lighthouse in every community transforming lives for the glory of God. Like that needs to exist in every place. And if a place already has a place that's transforming lives for the glory of God, then we don't need to put a PFP there.
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah. Our vision is not to be in every county and take over the world. It's like, wherever there's a place that is needed like ours, and they don't have one already, we should go there.
Alex Judd:
Man, that's so powerful. And you know, we've been having actually a lot of conversations around this topic recently because I don't know if you listened to it or not but we did an interview recently with the author of a book called Decision Making and the Will of God. That interview and that accompanying book has just, I mean, been so radically impactful for me. But as a result of that interview, which we'll link in the show notes if people wanna listen, I've had a lot of conversations in particular with young men that are trying to wrestle through like making decisions and does God speak audibly versus do we have Holy Spirit driven intuition. One of the things that I think is practically helpful about that book is it gives us a theology of decision making that's really, really helpful, but it also kind of makes the claim towards the end that it would be immortal and unwise to operate against your conscience of what you believe the Holy Spirit is telling you to do.
Alex Judd:
So as long as it's within God's morality and within God's wisdom, if your heart is telling you, man, I'm supposed to do this, for you to do anything different than that, well, would really unwise for you to do. And so it sounds like that's what happened in that moment was like, man, you got a level of conviction that you said, we're going all chips to the center of this table, and that's what your conscience was telling you, man, I have to pursue this thing. Is there anything else you'd add on that in terms of like how that type of moment can speak into your decision making?
Andrew Simpson:
I don't know about into my decision making, but I also think that when when I first heard God say that and then acted on it and said, we're gonna do this, I also knew, like, I've got a at the time, I had a two year old son. We were planning on having more kids. So I'm like, I know that I I don't think God's calling me to, like, build this thing on my own back. Right? Like, I think that we need to actually assemble a team and have, a structure and an organization.
Andrew Simpson:
And I didn't realize how big of a sacrifice that would be in the moment. But I think that was part of the part of that early on decision making is, like, if we're gonna do this, we have to do it in a way that keeps all of our team healthy. Me, Joe, leadership team. Because the way that the rest of our industry operates, it's like if you're gonna run two or three locations, you're gonna drive from location to location, be the guy in each of them. And and that's just not sustainable, it's not wise, so I knew that we wouldn't be able to do it that way.
Alex Judd:
Man, that's so good. There's a principle that I often think about that's like, you can't experience God's promises outside of God's boundaries. And so it's like, okay, like God is calling you to make PFP a light in multiple locations, right? But he certainly would never ever call you to abandon your wife and young children in the process of doing that. And so in some ways, think it's actually a gift of God that he gives us limitations and constraints that we are called to operate within.
Alex Judd:
And it kind of sounds like that's what you've been experiencing since 2021. Does that feel right?
Andrew Simpson:
That's right, That's right.
Alex Judd:
Okay, so he says the phrase, and then how do you take the line of like that phrase to, okay, we're gonna pivot strategy and start focusing on multiple locations? Because I mean, that could potentially be interpreted multiple different ways. Right? How did you land on like, no, this is what we're called to do? How'd you get there?
Andrew Simpson:
With the team, and I brought it to the team and it was actually right at the time where we were adopting EOS a as our business operating system. And since we've pivoted to actually your all path for growth, your all's model, but it was at that time. And so, you know, I brought to them the concept, but then really massaged it out and worked through the details. And we didn't even have it all figured out in the first year or two years, right? Like we had to then get around some other gyms that were doing it the right or the quote unquote right way, right?
Andrew Simpson:
In a healthier, sustainable way and learn from them, okay, what are mistakes you've made in the process? How would you go back and do this differently? So definitely having some people who have walked that path before us helped us massage that out.
Alex Judd:
Yeah. And so does that feel like it's the season that you're in right now? Or do you feel like you've opened a new chapter since that decision in 2021?
Andrew Simpson:
No. It definitely feels like we have a lot better direction on the scalability of our business, Right? We know that it's not gonna be these massive 17,000 square foot locations that one of our locate we've it's funny. We've got a large, medium, and small sized location now. We've got a 17,000 square foot, a 5,000 square foot, and a 3,000 square foot location.
Andrew Simpson:
And the smaller, the better for so many reasons. The smaller, there's a tighter relationship. Everyone knows each other. There's just that closeness. And financially, you could take care of the team a lot better.
Andrew Simpson:
There's a lot more margin in the smaller facilities. And so we know that those smaller locations are checking the box on where we need to be. So now we feel like we've got clear vision, clearer vision, and now it's all about execution and, patience, which your podcast recently was very timely because that is exactly the season we're in right now.
Alex Judd:
And so good. I was having a conversation with a friend recently and he was kind of sharing with me something that he learned on the topic of redemptive leadership. And he was saying that a tenet of redemption leadership is a willingness to re risk in service of others. So it's like, there's some leaders, and I would put you in this category, Andrew, where it's like you've established a model, you've established your first location, it's a 17,000 foot location, it's impacting people. You've written like what, five books.
Alex Judd:
After four, you're considered a prolific author, Andrew, right? Like you're doing good, your family's growing, like all these things are going well. And meanwhile, you're saying, no, I feel called to re risk in service of others. What gives you the courage to re risk, to put some of your personal resources, but also your time, your energy, your brand on the line to say, we're not just gonna get complacent where we are, but actually we're gonna keep doing new things.
Andrew Simpson:
Man, part of it is my, and now I've got better checks and balances in my life, but I still get away with it sometimes. Part of it goes back to the, I don't think, I just do sometimes, right? And so I just make decisions, which isn't always a good thing. But man, like the other I think it's the mission. Like when I get to stand up in front of the company every quarter and share five, ten stories of lives that have been transformed in our doors, that is what gives me that encouragement to keep moving forward.
Andrew Simpson:
Because man, like the last couple of years since opening up multiple locations and not knowing what that was gonna do financially and bringing on a business partner, like, it's been pretty hard, like, personally and financially, like, there's been challenging times, and you're right, it has been a whole, a big sacrifice, but like, honestly, two things. It's the mission, but then it's knowing what Jesus did for me and that sacrifice and just trying to like take on some of that just in my quiet time and when I'm in prayer, it's like, okay, like this is good. Like, and the other part too, man, is like, haven't had a bad day in ten years. Literally haven't had a bad day in ten years. So I just have this philosophy, only bad moments, never a bad day.
Andrew Simpson:
And so each day I wake up and I genuinely can look back and see, oh my gosh, yesterday was so great. Like the things that happened yesterday. And so I say that like the sacrifices have been hard, financially it's been hard, and that's true. But the blessings have so outweighed all of those challenges. And so I think that's the other part that keeps me going is like genuinely, like focusing on all the good things that are happening around me and what God's doing through us.
Andrew Simpson:
And then yeah, that allows us to take risks with a little bit more positivity, if you will.
Alex Judd:
Is there a story of transformation that's occurred in the gym that you're most inspired by?
Andrew Simpson:
Well, man, there so last year for the first time ever, we had a it was called a generational transformation award, you helped us create our mission statement for our company. And so our mission is to provide a love powered coaching experience that creates results, deep rooted relationships, and generational transformation. And so for the first time last year at our Christmas party, we announced the generational transformation award winner, which was it goes to a location. So each location submitted their best transformation story that happened in their facility. And, you know, the award goes to the gym location doesn't necessarily go to the client that was impacted.
Andrew Simpson:
And there was this guy named Nelson, who eighteen months ago comes into our gym, was burnt out from his job was not the greatest husband was just, I mean, was not very present and was not healthy. And this guy was really physically unhealthy, probably mentally, emotionally unhealthy from what I know. And it was it was trickling down into his family. This guy started working out one day a week. So just dipped his toes in probably to satisfy his wife, right?
Andrew Simpson:
Like, okay, I'll go work out fine. And the coaches met him where he was at, loved on him, challenged him, pushed him, paid attention to him. He started coming two days a week, then three days a week. Last year, I got a chance to coach the class that he was in. And he came up to me afterwards with tears in his eyes.
Andrew Simpson:
This man who was all tatted up, tattoos all over his body, super strong, and came up to me with tears in his eyes and looked at me and said, this place has changed my life and your coaches, if it weren't for them, I don't know where I would be right now in my life. My family's better for it. And then man, get this, a couple months after that, I take my kids to the library and his wife is the librarian. I didn't even know it. And she comes up to me and makes me cry right afterwards.
Andrew Simpson:
Right? Like, two months later, she tells me how it's just changed their family dynamic. And so, like, that one it that one and now the dude is running 50 mile races. He's gonna do a ultra a hundred mile race. You would love him.
Andrew Simpson:
You would love this guy. And he's recruiting other, clients of ours to, like, be part of it with them and to do it with them. And so, like, the ripple effects of that one decision and and us having a small the the PFP team and the coaches getting to have that small part in that transformation, the ripple effects are so massive. And it's like, that's why like, that's what I live for, right? That's why I love what we do.
Andrew Simpson:
Because like, fitness, physically, it can help your health, like in a moment's notice, right? All the business owners that listen to this podcast, some of them probably are fit and healthy, and some of them know that they need to work out, right? They need to know like, hey, that's that's got to be at the top of my list this year. And that can change a lot. But then the other ripple effects of how it changes you mentally, emotionally, relationally, in every other area of your life makes you better at your career.
Andrew Simpson:
It's like, that's pretty special. So that's the one that comes to mind. Nelson. Shout out to Nelson.
Alex Judd:
Shout out to Nelson indeed. Holy cow. Praise God for that story too. That's just incredible. I wanna call attention to something because I know it's something that you believe too and then if you have anything conceptually or principally to add to this, I wanna hear it.
Alex Judd:
But I mean, it's one of the things that you and I have both learned from Tony Robbins that I want so bad for people to experience and understand is just this idea that neurobiologically gratitude and anxiety can't coexist. But I think so often we take that as like, okay, well, I should do my gratitude journal at night and write down the things that I'm grateful for. But in my experience, just doing the little writing exercise isn't experiencing gratitude. And what I hear you saying is like, man, this is an incredibly stressful season right now. Like there's cashflow challenges, there's capacity challenges, I'm sure there's employee challenges associated with multiple locations, right?
Alex Judd:
There's so many problems that because you've tripled the number of locations your business is in, there's so many problems that you now have to solve that you didn't have to solve four years ago, right? And I would just imagine when you not only just think about, but actually tell the story of Nelson, probably like all of those like little things, like they just shrink in importance and probably don't have nearly the power over your mind that they otherwise would have. And you probably are a way better leader when you reimburse yourself in the story of Nelson. Any thoughts on that? I just hear your energy even as you talk about it, Andrew.
Alex Judd:
And I'm like, man, that's what I want people to experience is the ability to be grateful for parts of their business in such a way that it will reduce the anxiety associated with the inevitable struggle going on in their life.
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah. Yeah. Mean, it becomes it's got to become a habit. And it has become a habit in my life of like, you know, I won't say every day. I don't think about Nelson every day, of course.
Andrew Simpson:
But but multiple times throughout the week during my, hour long quiet time in the morning devotional time, I write down my WPGPs. So every single day, it's wins, praises, gratitudes, and prayers. And so I spend time writing those things down. And then I allow like, with my eyes closed, I think about it and remember it happening the day before or whenever it was. And I allow it to to put a smile on my face.
Andrew Simpson:
I I can see Nelson walking into his house with a smile on his face, hugging his kids with energy versus being drained and yelling at his kids. Like, I can actually and I use the power of my mind and imagination that God's given us to think about those things and see them. And so, yeah, man, that changes the game when I call it experiential gratitude versus just regular old gratitude. And you you said it best the the way that works. And so, yeah, that that makes thing that makes a world of difference.
Andrew Simpson:
In 2018, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer, and he passed away six months later. It was a it was a riveting time that came out of nowhere. And it was about a week later that I found myself thinking about the night that he had passed away, which was an awful night. It was tragic and and terrible. And I was and then I I felt like this was not my dad's voice or God's voice, but I felt like I heard my dad, like, saying to me, like, why on earth are you focused on the times that were so terrible and the times where I didn't have my hair?
Andrew Simpson:
Like, why are you thinking about that, bud? Like, think about the times where we went fishing together. Think about the times where we got to throw the ball together. Think about the times that we went to the games together. Like, think about those things.
Andrew Simpson:
And then I was reminded of Philippians four eight, right? Whatever is true, lovely, praiseworthy, focus on such things. Like God tells us, like focus on the good, right? Think about the things that are beautiful and praiseworthy. Don't ignore the other things and just, you know, pretend like they're not there, but solve them, right?
Andrew Simpson:
Figure out what the solutions are partner with God in them. But spend a lot of your energy and your focus, I say 90% of your focus on the good. And then keep your mind, you know, 10% of your brain open for what could go wrong, preparation, planning, reality, that kind of stuff.
Alex Judd:
You just used the phrase partner with God on them. What does that look like practically?
Andrew Simpson:
Partnering with God on the challenges? Yeah. Practically, it's actually having business meetings with him where you're sitting down and asking him, God, what do you think about this situation that we're going through right now? How should I respond to it? And waiting and listening.
Andrew Simpson:
And if you don't get answers I've actually learned that God speaks to me a lot through other people. And so he'll use people in my life, and they'll say something, and I'll be like, man, like, that's exactly what I needed to hear. And so I think partnering with him is definitely prayer, right? That's direct communication to the father. And so prayer, yeah, that's that's the biggest thing that comes to mind in terms of partnering with God is is in prayer and in decisions.
Alex Judd:
I appreciate your kind of elaborating on the superhero and celebrity that now Nelson is for this entire podcast audience. And it sounds like not only has, rehearsing gratitude and things that are praiseworthy become a rhythm for you, I've spent time around the PFP team. It seems as though y'all have rhythms for sharing stories of transformation with your team. Can you speak to what that is, how you do that and why you do that from a business standpoint?
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah, so we one of the principles that we operate with in our meetings is the principle that the questions you ask determine and show what you value most. And so the first question that you ask at your at your stand up meeting, or your leadership team meeting, that automatically leads your team to believe that that's what you value most. So if your first question is, hey, what are the numbers from last week? Then your team will naturally start to believe that this is what this is what my leader cares about most. And so I'm gonna start to look for those things each week.
Andrew Simpson:
I'm gonna start to influence those things each week. And not that that's bad by any means to focus on numbers. But for for me, when I learned that principle, I was like, well, what do we care about most? At the end of the day, like, what is the most what what do I want my team to know that Andrew, CEO and founder cares about most and now all the other leaders as well? It's what happened last week from a standpoint of generational transformation.
Andrew Simpson:
So that's the first question we have. All of our locations during their all hands meeting each week, they have a slide up on their TVs, and it says, what happened last week? Results, relationships, transformation stories. And we spend ten, fifteen minutes, if not more, right? If there's more, then we share them, but ten to fifteen minutes just talking about what happened last week.
Andrew Simpson:
And so that's how we've and I feel really great about that part of our business. And that's why culture and the the buy in from our team is so strong because they know that that's what we care about most because we prioritize it in meetings, we talk about it first, and we put a lot of emphasis there.
Alex Judd:
Man, that I I love that because that's just such a pragmatic handle of, like, how you put the mission first. And and you're not just saying you're a mission driven business, but you are a mission driven business. Okay, so you have this remarkable perspective in that you have a front row seat to transformation. And it's not even just physical transformation, it's total life transformation. And I mean, you've had that front row seat for years now.
Alex Judd:
If I were to assign you the task of like Andrew, your next book has to be a cookbook. And the cookbook is, the recipe is for transformation, like total life transformation. And then I would say, Andrew, what are the ingredients? Like what is gonna go into this recipe? What's the process for creating transformation?
Alex Judd:
Like what have you learned?
Andrew Simpson:
So we've taken that and put it into what we call our five step magical experience. Certain elements of that align with your question, but I'll summarize the five step experience a little bit more broadly because it gets into the nitty gritty of what we do in our gym. But, you know, first thing is the first impression. Right? So the first impression matters, right?
Andrew Simpson:
We treat people like VIPs when they walk in, put a smile on their face. If it's a kid, right, we got to make it fun right off the bat. And so first impression matters. And then it's connect and build trust. Connect and build trust, build bridges, right?
Andrew Simpson:
I don't care if you don't like video games, that kid does. And so if during your one on one consultation with the kid, you need to talk about video games and pull up video game examples on YouTube and look at them with the kid just to get him to buy in a little bit. Because fitness man, like fitness isn't inherently fun for most people. And nor do they quote unquote have to do it. You could argue that it is essential, but you don't have to, right?
Andrew Simpson:
So our business is actually a pretty hard one to be in, People don't need to do this. They don't like to do it either. It's painful. And so as far as like broader, though, what does it take to transform a life? Obviously, first impression matters.
Andrew Simpson:
Second, connect and build trust. Going along with that, understand and appreciate their world, right? Because we fortunately, thank God, people come in this gym who aren't Christians, who don't believe what we believe. And it's because I believe that our team is really good at understanding and appreciating other people's worlds, even if it's very different from yours. And so I don't until until you do those two things, first impression, connect and build trust, and then really three things, understand and appreciate someone else's world and worldview and and whatnot, I don't think that the doorway is even cracked open to be able to transform their life through knowledge, coaching, and whatnot.
Andrew Simpson:
And so those are the first three things. And then it's like, okay, let's get into what does this person need right now mentally, emotionally, physically? How can I challenge them? How can I keep them accountable, give them direction? And then the last piece, I think is really hard to really get to generational transformation, which for us, it doesn't happen in three months or six months.
Andrew Simpson:
The people that we classify as as people whose lives are transformed, and they're going to go transform others lives. They've been with us for twelve plus months a lot of the times. And that requires consistency. Like, don't get comfortable with these well, comfortable with them from a friendship standpoint. But man, like, every day you need to show up and treat them like you're trying to win them over as clients.
Andrew Simpson:
Because you never know. Like, sometimes people might be on the fence. You never know what people are showing up with or they might be thinking when they come in like, you know what? Life's getting tough. I'm really busy.
Andrew Simpson:
Things are hard right now. I think today might be my last day at PFP. And so we talk about this as a team. Like you have to kind of have that little bit of productive paranoia, right? To like, I gotta show up strong today for this person and give them an experience that I would be giving to somebody if I was trying to win them as a client for the first time.
Andrew Simpson:
That's not easy to do, but I think that's really important, is consistency and follow through.
Alex Judd:
How do you determine what people need?
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah, so we have a pretty extensive assessment process, right? Our first hour session with a person one on one is gathering a lot of information, putting them through for like an athlete, a young athlete we work with, we put them through a mindset questionnaire that helps us understand mental game and mindset in life, where they at. Again, we ask a lot of questions, get a lot of feedback from them on that. Ask, if it's a kid, again, we talk to their parents, right? Get their perspective on what does your kid need most.
Andrew Simpson:
So it's a lot of, I think, information gathering to find out what a person needs most. And then over time, I think when you master your craft and you get really good at what you do as a coach, then you just have like some more intuition, right? Like you can start to sense what they need because people sometimes, you know this in your business, they say they need one thing, right? I need to grow. I need to make money.
Andrew Simpson:
And you're like, no, you need health. You need to take care of your family right now, right? And so I think that's the other piece is just the intuition that comes with experience and being in the game for long enough to get there.
Alex Judd:
Yeah. It's interesting because I feel like the average gym, how they define what people need is they run an individual through a battery of physical tests, right? Like we're gonna have you run the treadmill, we're gonna see what your bench press is, we're gonna see how many pull ups you can do or if you can do a pull up, all of these things, what you weigh, VO2 max, all of that And I'm intrigued by the fact that like the first thing you mentioned is like, we're gonna look at their mindset. We're gonna ask them questions about their mindset. Why start with the mind?
Andrew Simpson:
Well, wouldn't even say it's just the mind, right? These questionnaires that we give them. Like, for example, we had a young lady, she was 13 years old when she came in our gym, and she sat down and did her initial questionnaire. And on the questionnaire, it's a bunch of statements that you would self identify with, right? Highlight this if it's true for you, leave it blank if it's not.
Andrew Simpson:
And that, again, people, it's shocking how honest they will be if you are not in the room with them and all they have to do is self identify with things versus if I were to ask you the question, Alex, do you struggle with body image? No, you get defensive, right? But when it says it on a piece of paper, I struggle with body image, I don't like the way I look. This girl, and then this has happened a lot of times, right? This girl highlighted it.
Andrew Simpson:
And I went into the room and I sat down with her and I asked her about other elements of it. And then I said, know, is there anything you want to talk through on this? And she didn't say anything. I said, you know, the one about body image, tell me about that. And she broke down in tears.
Andrew Simpson:
This girl had been anorexic and bulimic for a period of time. She was purging her food. She was crying every night that she went into her room because she didn't like the way she looked. And her mom had no clue. Her mom had no clue that this was going on.
Andrew Simpson:
And I asked her if she wanted to share it with her mom or if she wanted me to share it. And so we all came in a room together and talked through it. And so the reason why we do it is because it reveals so much, right? That this assessment process can reveal so much and it opens again, the doorway for people to talk about things that, you know, maybe they wouldn't have had the doorway open to talk about with anybody else. So you know, that maybe you could say is rooted in something with mindset, or it could be just her belief, right?
Andrew Simpson:
It could be the thing that leads her to know how much God loves her and how God sees her, right? There's so many reasons why we do this assessment process, and as I'm saying it out loud, I'm like, I need to remind our team why we do it.
Alex Judd:
Yeah. Do you sometimes feel like the business you're in isn't really the business you're in? Like, do people come to you for for fitness and performance and health and then you you but you're like, you're basically providing an above and beyond value from that? Or how do you think about it, Andrew?
Andrew Simpson:
That's right. Yeah. Yeah. We're we're not in the business of of fitness at all. We're in the people business.
Andrew Simpson:
We're in the transformation business. We're in the changing lives business. %.
Alex Judd:
So what are you like, what is your process then for like, people are like, no, like, dude, I wanna lose weight. And then you're like, well, that's like, because still externally, you look like a gym, right? And and Yeah. You know, technically you are a gym, but you're, I mean, it sounds cheesy, but you're so much more than a gym, right? And so how you run a business that's bigger than your perceived business, anything you've learned on that?
Andrew Simpson:
We let these stories of transformation, and we turn them into videos, and and we use that as part of our marketing. We let the stories talk about the the deeper parts of what we do, but a lot of our marketing efforts, right, are talking about the reasons why people come to the gym, right? It's addressing their pain points, addressing the things that keep them up at night, their clothes don't fit well, or their kid's not fast enough and is sitting on the bench and head's always down, right? We address those things in our marketing efforts and whatnot. Because again, people come for the workouts or the speed training or the the fitness, and they stay for the community, the the coaching, the accountability.
Andrew Simpson:
They they stay for all the other stuff. But yeah, I mean, we've actually, at times of our history as a business, we've gotten too far away from the physical results. And at the end of the day, like people come for that. Like, that's what they pay for. They pay And so we've got assessment machines for adults that assess their body fat and their speed or their muscle mass, we test them in their physical as well.
Andrew Simpson:
But man, our coaches are incredible. I mean, they've got a lot on their plate to be able to help a person transform in all those areas of their life. Like we, our coaches are really amazing to be able to do all that.
Alex Judd:
Yeah, well, I agree with that. I mean, I've done a workout at PFP and I've experienced the culture at PFP. And it's interesting, it's kind of like if you go to Chick fil A, it's like the customer service could be world class and if the chicken sucks, it doesn't really matter. It's kind of like PFP, it's like, I mean, I'll never forget the first time that I came and visited y'all, the greeting was unbelievable. People were so wildly friendly.
Alex Judd:
What was crazy to me is not even just the way I was treated by your coaches, but the way I was treated by your other members. Like they were going out of their way to get connected to me. And then the workout was like really good. And the way that it was led was really good. And I was, I think it was Joe that led it.
Alex Judd:
I like simultaneously hated Joe and loved Joe at the same time, which is exactly what you wanna feel about a coach. So it is so, so, so good. So the question I have there then is like, y'all are in an industry on the fitness and health side of things that is rapidly changing. The dynamics of what are considered good proper practice are always being innovated, grown, transformed And simultaneously, there's a lot of fads too that you probably don't wanna get too embroiled in. How do you make sure that your coaches stay relevant and competent with the industry as it goes and as it grows?
Alex Judd:
And how do you do that personally, Andrew?
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah. It's probably a weakness of ours, I would say, as far as staying up to date with industry trends or, yeah, like, the latest training modalities and and and But I think at the end of the day, I've always just been really laser focused on the things that will never change in our business. And that is the way you treat people, knowing about them, individualizing the experience, customizing things as much as you can, keeping them accountable, checking in with them on off days, making sure they're taking care of their other one hundred and sixty five hours of the week, not just the three that they're into the gym. I think a lot of young, and maybe this probably crosses over to other industries as well and coaches, but you know, it's not about the with the workout or the exercise that you do, you have to be able to at the end of the day, motivate them to change outside of just the time that you're working with them. And so I've always put the emphasis with our team on those things.
Andrew Simpson:
And, we do have some really great coaches even recently that have come on the team that are super passionate about the exercises and and those things. And and that's always a great infusion to the culture, and it levels things up. But it's like, that's the to me, that's the cherry on top. Right? The the fancy exercises, the workouts, the the the fads, like, yeah, let's do those things if they're relevant for our business, but that's not the main thing.
Andrew Simpson:
Right? It's master the fundamentals, at the end of the day. And so we try to keep it simple.
Alex Judd:
You've studied mindset and performance. You've written books on mindset and performance. Are there things that you've learned particularly about like mindset for athletes that you think are a direct parallel into mindset for business owners?
Andrew Simpson:
So many. That's why I
Alex Judd:
love it. Good, yeah. And why are you so passionate about this topic too?
Andrew Simpson:
Well, it started with a story. A girl who actually ended up working for us for a period of time, But when she was in high school, I got a phone call from her mother. This is 2016, and her mom was like frantic on the other end of on the other line. Andrew, you know, it happened again in the volleyball game last night. Megan, she made a mistake, then coach pulled her out of the game, and she put her head down and started self sabotaging, and then she just spiraled, she didn't get put back in the game.
Andrew Simpson:
Andrew, you got to help her. And I'm like, what? Like, I thought we were helping her with these things. Right? And so I realized, like, holy smokes.
Andrew Simpson:
Like, we could have the fit most physically talented, strong, high vertical jump athlete. But if they can't control between the ears, what good is that? And so that's what made me realize, like, we need to understand mindset, the mental game, how to apply it to athletes. And so I went on a multiyear journey of reading every sports psychology book I could, taking every course I could, learning about it, and then transferring it to our team, and then eventually writing, multiple books about it. And so, yeah, it's it's kinda like I think it's it's the the x factor, if you will.
Andrew Simpson:
It's the thing that most most athletes and most people don't focus on enough. Tony Robbins thing is, you know, business is 80% psychology, twenty % skill. Like, that 20% skill is really important. You know, you have to, like, know the ins and outs of the business or the sport and have the skills. But first, figure out the mindset piece.
Andrew Simpson:
And so, yeah, there's so many principles that apply from sports and crossover to business. One of them is the principle of focus. You know, what you focus on, you feel, what you focus on, you move towards, and what you focus on expands. So that is very true for an athlete. You know, if if all you focus on as an athlete is what you're not doing well or how far you fall short of your big dream of playing in college, like, if all you focus on is that, then you're not gonna feel satisfied.
Andrew Simpson:
You're never gonna really enjoy your sports journey. And, you know, if you get to the end of your sports journey, and all you ever feel is dissatisfied, that sounds pretty miserable. And as business owners, like, that's where I found myself, right? I was never satisfied. I believe those lies that society tells you that good is never good enough.
Andrew Simpson:
Never rest. Never be satisfied. And it's like, wow. Like, never being satisfied sounds, again, like a miserable business journey. And so the whole principle of focusing on what you feel is like, okay.
Andrew Simpson:
Reflect on your gratitudes, your wins. Think about how far your teammates have come and how they've grown. Don't just think about where they need to improve. So that's that's one.
Alex Judd:
Can I pause you right there real quick? Yeah. As you walk through these, you and I were going back and forth yesterday a little bit and you kind of shared like, it's in maybe a little bit of an unexpected way. It's a little bit of a challenging season for you all just in terms of the number of variables you all are managing for. Can you speak to how, as we walk through these mindset principles, and I'd love for you to start with focus, how do you as a business owner personally apply these principles to what you're walking through in what is a pretty stressful season right now for your business where there's turbulence, there's challenges, there's obstacles.
Alex Judd:
So start with focus.
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah, so I could very well focus on the fact that we are like cash flow, as Brian mentioned on your podcast recently, like cash flow crisis right now, I would say we're just about there, right? Like looking at the bank, wondering, like, are we going to be able to make payroll? I mean, this is a stressor that we're dealing with every couple weeks. And God is providing through it. And it's because we just made a miscalculation of opening up our third facility, it cost us, a lot more than we thought it was gonna cost us.
Andrew Simpson:
And simultaneously, our biggest business unit took a 40% hit in revenues because they lost a couple of coaches unexpectedly. And so it's like, did not plan for worst case scenario. And that's where maybe mindset is not a great thing to always use, right, to focus on the positive. Like, we did not plan for worst case scenario, and worst case scenario happened. And we're we're still in it.
Andrew Simpson:
We're still in the challenge, but we see the again, what you focus on, you feel, like we see where God is opening up things for us and we see the future ahead and that things are going get better. And we're not faking that. Like that's genuinely both Joe and I. We're like, we can see it. Like we know, we know that God's mission for this business is big.
Andrew Simpson:
We know that he wants to impact people. So we never have fears really of like, what if we go out of business? What if we run out of money? Like, we don't think like that because I genuinely don't believe that's on the table. I don't think God, that's what he wants to do.
Andrew Simpson:
I mean, could he use that for something even better? %. We're open for it. But I think that that's the whole, you know, focus on what you can and even like solutions, Focus on what you can do. That's why I wrote this most recent book, we saw a huge opportunity to create an actual revenue stream through this new book that was a topic that we knew we could we could really reach a lot of people with.
Andrew Simpson:
And so it's like, let's write the book because it'll help with, you know, cash flow. And so, you know, focus on solutions, not just problems is the mindset principle.
Alex Judd:
Man, there's number one, thank you for your vulnerability, authenticity and transparency and service of others. I think that's so powerful. And I'm glad that y'all are seeing a path forward. I think that's also really encouraging to hear as well, but there's something that you said really quick in there that I, as your friend, I personally believe, Andrew, it's part of your secret sauce. You said, could it all shut down, go away and God decide to do something even better?
Alex Judd:
And you just kind of casually said, yes, of course it could. And we're open for that. And it's like, for me, I think that the testament to your faith is not just we think all these things are going to work out well. I think that that's really good. But I also think the testament to your faith is even if it doesn't, God is bigger than the success or failure of this individual enterprise and your pragmatic trust in all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to their purposes, man, I just want to call attention to that because that is inspiring for me and I know it'll be helpful for our audience just that you've got that attitude of like, God's will is bigger than any individual line graph associated with our business.
Alex Judd:
So thank you.
Andrew Simpson:
Well, that goes to the next principle, mindset principle, which is self talk, right? We teach our athletes all the time, You gotta have good self talk. And even down to, if you say, like, I am an athlete, I must be successful in my sport. Like, that's dangerous. Right?
Andrew Simpson:
Because that's an identity. And so we have I've got so many stories. But, you know, I have an athlete named Carly that I worked with who her whole sports career, she had identified herself as a lacrosse player. She was dead set. I'm gonna play lacrosse in college.
Andrew Simpson:
This is my dream. This is everything. And so she ended up having a rare condition, bilateral popliteal entrapment syndrome, which is where the popliteal artery that goes through the back of her knee, essentially blood was not flowing through it. And so she gets to college to Michigan to play lacrosse at the highest level. And in her first practice, she's running and her legs went numb.
Andrew Simpson:
It's like, well, you can't run if your legs are numb. And man, she tried to push through, push through, push through. And we had to like, I had to walk with her and work with her through that journey to slowly change her belief that I am a lacrosse player to I have some gifts that God has given me. And I've just happened to use lacrosse as my vehicle to use them. And if if if I can't play lacrosse again, which she was not able to, she ended up having to medically retire.
Andrew Simpson:
If this happens, he's going to use those gifts of mine for something else. And so she built that belief that she was she had other gifts. And then she started she became a coach, and started coaching. She was able to use everything she learned from lacrosse to benefit others and coach. So for me, man, it's like I try to never identify myself.
Andrew Simpson:
It's funny. Like, whenever I fill out even your all's forms to to attend your amazing workshops, I'm like, do I wanna identify as a gym owner? Like, I kinda wanna put down, like, I'm a child of God or like, I that'd be too cheesy. Alex would reach out to me
Alex Judd:
and be like, dude, are kidding me? Percent business owners, we've got 35% managers, and we've got one child of God is in this workshop. I love that. That's so good. Man, this is so good because this is, I actually think what you are talking about right now is countercultural in the business leadership personal growth space.
Alex Judd:
I mean, you and I have sat in conferences together where we were told the thing that you have to do is you have to make your goal for your business into a must. Like that's what you have to do is you have to turn this into a must. And I actually think from a spiritual perspective, that can be extremely damaging because there's not, in my experience, there's not all that much difference between something being a must and it being an idol. And the things in my life that are actually musts are like, I must preserve my relationship with my heavenly father. I must invest in the health of my marriage.
Alex Judd:
I must be a dad that disciples Lily and helps her grow up to be the woman she was created to be. It's like, those are like three of them, but must hit this $2,000,000 revenue goal by the January. It's like, that's maybe a preference and God encourages us to have desires and preferences. But I think what you're hitting on is like, it's actually really dangerous to call things musts that should never gain that status. That's right.
Andrew Simpson:
I agree with you a %.
Alex Judd:
It's hard to guard and sustain and cultivate that though. So I I really appreciate you for sharing that. Is there anything else you'd add on how to maintain a proper, like a proper relationship with our goals before we move on to any other mindset principles you have?
Andrew Simpson:
Yeah, mean, be careful who you're following. I mean, in in the business world, right? Like, are people that I could listen to and learn from. And if I get too much of that, then I I do not do everything I just said, right? I I shift.
Andrew Simpson:
And, again, luckily, having a business partner who equally we can make sure that we keep each other on track there, that's important. But like, prior to becoming part of the Path for Growth community, we were involved in a very secular business mastermind group that, again, God used it for such good things. Like he was able to help some things in our business that needed to be changed. But if we stayed in there much longer, we were gonna start probably firing people to right, meet the bottom line. And it's like, that's not what we believe.
Andrew Simpson:
Right? And so we knew we had to get out of that because it was driving us towards the wrong things. And so I think that depending on, you know, who you follow and how you let that influence you, it's so easy to slip back into this, like, I am my business and I am my numbers versus no, like, this isn't even my business. This is God's business. Right?
Andrew Simpson:
And let's not forget that. Like, he gets to determine what happens next, and he could shut it down tomorrow if he wanted to. So that's the last thing I would add on that. Just be careful who you follow.
Alex Judd:
Yeah. Any other mindset principles you wanna make sure you share with people?
Andrew Simpson:
This is a fun one. We always say, mental preparation precedes peak physical performance. It's a mouthful, but mental preparation precedes peak physical performance. And that's the idea of visualization, right, of an athlete, being able to visualize, you know, before the game, during the game, the play the exact play that you wanna be successful in, visualize how you're gonna celebrate afterwards, and then visualize, how you'll get better from it. And so in business, though, like being able to pause before you go into a meeting and visualize, how am I gonna show up for this meeting?
Andrew Simpson:
If somebody disagrees with me, how am I gonna respond? How's my body language gonna be? These are little things that obviously create culture. And so I apply those from time to time in the business as far as mental preparation, whether it's for a meeting, a presentation, a workshop I deliver, a coaching session, visualization, and mental preparation is a great, great tool.
Alex Judd:
Man, yeah, it's so good. Because of some of the things that you and I have been to together, I feel like I've applied some of that. And there was one particular, I went to a team training with a group of 30 team members and I got there a little bit early and this time that I got there a little bit early, I just said, I'm going to sit in the parking lot with my eyes closed. Thankfully, I don't think anyone from the team walked by in the morning because they're like, is this dude sleeping before our session that we're about to do? But I sat there and I closed my eyes and I literally just ran through the stages of the day and I said like, what will these look like when they are a grand slam?
Alex Judd:
And if that exercise that I did for maybe five minutes didn't change my behavior whenever I walked in that door. It's like there were so many, it wasn't these massive things that there were just so many small tweaks that I found myself doing just because I had vision for it from the five minutes before. And it's one of the reasons why I love learning from people like you Andrew because you exist in a world where you get to see the physical ramifications of these principles in relatively short order. And I would love to hear if there's anything you'd encourage business owners on with this, I think the people that win are the people that can apply the same level of intensity as it relates to these mindset principles to things that may less be physically tangible, but to things like your strategic planning meeting, to things like the way you treat that customer. If you can apply the same intensity that an athlete would getting ready for a high intensity workout to the things that we do every single day, I think that's a pathway to not only winning, but actually enjoying what you're doing.
Andrew Simpson:
And it's really hard to get there if you've got too much on your plate or you're saying yes to too many things. That's the first thing that I thought about when you were sharing that is like, to be that intentional about, different moments throughout your business day, it requires you to have margin, right? Mental margin, time margin, and so you have to have that. But something really fascinating, a study that was done, and it was written about in the book, The Power of Full Engagement. But a study was done of the top 100 tennis players in the world.
Andrew Simpson:
And they were trying to figure out what separated the top 50 from the second fifty in the pack because the top 50 were getting wildly different results, wildly better results than the second fifty. Like, it was it wasn't even close. And they found that the the top 50, they did five things very differently than the the, you know, 51 through a hundred, and it was all in between the points. It wasn't during the actual play, During the actual point, it was as they walked back to the baseline. Fascinating.
Andrew Simpson:
They found there there was five things. One was their self talk. They had a really intentional self talk routine. The second thing was their breathing frequency. So if the player was very sluggish in the match and they just weren't like energized, they would breathe very quickly and powerfully to get themselves pumped up.
Andrew Simpson:
Or if they were too worked up and anxious, they would take deep slow breaths to calm themselves down. So the second thing was breathing frequency. The third thing similar was walking pace. They would walk slowly to slow themselves down or quickly if they needed to get sped up. Fourth thing was eye contact.
Andrew Simpson:
So the best players in the world, as they walked back to just fifteen seconds walking back to the baseline, they would always look to the same place, the best players in the world. Some would look up to God, some would look maybe to their spouse in the stands where they would normally sit. They would look somewhere, but they would never look down. And then the last principle or the last thing that they would do differently is their posture, right? Always make sure their shoulders were back, their head was tall.
Andrew Simpson:
They walked strong and confident, even if they were feeling defeated or unconfident. And so it's like that idea of in between the points has always stuck with me and I'm like, in between meetings, how can I apply this? Right, I've got fifteen seconds in between meetings. How can I visualize, take a couple deep breaths, slow things down, pray real quick, thank God for what I'm about to go do, thank God for the person that's that's in that room? You know, it's it's in between the points or in between the events of your day that that's where I think the the secret sauce is.
Alex Judd:
It's so critically important because as you're saying that, I'm thinking like, what vies for that in between time? What you're saying is like that potentially could be the most valuable time because it has ramifications for every other moment of your day. And if I'm not careful, the in between time will be filled with some combination of social media news, like mindless texting or scrolling. It's like, man, what a tool of the enemy to say the thing that could have the greatest impact on every other moment of this day, we're gonna just distract it with mindless, I mean, quite frankly, crap, right? That just isn't helpful.
Alex Judd:
So man, that's such a helpful practical takeaway on in between time.
Andrew Simpson:
That's what exhausts your brain by the end of the way too. Like I've studied this on myself. If I do my transitions really well, when I get home at night, it doesn't matter how busy my day was. I've got energy and genuine joy for my family. But if my transitions were filled with social media or check an email, I get home and I'm drained.
Andrew Simpson:
It's just your brain just gets exhausted throughout the day of that kind of stuff. So it needs to have those mental transitions. And there are things that are much more fulfilling that you can do with those transitional times.
Alex Judd:
Man, Andrew, this conversation was a long time coming. You and I have been friends for a long, long time. You played as integral a role as anyone in the start of my business. You were right there with me as I left my full time job to start this business. And yeah, I'm just really, really grateful that we had the chance to bring some of our conversations now to the audience and just rooting for you in PFP.
Alex Judd:
So what I would tell people is you should follow Andrew on social media for sure. He puts out great content on social media that's really practically helpful. And particularly if you have a child that's in the age of playing sports, holy cow, his books and content on that stuff, it's just it is as good as it gets because it hits the competency of athletics. And Andrew and his team do a great job of relating to students. But then also it's value based, which you can hear that embedded in everything that Andrew talks and teaches about.
Alex Judd:
And then also, would say if you are ever in, I would even go beyond, Fredrik, if you are ever in the state of Maryland, or let's even go broader than that. If you are in the Northeastern United States, right, you need to go into PFB because if it's anything like my experience, it will be an experience, right? Truly, their team is just doing such a great job of creating moments, creating a culture, you're going to experience that first impression, you're going to get a killer workout and you might even just experience transformation or even if they're able to achieve their mission, generational transformation. So Andrew, anything else you'd point to people to before we go to our last question?
Andrew Simpson:
No, all those are great. We would love to have you guys here in PFP. If you're ever out in our neck of the woods, come on by, and we will take care of you as a Path for Growth listener, for sure.
Alex Judd:
Final question, and this is a little bit of a selfish question, but I I just wanna know, Andrew, like, what are you excited about in terms of what God is doing either in your life or in the business right now?
Andrew Simpson:
So we're in a season of parenting where we have a six year old, a three year old, and an almost one year old. And it is chaos in the house all the time. And
Alex Judd:
Andrew just turned this question into a prayer request is what he just did. Yeah. Please.
Andrew Simpson:
No, man. But I'm I'm really excited about this season, the parenting that we're in. Like I said, despite the challenges that we're facing, I'm finding that Daniela and I are growing way closer together. We are on a mission with our family now. We are setting up our, really, family mission and being really intentional about what we're parenting towards.
Andrew Simpson:
And we're just, we're learning and growing so much together, and it is a really trying time for many reasons right now with one of our children who's going through a pretty difficult time. And I mean, we are just growing in our faith together. We're, like I said, learning. And we're just like, I've never felt like we're such a team as we are right now. And so I'm really, really excited about that because it just feels really, really good.
Andrew Simpson:
Until you have kids, it's hard to, like, to feel what what I feel right now with Daniella. And and, yeah, it's it's chaos, like I said, but it's also really fulfilling.
Alex Judd:
Man, praise God. Well, thanks for your friendship, number one. Thanks for your time today and your perspective. Appreciate you, man.
Andrew Simpson:
Man, I am so excited to be on this podcast. Thanks so much, brother.
Alex Judd:
Well, there you have it. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode. If you want any of the information or resources that we mentioned, that's all in the show notes. Hey, before you go, could I ask you for one quick favor? Could you subscribe, rate, and review this podcast episode?
Alex Judd:
Your feedback is what helps our team engage in a sequence of never ending improvement. We wanna amplify what's valuable to you and obviously reduce or even remove the things that aren't. Also, you leaving a positive review is what helps us connect with, build trust with, and serve other leaders around the country. So thanks in advance for helping us out on that front. Are you a leader that wants to grow your business in a healthy way, serve people exceptionally well, and glorify God in the process?
Alex Judd:
Go to pathforgrowth.com to get more information about our community of impact driven leaders and schedule a call with our team. Hey. Thank you so much to the Path for Growth team, Kyle Cummings and the crew at PodCircle, and the remarkable leaders that are actively engaged in the Path for Growth community. Y'all are the people that make this podcast possible. Y'all know this.
Alex Judd:
We're rooting for you. We're praying for you. We wanna see you win. Remember, my strength is not for me. Your strength is not for you.
Alex Judd:
Our strength is for service. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
