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"The Art of Wellness" is a high-performance fitness, wellness, and health podcast hosted by Dr. Gerry Robles, PT, DPT, a doctor of physical therapy specializing in treating athletes, active individuals, and fitness enthusiasts.
This podcast dives deep into cutting-edge health science, sports performance, pain management, injury prevention, and holistic wellness—helping you optimize your body and mind. Through expert interviews and thought-provoking discussions, we uncover the SCIENCE AND ART of human performance—because you're not a machine, you're human.
Dr. Gerry is the founder of Art of PT Sports Physical Therapy LLC, a private practice dedicated to personalized, one-on-one care for athletes and active people.
⚡ If you're dealing with knee pain, shoulder pain, or back pain, reach out via Instagram or email—We'll get back to you ASAP!
🎙 Subscribe for episodes featuring top experts in fitness, rehab, and wellness!
What's up? It's Gerry. Arts of Wellness podcast. Coach Ramy's here again. How's life, brother?
How's life, brother? So good. Thanks for having me, doc. It's, great to be here. Number three, I believe one of your highest rated this is our third one, man.
And then I believe I'm one of your highest rated guests. Not that I pay attention or anything, but, I might be one of your highest rated guests. I think both of the ones we did are the highest rated ones. Really? So I think people enjoy our conversations.
I'm assuming. I hope. I hope so. I hope so. Yeah.
I mean, today we're gonna talk about the Epstein files, the current state of the political system, all that stuff. Right? Of course. That's why we're here. That's why we're here, man.
And one hour of that. So, but how's life? How's business? Life is good, man. Business is, the gym is busy.
I was I was letting him know that sometimes in summer, it slows down. People take vacations. They're doing more outside activities, but this summer we've been lucky. We're even getting new members. So, no, everything's good, man.
I can't complain. How about you? Busy. Busy trying to get this other spot open that, I told you about before we started recording. Congrats, man.
That's really, really amazing. That'll be fun. I'll do a little announcement on Instagram. Awesome. So that'd be cool.
Yeah. But, today I wanna talk about more so, man, kind of like a free for all type podcast. I don't really have an outline. I just like the conversations we have. Yeah.
So I was thinking, like, I think entrepreneurship is something that a lot of young guys wanna get into. Yeah. And I wanted to pick your brain as to, like, what what made you wanna start your own business? Good question. And you're you're right.
I think now everyone wants to, you know, be their own boss, and it's glamorized just like being a content creator, which you you're doing. It seems so glamorous, but it's it's challenging. I want to be my own boss because I knew I was too stubborn to ever work for somebody else. When I was when I was in college, I had an argument with one of my professors. I walked out.
I never came back, and I realized I'm never gonna I can't do this. I can't work with a boss. I can't have somebody talk down to me. Like, I'm very respectful. I'm a humble person, but I don't like people being condescending, trying to humiliate me in groups.
And I noticed that my friends who have nine to fives, they complain about that. Oh, my boss embarrassed me in front of everyone today. Oh, I was I I can't do it. So I knew then and there, in my early twenties that I better create a business because there is no way I'm gonna be any good at working for somebody else. What was that argument about?
Do you remember? It was, it was actually it was a political argument. Would you like me to say it? It's not the two. We I was debating with my professor whether, using the atomic bomb against Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the correct decision.
I did not think it was. And my professor, which was odd, instead of just, you know, wanting to find out why I felt the way I was almost taking it personally and getting offended by my and I didn't say anything that I wouldn't be comfortable saying in front of everyone. I was just I was saying more like things according to history. Well, you know, Japan was already ready to surrender. This was just a show of force that was unnecessary.
These are the things I was saying. Okay. If my professor couldn't handle it, I left the class, because she tried to, like, berate me and embarrass me and humiliate me in front of you. She was saying, like, she was basically, like, oh, like, you don't know enough to have this conversation. Well, I'm here to learn from you.
Let's talk In front of everybody? In front of everybody. She tried to, like, basically, like, I know more than you. How dare you question my opinion? Even though she asked the room what they thought, and I raised my hand offering, my response, my opinion.
And I was happy to hear her out. I wasn't taking it personally. And she was a lady. She must have been in her sixties, seventies. And I was shocked at how personally she took it and how sensitive she was and how it became like a a fight almost.
And I was honestly looking to engage and and learn. So I realized that a lot of people in positions of power, whether professors, bosses, what have you, many times are insecure and seek power for the wrong reasons so they could lord over others. Yeah. And I think that was kind of the wake up call for me is that I don't wanna put myself in a situation where I have to shut up and be quiet to appease somebody because they have power over me, because they dictate my future and what I'm gonna do. And, so luckily, I've been training martial arts my whole life, and I think that's what I tell people when they say, oh, Rami, I'm gonna quit school and quit my job like you.
I'm like, well, I was very lucky. I had a skill that I've been training since I was four years old. Right. So if you don't have a tangible skill that you can sell, no, I don't recommend people, oh, I'm gonna be my own boss. Like, you need to have some sort of skills.
You need to have something that you could offer the world. So luckily, I I did. Yeah. I mean, similar with me, I think, man, because I went through a lot of school. Mhmm.
I I know you did. I imagine. I'd hope so. I hated school. Really?
I despise school. I think it always felt like that to me. Yeah. Even like not always. I I shouldn't say always.
I had some great professors. But sometimes it felt like they were just trying to, like, tell you what to do. Mhmm. And I'm I'm not good with being told what to do. Yes.
And in jobs, in school, those types of situations. So I think that's when I realized like, hey, I gotta like I know I knew school was kind of a means to an end for me. Like, I wanted to be a physical therapist Mhmm. And I needed all this school to do it. Yes.
I can't just be like some dude on Instagram saying I'm an expert on injury prevention and all this stuff now. Which I guess is a thing now. You can. Yeah. But I wanted to like like I was good at school though but like I wanted to, again, gain some authority in the field at least.
But not like you said in a way where I could just like tell everybody like, hey, I have this degree. I'm, you know, the man at this now because I'm not. We're always learning. Absolutely. So but I think for me that was definitely the starting point to where I was like, I don't know if I could work in a normal job because if I'm getting this in school, if I'm not liking the way people kinda like tell you what to do in school, I'm gonna hate it when I'm getting paid.
Absolutely. You know? Yes. So, you know, while I didn't like school, well I should've okay. School is kinda weird these days.
I know people hate on it. It's like you don't need it. It's a lot of it's a ton of money. Right. It's a lot of money.
Yes. Absolutely. I know, you know, a lot about that but, I think for me school, this is kinda good that we're talking about this because you're a different side of this. The other side of the coin. Completely different sides.
You're right. But, school for me instead of just like obviously the great education I got, I think for me more so it helped me be more structured. Oh. Do you know what I mean? That makes sense.
Because if not, I'd just be some especially in my twenties and, like, late teens Yeah. Like, in college. Yes. As a young guy, you don't know what the heck is going on half the time. So I think school kinda like centered me into like to focus on this and to be more structured and to have more of a routine Mhmm.
Which at the same time I hate having a routine. Absolutely. But I think I needed it at that time to kinda like funnel my my thinking is it in terms of like not being all over the place as a young guy. Yes. Where I think I I know I I was like that and I think school, like I said, gave me that structure to hone in on what I wanted to do.
I see. Does that make sense? That makes perfect sense. It does. But, yeah.
But for you school was just not You know, I I enjoyed learning. Sometimes I would skip class and go read. Like, so it wasn't that I was opposed to learning. I loved learning. Yeah.
I would get bored in class. I was one of those people in high school, for example, in history. I'd be reading ahead because the reading was too slow for me, and then I'd get called on to read where the rest of the class was. And I'd be, you know, 20 pages ahead, and I'd get in trouble for it. So I felt like the one size fits all method of learning just didn't work for me, and it's actually one of the reasons why, like, in our past conversations I've mentioned that I teach differently, and I kind of personalized the training based on the student Yeah.
Because that wasn't given for me. You know? Especially when I went to college, it was a UIC, so it was huge classes, so many people in the class, and it was just so boring. And I loved learning. I wish it was more stimulating and engaging, man, but Yeah.
I was bored out of my mind, to be honest. I think I was because I went to COD, a community college around here for a while for, like, a year or two, I think. Yeah. A couple years. Mhmm.
And I don't know, man. Maybe it's just being a young guy, but, like, I remember being, like, 18, 19 or 17, 18, 19 fresh out of high school. And And like I said, you don't really know what what's going on in the world at all. And like you said, like, I'm I'm bored all the time but also I'm, like, anxious to, like, do something. Yes.
So I definitely had both of those. Like, I was bored but I was anxious. Yes. And in terms of, like, what do I do? Like Right.
Where do I go from 20 years old to, you know, 36 now? Like Yeah. How do I even fill that that gap of where do I go? What do I do? How do I build my life?
Right. And I think school, I remember like you said, I remember being bored. I remember being like just kinda like not fidgety but like I wanna just like go do something and I think school, it it felt like school was kinda like holding me down in some ways sometimes. I get that. But I think when I went to, like, a better school, I went to North Central in Naperville, they were much more hands on with you.
Okay. In undergrad this is. But, they were much more hands on. They kinda, like, tailored in a way, they kinda honed in as to what I wanted to learn because I didn't really know. Yes.
I just kinda gave my professors this this big list of like I can do this, this, or this and they're like, oh, try this. You seem to have that personality to to help people with this. And I was like, oh, that's cool. Yeah. This this professor actually cares about me.
Yeah. Look at that. And I think like you said big schools sometimes like UIC or I'm trying to name schools but, like, they don't really care. They just care about your money. No.
And I didn't get that in North Central, thankfully, because it was very very hands on and I appreciated that. But That's so interesting because the parallels between, like, the business you run and the business I run is opposed to the big chains. That's the appeal that everyone wants to go to the Harvard or whatever, you know, the big school. Yeah. Mhmm.
But, usually, you'll actually find that you'll do better with a smaller program. Right? Like your business, like mine, because it's tailored for the individual, whereas the big schools, they're factories. Right? They're just popping people out like they have a system.
This is what we do. They want your money. Question it, make sure the check clears. Like Yeah. So, yeah, that people look for that prestige.
And in martial arts, it's funny because people wanna train with big name fighters thinking that somehow, you know, this will, like, trickle down and their skill level will help them when in reality, you're better off training at a smaller gym where the coach actually cares about you. But maybe, yeah, it doesn't have that name. You know? And it's so funny how people look for that name because of the prestige and status. But Yeah.
The smaller programs, whether it be the smaller universities or the smaller businesses like ours Mhmm. I mean, I'm very biased, but I truly feel those are the best, from for so many reasons. Yeah. Let's talk about, like, the beginning stages of our businesses. Like, how was that for you overall?
Like, just starting it. Like, where did you even get the idea to start this? I had, I always used to teach my friends, like, martial arts for fun in my parents' basement when I was a teenager. I bought this eight foot by eight foot judo mat that I, I had this, like, part time job that I was horrible at, and I saved the money from it to buy this judo mat. And I started teaching my friends martial arts, just, like, for fun after school.
And then sometimes we'd spar, and sometimes, you know, we'd, like, film ourselves, like, trying to, you know, fight and Nice. I really enjoyed it. So when I was 22, there was a local gym. That's when I was in the this area actually. It was a Crest Hill.
Oh, yeah. Okay. Gym called Fight Club off Route 30. Okay. And, the owner just walked in.
I was helping train somebody there just, working with a local amateur fighter. And the owner of the gym came in being upset that he just got this ticket. And I thought, okay. Maybe because this guy's stressing about money, I should offer him, like, hey. Can I pay a couple $100 a month to use your space when you're not using it?
He's like, perfect. I just got a ticket for $300. How about $300 a month? I said, okay. You got it.
The only hours they had available were after 09:30PM. So there I was trying to have a business teaching people where the class time was 09:30 to 11PM, Monday through Friday. So imagine what type of clientele I got. It was mostly, like, young dudes from the area who didn't have, like, a lot going on. And But it was great because I got to get my feet wet as a actual coach where people are paying me to coach them.
I had no idea what I was doing business wise. Yeah. I let people walk all over me. Oh, you don't have money? Oh, don't worry about it.
You know, get me whenever you can. Like, running it just out of the passion and love for the sport, that's a horrible way to create a sustainable business. So those are the biggest lessons and growing pains for me where you have to run this like a business. This is not, you know, run it like a business, and it'll treat you like a biz that way I could hire people and hire coaches and have shirts and hoodies, and we look legit. But when I was running it, like, just Whatever.
Oh my god. It was a disaster. It was so stressful. There's no money coming in. Every month was just so stressful every single month.
What was so stressful about it? Just like you didn't have that those boundaries? I didn't have boundaries. I didn't know how to set up, like, credit card payment or anything. So it was cash or check.
So people would come in, oh, I forgot my, you know, their payments. Oh, I forgot my can I get you now? Sure. And then they don't come in for, like, two or three weeks. So when that, you know, one person but when there's ten, twelve, 20 people doing that, and now, you know, you still have to pay your bills, I still have to pay the gym rent, I have to pay insurance, I have to pay all these this doesn't go away.
And I can't tell the insurance company, hey. I got you next month like my students do to me. Mhmm. So that was stressful. Just trying to survive every month was very stressful, and, it was tough.
That that pivot of running it like a real business paid off so, so much, and I'm very glad I did. I think I did that too because I remember well, let me rewind. Mhmm. And I've told this story before, but, like, working in corporate health care Yes. You know, the same thing, like, going back to the school stuff, like Right.
Similar situation, like, I don't like being told what to do. They're kinda telling you how to, like, help people, like, how to treat, certain ailments like a knee injury, knee surgery type thing and so I left. I was like, yeah screw this. And I started in my garage. Same thing as you like people would come to my garage.
I had my treatment table set up. I had my little laptop to take my medical notes or whatever, my my documentation. And it felt like, yeah, like, it was super stressful because I didn't have a spot. Like, my main spot, it was my house, my garage. Right.
I was was a little embarrassed by it because people were coming to my garage, my dirty garage, but people didn't care. Yep. But I think, like you said, is having those boundaries of, like, payments, like, scheduling. People were just kinda like they thought you were just kinda more so their friend and I am but I'm also like their healthcare provider so I have to treat it as such like you know hey like payment is due at this time. Mhmm.
This is the appointment that you made with me, you know, cancellation policies, things like that. And I think I learned that along the way. Yeah. And I think that, you know, in the beginning we kind of do it for the level of the game type thing. We're just kind of like trying to do this just to help people and hoping that they understand that we love doing this and they'll just follow our rules that we don't have.
Right. Right. Right. So once we kinda implement those rules, it's the same thing. Mhmm.
You know, it it takes the stress off of us. Mhmm. It also, like, tells them, like, hey, this is Rami's time and Jerry's time. Let's make sure to be on time and pay them at this, you know, interval or whatever. Yep.
And both sides are less stressed that way. Mhmm. But I think, like you said, having those boundaries is huge. Absolutely. Also tell me if you disagree with me on this but like boundaries and a lot of people say they need yes, we need boundaries.
Sure. I think the flip side of that is people use boundaries these days just to kinda be like an asshole about stuff. Sure. Absolutely. And they create too many boundaries.
Mhmm. So I think on social media there's a ton of people making like, oh, you need boundaries, boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. You have to find that sweet spot of, like, not having too many boundaries where you, like, people don't like talking to you. Mhmm. But also having that boundary of, like, this is my time.
Respect it, please. Does that make sense? It makes perfect sense. And, yeah, I I agree with that. For example, I think when you set up a system that, one, you realize how many businesses that are successful do have these boundaries in place.
Like, for example, my gym is appointment only. We have limited amount of slots per class. So before, people would book a slot in class and not show up, and that would prevent other people from Right. Exactly. Taking that slot.
Mhmm. So we set a $15, it's not much, cancellation where no show, you get hit with $15 just as a way to discourage you. But am I gonna do it at you know, if someone's like, oh, I got into a car accident, I'm like, well, sorry. $15. Yeah.
So, yeah, you don't wanna be like, well, no matter what, sorry. This is the way we do it. Yeah. And on the the other argument be, well, the corporate businesses do that. But that's why I'm not a corporate business.
I don't wanna be as heartless as, you know, insert gym name here. Like, I'm just gonna pick one that's not a like, Orangetheory. I have nothing to do because they don't teach combat sports. Right? I always have to make fun of at least one gym while I'm here.
Sure. They have a they have a policy similar from somebody I know who trains. They're like, yeah. If you don't show up, you know, you get hit with this charge. And you can't tell them, oh, sorry.
I had a rough day. They don't care. Yeah. So as long as I feel like people aren't taking advantage and abusing the system Right. I am lenient.
You know, when they contact our staff, I'm lenient. I'm like, sorry no matter what. I'm gonna so, yeah, I agree with you. There has to be a happy medium. Yeah.
And that's so important. Yeah. And I think we have to, like, take away, like well, I'm super nice. In terms of, like, my business, like, I Yeah. In the end, like, I just wanna help somebody who's in pain.
Like Mhmm. Their knee hurts, their back hurts. I do my best to, like, make exceptions, but also I don't wanna be doing that too much because then, like you said, you spread yourself out too thin and then you're screwed. Exactly. And then people are just, like, walking all over you.
Yeah. So that healthy balance of having those boundaries but also like you said that personal touch is also not being too corporate and having all these rules and regulations that people don't even wanna like converse with you anymore. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Exactly. Because a lot of people who are gonna wanna come to you are coming to you because they like you. And now you've become some robotic, you know, mean dude. And now it's like, well, I could just go to whatever chain It's the same thing. Yeah.
And get the same treatment. I'm going to doctor Jared because I like him and I respect him. Right? So you don't wanna lose that. But I've learned that the best clients I've ever had never haggle about pricing, never give me any issue.
They support my business. And I like that because that's how I support my friends' businesses. If my friend has a restaurant, I don't go in and say, hey. Come on. Let me eat for free.
Let me just it's a I enjoy supporting my friends' businesses. It's a it feels good to support their business. And the friends that do come and wanna take advantage and get everything for free, it's not fair because I would never ask them for their work for free. I would never go to their job. Hey.
Can you do a hour of your work just for the hell of it? You know? They would say no, first of all. Yeah. So it's tough, man.
It's a it's a tough balance. It really is. Yeah. When did you feel like you could be doing this? Like, when did you feel like the business was running like a business?
Do you know what I mean? When, one year, the first year that when I rebranded into Phoenix Sports Empire in 2016. I had a business partner, and we were bangboxing and fitness. He wanted to kinda be more like a fitness boxing, fitness martial arts type deal. We kind of disagreed on the direction we wanted to go, so I asked him like, hey.
You know what? Let me buy out your half, and I just wanna run I saw that he wasn't very interested in it. He just wanted to make money. You know, he liked martial arts, but he wasn't as passionate about teaching and sharing information and knowledge with people. Yeah.
So, late twenty fifteen, I was like, hey. Let me I wanna run this. I have a vision. And, so he's like, yeah. No problem.
I think he was wanting to get out. So in January 2016, I rebranded into Phoenix Sports Empire. I thought the Phoenix was a fitting symbol because, you know, it's something coming from the ashes being reborn, so to speak. And I think the first year that we made, like, enough where I could just cover all expenses, I was like, wow. We could really do this.
Like, we covered our expenses. You know, I didn't lose money running this, business. Yep. And since then, it has been growing each year, and the more I run it like a business while keeping the the touch of Yep. I'm still a caring, good person who isn't all about money.
For me, it's more about teaching and coaching and improving people's lives. And when you focus on that, I think the business will Yeah. Will grow. Ironically. Yeah.
Yeah. It'll grow. Yeah. Yeah. So The more you help people, the more, like and also running, like, a business.
So the blend of both, it kinda grows regardless. So yeah. I've learned that people will respect the business more when they see me running it like a business. When it was before, you know, just kinda willy nilly, whatever. Okay.
Yeah. Get me later. People didn't respect it. Now that we're we have standards, we hold our members to certain standards, we hold our coaches. Hey.
You know, our coaches, you can't be showing up late. You gotta be early. You you gotta look, like, clean. Your stuff has to look good. You can't have everything.
Like, when you really take care of everything, people will respect the business more. Oh, yeah. And the business grows, and they wanna be a part of it, and they wanna buy For sure. Shirts, and they wanna represent your brand outside of the gym. And the big wake up call for me was people I'd never met, never trained, ordering, like, PSE merch online.
I'm, like, shipping it out to all different states across the country. It's like, what? People wanna wear this? They've never taken a class, but they like what we stand for. They like that, you know, our social media presence.
We're very much, hey. We're not this cookie cutter gym. Like Oh, yeah. We're the real deal. Like, you know, we make fun of we poke fun at some of the other gyms.
And Yeah. We do a lot of things that I was told not to do, to be honest, and that goes back to the rebellious streak, not wanting to listen to authority. Hey. You have to market your gym this way. Hey.
Don't do this. Yeah. We just now started a kids program. When we first started, people said, oh, you need a kid. That's number one.
You're not gonna survive. I didn't wanna teach kids. To me, they were annoying most of the time. It was hard to deal with that. So now I have another coach, coach Brooks, who teaches the kids class, and he's amazing with kids.
Mhmm. So now we have a kids program. But if I were to listen to everybody, you know, it just I wanna do what felt right for me. And the more I listen to myself, the better the business did. The more I try to listen to to experts with, oh, you know, my one friend was a MBA, and he's like, you need $250,000 saved up before you open a gym.
If I had listened to him, I wouldn't have a gym till now. I love that. Yeah. Right? And this is the expert.
Yeah. It's like, no. I'm gonna listen to myself. I I know what it needs to be done, and I need to trust my instincts. And since I've done that, and I'm very selective who I take advice from, who I take information from, you know, I'll be polite, nod my head, but in reality, I'm like, I'm not listening to anything this person's saying because this is not my vision for my business.
Right? Why did he say you have to save up 250? Because he probably learned it in grad school and that's what he's repeating he's repeating to me. I love how we make fun of like cookie cutter stuff in school. It's like we it's like our theme.
Like we make fun of like cookie cutter companies in school, but I think a lot of people use that. Well, I don't know. I'm not trying to pick on your friend or whatever but like No. You can pick on him. Well, he's not there.
He's not that cool. Okay. Not just him, but people in general, like, they they wanna, like, wait for this perfect time to come. And the more you wait in life, the more you realize there is no perfect time. Doesn't exist.
It doesn't exist. Doesn't exist. I wish I wanted to. Right? Isn't that so weird?
We weren't there earlier, man. Like, oh, I need this much money to start a business. Like, I started in my garage with a table and I I had, oh, man, a $170,000 in debt from grad school. Yeah. I can imagine.
Yeah. What do you Yeah. No one would have told you to run a business. Oh. But also I hated my other job.
I didn't hate it but I didn't like it. Sure. Hate's a strong word. No. I get it.
I hate the company not the clinic I was at. I love the people there. But, yeah. Like, when am I supposed to wait till I'm 50 and I'm debt free then do it then I'm just like or 55 or 60. I mean, it's not that's not realistic No.
In my neither is I guess starting a business with all that debt but at the same time, like, if I'm gonna do it, like, I need to figure it out now. That's right. And if I could scale it, if people like it Mhmm. Hey, man. No time like the present.
Exactly. Right. Exactly. People, like, oftentimes are waiting for that perfect time that never comes, and then they're 60 and they're like, hey. Like, they're just talking down to people that did do it, and they're just haters.
Exactly. That was literally my next point is that where I think people like this who say, oh, no. Don't do this until you reach this level. They're projecting their own insecurities. And, really, what they're saying is, how dare you do something so bold and so courageous when I can't even do it?
And I'm older, wiser, have more money, what have you, more experience. So who are you to have this ambitious idea? You wanna create your own academy. And not only that, but you wanna make it semi private, and you wanna go against all the rules of marketing. And who are you to do that?
That feels threatening to them. Right? Because their own insecurities are being projected. I could never do that, so, therefore, I'm gonna tell Rami that he can't do it either. Yep.
Right? And that's why I had to start really being careful who I listen to because I noticed a lot of it was people just their fear. They were projecting it onto me. You know? They're fearful.
They never really went for whatever it is that they wanted to do, and they feel more comfortable making sure that I also don't go for it. Right? Because And that's my biggest fear is not going for it. Exactly. And thankfully, I learned that, like, at somewhat young age, but, let me clarify something.
I didn't have so, like, the debt that the debt that I did have Right. When I started my business, it was still a lot. Like, I think I paid off, like, $70. I heard I heard Brian, like, gasp back there that it was a ton of money. So I did have originally $1.70 Yeah.
Thousand in debt from PT school. Sure. Super expensive. Yeah. Obviously, grad school is very expensive these days.
But I think when I started maybe I had like a $100 in debt which is still a lot. Still a lot. A lot of people would be scared. They'd wanna do something safer so that they could pay off that debt in a guaranteed fashion. So you still that's still too tough.
But physical therapy school, there's a lot of chatter online of people like like, complaining about the money. Like, I did it maybe the wrong way where I went out of state for school. It was like a big nice school, University of Iowa. Like, I was out of state. It was probably double the price, but I was like, I liked it there.
Let me just let me just do it, you know? And maybe I didn't know any better better either because I was like, you know, in my family we don't have a lot of people that went to college. Right. I was just like, let me just do something, you know? And I'll deal with it later.
Mhmm. Thankfully, I paid off my debt, what, like a couple months ago? That's amazing. And I'm losing debt free. That's incredible.
What a great feeling that must be. No. That's that's amazing. But I see a lot of people online that, in the PT discussions where, like, is physical therapy school even worth it with all the debt? I think that's more of a bigger discussion like a school worth it these days and I think it's a a very lame kind of way of putting it but I think it's very true is if you love something enough and you work at it hard enough, you'll succeed at at it.
You know what I mean? Like Mhmm. That's what I did with PT school and and physical therapy in general. I had a ton of debt. I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do after I quit my job.
I knew I wanted to start a business, but I was still living at home. Mhmm. Thankfully, I'm very frugal and every paycheck I got went to my debt. Right. I don't require much to live.
Right. I just need my laptop and food and somewhere to sleep. Right. Right. So I wasn't spending money on anything.
Mhmm. But it's tough when you're like I said, when you have that debt, when you don't know what to do. But I think, like we said, there's no right time anyway. Never. And if I could do it like that, I mean, there's plenty of people at a better start off point than me right now and they're still afraid to do it.
Oh, absolutely. And it's like, hey hey, man. Like, it's now or never in a way. And sometimes you have to put that pressure on yourself because if not, time goes by so fast So quick. And you're how old?
I'm 36 now as of, like seven. A few weeks ago. Oh, happy happy birthday, man. Thanks, dude. Happy birthday.
I'm 37, so Yeah. Very close to the same age. But time flies. And the older you get, you notice it goes by quicker. Right?
It goes faster. Like, when you are a child and you're not in charge of your own time, time tends to go by slow. But when you have appointments and you're driving from here to this, you have a just days kinda blend together, becomes a blur. Yeah. It it's really it's really shocking how quickly time goes by, and you're right.
You have to act. You there is no time to waste, and it's better to start and fail. Like, so I'm glad I didn't know what I was doing at 22 running a business Mhmm. Because it's better than being 32 and not knowing what you're doing. Right?
So by this time, 37, where most people are maybe thinking about starting a gym Mhmm. I've been running an academy for fifteen years. So I've made all the mistakes. All of them. Right?
It's not like, oh, I'm I'm a expert, and I it just took off right away. Absolutely not. Like I said, I had no I was just thinking my drop in fee for classes used to be $5. And if people didn't have $5, I would let them clean the mats instead. So imagine how am I gonna make a living charging people less than a a Happy Meal?
You know, I didn't know what I was doing. It felt weird to charge people. I always taught martial arts out of love and as a path. So now I'm making them pay money for something I would do for free. If I won the lottery, I'd be doing what I'd I'm doing now.
Yeah. I like teaching martial arts. It's Same. What I enjoy. Right?
So, yeah. I made all the mistakes, and I'm so glad I didn't wait until I was ready because that's a myth, like you said. There is no ready. I thought about fighting, with business, with anything. You will never feel ready, especially if you're somebody who is very analytical, very self critical.
You'll definitely never feel ready. And Is that you? Absolutely. Yeah. Me too.
Never felt like, I was, you know, good enough or ready. When I started teaching, I was like, oh, why would anybody wanna learn from me? There's a better boxer out there who could teach them. Why would anybody wanna learn jiu jitsu from me? There's world champions you could learn from us.
So I felt inadequate in every aspect Yeah. With fighting, who am I to make it as a you just doubt yourself because it doesn't seem that realistic. Mhmm. So, yeah, I'm very self critical critical. I'm always analyzing my actions and my failures and my successes.
And even my successes, I'll be, I should've did this, Should've done that. And that can really hold you back. Oh, yeah. It was tough to kinda get out of my own head Oh, yeah. Be more action based than just someone who's a perfectionist because perfection is like the enemy of being good.
And being good at something is awesome. Right? Being good at running a gym is great, but waiting until you're gonna be perfect at it, it's it's not a reality. Comes anyway. Never it never happens.
Never comes. Yeah. I'm the same way, but, like, yeah, very much, like, somewhat of perfectionist, I would say, but I think, like you said, the big thing is getting out of your own way type deal. Absolutely. Because, like, I was gonna ask you this too.
Like Mhmm. Do you think you were more afraid of success or afraid of failure? Man, I think for a long time, I thought I was afraid both. It it definitely was a little bit of both. Okay.
I was afraid of, I think what really stops a lot of us, myself included, is looking dumb or looking stupid in front of people or falling on your face when everyone knows your ambition is to create an academy or be a fighter, and then you don't make it. You don't do it. And I spend so much time worrying about the opinions of people who now I don't care what they think about me. And I can't believe I let their opinions dictate my actions for so many years. Right?
Worrying. It just if I could go back, I would remind myself, Romy, these people's opinions don't matter. Yeah. Do what feels right to you. Go for it.
Make the mistakes. Fall flat on your face. All the people that we respect and admire, we've seen them fail countless times. Right? My favorite fighters have lost devastatingly time and time again.
Who cares? Right? That's part of it. So it's the same thing with running a gym, same thing with running any sort of business, being an athlete, being a fighter, martial artist. Failure is a part of it.
There's no way to avoid it. Yeah. And a lot of mine was, yeah, avoiding failure. Right? And then later on, once I got deeper into my psyche and the way I thought, I realized I did also fear success to some level.
Agreed. Yeah. And that was the weird part to kinda wrap my head around that. What do you mean you you fear success? But, no, I I I definitely did.
I never wanted to be perceived as anything other than humble, down to earth. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Who does Rami think he is?
You know? Yeah. When people go, oh, Rami has a program with two locations. I would always cringe like, I'm I've never been good with compliments. I've just Same.
I'm always like that. So, yes, it's both. The fear of success and the fear of failure were definitely halting me from achieving my full potential in whatever I was doing. Yeah. I think, like you said, the older I got, the more I realized I was afraid of success more.
Yeah. Because like you said, you're kind of like especially growing up, I mean, from school is well, it's part of it but maybe your upbringing and and all that stuff but is to like, hey, remain humble. Yeah. Just don't make a lot of noise. Mhmm.
Don't be the center of attention type type deal. Mhmm. And when you're successful, in a way you kinda have to be that that lead person in your field. Like for you it's martial arts. For me it's physical therapy.
Right. Health care, and that's okay. Like, we know what we're doing at this point. I hope in some ways I hope so. Maybe we're not we're not perfect at it, but we're well equipped to, like, help people in physical therapy and martial arts.
Yes. Where I think I don't know. Maybe I got over that fear of failure a while ago, but that's definitely the first part of it is you don't wanna look stupid. Exactly. But then when you get older and you kind of been through all those failures, you're like, hey.
Do I wanna be do I want everybody all these eyeballs on me as I succeed and succeed and get better at these things. Exactly. And that's also a scary, scary thing I would say. But at the core of it, it's just fear anyway. Why are you afraid to do what you love and share it with people?
Exactly. You know, it's you shouldn't be afraid of that but Exactly. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's like social conditioning or something that people are just like dampens their personality and their their love and passion for something and they have to just like I'm not trying to rag on people that do like have a normal job and they go to work and Not at all. And that's fine.
You know what I mean? But, I think a lot of those people wanna do something and they don't. And like we said, you know, they blink and then they're 60 and then they're just like, hey, like, where'd the time go? I can't do this anymore. Like, I'm too I'm too old.
Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I don't feel it like when I did when I was 20 or 30 and then time passed you by and then you're like, why did I not at least try? And I think maybe in a way society is set up that way to where you just kinda blink and then time passed by.
You go to work nine to five. Yep. Week after week, years go by. Yep. You're kinda just in this haze of Mhmm.
I don't know. What? Yeah. A haze, I guess. Yeah.
You probably get some weird vortex of just like living and you're not actually living. You're absolutely right, man. I I saw this, years ago. I saw this I I haven't watched a lot, but I saw this TED Talk, and this one stood out to me so much because it was about parents talking to their children about their dreams and their careers. And what this speaker said is when we tell, for example, kids, hey, mom, dad, I wanna be a a rock star.
We always say, oh, no. That's a hobby. Why don't you, focus on math? You're so good at math, for example. The parent means well.
They're not trying to limit their child. They're fearful for them. So going back to fear. But what the speaker said is what you he said that this is, of course, a projection and what you need to do as the parent or as the leader or as the guide, when you go for your dreams and you shoot for them and you really give it your all and you something good will happen from that. Right?
If you wanna be the best boxer who ever lived, you might not become the best box, but I bet you're gonna end up being a pretty good boxer. I bet you're gonna be way better than somebody whose goal is, ah, maybe I'll train once a week and see what happens. Yep. So what the speaker said was when kids come up to you or people looking for advice, the best thing to do is having gone for it yourself. And that way you can tell them, yes.
You can be a rock star. I know you can because I wanted to be an astronaut, and I became an astronaut, so I know you can become a rock star. So imagine how much more motivating that will be for the next generation rather than, well, you know, music's kind of just a hobby. So Yeah. Why don't you you're so good at this.
It's because you yourself haven't gone for it. Weird. When you've gone for it, you can tell other people to do it also. You can tell people to start a business. Mhmm.
You can tell people, you know, hey. You can start your own, but you don't have to work for these big corporate entities. You could do your own thing. And people will believe it, and it'll motivate them because you did it. Yeah.
Whereas if you didn't, if you had still been working for the corporation that you didn't enjoy working for, maybe your advice would be, you know, I know opening your own business sounds cool, but you should always play it safe because that's a guaranteed paycheck. So that's how we break the cycle of stopping people from at least going for their dreams is by going for them ourselves. And when we go for them ourselves, we'll encourage others to do the same thing. Yeah. So being able to tell somebody, I know you can do it because I did it, is so much more powerful than, no.
I want you. Imagine telling a child to operate out of fear. What does that do for the rest of their life? Right? And and, again, these people usually mean well.
Yeah. And that's why you still have to be careful taking advice from people who mean well. Some of the worst advice I've ever received were from people who loved me very much, cared for me, and meant very well. Yep. Right?
It was horrible advice. I wouldn't be, where I am today. And I also wanna point in success because people think, oh, success like, for me, success is being in control of my day to day. That's what I wanted. That was my goal.
Right? Yep. I don't need, a Bentley to consider myself. In fact, I'm not you know, I'll take it. Somebody wants to offer, I'll tell you.
I'll give you my address. You know, you can ship it over. Yeah. But for me, a material item was never a source of success because, one of my dad's friends is a doctor, and he has a Bentley. And I asked him I asked him.
I said, how long did this car make you happy for? And he said, about two weeks. And I always thought that was so because he was told the truth. He's like, yeah. About two weeks.
After that, it's just my car. You know, he goes to the grocery store. He goes So that's the reason. Yeah. So imagine that's like the height of, you know, status.
Right? Yeah. Two weeks. Whereas the careers we have, that gives you way more than two weeks worth of time. Two weeks is a long time.
Two weeks is a long time to be about a car. Right? To be excited every time you get in. Yeah. And, you know, when I get, a new Toyota, I'm excited for two weeks too.
Oh, look at the speakers, the sound. So I get it, but then you adjust. Right? But things like making a difference in people's life, being able to wake up and have a slow morning. I like to wake up, make coffee, listen to music, plan my day, sit on the balcony.
To me? Cold plunge. Cold plunge, of course. Yeah. Weighted best push ups.
Yeah. Exactly. Loser or whatever. That's funny because it's a callback to our last episode. Of course.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. It is. So for me, being in charge of my day was was what I wanted for success. Because, again, I have plenty of friends who have make far more money than me.
I have friends who are lawyers, friends who but they always come, like, man, Rami, I wish I could I wish I had your schedule. I wish I could The freedom. Right? The freedom. That's that's what I wanted.
That's and I have I make a living of course. Of course. You need money. You need both. Unfortunately.
Unfortunately. But I think that freedom of making your own schedule and helping people in the way that we do is the true success. Exactly. And of course like we said waking up at 3AM cold plunging and doing everything perfectly infrared sauna. Every morning, infrared sauna That's right.
Your ear lobes or whatever. It has to be perfect. It has to be perfect. Morning. You can't have one bad day.
No. Or you're screwed. No. Exactly right. Right.
Then it's just then you can't succeed at all. I I did wanna touch on parenting. We'll come back on that later but, like, since the podcast is called wellness Right. And wellness encompasses yeah. I wanna you know, obviously, my my goal with the podcast in a way is to tell everybody about physical therapy and why I love it so much.
The role that we have in health care to me is a very powerful role. But I think I I I named it wellness because I wanna talk about other things that encompass wellness like our mental well-being, our physical well-being. Yeah. I wanted to touch on, like, what what things do you do Like, what do you do in your daily life that keeps you well? Let's talk about mental wellness.
Like, how do you, I guess, keep your sanity? That's a great question. Yeah. I don't know if I am successful at that Right. Yeah.
Every day. For me, I I it it was weird because some days when I would have, like, let's say, a day off, I'd be very bored, very unhappy, and I started realizing I'd become too much, like, fixated on this, like, hustle mentality. Like, oh, I always need to have appointments. I need to have this. And when I didn't, I'd feel empty.
And I realized that I don't need to be working all the time to be happy, but I need to be doing pursuing something. If I'm reading, if I am going to the gym, not to train, but just for myself, you know, to swim or to sit in the sauna, actually. No no joke here. I like I like being busy at a relaxed pace, if that makes sense. That makes me happy.
I tend to have anxiety. So for me, I need a release for my anxiety. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I I don't take medication.
I've never been diagnosed, but I I have anxiety. So Yeah. For me, I need a release for my anxiety, which is why I love training so much because I noticed when I'm done training, of course, my body feels better. I feel good. I feel strong.
Yep. I feel mentally relaxed. I feel calm. I feel I can make better decisions. So I realized that for me, having a healthy release for my pent up emotions, whatever they may be, is so important.
Being being social, sometimes that could be difficult. Having conversations with people, talking to people who I love, like my mom, my dad, my sibling, my partner, talking to these people and, having meaningful conversations helps with my mental health. Sometimes I feel like I'm a one man army, and it's me against the world. And That's me. And that is that is unhealthy, I've realized.
Right? Right. You can't it can't be a you against the world. You're gonna lose. Right?
Oh, yeah. You are. So Oh, yeah. You are. So, yeah, just having a a small but trustworthy support system and a community is so important because as human beings, we're communal people.
Now more than ever, it's so easy to be isolated. Yep. And we could feel like we're engaged because we're on our phone, we're commenting, we're talking, we're messaging. So weird. Having actual interaction.
Right? Yeah. So I noticed when I'm leaving, visiting my parents, and I'm leaving, I feel happy. I feel, like, at peace. I feel like, oh, I was I feel grounded.
Right? I visit my sibling once a week. My sibling, Sara, lives in the North Side of the city. Every week, I go there, hang out with them and their roommates, have fun, talk. We watch, like, shitty reality TV and make fun of it while it's, you know, just something like just to unwind and have fun and joke.
I feel good when I do these things. So for me, it is difficult. Every day, I have to do something different to make sure that my mental health is in a good space. So some days, it might be reading a book on my balcony. Some days, it might be taking a long walk.
Some days, it might be a phone call with somebody I haven't spoken to a while. I always have to do something to address these feelings that I have. And for me, it's mostly anxiety, overthinking. And I wanna touch on the only emotion that men grow up thinking is acceptable, which is anger. That's the only emotion men are you can express anger.
Right? I'm pissed off right now. Yeah. You and me both. I'm about to punch this wall to prove how manly I am right now.
Actually, I'm my fist is balled up. So we should encourage men to show all sorts of emotions because that sort of repression is so dangerous. And not, of course, men, but with men particularly told, like, oh, be stoic. Be stone faced. Yeah.
These people will tell you that they're all liars. They're the same people who drink all the time, have a second family, abuse their wife and their kids, and they're telling you, be stoic. Don't a real man don't show. They're liars. Okay.
You're boring as Exactly right. They're exactly right. So that's my very long winded answer to your symbol. What what do you think? Well, I I definitely agree with that.
I wanna talk about, like well, yeah. To go back on the story stuff, I think, especially in my twenties Mhmm. And I think now more so, it's even more prevalent, online and social media especially as young guys. Like like you said, you have to be stoic. You have to be manly.
You have to be it's weird. Like, and I remember watching those same videos when I was like, it's the same stuff regurgitated Same stuff. All the time. Same stuff. But now it's just on TikTok as opposed to YouTube or forums, like, when I was 20 or 19.
Yeah. It's the same advice. Same stuff. So it's like and I remember I remember doing that. And in a way, it's kinda good to, like, yeah, like, bust your ass, like, hone in on it, have blinders, don't listen to anybody.
Just it's it's all you, you versus the world. Mhmm. You know, in a way you kinda have to go through that sometimes, especially, I know I did in my early twenties. Like, I didn't need anybody, like Right. Screw everybody else.
I could do this myself. And I still kinda have that in me sometimes, but I have to, like, like you said, in the way you win in the end you win is with people helping you Yes. And a community around you and your team with you and not being so like robotic. Mhmm. Because people don't wanna be around you if you're just deadpan.
I have this, this, and this to do. Mhmm. Like, come on, man. Lighten up. Like, life you're gonna be dead one of these days.
Like, have fun with it. You know what I mean? And I think letting go of that Mhmm. But also still kinda having that, like, hustle mentality Mhmm. Is good.
But also, like, being carefree and, like, talking to everybody, having making friends, not being afraid to involve people. And because I know in my twenties, like, I don't want, like, get involved with anybody at all, like friends or relationships, stuff like that because I knew I had to, like, study in school, like, study this, study that, be so, like, rigid with everything where I think that messes people up too. Yep. You know what I mean? Oh, yes.
Especially young guys. I think Exactly right. Where I think, like, in my mid twenties, early thirties, I was like, I don't really have a lot of friends anymore. Like, where did all that go? Like, I was just isolating myself.
Mhmm. Thankfully, like, as you get older, you learn and you're like, oh, hey, I need to, like, have a team and let go of all that. Like, I gotta be mister hardcore all the time because it doesn't help anybody. Exactly right, man. And these stories of an individual succeeding against all odds are romanticized, and we're just these stories are shoved down our throat, and you realize none of them are true.
You know, you hear all for example, Jeff Bezos started Amazon in his garage with a he had a $300,000 loan from his family. So imagine that's double the debt you were in. Yeah. You know? So, yes, he did it.
He created it and, you know but these stories, I wish we would tell the truth when it comes to stories and how we accomplish, which is why I believe this type of transparency is good. I am not a one man army. My parents helped me so much. My family helps me Yeah. So much.
My students help. Without them, I I do need them literally to survive. Right? Right. Right.
I am not a one man. I am the product of my community, my family, my people. Without them, I would be nothing. And I realize there's power and there's strength in saying that instead of being in denial, no one ever helped me. Impossible.
Impossible. There's not one story of somebody who did it completely on their own without help or support. Yeah. I don't care. Name, you know, Jay z.
His partners were millionaire drug dealers who financed, you know, the Rockefeller records. Right? Biggs and Dame Depp. So there's always a asterisk next to these self made now, again, I'm not trying to take away from anyone who's accomplished something incredible, but I think it's detrimental to young men and young people when we think like, oh, yeah. You can do it on your own.
You don't need anybody. This person did it on their own. No. They did not. No one did it on their own.
Dana White ended up going to high school with the Fertitta brothers who are billionaires who bought the UFC Yeah. Per his recommendation. That's not self made. You have friends who are billionaires. Like, that's like winning the lot, who will listen to you.
You know, imagine having that in your back pocket, having two friend two brothers who are dynasty you know, Vegas dynasty brothers, and they have billions of dollars, and they're ready to spend it to support you. Yeah. We have to give credit where credit is due, and we have to kill this myth that you it's you against the world. And you're right. When people like Andrew Tate started coming out, I was like, is this a joke?
This is the same bullshit I used to read on, like, IGN and other forms. The same stuff. The same thing word for word. Websites. It's the same stuff.
It's the same shit. And when I was, like, 12, I kinda bought into it for a little bit, and then I outgrew it at, like, 14, 13 years old. But now I see grown men idolizing these very basic ideas, you know, of being against women and being against this and being against anyone who's different from you and real men do this. What is a a real man? You know?
Like, this whole idea of masculinity has been so, like, bastardized, and it's so weird now. And, like, it's it's strange. I do feel bad for young people who have these people as their role models because they're being misled, unfortunately. Yeah. Especially when you're young and you don't know any better and you just try to emulate them Yep.
And you just become a pawn in their game essentially and you're not yourself. Exactly. And that's the true masculinity is being yourself. True anything and true being yourself as anybody in the world is if you're not yourself people see right through that and they're like, oh, this person is just being a fake. If you're just acting like this person you see online Mhmm.
Like, oh, this guy is just overcompensating for his Exactly. For being a a little You said it. Yep. Exactly. You're right, man.
You're absolutely I mean, yeah. If you're not yourself, again, like I said, people don't wanna be around you. No. And you're gonna learn that real quick. Mhmm.
And no one's gonna help you. You're gonna be by yourself. Yep. You're gonna be forty, fifty, 60. Mhmm.
You got no friends because you're trying to be mister cool guy all the time. Exactly. Exactly, man. Exactly right. But I guess we we are kind of veering into that men's mental health stuff, which I did wanna actually Mhmm.
Do this with you. So, hopefully, you come back. We could talk about this a little bit more. Yeah. But you mentioned parenting.
Mhmm. Right? We're both in our late thirties. You don't have any kids. Right?
Not I don't have any kids. Not that I know of. Yeah. I think so. No.
I don't. Do you wanna have kids? If my kids are out there, contact me. No. I'm just kidding.
You know, for a long time, I I didn't want to. I was strongly against it. But now as I get older, I can see I can see, like, the benefit and the appeal of having a family and living for more than just yourself. So I think I think I would. I think I've changed my mind.
My my early twenties was like, I'm never you know, I'm gonna focus on myself. That was me until two years ago. Right? I get it. Me too.
It was a long oh, man. Ask my girlfriend. It's been a tough road. Many people have told me, oh, you'd be such a good father, this and that, but I never understood it. I felt like I wasn't ready going back to not being ready.
I felt like it's a freedom to have a bad parent. That's what everybody always tells me. My my parents were ten years younger than me now when they had me, and I'm sure they weren't ready either. Right? At 27.
So, how how about you? I mean, it's different now because, like, it it is like a later generation, like, where everybody's waiting to do everything. Yeah. Which in a way it's, I mean, it just is what it is. I don't think it's good or bad.
Right. I think you I mentioned, like, I don't want anything to do with kids or relationships until I was, I don't know, a couple years ago, honestly, Because it it always felt to me, maybe this is like my my weird, like, neuroticism of, like, not wanting to get not wanting things to get in the way of my business or, like, my goals type deal. Yeah. Yeah. And like I told you, like, that's that's not good.
It's not good. You know what I mean? You can't be so, like, rigid in your ways that you're just neglecting other people. But I knew I wanted kids. Mhmm.
I definitely want kids. Mhmm. It just took me a while to figure out what I want to do with my life. But again, like, that was my journey, I guess you could say. Yeah.
Like, there's never a right time to have kids. I've known people who have kids at 21, at 20, and they're perfectly fine. They're fine. They're they're doing well. They make it work.
Right. Kids pop out and you're still like, what the heck's going on? What do I do? I don't care if you're a zillionaire or you don't know what's going on. Absolutely.
It's still a learning process. But, yeah, I want kids. I'm sure you'd be I think people who have you could see the characteristics that lead to good parents. Right? And I think you have them.
You're you're honest. Oh. You're smart. You're thoughtful. But and you're somebody who I I I can see.
Like, sometimes I worry when friends might tell me, oh, yeah. We're having a baby. I'm like, oh, man. Congratulations. But deep down, I'm like, I don't know.
But even then, I've seen them, like, transform Exactly. Into a good situation. Mother. You're like, oh, wait. Where was this when I first met them?
Like, now they're good people because they have to be in a way. Exactly right. And if you're a deadbeat parent Yep. You're a a loser. That's the worst thing you can do.
Then that's it. And I'm glad I didn't have children when I was more self centered in my, let's say, early, mid, and late twenties. I was very much like my career, my this, I have to accomplish this. And I'm sure had a kid Mhmm. Came up, I would have done my best, and I would have changed.
But now I have a mentality that I feel will be much more suited to being a parent, being a leader, being a guide and a protector for somebody. Yeah. It's a also, I think I don't know. Maybe this generation, I think they're more so, like like I said, it's okay to wait. Yeah.
Or I think maybe us, we're kind of in the middle, like, I know, like, my parents are, like, family or friends that I have. Like, why aren't you having kids or whatever? Like, at the same time, it's like that's not I'm not there yet. Like, I'll get there when I get there. I I knew I wanted to have kids, even when I was younger.
Mhmm. But I didn't want them to to get in the way. That sounds bad. No. But they won't anyway because I know I would make it work regardless Work.
In my, you know, I guess my maturity now, where I'm at now. But, I think we're closing on an hour here. Another quick topic I wanted to touch on was this is maybe we shouldn't talk about this now, but maybe next time. To be continued, is relationships, like, I guess, either romantic or social relationships? Mhmm.
Because I know me, like, I told you, like, now I know, like, especially in my thirties, like, I have my friend group. I have, other relationships that I kinda cultivated in my late twenties or late thirties where I think helped me a lot. Yes. How did you go about navigating and building those relationships? And we'll kinda end on this.
Okay. And you mean, like, romantic relationships? Both. Well, yeah. Yeah.
Start there. Yeah. Let's start there. Let's do it. For me, earlier in my, like, adult life, I would date people just based on, like, all compatibility.
We get along, and I didn't have a purpose, especially because I didn't think that I would get married or start a family. So my things I looked for were different. I've just recently started learning, like, what kind of person I'm looking for, what kind of person I work best with. So for me, that was man, I had I'm, like, a serial monogamous. So I date somebody for a while.
You know, we basically become partners, and I would find out a little too late that it wasn't the right person for me. Right? It's a little too late, like, how Sometimes after years. Yeah. Yeah.
Sometimes after years, man. Yeah. Exactly right. But it helped me learn who I was looking for. Yeah.
Just you know, it's like anything. You you have to make those not mistake. These people were not mistakes. They just weren't the right person for me. They're all great people.
I'm thankful, for their presence in my in my life. But I knew that something was special about my current girlfriend, Asha, when two weeks into dating, she came to my apartment with a full presentation of things that I should do to make my business a better business and a more professional business. She liter and I had no idea she was gonna do this. It was amazing. It was mind blowing.
And I was like, oh my god. I had never experienced that type of, like, support, thoughtfulness, care. And to this day, I mean, she created our website. She does, like, the customer service stuff. She designs our merch.
Like, so that to me is like a partner. Right? And that fits so outside of business too. We're just somebody that you can laugh with and look forward to being around. Like, I look forward to hanging out with her every day, and that was something that before, I'd wanna hang out with my friends.
Okay. Now I gotta go home and right? Unfortunately, that's the truth. But, oh, man. This topic, you we will have to talk about it.
I'm just kidding. Or am I? I don't know. No. I know.
Definitely, I think I was kinda the opposite where I you said it was how long did you say you were with somebody until you figured it out? Like, I never a couple years. Sometimes Yeah. Yeah. Other end of the spectrum where I was like, this person just getting in the way.
I need to leave which isn't good either. Okay. You know what I mean? You drop them quickly. That's not a cool either way it's like you need that healthy balance of like and this is gonna get we'll pick up on this probably next time but like I think it it just it felt like they were getting in the way and that's not a healthy perspective, with anybody.
Exactly. Whether it is romantic or just social maybe making a new friend or something. Mhmm. And that was like early early twenties where I think mid twenties I started seeing the opposite effect where I'm like, let me try to bring people in my life. And I think that involves being social Mhmm.
And meeting people. And in a way, I think a lot of young guys now are just taught to focus on themselves Yeah. Focus on money, focus on all this Yeah. Which is good. I'm not saying that's bad, but I think you can blend it with finding your tribe too and not ignoring people.
Mhmm. You know what I mean? I do. And I think that helped me a lot Mhmm. Where I was I found that balance of I need to hustle, but also I need to find my my friends and also have successful romantic relationships too.
Mhmm. And that helped me a zillion times more. I was like, oh, this is making me more personable. I can talk to it. I can network now.
Exactly. I feel like I'm more in tune with what's going on socially around me. Mhmm. And I think that helped me overall build my business and become successful in this field because I wasn't a robot who was just like one track minded all the time. Does that make sense?
Oh, it makes perfect sense, man. Yeah. Yeah. We'll end on that, and we'll pick that up whenever you wanna come back. Next time, man.
I'm ready. Website, Instagram Yes. Please, OnlyFans. OnlyFans, of course. That's top priority.
Find me Rami Dawood on OnlyFans. No. Don't don't look that up. There might be some yeah. There might be somebody with a different so, phoenixsportsempire.com.
If you'd like to train with me, I'd love for you to train with me. Instagram is Rami the Giant. My gym's Instagram is Phoenix Sports Empire. We're on TikTok now. Phoenix, I'm trying to Empire.
We're on TikTok now. Phoenix, I'm trying to follow doctor Jerry's lead. So Phoenix Sports Empire. No. You're killing it on TikTok.
Thanks, man. I'm trying. And you get you get all those views, man. I don't I'll I'll tell you some things that have been working for me. Yeah.
But it's been a lot of trial and error. Yeah. And shout out to, the coaches at PSC, Brooks, coach Jaime, Enrique. Shout out to Asha for helping me run the business, and shout out to all my students. I appreciate you all so much.
Yeah. As always, you guys could find me. My website is artofpt.com. That's my private practice. Art of PT Sports Physical Therapy.
That's where I treat athletes and active individuals, people who are just staying active. That's my website. You could contact me on there, book a free virtual consult. I have my newsletter called the PT handbook that I send out every other week, every Thursday. It's a good newsletter, by the way.
I read it. Oh, you read it? Okay. Thanks. I read it.
It's very good. No. I'll send it. Feedback too. I read everything.
So, simple PT tips, also diving into research on on pain and sports rehab, stuff like that. So it's it's an easy read. It's like a couple paragraphs I write in there. Maybe I I plug this YouTube podcast, my other podcast on Spotify and, Apple podcasts. Same podcast, just different platforms.
A lot of stuff on there, announcements I'm gonna have in the future on that newsletter, website newsletter, and, yeah, I think that's it. Cool? Cool, man. Good, man. Thanks for having me on.
We'll catch you guys next time, this camera. See you guys. Peace.