Protect The Asset E17 - Carlos Fernandez: From a place of passion.

My guest today is Carlos Fernandez.

Now I came across Carlos's Instagram account as we have very similar interest in training.

I checked out his profile. I visited his website, and I signed up to his newsletter just out of interest.

That's when I realized that Carlos has only been in the online personal training space for less than a year, and yet he's got a very professional and mature attitude to business, and he's a long way ahead of most personal trainers who are trying to build an online business.

I was curious to connect with Carlos and hear more about his story.

Why did he become an online personal trainer?

Where did he learn about building an online business?

What are his visions and goals for the future,  and how does he perform his standing side splits without snapping himself in half.

In this episode we cover a lot of these points as well as building a business from scratch, imposter syndrome, time management, career vision, education, mentors, choosing a niche and a lot more.

Carlos is a very switch on guy who is obviously very passionate about handstands strength and flexibility training.

Even though he's new to online personal training, he's got his head in the game, and there's a lot personal trainers can learn from this episode.

So strap yourself in and prepare to protect your number one asset.

[00:01:56] Carlos Fernandez: So I'm an online coach. I teach adults of all ages from all over the world how to improve their strength, how to improve their flexibility, and how to learn cool skills like handstands, , and it's pretty vague. 


[00:02:11] I know that that sounds like, well, that could mean a lot of different things, and that's, That's by design. Like I realized that people's interpretation of what strength is and what flexibility is, and what skills are as well, varies. And I didn't wanna pigeon my whole pigeon and hold myself into. A very tight niche because it means so much, so many different things to different people. 


[00:02:32] So it's vague by design and, and I sort of just share different things, you know, through the different social media outlets and let people come on by and try to learn new things. . 


[00:02:43] Stretch: Yeah. Awesome mate. I like the approach. I'm gonna definitely talk to you about your nation, like where that came from. 


[00:02:47] But before we sort of sort of dig into the coaching and your own training what were you doing previously before you became a coach? 


[00:02:55] Carlos Fernandez: So before I came a coach, actually before I came a coach, I was in grad school. And then before grad school, I was working as a chemical engineer for five years. 


[00:03:05] So that was, that was my job. That's what I did as an, as a professional adult, you know, like a working adult. Did that for five years and decided to pursue a few different just a completely different path in life. 


[00:03:18] Stretch: Chemical engineer to personal trainer. That's a, that's a big leap. 


[00:03:21] Carlos Fernandez: It is a big one. I, it's kind of funny, like, I never, ever in my life thought I would be a coach or a personal trainer. Like that's not one thing that ever crossed my mind and neither engineering, neither the way that I think my life has played out dictated how I ended up being a coach. So many of the experiences growing up, I had a lot of people that were teaching me. 


[00:03:46] I had a lot of coaches and instructors and I think that I didn't realize that I saw the value in, in coaching and having guidance like really early on. And so, you know, life led me to the engineering path. And then when I wanted to change, I was really into my journey as a, I was really into my practice, my personal training practice, and I decided that I wanna try helping people with the things that I'm learning through my practice. 


[00:04:11] I gave it a shot and I realized I loved everything about it. And it's everything that I had been doing since growing up except now I'm doing it for other people. 


[00:04:20] Stretch: You're talking about mentors and coaches that you were working with. Can you talk us through a little bit of that? 


[00:04:25] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah, I, I alluded to like my childhood, right? Mm-hmm. . So I didn't realize just growing up, but my dad did a really good job at letting me do anything that I wanted to do. So, growing up, he let me try everything under the sun. I mean, I did karate, I did softball, I did football, like American soccer. I played the saxophone, I played the trumpet. 


[00:04:50] And for every single one of those that I did, my dad always offered private lessons. He always said, Do you want to get some kind of guidance? Like, do you wanna get help? Because how are you gonna do it on your own? You don't have much knowledge about that. I don't have knowledge about that. So I've always had some sort of guidance in everything that I've ever done. 


[00:05:10] I, I mean, even, even with, I remember being about 12 years old and not doing well in math. And my dad said, That's not acceptable. You need a tutor . So we got a tutor, right? And then you do better in math. So like, I sort of just realized like this, this is a really great way to learn. Having somebody who has experience with a particular thing that you wanna learn, it's so much easier to have them explain it to you and, and shine a light on that path that you want to take. 


[00:05:36] It's way more difficult to do it alone. That's, I would say that was childhood right up until I was an adult. And yeah, we can go into the mentors if that I've had now, but yeah, that is a childhood . 


[00:05:49] Stretch: Such, such a great thing to have good support from your dad and for him to better see like how important it is for you to have a coach and for you to sort of embrace that with everything that you were doing there. 


[00:05:59] When did they, like after childhood, when did, like, did you have a personal training yourself or when did you start to work towards maybe some of the stuff that you're working on now in terms of your handstand mobility and your strength training? 


[00:06:12] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah. In terms of physical fitness, I didn't have a personal trainer or a coach until 2019, until March of 2019. 


[00:06:22] So before March of 2019, I'm still working as a chemical engineer. And during this time I neglected my fitness and I was feeling a bit sluggish, not feeling that great. I felt like I didn't like the way I looked as well. That was also part of it. I felt like my energy levels weren't all there. And I wanted a change. 


[00:06:39] I needed a change. I felt it. And so I decided what's, what does everyone do? You just sign up for a gym and you go to the gym. And I started doing that all the time. I was going all the time. And of course I became obsessed during that time on trying to find out what's the best program and you're YouTubeing all these different things and Googling articles and trying things out. 


[00:06:58] And I was absolutely in love with the process. And along the way, one of the personal trainers in the gym just reached out. He was a bit of a eccentric character. He was bald and he had a ponytail and he was a professional boxer in Mexico on the side . So he had this like extreme energy about him. I just wanted to coach. 


[00:07:19] I learned from him. I had no idea what we were gonna do. We did boxing, we did plyometrics, we did all kind of resistance training, we did all kind of things. That's what I told him. I just wanted to move and feel better and we did it. So that was my first introduction to having someone help me in the physical space. 


[00:07:35] But then I started feeling like I was getting much stronger lifting weights. Like I felt like my bench press is getting stronger. Dead lift is getting stronger. You feel kind of good about it. And then I felt like why? When I do a pushup, it feels so hard. It feels so difficult. And why? When I do a chinup, it feels like really hard. 


[00:07:54] Like this doesn't make sense. Like I'm strong, I can bench press , and so I decide I wanna do more body weight, fitness things. So I started doing way more pullups way. Way more pushups. That was it. I started doing some l sits in the gym, and somebody asked me, came over, they saw me doing l sits on dumbbells, and they said, Whoa. 


[00:08:11] Like, that's cool. Are you one of these people that like, get into a handstand from that? And I'm like, No, I, that sounds like crazy. I would never do such a thing. I can't do that. I'm just a regular guy on dumbbells, like doing an L sit. And next thing you know, I started like browsing Instagram. I start seeing people doing crazy stuff with their body around the time. 


[00:08:30] I'm also, I'm just coming across Ido portal around this time as well and seeing his, the crazy, crazy things that he does. And so I moved on to, I looked for a coach after that. I saw someone doing a v and i, I said, This is the most epic thing I've ever seen. He has his legs in the air, like it. This is way crazier than an lsit. 


[00:08:51] And so it was, I think at the time, the first person I saw do it was Yohe Henderson. He had a beautiful V and then I saw a few other people doing it. And there was a guy, Eddie Buke Miller we started chatting and he became my coach. He was a calisthenics coach, and he's the, he's the one that put me on the path of handstands body weight training and no flexibility, just calisthenics and handstands. 


[00:09:15] Stretch: What a journey it's been, starting out with the pt, doing the ply metrics and the weight lifting and then just evolving through, I suppose a passion really, or an interest in learning how to control your own body weight and the realization that, you know, strength in one sort of form of movement of your deadlifts and bench breast, how it wasn't carrying over to your chin-ups and your push ups. 


[00:09:32] You were still working as an engineer at this time? 


[00:09:35] Carlos Fernandez: So we could take a step. We could take a step back. I was working as a chemical engineer up until around February, March of 2021. 


[00:09:44] At the time, in 2019 when I hired the, the boxer to do just the different kind of things we were doing, I was still working as an engineer then. 


[00:09:53] And then when I hired the, the calisthenics coach, I was also still an engineer during that time. I would do all my training after work. Normal, normal type of life, but still very obsessed. I started training two hour sessions, three hour sessions with him and so, so yeah. 


[00:10:11] Stretch: When, when did you start to ponder this idea of becoming a coach and. 


[00:10:17] Then when this transition happened, when you decided to leave the engineering career, like five years into the engineering career, you've probably gone from, you know, pretty good wage to, you know, starting from scratch again. 


[00:10:28] Carlos Fernandez: That was the hardest part of it. All right. You, you, It's hard to leave a career when you, when you're already established. 


[00:10:34] I was living in San Francisco at the time, and it, it was a great job. I loved it. It was challenging, it was fun. I met great people. I learned great things. But I wanted to try different things out. I, I felt like engineering wasn't where I wanted to end. 


[00:10:47] Like I, my journey didn't end at engineering, that's all it was. So I started getting curious about how to leave. It's not easy to just leave your career because people in society don't see it as a normal thing to do. Right. When I pitch the idea to my parents and they're like, You don't, who just has a very qualified career and says goodbye. 


[00:11:08] And and what's your reason? Like do you even have a good reason? Right. And I didn't really have one. Like I just knew I didn't wanna do that forever and I wanna do other things. I'm obsessed with training. That's all I knew. And so I figured the best way to get out of the career is use grad school as an excuse 


[00:11:24] And so I was living in San Francisco. I reached out to some professors at the school in Southern California here where my parents live. And I just said, Hey, I'm interested about coming back to pursue a master's program. And they said, You look, you did well when you did your undergrad here. Just come on by. 


[00:11:38] You know, basically you're in. I didn't have to do much. They let me in. And that was my excuse. You know, when you leave for grad school, people think it's, it's okay because you're doing something that's gonna further your career. . This wasn't my intention, right? I didn't tell anyone this. It's not my intention. 


[00:11:53] And so after my first semester of school, this is now like, We're talking about spring, summer of 2021. At this point, I'm already working with my current coach. I, I moved on from working with, with Eddie Bu Miller to working with Erdi learning to human. And so at this time I'm starting to get really into flexibility and handstands like that is the priority over everything else. 


[00:12:18] And as, as I started shifting priorities, I, that's when I realized, this is it. This is what I wanna do. Like, I don't wanna be in an office anymore. I don't wanna have to be pigeon held to, to timelines and, and office structure. And so , I booked a workshop, an Emmett Lewis workshop in Sweden. 


[00:12:37] I finished up the semester at the end of 20 21. At the beginning of 20. 2022 at the beginning of 2022, that's when the workshop is. So I had a choice, like the workshop comes up, it's, it's on March 5th and March 3rd. I had an exam, like for grad school. And, and you can't miss an exam in grad school because you don't have very main exam. 


[00:12:59] You miss an exam. You're pretty much, you, you, that's your choice to leave the program. So it was, I either had to go do the exam and, and continue on with grad school and I was gonna continue on my, this path of being a chemical engineer forever, probably at this point, because you're investing 30 K to do it. 


[00:13:15] And, and I decide I'm not gonna do that. I have no idea what I'm gonna do in my future, but I'm gonna go to this workshop and learn from M at Lewis because that's what I wanna do right now. And so I did, I dropped outta school and I, I went to this workshop. 


[00:13:27] Stretch: You and I have a similar story. Yeah. I used to work in IT did a full computing computer science degree, did my honors, and then spent, you know, five, six years I would've be able to pay. Spent six years working. 


[00:13:39] And that's what took me to London. So I left Australia, went to the uk was over there contracting, and I was year, year in work over maybe year and a half in work over there and just decided, I don't wanna do this anymore, daughter be in the office. I wanna change. And similar to you, I just had a passion for help and fitness and it was like, do I become a nutritionist? 


[00:13:55] Do I become a personal trainer? Like what am I gonna do? And all my mates at the time, just like, you're, What are you doing ? How can you leave? How can you leave that career well paid career? And just start again. And, and like there was a lot of doubt in my mind. Like I was like, Do I do this? Do I not do this? 


[00:14:12] Tossing and turning. What was going through your mind when you were making that decision? Like, how are you feeling? 


[00:14:18] Carlos Fernandez: So, you know, as a chemical engineer, I guess the reason I became a chemical engineer was because my best friend and I were in, we are in community college, which is right before we go to university. 


[00:14:30] Like, it's like a step in between high school and university here in the us. So we're doing all our like low, lower level gen ed classes and we, we don't know, we're gonna major in and we look up on Google, like, what are the highest paid careers? And it was engineering. So sure we're gonna become, we're gonna become engineers and get rich and then 


[00:14:48] Then it's like, okay, which engineer, Like, okay, let's look up which chem, which engineers make the most money. This is really like how it went down and it was chemical engineering. So we chose chemical engineering and stuck, stuck to it. And we did it and we enjoyed the process, obviously along the way. So, so obviously I did, I was fortunate to have a, a great paying career. 


[00:15:07] Mm-hmm. and I don't. I don't like to talk about this sometimes because I, I feel egotistical talking about it, but that's not the situation in 2020. Covid hit. Right. And it devastated the world and many people were losing their jobs. Many people were in, in financial distress. And 2020 just happened to be my most successful year as a chemical engineer. 


[00:15:29] Technically I was a consultant in sales doing engineering work, and at that time I made the biggest sale of my career. One of our accounts went from a 1.8 million account to almost an 8 million account. And so I received some pretty big bonuses during that year and I had a realization when I received a check that was like a one single check that was bigger than I I ever imagined I would get at one single time. 


[00:15:55] I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Like this is strange to have in one go and I felt nothing. It didn't excite me. It didn't make me feel like this is the best thing ever. What am I gonna do with this? How am I gonna use, I didn't care. I literally like just looked at it and went to the gym, if I remember correctly, 


[00:16:13] So, so I was having doubt more about people's opinions than, than about the financial situation. I was more worried about people's perceptions about what I'm doing and people fearing about like if I'm gonna fail in life. And so that was what was going through my mind. I have no idea if I'm gonna succeed or not. 


[00:16:30] Stretch: Was that like judgment from friends or family or what was the big thing there? Do you feel? 


[00:16:37] Carlos Fernandez: I mean, when you leave your career, you start wondering what are you, what are you gonna do? 


[00:16:40] Are you gonna, I I, you know, I was paying rent at the time, had an apartment, like a pretty nice apartment, and where am I gonna go? I'm gonna move back into my parents' house. And because I didn't wanna spend all my money, right, I, I knew I was gonna invest $30,000 for grad school, and I was gonna live off of savings. 


[00:16:57] So I did. I didn't, I was fortunate. I didn't have any, I didn't have a kid, so I didn't have a partner, anything. So I just committed to this decision. I moved in with my parents just to save money. And so the main things that were just going through my mind is, is my parents' judgment. That's definitely the one that bugged me the most, just being completely honest. And it's because my mom really valued having her son be a successful engineer because, you know, we're, my family's from Nicaragua. It's, it's a very, it's a third world country, you know, developing country. And, and my family came from a very humble background. 


[00:17:34] Not everyone in my family has, has an education. And so for her to have me do everything that she imagined, like she still sees me as this engineer and I tell her like, I'm not an engineer, I'm a coach. Like, it's as simple as that. So it, I'm not gonna lie, it was definitely my mom's. Not even judgment, just her perception of what I'm doing with my life. 


[00:17:55] That was the biggest struggle. 


[00:17:56] Stretch: It takes a lot of courage. It's awesome that, you know, you've taken that jump and I'm sure at the time there was a lot going through your mind, and I'm sure your parents still support you and still proud of what everything that you do. So congratulations on making that move. 


[00:18:08] Let's step into that a little bit more now. How's, how's the online personal training or what the coaching going for you? 


[00:18:15] Carlos Fernandez: It's awesome right now, . So, you know, I had, it's, it's a new business. It's, it's brand new. This is not an established, you know, huge business. This is, I'm in my humble beginnings right now. 


[00:18:27] The very first person that I coached was a friend of mine, and that was around, I did it for free in September, October of last year. That was the very first time I had ever guided somebody in the physical fitness space. And so you mean we helped her get her first, her first push up during that time on the floor. 


[00:18:46] It was awesome. Helped her to get towards front splits. So, you know, during that time I felt like I know nothing about coaching. How am I gonna do this? All I know is engineering and, and you just work at it and you just realize they're just regular people and you just help them. Right. And, and, and they, they can make progress. 


[00:19:02] It's amazing. And so I. Kept helping a few people out for free. I, I didn't, didn't ask anybody to charge me because how can I, I, I didn't do any personal training, certifications, nothing like that. I knew nothing just other than I have a passion for this. And so, but everything started taking off, I'd say, when I committed to the decision to going to Europe and I saw my, I, my trip to Europe, I was there for a month. 


[00:19:29] I did a workshop and I just hung around with a lot of people that were going to help. To get towards my, my goal of being a personal trainer. So around that time, a lot more people, I started getting more engagement around my Instagram profile. Picked up a few clients after that cause they saw some of the things that I was doing, the people that I was meeting, the people that had private lessons from and things like this. 


[00:19:51] And so these, these, these new students of mine, they, they did a little bit well, and I, I tried my best to, to showcase that on my Instagram and, and use that as marketing and, and continue progressing my own abilities and, and market that as well. And, but at the time, it's, there's no formality to it. There's. 


[00:20:09] It's just in the air. You just have a social media account and you're saying, I'm a coach, and reach out to me. And it doesn't work that way. You need to, I realize if, if I want this to be successful, I have to treat this like a business. And, and so that was when I started changing my frame of mind around everything. 


[00:20:26] It's like, okay, what do I need to do to make a business a business? Like I need to have, The first thing that came to mind is a website. It, it's get a website. How do you, I didn't know anything about that. Right? So you go down that rabbit hole and then I thought, I wanna write about stuff to, so I started create a blog, right? 


[00:20:43] And I wanna write personal messages to people as well. So let's create a newsletter and, and I think once this all came together, The, on the website, the, the message and what I do and like the, the seriousness of it. It's not just this like, Hey, I'm this guy on Instagram that can help you out. Kind of, I, I'm saying I know that I can help you. 


[00:21:05] That's when things really took off and, and so now in the year's time, I went from, you know, zero income living in my parents' garage. At least now I have, I can, I can use the income that I have through my business to pay for my own coaching, to pay for all my food and not have to stress about just eating all my savings. 


[00:21:23] Stretch: That's awesome, mate. I think that was one of the things that really made you stand out is like, I saw your account and when I did a bit of research on you, I checked out your website and looked at your newsletter and all that sort of stuff. I was like, Hey, this guy hasn't been in the game for very long. 


[00:21:37] Yeah. But I like what he does. I like your approach and you've started to implement some very powerful systems that are obviously gonna help you grow a very successful business. And there's just a lot of maturity around what you're doing. And I was very curious of like, you know, where did that come from? 


[00:21:53] Like, what made you sort of sit down and think, okay, for me to make this work, I need to be more professional? Did you get a business coach or what, what, what led you down this path of starting to implement some of these systems? 


[00:22:06] Carlos Fernandez: I, I've never had a business coach. The, the only coaching that I've had is for my own personal fitness and, but, but Erdi, you know, as we're both familiar with Erdi, Erdi a helpful guy overall, right? 


[00:22:19] So anytime I had doubts or questions, I would definitely use him cuz I'm paying him, right? And he's awesome. So he shared a lot of tips with me, but when it comes to formalizing a business that I think that just came from my engineering experience, right? When you work for a big organization, it was a global organization all over the world. 


[00:22:37] In almost every country they dealt with water treatment. They were everywhere. And I think just seeing an established organization helped me start to realize how this needs to be a formal thing and that, So it's that. And then also following business coaches like yourself, you post fantastic information, right? 


[00:22:56] And you clearly say that you need a, you need a niche, like things like this, right? You need to have like a mission statement and, and so like, it's there like just, just just follow what people are telling you to do. Like it's, you don't, a business coach I think will help you really level up your game, but, but that information is already there and you can start to formalize a few things. 


[00:23:17] You don't have to do a lot at once, just go for it, right? Yeah. So that, that was my approach I think . \ . 


[00:23:22] Stretch: It's a great approach. And like I said, I can see the structure coming together. You've got some great foundations that you've set up there. I love your newsletter and I've signed up to it and I get your little weekly or monthly newsletter that you send out, which is awesome. 


[00:23:33] I wanna, I wanna rewind, like I said, that niche, you know, obviously it's a passion of your own. It's something that you practice. Yeah. But what, what made you choose that niche, or why do you resonate with these, these people that want to learn to handstand, build strength and increase their flexibility? 


[00:23:50] Carlos Fernandez: Why did I choose the niche? I chose this niche just because it's what I do, It's what I know. It's the experience that I have. It's as simple as that. Like I, I spend hours and hours and hours weekly. Training, flexibility, training, handstands, and, and training my strength. And I spent hours and hours and hours like researching these topics and learning about these topics and trying to find new information and reading more. 


[00:24:16] So this is one of the only things I really think about. I mean you can probably tell, right, cuz I haven't been doing this long. So like for me to get to this, to where I'm at now, I needed to approach it this way just like really dive in. So my niche just came from the things that I. But it's, it's really broadening. 


[00:24:33] Now I'm realizing at first it was more like, Okay, I can really help you with handstands because I do handstands. But like I mentioned earlier on, people's interpretation of what strength is and what flexibility is, is very, very, very different. It could be somebody who says, I'm just looking to improve my strength. 


[00:24:50] I don't need to ha, I don't need to hit any specific goals. And the same with flexibility. It could be a dancer trying to learn how to get lower on the ground, or it could be an elderly person that wants to have restore function in their hips. And so that's when I realized I don't wanna, I don't wanna have such a tight niche. 


[00:25:07] I wanna have a pretty large niche and not limit myself. 


[00:25:10] Stretch: I think coaches were very scared about nicheing. You talked about the pigeonholing before, but I think at the start, the tighter you can go with that niche, sometimes the better. 


[00:25:18] It allows you to sort of get ahold of a few clients, practice what you preach, get, get the, get the information out there, start working with people and then as the business grows, it is being able to broaden and expand that. Which sounds like, you know, you've got an idea or you've probably got clients that are coming from different backgrounds seeing what you offer. 


[00:25:35] I'd like to rewind cuz you said something really interesting before and then I wanna sort of talk a little bit about in education. So earlier you sort of mentioned that, you know, you started training people for free and you felt like you didn't have maybe the experience or the qualification to be charging these people. 


[00:25:49] But yeah, what you just spoke about then is like your passion, the hours of research, the hours of physical research, you training, the practice of everything you've been through, like as a guide. You're really, really, really experienced at what you do. Like, I mean, I follow your Instagram, I see your flexibility journey, your handstand journey, all this sort of stuff. 


[00:26:07] And if I'm a client who wants to hire a coach, I'm not gonna come to you for weight loss because you're not the weight loss coach and your experience, there's probably gonna be zero. Like you're like, It's not what I do, but. Because you've got this niche and because you're practicing it, I just see you as, hey, you're the perfect guide. 


[00:26:24] You're the person who I can follow, or you're the person that I can come to for this advice because it's what you do every day. So your experience or your wealth of experience is actually massive and your clients are somewhere on the same journey behind you. Yeah, and I think it's a common mistake we sometimes make as coaches, we feel like we don't have enough experience or we feel that imposter syndrome because we don't have a qualification or this certification or this bit of paper that says, Oh, you're a qualified coach, you can now teach people. 


[00:26:49] But in the real world or in the reality of it, you know, you've got so much expertise on what you've done. So it's great that you've picked that niche and it's great that it's something that you're passionate about and I think you should have definitely have the confidence to obviously keep going with it. 


[00:27:03] I wanna circle that round to now. Education you've talked about, you know, was obviously working with Erdi and the stuff you doing there, you've talked about, you know, going through it, a workshop with Emmet what other sort of. Certifications or qualifications. Have you, Have you done? 


[00:27:18] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah, I've had, I've had guidance from day one, right, as , because as soon as I got into the body weight fitness and all these things, I bought a few programs online right off the bat. 


[00:27:31] You have some guidance already. And so after that I, I had my first coach, Eddie, and then Ernie, and I've had them the entire. Never stopped doing that, but after that, yeah, the very first thing that I did is I attended a handstand workshop in Washington DC at Chris Gary's gym, Physicality DC and Kyle Weiger was doing a beginner handstand workshop at the time. 


[00:27:54] So that was the first, the very first formal thing I did. , I think in, in the industry or this, the movement space, the handstand culture kind of people. And so, yeah, af I did the flexibility research course as well with Dan Van Z. That was fantastic. Chris Gary over at Physicality dc he recommended Kilo Strength and I fell in love with everything. 


[00:28:16] Kilo strength, there really, really impressive. And the way that Chris Gary explained to me is not many people have spent the amount of time that Steven, the, the CEO, has spent thinking on about design program and design. So I thought, Okay, I'm taking this, this is exactly what I need. I need to learn more about programming strength, strength training, programming. 


[00:28:39] So I did a few courses on programming through Kilo. I did the periodization course as well, just because everything they have is good and they're not that expensive. And then when I went to Europe in March of 2020, I did the workshop with Emmett Lewis. During that time, I also got two private lessons with Yohe Hil in Belgium. 


[00:29:00] And then I, I also spent two weeks just hanging out in Germany with a bunch of amazing guys that were into calisthenics and learned a ton from them. I consider that a learning experience as well, that, that I can bring to the table. Then I did an on Han workshop in San Diego, . Yeah. And that was in May. 


[00:29:19] And then I did Ernie's Learning to Human Retreat in Portugal this past July. So that's, I think that that covers majority of my learning , my bank account. Yeah, 


[00:29:29] Stretch: that's it. Like, it's a lot in a very short time. And I, I love it because every one of those courses that you've done or you've spoke about, correlates directly back to your niche. 


[00:29:38] You're learning about strength training, you're learning about periodization. You go on and learning handstands, you're learning from flexibility, coaches, It all just ties back into what you're trying to achieve. And it's awesome that you're investing in that. Also. Agree. I think, you know, the, the theory staff, the courses and the workshops, they're great. 


[00:29:55] Like you get a lot out of that and there's a lot of information you can take it, take away from that. But I don't know if you, if you're like me, I think the, the practical, working with a coach, learning from someone having teach you or like you say, spending two weeks in Germany just with these dudes training like. 


[00:30:12] Personally I got so much more out of that experience when I was going through my personal training career and still am than I did from, you know, most courses. Would you resonate with that? 


[00:30:22] Carlos Fernandez: I would absolutely resonate with that. The thing with the courses is you, you just, they just give you so much information, so, so, so much information and it's like we're not gonna remember all. 


[00:30:33] We're gonna remember two or three things that we've had experience with, and that's really it. Right? But I use 'em as a resource. That's, that's how I love them. So I come back to them very regularly as I'm coaching my students or as I'm thinking about my own training. So definitely we learn by doing. We don't learn by just sitting there and, and reading things we do, but it doesn't become as practical until we actually do. 


[00:30:59] So, a hundred percent I'm with you. I definitely learn more by doing, That's it, 


[00:31:04] Stretch: by putting the theory into practice. That's where the money is. So that's where the value is. A hundred percent. What have you found to be, I know the biggest obstacles to overcome as you've started to build this online coaching business? 


[00:31:19] Carlos Fernandez: The, the biggest challenge, the biggest obstacle is not letting imposter syndrome take over because you have, you have so much self doubt. 


[00:31:27] Like almost every day I question if I'm, who am I, who am I to, to say I can create a business around coaching? I, I have this thought all the time. So navigating that is, is the biggest obstacle because if you wanna start a business, you need to take action. You can't just think, I want a business. You need to start implementing things. 


[00:31:47] Right. And that was me, like getting a domain name, getting a website, coming up with themes around my newsletter and blog. But. I've never done any of those things. So who am I to do it properly? Right? So like, I just feel like I'm, I don't have the experience to do this. How are people, why are people gonna follow my journey? 


[00:32:06] So, imposter syndrome, it's, it's this thing. Like I don't have any, like you said, certification. I have nothing. I'm just this dude who wants to help people, like, and I have a serious obsession and passionate about it. So that, that's hands down, the, the, the biggest challenge is realizing that it's okay to feel these things because I've never done them. 


[00:32:23] So that's, it's obvious, like I should feel like an imposter. How it, it's like, it would be wrong for me to think that I'm not an imposter. I wasn't a coach before. So it's okay. I think, and accepting it and just putting stuff out there is, is the way I navigate this obstacle. Put stuff out there regardless of how I feel about it or think about it if it's bad or good, just put. 


[00:32:45] Stretch: Such good courage and such good advice. Cause I think a lot of coaches struggle with self doubt or struggle with that imposter syndrome. And I actually believe it's a good thing cuz I feel. If we're worried about it or if it's at the top of our mind. The reason we worry about it is because we want to do a good job. 


[00:33:02] We want to be able to help our clients. We want to be able to build a successful business. So we're questioning everything we do. Am I good enough? Am I good enough? Is this the role I can take? And I think, you know, if we don't have that, then we obviously don't care. So I think it's definitely a good sign and good on you for sort of stepping into it and, you know, obviously making progress, moving forward with what you're doing and not letting it to hold you back. 


[00:33:25] I don't think that feeling ever goes away. Like, you know, I've been in the game for 12 years and there's still days where I'm like, Fuck, am I doing the right thing? Like, you know, So he 


[00:33:33] Carlos Fernandez: I think its a spectrum right? Is it, I think imposter syndrome's a spectrum and it comes and goes, like we, we have imposter syndrome to a certain degree, and then we have a little bit of experience in the thing that's giving us imposter syndrome and we realize, Oh, I can do this if I work hard at it. 


[00:33:48] And so the imposter syndrome kind of comes down and then you hit this like, new challenge, like, okay, now I have a new student that's ask, that's, that wants me to coach him on something that I haven't coached. Like the imposter syndrome just hits again. Yeah. And, and then, and then you work towards it a little bit and you realize, oh man, This new student is doing very well. 


[00:34:05] Like, I can teach this thing, I am qualified to do this. And you start feeling good about yourself. So the motivation kind of comes back and then you just hit with another curve ball. So like, it's like, it's these levels of imposter syndrome and I don't feel like it's ever gonna go away either. 


[00:34:20] Stretch: It's the rollercoaster. . But yeah. Keeps it exciting. You can't get comfortable that it does . 


[00:34:26] I'm curious, what's the vision? Like where, where do you want to take this career? Have you put much thought into that? 


[00:34:32] Carlos Fernandez: I'm trying to, I am trying to put a vision together and it's coming together I think in my head and I realize I don't, I don't wanna work crazy hours. 


[00:34:41] That's huge for me. I love investing time into myself, . Yeah. I didn't, I didn't learn like some of the things that I learned by dedicating small amounts of time to it. Like I really cherish my personal time. I love it. I thrive spending time alone, like working at something so, In my future, I wanna have a business that allows me to live comfortably within my means. 


[00:35:06] I don't need an extravagant lifestyle. I had the opportunity for it, and I realize it's not important to me. So my vision is, is that it's a comfortable lifestyle where I work with people that I choose to work with, not people that I don't wanna work with, and that contribute to my, my goals in life. That, that's it, that's my vision. 


[00:35:26] I, I, it's also not like a crazy amount of clients that are taking up all my time and I wanna have some courses. I want to be able to do workshops. I want to be able to teach people the things that I learned. Just give all the information out, essentially. Not like for free, you know, but, but share the knowledge I think is what I wanna do, and also live abroad. 


[00:35:47] Because I'm in this position now where I created my own business all online. I have the opportunity now to live elsewhere and this is the time. I don't have kids, I don't have a partner, I don't have debt, and I have this tiny income. So go . Yeah, that's, that's, that's the vision I think right now. 


[00:36:03] Stretch: The flexibility when you're online, it's just being able to pick up and, and go anywhere. So yeah, I know that. I did, we did, when Covid hit my partner and I bought a caravan and we lived on the road for 18 months just traveling around Australia and the whole time I just worked online. 


[00:36:16] So 


[00:36:17] Carlos Fernandez: 18 months, that's a, that's a long time. 


[00:36:19] Stretch: Yeah, man, it was air epic. I actually I got some galvanized pipe and some joiners and built this you know, fold up, pull up bar that I could put in the front compartment of the caravan and , just wherever I'd go in the caravan parks I'd set up and all the old guys would come past going, Wow, you're keen. 


[00:36:32] And I used to do that and I was like, Oh, muscle memory mate, Come enjoy it. He's like, Oh no, no sore shoulder . That's so 


[00:36:38] Carlos Fernandez: good. That's so good. That's an awesome time. 18 months. Did you go around. Oh, Australia 


[00:36:42] Stretch: during that time. Yeah, we did a whole lap in that time, mate, and we spent a good sort of three months over there in on, in wa. 


[00:36:48] Not moving too much around sort of Ningaloo, which is the reef up there, Exmouth. So my partner, I keen divers, so we're doing a bit of diving over there and sort of camping around there for a fair bit. Yeah, and we're sort of thinking where do we wanna live? I, and just traveling around getting an idea of different places. 


[00:37:02] And we ended up in Queensland where we are now, so sort of northern, Northern Queensland. So we've been here nearly a year. But yeah, it was epic to have that flexibility, like you're talking about, just being able to pick up and, and travel. So that's pretty cool. I like the sound of workshop, so I like the sound of, you know, what you're trying to do in terms of just building a career that gives you that flexibility to obviously, you know, value your own time. 


[00:37:22] How many, how many clients do you think that is? Like, what's, what do you feel is your, your, your limit there and how many you can. 


[00:37:29] Carlos Fernandez: I have 10 clients right now. Yeah. And I will say 10 clients is already very time consuming for some of these things. I, I've, I've realized, And when somebody's doing strength training, flexibility training, and handstands all in one, and they've got a very, very complex program and they're doing different things daily. 


[00:37:48] You're receiving a lot of videos very, very regularly and a lot of questions, and I welcome it all. Like, it's, it's all about the student, right? This, this business isn't gonna succeed if my students don't succeed. So I dedicate, I, I, I give everything to it. I, I, I, I'm willing to sacrifice a lot of things in my life, I think, to, to ensure that my students make progress and. 


[00:38:12] I never experienced that before where I, I've actually sacrificed my own training now for students, like when I needed to do things for them, where before I never sacrificed anything for my own trainings. Like that's, that's a good feeling for me, that I have this and it makes me feel like I'm in a good place. 


[00:38:27] So 10 students, it, it already takes up a lot of time, but I need more money. It's not enough, Right. to create, to consider my future. So I think ideally would be, I would say around 15 students I think would be good. 10 to 15 students who are paying, it's, it's gonna be a higher ticket price. You know, Right now there's some people still on some, some discounts that I gave and things like this to get the business going. 


[00:38:53] So I think 15 clients and having some courses, having some workshops and supplemental income through digital products is, is where I want to. 


[00:39:00] Stretch: That evergreen stuff and the workshops is definitely a good way to top up the finances and create something that gives you just, like I said, where you don't have to do too much, but it can be churn over like a steady sort of income in the background. 


[00:39:11] You know, right now it sounds like you do a lot for your clients and, you know, you give them a lot of value in these early stages. I think that's very important of, of your career, sort of setting that up. And you're obviously still building systems. I know you've got like a video library that you, you send out, you send out videos every now and again, and that's all that stuff takes time. 


[00:39:26] But as you get more and more content there and as that grows, obviously you start to save time in that sort of stuff as well. Yeah. And if you've gotta be doing workshops and the goal is to travel there's great opportunity to combine, combine both of those there, which is epic. 


[00:39:38] What's, what's the best part, what do you love most about what you do now. 


[00:39:43] Carlos Fernandez: That it doesn't feel like a job? Yeah, it hands down the best part, like, I wake up and I don't feel like. Literally li I, I don't, I wouldn't normally cuss in a situation like this, but like literally I wake up and I don't feel like, fuck, that's, I, that's it. 


[00:40:01] I, it's not like I disliked my job. I loved working as an engineer, but I didn't always wanna go to the office. Whereas I generally do wanna wake up and train and I generally do wanna wake up and work with my students and see their progress. And I get so fulfilled when I see them, like unlock a new skill. 


[00:40:17] Like it's the coolest thing ever because I've been through that journey. I know what it's like to not be able to do much and, and, and gain some capabilities on your journey. It's a good feeling. It's a good feeling. Not many things trumpet when, when your hard work gives you something that, that hard work couldn't. 


[00:40:35] Nothing else that only hard work can give you. Sorry. So yeah. Not having the feeling of fuck in the morning. , . 


[00:40:44] Stretch: I can relate to that . And like I say, I think it is, it's all about the clients and the students. And when you do see the progress that they make and just how much energy enjoy it brings them, like, it just makes, is that satisfaction. 


[00:40:56] I think that was one of the things that led me to leave my, you know, business, career, like leave the office job, but wasn't satisfied with what I was doing in terms of like, you go to work, you help a company earn more money at the end of the day, like, what was it doing for me leaving work with a paycheck? 


[00:41:10] But, you know, with coaching, you know, there is that sort of really gratifying feeling of knowing that you are having an impact on the health and wellbeing of people and just changing their, their mindset, their lives for the better. Which is just rewarding, I suppose, as a coach. And one of the reasons I think we all do it. 


[00:41:25] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah, that's, it. It's rewarding, It's rewarding to see people improve theirselves. So I, I used to have this feeling as an engineer, like if. It's a, it's a grim thought, but I used to think I worked hard. I really did work hard, and I used to think if, let's say I had an accident and I died super grim, but if I died, would the company really care? 


[00:41:46] I think that they would just hire someone else to fill my spot and a week later it'd be fine. It's not like the, the company would crumble in any way. It'd be just fine. And so I didn't like that feeling. I, I wanna feel a bit cherished and like, wanted and desired. Like, I want people to want my value, not just use it to reap their own benefits. 


[00:42:08] And I get that from my students. I can feel that they, they love the, the time that I give 'em, the patients that I give 'em, I try to understand them and meet them with whatever they're experiencing. So yeah, it's rewarding. That's it. 


[00:42:20] Stretch: Yeah, that's a great way to look at it, mate. I think that's, you know, really valuable. 


[00:42:24] Just sort of see that, that, you know, if you go, if if you were to die you will be missed. I'm sure your clients will miss you. So, fingers cross, fingers crossed if you're doing a good job, I'm sure they will. Definitely, definitely. How do you go with time management? Cuz obviously, you know, when you're working in an office and you've got that sort of corporate career, you've got structure, there's all that sort of stuff set up, but now you're your own boss. 


[00:42:44] How have you gone with managing your time? 


[00:42:47] Carlos Fernandez: Time management's hard, man. It's so hard. That's the hardest thing I think about working for yourself. It's, people don't realize how easy it is when you have a job. You just show up and they tell you what you need to do. Like you have X task and you have x amount of time to complete said task. 


[00:43:03] I'm not saying that it's not, they're not easy tasks. They can be the most difficult and challenging tasks. But it was laid out for you. When you have a business, no one lays out a single thing for you unless you have guidance. Right. And I didn't have guidance. So that's, I think that's why it took me longer at the beginning to create systems and create a business. 


[00:43:20] So the main thing for me when it comes to time management is you do the things that are important first. That is top priority. Yeah. You, you can tweak and talk about like some of the, the systems and tools that I use, like calendars and productivity tools and whatnot. But, but the fundamental thing is you do the thing that's important first. 


[00:43:39] And so if you have a business. It's usually what brings in the money. And so that's your clients. So you need to give your clients attention. That's the top priority. Nothing else matters, right? Like that's when I realized like, yeah, my training matters, but also there's no, there's no business without the client 


[00:43:58] Yeah. So number one, usually if, if, if I can afford to train myself, train, train on my train for myself first, then I'll do that. But if not, I will always dedicate time to my students first and get them their feedback or write their program or film videos for them or whatever it. My students first. 


[00:44:15] Stretch: Yeah. 


[00:44:15] Wise words made definitely. I think that's one of the number one things that I, I sort of teach as well for a lot of coaches is take care of the clients you've already got and that should be your number one priority. Let's say that a business is based on profit. If you're not making profit, the business ain't gonna survive. 


[00:44:28] And you know, that's what brings in the money. So you've gotta look after those clients before you worry about your marketing and before you worry about, you know, all the other stuff that you need to do in your business is just service or take care of obviously the people you got. Yeah. Are you, are you a very routine person? 


[00:44:43] Like do you have a morning routine and even routine, any of that sort of stuff? 


[00:44:48] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah. The same thing every single day of my life. , 


[00:44:53] Stretch: what does that look like, mate? Talk us through it. 


[00:44:56] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah. I'm as routine as it gets like almost militant. And it's not because I'm a militant person, it's just I know that that's what my I need to succeed is do the same thing over and over and over and over again and have like stability. 


[00:45:10] So, I wake up , I take a shower, , I drink coffee, sitting in a deep squat in front of my house. I go for a walk and then I train, or I write a program like that. Is that, is it ? And then after that I focus on, yeah, writing feedbacks, doing feedback for my students investing time into the business, trying to figure out what else I need to work on. 


[00:45:33] Projects, filming stuff for Instagram, whatever it is. But yeah, yeah, it, it, it's very, very structured, I would say until about the afternoon time. Yeah. . 


[00:45:45] Stretch: Yeah. So afternoons you can chill out a little bit more. You're very sort of morning heavy person in terms of. 


[00:45:51] Carlos Fernandez: I'm useless as the day goes on. Like my productivity's getting just profoundly worse, so I need to go hard when I first wake up. 


[00:45:58] Stretch: You, you or may say, have the same by the end of the day, I'm just like, tools down. That's it. , but 


[00:46:03] Carlos Fernandez: morning my evening. It's not even nighttime. 


[00:46:06] Stretch: You've mentioned tools, you mentioned calendars and schedules and stuff there. What tools have you found helpful in terms of your online business? 


[00:46:14] Carlos Fernandez: A big one is, are you familiar with the Pomodoro technique? No. No. So I think a lot of us face the situation where we're doing something and we're distracted. So something comes up in your email or you, you just want check Instagram or you want to, I don't know, scratch your back. So whatever it is, it's, it's hard to stay still and, and complete a task. 


[00:46:37] Very challenging. And I, so I love podcasts. Like I love listening to podcasts like all the time. And so like, I like listening to productivity podcasts and. The propane fitness guys like drop a ton of gold all the time on their podcast since the very beginning of their podcast. So like I listened to so many of their podcasts and they talk about the Palmero technique, which is a way to block out time and only work on the thing that you're working on. 


[00:47:03] So basically the Palmero technique is, it's a timer. And so you just download the app or you download, you go on Google and you do Pomodoro Timer, and the idea is that one podo is 25 minutes. And so during that 25 minute block, you do nothing else but work on the tasks that you decide you're gonna work on you. 


[00:47:24] I mean, you don't even wanna even blink during that time. You just wanna do the task and then immediately as the 25 minutes are up, it's hands off, the keyboard, hands off or whatever you're doing, and it's five minutes of whatever you want. So during that time, it's five minutes for me to go stand outside, like, look, you know, at the distance, whatever it is, refocus, just get out of the frame of mind of what I was doing. 


[00:47:47] When the five minutes is done, like immediately you come back and you hit another 25 minutes. Like so you hit two pomodoros and it sounds silly. When I explain this, I know every time I talk about it, it sounds silly, but when you click the button and you tell yourself, I have 25 minutes to keep my hands on the keyboard and work it works, I have no idea how it works. 


[00:48:07] Stretch: I like, I like the sound of that. It's a great way to go about it. Are you a planner? Like do you know before you sit down for that 25 minutes or let's say at the start of the day I've got, you know, these certain things I need to tick off, or how do you structure your week? 


[00:48:19] The bigger view? 


[00:48:21] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah. Structure the week the same way that I structure my day. So important things earlier in the week. So if I have a programs right there week, that has to be done earlier in the week, not later in the week. I'm not a big planner. Like I don't plan off the whole day, hour by hour. I just block out time for the really important things and the less important things, they just come and go like just. 


[00:48:42] They're not gonna this. So there's a few things that really influence your business and impact your business, and I just make sure I tick those off. And then the other things, they don't matter that much, like. Did I post a story or not on Instagram? It's not that it's not gonna, it's not a make or break situation, right? 


[00:48:58] But my students are a make or break situation. So yeah, just plan around the, the main things. That's it. . 


[00:49:05] Stretch: It's the prioritizing your time and it's also valuing your time. And I like the way you just sort of have that structure that 25 minutes have just grinded out, sit down, do the work, don't get distracted. 


[00:49:14] And whether that's through planning or whether that's through the po or technique or whatever it is that we do, I think it's, it's important as a business owner, as you, as you spoke about, to sort of have some structure and be able to manage that time success. So yeah, it's epic mate. I've got some questions about I like to finish up on as we get to the end of the podcast, but before we step into those, is there anything else that you want to add that you think might be useful to coaches that are thinking about building like an online personal training career? 


[00:49:42] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah. For personal trainers, building their own career, I'd say. You're building a business and the business is gonna be about others. But most of us came to this idea from a place of passion. I didn't come to this because I wanted money. I didn't come to this because I was looking for a new job. I came to this because I love what I do. 


[00:50:01] I, I, this is what I, this is, this is it. There's nothing else. This is it for me. So, like, my recommendation, my, my biggest tip is don't don't forget to fuel your passion. Don't only work on your business. Don't only think about the next best thing to improve your business. You need to also fuel your passion because if you lose that, your business is gonna lose a piece of its core values. 


[00:50:27] This is where it came from. So I really do my best to, like I said, I like to train first before my business if I can, because that keeps me. In it. That keeps me in my thing, you know, like I'm not getting detached from my thing. So that's, that's my biggest recommendation. Continue to take courses, continue to learn, and continue to meet other coaches. 


[00:50:50] Meet up with people in your area and just stay in the game. Like don't, don't think it's just a job. Feel your passion. 


[00:50:57] Stretch: Wise words made. I, I love it. I think valuing our own health, like putting our health first is, is a huge priority. Like if we, if we don't value ourself and we can't value our own health, then who are we to be teaching someone else? 


[00:51:10] And like we sort of talked about through this podcast, you know, that experience of practicing what you're preaching and that experience that you're gaining from actually doing the work is more valuable than any book, any course, any podcast you'll ever pick up. Because you just learn so much from that practical experience. 


[00:51:27] And I think, yeah, there are a lot of coaches who start to drop that or they start to fall off that path and they focus too heavy on the finances or they focus too heavy on, you know, the business. Like you sort of say, and it distracts 'em. They lose some of that culture that they're trying to build in the business or the flavor, whatever it is, however you wanna define it. 


[00:51:42] But it's awesome to see that you're keeping that up mate and you're making it a priority. All right. Let's step into some of these questions. Are there, you know, you've mentioned a few resources, like a few courses, and you've mentioned podcasts and stuff like that, but are there any other resources, courses, books, Ted Talks, Podcasts or whatever that you'd recommend coaches listen to or pick up and have a look at? 


[00:52:02] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And when it comes to technical things like it, there's a ton of information out there. When it comes to handstands and flexibility, just go look up Emmet. He gave enough, if he's given enough free information out there, Emma Lewis, you know, any of his stuff, it's there. Like, you don't have to go pay for all of people's things. 


[00:52:23] They, they've also put out a lot of free stuff if you really want it, it's there . But when it comes to like, yeah, maybe sharing a few other things like tools I use or podcasts. Yeah, I don't know. The propane fitness guys, they drop a ton of things that are just gold for business and it's all, almost everything. 


[00:52:41] I didn't know this, but is I learned about them through Erdi. I had heard about 'em a bit, but Erdi really told me go, go binge on some of their stuff. He didn't say Go, just listen to episode 2 0 3. He said, Go binge their material. And when someone tells me to go do something, like I think it's gonna benefit me, I, I go do it and I do it hard. 


[00:53:00] And, and so they have a lot of really good ideas around how to, how to create a fitness business. It's, it's, it's all there. And then I would say around like getting past, like the imposter syndrome, I, I did learn a ton through just the Modern Wisdom Podcast. Chris Williamson runs that one. And I u I, I listened to that almost daily. 


[00:53:22] You, so you'll see it in my newsletter if anyone subscribes to it. That's a way that I've been able to overcome a ton of obstacles in, in the business through that podcast. 


[00:53:31] Stretch: some great resources there. I'll have to check out a couple of those myself. Erdi didn't share that one with me. 


[00:53:36] I'll have to get on him for that. 


[00:53:39] Carlos Fernandez: maybe he hadn't been told at the time to binge it also, and I'm just kidding. 


[00:53:43] Stretch: That's it. . What advice would you give a younger version of yourself? 


[00:53:47] Carlos Fernandez: It basically to tell myself that it's okay to be unique and different . I was a little bit hard on myself growing up when I used to think like, why is it that I'm fine? Like spending ages alone in my room trying to learn how to play the trumpet and improve my trumpet playing skills or 3D printing or whatever it was. 


[00:54:05] Skateboarding, I've always been very invested into the things that I do and a lot of them weren't like team activities. They're very independent activities and I always felt like a bit of a pressure, like a bit of a weirdness or, Cause most people, they're more social beings and it's not that I'm not, so I'm very extroverted in a sense. 


[00:54:23] So that's the biggest advice. It's okay to be different. It's okay to be unique, and I didn't realize that until now. I would say that I created this business and, and I feel more confident about it. It's like that's just an advantage that we're different. That's what we bring to the table. That's what differentiates us from other people. 


[00:54:39] There's a ton of people that can teach, teach you how to do the splits and how to stand on your hands. I'm not the only one. I'm probably, I'm for sure not the best one or the most qualified one. I just feel like I'm different than some of the other people and my differences are, What I bring to the table. 


[00:54:56] Stretch: I think it's a strength. Like you say, your differences are a strength. That's what makes you unique. And you know, you, you've mentioned values as we've talked through this podcast, you know, your values align with the values of the clients or the people that wanna work with you. 


[00:55:08] So yeah, keep it up. If anything, that's the message or that's the marketing content that you want to share, make yourself unique. Really stand out and share. You know, who you are because you know, people are gonna resonate with that. People are gonna connect with what you're saying and that's gonna help you and not hinder you. 


[00:55:22] That's for sure. 


[00:55:24] Carlos Fernandez: If there's any, if we ever, if you think of like our idols and life, why, why do we like 'em? It's not because they teach you that thing. It's the, the uniqueness about them, the things that make them different from the other person. Teaching that thing and like that realization recently definitely gave me a lot of empowerment. 


[00:55:40] Stretch: That's a great one to share. I appreciate that. That's really good. If you could have dinner with anyone dead are alive, who would it be and why? 


[00:55:47] Carlos Fernandez: There isn't, there isn't that many individuals like that. I just wanna sit down with this one person and eat, eat dinner with him, and chat with him and learn from them. 


[00:55:56] There's a whole gang of people that I would like to write the dinner party. So, yeah, dinner party. So then I, you know, I'm thinking. I think if I think of the people who have talked to the most interesting people, it's podcasters. So like I feel like I'd, I'd just wanna sit down at the dinner, dinner table with my favorite podcasters so I can, they can just share all their stories because they talk to the most amount of people. 


[00:56:20] So it'd probably be my top three favorite podcasters. Like I'd probably sit down with Rich Rolled Chaco Willin and Chris Williamson from Modern Wisdom. 


[00:56:29] Stretch: There you go, mate. Well, I look forward to your podcast launch and you sitting down and having a chat with those people. 


[00:56:36] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah, it's coming. It's coming. Gimme another year. 


[00:56:40] Stretch: Before we finish up Callis, where can people find out more about you or get in touch with you and learn more about what you do? 


[00:56:47] Carlos Fernandez: I think the best place is either my website, definitely the best place in my website because I've got plenty of blogs that explain what I do, the technical things that I teach, and so that's. 


[00:56:56] Just losmvmt.com. Yep. And in my Instagram where you can see my training, so my students and my newsletter, my blog articles as well, That's just instagram.com/losmvmt. 


[00:57:08] Stretch: It's been awesome to sit down and have a chat to you about, you know, where you are right now, how you've managed to build this online business, and your visions and values and all that sort of stuff, so greatly Appreci. 


[00:57:18] Carlos Fernandez: Yeah, I really appreciate you reaching out and, and connecting with me. It's been an awesome experience. Like looking forward to Yeah. Staying connected. 


[00:57:26] Stretch: For sure. If you ever come to Australia, we'll have to do some training together. 


[00:57:29] Carlos Fernandez: It's in the, it's in the works. It's in the plants. No, no doubt about that. 


[00:57:33] So, so we'll be doing some, we'll be doing a little bit of everything when I make it out there. 


[00:57:37] Stretch: I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Protect the Asset Podcast. I'd be grateful if you can leave a comment, add a review, and share this podcast with those who might find it helpful. 


[00:57:48] A lot of personal trainers want to build an online business that allows them to have more freedom in their life, but they lack the business skills to succeed on their own. 


[00:57:56] They've tried building a website, consistently posting on social media, creating a YouTube channel, and sharing loads of educational material. But none of it seems to help their online business grow. 


[00:58:07] They're left feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and ready to give up. I get it. I moved my personal training career online in 2018. 


[00:58:14] I believe personal trainers deserve to have an online business that allows them to work less and earn more. 


[00:58:20] So I created the Protect the Asset Business Coaching Program that teaches online personal trainers the business skills they need to succeed. 


[00:58:28] It's time to stop wasting time on marketing and sales strategies that just don't work the stuff that's not sustainable. 


[00:58:34] If you wanna build an online business, but you're not sure of the best way to go about it, visit www.protecttheasset.co to learn more about building a business that gives you both freedom and financial security. 


[00:58:47] Thanks for listening, and I wish you all the success and happiness in your personal training career. 


[00:58:52]