Health, Fitness, and Mindset Are My Roots

"Health fitness mindset stuff because that's my roots. That's where I came from."

People know me as the guy who builds courses. Before that, I was a fitness coach selling my own online programs. That is where I learned what it takes to get someone from where they are to where they want to be, and it is where I learned that the body and the mind carry everything else you build.

This is one of my pillars. Here is why it still matters to me, and why I think it matters to you if you are building something.

Roots are where you learned the work

Everything I do now started in fitness.

Coaching someone through a training program teaches you the whole game. You meet people where they are. You figure out what is actually in the way, which is usually not what they think. You give them a plan with a clear finish line, and then you help them keep going on the days they do not want to.

That is the same work I do with experts today. Pull the method out. Name the finish line. Build the path. Help people follow it. My background is coaching, fitness, and behavioral psychology, and all of it shows up in how I build a course.

Your roots matter too. Whatever you did before the thing you do now, it taught you something your current work depends on. Do not treat it like a past life. It is the foundation.

Take a minute and name yours. What were you doing before this? What did it teach you about people, about effort, about finishing things? A lot of experts have a first career or a first passion they barely mention anymore, and it is often the source of the way they teach. A nurse who becomes a coach still triages. An athlete who becomes a consultant still thinks in training blocks. Your roots show up whether you credit them or not. You might as well use them on purpose.

I still teach it every week

This is not just history for me.

Every week I drive to Brett's house and do personal training for the whole crew, the Erb and Young team. I wrote more about why in Why I Still Train a Crew Every Week. And every week I do a group call for mindset and NLP related work.

I could stop. I have a business to run and builds to deliver. But staying close to my roots keeps me honest about the work. Teaching a squat and teaching a course are closer than you would think. Both need the person to believe it will work before they give it their full effort.

If you have a practice that made you who you are, keep a piece of it on your calendar. Not as a hobby. As a way of staying connected to the thing you are actually good at.

The body carries the build

Here is what most entrepreneurs get backwards. They treat health like something they will get to once the business is stable.

It does not work that way. The business runs on your energy. Every sales call, every piece of content, every decision you make at the end of a long day comes out of your body. When your body is running on empty, your judgment goes with it.

Look at your week. If there is no slot for training, for sleep, for moving your body, then the business is spending something it did not budget for. You will pay for it later, usually at the worst time.

You do not need a perfect program. You need a repeating one. Two or three sessions a week that do not move, the same way a client call does not move.

Training also teaches something that most business advice skips. Progress is boring. It is the same movement, done a little better, week after week. Nobody gets strong from one great workout. They get strong from showing up on the days they did not feel like it. A business works the same way. The founders who last are not the ones with the best single month. They are the ones who kept showing up with enough in the tank to do it again.

The mind is the other half

Fitness taught me that the plan is the easy part. The hard part is the person running it.

Most people know what to do. They do not do it, because of something happening in their head: an old story about who they are, a fear about what happens if it works, a belief they picked up somewhere and never questioned.

That is why mindset gets a permanent slot on my calendar. It is not motivation. It is maintenance. You train the mind the same way you train the body, on a schedule, whether or not you feel like it. I explain what that weekly call looks like, and why it is a group call, in The Weekly Mindset Call.

If you want to start this week, keep it small. Pick one standing hour for your mind. A coach, a group, a journal, a walk with no phone. Put it on the calendar with the same weight as a sales call. Then keep it for a month before you judge whether it works.

When the mind is clear, the body follows. When both are trained, the business gets a founder who can actually carry it.

Why this belongs next to the business

Freedom Builderz was built so that people don't have to die without sharing their gifts to the world. Everyone comes here with a song to sing, and we get to build the stage. But the singer has to be able to stand on it. A business that needs you on every call and in every inbox slowly takes the hours your health needs, and a founder who is running on empty cannot share much of anything. Building something that does not need you in every room is how you keep the energy to sing.

If you want to see where your business stands before you change anything, the Expert Score takes a few minutes.

Frequently asked questions

Why does health matter so much for entrepreneurs?

Because the business runs on your energy long before it runs on systems. Every call, every decision, every piece of content comes out of your body and your mind. When those are depleted, the work gets worse and the days get longer. Health is not a break from building. It is what lets you keep building.

How do I build a mindset practice as a busy business owner?

Make it a weekly appointment instead of a mood. Pick one standing time each week for mindset work, whether that is a group call, a coach, journaling, or a practice like NLP, and treat it like a client meeting. A practice that repeats does more than an occasional breakthrough.

Can fitness habits really help me run a business?

Yes, because the lessons transfer directly. Training teaches you that results come from repetitions, not from one heroic session. It teaches you to show up when you do not feel like it. It teaches you that a program works better than improvising. The same habits make a business steadier.

What is NLP and why do coaches use it?

NLP, neuro linguistic programming, is a set of tools for working with the language and patterns people use to describe their experience. Coaches use it to help clients notice the beliefs and stories driving their behavior. Mike runs a weekly group call for mindset and NLP related work.