Jennifer Cohen - 3x Bestselling Author & Entrepreneur | Live the Life You Want, Not the Life You Get

Don't be upset by the result you did not get from the work you did not do Jen Cohen Jen Cohen Jen Cohen She's a game changer in personal growth. Esk selling author and brand strategist on a mission to transform lives If you put the work in and you have that commitment, you will get to that goal You have to pick one thing and commit to it and then you don't change the goal You change the as the host of the habits and hustle podcast She's interviewed icons like Mark Cuban Tony Robbins and Matthew McConaughey and her TEDx talk has inspired over five million people worldwide There is a level Entitlement that you have to have and you have to believe that much in yourself where it doesn't stop you from The attempt and the try every entrepreneur has to have a little bit of that or anybody who really kind of goes for the gusto and goes for gold like that You have to have that mindset to be honest. It comes from little wins The only way you get those little wins is from action once you take away that kind of like that mindset It opens up your world so much more if you put the work in and you have that commitment You will get to that goal. This is one conversation. You absolutely won't want to miss Welcome to success story. I'm your host Scott Clary the success story podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast Network. I am a huge fan of HubSpot because they support entrepreneurs a lot of entrepreneurs founders Exactly this listen to this show and for entrepreneurs that are trying to build I have a question for you. Does it feel like your teams are getting pulled in a million different directions when Everyone's digging in on different projects with different platforms in different places It can be tough to stay focused on a common goal and that throws a wrench into things That's why HubSpot brings everything your team needs into one easy to use and easy to love customer platform with it They have everything they need to scale the business at their fingertips So your marketers can write blog posts in a snap with AI and build better leads with in-depth campaigns Sales can build connections and close deals faster with tracking tools and real-time Performance insights and service can get a hand from AI power chatbots for better support and more five-star reviews and Everyone can deliver killer results and grow revenue faster than ever before because when your teams work better Your business grows faster visit HubSpot.com to get started for free today Go ahead origin story tee it up from wherever you want to tee it up to them and go into Partnerships, okay origin story is I'm Canadian. I was I was born in Ottawa Then I moved to Winnipeg then I went to school actually I went to I got my first degree in Winnipeg Then I moved to Toronto for my second degree my first real quote-unquote job was I worked for Toronto Raptors And then I went back. Yeah, and then I went back and I was really young super young and And It was their first year. It was the first year that Canada had an MBA team a franchise team. It was like a huge deal And I worked for them and then I went back to school and then what we started working for BMG music Then moved to LA Started working for another record label called Immortal, which was part of Sony so I did like all these big marketing campaigns and marketing Strategy for like all these bands like at the time in Cubus or slipknot. Do you guys remember to do remember slipknot? You I do remember slipknot You know you mentioned when I was listening to your Ted talk to prep for this you probably said I'm dating myself like 10 times in that Ted talk But like you you always bring these things up that are like shit That's like I if I remember it I'm dating myself like but that's a while back Because you know, I'm like as I'm writing this book, which will be out later on this year I think I wrote in the book. I'm dating myself a hundred times because like all these references are from my generation. How old are you? I'm 31. I'm 31. Oh my god. You're literally a baby. Okay. I'm not literally a baby I mean, I'm not old, but I remember slipknot. Okay, well in my since I'm in my 40 slipknot was And even around the slipknot even around still I don't I don't know. I don't know. I don't know I don't think so I haven't heard of them, but I don't listen to slipknot anymore It's like I was like hardcore like like angry ass music. So think think think think about this Okay, I came from BMG where BMG is like the umbrella company and you have all these other subsidiaries underneath right you have like Jive and RCA and I was working on albums like Britney Spears and Christine Aguilera and Usher and Whitney Houston and then like, you know, cut to like I had no experience in the in the hardcore And I don't even I don't even think it's called heavy metal. I think I don't know what a hardcore alternative. I don't know what you call me Yeah, it's just angry angry angry music and then I go like I'm working on like slipknot and In Cubist, but in Cubist is actually more alternative, but Yeah, so that's how that's my origin story. I kind of am a Canadian girl living in Los Angeles. I came from sports, segwayed into music And then found my way in health and fitness by accident and, you know, that's really kind of where I began and kind of kind of my evolution Okay, so this this podcast we're gonna go into we're gonna go into brand building and I think that's interesting because A lot of people go into health and fitness and they don't they don't really build a strong personal brand But some people seem to like totally break away from the pack and do like what what you did So how did you okay? So what's the first version of health and fitness for for Jen Cohen? Like what are you doing in health? Are you personal trainer? Well, what happened was with my with my story was I as you know because you're Canadian too when I got to LA I was on a working visa and when you're on a working visa You're only allowed to work for the company that you are have a visa, right? That you were legally contract like contracted to be with so when I was doing all of that when I decided to leave music Just because I was like really burnt out from in it really wasn't like it was changing so much It was not how it was kind of becoming much more about, you know iTunes and online strategy It wasn't it wasn't as like person-to-person as it was relationship. It was much more about Online.com like digital marketing strategy for yeah, and what happened? So I decided to like I decided to kind of I've always loved I was always really into like fitness and I I decided to like leave and because I had no other way of making money because I was tied just to So to to the record label to Sony and immortal music records I was like okay I kind of like think out of the box and be resourceful like well if I become a personal trainer That would at least I can then make a cash or I can make money personal personal it will kind of like It can kind of help me pay my bills until I figure out my next move I didn't want to go back to Canada because I bought so enamored with the weather in LA like once you You know, I grew up in like minus what's happening right now in Florida with me exactly exact same You don't want to go back It's hard to do that like it becomes like it becomes it becomes very addictive to the you become addicted to the lifestyle and like the sunshine like in King Canada, you know, it's gray and cold almost nine months of the year You know, so when you have the when you now and I'm in LA and in California the palm trees and the sunshine I'm like oh my god, I can't go back So that's why I'm like okay, I'm gonna go get my I'll become a personal trainer It was just kind of one of those like you know random thoughts that where I can make the money like on the side And when I did it I decided that's when I kind of decided when I went through the program my first certification I realized that Wait, I have all of these relationships for the music world and I I have like I kind of Have the ability to kind of Maybe figure out a way where I can blend it to so I basically went to one of the record labels where I had my Relationships with and I pitched myself I created an opportunity to become a label trade or I made it up where I would train Artists before you know before they went on tour or to do like a music video And I kind of just created a job for myself by thinking okay now I have this certification I also don't want to work for a label doing the marketing strategy and all that other on like all that digital stuff That I wasn't very good at but this I can kind of get behind. I know how the marketing budgets work Maybe I can like do it like that and then if I get put on retainer I'm not capping myself at hourly because when you're a trainer It's like you you hire me for an hour pay me 50 bucks and making up the number and then you're you're having a ceiling So I just kind of like created this opportunity for myself and I pitched it the guy was like You have no business doing this and I convinced him that I do now because I have my my Certification and if you're if you're a personal trainer, you know what I'm talking about and And he finally said fine we can try it out and If it ended up working out in one label turned into two labels turned into six labels And that's how I kind of like segueed myself and really pivoted my career from being Marketing executive to being a label trainer and All I did was I used the I there's We all have it. We all have Micro skills or transferable skills that we can use from our from our past and I had those relationships I knew how that stuff worked and I kind of just figure out how I can like use it to my advantage Which is really what all of this is all about anyway And that put me on a whole other path my trajectory completely changed from Doing marketing for labels and with with artists to then being like their Personal fitness trainer, you know, and so that took me and opened up my world way more and bigger than I ever could have imagined By just thinking a little bit strategically out of the box of what I want to do Where's my passion and how can I like part how can I marry my passion with what my With what with what my Background is my skill set my relationships and all the other stuff and how can I match them together? You know how cool it is that like like every time something doesn't work out They're sort of like two avenues you can go down right like at that point you could have like gone back to Canada And you could have completely given up and and whatnot or you could have done what you did And I just think it's impressive that some people just think differently Because looking back it's very clear like that's like a such an incredible thing It makes a lot of sense like I don't think you made this out of nowhere, but How do you how do you why do you think differently? How do I take your brain the way you thought at that moment And teach other people to think like that all the time because that's an exceptional talent that It's very hard to capture. Thank you Well first of all what I would say is I always start with the question like Why not like why not me? I don't really give myself any parameters or um At all actually and I think to myself well I don't like to live in this area where you know, I think what happens a lot is this and this is Pushed by society and pushed by your environment right people like to compartmentalize people into boxes right like If you've done marketing at a record label than they're a marketing person If you're a personal trainer and have been training people for five years Well, that makes you a personal trainer and like there's all these categories and boxes right I never ever thought that way like my entire career has been It's not it's not this linear line It's always been like zigzagged because my brain doesn't see See things as or or or or or see Things as impossibilities and it doesn't see things as As these like boxes like I always think I always go into it. They're like why not me There has to be like a level of And I wouldn't say confidence There is a level of Entitlement I have to say that you have to have and you have to believe That much in yourself where it doesn't stop you from the Attempt and the try so I think every entrepreneur has to have a little bit of that or anybody who really kind of goes for the gusto and goes for gold like that You have to have that that that mindset and You know it comes from True to be honest. It comes from little wins right you And the only way you get those little in those little wins is from action So really what comes from is like you act you may lose a couple but you'll win a little bit That kind of gives you that confidence to kind of try again So I think that's the beginning and I like I said it's one one kind of I think I think hold a lot of people back are these compartmental like people are come they compartmentalize What they think their skill set is and they don't think they can do anything beyond that skill set And then they have a lot of self-doubt even trying So once you take away that That that kind of like that mindset it opens up your world so much more When you start taking action It does make sense. No it does make sense. So that's like Yeah, you start taking action you start having these little and I and I I love that you actually said that because I I do believe that There is there is a little bit of entitlement. I always say like I always say craziness when like jumping into something new But there is a little bit of entitlement feeling comfortable that like you're the right person for this That you're the right person that could figure this out or solve this problem And that's like a that's something that I wish people would Understand to get to that point does take those little wins and like there's many ways you can have those little wins to get to that point Psychologically, but if you don't have that level of entitlement day one Then just you just start taking action you just start trying things Just trying more things like it's so like every time I have these conversations They feel so cliche because like oh, you know try things outside your comfort zone or do something new but like literally That's literally what you have to do because that's how you'll fail and win Well, I thought it is by you say that because like you're right like it sounds like I even when I said those words like little wins Because I sound super cliche like everybody says the same shit over and over and over again But the truth is the but it's true, but the truth the matter it is like I When I look at all the people I'm interviewed on my podcast and all the experiences I've had in my life And I'm a very observational person like I love to observe right It's never the smartest person that ever is like who who who who who who becomes the most successful It's the people that are the most bold who go after it and like don't stop the relentless or tenacious and they don't they don't think about the the The what if I fail then they don't have that what if I fail mentality They just keep on moving and going and they're not they're they're they're resilient So I kind of like feel like you need to kind of just have that you if people can really kind of tweak how they think a little bit and Not like I not let things hold them back like experience skill set self-doubt Fear failure their world would be so much different and open up so much and the opportunities are so much more vast right like People are like how did you become how did you do this or how did you do that really at the end of the day? You know how I didn't I asked the quite I asked I just or I just you know made that attempt I'd like believe me. I'm no smarter or any more anything than anybody else and vice versa It's really just kind of it's like the tenacity and the constant um, I guess like the ferocious ability to kind of keep keep trying like that to me is all it's above Hey guys got here. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say a heartfelt thanks to every single one of you Six years of this show and it's really all because of you your listens your support your shares It's what keeps this thing going when I started I had no idea how big this would get how many lives we touch The stories we share the lessons that we learned together. It's truly humbling And I believe that we're building something really special here a community where no one has to reinvent the wheel We're all in this together learning and growing and here's my ask if you love this show It's made a difference for you Please share it with somebody who needs it Hello friend host on social whatever works. It's the best way to keep this thing going strong Bring on even better guests and share more life changing wisdom And you can find us on all the spots so you can go to successstorypodcast.com if you like listening to podcasts If you like video you can go to youtube. It's youtube.com slash c slash scott declary or the newsletter newsletter Dot scott declary.com. Just spread the word. I'm eternally grateful for each and every one of you Let's keep learning. Let's keep growing and let's keep making this world a little bit better together All right, let's get back to the show. I owe so two things two sort of points that that I I want to touch on like one thing I've always said this and it's a version of what you just said But like do do anything for 10 years and to your peers and your friend You're going to be considered like quite successful at that thing Like I don't care if it's like installing windows in a new developed like a new house or you're starting a podcast So you're posting on social like do it for 10 years and look at the results And you're probably going to be monetizing that you're going to be making some decent money You're going to turn into like a side hustler or full-time living Like you just have to do it for 10 years Like obviously you have to iterate and maybe test and keep trying different things But I mean like if you're moving in one direction you have one goal for 10 years It's very hard to fail at that thing and you'll probably be known for being some sort of specialist at that particular thing Well, this is what I think I think the majority of people don't even try So when someone actually tries Over more than once your just pure numbers game your Your potential impossibility for getting what that is You know kind of goes up already by a landslide, right? That's the bottom line most people most people don't even try Most people give up after they don't get somewhere They're they're not relentless in their pursuit there, but you have to be relentless You have to be obsessive like another quality like whereas you're saying well, how is it that you You know you said or two things you're like well, how is it that you have that mindset to even say well? Why not there is like an upset and I said to you Well, you have to have a level of entitlement you also have to have a level of obsessiveness You have to be obsessively wanting something at the end of the day if you want to lose weight And you you will lose weight if you want it bad enough, right? So this idea of like well I tried this and it didn't work and I did that well, you know what? I don't buy that I think whenever and I use myself as an example When I'm not really that interested in something or not that passionate about something or I don't really care enough Yeah, like my results are kind of like and then I move on to something But when I am super obsessed about something and super in like into it There's like nothing that will like stop me. I become super tunnel vision You have to be super tunnel vision to be successful You asked me before we started this podcast you're like, well, how did you get Tony Robbins? And you know how I got Tony Robbins because I asked Constantly I never gave up and when one person didn't It couldn't kind of help me or he said no and one way or didn't respond I figured out another person who may know who can have another angle where I can get in through, you know The back door and that back door slammed on my face so then I like dug a tunnel underneath and you know There was a you know, I couldn't get past that so then I went to the other side and then I did like there's like you don't You have to be constantly thinking of ways to get to what your your goal is and be relentless and be obsessive And that's how you do it and because like I said most people Don't try that hard Most people don't even attempt or they give up after like they have one failure You know, then that's why it doesn't happen so the people who try over and over again They're the ones who are going to have the success because it's a tradition at the end of the day right like I'm not giving up So through a tradition I'm going to win before you because you gave up after like 20 minutes I love um, you know there's so many it's interesting there's so many um there's so many business and life lessons That can be derived from some from like from personal health well-being like attainment to fitness schools like team sports I love like the I love like pulling over like all the lessons that you learn from If somebody successful in the gym and the mindset that it takes to be successful in the gym towards their gym goals And then you take that person and if you put them in a business scenario It's like the exact same mindset and and I love that and I also like talking to like the strategy that all these like you know Football coaches deploy like for their teams that are so similar to how you lead people in a in a workplace and stuff like that But just just if you have thoughts on that that would be cool too because I'm so glad that you said that because it's interesting Because you know, I was talking about how people compartmentalized right so many people stated me Well, she's a fitness person. She's a fitness girl. How would she be able to do that? I mean like how can she do strategy for this fortune 100 company when she does like swats and lunges with you know Becky on the side like there's like there's like a disconnect right but this is the interesting thing Fitness to me was my foundation because what it taught me first of people don't even realize that I have I went to school and all the other stuff and all the things I've done But they are myopic and they're thinking and think because I did a squat and I like aerobics or step step step class That your mind doesn't have the ability to kind of grow beyond that But fitness to me was such a foundation because it teaches It taught me and it teaches people who do it seriously goal setting discipline Disciplines a major thing that is overlooked right it takes a lot of discipline To go at something over and over again It takes a lot of discipline To stay on track and not veer off track because something is more shiny over there It takes so much discipline to actually Pursue constantly obsessively. So you learn the discipline you learn the goal setting you learn how when you see progression or you see yourself progressing that like that like a positive mental Confidence grows right it also takes a lot of mental toughness to go somewhere over and over again Every single day when you were tired or when you are You know working so hard where you're like not sleeping and like go and and like keep working out at the gym over and over again Those things getting up early getting up early eating eating well Like those are that's like such discipline that is such like it is it's all the things that are really important and transferable skills that you can utilize in business and truthfully are the most important most important values and most important skill sets and Fundamental values that you that that that kind of That kind of make people successful in their personal life the professional life in everywhere else So when people think oh just because she's a fitness girl she's not able to do this or that I will Go into that scenario and I'll say okay. Well, let's let's see what happens And I will out work and out win most of those people almost every single time Because I've already have have that foundation from what fitness gave me and it is the same with that's why when you're saying coaches who Team coaches for football or whatever they are they are throwing so much at these athletes constantly like for For human performance like not giving up when you are tired and when you want to like when you are exhausted or when you're sick or when you're just don't want to do it anymore or The relentlessness that comes from all that is such an important quality and that's why when you when people if you actually look at a lot of the top CEOs Or a top punch canors in the world I'm not saying it's obviously like everybody, but I'm saying if you look at like the a lot of them Really have a very they hold in on their morning routine their fitness routine They are doing things to keep them on point because they know if they do that it will help them with everything else in their life Now okay, so so our goal was to talk about personal brand and partnership Haven't done any of that shit yet, but that's okay. This is this is good too. So it's veered off a little bit We could do yeah, I don't give a shit. We could do we could do one you do more of these doesn't matter to me like Come back and talk about branding another time We can totally do that um okay, but okay, so you're you're you're sort of dovetailing to a really good point So like habits so this is all about habits now Your podcast is called habits and hustle um, which obviously habits is an important part of who you are but Everybody but I don't think so now we've established like there's the habits will lead to success patterns and and Will all lead to success and processes will lead to success, but people obviously have a super hard time Uh Committing to them because people are usually very hedonistic. They they don't love getting it like I'm gonna take a gym example That you're gonna appreciate in Canada in the winter going to the gym before work and you're shoveling your driveway at like 4.30 a.m. So you can drive to like the good life at like five to six so you can like make it to the office And like you know this shit and it's a it's not it's not fun right so That's a certain type of that's a certain type of habit that gets ingrained because you have that goal that you want to achieve It's a it's a fitness goal now How do you and I don't even know the answer because I I used to do that I used to do that and I don't know how I got to the point where that was so important to me that I would do something like that But how do you How do you how do you architect your mind so that these that the end goal the mission is so important That you can build these habits because I feel like the goal to Creating and maintaining successful habits is to have that end goal that's so important that that you need to do the activities No matter what to get to that end result Well, you know what it's called it's called commitment right and you gave a really good example of like Toronto Or Canada when you have to wake up early So you and like and like basically get the snow in the ice off of your car and drive to the gym and all that stuff People don't even understand like what kind of level of commitment that has that that entails right versus like living in LA And just like going outside and just doing your thing right but it was because of those like harsh harsher Realities that kind of even made made the level of commitment that much more strong But I think I think like I think it's it's commitment. So the question I guess my question to you is Are you asking me how people could She kind of like can make it they can tweak their mindset to have a commitment or where does my commitment come from or how what is the question The the question is the question is Well actually, this is a chicken and egg scenario. So say you have say you have a goal Is it a matter of tweaking your mindset or perhaps better identifying your goals so that you can have commitment Well, okay, this is what I think first of all I think people have to focus have You could have to have you have to be committed to whatever your goal is Now first thing is you got to figure out what that goal what what that goal is to have commitment to I think if you have too many goals or they're too lofty Then it doesn't even it doesn't matter. It's it's it's it's becomes lost already You have to pick one thing and commit to it and then you don't change the goal You change the plan to get to that goal That's the first thing you change the plan you don't change the goal and again if you have if you are if you are obsessively committed and passionate about Reaching whatever that is You will reach it if you have that commitment the the point the problem is most people don't let me have that commitment They think they do but at the end of the day people don't want to work that hard right they don't want to work that hard Like there's a whole thing is like you cannot be Don't be upset about the results you didn't get from the from the work you didn't do right That's basically what it is don't be upset by the result you did not get from the from the work you did not do If you put the work in and you have that commitment you will get to that goal It is as simple as that I am that I am that convinced and you have to have that let that mindset when going into something You know like if if you if you say to me uh While In Toronto or wherever you had to you know the whole the car it's cold and you've got to get into the car right But like if I want it bad enough that's what I'm going to have to do now. This is the this is the thing I was going to say to you I think a lot of it is the stop is in the start right people don't know how to begin they may They may want a goal They may even have commitment to the goal, but then they can be kind of Not knowing they're overwhelmed by the beginning So that's why I think it's so important for someone to have us Have one thing that they're focused on and something small that they could achieve because if they achieve that They get not only gained the confidence But if they see that if they actually notice a change or they notice something that's working for them That is a lot of motivation for them to continue So it's like validation people need to see the validation Depend and I think it depends on who the person is and what the goal is like If I if my if my goal is you know what um I want to Mary Brad Pitt, okay, that's a that's not okay. It's not gonna. I can try all I want. It's not gonna happen I think like you need to have something you have to be realistic as well So I think there has to be a piece of it where you're like what is realistic for me What can I actually achieve that's realistic that I can go for right now so You know Looking at yourself assessing and having self-awareness knowing what you're good at knowing what you're bad at and leaning into the good stuff Now again, what is your goal is your goal weight loss is your goal to raise A hundred million dollars depending on what it is. So I always tell people have a goal that a that is realist it and then if you're not good at something What I'd like to do is find people that kind of Help balance my out my weaknesses. So having things aren't done in like a silo right like for success It's not like everything. I'm doing I'm doing on my own. No like I have I I think I hope to be and I try to be more all the time But I try to be somewhat self-aware and like okay, you know what? I'm really good in these areas, but I'm really really bad and this this and this and this and this and this and this whoo and my toes whatever so And how can I balance this shit out a little bit, right? And so you have to be really good at being okay with not being great at everything Some people want to believe they're great at everything and then it really slows them down But if you can have that like self-assessment with yourself and then kind of Fill in the blood fill in the pockets of of where you're kind of weak then you can actually Actually become successful at whatever that is I just want to take a second to thank the sponsor of today's episode HubSpot now HubSpot has an incredible podcast network success stories part of it And if you like success story, you're going to love other podcasts and their network one of my favorites is iDigress Is hosted by Troy Sandage what Troy does exceptionally well is in under 30 minutes He helps eliminate complexity complications confusion in your business He talks about frameworks strategies that really work to help you achieve scalable and sustainable success So you need to go listen to iDigress one of the most useful podcasts for entrepreneurs and founders Part of the HubSpot podcast network wherever you get your podcasts So And you you touched on a point before you said like are you talking about my my commitment and my goals And I actually think that's a good way to like really tell a story and explain it So like you've done like a lot of different things like you're writing a book now you started a podcast You sold a company you built a personal brand so Maybe take a you know a milestone or accomplishment Sorry, I know I know I know that we can we can go into that too if you want up to you like that's always an interesting story But I was gonna say take like something that you've done And and tell the story of of how you broke down the goals partnered stuff out You know about you know filled your weaknesses with people expertise and sort of went through that process and then the short term and then the long term results So just break down something that you've done Because I know that you if you think hard enough about one of the things you've done in your career It's gonna model exactly what you just what you just described But I want to show like a very tactical like tangible example for somebody that's trying to it's like Oh, this is theoretical. I need to see like a real example of this. Okay, perfect. So There is when I when I did I did my first company was called no gym required and no gym required was the idea and the idea behind No gym required was to give people easy and simple solutions to be healthier and more fit And live healthier lives without relying on a gym So it's not that I hated the gym But it was just like you know what if you don't want to go to the gym You don't have time for the gym. You don't have the money for the gym. That's not an excuse to not be healthy So I that's that was the company I started had a book called no gym require and I also Created a fitness toning shoe called no gym required which was this weighted Inter this with this weighted shoe that when you wore the shoe You you basically burned up to 25% more calories because of the resistance, right? So I had a really great product in my opinion that Uh, that I thought was great and there was a lot of elements of what had to be done that I was really bad I'm really bad on operations and really bad on manufacturing like all the all the manufacturing operation stuff All the financial projections all of the that's that is my weakness. I knew that So I found a partner that who can help me with all of that stuff. So I can do all the sales. I can do All the all the PR I can do all the marketing. So I found somebody who can really Balance out what my weakness is with so I didn't go into the company thinking that I can do everything And then really fail, right? You're gonna most people fail anyway because it That's what it is as an entrepreneur you fail and fail and then you have a win and people are like oh my god How did they win? You're like well because they've tried for the last 20 years They started 30 other companies, right? But trial and error, you know like eventually again If you're tenacious enough, it's gonna work But with no gym required I found a partner to help with so much of that stuff And if I didn't have that That person then it would have been a colossal failure I've ended up we ended up selling and the shoe business is a very awful business because there's only a few very big players like Nike and Adidas and Reebok and marketing budgets for these companies are like in the hundreds of millions of dollars and I was like, you know I like I was like a David and Goliath thing and I had really no money and Very little money. I was factoring my money, which means I was paying a huge interest on the dollars. I was I was getting and I used it was pure grit and hustle that I sold hundreds and hundreds of thousands and pairs of these shoes where a company wanted to acquire us and um Anyway, it gets into a whole long story, but make a long story short was I Was honest with myself where I found somebody to take those things that off my plate where then I can focus on what I'm really good at They can focus on what they're really good at and then you can have a real success at something versus not doing that and then just having a total you know Dog failure mass Yeah, shit show um, but the toughest sorry, I still fail most of the time. No, I know I mean it like it happens, but like yeah, I mean You just you just increase your chances of success. That's that's really the goal like you just try and incrementally increase chances of success and you know if you're just doing everything on your own Well, I think well startups already have what like a 90 95 six seven eight nine percent failure rate So hopefully if you bring somebody smarter than you like at least you maybe knock a couple a couple points off that But it's still not easy. Well, yeah, and also always surround yourself with people who are smarter than you Don't be the smartest person in the room So that's another thing right because you want to also be able to learn like even with if you started business You know, you you can't even think about all the things that come up that you didn't think about that you have to like kind of get get knowledge on So even the fact that I have I had a partner who took care of all these things all these miscellaneous things Will come up all the time that you have to kind of learn on the spot or kind of figure out or like because it didn't work That's when you learn that mistake for next time because so even though that company and You know we sold it and then it became a whole shit show of other things which we could do a whole other podcast on But you know, I went into my next venture and with a lot of that that experience and knowledge that all this things that went wrong and You know you you go into the next venture with all that that All that information and experience and knowledge of pitfalls that you kind of learned from that Hopefully help you to be a little bit more successful right and it kind of keeps on going like that So you really do need those failures to actually win later on in life because that is the that is unfortunately the only way you learn You don't know what you don't know so by by going into something throwing yourself into something is really really important Because that's how you learn those like tactical skills and those little new wants and details that you would never know otherwise smart And then you know actually I do want to touch on partnerships because I think it's you know You we've sort of spoken about finding people that are complimenting you And I'm sure you've been screwed before in the past with bad partnerships and people that you've worked with it Happening great because everybody in the world has been but how do you how do you find the okay? How do you you know to be a multi-pronged question which I don't like doing but there's components to this shit So like how do you find the right people how like what's you know, how do you how do you Identify the bullshit? How do you understand who's going to actually help you versus hurt you like you you have spoken about partnerships before And it's obviously a crucial component of business But I don't think enough people everybody's like yeah, sure. I'll go find somebody to kind of build my business but The second you do it you realize that most people aren't going to help you and not even not even maliciously some people just over sell themselves whatever So how do you how do you yeah, you're like you're laughing because like you know you definitely know at this point You probably learned a lot earlier on to so how do you how do you deal with finding the right people Especially if you're going to find somebody to compliment your weaknesses because you don't You're not as you're not strong in that particular thing that you're hiring for your partnering for So you don't know what good looks like well 100% true So this is the thing right? I think volume it's very important to get yourself put yourself out there And meet as many people as you can to open up your network so you know And I think the more experienced you have uh Meeting people working with like you become better at it But I think it there's a lot of different types of partnerships right when I'm looking for A partner in a vendor versus a business partner who's coming into my business to work with me as my partner in a certain business It's a very different thing Right, but at the end of the day I think it is very important that you actually Respect and like the person they have integrity and you get along with them At this point I think I think it's that to me is the most that is That is the most important thing I have turned down many opportunities Where I just didn't invite with somebody because it at the it was an uncomfortable vibe and I knew long term It wasn't going to it wasn't going to be fruitful in any really real way So I think you start you start slow. It's like dating right you kind of like you kind of like talk You me you kind of keep the relationship going you speak more you talk more you get together more And I think you have to get to know someone you're going to be you gotta be discerning Because I think a lot of times people do jump into partnerships and relationships and then they They they didn't they don't know what they don't know because they didn't take the time to get to know that situation or that person I think a lot of it is being able to People tell you a lot of things without talking. It's not what they say. It's what they don't say and how they act That I look at I look at how other people treat other people to know how I think how how I think that person is Not how they treat me a lot of people are nice to me because they want something from me, right? But that doesn't count what counts to me is how they're treating people that they are with their partners They that they work who work for them when they're out in the world. So I look at all the all these Ancillary things that have nothing to do with necessarily my relationship with them. That's that that's really a big piece of it Um and I think it and I think You know water does find its level and like my I think that Again, I think it's so much of it is knowing yourself right like I know That How my personality is so I look for like and is that person and me are we going to be able to like Get a long okay like I'm super type A and if they're really type A are we going to clash too much? Probably right so maybe a type A personality would do really really well with like more of a type B personality You know like things like that I look at like I think you have to have a you have to have You got to like kind of focus more on your EQ here your emotional intelligence is sometimes like pick some of these partners but I think it's very important when you're building a personal brand or or your own business You have to find other partners as well that don't work within your own environment, but who can You can collaborate with who can help build up your brand and it's the same thing Look for people who are like minded look for people that you get along with and that you respect and like Look for people that like you can see how they're true character and how they treat other people that they're with Don't just jump into something be more discerning By taking the time Um, I'm not motivated. I've never been and I till this day and I won't be I'm never really motivated by money Because when you're motivated by money You let you really limit yourself and in my opinion and you don't get the greatest return So you have to have a bigger Reason of doing something or desire than just making money So finding what do you mean by limit? I'm curious. What do you mean by limit yourself? That's interesting you say that I just feel like Whenever I I'm not like I said I'm not motivated by money anyway, but when I when I have chosen like oh I want to do this thing because it's more money around what I'll do this bit of my It's never been like a really great experience. If it's just money driven, right? I think it's way more advantageous and then the experience is better and the Opportunity becomes more when I'm picking something because I genuinely like something or genuinely like the person You know like you never know what you don't know like all of this by the way Like you can think that you're picking somebody great you can think you have a great partner and then like It doesn't work out, right? These are just things that I look for at least Before right like if I'm not picking for money If I'm not looking just for the money the the financial thing, but I'm looking for the person or the partnership because it's It like meshes well and they have they have the same values system and the same Whatever it is it always ends up being a much more fruitful experience and an opportunity And you actually I want to I want to make a point like on the record like you actually you actually live it because you were You know, we won't name names, but like you were talking about like who you want on your show versus who you don't want on your show So it's like it's for you. It's like it's a big it's like a huge deal actually first of all like Thank you for coming on my show. That's super cool like I don't know everyone's value system when like you know I reach out to them or whatnot, but that's that's super cool. That makes me feel good 100% like to me I don't care if you're famous if you're a dick. I don't have no interest in talking to your working with you It doesn't make a difference to me and you've had big ass names on your show like this is not this is not BS Like you've had like big big names you can bring big people so like when you can bring those people like I think that you know You this is again, we're gonna do cliche stuff, but like the mindset of abundance versus like a like a very like scarcity mindset like You are always you right now. We're always thinking in a mindset of abundance and I'm not like a mindset of abundance speaker But I know that like just like the the thought of like don't chase after things like like just focus on like your core values And what you who you are as a person and what you build and what you do and what you decide to sort of engage with and like the good comes from that as opposed to Somebody who is like I need the biggest names all the time and like you you you know Everybody falls into traps right like candidly like when I first started this podcast like I was looking for the biggest possible names I thought that was the only way to grow and then I had podcasts that I didn't like as much and they were they And I'll never I'll never say who those people were But there's people that were bigger names that I actually didn't love as much as people that were just Incredible people to chat with that were nobody nobody's ever spoken to these people are heard of these people People ever but they were just a better conversation and those are the episodes that get the biggest downloads And the most reach and the and that's the one that you know those are the episodes that You pull these like these teachings and these learnings out of these people because they feel comfortable with you And that's like the the shows that give the most value like that's like the very micro the microcosm like the the podcast example But that's how you approach life and I think that I think I think that you just have to always trying to fall to that mindset It's easy to fall into the trap of How do you how do you chase a thing that draw like you know that gives you the most success the quickest It's it's it's a very difficult thing to stay away from but I think that if you always bring your you know You always ground yourself in in your in your what I guess like you're I don't know your you're you're you're you're you're I don't know you're I don't know what the word is like the The values of you as a person Like if you always ground yourself and you bring yourself back to those values Like that's how you pursue and decide what you want to go after I mean listen I think to me what's really important for me in general is authenticity. I like people who are real I don't like people who are Bullshitters. I don't like people who are who are grand Eagle maniacs grand you know it's like there's I think at the end of the day like I'm much more about Like the va the the feeling someone gives me versus Versus what their outside persona is to me. It's like not interesting because like you know to your point I've had a couple people in my podcast who are really really Six well-known and the podcast was kind of shitty because they're shitty And I never even aired them. Yeah, and people are like how are you not airing really? Yeah, and I'm like yeah I mean it wasn't a good conversation. It was like awkward and weird. They were like super closed off I didn't they didn't I didn't learn anything. They weren't interested in really They weren't interested in being there. They felt like a chore. It was like a chore Right, I'm like to me. It's like what When when I when I go down around like a role like that, you know You you kind of like re you reap the kind of You know, so what are you so you whatever that stupid saying is but I feel like I know you're saying I can't remember the saying No, but I know you're saying I just like people who are like really I like nice people. I think people who I actually find that people with the biggest are usually the nicest is the people who would try Who are like nobody's who have the biggest problems and attitudes who like try too hard to be somebody It's like just be like a real person and be nice and be kind and It gets it's just I just vibe with that much better You know, I think when people feel that they have something to prove That it's an uncomfortable feeling for me. So I don't let it lean into that stuff and Quite frankly, I probably should sometimes I baby I should have a few times and I may have lost but you know, it was when I I don't even tell you this like I've lost a lot of different opportunities early in my career because when I was in the fitness People would always be like celebrity trainer like all these like magazines and gossip magazines and TV shows would be like You know calling me a celebrity trainer and like wanted to talk about like all the people I trained right like that would be the only way I would get the press about selling my shoe we're selling this or like and like it was so like tacky the way They wanted me to do it where I was just like you know, I'm not gonna do it because I felt like it was so it was so Compromising to who my true character was where I just didn't do it and I lost those opportunities I probably lost a ton of book sales which my publisher at the time I wrote like strong as a new skinny and no gym required and a lot of people who You know didn't want to like write about my book because I didn't want to talk about you know A celebrity that I trained 10 years prior didn't want to interview me I wasn't important enough because I wasn't a celebrity. I wasn't like doing that And I was like well, okay, and I didn't sell as many books, but at the end of the day It is what it is. I'm not gonna compromise my value system So again, it's about like knowing who you are and being true to who you are being authentic and being real You know, you may lose a lot of shit short term, but I think overall long term you win You win over and over again in the long term. So you're either playing the short game or you're playing the long game. I like to play the long game Life is long too. I think people I think people I think people lose they don't have a really strong Understanding of how long life is really how long life is and it's funny because life is long and short at the same time like if You're trying to achieve something in your life The whole point I was trying to make is like set goals so that life doesn't feel short That's really it because when you set goals life is very long and then you won't be as stressed about Not figuring out whatever you it is you want to figure out in life wherever you want to go I don't think you'll be as stressed if you set those goals because you'll realize at how much you actually accomplished towards I think which is like a whole other conversation that I like to have with people about If you're working a full-time job and you're not happy with where you're at in life start side hustles figure a process for side hustles You know use your spare time and use that use that spare time that accumulates on evenings and weekends to build up a business for yourself If you're not happy or use that spare time to apply to a thousand jobs if you're not happy or figure out something But set goals so that at night you're working towards a milestone of goal And I think that when you do that life ends up working out I think that when people people fail is they don't set those goals Like you said before they don't start you mentioned this before they don't start and then all of a sudden life flies by Because you don't set those goals Yeah, I agree I also think that people should realize the opposite that life is short So why would you live a life of like of like kind of I showed up you know showed up. I should have done this I should have done that like I rather have any day of the week. I rather have Way more Rejection than regret to me regret like Regrets like the worst thing in the world. I'd rather be like I'd rather be rejected a million times you get over rejection really fast Regret stays with you forever Yeah, have you ever have you oh, this is a this is probably a A too large a question for the amount of time we have left but I was gonna say Have you ever regretted anything that you've done in your life? Have you ever regretted anything or have you missed it or anything that you wish you wanted to Okay, I want to Just because I have and that's you know what Okay, let's do some rapid fire first of all before we do rapid fire. Where do people reach out to you? It what's the best social? What's the website all that drop it so people can go check it out. They can go to instagram at the real gen coin I'm now on tiktok same name the real gen coin um They can go to my website jenniferpoen.com and then we'll all be back because I'm gonna be promoting my book in about seven months to you Mm-hmm, and we'll do another one then okay, and then we can okay perfect Okay, so rapid fire Don't think too hard, but biggest challenge you've had to overcome in your life. What was it? How did you overcome it biggest challenge? um, I think thinking that I was stupid And how did I overcome it self-doubt self-doubt. Yeah, and then I and and that's my like why I talk about this so much and How did I overcome it? I overcame it by just doing shit and doing things and then winning Like I said, that's why everything that I talk about is because of my own personal experience I love it if you could tell your 20-year-old self one thing what would it be? I would say Don't worry so much. These are gonna be okay And then and then last question I have more questions, but we're gonna do another one What yeah, I've a lot of last question for now for today last question. What does success mean for you? Success means to me being true to yourself. I think being living authentically So being surrounded by really good people that Care about you and love you. I think that to me is really successful I think all this means nothing. That's why money doesn't mean anything nothing means anything if you're not Around quality people who genuinely like want to be around you and genuinely loving care about you This is all for nothing. I couldn't at the end of the day You're not gonna take your your money to your grave to your grave, right? You want to have you want to be surrounded and be fulfilled And insatiated on a personal level too. Not just professionally You