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Getting in shape with your spouse? Coach Brian Smith of The Titan Principles has the training, nutrition (and most likely, the couples counseling) to get you to your goals. We talk tech, motivation, and small business customer service. Plus, a marketing tip to become your own customer on a regular basis.
Transcript:
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast. I’m Jeff Randolph. This Small Business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing. We are going to talk about marketing, we’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice that business owners can use to keep moving forward. This week we sit down with Coach Brian Smith, he’s owner of the Titan Principles. But first we’ve got another small business marketing tip that we want to talk about, so let’s do that.
Jeff Randolph:
For our marketing tip section today, just a short word about how to take a step back and think about what you need to prioritize in your marketing, and that’s getting the product right.
“But Jeff,” you say, “my product is right. I formulated this product to be corrosion resistant, or taste better, or stay crunchy in milk because I’m using a non-nutritive cereal varnish,” or something. You’ve done all that. You wouldn’t be in business if you didn’t have some confidence in your product, but over time, even if the product doesn’t change itself, the experience may have changed.
The tip is this, on a routine basis, experience that product the way a first-time customer might experience the product. See what their experience. As an agency, we have the advantage because that’s exactly what we’re doing when we start working with a new client. We find out what it’s like to experience that product for the first time, and so we can give you our advice, because we’re walking in from 50 miles away with a briefcase and saying, “Here’s exactly what you need to do.” But as the owner, as someone who sees the same thing every single day, you walk in the door the same way every single time, you see all of the different things, and you become numb to it, you become blind to it.
We don’t see how dingy the carpet looks, or we go nose blind to the smell of bring your pet to work day or we don’t go back and visit that online shopping cart, or online application. So stop, take a minute, and do this on a regular basis. Do this monthly, or twice a year, or annually, whatever that is that makes sense for your business. Experience your product or service the way a new customer would. Can you do all the things you want to do on your website, the way it worked when you first built that thing? Check back in. Make sure that it’s working exactly the way you want to. You’ll be surprised what you find when you step into your customer’s shoes. Make sure it’s the experience you want them to have and they’ll keep coming back.
Jeff Randolph:
And welcome back to the show. I am here with Brian Smith. He is the owner of the Titan Principles. Brian, welcome to the show.
Brian Smith:
Thank you for having me.
Jeff Randolph:
Absolutely. And give us an overview of the Titan Principles. I think maybe I should be calling you Coach every once in a while. We’ll figure that out as it goes along, but we’re happy to have you here. Tell us about the business.
Brian Smith:
The Titan Principles, we’re a fitness and nutrition coaching company. We do online, in person, small group. We really just focus on that one-on-one interaction and making sure that you’re able to get to your goal that you want to, and that you have all the support that you need.
Jeff Randolph:
And so you’ve got the physical training, but you also have nutrition, because I don’t know, I’ve heard that these two things go hand-in-hand. I assume that’s why you have both of those.
Brian Smith:
They do. They do go hand-in-hand, nutritional is a lot harder. So if you’re already doing the physical aspect, you might as well just do the nutrition as well.
Jeff Randolph:
Take the other half of it as well.
Let’s talk about the origin story of the business, because your website says that you discovered that humans are capable of greatness. After you were faced with that desire or need to overcome asthma. Describe that journey.
Brian Smith:
So I used to have asthma as a kid. I still do, but it’s not nearly as bad.
When I was a kid, I never was able to run track, or do many sports, and a lot of times when I would try to do sports, the asthma would end up taking me out, and then I would just go through long months and years of not being very active. So of course, not being active just made that worse.
Jeff Randolph:
It makes it worse. That doesn’t help anything.
Brian Smith:
And so I spent lots of nights in the hospital, did not enjoy it. There was days on those hospital beds where I didn’t want to continue through that pain, and that torture, and that haunted me, and that really convinced me to make a change and learn about how the human body works.
And so then that made me develop a system to make small changes and do what I could do to overcome that asthma until I’m at a place where now I’m running obstacle course races without it holding me back, and also doing CrossFit challenges and other physical strength competitions as well.
Jeff Randolph:
Fascinating. And so was it just that, I don’t know, light bulb moment or something, where you’re like, “If I want this to get better, I have to do something and take that first step” was that a difficult first step to take or was that just a, “I’m driven to it. The hospital beds are more than I can take?”
Brian Smith:
Yes. The hospital beds were a lot of motivation for me.
Jeff Randolph:
Motivation.
Brian Smith:
And so actually that’s one of the reasons why many people that I see, they have already had that life-or-death where they’re like, “Oh, this is real. I really need to change my health around.”
Jeff Randolph:
Let’s talk about as you’re interacting with people in the business, because this is a very customer service focused business. You’re working and helping provide not only instruction but motivation for people as well.
Customer service is something that is really important to you and your business, especially in that service-based business. Tell us about your approach and how you stay focused on the service side of it.
Brian Smith:
Well, for me, the customer is always number one. I looked at a lot of businesses, especially working odd jobs through college at Missouri State University, such as Sam’s Club, Walmart, Costco, Hy-vee, and a lot of those companies always put the customer first. Even if they had a rule in place, they would always make sure that the customer came out happier. And so that really made me focus on a customer service driven company. And to put that in practice, I really wanted to put that into what I was implementing in fitness and nutrition.
Jeff Randolph:
Because I can imagine there may be a little bit of that conflict, or rub, where you want to provide service, you want to make sure that you’re making somebody happy at the end of the day, but you’re also motivating them to do something physically that they may not be super excited to do. Afterward, they may feel good about it, but they also are like, “Oh, I hate you so much if you tell me to do one more burpee, so help me…” Burpees and customer service to me are the two things that can be at odds. How do you wrestle with that?
Brian Smith:
So actually we don’t make people do burpees.
Jeff Randolph:
Hey!
Brian Smith:
So here’s the thing. Most people don’t like doing burpees. If I get someone who tells me, “Hey, I really like the sweat at the end of my workout. Give me something like battle ropes or some burpees.” I’ll make them do it because what they want. Most people when they come to me, they think they’re going to be doing sprints and burpees, they don’t normally do that. So I want something that they’re going to be able to do without me.
So they may start off training with me in person and I want them to find exercises that they like, that they’re confident in, that they can do forever for the rest of their lifetime. And so by training with me, at some point they’re going to move on and be training only online with less accountability and support from me, and then at some point after that, they won’t be training with me and I want them to… Not that I don’t want to see them back, but the next time I see them, I want them to be in better physical shape.
Jeff Randolph:
You’re giving people the tools they need to have a better lifestyle, and you know that you can’t always be with them all the time. That is not the best way to go.
On your blog, on social media, I quite a bit about that intersection between technology and personal touch, or the personal training, coaching thing. Technology lets us keep track of steps, and it can give us a workout plan, and apps can give us daily motivation, or help us learn about what our body needs from a food and nutrition standpoint, what we should be eating. Where do we reach that limit, where having a human interact with you is exactly what you need? Where does that connection happen?
Brian Smith:
I think it’s no secret that I love data. So I am the first to set a trend and change to add more technology into my services and into fitness and nutrition. The limit where you reach that is when someone needs accountability. Someone…
If you’re trying to reach a fitness or nutrition goal, you probably need a coach. If you have years to get to that goal, then you can probably play around, use apps, use YouTube, and try to pretty much figure out how to get there by your own. If you really want to get there, like say someone has a wedding in the fall, they’re not playing around, they want to get to that goal, and they’re probably going to get a coach. Because when life gets heavy and chaotic, and your work is slamming you, you’re tired, at the end of the day, you’re probably going to skip a workout if it’s just on a app. If you have to meet someone, you will be there.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s the accountability of having that human who is there to help you and move you forward, versus I could snooze a notification, I could easily snooze a notification. I don’t need to do that.
Brian Smith:
And Google is helpful. If you have a question, you can Google it, but there is a lot of information out there right now and a lot of it conflicts with each other. And so if you have someone that you can go to and figure out what you need personally, that just makes the biggest difference, and is the biggest cheat code for you to actually get to where you want to go.
Jeff Randolph:
I feel like having someone who understands nutrition can also be a cheat code where you go, “Look, I could learn more about it, I could do it my own deep dive, but if you have a credential of some sort in nutrition and you can just tell me what I need to do, that would be so much easier.”
Human, at least what I’m happy to hear is that, hey, technology is still good, technology can still help you and say, “you need to stand up and move now,” but if you need that motivation, both, both humans and technology need to be there.
Brian Smith:
Technology is awesome. So I have a 3-D body scanner and I have an in-body, body-fat machine, and that technology is amazing. So clients are able to come in, they get their scan a month later, they’ve been working hard. Normally they’d probably look in the mirror and they’d be like, “Oh, I’m not making any progress.” Well, I have the data now to show you that your measurements are slimmer. I can show you exactly where you slimmed up in the waist. I can show you if you’ve gained muscle, if you’ve lost fat, and also I, of course, tell you way more than the scale would, because that scale’s probably not budging very much.
Jeff Randolph:
No, it doesn’t move a lot and muscle weighs more than fat does, so as you take one off, you’re putting the other one on.
So tell me a little bit more about the 3-D body scanner and the, you said in-motion…
Brian Smith:
The in-body.
Jeff Randolph:
In-body, sorry.
Brian Smith:
So the in-body, body-fat machine will pretty much just break down how much water you have, how much of that is dry, lean muscle, and how much is body fat.
Jeff Randolph:
And how much of my body do they need to cut away to get a core sample like that? No, it’s non-invasive?
Brian Smith:
Non-invasive. You just stand on it for 20 to 30 seconds and pretty much… So I’m not looking at what exactly your body fat percentage is, that I don’t really care about. What I’m looking for is that in that next month where we do another assessment that you’re making… That the trend line is going in the right direction.
Jeff Randolph:
Gotcha. Okay.
And always important to remember that you’re battling yourself on this one. You’re working with you, not with… You’re not trying to compare yourself to a million other people. It’s you and how you need to move forward.
So tell us, and we’re talking about the Titan Principles, tell us about the future of the brand. Where do you go from here? What’s next?
Brian Smith:
So next, right now we’re currently in an office at Red Bridge and Holmes. Next, the biggest thing is to get our own training studio with new equipment, and bringing in a training staff. So everything that I’ve done and implemented, I’ve always written down into a standard operating procedure.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, nice.
Brian Smith:
Ready to bring on some other trainers, dieticians, and really expand.
Jeff Randolph:
Expand it. Look for the Titan Principles near you coming soon.
Coach Brian, I’d like to take you into the lightning round now if you’re ready for that. Are you ready for the lightning round?
Brian Smith:
I’m ready.
Jeff Randolph:
Very confident. If you can do an obstacle training course and race, you can do anything.
Your business goes uphill, something like 90% of people fail in their fitness goals, you have to combat the mentality of that person who’s tried and failed before, and may have lost some motivation in the process because they, it wanted to do something but weren’t able to succeed in that goal. What do you say to somebody may be starting, I’m sorry, who may be backwards at past efforts and looking at what they’ve tried in the past that didn’t work and wondering if they should even keep trying? Where do you start with that kind of motivation?
Brian Smith:
I prefer when people fail.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, okay.
Brian Smith:
I prefer when people fail before they meet me.
That gives them a chance to know what else is out there. I usually get two types of people. One is the person who is super motivated, and they give a hundred percent, and they’re pretty much give me everything that they have for one month, and then they burn out. That person probably hasn’t failed before and that’s probably a new person.
Otherwise, I get someone who maybe gives me 20%, and that’s all I ask for. And then the next day they add one more thing and they’re giving me like 21%, and then the next day after that 22%, they’re slowly building up those habits, and they’re able to make that long-term change.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay. So that actually works in people’s favor that you don’t have all the answers or you wouldn’t be here, you haven’t gotten it right yet, and so you can work with that.
Let’s talk about, I’m going to throw out a cheat meal thing, do you have a cheat meal that is like your go-to food or drink that is, “Hey, when it’s time to let loose a little bit, this is what I go for?”
Brian Smith:
It used to be ice cream. I was so hooked onto ice cream that I even put it into my diet plan. I calculated the calories and everything to make sure that it always fit, and I just convinced myself that, “Oh this is part of my bulk. I’m just bulking up.” That bulk went on for three years.
Jeff Randolph:
But you don’t have to cut out things that you love. You can work this into your day, whatever that is. If ice cream is your thing, or cookies, things that we know are not an everyday food, there is sometimes food. You can still do that and have a good time, right?
Brian Smith:
Correct. It’s actually even better if you do that. Usually the longer… If someone has a craving and they try to keep it off for a month, then they end up actually indulging and then binging, and they have a lot more of it than we can recover from. If they just plan it out and give into that craving right away, then it’s usually a lot less, and then it’s usually easier to recover and get back up on that horse.
Jeff Randolph:
So don’t quite be so restrictive in everything. I also said cheat meal. Can we go ahead and expand that to a cheat day or should you really not expand that to a cheat day where everything I want to do today is fine?
Brian Smith:
I think you can always live like that. Every day could be a cheat day. I prefer if my clients didn’t just like have, “Okay, today’s my cheat day and I get to have… Live like the Rock eats and have all these pancakes…”
Jeff Randolph:
6,000 calories.
Brian Smith:
I’d prefer if every day they’re like, “Okay, this is okay.” Or, “I’m going to have wine today and now I know why when I step on the scale that this has gone up.”
Jeff Randolph:
Interesting. Okay. Well, and that’s all very positive.
I want to ask a question about one of the products that you have on your website that is a couple’s transformation program. And I thought that was an interesting and unique way to go. Tell me about working with couples, because I can see you being just as much a counselor there as a trainer, or nutrition coach, or anything else. There can be a lot of conflict that happens when two people who love each other very much get very stressed.
Brian Smith:
Couples coaching is interesting. Me and my wife do it together, so it’s usually me and my wife training another couple.
Jeff Randolph:
I think already that takes some of the burden off of there, where you don’t maybe have to do that.
Brian Smith:
My wife does all the nutrition part, she’s a dietician, and I do all the fitness coaching. Usually works out pretty great, but I have had some awkward situations in the past where say the husband told me that he ate a salad for dinner, and then right when I’m working with the wife, she told me, “He ate an entire pizza.” I’m like…
Jeff Randolph:
How dare you?
Brian Smith:
Now this is just awkward silence.
Jeff Randolph:
Does this ever cause issues with you and your wife where you go home and, “I can’t believe you’re taking John’s side of this whole thing?” No?
Brian Smith:
No.
Jeff Randolph:
You keep it very professional. That’s good.
Do you have that… I’m curious how you celebrate a big win. The business is going well, you’ve got success there. When something great happens for you, how do you celebrate that?
Brian Smith:
The biggest way to celebrate it is with my family.
Jeff Randolph:
Just family time.
Brian Smith:
Just more time with family.
Jeff Randolph:
And honestly, when we work, that’s basically what we’re working for is so that we can have more time with family. As strange as that seems. Good. And that keeps you fueled, keeps you energized for doing the next thing?
Brian Smith:
It does. I think as entrepreneurs, we have a toxic focus to want to improve our work all the time.
So I feel like having a family really pulls me in and pulls me out of there. Otherwise, I would probably be trying to work 24/7 like many entrepreneurs are.
Jeff Randolph:
Like many entrepreneurs do, and in several of our interviews so far with entrepreneurs, that’s been a focus that, “Hey, I’m doing this so that I can have the kind of lifestyle with the family that I want to have and we’re just going to make that happen. I’m going to reward myself with more family time.” Or, “Hey, I’ll put steaks on the grill, but it’s going to be at home, and it’s going to be where I can relax and just soak it all in.”
So, great. Coach Brian Smith, owner of the Titan Principles, where can people find you if they want more information, if they want to sign up, if they want to give the couple’s transformation program a go, where do they go?
Brian Smith:
You can find me at our website, theTitanPrinciples.com. Also, you can find us at Fit T3, www.fitt3.com. It’s going to lead you to the same website, and then you can also either send us an email, or find us on our socials, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube @theTitanPrinciples on any of those social platforms.
Jeff Randolph:
Perfect. Coach Brian, thanks for being with us today.
Brian Smith:
Thanks for having me.
Jeff Randolph:
And that is our show. Thanks so much to our guest, Brian Smith, and thank you for listening to the Small Business Miracles podcast.
Remember to subscribe. Leave us a five-star rating and review, drop us a line on the website at eagadv.com if you have any thoughts. Until then, we’ll be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.