S01 Ep20: When You’re Tired of Being a Public Success & a Private Mess with Dr. Paris Love

EntrepreneurshipSelf-Improvement

Apr 2

Written By Melissa Wesner

On the outside, it looks like you’ve got it together! The people in your professional world see that you’re poised, controlled, and successful! Behind closed doors, however, things are a little more messy! Sound familiar? If so, know that Dr. Paris Love, today’s guest, is here to the rescue! She is known as the Drill Sergeant of Productivity, and today she’ll be talking with us about the trends she sees with professional women, the 3 kinds of clutter that show up in our lives, and ways that we can clean it up!
Follow Dr. Paris Love:
Instagram: @drparislove
Linkedln: www.linkedin.com/in/parislove
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@DrParisLove
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (00:00)
Welcome back to the Dreaming and Doing podcast. Today we're joined by Cody Robinson, the innovative mind behind HomeFit, which is a unique concierge fitness service tailored for the hectic lifestyles of professionals. And in 2022, he expanded his vision by franchising HomeFit. So today we're gonna be talking with Cody about his experience as an entrepreneur, but also we're gonna be talking about HomeFit and some...
information pertinent to the fitness industry and people who are wanting to be healthier. So welcome, Kody. Thank you so much for joining me.
Cody Robinson (00:38)
Yeah, thank you Melissa. I'm excited to be here and yeah, let's see how this goes.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (00:43)
Yes. Well, Cody, I wanted to invite you to talk today because, you know, we share a community where both business owners and we are part of a business community where we are meeting, talking, catching up and kind of a space to, you know, also hold one another account accountable and just be encouraging. And one of the things that I heard you say on that call was when you were asked to share, hey, how are you doing? Give your update. You were like, hold on.
let me just pause and remember where I'm at. Like this is a space where I can be completely honest about how things are going. And your comment really got me thinking about really just how important it is for us to have spaces where we can be honest and, you know, reasons why we might not always have that opportunity. And so I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on that, maybe your reasons why we don't always have the freedom to be completely honest about how we're
really doing and maybe the value of having community where we can be honest.
Cody Robinson (01:48)
No, I think you're, it's ironic. I think you're spot on. And that was, that was actually hard for me to do in real time to actually stop and be like, I need to be real with you guys, cause that's, we're here for a community to support each other. Um, but the interesting thing is, is not only, I think I'm starting to see that trend become more and more, um, in the positive light for, you know, entrepreneurs, but, you know, I did a podcast a couple of weeks ago, leading into the new year. Um, I think even the, the space of.
health and wellness and fitness, we're starting to see more and more people on the consumer side or general public that are trying to be more honest and more transparent and even being more willing to do the things that they feel more compelled to do from a fitness or wellness standpoint, versus trying to fit in with what the trends are going, you know, at that time of year. And I think it's becoming more and more just of a healthy approach to, I think for so many years.
even previous to COVID that people were working so hard to paint two pictures of their life, the social side and personal side. And so you have that internal battle. And then a lot of times we don't really meet up to what the, what the social, you know, us looks like. And so we have this, sometimes this internal struggle that we're not as good as the world thinks we are. And then COVID happened and then we got really hard with reality. Some people leaned harder, I think, into trying to
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (02:49)
Hmm
Cody Robinson (03:13)
really tell the world that they were okay. When we were getting, it was getting harder and harder for a lot of us to function without, you know, direct social support, you know, more personal in-person support anyway. But I think we're coming out of this phase now where I feel like more people, which is my hope, heading into 2024 that we will allow ourselves to be more open, more transparent. You know, we don't necessarily have to always air all of our journaling laundry, all of our.
all of our struggles, we don't have to be so transparent that it's like, okay, that's too much, but be willing to trust that the people who are genuinely, um, in our circles and genuinely want to help, um, really take that feedback and really want us to be more open and honest. And I'm personally myself not to over-speak and get too long-winded, but that's one of my biggest things this year is, is to continue to be that way. And.
in the majority of my spaces. And I'm already seeing the relationships get healthier from a business standpoint. I feel like the results are starting to get better because there's not just this facade of like everything's fine. It's like, we're all trying to do better. We're all trying to help each other. And if we're honest about it, it tends to come back around and work out in the benefit of everybody. So yeah, I definitely feel like that's the space that we're heading into.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (04:33)
Yeah. And that's so interesting to hear you say that Cody that in real time, that was challenging for you to kind of catch yourself because I just thought, wow, like, you know, what a great moment, right? I think that when we're checking in with one another, like, Hey, how are you doing? It's easy to be like, fine, fine. And you caught yourself and was like, wait a minute, like, I'm not going to do that. This is my chance to give an honest answer.
And so I hear you saying, I see this trend, right? Even with your clients of wanting to be more honest and you didn't say authentic, but that's kind of the word that's coming to my mind is really wanting to be in a place of greater authenticity and that for you as a business owner, that's what you're leaning into. And I'm curious, because I hear you saying that's my plan moving forward and I've already seen some benefits from that. So I'm curious to hear.
Cody Robinson (05:07)
Yeah. Right.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (05:23)
your thoughts on how you want to continue leading with authenticity and how you have seen benefits of doing that so far.
Cody Robinson (05:31)
Yes, great question. Or a great kind of lead into that. I think, you know, during the harder, the harder years, you know, we were all trying to survive. I mean, from a leadership standpoint, you know, you really try to do your best to put on a brave face, you know, when everybody else is struggling, it's like, we're going to be okay. We're going to get through this together. And we, we do, you know, and sometimes we don't, but I think that was, that was something that the wall, you know, kind of got thicker in that regard. But prior to really prior to COVID.
I feel like I was a lot more transparent with my trainers, my, my admin staff, um, even our, even our clients, you know, people want to know. I think that's one thing that the world of fitness can be very, um, have a lot of makeup on it, you know, and it can be really simplified. It's like, if you just commit to it and you have enough willpower and, and life's just not that simple, you know, it's a lot more, it's a lot more messy than that. And I think.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (06:25)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (06:28)
Um, what I'm finding already is that getting back to that space of like, you know, the first couple of months of the year is, is a struggle for a lot of people, the weather's shifting. We're trying to identify what directions we're all wanting to head personally and professionally. And, and I'm starting to get better feedback from, um, you know, my trainers by doing that, they're starting to be. I think more transparent as well to, to let me know how can we help them improve their, their business? How can we help them impact their clients directly? And I think that's what triggered.
Um, honestly, I think that's what triggered me when we were in that last meeting, when I stopped myself, because I was like, if I'm not with me being more honest and more transparent about whatever struggles I was going through or the reality of the authenticity of it, it's also going to open up the door for others in our group or whatever network we're in for them to also be more authentic and more honest. I think that's one of the biggest reasons I think I stopped myself. And I was like, this is a safe place.
This is an area that we genuinely want to engage. And if we don't have, if we don't share the correct information, then how can we really get the actual support and guidance and feedback to help each other?
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (07:41)
Yeah. So, and also it sounds like part of it is modeling behavior for other people, right? Like on your team and stuff.
Cody Robinson (07:46)
Mm-hmm.
Right. Yeah. And that's the thing. It's like, again, the industry, a lot of times can be very hard. Fitness can be very hard and kind of in your face and raw. And one thing that I feel like we've tried for so many years from just the home fit brand. I mean, yes, we're more concierge. We come to you, we do in-home training or virtual. We meet you where you are, but I think the other, but we don't come in with that type of aggression. We come in with actual, like genuine friends.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (08:15)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (08:18)
that want to understand your lifestyle and not just physically, but also mentally, emotionally, like what does your social support look like? You know, if you're hitting a wall, if you're hitting a severe struggle, we want our clients to be able to reach out to us even on that level of support, not just have the workouts. And I think it's, yeah, that's just how I've always been and always been wired, but I definitely found myself over the last few years.
trying to more modeling of what the fitness industry pulls people to and also turns a lot of people off from to the actual personal connection that's supposed to be a part of what we do.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (08:52)
Hmm.
Yeah, and I hear a little bit of, you know, in your own journey, like I could just let people think that whatever they're seeing is, you know, great and perfect. We're fine, it's fine, everything is fine. I could go along with that. And yeah, I'm choosing not to. So I'm wondering, because you have had these really big milestones.
Right, just in the time that I've known you and I'm wondering if you would share about some of the really big things that people are seeing you do and also like what have been the challenges as people are seeing these things where they're like, wow, that's great.
Cody Robinson (09:24)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, no, that's a good point. I appreciate you asking these questions as well. You know, one of the biggest things was for us to step out and start franchising the business itself. You know, I've always treated HomeFit to be like a platform and partnership for very, very good, you know, health and wellness professionals. A lot of times they'll be in a standard gym setting or a different atmosphere that really just sucks the life out of them. And, and so I've always wanted us to have just a
Yeah, just a direct partnership to be able to help them grow and get more opportunities. Um, but then when franchising it, you know, it allows us to expand that and to impact more people and to give the infrastructure for people in the fitness space or wellness space that want to have their own model, which is great. Um, and it's going well. We're up to four franchises currently, you know, as we speak, which is, uh, we're going, we're growing slow on purpose, you know, on purpose, but.
The other side of it, the struggle part of it, is that we literally have started two different businesses now. So, the one side of we're still handling our own personal training clients, our own consumer clients, but now we also have these franchise partners that were supporting the growth of their business. And so we have to really help and make sure that we're in support of their enhancement and their reach. So, it was one of those things, it's like a two-edged sword. It was great that we were able to...
to enhance our reach, which our biggest 10-year milestone is to impact a million people. And that's from all angles. It's virtually through in-home, all these things. But yeah, I didn't really, I don't want to say anticipate, but that's been kind of a bigger pressure. It's like we have two different businesses running at the same time now, which is a lot to carry.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (11:27)
Yeah, it definitely is. And in our email exchange, I had mentioned, I think about that success iceberg that floats around the internet. I don't know if you've seen it, but there's this success iceberg image and success is the tip of the iceberg and it's the part that everybody sees. And so everyone's like, wow, Cody, like, that's awesome. Like, look at you doing that new thing.
Cody Robinson (11:38)
Yeah.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (11:52)
You know, but what people don't see is all of the hard work that's happening behind the scenes, right? Even in with fitness, right? Someone might be like, wow, look at so and so, like they really, you know, they're, they got into a good routine. But like what they don't see is someone's alarm going off early in the morning, someone like, you know, grunting, you know, and being upset that they have to like push them so, so hard in the gym or something. Right. Like they're not seeing the work that goes into people achieving their goals sometimes.
Um, so I think it's just a great reminder.
Cody Robinson (12:22)
Yeah. Great. I mean, it's a great point. Yeah, it's a great point. And even further than that, it's like not just individual sacrifices, but sometimes people have to make other personal sacrifices or relationship sacrifices. Not in a bad way, but you know, sometimes we find ourselves, it's get to the point where if I'm going to get myself better, you know, I may have to say no to going out at this time of night or, you know, somebody pulling me to that direction. So you're right. Not just the physical.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (12:33)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (12:49)
but also sometimes the personal side of sacrifice that people have to go through to get on their fitness journey, which we know is hard. So yeah, the iceberg is a, that's a great analogy.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (13:00)
Yeah, so I always think of that because, you know, so many of the people that I work with as clients talk about things that they see other people doing on social media and like, these people are going on vacation and they're doing this and they're doing that, but like, you're not seeing, you know, the things behind the scenes, whether it's like, nope, we are not going out to eat anymore. We're gonna save our money so we can go on that trip or whatever it is that they're doing. But certainly I think the same is true for business ownership where people don't always see.
the effort, the hours that goes in behind the scenes.
Cody Robinson (13:34)
Yeah, I think that's one thing that really stuck out to all of us when we, when we did join, or a part of the, the small business program was that it was like we were speaking everyone's language. It's like we almost didn't even have to express, you know, the, the burdens that are carried to grow it, you know, to grow our businesses. And so it's, even though there's a lot of us out there, it was interesting to be, you know, strategically connected to each other in such a way. It was like being a part of a...
Almost like a part of a club. So, um, but yeah, it is funny too. Yeah, definitely. It is funny too. I think, you know, sometimes when, you know, when, when somebody does give that type of praise, which I'm grateful that we're all that way in the group, cause we know how hard it is, you know, to have any type of, as her milestone or to go through it. Um, it's funny how sometimes it can feel rewarding, but then sometimes
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (14:05)
community.
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (14:27)
somebody can be like, good for you. And knowing that within the next hour, they're not gonna be thinking about you anymore. So it's like, are we working towards the gratification? Like what's really our why, you know, and stay in our actual journey versus what the rest of the world really thinks, which is why I think going back, circling back around how we started conversation was why I think authenticity is so important because it also makes sure that we're authentic with ourselves, you know.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (14:38)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And one of the things that comes up for me is, you know, sometimes people are like, wow, I saw that you're doing that thing, whatever the thing is. And I'm glad people saw that I'm doing the thing, whatever it is. And I'm glad that they like it or thought it was neat. And at the same time, I feel almost a duty to, like it's a little bit challenging to accept the compliments sometimes, not because I am someone who cannot accept compliments, but because I don't want anyone to...
Cody Robinson (15:02)
Yeah.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (15:22)
leave the conversation with the belief that it was easy or like that I haven't been working really hard to do whatever it is that they saw. I don't want anyone to leave with a false impression.
Cody Robinson (15:34)
Yeah, I think that's literally what I'm saying is that type of summation, it's just, there's a lot that goes into it, but it's worth it though. I mean, it's, we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't believe in, you know, the causes and, you know, just the infrastructures that we're building and the networks and the people that were, that we're connecting with. So I love it.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (15:54)
Yes, well, Cody, I want to talk with you about your work in the fitness industry. Because right now we're recording in January. It won't be January when this is released, but we are in January right now and it's the start of a new year and a lot of people every year have this goal of getting fit or losing weight or whatever that might be. And we know that a lot of people end up not
sticking with that goal throughout the year. Maybe they don't last very long at all. And I'm wondering, what do you think you, this is what you do. What do you think it is about exercise that just makes it so hard for people to stick with it?
Cody Robinson (16:37)
That's a good question. Um, you know, it's funny. I was actually wrote a blog a few days ago. Um, and it was, the timing was kind of pretty impeccable cause I didn't realize the second Friday. Now some people are starting to label it second Friday of the year, um, as quitters day, cause it's two weeks in a year and they're labeling as the days that so many people have already stopped their new year's resolution plan. Um, and so that's pretty profound. The fact that they're already labeling it a day.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (16:54)
Mmmm
Wow.
Cody Robinson (17:08)
that people don't succeed. I think there's a lot of impact, I think, that goes into it. Unfortunately, I think there's people, they hang on so long, November, December, they'll say, in January, I'll start. Where when you have the awareness and the impact of in the mid to late fall, to me, that's the perfect time to start. You don't have to go gangbusters or whatever, but start changing behavior then. So don't even worry about the new year. So then we'll wait.
and let things build up and there's like more weight is gained or more stress is gained or more, you know, just all these things. It's like we, we almost like overindulged to finish out the year with the hopes that January 1, we'll flip the switch and just naturally have the right kind of behavior, behavior change and discipline to be able to, to offset everything that we've just undone. So I think that's the part. I think there's other social impacts if people...
You know, tend to go into an actual physical location, like a gym or like a studio. Um, there's just a lot of people, the weather and a lot of the places of, you know, that are of your listening listeners now is it's going to be cold, which makes it another detriment, you know, not a detriment, but another struggle. Um, another basically barrier, you know, to get in those workouts and the mornings are short, kids are trying to go back. There's just, it's like, it's like the timing of to try and
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (18:19)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (18:32)
take care of yourself is one of the worst, you know, I think in a lot of people's ways, it's just you're hit by so much, so much struggle and so many barriers all at one time. And then people just lose hope and they lose motivation. And for years, you hear people talk about smart goals and I'm starting to personally get tired of that. Just because I mean, I agree with the model of smart and achievable goals and having timely goals. But sometimes I think even
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (18:48)
Mm-hmm
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (19:01)
just taking the time to sit down and try and map those out can also be overwhelming. Where a lot of my mentality is if you can find a behavior and something that you actually enjoy, meaning like if someone feels like they can do a better job with their diet over their exercise, or maybe they can exercise more so than they can their diet, pick, you know, basically pick the easiest method to start this journey of behavior change. But...
Anyway, I could get pretty long winded on it. So hopefully that gives a little bit of insight, but I think that's the biggest thing is we wait too long with the intention of thinking that we're gonna be able to flip a switch and get better. But I do have another trend that I've seen this year, which is ironic, but I can wait and hold onto that thought. So in the vein of new year, new you, all these things that you typically hear, in kind of reinforcing to what I was saying earlier about
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (19:49)
Oh, I'm curious.
Cody Robinson (20:00)
people kind of being more authentic with themselves. It does seem like there's less and less gym memberships that are happening this year. Less people that have actually, you know, decided to do dry January or decided to do these different trends, I think because, well, for one, they don't wanna be socially, I shouldn't say shamed, but like they don't want to have, you know, put it out there for a week or two and then die off and then the social impact.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (20:07)
Hmm
Hmm.
Cody Robinson (20:27)
people around them and be like, what happened? I thought you were going to lose 50 pounds this year. So that's actually, I think, starting to push people further away from trying to do these, you know, the new year's resolutions, which is interesting that it's turning into that. You know, in the past, it was like leverage social to put it out in the world and the world will support you to get through your journey. Now, I think more people are fearful to put basically to put something fake out there.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (20:42)
Mm-hmm
Hmm.
Cody Robinson (20:56)
that they're not as gonna commit to it. So it was interesting to kind of see that shift this year.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (21:01)
That is really interesting. Now, Cody, I'm thinking about something that you said when we were actually in person in New York and you might not remember saying this, but when you were talking about the work that you do in home services, you were like, yeah, like the people that we work with, they have all sorts of equipment at home. Like they've got this, that and the other.
You know, but they still have trainers and still find a need for trainers, even though they have all this equipment that they could be doing on their own. Um, it also makes me think of a conversation I had with my partner. I don't know. Could have been a few years back when I was struggling to also exercise. And his comment was, have you ever considered that maybe you just don't like to exercise? Um, so it makes me think about, um,
what you had said and I'm wondering if you can talk about this kind of the role of having a trainer, right? Because that's kind of what I'm hearing is that someone can have all this equipment but there's something to having a person that kind of helps you move towards that goal.
Cody Robinson (22:11)
No, I mean, you're definitely spot on. It was interesting to see, I know COVID is such a landmark for so many of us and probably will be for the next couple of decades, but prior to COVID, I would say probably half, probably 50% of our clients had at least some type of gym equipment, even if it was like dumbbells or whatever. But there were a large majority of that group that also had entire gyms in their house. But since COVID.
I would probably say about 80% of the clients who reach out to us are prospective clients. Yeah, either have an entire gym in their house or at least have an arsenal of equipment that they bought up in the middle of COVID with the hopes of developing just immediate behavior change. So it is funny now it's like we, we always bring the equipment with us typically, but it's, I think now even I don't even have to take your equipment into everybody that I personally train. I just walk right in and everything's there for us to.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (22:50)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (23:06)
for us to do it. And I mean, it's something to be said too about when you're at home, it's, you know, define the different spaces of work and working out. And I think that's also sometimes can be a little bit of a struggle for people to be motivated to spend so much time in one location. You know, a lot of us want our home to be comfortable. They want it to be a space where we're kind of shut off or to be don't have to, yeah, really just comfortable. So I think sometimes that can be a difficult.
barrier to overcome is like, even though you have an entire gym, it's like 20 feet away, it's still in the building where you're trying to not be as turned on all the time. So I think that's one reason. But what I'm liking, I'm hearing is more people that are reaching out to us are being, are admitting that they're like, one, I just, I don't, yeah, I just, I hate working out. And if you don't show up, I'm not going to do it. Or at least for now.
You know, our hopes is after a couple of months, they're back on a good, you know, they're on a good journey, a good space. They trust themselves. They're developing the changes that they want. But then again, even after that, most of the people are like, why would I change something that is working by having you show up on Tuesday and Thursday, you know, at 7 a.m.? So yeah, I mean, what we do is still a need and we treat it with a lot of compassion.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (24:18)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (24:28)
with how we do it, because we know what it takes to even reach out to us, you know, to help, because that's a hard thing. A lot of people don't even want to admit that they want help. So that's a great question.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (24:40)
So this past year, I was like, I need to exercise, but I don't wanna exercise. And I'm a therapist, I know that exercise is good for your mental health. I know that it's good for your physical health. I know that it's good for like a bazillion things. And yet I was like, I am just not gonna do it. I'm gonna enjoy it. I know you're supposed to find something that you enjoy and it's just not happening. So I was like, well, let me join a gym. Maybe I need a different environment. I'm gonna join a gym, gonna get out of my house.
Um, and then I was like, I'm going to get a trainer. That's what I'm going to do. Cause that's the only way I'm going to do it. And for a while I was thinking that having a trainer would be like. Ridiculously expensive. I don't know what I was thinking, but it turned out to be not what I was thinking. And so I was like, okay, like I can do this for a minute. Um, and so I did end up working briefly with two different trainers, but they were both very, very different. And so I'm wondering.
Cody Robinson (25:37)
Mm-hmm.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (25:39)
For someone who might say, you know what? I'm not gonna exercise either. I know that it would be great for my physical health. It'd be great for my mental health. It'd be great for all these many reasons, but I'm not gonna do it on my own. Like I need someone who's gonna hold me accountable, who's gonna be like, where you at? It's Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. and you're showing up. How can someone find a trainer who is gonna be the right fit? Like even in my experience, those two people were very different.
How can someone find a trainer who is a good fit for them?
Cody Robinson (26:11)
That is a great, like, and pretty hard question to be honest, because the space in itself is very saturated. And there's a lot of people, there's not a lot of regulation when it comes to trainers in general. So sometimes you may get a trainer that's extremely lean and very, you know, just has the kind of desired body that you might want, but they're, you know, their educational background and understanding of what's going on with your body might not be as deep. So that's, I think that actually is a big fear factor.
that's happened to a lot of people, even since COVID. We're learning that more people started reaching out for trainers, I think, especially in-home trainers, kind of the last couple of years from COVID taking place and they didn't have good experiences. It was just people that didn't understand how to train at home or didn't understand how to be empathetic with the lifestyles that they're going through. So I don't mean to over talk on that part, but that is a great question because I think that is a deterrent for people to know.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (26:59)
Hmm
Cody Robinson (27:08)
Again, or in their head, it's going to be more expensive than they can afford or two. Are they going to get a drill sergeant that's going to come in and break them down where our approach has always been any person that comes through so big into the behavioral component and to understanding personality and you want a trainer that's going to come in. I think if you can find somebody that's going to connect with you on a really almost like a behavioral personal level, I think that's...
more important. I think a lot of people, and it's okay to shop around. It's okay to talk to a couple. It's okay to try to a bunch until you just like you would probably recommend people for a therapist. Like you need to find someone that's going to connect with you. And I think where people don't realize that that's extremely important because one, you want, you want a trainer that's going to care about you genuinely care about you as a person. You also want a trainer that's going to understand your lifestyle and be able to just to match your cadence, you know, and understand like
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (27:46)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (28:07)
It's, it might take a little while for you to get into this routine or help you understand your own, you know, getting in your own way. Like I think about a lot of us as entrepreneurs, um, and even us that are in the behavioral space, we analyze everything. And so I've always had this mentality for those moments that we try to figure out the best solution when if we strip that away and simplify it to the fact of we just need more movement, I'm seeing more
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (28:21)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (28:34)
that will just they'll start walking or start doing a class. They don't try to structure it. They just start intentionally driving their bodies, which is what is really the biggest detriment. There are a lot of us that don't take the time to do. So I want to throw that in there. But as far as trying to figure out your, you know, the right type of trainer fit. Yeah, I would say don't be afraid and don't feel oversold or don't don't. I wouldn't allow the trainer that you're talking to to. Yeah, basically, just don't force it.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (28:38)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (29:03)
call around, talk around, try out people. Because again, if it's somebody that you connect with and you truly believe they're doing this for your best interest, there's a lot better chance that you're gonna commit to this and want to do it and want to change versus, it's almost like you're trying to sacrifice yourself for the trainer's benefit. Well, it's okay, it's your time, it's your body, it's what you wanna do, it's your own mental health, and I think it's okay to trust it and protect it, especially with a world like
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (29:04)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (29:33)
fitness that is so, it's just saturated and we don't really know where to turn. So I think keep the personal thing in mind when it comes to that. I don't know if that answers your question, but I think that's really what off the cuff I think is very important.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (29:39)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, what I'm smiling as you're talking here because walking is what I ended up landing on as a result of like going through this process and just thinking about like, what are you going to do to make this happen? Like the things that you enjoy are not things that you can do regularly. Like you're not going to be kayaking regularly. At least I'm not like. And so I ended up landing on walking. I am no longer at my gym. I was like, this is 20 minutes away from my house. I'm wasting 40 minutes every day just to get this to the stinking gym.
Um, so I literally walk every day now. That's what I've landed on. Um, and I think for me as well, um, really thinking about what's my motivation and getting clear on that, right? Cause I think that if someone is thinking maybe, maybe the goal is weight loss or something like that, that can feel maybe really far away, right? Like
If I'm exercising just for weight loss, that can, I think, feel really discouraging. Like, when is that gonna happen? When am I gonna see those results? So for me, I've been trying to think about, okay, well, I can focus on just checking a box that I did that today. I went walking today. I feel good that I did that. I completed a goal. I took an action. And as an entrepreneur, the thing that I have really been...
One of my motivations for walking now is that, because I'm not the person who is like, I feel so much better after exercise. Like you probably hear people say like, I just feel so much better after, if I don't exercise, I just feel so bad. I am not that person. I feel just fine without it. But, but the thing that I have found as an entrepreneur that does move me to exercise.
Cody Robinson (31:20)
Yeah.
Yeah. That's funny.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (31:36)
is that I recognize that when I am walking, which is a thing that doesn't make me groan, like I'm just walking as exercise, is that I realize that's where I get a lot of ideas. I feel creative when I'm walking, I'm getting ideas. And so I think that that's probably not a selling point that we think about for exercise. But I think as entrepreneurs, if that's something that can help you get those creative juices going, like no one has ever said like,
Oh, you know what, I get my best ideas when I'm sitting in front of my desk, in front of my computer. But exercise I have found, at least walking, will do the trick for me. And so I'm wondering, what are those light bulb moments for the people you work with? Like, what are the things, they're like, this is the thing that will move me. It's not what I thought would be my initial motivation for exercising, but it's ultimately maybe the thing that has moved them and kept them going.
Cody Robinson (32:34)
It's a great question. I love the complexity of this question. I always say if you ask a fitness professional a question and they give you an exact answer, you probably need to shop around. They need to say it depends on the individual or their, you know, kind of their nature. In the entrepreneur space, we'll start there and kind of work our way outward. I do see a lot of the similarities to what you're saying. We actually have shifted our headquarters into a location called Innovative Depot in Birmingham.
Alabama and it's all entrepreneurs, fresh businesses, medium sized businesses. And, and even though we have a, actually we'll have a studio on site and we can come to them is still very similar. Like it, we have to approach it from the act of, you know, you have to maintain energy, but you also need clarity. Like you need, you need something that's going to have, create this stimulus and this blood flow that's going to get you outside of your normal thinking space. And.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (33:21)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (33:30)
And I'm the same way. Like it's, I get a lot more clarity. I get a lot more. It's like, it's like the puzzle pieces in our head is for some reason, if you, if you even just walking to your point, and if the weather is nice enough to be outside or at least get some, you know, be able to look outside, uh, I think a lot of times can help something about it. It's just our brains kind of start pulling things together. It's like when we actually get enough sleep or, or it's just like our body retains memory more and it's just, we're made to move. I think that's.
Honestly, I think that's why it works so well, is so much of us over exhaust now, our mental state, our mental stimuli, and don't take, don't take enough time to actually get our blood flow moving and, you know, more of the kind of the primal movements and primal nature. So I think we see a lot of influence on that. Um, another part, unfortunately is, will be people that have hit some type of in emergent, you know, situation that's happened. They've had some type of
cardiac scare, some type of diabetic scare, some type of orthopedic scare. And so I see too many people wait too long until there's like this fear factor that then switches them into trying to take care of their bodies and their health. Then I guess a third one that I tend to see is, you know, those of us who, or I guess the ones that reach out and they...
they want to make sure they're maintained health for their families or for their constituents at their workplace. It's almost like that being that leader, needing to take care of themselves and having that movement and having that kind of discipline, it's by taking care of yourself, you can take care of more people. So those are kind of three almost extremes of motivations. But again, going back and trying to strip it away and trying to simplify it.
Um, because the book that I'm, I'm trying to finish up, I still unfinished yet. It is called move or lose. Um, and not with such an extreme, the title is meant to be extreme, you know, sound, but really, I think I really lean in a lot of what I've always called the ripple effect. So anything that you can find, um, that you're going to do in whatever the reason is, I think I encourage people to try it, whether it is walking or whether it is.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (35:23)
Hmm.
Cody Robinson (35:43)
Yoga, like that's another thing that I'm trying to get much deeper back into myself. I realize I have a lot more ability to focus, a lot more clarity. Um, it's a lot more, a lot better when I take the time to do that on a consistent basis, there's a lot deeper level that kind of comes out of it. Um, but yeah, just given that time to take place and don't force it and just, just commit to it and to check it off on one year daily goals, you know, um, just simplify as much as possible. And.
You'd be surprised at the longterm results that can come out of it. To your point, a lot of us get overwhelmed by the longterm goal of trying to hurry up and get there where we're not even promised tomorrow. So if we can focus our efforts on today and do the best with what we can today, it definitely can compound and those results will typically come around.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (36:23)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I absolutely love that focusing on today, right? What is in my control today? And remembering we don't have tomorrow, but we can be in charge of today and not getting overly attached to a particular outcome.
Cody Robinson (36:43)
Yeah. Yeah, that's a hard thing to do, though. It's a very hard thing to do.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (36:48)
Absolutely. So Cody, I'm wondering what you're involved in like a hundred bazillion things. We haven't even talked about all of them. What is a big dream that you have?
Cody Robinson (37:03)
Oh, that's a good question. Is it that broad? Do you leave it that broad on purpose? Okay. That's a great question because I consider myself a dreamer and there's a lot of things that I will, you know, I'll kind of keep it in the vein of, we'll just say home fit for now. Cause I do have different, different ventures, coffee ventures, real estate ventures, honestly, travels probably up there with, with a home fit of being able to
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (37:05)
Mm-hmm.
Cody Robinson (37:32)
to continue to take care and serve people kind of all throughout the world. But I think my biggest dream is to continue that goal of somehow touching or impacting a million people. And I'm starting to see the network continue to grow with the additional franchise partners. I think what I'm loving the most and what I'm feeling the most rewarded about personally is the franchise partners who
our understanding and seeing the model and actually being able to enjoy their own freedom. They don't have to be confined to a gym space and they can reach more people and they can bring in more trainers. And it's just neat to see this grow. And everybody a part of the industry or our network, really HomeFit Network, is that we're all servant-hearted and that's something that we try to lean into. There's a lot of vanity in this world and a lot of vanity in this space. And I think just being able to see it.
I honestly see it grow to an international level is what I would love. That's probably my biggest dream, at least for the home fit space. But me personally trying out a lot of different things and aside from the business world, again, coinciding with the travel, that kind of parallels if we've got franchise owners in different parts of the world, gives me a reason to go and to continue both sides. I actually saw what you have coming up.
Costa Rica in April and I was like, how did I not know about this? This is awesome. Yeah.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (38:59)
Yes. Oh, yes. Yes. Definitely doing a retreat in Costa Rica in April for entrepreneurs and leaders.
Cody Robinson (39:09)
Yeah, that's been a dream of mine for a long time too. So that's cool that I didn't realize you were doing that. So I have to talk more about that offline, which is good for you. It's perfect timing.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (39:18)
Yes. Well, Cody, if people are listening and they're like, I want to know more about this. I want to learn more about Cody. I want to learn more about what he's doing with HomeFit. How can they find you? How can they connect with you?
Cody Robinson (39:31)
Yeah, I mean website wise easiest is, you know, the home fit.com. You can get a lot of more information on that. And if you reach out in any form or facet, whether you call or email, it's most likely going to be me. That's going to be the one to respond. Um, but then I think you can find me on Instagram or Facebook, usually at Cody J Rob, I believe, um, but, or I'm only in it, you know, just Cody Robinson. You can find me that way. Um, but yeah, anything we can do to help.
Whether it's on the business front, personal front, fitness front, doesn't matter. That's the name Cody actually means helper. So I try to lean into that.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (40:07)
Oh, very nice. Well, and I'm gonna include your information in our show notes, Cody, but you also have an app now. So I don't know if you wanted to mention that.
Cody Robinson (40:14)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's something we've wanted to do for a long time. And again, our biggest tagline is eliminating barriers to healthy living. And there's a lot of professionals out there that are pretty disciplined, but they want a lot more guidance, even if it's an app format. So you can find it, I think, in the app store, both Apple and Google. It's just called Home Fit Training App. Usually I think there's a access point, but just we can put something in the show notes to be able to access it for.
for free, Melissa, just let me know if you don't mind. And I can, a direct link where they can download it, access it. But it allows you to get in and build your own workouts if you want to. There's a lot of meal tracking and nutrition components. But if you get to the point to where you do that and you actually, we have online coaches as well that will actually build the workouts for you, build your behaviors and also help you accountable and can message you directly inside the app. So we're excited about the leverage piece on that.
Melissa Wesner, LCPC (40:49)
Absolutely.
I love it and I am regularly recommending exercise for mental health purposes, which is also why I'm making sure I'm walking the walk, literally. So I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us, Cody, and I will be sure to share your information in our show notes.
Cody Robinson (41:16)
Mm-hmm.
Yep, literally.
I appreciate it very much. This is great. Hopefully, somebody gets some good benefit from it.