Think back to your very first job – whether it was a full time 9-5, a nights and weekends cash based gig, or the daily chores you had as a child. What lessons did you learn or habits did you develop in that job that contribute to your current role?
For Don, working in his family’s catering business as a child taught him the value of hard work, social adaptability, and a “do what it takes to get the job done” mindset.
A keynote speaker and fitness entrepreneur, Don has coached actors, athletes, & musicians for over 20 years. He opened his first NYC Gym, Drive 495, in 2005. After operating brick & mortar gyms for 15 years, Don expanded to a global online fitness business and has developed a reputation for training some of the biggest names in Hollywood for the big screen. Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Annie Hathaway, Sebastian Stan, Liev Schreiber, Hugh Jackman, & David Harbour are among his roster of clients.
He has been tapped as a fitness expert in several popular publications and sits on the advisory board of Men’s Health Magazine.
Discussing everything from his catering experience to his extremely successful career training celebrities in New York City, in today’s episode, Don expands on a few key points, including:
- The best piece of advice he received from his grandfather (26:00)
- His training approach as he gets older (28:30)
- The most important “next step” for young coaches and entrepreneurs (41:00)
- How to handle and improve upon your biggest social weaknesses (59:50)
How to Connect w/ Don:
Website: Donsaladino.com
Instagram: @Donsaladino
Upcoming Event:
The Art of Coaching 30 Day Challenge is BACK starting March 6th! That’s three weeks away. While still leadership and communication focused, this time around we’re going to focus on one particular topic – how to be a more effective speaker! Whether you have aspirations of presenting at a conference, sharing your story, being more persuasive when pitching to clients or being confident when presenting new ideas to other professionals- this is the Challenge for you. And at less than $4/day, this deal is a no-brainer! Sign up TODAY.
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TRANSCRIPTION
Brett Bartholomew 0:11
Hey, Brett here. And if you’re somebody that doesn’t skip through these intros, good news, because we have a bonus for you. I’m going to give you a tip here, and this is something we don’t often do about becoming a better public speaker, and this comes from questions that we’ve been getting at artofcoaching.com/question so we wanted to give a little add on to this podcast.
Now, if you were to ask, what is one thing I could do immediately to become a better speaker and impact more people, you might think that I’m going to tell you, hey, you know, speak more slowly, be more concise all these things. But I’m actually going to give you a different tip, something that’s valuable right out of the gate, and it has to do with structuring your talk. When most people create a presentation, they don’t ask themselves this one question, and they don’t hold themselves to it either. What is the primary purpose of my talk?
The core idea, the central message, the so what the thing that, if nobody, if the audience, doesn’t understand anything else, they are gonna walk away with this? What is that? Another thing you want to think about is, if your talk was a book with only three chapters, what would the Table of Contents look like? And you have to ask yourself this, because so often people get on stage, or if you’re doing a virtual presentation, they get on there and they try to do so much. They want to impact the world with everything they know right away.
And that leads us to another tip. You have got to know your audience’s problems. The talk is not about what you want to say. It is about what they need help with it is about the conflict that they’re dealing with. That’s fine to include a lot of things that interest you, but if it doesn’t come back to you, being able to capture your audience’s attention by speaking to what they care about most, or what they’re struggling with, you are going to fail.
Now there’s a lot of ways that you can improve on this, other than just reflecting. You can think about the structure of your talk, and there are a lot of different ways to do this. Some people, if you can imagine this, will talk about what is Hey. This is the world as it is. And that doesn’t matter what you’re talking about, the world of engineering, the world of swimming and diving, the world of AI, the world of finance. What is, paint the picture of the world as they’re dealing with it, and then talk about what could be, right?
Here’s the turning point, and here’s how we can get there. And you can undulate that. So this is kind of this fact and this story. It moves back and forth between what is, what could be and how we could get there as it paints a new reality, another type of structure you can utilize after you’ve identified the so what an audience pain points is you can start your talk off by giving a lay of the land. Where are we now? Where are we going? All right, now, here’s the route we’re gonna take. Okay? Now, here’s the first step, and here’s how you apply it. Here’s the second step, here’s how you apply it, and so on and so forth.
One more is you can think about this like a drama, right? So you paint the world as it is, whatever that is for your talk, you introduce the challenge and take the audience down a descending crisis. Here’s what’s going to happen if we don’t learn how to be more effective at blank here’s what’s going to happen if we don’t implement this technology. Take them to rock bottom, take them to the worst, and then show them the solution. But you’ve got to engage their emotions. That is critical. Now these tips and more are just examples of what we are going to go through in our next 30 day challenge at Art of Coaching, and it starts March 6.
If you’re not familiar, this is going to help you our 30 day challenges, where we are going to be throughout the entire month delivering content on making you a better public speaker. It doesn’t matter if you can’t make a certain call or presentation, you have access to it all the time. It’s going to be completely recorded. You’re gonna have the handouts and notes. Then you’re also gonna get access to all of our coaches, so you’re gonna get 30 days of content we’re not sharing anywhere anywhere else. And by taking this challenge, you’re not only gonna become a better speaker, but you’re gonna gain the confidence and skills you need to share your message and your passion with the world, or at the very least, a much larger audience.
But this is absolutely your last chance. We only run two of these a year, and this one starts March 6. It’s all virtual. Don’t worry about it. Just go to artofcoaching.com/challenge, every question you could have will be answered. All the details are there, but Sign up now, and in 30 days, you’ll be amazed at the progress you’ve made.
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Welcome to the Art of coaching Podcast. I’m Brett Bartholomew, and at a young age, poor communication nearly cost me my life. Now I help others navigate the gray area of social interaction, power dynamics and communication so they can become more adaptable leaders, regardless of their profession, age or situation. This podcast is for everybody who is fascinated with solving people problems. So if you’re the no nonsense type who appreciates frank conversations, advice you can put to use immediately and learning how others navigate the messy realities of leadership, you’re in the right place. I’m glad that you’re joining us. Let’s dive in
Bartholomew, today’s guest is Don Saladino. Now I want to have Don on for a very specific reason. I’ll cut right to it. We like having guests on that want to talk about the messy realities of leadership, the transitions in their life, the risks they took, the things that are often swept under the rug and not talked about a more commercialized podcast, and if they are, let’s be honest, a lot of the good stuff is edited out or coated with a glossy sheen.
Another thing I like interviewing people about is when they have to deal with a wide range of different personalities. And Don has certainly done that over two decades. He coached some of the biggest names in Hollywood, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and he also owned a gym right in the heart of New York City for 15 years
But then he decided to give that all up and change what he did, and now he’s expanded to a global online fitness business that helps your neighbors to your right and your left and average people get in better shape. So we’re going to talk to Don today about why he did that. And first of all, how did he even get into the fitness industry? Because a lot of times people think anybody that was in fitness was somebody that just liked to work out, and all they wanted to do was look at themselves in the mirror. But the reality is, a lot of Don’s passion, as you will hear, comes from an uncommon origin, his father’s catering business.
So he’s going to tell us a little bit about his journey, and then we’re going to talk about how he’s continued to evolve, some of his mistakes, doubts and advice that he has for anybody else that is thinking about transitioning to something new. I hope you enjoy. If you do, please share it with a friend and leave a review online.
Hey, thanks for sitting down with me for another episode of The Art of coaching Podcast. I’m here with my friend Don Saladino. Don How are you, man?
Don Saladino 9:10
Brett, it’s awesome to be here. We’ve been saying we’re doing this for a while, so I’m psyched to be connected and psyched to be doing this. Thanks for having me.
Brett Bartholomew 9:16
Yeah, likewise. Listen, I mean, but anybody on our respective newsletters knows that for a while we’ve been chopping it up and putting a lot of free content and just conversational Q and A tips and strategies on each other’s website. And so it was just it was time to do something a little bit more formal that will last forever. You know one thing, your resume speaks for itself, and I read it off at the beginning. So any of you that skipped go back because you don’t want to miss this. But don you know I told you before you came on, we have a broad audience, you know, and we have such a unique audience that’s interested in both coaching leadership, just the way we deal with people, problems, even entrepreneurship, all these things. And you sit at this fascinating intersection of coaching entrepreneurship, you’re also a great family person. Would you mind contextualizing this a little bit for our audience in terms of you, your journey and some of what you do today, and then we’ll dive into the weeds.
Don Saladino 10:10
Yeah, absolutely. Well, first off, thank you. I mean, you know, I grew up in a catering background, which a lot of people don’t realize. I grew up working at a catering Hall in Long Island called the crest salad Country Club, and it’s a hall that my family’s been running since the early 70s, and we would pump, I mean, over 2000 dinners a night. So I grew up in this environment where there was this service, there was this form of, you know, catering to people every single day, and I got exposed as my first day of work I was seven.
I mean, there’s a picture of me at my house wearing a little tuxedo, and I have a broom, and they used to throw me in that work environment, and they used to have me sweep. And you know, when I hit 12 13, was when I started working consistently in there. But I did everything from maintenance to prefabbing, which was when the all five rooms would close so you can have Bar Mitzvahs Sweet 16 weddings. They would they would all start shutting down between 430 and 530 house turn was where the Prefabs would have to come in and change all the rooms to the evening weddings.
So I would be waitering. I’d be cleaning. There’s a picture of me as a young kid on top of these light fixtures, and I would have to point their lights down at the new tables. And they would, I was 12 years old. They would wrap my elbows in I’ve never told this story. Actually, they would wrap my elbows in these napkins, and they’d wrap my knees in the napkins, because there was so much dirt and soil up there from the dust that I would come down and I’d look like a mess. So they would wrap me up, and I’d have to crawl around this huge fixture that was 15 20, feet above a dance floor, and point all these lights down on these tables.
So, you know. So I worked there till I was about 22 years old, so I spent a lot of time in this place. But I think it taught me. It taught me about hard work, and it taught me a lot about people. So I would see on any given night, five different parties going on. You’d have some drunk people, you’d have some fights break out. And I would see my father, who was kind of like the mayor. You’d literally be going in and talking with band members and chefs and all this. And I would follow him around at times where I would have breaks, and I would just watch him communicate with people.
I would see him down in a banquet office, talking to people that were completely excuse my language shit face, that would leave a morning party, and they would come back after house, turn and sit down at what they thought was the same table at the same party. It was completely different. They’d start eating someone else’s meal. So I was exposed at a young age to realizing that, wow, people are going to have their moments like this. Is going to be diffusing situations with something as a young kid, I got to be honest with you, as a 15 16, year old kid, and you are a kid at that age, I was exposed to that, probably at a level that most young people my age were never exposed to
And I didn’t realize this, but at that time, it was really kind of setting me up for what I was doing in my future. Went off to college, speeding up, played division one college baseball. Had dreams, aspirations to go on after that didn’t work out. But at the exact time as I was going for some pro tryouts, tried out the Mets, the mariners, some independent teams, and the entire time I was at these tryouts, being like, What time am I getting my workout in? Right? It was like, in the back of my head, it was like something the priority of baseball coming out of the D1 school, when it was all about baseball, started going to my training and my nutrition, and right there I was like, What’s going on here?
I’m not so concerned about baseball or my tryout. I’m more concerned about what my squatting session is going to look like tonight. Am I going to be too tired or not for that? And then I realized, alright, we’ve got something here. And then when I graduated, I worked still at my family’s catering Hall, and I was doing some side jobs, delivering lighting for my brother in law at the time, you owned a lighting business and had a conversation with my mom, I’ve talked about this before, and I said, you know, I don’t know what to do, thinking about FBI police. She’s like, why are you thinking about that? Yeah, you could be around the gym, like, Where else can I do that? I’m training.
She’s like there’s these trainers out there. Now I’m reading about and I’m like, yeah, they don’t make money, right?
Brett Bartholomew 14:07
And how old are you at this point?
Don Saladino 14:09
22
Brett Bartholomew 14:09
okay,
Don Saladino 14:10
22 right? And I looked at her, I said, yeah, they don’t make money. And she shook her head. She’s like, You’ve been great at everything you’ve done your entire life. Your work ethic is next level. She’s like, figure it out. Follow your love, and it’s gonna happen. At that moment, it was like this curtain was lifted and I drove into the city, I think, the next day, with my resume. I put on a suit. There was no navigation. There was no I had no idea where I was going. I knew the city a little bit, but didn’t know north, south, east, from West. I remember coming through the Midtown Tunnel and looking up and seeing the Empire State Building be like, All right. I know going right means uptown, and going left means downtown.
And if I go past that, I know I’m heading west and back towards the direction I am, I’m heading east. That was and I literally just drove see a gym double park, see a gym, pull into a parking lot, walk in a suit resume. Like, who the fuck does that? Like, you’re a trainer. Walk in, ‘Hey I’d like to apply for a job as a trainer’ And I’d sit down and I probably, I, honestly, I think that they probably went for six or seven interviews, right? And I got hired, pretty much by all of them. And I took a job at Equinox back in 1999
And, you know, I went in there when the Eriko family owned it. And I knew going into Equinox, I knew I was going to open a gym one day, hands down to it wasn’t even a question. So was at Equinox for six months before they got bought out by a private equity company. Saw it go from a mom and pop establishment, like my family’s catering Hall, to corporate, which is one of the best lessons I’ve ever went through in my life, because I just saw the demeanor and they’re just Sure. At a certain age, I saw the culture completely change, and we all started bailing.
And then I opened my own one on one training business in the city, on foot training 40 to 60 sessions a week, like a dog. And then I’m going to fast forward now, a few years later, I raised 5 million bucks, and I went and I decided to open drive 495 which is a golf fitness performance facility in New York City. It was based around a lot of Greg Rose and Dave Phillips concept of the Titleist Performance Institute. My brother was a professional golfer. We came in. I handled the golf fitness. He handled the golf and we built what was the first of its kind.
I mean, to this day now you see indoor driving ranges. You see top golf. All these guys went and they all stole some element off of us, like they all knew what we were doing indoors. New York golf, all these places, indoor Sims, entertaining corporate events, a bar, a gym. Yeah, they, a lot of them are doing it differently now, like Top Golf, obviously, than steel me, Top Golf really did something. I think that was pretty incredible. But a lot of these indoor facilities started replicating what we did.
And, you know, fast forwarding. Now, 15 year lease is expired in May of 2020. I launched my digital business back in 2010, which did pretty you know, it did okay, learned a lot, and the second Covid hit, we just put our foot on the gas and launched something called Dino brands, and that’s our business now. And it just, it exploded. It just ended up doing what I only dreamed my clubs would do in the city. I own two gyms in the city, and our leases expired, and I moved on from it, and now I’m here, and this is where we are.
Brett Bartholomew 17:24
Well, one of the reasons I asked that I’m glad that you didn’t cut anything off is, you know, we’re doing a huge segment over the next month or two about context, right? And you anybody that sees your background, okay, you’ve worked with actors and athletes and musicians for over two decades, you have this successful brick and mortar gym, you’ve raised all this money, you’ve done all this stuff. It can get really easy for people to continually get sucked into this idea that they’ve got to be a specialist, they’ve got to find their thing right out the bat, or they better find it quick. And if they don’t, and they don’t just stick with that, they’re not going to be successful.
Whereas you, unless I misinterpret, misunderstood something, or didn’t listen, there’s more of this generalist. Hey, I did this for a while. I followed this passion. I did this. This worked well, that didn’t work well, first of all, before I go any further, Did I did I understand that correctly, that you did a wide variety of things before you were able to really kind of hone in on like, Oh, this is what I want to do.
Don Saladino 18:22
Listen, I went from being a trainer to a strength coach, which, there’s a difference. I ended up opening a golf fitness training facility in Manhattan in 2005 we were doing corporate events where Goldman Sachs was coming in, booking events, entertaining a lot of that catering element. We pretty much lost our shirt for a year after that, we were bleeding. We were hemorrhaging 100,000 bucks a month in that gym. Because I know 708, you know, the economy just tanked, and all these private equity firms went, went under. You know, the Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, so, yeah, I think you are right.
I mean, I think I am the definition of a coach who’s had to recreate himself several times. I would never have imagined back in 99 when I worked at Equinox, if you told me 23 24 years later, that I would be think about words that we’re using, utilizing paid spend and digital content and the web. If I dropped those terms to you, back in 99 none of that stuff existed. I mean, I think the web was just, you know, being, you know, brought to fruition. Oh, uh, podcast, zoom, right? All this stuff, like, you just can’t everyone the and for years, you heard it and I heard it.
What is your 20 year plan? 15 year plan, 10 year plan, I get it, but, like, I had my plan 20 years ago, and the map is completely different. Am I a failure? Am I a success? I’m a success hands down to am I continuing to climb? Am I continuing to find new avenues? Am I continuing to go in directions that I never imagined I would go in absolutely but if you’re looking at that plan and you are expecting to follow that plan step by step, very few people I know I was not to jump around this is that? Actually very important. I was at dinner last Friday with a client of mine who sold four companies so far.
Brett Bartholomew 20:08
If you didn’t hear it at the beginning, I need to let you know this is your last chance to join our 30 day challenge that is all about becoming a better public speaker. This is 30 days to gain more confidence, share your story and spread more value. So if you’re somebody that has ever wanted to educate others, help others, but you just feel like I have room to grow as a speaker, this is your chance. It requires no travel whatsoever. You don’t have to worry about time zones. We will drip content over the course of the 30 days every single week.
And just by being a part of the challenge, you have access to those recordings for the rest of your life. You have access to the tips and strategies and downloads for the rest of your life, and you have access to myself and members of my team for those 30 days. And we are going to cover everything, whether it is about how to better know your audience so that you can design a talk that’s compelling, how to be more concise with your words, how to use more convincing messaging, and even how to design your talk
How to get those ideas out of your head, the things that are constricting you and suffocating you and into a structure that helps you tell your story. We only do this twice a year. This is your last chance. Folks are signed up to not get left behind and do not get behind. March 6 is when we start go to artofcoaching.com/challenge. That’s artofcoaching.com/challenge. But you didn’t think I was going to do it again. artofcoaching.com/challenge now
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Don Saladino 24:09
I was at dinner last Friday with a client of mine who sold four companies so far for you know, nine plus figures. He’s done incredibly well, and he said something that was bizarre to me, because you never really hear it. He’s like, I win. I’m four for four with these businesses right now, with these companies, I’ve sold over the last 30 years of my life, but I already win before I launch these companies. So I do my due and that’s why I fully fund every single one of them. I don’t ask for capital. I don’t go get backing. I am, literally, I am so strategic about putting this together in the medical tech space that I’ve what, before I start, I’ve already won. Like, I already know it’s happening for me. I was like, holy shit. Like, never had that my life.
Brett Bartholomew 24:52
Yeah, I’d be interested, if you dive into that more, right? Like, everybody, there’s always some stumbling blocks around the way.
Don Saladino 24:59
Hundred Percent, percent
Brett Bartholomew 25:00
But yeah, I just, I found it interesting, because, you know, I’d gotten in an argument, as much of an internet argument as there is somebody the other day when I said, Hey, you know, there’s a lot of us that Think we’re good at something, but you know, you got to be careful not to get a big head, because if you’ve only done something or had success in one context, there’s still tons of room to grow.
AndI think, you know, I can speak on this, because one of our workshops, we ask people to do role playing and conflict resolution and get out of their own skin and get feedback. And you can get a lot of folks that kind of, you know, they get reticent, you know, it’s like they’re almost scared to kind of jump in and be tested. Because we have this mentality in society, especially now, due to a lot of the myths we hear about what a good coach is a good entrepreneur, is a good leader, is that you, like, can’t fail, that you’ve got to have some path, some defined way, some one size fits all, method, and any deviation from that is troublesome.
So anyway, I was just saying you’ve got to challenge yourself in different contexts. This gentleman said, Well, I don’t agree. You know, it’s way better to do just one thing for 30 to 40 years than it is multiple things. And you know, then we got in a discussion of, like, all right, well, a lot of polymaths out there in history made a lot of unique contributions that they wouldn’t have been able to do if they didn’t fail.
And I just wonder, you know, now, given how much you exist at this intersection of coaching and business and everything else, like, was it the catering? What were the most impactful out of all those experiences that you feel like, this one helped me learn about social skills. And I know you mentioned your dad, this one helped me learn a little bit more about the nuances of business. This one helped me navigate. I mean, I don’t know if you’re and you and your wife ever Are you like, where did you find little aspects of yourself in all of those places?
Don Saladino 26:39
You know, it’s funny, it’s like, it’s all of it, right? It’s the failures, it’s the successes, it’s those little conversations that I used to roll my eyes to when I was 15, that I look back on now, and there were some of the biggest turning points in my life. My grandfather this day used to say a lot alignment, like, the man who finds success is the man who finds peace of mind, right?
I’m like, All right, well, I want to be a multi millionaire when I’m 15, and that’s what I want to do, peace of mind like, I’ll have peace of mind when I have money. I didn’t understand what he meant. Now. I’m like, I get what he means. If he can sit there and he can actually have complete control over his life, his emotions, his family, like he’s just things that you just can’t control. We were talking about Steve Jobs today, one of the wealthiest men on the planet, like, he gets a term of illness, and then what happens?
It’s like, all right, all the money in the world can’t save you now. And it’s, you know, it for someone who’s done so much, you know, for our world today, like what we’re doing now, and he had our fingerprint in that, right? I mean, he really did. So I think it wasn’t that one thing. It was all these things. But I would never have taken away the catering Hall. I would never have taken away those moments where my grandfather maybe jump into a sewer with a bag up to my chest and unclog, you know, I’m down there with with people, and you’re in a sewer.
Like, how many people right at 15 years old, like, it’s disgusting, or, you know, you know, all these other instances that I’m not going to bring up, he’s going to make him sound like a monster, but like, he was my role model. I mean, he was the one that showed me to get your hands dirty. And, you know, that’s what I attribute my work ethic to. Probably the thing I’m most proud of is my work ethic, besides my family, it’s the fact that I will work, and I will do it to a point where people are like, Why is he working this hard? It is a need to work this hard. It just, it’s part of what allows me to feel significant.
Brett Bartholomew 28:31
Sure, yeah, well, I think that right, there is an Assuit phrase. I think sometimes people have trouble admitting, hey, this contributes to my self image, my feeling of self worth, self efficacy. And we talk about that like that’s a bad thing, but in reality, everybody wants to amplify their own self worth and their relationship with their self we want to do things that are useful. We want to do things that help people. We want to do things that scale.
You know, I find that an interesting leadership myth as well, and I wonder if you relate to any of this, just there’s so many people out there that can feel like they’re not doing good enough or not doing enough, and it’s this fine line between, you have to know what will tick that box for you and give you like, Okay, I’ve given my contribution, I’ve, I’ve handled that as best as I could. I can move on right there. There’s this balance between that, and then some people that just, it’s almost like, never enough.
Do you know? And this is a hard question, do you know how much is enough for you? And I know that’s a moving target, but have you ever thought about, like, how much is enough, whether that’s a notoriety, whether that’s money in your business, whether that’s whatever, I mean, everybody has that idea with kids, you know? But, what would it take for you to make happy? Go ahead
Don Saladino 29:40
I don’t know if, I don’t know if there is ever going to be enough, right? And I think that’s okay, right? I think, you know, interesting story. I had a very successful client, turned to me when I had drive, I was just turned 40, and he looked at me, and he goes, you know, Donnie, when are you going to start pulling back? And I looked at him, I go, What do you mean, pulling back on. What I said, he goes, you know, pull that you have yourfitness, and you do all this crazy shit, still trying to squat 500 pounds, and you’re running and running this, and then this and that back started doing backflips the other day. Like, why?
When are you going to start coming back, cutting back? And I looked at him and I said, Let me tell you a story about a guy I know. He’s in his 60s. He’s worth close to a billion dollars, and he, I see him every morning when I pull up to my club at 6am I see him sitting in the car reading the paper. 5 58, he’s reading the paper. Six o’clock though. He walks inside and he gets on the treadmill, and then he starts training. By 7 30 7 45 he’s walking out of the gym in a suit. Drive away now front and he goes off to his bank, and he works here.
Guy doesn’t need money. He doesn’t need to be doing this. And he looked at me and he laughed, and he said, Fuck you, Donnie, because I was talking about him, right? But I think sometimes this is who we are, and this is how we’re made, and this is part of what allows us to feel a certain way. I’m 46 years old in April, I don’t want to slow down. I want to my goal is to keep doing what I’m doing and spend as much time with my family as possible. On top of that, I’m not concerned with going to dinners. I’m not concerned with going out and meeting friends for drinks.
I’m just not. I’m my concern is spending time my family, working on my business, continuing to build something with my wife. Like you, work with your wife. I work of mine, and it’s fun, it’s tough sometimes, but it’s fun. And, you know, continuing to, you know, do the things that I do, and expand, and that’s part of life that we enjoy. If you dropped a billion dollars on my lap right now, are things changing? I don’t know. I really don’t
Brett Bartholomew 31:39
like some would, but the nature of problems
Don Saladino 31:42
you know what? Listen, am I going and buying a Ferrari? No, it’s not my style. It’s like, I’ll probably rebuild some old school trucks, do some fun stuff, travel. I travel a lot. Maybe I’m traveling a little bit differently, right? Like, it’s maybe certain things change a little bit. But all in all my life, how we’re full every morning, we’ll still be getting up at 6am with our kids.
Get out of bed, get this shower, have breakfast. Let’s go. Let’s go. That’s not going to change, right? And I don’t know, yeah, I don’t know if I ever wanted to change, you know, I feel like, once you start, you know, backing off the things that really allow you to feel a certain way, I feel like a party starts dying, right? And I’m too young to do that right now.
Brett Bartholomew 32:23
Yeah, no, I appreciate that answer sticking on the topic of self concept, and it’s interesting because we have this from two diametrically opposing sides. Good friend of mine has worked in pro sport 20 years, ready to get out, wants to do it, very grateful for the time that he’s had. But essentially it’s just like, hey, at this point, there’s just other things I want to do. But also, admittedly says if I do that, I am a little nervous that my reputation is going to be tarnished.
I won’t be seen as this anymore the minute I, like, kind of leave the shield behind. You know, people look at me different. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? He struggles with that, right? Then I have another friend that’s just like, hey, no amount of that, and none of neither of these are right or wrong. He’s at a different point in his career. He’s decided to change. And is like, I understand that I’m gonna lose those things, but at this point, it’s just not worth it for me anymore.
Now I have to ask you, you’ve gone through transitions, and in terms of selling your club, you had opened it, you sold it, right? You’re in this beautiful space in Manhattan, now you have some aspects of your job are a little bit quieter day to day, but they’re also more scalable and diverted. But, like, did you ever worry about that? Like, all right, I made it in New York City. I got this club. Now I’m getting rid of it. I’m not dealing with it, and to a point, I’m not even trying to live up to this image that you were able to create, right? You’ve trained all these A listers. You’re just like, No, I appreciate it, but there’s a new chapter of my life.
Did that ever eat away at your self concept a little bit? Did you ever wonder, hey, what’s gonna happen if I transition just for the viewer?
Don Saladino 33:55
Like listen, it’s a great question. No one’s asked me this, by the way, and I’m happy you are. It worried me. It worried me because when I I’ll never forget signing my lease back in 2004 right? And we were in construction, I was like, Oh my God. I remember thinking at that time, how is this going to it’s a weird thought, but how am I going to exit from this place? You know, my way, is it a way I don’t want? Am I going to be crushed?
And I remember thinking that at that time, and I got to be honest, I was able to exit from it on my terms. I really was. I mean, it was a very tough time for many people, but I think when you have this new focus, it was like baseball. I think in the back of my head when my whole life, I wanted to do one thing. So thinking about that last day is, is pretty dreadful, right?
It’s like, Oh God, this is all I’ve done, right? But I think transitioning to something that was different, that was at this time, better, right? Better. For many reasons, financially, from a scalability standpoint, it had all these positives. I wrote down on a sheet of paper the pros. And because I had the opportunity to resign in September, we had to sit in there until September, so limited to the governor allowed us to reopen. And I turned to the landlord and I said, you know, I’m done. We’re gonna part ways. Obviously, he wasn’t happy about that.
But you know, I did it my way. I left my way. I think the thing I was worried about was not having a home base to hang your hat on, like you have this place that you show up to and you have these people that you’re around. But then I created the barn, which was a lot of people listening. Why would you know about it? But it’s,
Brett Bartholomew 35:42
Yeah, describe it,
Don Saladino 35:43
Yeah. I built this 2000 square foot barn in my backyard, and it literally is, you could bring in 30 trainers right now to train out.
Brett Bartholomew 35:52
And this is like, upstate New York.
Don Saladino 35:54
No, this is Long Island. Two and a half acres. I’m 50 minutes from Manhattan. I worked out there early this morning with Frank Sepi, a buddy of mine. I literally trained with him at 8am and I was on the 10 25 train, and I was in the city by 11:20 Right. Like quick. But I think having the barn, and opening the barn, and, you know, it’s a facility that probably has probably put, I mean, it’s probably we got a million dollars worth of stuff in it, by the having to build the structure and all the equipment I got, I got over $300,000 worth of equipment.
I mean, so having that now, and having a home base where I can invite people out, I can collaborate, I can train, I could shoot content, I think, really filled that void. Because if I had a room in my house, and I was going down with some power blocks and training, you know, I’d be missing the squat racks, and I’d be missing, you know, all those pieces of equipment that I had, the saunas, all these things that I recreated, the coal plunges. I think that really allowed me to leave gracefully. And when you’re turning around and you’re looking at, yeah, people were like, Oh, are you okay? I’m like, fine. Like, you
Brett Bartholomew 37:00
They were worried that, Hey, why are you giving this up? Why are you transitioning
Don Saladino 37:04
People were people were worried. And when you look at it, listen, I cut out three hours a day on a commute, because once I hit the city, which is 50 minutes, it was another half hour there, right, right. So all in all, three hours, roughly three hours a day. And you know, I’m, I’m probably 10x in the first year, my best year ever there. So how the hell am I going to look back on that and say, I wish I was back in there?
I mean having employees, I have employees now, but having people at the front desk, having to deal with cleaning, having to deal with staff, having to deal with your membership, it’s a constant challenge. And you know what? It’s a challenge I went through long enough and it’s no it’s no offense to anyone in any city, if you have your own business that itself is so impressive.
Owning a gym in New York City. Tom Plummer said it, it’s different. It’s just different, the saturation, the amount of people, the competition, there are so many variables that are going on. The cost. I mean, my rent alone was three quarters of a million dollars. My real estate taxes were 15,000 a month. Real Estate Taxes, my overhead, all in would cost me almost $2 million a year just to leave that place open, just to have that place running in one location, and I had two.
So could you imagine the amount of stress I was under going in there one day? Oh, by the way, Verizon had a blowout. What does that mean? No power? Yeah, what no power for how long. They don’t know next you sit there a week with no power. Or how about this hot water blows on you the membership. Now, guess how long I lost hot water for it, three months. Now imagine them. Imagine every single member coming in there who’s relying on showering is now freaking out because there’s no hot water
Brett Bartholomew 38:51
Sure And the reality is, they don’t care about your problems. That’s what they paid for. You know, I do have to ask this, and I’m sorry to interrupt, but you know, you mentioned that when you did transition, you mentioned, hey, I was able to do something more at scale, a little bit less stressful, 10x Now, here’s my question for you. Let’s say you that didn’t go that well. Let’s say we’re talking right now.
You’re five years into your transition, three to five, and it still hasn’t kind of gotten to where you want it to be. Then would that be eating at you right now? Or what would you be telling yourself? Because for some people listening, right? They agree with you. They’ve jumped, or they’re thinking about making the job, but they’re like, Dude, come on. Like, there’s no way I’m going to 10x the first year myself. What would you tell them?
Don Saladino 39:31
You know, You don’t know, right? Like, I didn’t know. I had no idea. And I can’t tell you where I’d be right now. I can’t tell you what I doing. I mean, along the way. I think the one thing I was proud of myself for was when I committed to something, I committed to it. And when I had to jump into this digital business, I jumped into it. I took the same approach that I would take with my fitness.
I took the same approach that I took with my brick and mortar. It was, we gotta surround it. This is a new world like this is like, okay, we’re creating something that’s totally different. If it didn’t work. God, I don’t know what I’d be doing, but I’m not worried. I would have figured it out like I’m one of these people that, okay, we’re gonna do what we have to to get by. Maybe I open in another place, maybe I go to an investor, get some more capital.
Maybe, you know, God forbid, maybe I’m back training for a while, you know, one on one, until I pick that back up. You know, I’m a dog in that sense. I’m gonna, I’m going to get it done. I’m going to worry about my family. I’m not going to complain about it, but I am. Listen, one thing about me is, for years, I’m a riskator. You don’t get into my business, you don’t get into what I did. There’s a reason why no one did what I did in New York City. Very rarely did someone. I mean, you can look at the equinoxes or the lifetimes.
But you know, for me and my brother to come into the city and start with that type of capital and build something to that size, that was a massive risk. And there were a lot of bad decisions made there, but our attitude was, listen, we’ll figure it out. And you know, 56 years from now, we’re fucking dead anyway. What does it matter?
Brett Bartholomew 41:00
I mean, you do make an important point about committing. You know, we just, I think sometimes people don’t always realize You’ll have more problems just by not fully committing to something than you will actually doing the transition, you know. And we even see this with our mastermind group, you know, we’ll have some folks that they come in and they have some goals, and they’re serious goals, but, you know, they overthink them so much that they won’t really commit sometimes, to taking action on it, which is why we have the group to kind of keep that accountability and all that.
And it’s like, hey, the issue isn’t the concept or, you know, the risk you’re going to take, it’s the fact that you’re not actually really fully focusing on it and then also helping them understand much like fitness, I’m sure you can attest to in performance, they have this idea that fully committing means, like, every waking day needs to be, quote, unquote grinding. It’s like, No, you just need to take some step to make your business better. You need to take some step to make it better. You don’t need to over aggrandize or just go all in, in every way imaginable, all the time. I mean, would you agree with that
Don Saladino 41:58
100% I’d be, I think you said it perfectly, but like, you could train to be a strong swimmer outside of the pool, but at a certain point you got to get in the pool. And I can’t tell you how many young people that call me up and that are very prepared, by the way, like, I’ll sit there and speak to these young, you know, future you got to call them future entrepreneurs. And at certain points, like, I’m sorry to sound, you know, not scientific here, but gotta show some guts.
You gotta, at a certain point, you gotta understand that there’s risk. There’s risk in pretty much everything that we’re gonna do. You don’t know what’s gonna happen. Look at all these restaurants that were completely prepared, you know, and had backing and maybe had a great concept. And the next thing, you know, March of 2020, hit, and they’re closed, yeah, for a year or so. Like, they’re businesses that just, you know, they just perished. And it was, Come on, like, how do you prepare for something? You don’t know what’s going to happen, but at a certain point you got to dive into the water and you got to go for that swim.
Brett Bartholomew 43:00
Yeah. I mean, life is improv. Speaking of all right, we’re gonna switch gears here real quick. You’ve worked with a wide range of personalities now as business partners or celebrities you’ve trained, or anybody else, right? And I want to think about how to contextualize this question, so I set you up for success here. You know, there’s a lot of people that it’s like, they want this cheat sheet, this one book that tells them how to interact successfully with everybody.
They desperately want it, you know. And we hear this question. Sometimes it’s like, oh, well, how do you quantify effective communication? You know, there’s going to be subjectivity to it. So what’s the point? My crowd just going to find me, you know. But there is onus to knowing how to code switch if you’re dealing with and I’ll keep your clients names out of it, but if you’re dealing with one client who you know, they don’t want a lot of chit chat, and if they do, they certainly don’t want inspirational bullshit.
But then you got another client that wants it, and then the next minute, you’ve got to interact with somebody a different way. How do you view how you’ve done that over the years? And more importantly, because I want you to admit a weakness here too, or, equally as important, what is a personality that you still as skilled as you are, it’s still tough for you. When you go into that situation, you’re like, ah, one of these. This is going to be a challenge. So tackle that however you want.
Don Saladino 44:15
You’re asking me. You’re asking me great questions here, brother. So I think one of my best qualities as a coach was the ability to adapt to each person. And I really attest that to, you know, being a kid and walking into those different rooms and out of nowhere. It’s like Bar Mitzvahs going on, Bat Mitzvahs going on wedding.
Brett Bartholomew 44:38
Oh, when you’re doing catering,
Don Saladino 44:39
oh yeah, catering, you’re walking in and out of nowhere. It was just different feel. It’s like you were in a different country, different cultures, you know, everything. I mean, it’s like, well, it’s a party. What do you mean? Like, No, you’d walk into rooms and they’d have, like, they’d be cooking Don bread and like, these kilns, and we’d be going over there with the Indian chefs. And eating Don bread, and you just be be exposed to different type of cultures and people
And I really attest being in that environment, it was like a melting pot. You’d walk into this catering Hall, in every room you went into, you felt like you were in Disney. It was like you were going into like it’s a small world, that ride. And you were always around this different culture, this different community, and you had to learn to adapt to these different personalities. And I really attest, you know, being exposed to that for 10 years the thing that drives me not to the coaches that are trying to become online sensations that don’t want to put that time in, you know, trying to breed Brett Bartholomew, and they don’t realize the years that you put in that were painful,
Or all those times that you put in that you came home and you were scratching your head, or they’re times I can’t feel I never doubted myself like I did, but there were moments where I’m like, Are you serious? Like, I just lit up on fire a million dollars this year. Am I making the right decision? Like, is this bad? Like, but if I pull the plug, we went personal, they could come after $3 million of our assets, like you were forced into situations where you had to make it work.
And, you know, for me, you know, that was one of the most important lessons at a young age, and that was the thing that I think would allow me to be successful. A lot of people now get ready, you know, for these movie roles was the fact that I could see someone come in, I’d be like, Oh boy, here we go. It’s going to be one of those days
Brett Bartholomew 46:27
Because of their mood or how they looked, they kind of,
Don Saladino 46:30
They’re all human yeah, you know, you’re coming from a job, a mom gets sick, something happens that’s, you know, unfortunate, and you know, you then you now have to adapt. I mean, my whole saying was, I got to make sure that I have them leaving an hour later feeling way better like than they did before they came in. Right mentally and physically.
Brett Bartholomew 46:50
You ever have anybody though done that you just didn’t, no matter what you know again, how socially skilled you are and how, how much you want to help them in your resume, that you just didn’t vibe with. It just was not where you’re like, hey, damn. Like, I’m trying. You went home and told your wife, I don’t know what the hell’s going on here. You can you deconstruct a situation like that?
Don Saladino 47:07
Yeah, you know, people who don’t want to improve. There are people that just don’t want to improve, and they just come in and I’m like, and it’ll get to a point sometimes where I’ll just look at them now, but what are you asking me for? Like, you just sat down me for 30 minutes telling me everything that you do, and you asked me, What do you think? Like? Do you want me to give honest feedback? Because I’ll give it. It’s not what you want to hear.
And then they’re suddenly like, holy shit, is this guy talking to me? Yes, I’m talking to you this way. You don’t want to hear what I’m about to tell you. How’s what you’re doing. Is that working for yourself? And then they’re like, Oh my God, you’re speaking me this. I’m speaking you. Like that. Like, it’s, there are people that just don’t want to improve. There are people who are coming in and they’ve almost already given up on the battle before they’ve come in.
But then I start looking at it as a challenge. How can we start rewiring them? Like, do you understand what I’m trying to do here? Like, this is, like, you’re giving up on me before we’re even coming in here. This is what we need to pay attention to. I start going through this line. I have non scale victories when it comes down to body composition. All right, we’re not going to pay attention to scale. These are the things I need you to do. I need to fall in love with the process. It’s no different with business. It really isn’t. It’s ironic.
I’ve worked with, I can’t mention names, but I’ve worked with people that are worth, you know, over $30 billion like a lot of money, and they’re so exceptional in business, but when you move that over to their health and wellness, their shit, like they’re like a mental midget in this category. And I’m like, wait a second, how did you build your business to that scale? I’ve asked them, oh, well, you know, I’ve put a business I have a concept, a business plan, and I started assembling a team, and then we get granular, and then I bring people in, in areas that I’m not good at, and I’m being broad with this, right?
You get what I’m getting at here, and they start going down the detail. Hey, man, you’ve been trying to drop some weight, right? Yeah, what’s your day like today with that? What time you training? I think I’m gonna get in, maybe around a you know, you know, whatever it is 12 o’clock or, you know, what do you eat? Oh, you know what? I’ll probably stop by, you know, order from one of the healthy spots and and then suddenly you’re like, holy shit, like you’re just pulling nonsense out of the air. There’s no plan. There’s no strategy.
If you went into your health and wellness the same way you went into business, you’d be in better shape than me. It’s no different, but you don’t realize it’s the exact same. So I think it’s also giving them an understanding that if you did this in one category, and you’re massively successful in that business end, you probably can be really good. I look at coaches, I’m like, Oh my God, you I know some coaches out there that are in tremendous shape.
They’re granular with every macronutrient micronutrient micronutrient they’re putting in their body. But then when it comes to business, there’s like, no organization, no thought process behind anything. Their time management sucks. They’re just working, working, working, working, and they’re working themselves into the ground, and they’re not able to make that next step. That’s why most coaches I speak to are just like, I can’t take on any more clients, and I can’t raise my rate. More, and I’m like, You’re absolutely right, because I’ve charged, you know, over 1000 bucks an hour for sessions, and at a certain point that wears off.
At a certain point, you realize when you go on vacation, you are not only losing that money, but you’re losing the money that you’re paying for the vacation, and then you’re really in the red. You get what I’m saying. So a lot of people, are at fault with this, and it’s a struggle, but it’s almost a bit ironic that you could see someone who’s been so successful in one area, take the same approach. Take the same approach you did to become a billionaire, and now let’s reconstruct you physically, mentally. What do we have to do? Well, it’s a mind block, all right.
Well, let’s get some therapy. Yeah, if it’s a mind block, if it’s something from when you’re a kid. Let’s start with some therapy, and let’s start peeling back layers on why. And then let’s find you a good coach. And then, you know what? You can afford it. I hate food. You know? I hate healthy food, all right? Well, let’s find a chef that could cook for you in a way that you’re going to really enjoy. And let’s and you know what? We’re going to screw it up for a few weeks, and we’re going to go get back to the drawing board, and we’re going to build something for you that you like a little bit more, and then we’re going to keep adding things on. Now we’re going to keep adding layers on that are going to allow you to feel successful, and then they find themselves in a good spot. So I don’t know if that answered your question.
Brett Bartholomew 51:13
it sounds like one of the pieces that I was asking is, how do you manage code switching with different personalities? And then what kind of personality or give me a situation that you struggled with just connecting? And it sounds like, from what I heard, hey, it’s people that don’t want to change, don’t want to zoom out, don’t want to be introspective, don’t want to kind of think big picture. And you struggle with that because, you know, your brain goes to a million different solutions, whereas they tend to over fixate on, kind of the barriers to keep them from changing. Am I hearing that correctly
Don Saladino 51:43
100% I mean, now I’m really I’m spoiled, because I don’t You’re the same way. I don’t take on one on ones anymore. I mean, I’ve got a less than a handful of people that are like family to me, and I work with them because I love them, and I love working with them, and, you know, they’ve been incredibly great with me in my life. So for me, it allows me to still keep my hand in that mix and still be involved in something that I’ll always be a coach.
I always love it. I like keeping that Ax sharpened, and I like continuing to work on my craft, and I still do continuing ed, and I still learn from people and learn from coaches. I enjoy that, you know, the entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial side of what I’m doing that’s become massively interesting and fun, because now it’s, you’re coming in and you’re creating brands and helping businesses, and you know, it’s, you know, not always successful, but it’s big picture stuff, and it’s interesting for me now to be able to have more of effect on the masses, rather than going in and you Have your 20 people a week that are training with you 40 to 60 sessions. It’s like, that’s not very scalable. Now you’re able to deliver product to people all over the world. And that, for me, is become like, oh my god, it’s been really enjoyable.
Brett Bartholomew 52:55
Yeah, something I can relate to about what you’re saying is there are two notable transitions for me. One was getting out of just pure strength and conditioning. When, you know, we started Art of Coaching, we had decided we wanted to work with a broader audience. So that was the second part. Is not only just getting out of training athletes and again, love that like you loved what you did. It had been 15 years. Wanted a different challenge.
I loved coaching. You know, not just training and coaching is leadership and guiding and problem solving, but it was also, you know, making a concerted effort. And this is tricky, because it’s still a huge part of our base that we want to serve and we love, but, like, even just getting beyond strength and conditioning, you know, when we did this podcast, initially it was going to be really targeted towards those kinds of coaches. And I’m like, You know what? No, we’re going to say, true to our name, art of coaching is a broader audience.
And the reason I bring this up because an individual like the type of individuals that I struggle with, and a big aspect of this is, you know, I just found that so much in strength and conditioning, you know, at one point, I thought I could really help that profession. Okay, there’s a lot of people that feel stuck. I’m going to recently release an online course that tells people how to, you know, periodize their career and kind of get out of these sticking points and know what they’re worth and be better negotiators, and then we’re going to provide this resource.
And then I found there are just so many people in that profession that just, it’s almost like the kind of folks that just want to complain more than they want a solution, or a lot of them just didn’t really want to do it. They wanted a union to do it. And so now it’s like, I had to make a concerted effort. When somebody’s like, hey, where do you think the industry is going in 20 years? And what about this? I’m like, You know what? I’ve given my views on that. Here are some podcast episodes. Here’s a course, I’m not gonna keep doing that, because there’s so many other audiences out there that want to continue to go
And of course, not speaking to all strength coaches, not speaking to all you know, folks in the fitness realm, but to a certain point, there are some people that you have to know, and that’s that Bruce Lee quote, the student appears when the teacher is ready. Like no amount of information you can give, or I can give, or whatever is going to change somebody that is not ready for change.
And you see this in the industry there. There are so many people in strength and conditioning and fitness that complain about clients that won’t change. Change yet, if they looked at themselves, they are not doing the same thing. And that cognitive dissonance of like, oh, well, why aren’t I getting better at this? Well, do you go to any seminars that teach about business or psychology or communication? No, well, which ones you do? All the training ones? Well, turns out that that’s not the only problem you deal with.
So I think that that’s just something that I could relate to, is you have to know, all right, what am I really in love with? Is it solving complex problems? Is it business? Is it both of them? Is it for some people, it is just training for for certain people. In finance, it’s day trading for certain people. But you also have to, like, realize what the intersection is. Otherwise you never know where to stop and diversify your own efforts.
Don Saladino 55:39
Yes, yeah. I mean, perfectly, perfectly, perfectly said. I mean, one other, you just made me think of it. One other person I think is very difficult to work with is that individual who’s very entitled, yeah, and that, I mean, it’s a difficult combination. I mean, I’ll never forget who, what was the line given me by one of my mentors, three of the worst traits for a human being to have, self pity, entitlement, and envy.
Brett Bartholomew 56:08
That’s great.
Don Saladino 56:09
He’s talking about someone else that I was very close with, and he says so three of the worst traits a human being can have, self entitlement. I’m sorry, entitlement, self pity and envy, and I just popped back into my head. And when you’re dealing with people like that, it’s, listen, we’re coaches. You and I have an ego here. We believe we can help anyone and everyone, but the reality is, is that you just can’t. No one’s going to bat 1000 it’s going to happen. There are going to be people, you know that. You know, I’m working with a woman right now. I can say it’s seven years. You know, she’s down 500 pounds, which sounds extraordinary, but she’s been around at the same weight for the last two years.
Brett Bartholomew 56:51
Wait, man, how many pounds Did you say she’s now?
Don Saladino 56:54
Five and she went from 872 and she just hit 399, so what’s the matter
Brett Bartholomew 57:00
72 Oh, my god
Don Saladino 57:01
So it’s almost those 472 she lost 473 pounds, exactly, but she was down to 360 at one point. They gained back to 430 and we’ve been in a two year battle. Finally, last week, I got on the phone with her, and I did something I rarely do with people, and I just gotten her ass. That’s a terrible way to put it, but it’s just in a nutshell. It’s what I had to do. And I said and I told her, I says, you’ve been abusive to me with my time because I’m not charging. I haven’t taken a cent from her. Okay? I did this to help her out. I said, you’ve taken advantage of me and what I’m offering.
Brett Bartholomew 57:40
How did she do that? Was she was she backsliding? Was she not listening to you anymore?
Don Saladino 57:47
You know, she admits this, she lied, and she took advantage of resources I’ve given her, and time I’ve given her, and, you know, I had to get on her case about it. And she finally, I think, the conversation, she then finally messaged me, and she’s live two weeks later. She’s like, I’m down five. And I’m like, wow, different conversation now, huh? And she’s I was in my own way, I apologize, and I said, Listen, sweetie, proof’s in the pudding.
Want to make it up to me. What am I getting out of this? Am I getting pay? Am I getting social media? Is someone putting me on a pedestal? Am I on the Today Show? Is someone like you? I’m talking this up like this is me and you. I’m doing this out of love. I’m doing this because I can and I will help, but you gotta allow me to help, right? You’re sitting, lying to me and taking this at a certain point, this falls on the client. This falls on the individual. It is the thing that I fell in love with this industry.
There are not too many things Brett, that you can turn around and you have complete control over right now, there’s things with our health. Unfortunately, you know, my uncle just got diagnosed with cancer, so out of his control, terrible, right? But there’s certain things that are going to fall in our laps, and they’re terrible things. But for the most part, you know what I’m talking about? Someone’s obese and they want to lose weight, they can lose weight. Yeah, right.
If someone’s, you know, out of shape and they want that six pack, you can do it. You really can. What do you want to put into it? And that’s what I fell in love with this industry. Whether I was like, Oh, wow. Like, the more I put into this, I’m going to get something really special in return. I’m in at a young age. I said that at 16, the harder I work, the harder I train, the smarter I train, the better I eat, I’ll have a better outcome I’m in, yeah,
You know, and there’s not too many like Major League Baseball, you could be hit until you’re blue in the face. You could strike out four times in a game. Sure, like things that are going to happen. You could train your whole life for the Olympics and not even make the podium.
Brett Bartholomew 59:40
Yeah? I mean, it’s a leadership you can have every little charismatic trait in the perfect educational background and all that. But leadership’s not about one person you know. So that’s a great with that, and you talking about how you’ve continued to improve and just look at things in different ways and continue to put yourself in different situationswhat is the area of your life where you feel like, yeah, I still have room to grow here. Well, and what are you kind of doing about that? Where is an inadequacy? What’s up?
Don Saladino 1:00:10
Everything, yeah.
Brett Bartholomew 1:00:11
But yeah, come on. Give me something deeper, yeah.
Don Saladino 1:00:13
I know I need, oh God,
Brett Bartholomew 1:00:17
give me like, a real ward. Like, are you a crappy listener
Don Saladino 1:00:19
I have a battle with, I have this internal struggle sometimes with situations, you know, that kind, you know, God, it could be a conversation. It could be a trigger. Someone says something to me, and it’s a trigger from my childhood, not a bad hearing problem, a stuttering problem. So I have, I think I still have some insecurities there, from being a young kid and, you know, certain things with anger issues, that people will just something pointless. They’ll just say something. I can’t even say what it is, but it’s just like a trigger, you know, about me, or about how I responded to something, and out of nowhere, I’m like, I’m actually a bit angry about right or bumps me in the subway, and I’m thinking about them, you know, an hour later, oh my god, it happened last week.
I’m in watching my son’s wrestling match, and my there was, all the parents from the other school are there, and I’m when I go to these. When I go to his match, he’s athletic, he’s a strong kid, but when I’m going, I’m quiet. I cheer him on. I’m not one of these yelling dads. I normally like standing in the corner, and I had this group of parents behind me that were in my year. And one lady’s like, kill this kid. Like, about my son, and my son’s battling this guy, and he’s wrestling a good match, and the father starts screaming at my son’s match that my son was doing something illegal. And then I literally just, boom. I was just like, it brought me it’s like, that one trigger that brings you back to when you’re in 11th grade. And I turned around, I looked at him, and I said, shut your effing mouth.
Brett Bartholomew 1:02:00
How do you how do you respond to that?
Don Saladino 1:02:02
I said, Let the refs handle it. And then out of nowhere, the parents who are cursing, and, you know, out of nowhere, they’re all appalled, right? Oh, yeah, I don’t think I said the upward I think I wanted to. I think I said, shut your mouth and let the refs handle it. And they were all like, oh, like, Oh, my God. How could someone talk to us this way? And then the guy starts mouthing off to me, and my wife just puts her hand on my leg, and I turn around at him, and I said, shut your mouth.
And he just stared at him and and he just stood up and he walked off. And the entire time I’m living because I’m sitting there watching my son, I got people yelling behind me, kill this kid. And it’s it wasn’t right as a parent, like, I understand you have to control those emotions, but looking back on it, now, I would rather have just been like, you know, why even go in there? Like, looking, I look back on it, and it was funny. It was whatever, but I look back on them, you know, I look back on the next day. I was like, you could have handled that better,
Brett Bartholomew 1:02:58
yeah. But here’s the thing, man, and you know, we’ve known each other. I was just gonna say, you know, something we talk about in our workshops all the time is, it’s hard for us to handle things better when we don’t have actual training for those things, you know. And that’s why I always defend, you know, the use of role playing and stuff that we do because it’s social scrimmaging, it’s conversational sparring and you see it because we had somebody come to our one of our workshops, and they thought they said something, they had a story similar to yours, and they’re like, I’m supposed to be a leader, and I’m not really proud that I lost my cool.
And I was like, Well I’m not gonna, what’s the word? Justify any of it. But you know, I can get hot too, and if you don’t actually practice for those things, because you want to get in better physical shape, you apply overload you want, like you said, if you want to get better at the nutrition side of things, there’s, there’s a lot of things that you can manipulate there. Where is our society in terms of their expectations, of thinking that they’re just supposed to be great at handling situations like that when you literally don’t train for it. So not to give you a pass, but to be expected,
Don Saladino 1:04:02
It’s tough with your child too, right? It was like, you’re sitting there and you’re okay, I’m handling, I’m handling, I’m handling. And then they yelled at my kid, yeah, no. Like, so those things, you know, listen, I’m a parent. I’m a dad. It is what it is. Am I going to have more of those situations? Sure, it’s gonna happen, all I can do is recognize how I handle it. Say, how can I do it better? And you try and improve upon the next time. That’s literally how I’m handling but you asked and I gave you the answer. There it is.
Brett Bartholomew 1:04:31
Yeah, no, I love it all right. Now there’s gonna be one more low key question,and then we’ll talk about where everybody can go to support you and find your work, and we’ll get you on your way.
Don Saladino 1:04:40
Love this man. Love you too, man. And honestly, like you’re the one area. And I’ve said this to you several times, this is the one area that coaches are neglecting and they need to be paying attention to. You can go take your FMS level 50. It doesn’t matter. This is the area of a coaching, a coach’s business that I believe. They really need, and you’re one of the few guys I think, really doing it the right way. So my hat’s off to you.
Brett Bartholomew 1:05:04
Appreciate that man, all right? And now it’s part of a two sided question, right? If you could act in any role, archetypical, right? And they, they say you’re either the hero, the villain or the anti hero, which one are you choosing? And if you need an example, which you definitely don’t, because you’ve trained enough actors, but you know, if you’re, are you playing the hero, the villain or the anti hero?
Don Saladino 1:05:25
Oh, I’m playing the hero. Okay, you know, playing the hero, and I’m and I’m biased, man, I’m gonna go with my guy, Ryan Reynolds. I mean, he to me,
Brett Bartholomew 1:05:35
but Deadpool’s an anti hero.
Don Saladino 1:05:37
What’s that?
Brett Bartholomew 1:05:38
Deadpool’san anti hero.
Don Saladino 1:05:40
Really, I think of him as a hero. I love him. He’s a hero. Then I’m taking anti hero, then I would take him.
Brett Bartholomew 1:05:47
I think that’s a great example, which, by the way, I don’t know if you saw our Halloween photos from last year, but when Hugh hangs it up like, I’m the next Wolverine, logical choice, like there’s a picture of me, it’s a no brainer. So obviously, you know, it’s as easy as you putting in a word with Ryan about a guy doesn’t know, and we’re the next ones to take over for that franchise.
Don Saladino 1:06:05
Listen, man, he did a lot for my career. I mean, he introduced me to Ryan. But, you know, Ryan’s my dog. He’s my guy. So I think they’re, they got a movie coming up, right? Yeah, you know, hopefully Ryan kicks his ass, but it’ll be
Brett Bartholomew 1:06:23
Like, I listen, I love Ryan, but I’m a Wolverine. I grew up, see, this is where, like, life imitates art, right? I grew up be and you talked about your anger problems. I grew up kind of, like, not a loner, but I was one of those guys that just like, you know, I don’t trust people easily because they’re just, you know, you see a lot. You’re around a lot of shitty you, you meet a lot of shitty people. I also just internalize a lot. I’m very hyper present of a lot of things.
And, you know, I draw a lot of strength from adversity. I’ve always been like that. So I always liked that about Wolverine. Didn’t put up with bullshit. Kind of, you know, yeah, I was in his own head. Could be his own worst enemy at times. But, you know, at the end of the day, like, got results and did it his own way and kind of, you know, whatever. So that’ll be a fun one to watch. Well, listen, you have a ton of resources. They’re pragmatic. You don’t do the wishy washy. I’m gonna give you a bunch of ridiculous exercises that are, you know, you don’t follow the zeitgeist. You say true to values. So where can people go to support you? And all you do?
Don Saladino 1:07:20
Oh, I appreciate you know donsaladino.com, my site, my Instagram’s Don Saladino, yeah, no, if anyone has any questions, DM me. I’m more than happy to answer. Listen, it’s an honor to be on here. Love you for Thank you, and I’m looking forward to coming out to one of your events. You know going to wait on your you got to send me that schedule.
Brett Bartholomew 1:07:41
No, my pleasure. And guys, everybody listening. It doesn’t matter what you do for a job, a living, if you see yourself as an athlete, a desk jockey, whatever, Don has resources that can help you, regardless of the circumstances and constraints you’re facing. So check it out, Don. Thank you again. And to everybody listening, thanks for tuning in.
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