Laura (00:03): So here's the challenge: so many entrepreneurs dream of leading a life of impact by creating a multi-million dollar brand, but only a tiny percentage of businesses actually scale to that point. On this podcast, we speak openly and authentically about what it takes to scale your business, following the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts, and leaders, looking at the behind the scenes of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned. My name is Laura Meyer and I'm your host. I'm a serial entrepreneur, wife and mom to three. I love talking all things business, especially digging into the mindset and strategies of scaling joyfully to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond. Let's go!
(00:49): Hey, hey, welcome back to the Scale with Joy podcast. I'm here with Yuri Elkaim and he is at Healthpreneur. He was a former soccer player, professional soccer player, which is so interesting. He's the CEO and founder of Healthpreneur, a leading coaching and training company that helps health practitioners and coaches grow to seven and eight figures with their coaching business online. So welcome Yuri. It's so nice to connect with you.
Yuri (01:19): Yeah. Thanks Laura. Thanks for having me. Yeah.
Laura (01:21): And you're also a father of four boys and a husband. That's incredible.
Yuri (01:27): Yes. It's busy households, but apparently I love growth cause there's a lot of challenges that come with that and it's great. So yeah, it's fun times.
Laura (01:38): That's so fun. I have two boys, 16 months apart and I know the crazy that can ensue, but it's so I find it pretty character building, even in the moments where I'm probably not at my best, like when they tear apart, you know, something that I thought looked really nice, but it's been, it's really, really good to have those moments. Tell me a little bit about just what brought you to today. You have both a health background as well as a fitness, as well as being able to scale as an entrepreneur.
Yuri (02:10): Yeah. So I mean, my journey started, I think when I was 10, I wanted to play professional soccer. That was my dream when I was a kid. So I dedicated the next 10 years to hopefully making that happen and made a lot of sacrifices, gave up family vacations to train and play. And in my early twenties, I was able to play professionally for three years, which was awesome. But when I was 16, just about 17, I lost all of my hair to an autoimmune condition. And that was a bit of a wakeup call for me because although I was active and fit, I wasn't healthy. I grew up with just not the best dietary choices, you know, subjected to antibiotics and a whole slew of vaccines and stuff. But I knew it was, my body just became a bit of a wasteland. So I didn't realize like I didn't recognize why that all this was happening when I was that age. It's what really prompted me to get into health and understand, you know, how could I solve this for myself?
(03:02): So that really the combination of like soccer and fitness plus, like this health issue really moved me in that direction of pursuing studies in kinesiology and health sciences. Then I went back to school afterwards, finishing that to get my degree in holistic nutrition. And it was really just first and foremost to like solve my own issue. And I was like, huh, I'm not finding the answers I wanted from doctors, all of the solutions related to injection cortisone into your head. I was like, let's not do that. I started to learn a lot about nutrition and I got very, very passionate about that. And through my own learnings and application, I was able to regrow my hair and I kept my head shaved the whole time, but my eyebrows and everything came back. And then, um, obviously I don't have any now it's cause a couple of years ago, long story short got another tetanus shot and then my hair fell out again, whatever.
(03:52): So that's kinda what started me into this journey. And then I started training clients after I finished my professional soccer and working with them on a nutrition basis and I really enjoyed seeing their transformation. But the challenge is that I very quickly got into trading time for money, like 12 to 14 hours a day. And that became very, very exhausting. So after doing that for about seven years, I was like, you know what, there's gotta be a better way. And I, there was I guess at some point in 2006, I started my business online to share my message with more people and see if I could get more leverage and impact. And it took me a long time to get leverage and impact and traction. Cause I thought I could do everything by myself. And so I started off in 2006, just creating programs like nutrition workout wise that people could purchase from our website.
(04:43): And I didn't know anything about marketing and business. Eventually I got some coaching and mentorship and built that business to multiple seven figures. We helped half a million customers around the world. I wrote a New York times bestselling book and was on Dr. Oz and all this stuff, whatever. And I got to a point where our business was very successful on the surface, but behind the scenes, I felt like this was a frigging nightmare. Like there's way too much complexity. There's way too many product lines is crazy. And during that time I had a lot of people in our space ask me for business advice because they saw like what we were doing. I was like, there seems to be a big demand for health professionals to like build a better business online. So I started Healthpreneur six years ago because of that. And in that process sold my previous company. (05:30): So now I'm exclusively focused on Healthpreneur, but our mission is to help a billion people on the planet. And I realized that if I can help other health professionals build better businesses that in turn can help not only them live a better quality of life, but help more people, then I think we'll get closer to that goal. So that's, that's really what brought me to today. I love what I do. I absolutely love it. And I'm just very blessed for, for doing meaningful work that impacts people's lives and you know, being able to be on podcasts and you know, like stuff like this and share the messages is what I love to do. So yeah, that's the journey in a nutshell. Yeah.
Laura (06:04): And it's so aligned with what I love to talk about here on this podcast, because having scaled multiple businesses myself, there are times where it was so stressful and so hard and it was chaotic or you had financial surprises because of the way that it was structured. And then there's been other times, like right now I'm in the process of scaling a multi seven figure business as well. And it feels fun and light and there are so many components of it that yes are intellectually challenging, but also very joyful. And I think that that's a really important conversation that is often missing in the internet marketing space in the world of how many commas are in your comma club award. So I think that, you know, as we're talking about this, I love that you're really bringing up the health component of it. What are some of your personal practices as an entrepreneur that you utilize in order to stay in that centered space?
Yuri (07:03): Yeah. I mean, I think what I'm about to say is also reflective of the season that I'm in, in my business. I don't know. It feels like this when I first started, because I do think there's a time where you have to put in a little bit more hard work, but I also don't think you should compromise your health and the process of it. And also like I always found this kind of ironic, like a lot of health professionals, their number one complaint is burnout. Do you see to yeah, so now I mean like the most important thing I can do with my time is teach coach and think like those are really the only three things I should be doing. And when I, when I look at those, um, you know, the biggest, the biggest thing I can do is really just fill up my cup and make sure I'm taking care of myself.
(07:46): So first thing I do in the morning, I wake up at 3:48 AM every morning. And basically I've got a process where I do a three minute cold plunge, uh, which I absolutely love. However, recently I turned a chest freezer into our cold punch, right? So there's a whole process there. It's honestly, I'm the worst DIY person on the planet. I thought to myself, I'll take this on as a personal project for a couple months, I realized there's a bit of a leak in the bottom of the freezer. So now I'm like, that's on the, whatever I got to fix that somehow. So before this happened, that was cold plunging every morning at 4:00 AM. It's like the last thing you want to do is jump into ice water, but I'm a big believer in doing hard things because I think it prepares us for how to deal with harder things in life. (08:31): So I like putting myself in situations, not only from a health perspective, but also if I can sit in ice water for four degrees Celsius for three minutes and focus on deep breathing and center myself, I can probably handle other things that come up in life. But that's how I typically start off my mornings. Now it's like a cold shower and then I'll get into a couple of minutes of just writing out one page of gratitude goals. So these are essentially what are the things I want to be, do and have in my life as if they've already been achieved. And I write them down as if I'm retroactively looking back on them. And I love doing that because it helps me focus on, on why I'm here, right? In terms of my vision, what's important to me. And it changes every day. Like sometimes I write down the same things as those times it changes.
(09:14): And it's, it's really cool actually to look back on this several months later to be like, oh wow, this thing that's currently my reality. I was writing about a couple of months ago. So I love that practice of taking five to 10 minutes every morning first thing, once that's done, then it's like two hours to three hours of focus work. And that's my most important stuff. So it's, you know, working on, you know, like right now we're working on a new deliverable for our clients. So, you know, building that out in the mornings, you know, I just finished writing a book, which I wrote in the morning. So usually like my most creative time is that, you know 5:00 to 8:00 AM time in the morning, I get my most important work done. And then if I'm focused, I'm done for the day. Like really like everything else after that is, you know, I can jump on Clubhouse for a bit or I can do interviews like this, or I can go for a three hour walk and do team meetings.
(10:08): If I've got meetings on that day, or I can just go outside and go for a walk and clear my head and do some thinking, you know, after I've done this work, I'm typically working out as well. So I'll jump on my Peloton bike or getting in a workout. But I, I tell my wife this I'm like, and she knows this about me obviously, but if I'm working out, that's part of my work day, if I go for a three-hour walk, I'm not just going like, you know, to whatever it's actually part of my process to clear my mind, to step away from the computer. Because I think we all recognize at some level that the brilliance doesn't happen over typing the keyboard. Cause you know, that's when we kind of remove ourselves. And so I really try to bake a lot of it into my day.
(10:46): And then for me, it's like, you know, I've got a team of 26 people now, so I shouldn't be doing a lot of things other than the things that I mentioned, like, which is teaching coaching and then kind of thinking strategically. So that's what my day looks like. And then obviously I do, I do my best to, to eat well, I'm not fanatic or as fanatic as I used to be back in my health and nutrition days, but I feel great. You know, I feel really, really good and I'm energized, I would say more so by my purpose than by my nutrition. But the nutrition definitely supports that because you know, like you can't sustain great things in business if you're unhealthy. So I think it's really, really important to take our health as serious as we do our business, because you can have an amazing business, but if you die or if you're sick and you can't operate, then what's the point.
Laura (11:37): Yeah. Or smile during a podcast when you hear kiddos in the background, right. It's awesome. And you know what, I think we are in a place now where we can embrace all the things that are happening in the background of us running a business or being on a podcast from a level of transparency and authenticity. And my business partner, Kelly Roach always says, don't pretend that you're in a glass castle when you're running a three ring circus. Like, you know, I think, and I think that's, it's actually really good for anybody who's listening to know that, you know, that is that's something to be expected and not, not feel like it shouldn't be that way. Right. And so that's really cool.
Yuri (12:22): And that's the reason that I get up early because I've got four boys. And like, if I wake up to this first thing in the morning, I'm not going to be the right head space. So having that space to focus on me and fill up my cup and do what I need to do. It's like even if the rest of the day is a crapshoot, at least I got my most important stuff done, including like centering myself and taking care of that stuff.
Laura (12:45): That's so important. Can you give me an example of the be, do have, like, I love that practice and I think just myself or listeners would love to just kind of see how you work through that process.
Yuri (12:58): Yeah. I mean, I, I think a lot of us are hardwired to focus on like, I want this, right. Like whether it's the thing or the things, and those are all like haves, cool. Let's work backwards. Okay. What do I have to do to have those things? Right. So let's focus on the process of activity of what's going to move the needle the most, but most people stop there and I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I've also looked at myself to say, okay, like, how am I showing up? Who do I have to be in order to do those things? So for me, in order to do the things I know I need to do, I need to, I mean, I need to be the type of person that gets up early and who focuses my mind first thing in the morning, you know, how am I showing up?
(13:40): How am I being? Because that energy, that frame of, uh, of being who I need to be is going to allow me to do the things I need to do. Right. If I don't feel motivated to do something that I know is something I enjoy doing, it's usually because I'm not in the right being. And it's like, I know that when I get out of my routine, like the last week has been a little bit weird. I've been like, I slept until 7:30 yesterday. And I was like, what's going on here? So I'm not, I've been in a little bit of a funk, but I've also noticed that that's okay too. Like, I don't need to be, you know, I've been doing this now for like the morning routine for six years. I'm like, I can have a couple bad days. (14:20): Right. But I also notice where, when I don't have that time to focus on being the rest of the day just doesn't go as well. So I think it's, you know, some people, everyone has a different practice, whether it's, you know, meditation or working out, you know, I know for me, if I can focus on, you know, getting my mind centered, that's a big kind of being this piece of my morning. I know that also, like I like working out after I'd done a bunch of work because now my brain is like all over the place. And if I can get a good sweat on it clears a lot of that out. So again, I, it brings me back into the being of more flow and focus so that I can continue the rest of my day, you know, with the right type of, I guess, focus to do what's important.
(15:07): So that's, that's kind of the way I look at it is it's, you know, cause we can focus so much on do, do, do a grind and hustle and all that kind of stuff. But I also understand like there's a huge energetic component to success in life and I'm a big believer in you can't control everything. And I think one of the most important things we can control is our energy. This took me a long time to build in my, in myself. But I think I do a very good job of it is really like setting an intention for whatever that may be and having zero doubt that it's going to come into your life as opposed to forcing the issue and worrying about it because all of that doubt and worry blocks, all that stuff from coming in. So it's this balance of like doing the work, but also being in a place where you're like, cool, I've done what I can do. And now I'm going to let the universe do what it's going to do and being able to be ok with that. And that's something that's taken me a long time, but I think I'm in a really good place, at least now compared to where I used to be. So I just, I think that comes from experience, you know, and just practice. So yeah.
Laura (16:10): And knowing how things go when you try to grind it out from the other, right. Knowing that, that it never gets you, like you might, you might get to the milestone, but you may, you probably not going to enjoy the ride. Right. Or you can hustle to a certain point. And I think in business, there's a inflection point, which you can't hustle past. And a lot of this has to do with how you show up. So I love what you're saying. And also a lot of your brand pillars are based on this idea around money. Right. And, and how we think about money. And so what are some of the, you think are the limiting beliefs that people have about money specifically when they're growing up?
Yuri (16:53): Yeah. I mean, like I talk about this a lot because our, our audience, our health professionals who almost genetically feel, they should be a martyr in the service of other people. It's so interesting. Yeah. But like, yeah, like I feel bad charging. I'm like, why should you, you're giving people the most precious thing in their life, which is their health, like never feel bad about that. So a big part of my messaging is really helping people stand in their power and not, not to say like making health inaccessible, but it's first and foremost, like you have to fill up your cup, you have to put your mask on before assisting someone else as they stand on airplanes. So I think there's a really, really big part of me that wants to empower health professionals specifically because I think the work that they do that we do is arguably the most important for any human and to never discount that.
(17:43): So that's like a big piece of what we help our clients step into. But I there's just so much, like, I don't know, there's obviously so many hang-ups around money and I think it's based on conditioning and how we were raised and what we were, what we saw. And we're told we've all heard this stuff, right? Money doesn't grow on trees and stuff. But I mean, the thing is, and I shared this from a perspective of, I mean, I lived in my early twenties on the amount of money I could fit in a paper cup on my table. Like that's, that's really like where I was coming from. Like I'm not talking about coming from a place of, I grew up with a ton of money. I mean, our family is like, we did well and my parents did well should say, but you know, I never saved anything.
(18:24): I had jobs when I was younger and I have nothing to show for it. Cause I spent everything. Cause that's probably what I saw from my mom who my parents were divorced. So largely raised me. And it took me a long time to really work through you know how I manage and track money, obviously manage it so I can keep it. But also, you know, how I showed up as kind of my own self-worth in the worlds. You know, when I started off working with clients, one-on-one I thought I was terrible at sales. I feel super awkward about asking for money from people. Cause I thought it was, which is weird and that's something a long time to get through. But I think so didn't get the coaching and guidance that I needed.
(19:03): And that's one of the things that I really am proud of being able to provide now for, for those who work with us, is that guidance and is that mindset around the fact that listen, like the more money you make, the more you can help people. That's the way I see it. And the cool thing about money in the context of business is that money is a score. It's the, the score on the scoreboard. The more money you make it's because you're making more impact in people's lives. Either you're helping more people or you're helping them at a deeper level, how they repay you is through monetary compensation. So it, your business is doing great. It's because you're helping more people. If your business doesn't have a lot of money, well, you're not helping a lot of people. It's really that simple. And I think the, like the underlying assumption with all that is that the business in which you're doing your stuff is helpful to others.
(19:54): We're not talking about being an arms dealer and like ridiculous stuff. Like, I don't know why people think that, you know, businesses are greedy and entrepreneurs like that's just crazy nonsense because for the most part, all, all of us are doing good things on this planet, right? We're creating employments for creating solutions for people, how we get paid is a reflection of the impact we're making. So once you understand that, then it's like great. Like the more money I make, it means that I'm making more of a difference. The more money I have, the more I can contributes. Not necessarily like giving back to charity because I do think entrepreneurship is already paying it forward. I think, you know, that whole overplayed as well, but like give you, you're providing employment. You're providing solutions. You're creating opportunities or solutions that never existed. And like how you get paid is how you get paid. Right? You know, hundreds of thousands of years ago, you get paid in goats. Now we get paid the money. So I think like, it's, I think it's so fundamental to have a good money mindset, because if you have issues with money, you're going to sabotage your success.
Laura (21:03): is there any times that you think that that shows up subconsciously, like you're sabotaging your success because you're making more and more money and you don't even really realize it. It's not like it's not overt. It's not like, oh, this person wants to pay me. And I'm just not going to take the money. Like a lot of times, right. This shows up in the margins or it shows up in the subconscious. So where do you think this actually takes place for somebody who's maybe scaling, they're getting to the seven figure mark, maybe they've crossed it. And now they're going towards the eight figure Mark. Like how does this show up in the day-to-day?
Yuri (21:39): A couple of ways. I mean, there's probably, there's a few of many possible ways. I think for me, I remember when I started my business and I was like, uh, starting to get traction. I was like, man, I don't know how big I want to go with this because then I'm gonna have to pay more tax. Like that was really like a belief that held me back for so long. I'm like, who cares? Like now it's like, if I pay more tax, that's just the way it is. Right. It's just because my business is making more money. So that was one thing. I think another thing too, is the challenge of living in the Western world, which is kind of ironic that I would say that, but the challenge is that life is okay, right? It's like we can get to a good level of income and I'm like, man, things are okay.
