An Entrepreneurs Journey From Heartache to Health | Dominic Gerleve

An Entrepreneurs Journey From Heartache to Health

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Sadaf Beynon: Welcome to Push To Be More Podcast. We're back with another incredible conversation from the archive. This time with Dominic Gerleve from Vision Captured. Dominic shares his journey from a challenging upbringing to becoming a leader in the fitness industry. He talks about the humbling lessons from his early career, the importance of health and fitness, and how his father's heart attack was a pivotal moment that fueled his passion for helping others.

Dominic's story is all about resilience, learning from failures and the power of persistence. His insights remind us that true success comes from dedication and consistent effort. So whether you're interested in fitness, entrepreneurship, or just looking for some motivation to make positive changes in your life, Dominic's wisdom is both inspiring and practical.[00:01:00]

Let's listen in.

Matt Edmundson: Welcome to Push To Be More with me, your host, Matt Edmundson. Now, this is a show that talks about the stuff that makes life work. And to help us do just that today, I am chatting with Dominic Gerleve from Vision captured about where he has had to push through, what he does to recharge his batteries, and well, what does more mean for Dominic?

We're going to get into all of that. And of course, the show notes and transcript from our conversation will be available on Amazon. Dominic Gerleve's passion for health and fitness was ignited by his father's heart attack, fueled, and that fueled his rise as a leader in the industry, co founding Vision Captured with his wife, Maggie Gerleve.

They utilize their combined expertise to make fitness accessible online. For all their collaborate, the clock, I put my teeth back in their collaboration has driven outstanding growth in client and employee [00:02:00] retention, revenue and profit margins, establishing vision captured as a fitness industry trailblazer, which is not an easy thing to do in an industry that is insanely Competitive, I have no doubt.

So Dominic, you're going to have to tell us your secret sauce, man. But, uh, before we get into that, welcome to the show. Great to have you. Thanks for joining me.

Dominic Gerleve: Yeah. Thanks for having me on. I super appreciate it. It's, uh, this is a first time for me, so it's cool.

Matt Edmundson: I know it's cool, man. It's going to, I'm looking forward to this conversation.

I always enjoy talking to people about fitness, mainly because I have questions.

Yeah, well, hopefully. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So the way we're going to start out the show, Dominic, is I, I like to just ask a sort of an icebreaker question. Um, and the question that I've been asking folks, because I just find the answers really fascinating is this, right? Let's just tie into our show sponsor, Aurion Media.

They help folks like your good self set up and run their own podcast. So if you did have your own [00:03:00] podcast and you could interview anybody. Uh, on your podcast, someone from the past or someone from the present, but someone that's had a big influence on your life, who would you interview and why?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, someone who's had a big influence on my life.

Um, you know, I, I, I feel kind of, uh, uh, cheesy and old saying this. Um, somebody who had a really big impact in my life was, uh, Tony Robbins. This is a weird thing, but he had a, uh, a very similar story to me growing up. Um, and so when I heard his story and then just the fact that he was, I mean, I think he's like 10 or Yeah, maybe 20 years older than me.

Um, but he's like 20 years older than me. And I'm like, man, this guy was able to, you know, get through all that. And then, you know, he's made a living from just talking, right? Like he just talks to people. Um, you know, that [00:04:00] if he can do it, I can do it. Right. And that was kind of my, uh, that was, that was kind of, that was where my, uh, my thought process came from was, and then I listened to his work and all that kind of stuff.

And it was, uh, gave me a good frame for the world.

Matt Edmundson: That's a, it's an interesting statement, Tony Robbins, because obviously, I say obviously most people in the world will know who he is and will have heard something that he has done. But the, the, what's, what's driving my curiosity at the moment is you said you share similar stories.

In what ways are your stories similar?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, if you listen to his beginning work, he had a rather challenged upbringing as a child. So he lived in this. Kind of abusive family if you will and that was like the first for him That was like the first 17 years of his life And for me, it was more like the first six years of my life where I had this, you know, incredibly you know, [00:05:00] challenging like family where you know the the bar of soap and getting your mouth washed out with a bar of soap That was that was a normal and like you were you were like, that's fine I'd rather have the bar soap than what could come

You know

Dominic Gerleve: And so when he's talking about all this stuff, I'm like, man, you know, like there's a, there's somebody who faced the same adversity to me, and rather than using it as an excuse, he used it as a reason to do better.

Matt Edmundson: That's really powerful, isn't it? And so have you, have you tried, have, I guess, maybe, The right question to ask you here is, how have you utilised that then in your own life? How have you utilised, how has, how has, how have you turned this around to your advantage?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, I think when you go through some crazy stuff, right, like when you have like a challenging outcome or circumstance that you're in.

And you realize, [00:06:00] like one, you can get through almost anything, right? Like, you know, going without food for a little while. That's nothing. Um, you know, whatever lashes you're going to take, whether it's physically or metaphorically, that those are all temporary. And so you start having this idea, like, you're like, well, this is a moment, right?

And so if you fail, right, it didn't hurt any more than anything that could have happened to you when you were a kid.

Dominic Gerleve: don't know if that makes sense. There's this different Yeah, contrast.

Matt Edmundson: It's a really interesting way to look at it, isn't it? And I, I, I mean, my, my story, my background story is very different to what you're sharing.

I think I grew up in a very different environment. And so I can't, I can't honestly relate. Uh, I, I can relate in the sense of I've heard stories and talked to a lot of people, but personally it's, it's a different, um, upbringing. What I can relate to though, is the fact that there was a different [00:07:00] type of adversity maybe when we were growing up.

And this attitude which says, um, this is a moment. I use the word season. I love this word moment that you use, that this is a moment, that this too shall pass this too, and we can get through this. Um, and actually if we're smart about this, not only can we get through it, we can emerge out. out of it slightly stronger.

And that attitude, that resilience, I think is one of those things that, um, you just, you can't learn at school, right? It's, it's one of those things, it's sort of almost born out of life experience. I don't know if you found that.

Dominic Gerleve: Yeah, no, no, it definitely is because It's like Marcus Aurelius quote, right, like, the impediment to action, um, becomes like the path, right?

I can't, I'm gonna mess up his quote, the impediment becomes, um, yeah, I'd have to look it up. But anyways, but that quote from Marcus Aurelius, to me, is really, truly powerful. [00:08:00] Something where you're like, yeah, it's just an obstacle. It's in my way. I've got to figure out a way to get around it now, right? Like that's what life threw at me.

So now it's my job to navigate that situation and make it better.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah.

Dominic Gerleve: Um,

Matt Edmundson: yeah. So is that, is that, is that attitude then or that, that system of belief? Um, is that what fueled you into the fitness industry? Because it sounds, it sounds like that attitude is almost a great place to start to become like a PT.

Do you know what I mean? It's that kind of, uh, it's that, it's that kind of way of thinking, which I think you, you see well in sports athletes. Um, so was, was, was sport, was fitness a natural sort of progression for you?

Dominic Gerleve: Yeah, it was, I mean, I feel like it kind of was. I had these two older brothers that were stepbrothers, um, that were part of my, my dad's, like, when my dad married my stepmom, these two came into our life, like, when I, [00:09:00] anyways, but without getting into the details of that, but I had these two older brothers, and they're amazing people, just generally, they're really, really super accomplished.

One was like a nuclear engineer, um, you know, the other one, yeah, he's, you know, he, you know, Played, uh, you know, volleyball, like JV volleyball. Uh, so he was on the junior Olympics team for volleyball. So just to give you an idea of like the caliber of athlete and intelligence that these two had. So these two older brothers who were just awesome by any measurable account.

And so I was just, I had these two people that I wanted to be like, and I was a run, right? Like, so I'm, I'm 12, one of them, 16, the other one's, you know, 14. And, you know, I'd see him in there doing pushups and stuff. And so I wanted to, you know, be like them. Um, so I started doing pushups when I was 12. And, um, so I just got to, I think I just got to jump on it.

And then about the time that I started getting into the pushups and sit ups and all that, um, shortly thereafter, that's when my dad finally had his heart attack, I shouldn't say finally, but, um, that's when [00:10:00] he had his heart attack and then it became understanding, like, Hey, how can health. You know, making sure that this type of stuff doesn't happen.

And then that was, cause I mean, it was, it was pretty gnarly. I can still remember I was writing a paper about Leonardo da Vinci and I hear my step mom like scream up the stairs, you know, call 911. And I'm like, what are you talking about? She's like, your dad's having a heart attack. No, he's not. Right. And then she was like, no, I'm serious.

And so I run, call 9 1 1, right? And then we're waiting there to what feels like hours, right? It was probably 20 minutes. Um, you know, ambulance shows up. My old man's still trying to like drive to the frickin, um, hospital. Cause he's just, you know, he's a stubborn old Italian guy. What do you expect? But, you know, he's trying to drive and, you know, seeing him get carted off and then just the neighbors are worried.

Everyone's hugging me. Like, I'm like, What is going on, right? But that, um, [00:11:00] feeling of like unknown, right? Like you don't know what's going to happen. That was, that was my actual biological parent at that moment. And the other biological parent wasn't fit, might be a way of saying that to like be a parent at that moment.

Um, and so it was like, dude, if this doesn't go well, like Cindy could bail on me. Um, so that was like one of those moments in life where you're like, well, I guess whatever happens, happens. You know, like, mm-hmm. Couldn't be worse than what was, what was before. Um, and if it is, wow. You know?

Mm-Hmm.

Matt Edmundson: Wow. So what was, what was the outcome for your father?

Dominic Gerleve: So my dad, my dad is alive. He's still alive to this day. So what ended up happening, he had a, a, a real big blockage. Um, they were able to remove the blockage. He was on medication for a long time, and then he got pretty serious about losing weight. So he went from. I mean, I want to say that he was close to 250 and 5'9 right, um, down to, I mean, I've seen him as low as [00:12:00] 175, but I mean, he floats closer to like 185, 190 now.

Um, so he's a, he's a healthy weight for his height and age and all of that now.

Matt Edmundson: And so he's healthy wise, um, is he, is he sort of, he's got these sort of three sons then. Uh, you know, um, Who all seem pretty well accomplished and fairly fit and reasonable. Has he, has he, has he sort of taken that on board, has he become fit himself?

Dominic Gerleve: No, you know, that was, uh, I think that's one of the great tragedies of, uh, my career was that I was never able to get my, uh, my stepmom, my, my mother or my father to be able to, uh, exercise like on a regular, any type of regular, like type of thing. And those were the people I truly wanted to convince to be able to, to get into it.

And so that was kind of what, and this is a weird segue, but that was kind of what led me into it. The sales avenue of what we do, which is what led me to be able to have a company, um, in this field [00:13:00] was just being able to convince people that their health is worth it. Like, Hey, you're worth making this change.

And the little bit of pain that you're going to go through throughout this process is, it's going to be worth it. And you're going to start to love it and look forward to it. And that was the hard, that's one of the harder things to get people to, um, really buy into, cause they're just, you know, So adverse to that little bit of discomfort.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah. And is that still the, is that still the case today that people still struggle to buy into that with all the knowledge that we have?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, not as much. Uh, a lot of people, it's It's, it's, now it's the doubt, um, that's what, like, when I'm, when I'm, when I'm selling somebody, like, if I'm sitting down with Mrs.

Jones, right, just an everyday average person, um, what I get is a lot of doubt from that individual, where they're worried, am I going to be able to stick to the food, am I going to be able to actually come to

the gym,

Dominic Gerleve: it's, it's those types of things, that level of [00:14:00] accountability and, and getting them to commit to themselves, um, that seems to be the bigger issue nowadays.

Matt Edmundson: That's really interesting, is that doubt. And you also mentioned the word accountability, which is where I guess you guys do well as a company, right? You provide that accountability. Is that the right, is that the right word? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you provide that, the accountability to people. Um, but I'm kind of curious, right, because a lot of entrepreneurs, business leaders, etc.

listen to the show. Um, and I guess my own journey in the world of business tells me that maybe 5 percent of this niche I would classify as healthy. Uh, you know, the other 95 percent I think want to be healthy but are too busy, um, doing other things to, to work on their health. How do you How do you overcome that doubt or how do you overcome that inertia to start, do you think?

[00:15:00] Um,

Dominic Gerleve: like how do I get people to do it or how do I personally do it? No, no,

Matt Edmundson: how do you get people to do it? Because I'm just thinking of the listeners to the show and some of them will be going, I really need to work on my health and it's kind of like, what's the conversation you have that's going to help them maybe kickstart their own health journey?

I'm curious.

Dominic Gerleve: So what I would always tell people, and this is what I always tell people I'm coaching in sales is that it's not anything that you're ever going to say. It's nothing you're going to say to Mrs. Jones that's going to get her to change. It's what she's going to say, right? It's what he is going to say.

And so this will sound like a silly question, but it's the simplest question. Why do you want to make this change? That was, that's one of the biggest questions after I get them to detail what it is that they want out of working out and getting in shape. Right? Like, you want to go from two 20 down to one, you know, 50, 1 60, whatever the number is.

Um, you want your body fat from 30% down to 18%. Right? Depending on guy girl. [00:16:00] Right. Once they, they kind of paint this picture for me. The next question is why? Um, right. And I'll be honest with you, most of the people, you get a lot of fluff. I want to feel better. I want to look better. I want to do this, right?

Okay. Those are all great reasons. Why do you want to feel better? Right? Like, and how do you mean that you want to feel better? Right? And so when Mrs. Jones is sitting there and she's talking to me about the, the why behind it, she's like, well, you know, when I get home, I'm tired and I don't have energy to play with my kids.

You're like, okay, so you want to be able to be, you know, to spend time with your children and, and what's, what's the activity that always comes up, right. And they'll be able to go to a time where they severely disappointed their child. Right. And it might be like that they were playing soccer, right. And then their kid, you know, she just got tired and wanted to sit down.

And then the kids, mommy, mommy, play, play, play. Um, And that will be the [00:17:00] thing, like, they realize, like, wow, if I don't take care of my health, I'm not taking care of my health. And then that connection, once you, once you lock onto that connection, um, it, it really, I mean, everything else is, it, it sells itself from there.

Because that person, that driving force for them as an individual, all of a sudden they, it takes over and they're like, you know what, I can do this.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's incredible, isn't it? And it's, I like the simplicity of that question, why? And, and, and actually it's true in business, it's true in fitness, it's true in most things, isn't it?

You have to, you have to drill down. I love that word you used, Dominic, fluff. You have to sort of drill down, don't you? Sort of pass the fluff into the real reasons as to why you're going to go through this season of pain, uncomfortableness, whatever it is, doing something a little bit different. Um, to try and achieve something which is going to shape your life.

You've, you've got to have that captivating vision and why, um, if you want to be successful. One of the things that I wanted to ask you about, actually, I was really [00:18:00] intrigued by this because I spent a little bit of time managing some health clubs for a few years. Managing may be a loose sense of the word.

Maybe overseeing would probably be a slightly better phrase. Um, One of the things that I noticed was that every January, people would come into the health clubs and they would say, Oh, I want to join the health club. And you go, well, why do you want to join the health club? And nine times out of ten, um, the, the women who came in would join the health club to lose weight.

And the guys would join the health club to lose weight, but to bulk up at the same time, right? So I want to, I want to get a bit more ripped and I want to lose weight. Okay. And it got to the stage where I noticed that there was a trend that whenever people gave that as an excuse for joining their health club, um, three months later, the women who joined to lose weight, most of them would be heavier than what they were when they first joined.

Uh, and it was this really interesting phenomenon that we saw and I, I started to drill down a little bit. Uh, I'm not going to lie. I started [00:19:00] to ask lots of questions cause I wanted to understand what was going on. And so, um, one of the things, uh, Uh, was, uh, that came up was Treat Mentality, the, I've just done half an hour on the treadmill so I can now have this.

very calorific, uh, piece of food because I've earned it, uh, which always tickled me. Um, but the main cause I thought was, and I'd love your opinion on this. The main cause was that people didn't focus on health. They focused on losing weight and actually they didn't address the issues that caused them to be overweight in the first place.

Um, and so the, the, the, You know, they started to feel hungrier, their habits were bad, so they just did more of what they knew, except for now they were doing treadmills. And so somehow, in the midst of all of this, they, they sort of got heavier. Was that a peculiar phenomenon, um, uh, and, or is this something that you also see?

Dominic Gerleve: Oh, no, no, no, that, that's, yeah, that, that's still alive and well in the fitness industry. Um, [00:20:00] so

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, as long as it's not just me being crazy.

Dominic Gerleve: Right. No, no, no. Yeah. Live and well. Um, we, we call it the January rush, right? Um, I mean, I can tell you mathematically, a health club typically does 40 to 60 percent of its business, um, in the first like three months of the year.

Um, and of those people, that 90 day drop off that you're talking about, um, yeah. I bet you if you were to look at it, if you were able to truly analyze those numbers, you would notice that those people dropped off within the first 27 days of joining. Um, and so it would just be this like massive drop off of people.

quitting and and you're right though it's it's it's about lifestyle it's about um finding like one of the things that we do to help people to to create that belief within themselves that they can because they can't right like it's not it's not like i'm trying to sell them some kind of Dream, right?

Um, is rather than trying to shift their entire life, because that's what everyone [00:21:00] wants to do. They want to do this massive shift from, you know, I've been unhealthy for 40 years of my life, or I've lived an unhealthy life for 40 years, and now I want to do this tomorrow. Um, and that's just not, that's not the way it works, right?

Like it wasn't how it worked for me, right? And I started, I started doing push ups and lunges and squats and stuff in my room when I was 12. Um, I didn't start eating healthy until I was in my twenties. Just to give some contrast

there,

Dominic Gerleve: right? Like, um, but the, uh, what ended up happening, what ends up happening is like part of our process is to coach them through how that's going to work.

And so it's, Hey, can you start keeping a food journal for us and just writing down what you eat throughout? Yeah, I can do that. Okay, perfect. And Hey, would you be open, open to changing one thing a week about the way that you're eating? Yeah, I would totally do that. Okay, well, great. Like we'll start with breakfast and we'll work our way down.

Right? Or we'll start with, uh, dinner and we'll work our way up. And they're like, [00:22:00] okay, okay, yeah, I can do it. And so it's, it's creating the change, like we're, they're the frog in the boiling water, right? Rather than just trying to just be radical about it, just ease them into that process and, and I say love them throughout it.

That's what I always tell everybody. It's just love them throughout it. Right? No, and just let them know like, hey, you're gonna mess up. It just is what it is. This is new.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's, that's really cool. That's, that's awesome. So just explain, um, uh, to me, Dominic, you, you, your sort of, your journey from, from doing pushups to 12, your dad has, how old, how old were you when your dad had this heart attack?

Dominic Gerleve: I was 12 when he had it. He was 42.

Matt Edmundson: So, oh, wow. Okay. So, uh, that's, that's young. Uh, so he has this heart attack when he's 42. You're 12 years old. And here you are now, you've got this sort of fit. What's, what was that journey, um, for you just in a nutshell? [00:23:00]

Dominic Gerleve: Um, it started on accident.

Matt Edmundson: Most good journeys do, to be fair.

Dominic Gerleve: So I had this teacher, and man, I hope he's watching, um, there's no way, maybe, his name was Mr. Matty, and he was a math teacher, he taught algebra, and so he sent us to do a book report, or a report, or it was a written report in our math class, which is weird, um, and was like, how does math intersect with what you want to do?

At least over the next three years, right? Like whatever you're going to do when you're in college. Okay. Um, so I thought, Hey, I'll be a personal trainer while I'm in college and, you know, go off to be a doctor, um, or a lawyer, right? Those, those were my two careers. And I was more towards the doctor cause I, I love biology and all that.

And I Honestly, I'm not super good at chemistry. So, but the, uh, so I had to go and do these interviews. And while I was doing these interviews with these [00:24:00] personal trainers and gym managers and trying to figure out how numbers mattered to these people, um, one of the people who was a higher up within the district was like, Hey, do you want to do, you want to do this, right?

Like, this is what you are stepping into. And I was like, yeah. And he's like, yeah. Let me get you a job interview. Um, and I couldn't tell you the guy's name, but he got me a job interview with my very first boss, Matt Yellen. And I started, I was 17 and, and, um, I would say that they indoctrinated me into the fitness industry.

That's, that's the joke that we always say.

Matt Edmundson: Wow.

Dominic Gerleve: So the

Matt Edmundson: teacher's name was, sorry, Matty, Mr. Matty.

Dominic Gerleve: Um, yeah, Mr. Matty was his, uh, that's his first name, but I don't know what his last name was. But yeah, Mr. Matty. He looked like the lead singer from, uh, Nickelback.

Matt Edmundson: Okay, well I've got a really clear picture in my head on this guy now. But it's just intriguing me that, I mean, in [00:25:00] England, I don't know what it was like when you were growing up, but if you had a maths teacher called Mr. Matty, that would have caused much hilarity, there would have been room for many jokes.

And then ironically, the first boss you have is also called Matt. Um, so I'm, I'm spotting the theme. I'm spotting the trend, Dominic. So you, you get sort of engrossed in the, the fitness industry. At what point do you set up your own business? Was it from day one as a PT where you sort of self employed or was it a bit more nuanced than that?

Dominic Gerleve: No, it was more nuanced. So I, uh, I started when I was 17. I work for what's called a third party personal training company. And so a third party, they basically subcontract with, uh, gyms. And so they take over their personal training department, um, and they effectively pay the gym rent. And then, uh, And the gym just lets them operate and they have this agreement, right?

We give you our new members, you guys make sure you don't treat them like crap, right? And keep paying us money. Um, so that's it, right? Um, so I worked [00:26:00] for this company and that was where I learned how to do sales. Um, so I had to get my own clients and all that. And so I sat in with my manager who happened to be really great at sales.

Um, and so Mike, just to sit in there, he's doing this process and eventually I saw it so often that I started to memorize it. And so I had it memorized in, I don't know, a week or two, and I started taking my own appointments. Um, and I didn't sell them as regularly as, as he did, but then, you know, eventually I got better and better and better and, you know, did more and more study and, um, that was how it went.

But I, I didn't start my own company. I was, I was 21 when I joined forces to be an owner of a company, uh, and that was with this guy who I work with, uh, named Nick Trosko. So he had left, uh, the company that we work for, um, together and then he, uh, started a company called Life, uh, Life Wellness Consulting.

And, [00:27:00] uh, he and I worked together, uh, him, Mike, and this other guy, TJ. Um, and we expanded it and I was, I was the guy who was doing like the sales training, um, teaching managers how to sell and then, um, helping refine the recruiting process for trainers. And then Nick was just this, This brain of a person where he could, his understanding of exercise is just far beyond anybody's.

So the way that he could coach these trains better, I still, I mean, to this day, I'm not, I'm not him. You know what I mean? Like he's, I've only met one other person who's better than him. And it's this guy who lives out in Virginia named Chris. But yeah, it just outrageous. Anyways, but that was kind of like how we melded together.

Um, and then TJ and Mike allowed me and Nick to stay away from the business stuff. I'm not, um, there's a certain point within a contractual negotiation where I lose my patience and I'm [00:28:00] like, look, Like, it's in paper, it's in writing, it is what it is, like, we're not doing anything different, right? Like, because everyone always wants to get the angle on you, and it's like, I'm trying to make this as fair as possible.

So that, that, um, that layers, those layers that were put up was a kind of a perfect setup for me, um, in the very beginning. That ended up, uh, ending in disaster, but that's okay.

Matt Edmundson: Why did it end up in disaster?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, I didn't have good paperwork in place, Uh, so when push came to shove, there was, uh, like money got tight, we lost some locations, um, and then I was, I was effectively forced out of the business, um, due to, I mean, the business's survival, in fairness to my partners, um, due to their survival, but at the end of the day, um, it was, it was still upsetting, um, and it set me back for a good, a good deal of time.[00:29:00]

Um, and then I ended up actually, but it, it led me on kind of the journey that I'm on today now, um, but it was just a five year track of, you know, Really getting my confidence back, um, as an individual, cause I just, I had, I was making all this money. I was young. I was too young to make all that money, honestly.

Yeah.

Dominic Gerleve: Oh, but yeah, I was making all this money. I was doing really well. And I thought I was, you know, I thought it was untouchable. Um, and that arrogance, um, I look at it truly. I look at it as a blessing now. Um, that failure was something that humbled me enough to realize I didn't know. Um, and it was. To this day, I still look back at it.

I can still take lessons from it and apply them today.

Matt Edmundson: Wow. And that's actually, I mean, that's the, the, the sign of a good, a good leader, I think, is they can look at the failures and learn from it, um, and, you know, move and adapt. You can, you can either spend your whole life wishing it didn't happen or you can spend the rest of your [00:30:00] life going, I'm going to learn from that and make sure that I don't do that again, you know, and, and turn this into a positive outcome.

Uh, so it sounds great, you know, so what's the company that you've got now, Vision Captured, what does that do?

Dominic Gerleve: So we also do third party personal training. Um, I, we're going to, we're, we're in the process of switching though, to being more of a, uh, uh, I guess an in home training service at this point for the time being as we get through this next, uh, economic cycle.

Um, so, as we're doing that, so we're concentrated, we live, like, the area that we live in is a great area, and, uh, so we'll provide, uh, In home training for, you know, I mean, whomever, whoever, you know, is able to, to burden that, um, and then, uh, from there, though, what I'm looking for, so I'm kind of laying low, I, I want to actually start to open up gyms, um, [00:31:00] in smaller towns, almost like, uh, Walmart, if you, if you remember, um, I'm trying to remember the CEO's, the original CEO's name, but the founder of Walmart,

Matt Edmundson: Sam, what's his, uh, yeah, I know who you mean, Dan Walton.

Um,

Dominic Gerleve: but yeah, he, uh, but yeah, just going into small towns and, um, and, and servicing those people and, and being able to bring in, um, some stud trainers in there and, and, uh, um, hopefully change the, the culture within that town and make it more of a health conscious town. Cause I think in a smaller town, you're able to contribute more in the sense of how much you give.

So if you give something to every single school, you might only give out, you you know, four or five thousand dollars, but the impact is you've affected everybody in that town.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah.

Dominic Gerleve: You know, so it's, it's, it's, it's a different thing. So like now everyone knows you and it's like, well, hey, it's cool to go to the gym.

And then, so you're able to change the culture within that like little baby area. [00:32:00] Um, yeah, and then it should bleed through. That's my theory.

Matt Edmundson: Ah, this is fascinating. And have you found then that, um, I mean, I know with COVID, a lot of gyms closed here in the UK, and I know it's true in the States as well, you know, a lot of gyms closed down.

Um, is there, is the demand for gyms now starting to grow again, uh, in the States? And is, is that why you're sort of thinking of opening gyms in small town? Do you see the market is sort of returning back to that?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, yeah. Yeah, I felt like. I mean, I felt like gyms popped off back here in the States, at least, um, right when the COVID, um, uh, restrictions were dropped, um, people were, were anxious to get back into the gym.

They wanted to work out. Um, you had a lot of people who were unmasked, um, in the States that you could, you know, like where it wasn't like you were going to get a bunch of flack for it. Um, and so you had a lot of people who were unmasked, uh, like when I was in North Carolina, um, would be an example of that.

And, [00:33:00] uh, You know, they were just eager. They want, they wanted to be fit. They wanted that interaction with another person. Um, and they were excited to be there. So it was, it was, it was kind of, honestly, like that, that comeback was kind of a glorious time. Like you were like, wow, this is, this is beautiful.

That's so many people want to be back in here and being healthy. Right. Cause it was taken away from them. And now they're like, I want this right. And they're hugging for me as, as an exercise, that gets me, that gets me juiced.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I, I love gym culture and it's, it's one of those where, um, a few years, a few years ago, I actually talked to a few people about whether or not I opened a gym.

It's totally diverse to what I do now. Um, but just because I love the community of the gym, um, and just the camaraderie of it, which I think is quite nice if you can capture that, right. If you can get people to take out their headphones and talk to one another and work out together, it surely, it ends up usually being a bit better.

Um, [00:34:00] so, but I, what do you do, uh, Dominic, what's your strategy for sort of recharging your batteries? I mean, you've got this company, which helps obviously thousands of others. Um, but, but what about you? What do you do?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, I, you know, exercise is still very therapeutic for me as an individual. So that's part of like my daily thing.

So some form of exercise. Um, and then I, you know, I, I, I go to church. Um, so going to church, you know, you, you, I don't, I don't know if you go to church, but if, You know, when you're at church, you know, you're singing and I happen to go to a good church here in Fairhope. So, you know, they're singing it, you know, there's a lot of good energy there.

Um, and the posture there's great. And so he, you know, he's always got a good message. Um, it's never super divisive. And so it's just, it refreshes your cup. And I also do some extreme stuff though. Um, if I'm feeling uber low, right. And nothing's working, sometimes I'll go and do something like kind of [00:35:00] dangerous.

You know, I'll, uh, skydive or I'll bungee jump, you know.

Matt Edmundson: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Uh, that is a little bit extreme, a little bit too extreme for me, Dominic. I'm not gonna lie. Maybe not my son, actually. He's, um, he's, he's, my son's 18. He's into his fitness. Maybe he's, I mean, he's more into his fitness than I am. Um, in fact, I'll tell you a story.

My, I might've told this before on the podcast, but, um, My son Zach, uh, he's recently left to go to college and, um, he, during lockdown, we have a gym at the house. One of the best investments I ever made was I built this sort of gym in our garage and so he was in there like literally every day. The man is ripped and strong.

And so, um, Me being his dad was a mixture of both proud, because good on you son, but also I might be slightly competitive. So I'm like, I can't let him beat me. This is just wrong on so many levels. And so I'm in the gym and I'm, uh, my, I, my, my bench press was not [00:36:00] particularly good. And Zach was lifting, what was he lifting, 120, 130 kgs on his bench.

And I'm like, I was like 90. And so. I was in there and I was building it and finally, um, Dominic, uh, my proud moment, I've just turned 50 years old, but I've just lifted my heaviest bench press ever. I did 105 kgs the other day, so small victory for this old man. And um, I sent, I sent the, I sent a text message to Zach saying, um, I've just, I've just lifted this weight.

Uh, and he sent me a message back saying, Oh, well done dad for lifting the weights that I warm up with.

Yeah, I was like, thanks for that. But he, um, he's, he's now wanting over summer to go get his skydiving license to become a skydiving instructor and all that sort of stuff. He feels alive jumping out of planes, which is great, you know? And so I get what you put in there. I love church. I love the energy of church.

Uh, [00:37:00] I, I, I try not to destroy that energy by singing too loudly myself. You know, sorry,

Dominic Gerleve: I said, I'm with you on this. I, I was, my, my wife's, uh, father was a music minister and he didn't believe in tone deafness, right? And then when he met me, he was like, no, you might be the one person dude, who is actually tone

Matt Edmundson: deaf.

Dominic Gerleve: Thanks, David.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah. You are the one person that is never going to be able to sing well, uh, and it, it, the angels weep when you sing and not for the right reasons, right? So that's, that's always been the joke in our house, uh, when, uh, when I sing. So yeah. So yeah. I mean, when you say you exercise daily, what?

Um, what sort of things do you do? Because again, exercise is such a wide berth, isn't it? If people listening to the show think, oh, that means I've got to go on a treadmill for half an hour a day, and that does, that does [00:38:00] not fill me with joy. And I'm personally, I hate running. So, um, what kind of things, uh, seem to work for you as, as an exercise?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, so my, yeah, so that's a really broad word. I agree with you. Um, but today, for example, I did yoga. Uh, so I did an hour of yoga. Um, I, you know, and, and that helps me get started for the day, right? Like if, if, but I don't necessarily want to lift weights every single day of the week and do cardio every single day of the week.

So having that yoga session, um, in between and intermittently, um, that helps and then weight training. I probably do weight training three to four days a week. And then on the yoga days, more often than not, I do, instead of walking on the treadmill, I do a rower. And that's a pretty common thing. Or I'll do the Stairmaster.

But a lot of it's just finding ways. To use, I think a lot of people, because they're so pressed for time, um, they [00:39:00] have such an issue spending 30 minutes going and working out, or even an hour, whatever the number is, right, and so I use, and this is something I took from Tony, um, net time, um, so no extra time is what he, what, what he calls it, but I'll listen to something educational during that time.

Um, so this year I had this goal that I wanted to, I wanted to read or, or take in the entire Bible, right? So I, I threw my headphones in and every single workout I was listening to the Bible and while I was done with that, and I think it was, it took me, it's a 96 hour book. Um, and I think it's like three months, uh, to finish.

So like, but I was able, I, you know, I powered through it and then not in a bad way, but just, you know, I was able to just to get through it and was like, wow, taking in all this information. But I do that with anything. I mean, I'll do it with, um, you know, when I was teaching sales a lot, um, and the information, or I wanted a refresh in it, um, I'd listen to, you know, How to Win Friends and Influence People, or The Obstacle is the Way, um, [00:40:00] you know, books like that.

And so, it, it wasn't just about working out in the physical sense. It was also the mental exercise that was going on there where I was, I'm, I'm listening to something that's going to empower me and strengthen me for my day. And so it truly is like a, uh, a morning of getting going and I don't have to use the music to, to get jacked up, you know, listening to like heavy rock or something, um, I can just be focused in on my book and, and just start rocking and rolling, if that makes sense.

But it makes the exercise. That, that form of whatever I'm doing, that much more meaningful to me.

Matt Edmundson: That's a really powerful point. I think they call it habit stacking, don't they? Where you join two different habits together. So, um, if you're a big fan of watching a certain series on Netflix, well, why not put that on whilst you're on a bike or something like that, you know, the gym and it's, and you can stack these two things together.

So it's not, it's not all, all bad. And actually you start to then look forward to, to some of these things. Um, No, I'm a big fan of that. [00:41:00] Like you, I, I tend to listen to stuff while I'm in the gym, uh, podcasts or series or, do you know what I mean, books, whatever it is. And we, we have those on in there and it's great.

It's a great time to learn as well as a great time to collapse on the floor in a big heap at the end of the sessions. Um, what's, uh, what does more look like for you, Dominic? Where, where's, I mean, you've, you've talked a bit about building gyms in small towns, but what does more look like for you guys over the next few

years?

Dominic Gerleve: I think after, like I said, after this, I'm a little confused on this economic cycle, because I would have thought it would have already come by now with, um, with the yield curves inverted and everything that's going on there. Um, I would have assumed that here in the States, we would have started to see a little bit of a drawdown, um, based on that, not to get too, um, into the weeds there, but, uh, So, I mean, I hate saying this, I, I, I'm buying time, um, and so, but still being able to serve in the way that I [00:42:00] like to be able to serve, which is just being, and, and, in this case, I get to be a little bit more hands on, because I'm actually going to take on some clients, um, instead of just talking to people, which is nice, um, So anyways, but there's that, uh, but after that, as those opportunities start to, um, pop up where the commercial real estate is a little bit more reasonable, um, and they're not asking like 30 a square foot for it in, you know, an area that doesn't warrant that, um, I, uh, I'll make a move on it then and it's more just I to me It's more of a business decision in the sense that that's a fixed cost and you can't get rid of that cost No matter what.

So if I if I sign a five year lease at you know, 30 a square foot or 50 a square foot And all of a sudden we have a little bit of a downturn

I might

Dominic Gerleve: have you know dialed in those numbers where it has to be that we're always You know, performing at, you know, double A levels if

you

Dominic Gerleve: want [00:43:00] to call. So, um, so that's, I think that's where the growth looks like.

And then, um, throughout that time, part of the reason I wanted to get more hands on with the clients was I wanted more of a streamlined process in developing trainers. Trainers aren't, a lot of the people that are coming through in, uh, for, as personal trainers nowadays, aren't the guys that started working out when they were 12 and 15 years old and worked out for 5, 10 years, um, and then all of a sudden got their cert.

It's like someone who started working out, A year ago. Yeah. Got certified and then they do, but so they don't have at the, their, their depth of knowledge, right? Yeah. It's just, it's just not there. Um, and so they only know one journey. Right. And it's whatever their journey was. So if they went on a weight loss thing, well that's what they know.

Um, and if they went on a bulking up thing, that's what they know. Yeah. And so. [00:44:00] To be able to diversify that level of knowledge within that group of people, it's going to take someone who had to go through that same journey, but then reassociate with what it's like to do the most basic form of this business, which is the people.

Matt Edmundson: I like that, the most basic form of this business is people, which is totally true and, and gaining the trust of the people and helping them achieve their goals, right? Um, what's your, I'm curious, uh, what's your favorite fitness app?

Dominic Gerleve: Favorite fitness app. Um,

I think because I started without any fitness apps, um, I, um, I don't use any. I, to be quite honest with you, I don't use any fitness apps whatsoever, um, I track almost nothing.

Matt Edmundson: I'm not that biohacker wear the, the, the bands, you don't put everything into your phone?

Dominic Gerleve: Bunch of beads on, you know, I don't know, I don't even know why I [00:45:00] wear beads.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, they don't kind of give you the feedback that you maybe would help, uh, would expect from an iPhone. That's really interesting though. I mean, is that, have you never been tempted by it? You're just like, ah, this can't be bothered. Never needed it.

Dominic Gerleve: Um, my wife wears that, like, she has an Apple watch and she tracks all of her stuff and she's very, you know, meticulous with all that.

And my whole thing is, is, um, I do all the work up front. So like when I eat. I know exactly how many calories I'm going to get for that week. When I work out, I know the exact caloric burn that's going to happen. So like I've, I've done all the math, um, beforehand. And so I'm not, I'm, I love routine. Me personally, right?

Like, so routine makes me feel comfortable. I like to wake up at the same time. My, I play with my kid at five, right? Like I have a routine. And when you throw me out of that, I'm like, so like for me to be regimented is, uh, It's [00:46:00] honestly, it's, it's, it makes my life easier. So adding in another piece of like tracking something I already know, I'm like,

Matt Edmundson: Because

Dominic Gerleve: I see so many people stress about it, like, I didn't, I didn't do my exercise ring today.

And I'm like, so go do it.

Right?

Dominic Gerleve: Like, just like, get up, go, go work out. Right. You haven't worked out yet. Go work out.

Yeah.

Dominic Gerleve: You don't have to sit, sit here with me. Right. Like I'm, so that's, um, do you have a favorite fitness app though? I feel, I feel like I'm, I'm, I'm, I mean, I have other buddies who are in the industry who use them, but I'm just, Not that guy, I guess.

Matt Edmundson: No, I'm the same as you. I use, uh, I mean, I do use more apps than you, Dominic, but it sounds like that's not, that's not tricky. I use, um, an app called WOD Connect, which connects me to the gym here in Liverpool. Um, and so Matt, who's the head of the gym, puts the workouts on there so I can do them at home, which is great because then I don't have to think [00:47:00] about them, which I, I really like.

Um, and I have an app, I'm just looking at it now, called Calorie Counter. So I know that personally, if I track the food that I eat, I always eat better than if I don't track it. Um, it's a, you know, I, my brain, I think, switches off to half the things that I eat sometimes. And so if I'm really intentional about putting everything in there, I mean, not crazy, you know, I'm not like weighing everything.

I'm just like, that's a medium piece of chicken. That'll be about that. Um, my weight tends to do better. And so they're the two that I use, um, but I'm not fastidious about it. I have to be honest with you. I find a good old pen and paper works really well for me.

Dominic Gerleve: Yeah. Yeah. You'll laugh. I still have a legal pad.

Matt Edmundson: Old school indeed, old school is sometimes the best school. Um, that's cool, man. Listen, it's time to the, it's the time of the show where we're going to do the question box. [00:48:00] The question box is, uh, where I pick out a card deck of questions. Uh, we're going to flick through the card deck. You're going to tell me when, I'm going to stop, and then we're just going to ask whatever random question is on that card.

All right. Okay, you have to tell me stop. Yeah,

stop

Matt Edmundson: right there. Okay, cool. So that's a great question. And I think, Dominic, I kind of know the answer. If you, or maybe, maybe I don't know the answer. If you had to write a book, what would it be about?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, I've had several ideas for books. Um, one of the ideas for a book I had, and this is the very first book that came to mind, um, it was the very first book I ever thought about writing, and I've tried to write it, um, and I just don't know if I should, should say some of the things, but I called it Fraud Fitness.

Um, [00:49:00] fraud. Um.

Okay.

Dominic Gerleve: Everyone will sit down with me and be like, you guys are just so healthy and, and perfect with your food and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And you guys live all these, like, very healthy lifestyles. And as someone who grew up in the fitness industry, um, I can tell you that those people, um, us people, um, we're not like that.

Like, there, there's so many guys that are out, you know, partying, um. There's, you know, there's drugs within that scene. There's a lot of bad eating within that scene. And I'm not talking performance enhancing drugs. I'm talking about like, you

know,

Dominic Gerleve: detriment to your health type of drugs. Um, and people don't realize that these people are the people who you see and you're idolizing as these, you know, You know, perfect specimens, um, and representations of health are very, very flawed people, um, and I almost think that if they realize that, like, it's really just this, like, constant, like them bumping themselves, like, hey, I gotta stop doing this, right?

Your [00:50:00] vice may be food and you can't put down the ice cream. You don't know that this guy, you know, goes home and drinks, you know, three vodkas and cranberries every night,

right.

Dominic Gerleve: Or, you know, has to do whatever he has to do to, he or she has to do to be able to get in the right headspace to go to sleep. Um, and that was, I wanted to kind of shine a light on how human the people that, that people are admiring, I guess, in, in almost too, too high of a level.

Um, You know, give them some insight to that. That was, that was, that was the very first book I ever wanted to write.

Matt Edmundson: Wow. So, Fraud Fitness, I think is, uh, it's a really interesting concept because you can take that to every, everything, can't you? I, I really struggle when people idolize, um, certain celebrities and you think, they're not a role model for my kids.

You know, and, uh, we, we, we just need to stop naming airports after some people, you know, and it's, uh, I, I'm, [00:51:00] I'm with you on that. I think, I think there's some really interesting things to, to put in that, uh, into that book. So if you ever write it, let me know. I'll, I'll buy a copy because that, that just sounds really fascinating.

Um, you know, it's a bit like, I suppose, it's a bit like, you know, the beauty industry. Every photograph that they show you of somebody using their cream has been photoshopped. So it's not real. It's not authentic in some way, and it's producing a, a narrative that is unhealthy for our kids to try and attain, or even for our adults, to be fair, you just, you can't attain it.

You can't ever achieve it because it's not real, it's photoshopped. And so I think. That idea of showing that, that level of fraud is actually quite healthy for a lot of people just to go, okay, this, what, what they're trying to portray over here is not real. It's, it's very Instagram, but it's not real life.

I'm okay.

Dominic Gerleve: I wish people understood, um, like when [00:52:00] you're, when you're doing a photo shoot, right, like for fitness. You, you dehydrate yourself, right? Mm-Hmm. Like, I'm, I'm dropping my water. Anytime I've ever done a shoot or something like that, I'm dropping my water and I'm dehydrated in the moment that I'm doing this shoot.

Right? Like when you see a, a bodybuilder step on stage. Um, any of them, right, any, at any level, they are dehydrated when they're stepping on stage and so even though they look perfect in that moment, they are the closest to death that they've been in their entire life, right, like.

Matt Edmundson: It's such a, it's true, it's so true and it's such a fascinating way of thinking about it.

Oh, Dominic, listen, just getting warmed up as always in my conversations and time is against us. How do people reach you? How do they connect with you? How do they find out more about Vision Captured if they want to know more about that? What's the best way to do that?

Dominic Gerleve: Um, go to, uh, so if, you know, if gym owners, you [00:53:00] know, whether you're in the UK, wherever, you know, anywhere in Europe, anywhere in the United States, if you guys, you know, are looking to, you know, Get more out of your personal training department, right?

Go to www. visioncapturedlife. com and, um, uh, you know, you guys can check out the website, um, or just send me an email. It's, it's dgirlieve at, uh, visioncapturedlife. com and, uh, You know, just request some information and we can sit down and we can talk about, you know, what's going on with your gym, um, you know, where, where's everything at, right?

Where are your metrics at and figure out where we're at there and then, um, we can put together a plan. And so whether that means it's, um, right now I'd say I'm only taking on consulting clients. I, I do not want to go in as a third party. Um, it always ends messy. I'll be honest with you. Um, so the, uh. I'd rather go in as a consultant, uh, start as a friend and end as a friend, um, but anyways, but if they, uh, if they're interested in that, send me an email, um, we'll [00:54:00] get together and we'll, we'll chat it up about what's going on with your gym and then, um, if it, if it seems advantageous, then we can put our heads together and, and get to work on, uh, fixing some stuff there.

As far as people that are looking for, you know, if they're looking for some help from some of our team members, same thing, send an email. Um, I don't mind actually handling a lot of the incoming stuff. Um, just cause, uh, our onboarding people are, tend to be pretty busy. I mean, they're, They're busy on board.

Um, there's that. Um, so right now I'm picking up the extra slack as, as we're going along.

Matt Edmundson: Mm hmm. Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, there, reach out to Dominic. Well, of course, uh, put Dominic's info in the show notes, which you can get along for free, along with a transcript from today's conversation at pushtobemore.

com. Dominic, listen, thank you so much for joining us, man. Really enjoyed the conversation. Great to meet you. Uh, great to get inspired about fitness and just go and do it, work out, an incredible story. And so, yeah, thank you for [00:55:00] all you're doing and trying to bring health to a whole bunch of people. And thanks for joining us today.

Dominic Gerleve: Yeah, man. Thanks for having me on. It was, it was great meeting you and, and getting to learn a little bit about you. Hopefully we'll be able to chat again.

Matt Edmundson: Absolutely, absolutely. So what a great conversation. Thanks again to Dominic for joining me today. So that's it from me. That's it from Dominic. Thank you so much for joining us.

Have a fantastic week, wherever you are in the world. I'll see you next time. Bye for now.