The Balance Experience
The Balance Experience
Collaboration Nation with YouVersionTwo
Sean and Brent bring you their experiences of how they started their personal training business - YouVersionTwo (YV2). From humble beginnings; a coffee date, transcribed their future together. The YV2 brand has had its share of adversity, but resilience has always prevailed and is led by its captains. The boys are dedicated to strength, education and community. Find out how they did it!
Thanks for having us we're excited to be here.
Nick Papastamatis :Today is the balance experience collaboration nation. We have the youversion two boys, Brent Partyka. Sean Clarence welcome.
Brent Partyka :Appreciate your invite.
Jac Simmonds :Your welcome. So I guess collaboration nation. This is gonna be our episode where we, I guess interview people from different industries. So yeah, we've got friends that we work with. Yeah, a lot of the time so it's gonna be really good I guess to learn about the different industries and yeah today we have obviously 2 gym owners, 2 business partners...
Sean Clarence :2 of the heavyweights!
Jac Simmonds :2 of the heavyweights, 2 of the big dogs. Yeah. Welcome, boys. So we might, we might kick off even if you want to just sort of dive into giving us a bit of a rundown about yourselves, and I guess YV2 and you know what your gym is...
Nick Papastamatis :How did you guys meet?
Brent Partyka :Well, that's how the company started. Really. Yeah. So yeah, so I'm Brent. I'm, uh, yeah, I'm one of the owners, co owners of us two. Most important, I'm a dad, a husband. And I also am a business owner. Right. So You Version 2 came from. I was in running a pretty successful personal training business. And there was this guy, I was leasing out of someone else's business at the time. And it was a guy that came in that wouldn't talk to anyone that I think you actually had your own key to the place. It was like a secret spot where we hid the key. So he knew where the key was. He probably paid $10 a week to have access to this place.
Sean Clarence :Oh $12 a week all access ahh.
Brent Partyka :It's worth $10. So to have the key to the palace and at this place, I probably spent the most time there as a trainer, and I took running my business really seriously, I was probably working with about 40 odd people at a time. That's when my PT days of doing 50 person training sessions a week and killing yourself. And relatively new to the game still. But I also came in not to this I wasn't fresh out of school. So I came into the industry in my sort of like, mid 20s. So I had a different, I guess, perspective and life experience to come in. So I actually saw that this is a career. Like I'm not a hobbyist out of, you know, with a little certificate. So I came in differently and I took it really really really seriously and grew a really cool business, but I had so many limitations on you know, exchanging my time for money train, it was cool, and it was enough, but it wasn't sustainable as we know Yeah, history will prove that this back to the guy that was just come in and do his own thing. Also not intrigued by the way it worked out. But literally in this place. It was like this guy's only personally trained properly. And it's actually similar to how I train my clients.
Nick Papastamatis :Mm you're talking about Sean?
Brent Partyka :Yeah, there was a lot of you know, and it was just we had like that, you know, like that gangster nod. Like we didn't even talk, like.
Nick Papastamatis :Gangster nod.
Jac Simmonds :That was the communication for the first couple years wasn't it?
Brent Partyka :And I pretty much think it was saying good rapport building.
Jac Simmonds :Did you plan the business with the nods?
Brent Partyka :Yeah. A little bit more than that. Yeah, there's a few words spoken about it. So there was only one squat rack in the place. And I feel like that was just a case of proving like are you using it? Okay, I'll get it. Okay. That's like that's the only thing the not extended was more answers.
Jac Simmonds :Sean you were training there, you weren't training people there?
Sean Clarence :No I was just trying that and the gym that he's talking about essentially ran small group classes, but they also had a membership where you could just turn up and train anytime you want.
Nick Papastamatis :You weren't coaching there.
Sean Clarence :No, no, I was just training myself there.
Nick Papastamatis :You had your own key to the place?
Sean Clarence :Yeah. This was a different random different era of a different different time.
Nick Papastamatis :Wow that's trust. Yeah, how long ago was this?
Sean Clarence :This was in, about eight years ago. Yeah, I was about 2012. Nearly 9 years ago. Wow.
Jac Simmonds :Cool. Yeah.
Brent Partyka :So I think it's like it. Like I said, there wasn't many much chat. And then eventually it was sort of like a relationship did, did build. And we, I guess, develop that respect for each other. And a bit of understanding a lot of it was unspoken. I came to a point and it was really good timing where I realized that I wanted more. And I think I knew that I wasn't fitting in. That wasn't my environment, like this isn't wasn't where I was going to thrive and actually had the impact that I wanted to have. And it was the next step to get away from just booked out personal training was I need my own space. Yep. I didn't know exactly what that was going to be yet. Around that same time, Sean approached me and he said, I want to have a coffee. Let's consider...
Sean Clarence :First word I said to him, I want to have a coffee.
Brent Partyka :100%.
Jac Simmonds :Were you a bit suss of his intentions at this point? He was nodding at me in the gym and ahh...
Brent Partyka :Sounds terrible. So we went on a coffee date.
Nick Papastamatis :You sure it wasn't a wink in that meeting?
Jac Simmonds :He wasn't doing it while he was doing hip thrusts was he?
Brent Partyka :Right? Yeah, that's right. Post workout banana.
Jac Simmonds :Pre Brett Contreras.
Sean Clarence :We lined up a coffee and we sat down and we actually finally probably verbalize what we both experienced for however long as a year, a year and a half or whatever it was, and decided that, you know, just, here's where I am. Here's where you are. Sean wasn't in the industry at the time he was qualified and ready to go, but doing something else, and we probably spent about six months, I'd say in discussion and planning, verbally this time now as well. Where are we...We made a plan and going okay, cool. Here's what we have in common. Here's what we both want. And a way to express that was to, you know, do what a lot of people eventually did in Castle Hill was like, let's get our own unit. Yeah. And that was the birth of the company.
Nick Papastamatis :Around eight or nine years ago.
Brent Partyka :2013.
Sean Clarence :2013 is when we opened, we were speaking out for about six months. Yeah.
Jac Simmonds :What are you doing before Sean? What was? Well?
Sean Clarence :Yeah, so I spent a lot of my 20s wasting them trying to get a cricket career. Did you Okay, yeah. So I traveled overseas playing cricket quite a bit. Yeah. England, in England. Yeah. Which means I didn't know that held down a full time job. And so it got to the point where I got married.
Brent Partyka :Is cricket a sport Nick?
Nick Papastamatis :The answer is yes.
Jac Simmonds :Much like golf, but moving on.
Nick Papastamatis :Too much cognition in golf.
Sean Clarence :Yeah, so I need to settle down. I got married and it was time to settle down. I had I was just working in a warehouse at the time just for some money, with the intention of trying to find out what it is that actually wanted to do with my life. And I'd spent some of that time when I was overseas coaching people in fitness, I'd run all our fitness camps leading into the season. And throughout the season, and I just got really passionate about, you know, changing up the program and trying to individualize it for different people. And it was just something that I wanted to pursue and then training in the gym for a while I was exposed to some different kinds of training, CrossFit and just sort of starting to boom in our area. And so I sort of got into a bit of CrossFit and yeah, I just had a qualification, I had a passion for it. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I saw theat Brent was running a really good business, but I could also very obviously tell that he was frustrated with where he was and not enjoying the environment and the restrictions that he had. And so that's when I had the coffee with him and said, Look, this is what I'm looking at doing. Would you be interested? It was a bit of a like a hail mary because like I said, we knew each other. Well, like Brent said, Sorry, but we hadn't spoken a lot. But I feel like for whatever reason, you know, the stars aligned on that particular day in a particular period of time. And since then we've been together now for eight years working together. And pretty, pretty good relationship like pretty, like people don't believe about we I don't honestly cannot imagine an argument we've had, I can't think of an argument we thought about even about business. Sometimes we disagree about ideas, but yeah, we just never ever gets heated and we've just been lucky. And I think when you think about business partnerships, like that's pretty incredible. I think for that long period of time, two people that didn't really know each other. And that was my biggest thing at the time. was the truth was like, I was like, who do you talk to about? Because the truth is until you're actually in a business partnership, you cannot give anyone advice in a partnership because everyone around you whether it was my parents or whoever was you know, my fan or supporter at the time is like, but Brent, you're doing this on your own and it's like, why would you split the pie? And it's like, you've actually speak to someone in business and that has growth and has had maybe not even successful partnerships, but learn from partnerships. He's like, here's the pros and cons. Like cool, like, What can't you do? What Aren't you good at? What are your limitations and going bringing a second person on board? Could be the best decision in life. And the best advice I got was from my father in law, and he said to me, Brent, it's gonna go one or two ways, because it's either not gonna work, or it's gonna work. Who gives a fuck go! Yeah, it's true. Here we are years later.
Nick Papastamatis :Hectic, well done, guys. And I think, um, you know, you raised some interesting points about that time, that time 2013 in Sydney, and in particular, out here in the northwest of Sydney, Castle Hill, where like I had just started Balance with Matt this at that time as well. But I was treating a lot of crossfitters before that, so I was probably trading heaps of crossfitters in 2011 to 2013 right. Now at that time, I found that crossfitters were very much about it almost felt like the way I used to describe it to myself is that there were the PT's, the PT's type of sport or the PT sport or PT training, and you'd have all the PT's jumping together. And then like as soon as someone came to me from one of the CrossFit gyms I go what do you do and they're like, I'm a PT and then all this other guy that trains who's also a PT and then that so all the members of pts!
Sean Clarence :You gotta train somewhere, right?
Nick Papastamatis :And then like, like, Oh shit, this is what pts do for training. Makes sense. And the whole thing of CrossFit is like words. It's not necessarily CrossFit just figured out what like it's just, they just packaged up something that already existed really, didn't they?
Sean Clarence :Yeah, I think what attracted me to it and I think it's probably the same for a lot of PTs is a lot of pts get into personal training because they're into health and fitness and they're into Sport. And as you get older, like, it's really, it's not as fun to play sports anymore. Or it's more difficult on your time. And so if you can train and sort of do a sport as well, like, Yeah, what the way they frame the workouts, but competitive, everyone's trying to lift a heavier weight or do a faster time. And so it's a similar sort of thing to sport like it's, it's the sport of fitness, essentially. So that's what got me attracted to it.
Nick Papastamatis :Well, were you doing it as well, Brent?
Sean Clarence :Well, no, it's funny, because like you just essentially described me and this is actually funnily enough how we met. Yeah, because when I got an injury or condition or whatever you call it back in 2011/2012. Yeah. Which is how we came across paths and you ended up treating me, that was the next step for me. Just and you just described it perfectly of like, well, it is a perfect environment for pts because there's this level of competitiveness, and I love that, like it's in your DNA and you either have it or you don't choose comp and CrossFit, back then pitch that. There's a level of vanity. But yeah, like, we're talking about the personal training industry. That is Primo example of it. Yeah. And everyone looked a certain way. And it looked fun as shit. And it was like was like, like, is it polarizing for me. Because I was like, I'm around a group of people. I don't fit in here. Yes. Like, I even cut the sleeves off my shirt that I was made to wear. Yes. Like I started rebelling. I was like, I fit in there because I can either cut my shirt off or like, not even wear fucking shirt and I would fit in there perfectly. And it could be everything could be my training. It could be like that group of people that I want to be around until I then got injured. I was just like, Okay, cool. Like, you can't lift anything over your head and you had all these restrictions on me and your body's fucked. And funnily enough, then ended up on a different tangent in martial arts and stuff. But yeah, I was 100% going down there.
Jac Simmonds :I went through waves as well. Like probably before that it was it was bodybuilding. And then I think people were getting a bit sick of that, that bodybuilding type of training, I guess. And then it was, you know, CrossFit was I guess, 2013 through to whenever.
Nick Papastamatis :Because when it is really not what everyone wants out of training.
Jac Simmonds :No. And I think that's where maybe it's not just about looking good. Maybe the shift from bodybuilding to CrossFit as well for people was actually wanting to have a performance goal rather than a physique goal as well. Yeah, I agree. Which I think people crave a little bit as well. And now you're saying like powerlifting take off as well. And probably definitely probably from a similar sort of, like standpoint, I guess. Yeah.
Nick Papastamatis :Yeah, it was. It's super interesting. I think from that moment, from that time period, where, you know, people like yourselves, found a lot of sort of belonging inside of a CrossFit gym. We then sort of surge like in that time, it went from, you know, getting bored at Fitness first. Fashion first, whatever you call it. I don't know.
Sean Clarence :No hate, man.
Nick Papastamatis :That's not hate. That's a fact. Anyway, and, you know, we sort of went from those types of gym Globo gyms to then these underground...underground gyms that like it's like, Oh, I didn't realize that you could have a set up your own little warehouse and have your gym and but then we started seeing them pop up fucken everywhere.
Jac Simmonds :And conveniently Northwest Sydney has a million warehouses as well so you just see a ton of them pop up and we were just chatting before again like Northern Beaches as well like Brookvale, Dee Why that type of area? Yeah, there's heaps away housewares and paper and pop up. Yeah,
Nick Papastamatis :I think it was fantastic. If to be honest, if it stayed like that would have been awesome. Because that time period in CrossFit was like no other is fun. It was hectic and you had people that knew how to move, people that earned their stripes in the industry, on how on like performing movements safely feeling their body and like knowing what to do, what they shouldn't do, when to get checked, all that sort of stuff. And then we started seeing all these all the people that had no idea. Just love training, to start doing CrossFit, the non personal trainers, the non personal trainers, and then that's those people. That's probably what really took off, I guess...
Brent Partyka :Probably why PTs move well.
Jac Simmonds :Probably what took off group training as well in in New South Wales?
Nick Papastamatis :That guess that was a joke.
Jac Simmonds :Yeah, I guess after, after CrossFit, you see, like heaps of, I guess different group fitness training, things pop up. And...
Sean Clarence :I think what you touched on there, Nick is the reason that we never became a CrossFit gym was because we locked CrossFit and we like to do it. But as soon as we saw a whole stream of people that didn't have much of an athletic background, or weren't willing to put in the work that would take to get the movements correct to then apply yourself to CrossFit. Yeah, as soon as you saw that coming in, we decided that our best way of serving people wasn't to open up a CrossFit gym. Yeah, and was to go down a slightly different path, which is still similar, I guess, to the to the naked eye, if you're looking at what we do and what CrossFit does, but there's some fundamental differences. I think that makes what we do a lot less or a lot more attractive or a lot more easy, I guess, for the average person just to slot in.
Nick Papastamatis :I'd love to get to that point. That's a very good point.
Brent Partyka :Well you, to go into it because you touched on the word earlier when you said the word underground, it just triggered me because I guess we weren't directly influenced by CrossFit. Like we stood on the side and we liked it. But they weren't the first ones to train in warehouses like they were out of garages originally, and it was a nice military background to it. Our biggest influences back then came from guys like underground strength like Zach Even-Esh and guys like the original Elliott Hulse, not the current Elliott Hulse. That's been a transition. But
Jac Simmonds :That's the YouTube dude, isn't it? Yeah.
Brent Partyka :Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And he was. He was awesome...back then. Like, he's was a little bit more garagee. But that whole like, that was a whole warehouse gym market. And we were like, that's where we realized. That's our thing. Like, it's a little bit I think definitely evolved now. But back then it was and had that grit to it. It was it was cool training like we had to learn about marketing properly because like, you know, our website was tie flipping and all this shit, which is very attractive to three quarters of the potential clientele. We learned that the hard way that business lessons later. But yeah, look how fucking cool we are and how dark it is. That would...
Jac Simmonds :A guy with a man bun and a beard just flipping tire.
Nick Papastamatis :It's like I don't know if I want to train there.
Brent Partyka :But but it's set I guess the foundation for us is like, we value hard work. We want to enjoy our training. Our training needs to make sense like it has to have enough science behind it progression behind it to actually get an outcome. Yep. And that's where it all came from. Because we're definitely you know, still to this day. We're not the shiny object boys.
Jac Simmonds :Do you think over the years since of YV2 began your target market has changed a little bit or like the market you initially thought of when you boys first started? Has that about evolved over the years at all?
Sean Clarence :I think I think it's pretty similar. I think the way we actually try and get those people is a lot different now. Yeah. We've had members still now that were with us the first day we opened or within the first year when we used to market the, you know, the pulling of ropes and tires and sleds and gritty, grimy, dark, that sort of stuff. And those people I think, really resonated with it. But although it wasn't maybe a lot of people, and they have stuck with us the whole time. Yeah. And we've just learned that we believe our training works and the way we do things works, but we just have to present it to a... in a different way to get more people to come in and experience it for themselves. Yeah, usually, I find that when people come in experience, it's a lot different to maybe what their impression was, originally, the way we used to market but now they're sort of more in line with what we do. Hmm.
Jac Simmonds :What are your clients now? Like? Who who's coming to the gym now? What's the...
Brent Partyka :Oh, just before that....We didn't know what we didn't know back then. Like, you know, marketing was like, you know, back then Facebook was very different. You know, you tag shit out of people. And yeah, it was more, I guess that organic and we sort of realized like, Oh, we want to train people just like ourselves. Yeah. But we quickly realize like, that's not it's not a business strategy at all. So we, it's something like I think what I'm still trying to not trying to figure out I think business owners should ask themselves, like, Who is your avatar? Who's your niche still, and we ask ourselves that periodically as well. And like I said, it does have to evolve as the, you know, social media platforms change and all these sorts of things. And we were an event the other week, and it was something I actually asked for advice on is like, our niche isn't male, and our niche isn't female. So is it...do we have 2? And the answer is yeah, we, you know, of course, I think you'd say like our clientele, we're going to be on looking between, you know, there's obviously exceptions either side of this thing, but we're looking around, I guess, ages between 25 to 40, which is actually a lot broader than probably a lot of like niche down gyms. Gender doesn't matter. And we guess, and this is why I think getting quick wins for us....and like fast growth isn't easy, and probably not what we want either. But when we get people, they might drink the Kool Aid. And they're like, why we have amazing retention and really good loyalty, because it's like, these are the values that we share in here. It is the methodology, but it is like the values and the kind of people we are in and the relationship we develop, that shits all more important to us now, then.
Nick Papastamatis :That's so good. And it was one thing I'd love to add to that is, you know, I definitely think that I've shifted away and I know Matty has and we definitely have moved away from the idea of who the perfect avatar is. All I care about with patients that come into Balance Health and Performance are ones that seriously just want to improve. Do you seriously want to improve on what your fucking problem is? I don't care how old you are. It's kind of like well, if we she said to me, You share the values if the right values come in. So for example, over at Bondi, we have a different type of population. And, and I would have a lots of patients that are pts that would come in lie on the table. Yeah, they seriously wanted to get better. But instead of actually having a meaningful conversation with me, they'd sit there on their phone. During the treatment session, though not I'm okay that we had like a message or a call, or I need to get this. That's cool. It was the whole fucking time. And eventually, I was like, I ended eventually worked this person out of the business, and they suddenly couldn't get an appointment with me. And yes, I'm sorry. I'm booked out. So yeah, which, you know...
Jac Simmonds :Yeah. How long is your blacklist Nicko?
Nick Papastamatis :It's the whole thing's black! Anyway, so I so I love how I love that like so even though they wanted to get better, they didn't share the right the same value. We didn't connect. So I definitely think that what you said I resonate with a lot. It's not about the age, not necessarily about the gender, or sex or whatever that is, it's more..
Jac Simmonds :It happens organically too like, I think even like, over the years, I was a personal trainer as well. I had this idea of the people I wanted to train and you know, and I just never they would never coming in. And you know, over time you see the the people who you work well with and the ones that you don't, and they're the ones that are generally attracted to you anyway, so it's sort of, I guess it shapes itself organically a little bit over time as a personal trainer and a physio.
Brent Partyka :Yeah, and I think I'll stereotyping as well. I think every personal trainer or most trained athletes, you envision yourself that's it, like you're gonna you know, you're gonna emulate like you said, those guys you saw on YouTube do that in a different way in terms of like constructing our gym and what we wanted but yeah, you do you picture like, I'm going to train athletes and make bad arses. And when I don't get an athlete, I'm just going to train that everyday person like a fucking athlete. And we know that that doesn't necessarily work like it has to be a little bit more refined than that. So yeah, and then and that definitely just has to evolve over time. Like I said, it has to have enough, you know, proof and science behind it that. But I don't think that's what people need ultimately, as well, when we're training you everyday person who just wants like back to probably should have talked about it earlier like you version two. Yeah. What is it? It's like, well, who are you and what do you want to become? Let's answer those questions. That'd be really cool. And that's Well, yeah, that's what let me give you like, yes, yes, exactly. Like, you know, this pod sound like it is because the best thing you did Nick inside his podcast was actually saying the name of the company, right? It's a bit of tongue twister. Yeah, man, people go, Oh, hey, Brent, from you version two and you're doing a sales call or whatever...version youtube. Remember that fucken add that you clicked on. It cost me money. He's like, yeah, that's you want me to spell it out for you.
Nick Papastamatis :Two versions of you.
Brent Partyka :I originally wanted to call it You 2.0. That's a true story. That was going to be useful. What? Not you 2.0 but then like Nike came out with Nike 2.0, it's gonna be a bad idea. Yeah.
Sean Clarence :I thought you meant U2 tha band, that's a bad idea. Yeah, we're gonna get a fucken law suit with that.
Brent Partyka :Especially the way you and I with music in the album's we dropped, U2 we don't stay away.
Nick Papastamatis :Not a fan of U2 guys?
Sean Clarence :Don't mind U2, just they're not playing in the gym but...
Nick Papastamatis :Yeah fair enough but if the band was...nah anyway, don't worry, it was a shit joke. That was I'm gonna I'm gonna...Brent continue.
Sean Clarence :My energy went down. I dropped my bundle.
Nick Papastamatis :So I think yeah like we wanted to go on to like what your version two is like when like when I had started you guys met you guys did the..what was it? The coffee date? The coffee date no the nods, what were the nods called?
Sean Clarence :The gangster nod, real see's real. Yes, yes.
Nick Papastamatis :The winks when he was on the hip thrusts and but then what is you version two?
Brent Partyka :What you should have done was strengthen your back.
Sean Clarence :It would have held my back a lot actually.
Brent Partyka :This is the funniest story because...
Jac Simmonds :Were hip thrusts not around back then?
Brent Partyka :There was it was that Saturday morning. Oh, you want to tell the.
Sean Clarence :You tell it, I was in it. Apple crumble.
Brent Partyka :Remember apple crumble...Saturday mornings there would be some group class on and then they would disappear and go on their way probably to get a muffin and a latte wherever it was. And I just stay around do my training my clients later in the morning. Seany C comes in I don't know if cricket was rained out or whatever was not going on. It was in the squat rack. And it was the most like, okay...
Sean Clarence :Just so you know mate, if cricket's rained out we still got to the ground, so it certainly wasn't cricket day.
Nick Papastamatis :You know what we do there, we play cards. Yeah.
Brent Partyka :Blow the froth off a couple hey. And there was this like, weird, disgusting noise came out of the squat rack, and you know those toys that you have on your dashboard, and you might push the base and slightly normally like a zebra or giraffe and it crumbles down?
Nick Papastamatis :Oh, no.
Brent Partyka :This guy.
Nick Papastamatis :Like an accordion?
Brent Partyka :I don't know what car you were driving. Was it that brown car you were driving back then? Yeah it was parked on th eotehr side of the carpark and he had to...he's like, I'm out. And that was good for him to say 2 words right.
Sean Clarence :I just wanted to let you know why I had left the squat rack out. I'm out, you picked it up for me.
Brent Partyka :Yeah and he just crawled out of the gym never to be seen again. He went into hibernation after that.
Sean Clarence :It was pre Nick too. So it took me about a it took a good 8 to 10 weeks to walk properly.
Brent Partyka :Pre Nick?
Sean Clarence :It would have been 8 days with Nick, but it was 8 weeks. It's funny. I mean that Magic hands. That's why we work with you guys. Because I had some bad experiences with physio and I'm not sure whether it was the right amount of time might have been but it just felt too long and I felt like not much was happening and I wasn't getting better. And then I remember absolutely ruining my hip one day and seeing Nick for the first time walking out almost pain free and singing, fuck that was I was good. Like, it's the best experience I've ever had as well as the whole experience.
Jac Simmonds :It's funny, funny how situations like that just shape people's perception of physio and chiro and things like that and like like coming here with with an idea of what they're gonna get and you know that shocked with what they do. I guess.
Sean Clarence :Well a lot of them probably come from our gym like when you know when someone needs someone from our gym we always recommend here. Oh, I hate physios, I'm like just go. Yeah, make a booking. It's not what you think it's gonna be. It's gonna be fine.
Nick Papastamatis :Yeah, it's funny how that's really refreshing to hear. Thank you.
Brent Partyka :My first memory of you I remember I want to punch you in the face. Yeah, I couldn't handle that first. Our first appointment we call an appointment together. Yeah.
Nick Papastamatis :What happened? it was your shoulder.... was your shoulder.
Brent Partyka :Yeah. And I remember I had a white t-shirt on. And you told me to do something, lift it and rotate a certain way. And you just weren't looking me in the eyes. You were looking at my shoulder and you go, your sleeve moved. Do it again. I tried again, and then the male ego starting to seriously like it was broken back then. I was not in a good space. And then you're just standing there doing that. Give me my shoulder that glare and just kept repeating on your shirt is moving your shirt to me. I can fucken take my shirt off just for you to tell me that I'm doing something wrong.
Jac Simmonds :Did he go somewhere with this or?
Brent Partyka :Healed... fixed me, magic hands. Yeah. Next time around, he goes you've been doing your homework. It's good. It's working. It's getting there.
Jac Simmonds :No more sleeves.
Brent Partyka :Yeah, I still finally.
Nick Papastamatis :It's amazing. It's amazing what people recall versus what I recall. Yeah. And I remember yours being a very tricky case, Brent, where my I had to fight to zero in very much and I don't really remember talking about that fucken sleeve at all.
Jac Simmonds :Sometimes you just get into this like hyper focus. Yes.
Nick Papastamatis :Yeah, it's we like to make the point that I can't help it. Yes, it's Nick version two.
Brent Partyka :Nah I remember it...Am I the only weirdo? Like do you keep your old phones? Oh no. My kids love them playing with them and they were like, Oh, I see the plugs in and see what comes up and you've got like your old messages and your old photos. I still have those rehab videos. Holy shit. Yeah, yeah, I'm doing like some like glute slides.
Sean Clarence :Would have been grainy...grainy back then.
Brent Partyka :It was yeah, yeah, it was good.
Sean Clarence :Holy moly.
Jac Simmonds :On the motorola flip phone or something?
Sean Clarence :Yeah. OG inno8 shoes on white shirt.
Nick Papastamatis :There you go. There was there was there was probably a very pretty stereotypical CrossFit get up from from back then. Probably something fluoro.
Jac Simmonds :I think we just had to go back on your Instagram and have a look Nicko.
Nick Papastamatis :The shirts are a little too tight and and I was way leaner.
Sean Clarence :Oh winner.
Nick Papastamatis :Oh wow shit. I don't even Yeah, sorry I made you feel that way dude but I'm really glad.
Sean Clarence :Well you fixed him so I mean he recommended you to me, its taken a while.
Jac Simmonds :How many years later is this?
Nick Papastamatis :Well this is the first time hearing about it so. IT'S TAKEN ME 8 YEARS TO BUILD UP THE COURAGE TO TELL YOU THAT.
Jac Simmonds :Oh, you still came back so.
Nick Papastamatis :There's no doubt that I've pissed a lot of people off in that in in my in my time probably because I was to be to laser focused I reckon, but anyway.
Sean Clarence :Yeah but I always found with you that sometimes you were very direct but always after a while anyway you build a level of trust going well, Nick knows what he's talking about. He says I need to do this a certain way. That's how I need to do it. And we've always, I've always had great experiences our clients love coming here. So they can't get in with you though haha.
Jac Simmonds :It takes a while to build that and I'm sure it's the same with PTs like you guys is fitness. the fitness industry is full of just like physiotherapy and chiropractic is full of differing opinions and yeah, you know, different views so I guess it takes a while for able to trust what you say.
Sean Clarence :I feel like there's an element of luck, oh I might be out of turn here. But I feel like it's an element of luck too, because I'm sure you would admit that there's some people that you might either get it on first time you see him or you don't quite know how to fix them straightaway. Yeah, never. But, you guys, like when I said like, we had a great experience the first time I saw you, and if I didn't have a great experience, first time I saw you the relationship probably ends, yes. So there is that element of you really helped me that first time and now like, this is where I'm coming, this is where I go now.
Brent Partyka :This happened this morning, right? Mum, I gave her a lift home because I'm a good guy. And she said, Oh, what are you doing today? I said, I'm gonna go do a podcast. And she said where are you doing it at? And I said, I'm going to Nick's. And in her mind straightaway, she's like, Are you hurt? I'm like, no mum I'm not hurt. I'm okay, cool. Every time she's like, where are you going on it? She wouldn't know Balance. I'd say I'm going to Nick's. She's always like, Are you hurt? And she has just got this..she has that stigma and fear around chiropractic. And I feel like the same thing that PTs face, like if you do one OH press your going to get big fucken traps, right? Yeah, or the back squat, you're gonna get... your quads are gonna touch. Mm hmm. And I think that's where, you know, education something we pride as well as is huge.
Nick Papastamatis :What have you found is because, you know, since since when I first met you guys, you know, seven years ago or longer...when I met, obviously I was very direct, as you said, and that's that's the way that I was back then. But my like, obviously, my approach has had to change and if I haven't changed by now, there's something wrong with me. But what have you noticed with a client that you're meeting for the first time for example, and they found you version two, they've you know, they've called you up, but they've come in with an expectation.
Brent Partyka :We'll just stop you there, no one calls anymore, Nick. You call them! Hahaha.
Nick Papastamatis :Oh, I see. Sorry. Sorry. That doesn't ....make a ....that's sales 101. Yeah, it's no one calls anymore? Oh, wow.
Brent Partyka :Let alone answer there phone.
Nick Papastamatis :Is there a conversation Or is it? Is it all text?
Brent Partyka :No, I really I was just having a bit of I was expressing my frustration now. It's like you submitted your number because you wanted our help. Answer your fucking phone. 9 out of 10.
Jac Simmonds :I'm a massive book onlin eperson, if I can avoid talking to someone.
Nick Papastamatis :Really? See I'm on all that the phone call Hey, I just want to have a conversation anyway. Yeah.
Jac Simmonds :Too time consuming.
Nick Papastamatis :That's why you're here anyway. So essentially my question to you is what approach do you find works the best I mean if you if you're going to get someone a result, they're calling they want to figure out what they want to do with their health. They want to get their fitness journey back on track, they want to, you know, they want to get whatever the goal they think they want. What is your approach? Are you direct? Are you friendly? Do you try and build lots of like, friendly rapport? Like what is it that you're trying to achieve first and foremost, when you speak to someone for the first time?
Brent Partyka :Yeah, well. All of the above. And that's why, you know, making jokes about the call. It's so important for us. Because it's a guess it's a, there's there's three things like three people I care about in that, or groups of people I care about us. Like, like you said, and like, you can choose who you work with. Yes, and we want and that's why I love it, like making sure people do fit in with your company. And the industry would be so much radder, if everyone had that approach as like, you know what, you don't need those guys. That's your spot over there. Find your home. So that's the first thing. I want to make sure the client feels the same way about that. And then they go, like I said, rapport, this guy knows what he's talking about. And I actually would want to spend time with him. Because, you know, they haven't seen my beard yet or my tattoos and there's no judgement yet. And I think that's the best time to show like you are. It's not cheesy, like it's difference between being cheesy sleazy, like, stereotypical douchebag on the phone, trying to close someone around is having a great conversation, as it's essentially exactly what we're doing right now. Yeah. Because I think that really shows you care. And I think the third group of people we care about is our clients to go these are these persons worthy of coming in, you're gonna be sharing the space with them. You're going to fit in with this community here something we play off massively. Yeah, it's like we don't want bad eggs. That's one of our rules. Yeah, like, if you don't fit in that's cool we say, hey, look, it's not gonna work out, because that will destroy something that we've spent the last seven or eight years building. Yeah. So yeah, we have a no bad egg policy. So that first phone call is, and like I said before, I touched on it really, really quickly that I actually think it's not it's not impossible, but it is, I find it. It's definitely a challenge now. It's like why you have to keep learning more about marketing to find the right person and speak to them, but also improve sales and up to scratch with what that actually is. And to me, this is my first coaching call. That's all it is. I'm not going to give them all of the answers, but I want them to know this guy knows his shit. This guy truly believes in what he does, and he can understand why problems and how to fix them. So it man like, you know, I've had business coach in the past. Tell me man, your calls are going for too long. You're spending too much, like I've had people...
Nick Papastamatis :How long were your calls going for?
Brent Partyka :Well, just one example. If someone's a referral, something like, you know, like, if you say, Hey, you know, I'm gonna send this guy along and they like they trust you already. Yeah, probably half an hour. Yeah. And that's to make a commitment to come in and you know, do whatever the introduction or onboarding or whatever you want to call it. Yeah. If someone's like, cold off...or coldish off Facebook for example, well, they do a lead ad. Yeah. If it's actually a sale and close, it's probably around 45 to an hour.
Nick Papastamatis :Is that...was that considered too long?
Brent Partyka :Not to me. That is my answer was, that's how long it takes. Because I feel like if there's details, skimped, or you're cutting people off like this, like you said, but you use the word direct earlier. Yeah, that's important too. Because like having that directional authority, whoever has that on that call is going to win about winning or losing, but you get what I mean? Yes. So if you let that person tell you about how they what they need to do, and you didn't like, Cool man, or if you go to anytime, because that's what you already know every fucking answer. So stop wasting my time. But if you actually need help, and we can show you there's a process to do it and I believe that does take time. And you know, just just one example that stands out to me. We have one of our clients right now. He's been with us for a couple of years. And it's probably been in the last, I'd say three to four months that this guy has become a fucking savage, like completely different person. Like, and this is ironically, and he's even probably the most on fire now in the middle of COVID. And we've been locked down for over two like two months.
Nick Papastamatis :What do you mean like in terms of savage?
Brent Partyka :His transformation? Or like his journey.
Nick Papastamatis :Oh as in like, positive.
Brent Partyka :Man, he's scaring people. Like he gets almost like you'll get on one of our zoom calls...Like the other day like one of my Zoom calls we're doing at the moment because we can't do it in person. Everyone just stopped. And I was like, why? And even I was like, holy shit, dude, and everyone just started like clapping him beside him even coach because everyone was like, what's this guy doing? Like yeah, you shaved your head and like you..
Jac Simmonds :He just popped up on the screen. Yeah, and he was just jacked.
Brent Partyka :He cam to train and everyone was like fuck. Yeah, and I think it's epic. And anyway, I wrote him a private messages saying, dude, I remember our first phone call we had, it was about 9:30 because I had to waste my kids went to bed, not willing to get on the phone at 9:30PM with this guy and he Yeah, and he actually answered the phone. He was with his partner at home, and we spent from 9:30 to 10:30. And now this guy's one of our greatest success stories, you can't argue with me the now is not worth it. This fucker has changed his life and like, this is the kind of guy he's not a pro athlete. This is the kind of guy I want to work with.
Nick Papastamatis :Further to that guy's I...Look, I have thoughts on this as well. It's not a it's not an overnight even that hour phone call just isn't enough to get to know your client...no way. Like how long would it everyone's unique so it's gonna range from like, okay, a week for a client who's ready and open and coachable and knows their goals and all that sort of stuff. But how common is that? It's, they're more likely going to come in with some hesitations with they don't trust you yet. They're not going to tell you everything. How long do you it takes for you to really get to know your client?
Sean Clarence :We usually find it takes, you know, somewhere between four and five weeks for them to trust us. Yeah. And then it takes another four or five weeks. So usually two to three months, we can work out whether this is going to work long term. It takes quite a while we, it's, I mean, sometimes I get the bad and the wrong impression when we first start. Sometimes we get the wrong impression. As much as we try and minimize all that. That's just the reality of how it works. But we always give it four weeks now all our introductions are four weeks. And that gives us a chance to see whether they're going to fit in after they've already going through brands so chances are they will but then that actually come in and see that what Brent said on the phone is actually what we're going to deliver. Yeah, it's the environmental process.
Brent Partyka :And the thing is as well like statistically I'd say that that person that's like you know, or happy go lucky and like fuck it I'm in, within the first seven days, yes. How many times have they done that? And how long are they going to be around for? I'm going to say not long, but yeah,.... Usually what we'll aim to do, just to share is like, around the third week, if someone is you know, whether they're a busy family person that also works or runs a business and they're like, I can train three days a week. Yeah, if they've said that and backed it off for three weeks in a row, I'm gonna give them a call and say, hey, look, you have your fourth week coming up. Let's talk about now. What's next? Or I'll use that week. They're always getting a weird... like a call from me...spoiler. So in week three, I said, hey, look, the average one's a two man, like have you overestimated it? Is everything cool? Can we have a better week next week and we will talk about what's next if you can prove this week is actually a worthwhile. Yep. You don't want them to pay a group membership that they use one day a week?!
Nick Papastamatis :It's not the right thing to do on both parts.
Brent Partyka :Normally, they'll go it's either like fuck yeh, of course. I'm like, let's move forward. Yeah, well, hey, this guy's caught me on my shit. A I'm gonna leave or B a might try and turn this around.
Jac Simmonds :That's something you guys probably do really well. That's really cool. The thing I do is like just be real good with follow up people like those touch points, especially early on, because that's how you build trust as you people need to know that you care. Number one, and that comes down in both of our cases to following people up.
Nick Papastamatis :The key point here is that it's not about it is...for me sales is love. Right? So when you're talking about marketing and sales, you'd really all marketing uses just showing someone what they need. And then sales just giving them what they need.
Jac Simmonds :And people can see the bullshit too because obviously like it's everywhere and people will pick it up pretty quickly. And like you said, there's going to be always the douchebag sales guys in personal training world and fitness world and every every industry which has some sales, you know, yeah, and people have dealt with it and they know it and I can see it and when people are genuine that's what they're actually looking for.
Brent Partyka :Yeah, it's funny quick one. I had a...I was about probably half an hour's would call with a guy. He's like, oh man, you've got me. This is like he...like interrupts sort of where we're at as like, it's like I'm in sales and he I just want to say you're fucking good at what you're doing. Oh, cool. I was like, well, that's like off the compliment. Because if he didn't express that you will have hung up 15 minutes ago. Yeah. But he understood and I guess like would argue like, well he probably knows in whatever industry he was in, like, that's what it is. And it's the same thing with, you know, we've all had that experience when we buy cars or whatever, yes, like, I wish once again, and by wish and like I can't control what goes on in the industry. But I know like it's saying we do coaching with our coaches, that every conversation in the gym is no different to a sales call, really, because it's just showing care and love. So and funnily enough, people will actually ask for what they need help with. Whether it's a fucking supplement, or hey, I need an additional program or hey I need to...
Nick Papastamatis :Or my shoulders sore.
Brent Partyka :Or on the alternative they go I need to cut back for a bit. Yeah, that's a great long term....
Jac Simmonds :On that then, like, I guess, do you think with personal training, people who are coming out of these courses, are they even are they well prepared for this? Or can I think I know the answer, but like, I can make like, there's an example when I did my personal training course which is 2010 I came out and I was like fresh faced, 18 year old and I had all these ideas and I had, I had no fucking clue how to how to market anything. And I had to, you know, run this small business within a gym and just had no clue. So do you think? Do you think PTs are well set up for this?
Sean Clarence :Yeah, obviously not the not. But the truth is, I don't know. I don't know that if you go to university and spend more on your education and if along with that you necessarily know what you're doing. As soon as you get out either. I think there's always going to be a period of learning, a period of exposing yourself to the environment, and you know, finding out what it is that you don't know and learning more now, I think for sure that in personal training, in group training, there could be other levels of training and courses to make them more ready. I mean, for sure, when we opened our gym and I'm Brent had a successful gym. But as I was opening our own spaces, a whole heap of new challenges that we had, and they were all business challenges and they weren't coaching people challenges anymore, and we just weren't ready for that. And when we just jumped in the deep end, we found out the hard way oh shit, we got pay tax and Oh, we've got GST and all these things that just just never knew.
Jac Simmonds :What...clients weren't paying cash?
Nick Papastamatis :Is tax an acronym?
Brent Partyka :All you got to do is like, let's be really stereotypical right now. But let's be honest, the average life cycle of a PT, you get your certificates. You don't know how to market properly because athletes: A they don't want to pay you or two they're working someone else that's better than you because you're just a new person with an eight week certificate or a degree but you don't know anything. You have no hands on experience. So you end up training your mom's friend in the park. You didn't factor in that you travel half an hour each way. So your $30 for the hour is actually $15 an hour, because of the 30 minutes travel, so you're not happy because you're not earning enough money. You're not fulfilled because you're not working with people you want to work with. And then when you came out with that certificate, you know base level, maybe nutrition probably not you don't know much like you can probably do the year 8 PE quiz on the case of name these muscles. I haven't named a fucking muscle in eight years with my clients, that's what Nick does.
Nick Papastamatis :The upper dorsimus.
Sean Clarence :There you go. Yeah, say that again? Yeah, look me eye. Um so I think it's a really bad cycle where um, what...this is my opinion, what you're not shown in a course is that the path of a career and that it is business, because you don't know shit when you come in and when you don't know shit The answer is you just take what you can get and you don't have the balls to ask someone to go no this is...I'm actually adding years to your fucking life and it's going to cost you this much money. How does that sound? Well, we wouldn't have right now this low balling shamozzle and shit fight that is currently existing. Yeah. Understanding went up and like I said, That's why I think you know, an example like the positive spin on that. What do we do cool? We have an internship that we run for eight weeks, so unpaid internship that takes eight weeks just to even get on the floor and for us to say, Are you worthy to coach and get in front of a class? Yes. And run a warm up in front classes it's a process and it takes time. And then I don't want to take digs at, like fitness Australia or anything like that and get political about it, but...
Nick Papastamatis :Just do it.It's all good, but sponsored by...
Brent Partyka :Like, you know, like, the box ticking. The, you know, the box ticking of our, you know, update your CECs and have these relationships with insurers is like, no, let's see through all of that. Like, if you're in this career, like part of our company culture is daily growth. It could be podcasting. It could be books, it could be ongoing courses, like we have to like put on the table.
Nick Papastamatis :Daily growth, hectic, love it. That's really good.
Sean Clarence :And the other challenge is not only like business is a massive challenge for new PT. But the other challenge is knowing how to communicate with people. It's really simple to read a program and why it works. But then to communicate to a client. This is why you're doing this and this is how it's gonna work. And this is the benefits. And this is actually how you do it is another complete different set of skills that you don't necessarily get by doing an online course, or you don't even get by just doing a few hours face to face. You get that by just spending time with people and learning. And that's why, Yeah, I agree that that the PT courses could be better. But I also think that to an extent, there's only so much you can do before you just have to get out there and do it yourself anyway. And you just learn the hard way and you make mistakes. I've made heaps of mistakes that people yes, and you just recognize the mistakes and you learn different ways to apply that information. Because all the information that everyone has is all the same. It's just about how you communicate that to somebody else.
Nick Papastamatis :I was about to say this and that you've just said it. And that is none of these conversation has been about how you train them. None of it...doesn't mean anything. Well, what it does, but like at the same time, what it comes down to is identifying whether what you do and provide is what they need.
Jac Simmonds :Because half the battle is just getting them to do it. I mean, and we...we have a shared battle there as well as trying to get people to stick with their rehab. We know what people need, it's just it's just getting to the point where they like can see that's what they need and they're gonna stick with your plan. Yeah, and at the end of the day that doesn't come down to how sets and reps really and rest. It comes to yeah like creating connections,
Sean Clarence :And also like what you said, making sure they comply, like I've noticed with you guys, when I first started, there was a whole heap of stuff that I had to do outside of my appointments. And now when I come in, there's like two things I have to do. Yep. And I assume that is because you've learned that people aren't doing the 10 things I've given them that they're only gonna do, they're gonna do the two most important things. So that's what I'm going to give them. Yeah. And it's much more easy to compliance, the same problem we have. There's a whole heap of things people could be doing, but the truth is, they're not going to do them. Yes. So what are the most important things and that's what we hound. I think there's subtleties but let's like, let's just get the main things ticked off.
Brent Partyka :It opens a big can of worms, right like them for the clients because ironically, they want the they want to be fixed when they walk out this door Nick. Yeah. Our clients want to have abs when they've done their second week. Yeah. They want to be you know, it's just not the reality. Yes. But and when will that become sexy? That's, you know, but I think that needs a standard raise for everyone. But all we can do is for us. So you know, once again, it's part of the core. It's gone. Right? Okay, cool. Like you're currently 30 kilos overweight. You know, you're gonna be cool with that takes us like, you know, 18 to 24 months for you to lose. Yeah, sure. It's got to be 10 years to put it on. Yeah, I'll go there. Yeah, but there's some dickhead promising you that in 60 days.
Nick Papastamatis :Yes.
Brent Partyka :Yeah. So, once again, I can't control that, like it's not regulated. So I definitely think that's a challenge.
Nick Papastamatis :So again, it comes back to a relationship.
Brent Partyka :Hundred percent. And that's where like, like, cool eight years, let's do another eight years. And like, we'll keep spreading that message. We'll keep every coach that comes in, like that's what it is. And the clients that stay longer than that 90 to 120 days with us, that three, four months. They go right, cool. I get it. Yeah, there is something sustainable about fat loss. There is something to do with progression and training getting stronger. Now you get it, huh. And then ironically, what's next? That's what this industry is for us.
Nick Papastamatis :It's almost like that those first those first few months is so like, I have an online coach. And he just helped me through and you know, I like him. Well, if you're listening, Andrew, it's not the only reason why I like you.
Jac Simmonds :You should see this bloke, he is jacked!
Nick Papastamatis :He's jacedk and I want to be like him in two weeks time. My goal is not to be jacked. My goal is just to not die early. And I think I think and be healthy. You know, that's all. But what I really like about him is I don't get hammered for having a shit week. Like if I have a shit week... like I'm fucking busy, like, and tired and stressed. And that's...
Jac Simmonds :That's him.
Sean Clarence :Oh, yeah, he's jacked, he looks like He-man. I think he does
Nick Papastamatis :Is that your like screensaver background? Man. What's going on?
Jac Simmonds :I got that up quick didn't I?
Nick Papastamatis :Yeah, yeah. You know what else went up quick. There anyway, okay, so we've got this on video. Yeah. The thing that I like about he does not hate on me or it doesn't go hard on me if I have a shit week. He does he have four shit weeks in a row. And then he's like, hey. And you know, it makes a deal with me. And he's like, you can't train. You can't play PlayStation, which is my complete switch off for me. Unless you train in the morning.
Jac Simmonds :And it's policed by his wife.
Nick Papastamatis :... and it's policed by my wife. Has to be done. Shit. Okay. And my wife's strong Polish woman. She will fuck me up.
Brent Partyka :They will.
Nick Papastamatis :So, yeah, so it's like, um, yeah, so that works for me. And but that and I've been training him for like, over a year now. And for me that is like, it's that soft. It's that relationship building that I have where he's not hammering me, that works for me. That works for me to some some weeks. It's convenient for me, and it's comforting to me. But then other weeks, it's like, well, now he's holding me to account Oh, shit, okay. I'm not being healthy. I need to get back to it.
Sean Clarence :So it's great point and I think a lot of people will appreciate that. We that's certainly our approach. We don't expect 100% compliance from everyone at all times. And we're happy to give people to cuddle when they need it. And I've had a bad week. And our job then is to just try and how can we get you back on track? How can we take the small steps? Yes, I to get you back to, as opposed to some of the stuff that we say that we and this is part of the relationship at the start, is to get their trust because some people come to us with experiences of joining this fat loss challenge. And I didn't lose the weight. But he told me because I didn't follow the diet and I was on 1200 calories, and I couldn't do it. And I had these bad experience of like trainers being on them saying, Oh, you didn't do this, you didn't do this, you didn't do this. That's what you get. And we're trying to create a different sort of mindset for him saying, well look this, this is long term, this is not three weeks, this is not for it's not even six months, this is a lifetime process. And if we just get these habits in and you comply to them, most of the time, it just becomes your normal and then having a lapse is not normal. That's what we're aiming to.
Brent Partyka :I think the I love the hug analogy as well. And that's comes down to like I think it's one of the best skills a coach can have or a mentor or whatever you want to call our role...perosnal trainer, to just understanding and having that being empathetic enough to go. Like you said, Nick, it's been four weeks he slapped you. Yeah. Or time to go dude like, this happened with business like I imagine there's been some high stress and acknowledge and then you go fuck he doesn't care. He just gave you a hug, a virtual one during Corona. Yeah, but you know just talking about coaching as well I think this is...
Jac Simmonds :He would break you if he hugged you!
Sean Clarence :I don't know if it would be a nice hug. It'd be a big tough hug wouldn't it?
Brent Partyka :Yeah, he'd have to wax that shit first. Haha he's going to listen. I'm sorry.
Nick Papastamatis :They don't know you, Andrew. Like I do.
Brent Partyka :Don't look at me when you say that.....but I don't see why it's any different to like, we're all married. Yeah, yeah. Cool. All right. So it's not any different to that. Like it's it's not always you know, rainbows and lollipops. There has to be honesty. It has to be that and why like if you're being challenged They probably want more from you, or you probably aren't showing up you how you possibly can and they know your potential. I think a good relationship has that. It's exactly the same as like so a coaching relationship. Personal Training is like going this is your, you know, I'm walking side by side with you. A lot of trainers, I think jump in front and like follow me. Like, Hey, man, this guy's 30 kilos overweight. You're that fucking personal trainer, that Johnny Crossfit that we talked about earlier, stereotyped. Yeah. Like, no, like, we're gonna walk you side by side. We're like, we're really honest with that.
Nick Papastamatis :This journey is about them.
Brent Partyka :100%.
Nick Papastamatis :It's not about you guys. Yeah.
Brent Partyka :But we're also real people and to share our story. I said at the start, I'm a dad. I'm a husband. Like, cool. So you're not going to give me I don't have time. Because like, man, I've got three kids at home. My wife runs a business. So when you actually can have that, and I think rather than being like that, put ourselves up on a pedestal. It's like the last thing we do. Yeah. So we walk side by side with people. And funnily enough, like you said that the example I gave the guy earlier, it's fucking life changing Yes. Or if it's not, it's not accepted like that. It's just temporary and then...
Jac Simmonds :You don't know when to give people a kick in the ass I guess and, Nick, you've certainly picked times to give me a kick in the ass as my mentor and and it's, you know, you pick and choose when you do it and you do it at the right time, I guess. And that's super important in personal training and sort of anything. Definitely just picking and choosing those times it is it is very easy to, if especially early on in your career if to, to choose the time that's convenient to you when it's in front of mind for you. Rather than be like, well, this is what you need to hear, is now the right time, and some of those confrontational, because that can be that can feel confrontational. And some of the longest, you know, I've had clients for 10 years. It's like, well, half the time I've had a moment of truth with this client. Or I've had a life or relationship changing conversation one day where literally, like all all switches were flicked. It was like, but it was a tough conversation. And it was like I don't know if I can continue with you, if this is still the approach you're gonna have. And then at that moment, they're like, Holy Fuck, I'm being a shit client. And, and it's not that about calling people out on being shit, sometimes it's being a shit chiropractor. I haven't put 100% effort into or I haven't given you what you really need it even though you've asked for it. Heaps of moments like that. But it becomes, it's more about what the right time is to have that conversation. Sometimes you can't choose it. Sometimes it has to happen in the middle of a class, sometimes it has to happen at the end of a class.
Brent Partyka :Yeah, I love that and actually, feel free to steal this if you're a PT... this honestly, as soon as the icebreaker phone call is one of the first things I'll ask someone. Nick, why is it a good time for you to actually now make this priority? Yeah, answer that question for me and you're in.
Nick Papastamatis :Yeah, it can't be like it can't be some shit reason. There's got to be a pain point.
Brent Partyka :But it puts them off, there like holy shit. Did he just ask me that question...who is this guy? Like I just clicked on the Facebook ad. Yeah, it's like if you didn't but then again, if you answer honesty, like honestly...
Jac Simmonds :They're just used to being asked superficial questions.
Nick Papastamatis :It's like why... like why now...why now.
Brent Partyka :And back to the trainings not important...oh what type of classes do you do? You know, do you do HIIT? No we don't like..
Nick Papastamatis :What is what is what is the need you're trying to satisfy because you're looking in the mirror and you're like fuck this or is and that is a deeply disturbing place to be of looking at yourself in the mirror and just being like, am I proud of myself, and like it really does dive deeper. So as soon as the client feels like that you understand them or have had an a chance or like a process to try and understand them. The relationship goes to a next level but you got to be authentic. That's what I love about you guys.
Sean Clarence :I'm actually really proud of of that that we do because throughout the whole time we've had really great periods in business and really tough periods in business but we've never sold out on that we've always just remained. This is what we do. This is who we are, and if that takes longer to build, so be it. Yeah, so be it. Because we're not gonna we're not gonna be any different.
Nick Papastamatis :Yeah, that's awesome, guys. It's been beautiful to have you guys on we've known you for many years I couldn't be more grateful to be working with you guys to have you in this room right now, since 2013 even though to start with you want to punch me in the face and that's okay.
Brent Partyka :Like that was a bad shoulder too. You should have known.
Jac Simmonds :I hope that y'all would have been your first impression Sean this morning when you met me for the first time.
Nick Papastamatis :I want to punch him in the face.
Sean Clarence :He's just got one of those faces.
Nick Papastamatis :So um, so maybe maybe what we can finish off on is Where are you guys? How can people find you? And who should reach out to you?
Brent Partyka :Our marketing man go for it.
Sean Clarence :Oh, we're in we're in Castle Hill and Dural. You can find us youversiontwo.com.au you but it's version two all spelt out with words. Instagram, Facebook, same thing, who should contact us? If you're someone who's just looking for your tribe looking for somewhere to belong, we're a huge community based gym. We're not going to give you a quick fix. We're going to take you on a journey of becoming, you know, the person that you've always wanted to be. I think that's what we specialize in. It's not a fast process. But you certainly won't find people in the area that care more about you and your results than us.
Nick Papastamatis :What's awesome love. Thank you guys. And I know there's also something else that you do, as well Sean that around your brother.
Sean Clarence :Yep. So I also run an event called The Neverest challenge. This is our second year this year so my brother had cystic fibrosis, and sadly passed away last year, while I was training for my first event, which is quite a tough time, obviously very tough time. But this is the event was a huge success. We raise money that goes directly to research to find a cure, which is where he wanted the money. Go is our second year doing it this year the event is going to be epic. It's going to be super epic 24 hour event. And yeah, you can look us up on Instagram or Facebook, Neverest... one word. And you cannot throw some money our way. It goes directly to research for cystic fibrosis cure. So..
Nick Papastamatis :One of our very first employees had cystic fibrosis. And she's was, she was really managing it super well. She was in her 30s. And, you know, she's still training still, all good, and she's probably getting closer to 40 now.
Sean Clarence :Yeah, so my brother was 40 when he passed away, but you know, I mean, people always say with that with a life limiting condition like that, like, Did you expect it? And I just think because of his attitude and his personality sounds like the girl you're talking about the same thing. You just don't expect it because I always seem okay, and they're always doing pretty well. He was on the list to get a lung transplant as well. So we're very excited about him getting that transplant because the research and the studies have said that usually get 10 to 15 really high quality years after that. But unfortunately while it's on the list, yeah, he had an accident in hospital and he passed away so tough.
Nick Papastamatis :Well, we'll stay tuned for your event. And good luck with your training. Thank you Brent. I'm glad things are going well for you since your shoulder. It's been a pleasure having you guys on thank you so much.
Jac Simmonds :Thanks, boys.
Sean Clarence :Thanks.