Overcoming Work Addiction and Remaining a Successful Entrepreneur with Chalene Johnson

12 Dec 2023 · 1 h 1 min

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The Jasmine Star Show: Episode Summary

Episode Title

Overcoming Work Addiction and Remaining a Successful Entrepreneur with Chalene Johnson

Episode Overview In this episode, Jasmine Star is joined by Chalene Johnson, a renowned entrepreneur, fitness expert, and author. The discussion revolves around Chalene's personal journey, her experiences with work addiction, and the lessons learned from overcoming challenges both personally and professionally.

Key Themes and Takeaways

Introduction to Chalene Johnson

  • Chalene shares her background, including her journey from flipping cars as a teenager to becoming a fitness mogul.
  • She emphasizes her life mantra: “let's figure out a way,” which she learned from her father.

Work Addiction and Value

  • Chalene discusses her struggle with work addiction and how it intertwined with her self-worth, making her feel valued only when making money.
  • She recounts discovering her husband's gambling addiction, which led them both to therapy and a realization of their respective addictions.

Entrepreneurial Beginnings

  • Chalene's first entrepreneurial venture started in high school, flipping cars, which taught her about negotiation and business.
  • She highlights the importance of seeing patterns and solving problems as key factors in her business success.

Transition to Fitness Industry

  • Inspired by a mentor's advice, she focused on the fitness industry, identifying opportunities in a saturated market.
  • Chalene’s unique approach involved creating fitness classes that were engaging and relatable, leading to her success in the fitness realm.

Importance of Learning and Mentorship

  • Chalene stresses the value of hiring the best legal and business advisors, which is crucial for any entrepreneur.
  • She warns against trying to do everything alone, emphasizing the need to invest in others to avoid burnout.

Significant Moments in Chalene’s Journey

  • Chalene's success peaked with a famous fitness infomercial and her realization that her business could thrive even if she wasn’t directly involved in every aspect.
  • She went through a phase of grief after selling her company, akin to losing a part of herself, but eventually found a new direction.

Predictions for the Future

  • Chalene predicts a resurgence of long-form content as audiences seek deeper connection and quality over quick consumption.
  • She foresees a shift in the creator economy, with an increasing demand for businesses that cater to the need for assistance in navigating the complexities of digital marketing.

Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

  • Chalene encourages young entrepreneurs to avoid the “do-it-yourself” mentality and to seek help from those who have already succeeded in their fields.
  • The importance of letting go of ego to achieve greater success is emphasized.

Connecting with Chalene Johnson

  • Listeners are encouraged to connect with Chalene through her podcasts: [Build Your Tribe](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-your-tribe-grow-your-business-with-social-media/id910990031) and [The Chalene Show](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chalene-show-diet-fitness-life-balance/id911042029).
  • Chalene is active on social media, particularly Instagram [@chalenejohnson](https://www.instagram.com/chalenejohnson/), where she shares insights into her life and business.

Conclusion The episode offers a rich exploration of Chalene Johnson’s journey as an entrepreneur, her struggles with work addiction, and the invaluable lessons she has learned along the way. Listeners are inspired to embrace their unique paths while recognizing the importance of community, support, and authenticity in their own entrepreneurial journeys.

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This summary encapsulates the essence of the episode, highlighting Chalene's experiences and wisdom as they relate to entrepreneurship, mental health, and personal growth.

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Transcript

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0:00Ten years ago, I made the decision to build my personal brand that was elevated, yet approachable, and reflected who I was, not just what I did. I created my website with ShowIt because it's true drag and drop freedom so you can easily build and update your site. Plus, their real human support team, game changer. Want to try it for yourself? Head to jasminestar.com forward slash show it for a 14-day free trial and first month free when you subscribe.

0:41Welcome to the Jasmine Star Show. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're wearing a hat, please hold it. Hold on to your socks. We are about to bring the fire because the woman who is so generously sitting at this table, curated and co-hosted by the ever amazing Lori Harder, if you are just watching as a new episode or tuning in on audio, Lori helped aggregate the most incredible, brilliant, amazing entrepreneurs and humans on the planet. Shaleen Johnson is no exception. Chalene, welcome to the Jasmine Star Show. Thank you. It was fun. I didn't know it was aggregated. We aggregated this together and I didn't know that your hair was going to be so on point.

1:16I mean, it's called the wolf cut. I learned I did it myself after watching a TikTok. Why? I was going to say I need to find you first. I'm a closet hairstyle. I don't think you're going to give me the wolf cut. I will. I love cutting hair. Okay, I'll be careful what I say because I'll be ready for it soon. And I always say you can always buy more. This is true. This is true. 100 % true. Okay, like I said, hold on to your hats if you're wearing them. I want to start off with this. I was reading your story on your website, and I wanted to read it if that's okay. You said, in fourth grade, I told my dad I wanted a pair of roller skates.

1:49He responded, fun. Let's sit down and figure out how much they cost and how you could find ways to earn money. The message was that when we wanted something, we should create a plan, follow through, and make it a reality. So, number one, did you get the roller skates? I did. Two, I really want to tap there because that was a principle that is clearly manifested itself in your life. So let's go back to the roller skates. Like describe that. Let's go back to that version of Shaleen. Yeah. I was really for I always say I had parent privilege in that they didn't have money, but they had incredibly powerful, strong money mindsets, especially my dad.

2:25You know, he grew up in Detroit and everyone in his family worked in the factory and he was the first entrepreneur. And so even though he was figuring out how to be an entrepreneur, made a lot of mistakes, had a lot of bankruptcies, there was always this, we can make more. We can make more. Like if you want something, even as a kid, anything we wanted, I never heard things like money grows on trees or we can't afford that or we're in bankruptcy. I would just hear, well, let's figure out a way. And that's kind of been my mantra. So that was the earliest I remember thinking how proud I was that I found a way to make the money to buy those skates and that I found a way to pay my way through college.

3:06And it became to me money is energy, you know, and so it's like, oh, I'll find a way to get more. So we're both Midwest Michigan girls. Yeah. And, you know, even though that idea was there and that's such an incredible thing to have your parents like share with you and instill that belief. I feel like especially for what you've done in your lifetime, what was a belief that you had to break that was really, really deep growing up? Love this. This is super deep. Also very related. I had to break the belief that I am valuable because I make money for people and I can make money. Yeah, that was my value.

3:49So when my, I was probably like in sixth grade, so this is just a few years later, my parents had a catastrophe in their business happen and they had all of their assets set on fire, they believe by a competitor. And they had no insurance, no business insurance at the time. And so I recall my dad, again, a great learning lesson. He's going to teach me about money. And he said, you know, he sat me down in his office and he handed me a blue bank books with my, apparently I had a statement of how much money I had in my bank. And he said, I'm gonna teach you today how your money can make you money.

4:26So we're gonna be fine. Your mom and I are gonna be okay, but we're gonna borrow the money you have in your account. And when we pay you back, we're gonna pay you back more. And this is called interest. So it was for him a financial lesson, but I'm in sixth grade. And it wasn't until I did therapy later that I, the message I internalized was, you're in sixth grade and you're saving the family. I don't know how much money they borrowed. It could have been$50. I have no idea. Right. I still don't know. But I internalized, this is your value. This makes you a hero. This makes you a savior. This is why you're important in this family.

5:03This is why you're important in the world. And it just kept snowballing. Like I, when I first started working with Beachbody, I remember learning that they were in a really tough spot financially, that they had just laid off a huge group of people. What year is this? Sorry. I think it was probably 2000 when I was negotiating my contract with them, like 2004, 2003. Okay. Probably 2004. And I remember getting that rush, like, I can save them. Wow. I can do this again, you know, and eventually turned into, first of all, You don't want anything to define your self-worth, in my opinion, other than I'm a child of God.

5:45Like, that's what matters. And secondly, it becomes very addictive. Because if I'm not making you money, then I'm worthless. If I'm relaxing, I have no value. If I'm not doing something, if I'm not better than I'm, you know, and my value goes down if I'm not making more. So that was, you know, I had to unravel a lot of that in therapy. Okay, so there's a lot there. I mean, like, yes and amen. You came in preaching. So we hear this version of you. And I will say that this is the first time that we're sitting down and having a long-form conversation. And so a lot of what I know about you is you're hilarious.

6:25Oh, hi. I mean, and you're okay. You're okay. Can I brag to you for a second? Yeah. I was voted class clown in high school. you earned those votes yes you did and so you see this and like you see things about how you are okay your manicure in europe i think that i was laughing so hard but here's the thing you're okay not being for everybody you're okay not being for everybody and so you see it's very confident self-assured knows who she is secure in a relationship has really great kids or what we see online and then what you come in and you just get right to it it's this is me that is a version of me this is a version of me it is all of me and so I hear this and so I think you have this conversation in sixth grade and then you are in 2004 negotiating this I can do this at what point do you start having the therapy and I'm okay I want to go to the therapy and then I actually want to go to an origin story because you're like when I got involved with Beachbody yeah for the one percent of people who are like wait where are we at where are we falling into and this is the way I love I love independent films okay like when you start at the end you start the end at the beginning and then like now I'm going to piece it all together what we're basically creating is a masterpiece uh so at Sundance yeah there you go there you go so get us to the therapy yeah when does this happen uh that happened um when I had an implosion in my marriage um I was certain my husband was having an affair he was having these very strange behaviors super secretive weird with his phone, distant, short, all the things.

8:05I knew something was going on. And so as any good detective does, I started collecting receipts, like ordered the phone records. And I just saw these same numbers showing up over and over and over again. I'm like, is this like a call line for like porn or something? Like, what is this? And I called the first one and it was a gambling hotline and I just kept doing research doing research you know calmly like hello honey you know not say anything and um eventually discovered that we were a half a million dollars in debt and it was a result of a gambling addiction so when I confronted him the weight of the world lifted from his shoulders because the secret was out you think I'm alive and finally somebody could help somebody like finally I knew and the secret was over like you know it was a relief for him and that was very painful for me like his relief became my pain you know because then I had to go I had to backtrack like 10 years and say like so where were you when you said this and when we couldn't afford that was it this and when you said the business wasn't doing well what was really going on.

9:17So when he went to therapy, we discovered we both had addictions. Mine was work. And his addiction fed into my addiction. And as a society, we make, you know, gambling, porn, drugs, like these addictions are, we all agree that they're horrible, but we boast about having a work addiction. But work addictions have the same destructive qualities to a family, to children, to our relationships, to our health. And so I, you know, in order for us to grow from that implosion, we both had to figure out our roles, how we got there, and how really even my addiction kind of led him to his, you know, and how mine led, both of our addictions fed into each other.

10:03What year was this? Gosh, probably 2005. Okay, okay. Thank you. like I feel like oh we all right so we're at the we're at like a juncture in this story yeah but let's flash forward to your first foray in business when do you realize that you're like I'm different I got the je ne sais quoi I got the ex I can do something big here yeah when is that high school oh yeah high school oh when you were voted class clown you're like wrinkling brothers get this girl a contract okay no I you know I I knew I wanted to go to college and my dad had the same conversation like, so let's come up with an idea. And so before I could drive, we took what money I had in my bank account and bought a vehicle from the state of Michigan.

10:52They used to have state auctions. They would sell off state owned vehicles that were just trashed. I bought for, I don't know, pennies or hundreds of dollars. Anyways, I bought an orange El Camino that was formerly owned by the state of Michigan. and then I paid$99 and had it painted black with Earl Scheib, which is a paint company, and I fixed it up cosmetically. I don't even know how to drive, and I negotiated with adults to sell this vehicle and made several hundred dollars and just kept repeating that process, flipping cars. Wow. What? Oh, my God. This is the truest Michigan story I ever heard.

11:28So I got really good at knowing car value, knowing what was hot, knowing what month to sell cars in. Detail. You go to the first one with your dad. How many do you go to with your dad, if any at all? I never went to another auction after that. Then I bought them all from private owners. I got up. So I only wanted a time. So it was like whatever money I made from that one, then I would buy another vehicle. And I was really careful and did a lot of research to figure out like, okay, what's the hot car? What's a great price? Where can I find it in the state? How can I negotiate for it? And just learned all of these things about vehicles.

12:02So you're going and negotiating with this owner. Yeah. And you're 18. Oh, no. This is way before them. I'm 15, 16, 17. Okay. What would they think when you would come to them? Were they just like, who are you? What is happening? I made my kids do that, too. My kids had to buy their own cars with their own money, even though, you know, we could have done that. And they had to negotiate. I made them do that because I knew how valuable that was, you know? Okay. So then how long are you flipping cars? I'm flipping cars through my freshman, sophomore year of college. I'm I'm now doing that's how I paid for my tuition and uh and 50 other businesses too but that was a big one and now I'm I'm buying more expensive cars right and I'm drive driving to Detroit in the snow with a purse full of cash to buy a vehicle in a sketchy neighborhood and I walked into uh to buy a vehicle from someone who I thought was a woman I walked into an apartment there were like six guys who most of them weren't speaking English and they were all in this scary room and I'm like in a mini skirt with like a purse and you know and um I looked at the title and I could tell from the title that from the VIN number that it was a salvaged vehicle and so they had lied to me and I said no I'm not interested thanks you know but I was heart racing I'm like yeah I'm gonna this is how I die yeah and they're all yelling in their language and and you know telling me no no no, no, you're buying this car.

13:29And I like how I got out of there alive, I don't know. But at that moment, I realized this is dangerous. This is time consuming. There must be a better way. So I started calling other people in the newspaper who were selling their vehicles, private owner. And I organized them to all come to one location on a Saturday. And I said, I'll handle the advertising and I'll get I will get every person who's in the market to buy a vehicle from a private owner, which people do in Michigan. They don't in California. But I'll ding them all in one location. And that was the inspo for my first business, which was called the All Michigan Auto Swap Meet.

14:05This is giving me life. I am like, I am filled with life. How many cars go to your first inaugural event? Because, listen, I understood this is newsworthy. This is, I'm like this blonde little girl, you know, who's at Michigan State, who's dating a football player. I'm having the players work the lot for me. And I came up with this like brilliant idea. Yeah, so I sent letters to the newspaper, to the, I sent letters to the news stations. Okay, detail. Where does this come from? Yeah, where's this marketing thing? Like, this is just, like, you're hardwired for it. Do you see a pattern in other people?

14:40Do you see other people doing it and you apply it to this industry? Is this just like, I'm struck by lightning and I get it? I'm a savant? No, I think it's just you see problems, you know? And that was the thing that I learned from my dad. I was like, see problems, see patterns. So my dad has extreme ADHD. He was diagnosed at age 70. Okay. And so I grew up with someone who had ADHD, super creative, saw patterns and problems and would say like, oh, well, we could do this. So I was always seeing those things. And so I was just like, this is such a struggle to sell a vehicle as a private owner. There's got to be another solution.

15:12I would say I was CarMax before CarMax. Okay. You also have the Guinness World Record for most fitness classes taught too. Okay. So basically you're just out here being like. Strange all over. It's not the Carfax. It's, you know, it's Chalene. Okay, so question. What was the business structure of it? So they bring the cars there. Were you taking a commission off the sale? Like, I'm out. I'm here in the weeds. I know, but I'm like fascinated. No, so my first time, I just charged them an admission to come in. Nice. Yes, I was thinking it was like, you know, 20 bucks. So seller is a mission. Yeah, just to come in, the sellers had to pay me.

15:46Got it. Other buyers did not. Got it. And then after that, I had a percentage. college and it was a business that worked on the weekends, but in Michigan, every other weekend it rains. So it was challenging, you know, but it gave me enough confidence and enough money to get through college and be able to start my first business. But I was always doing a lot of other things. So I was teaching fitness classes because I enjoyed it while I was at Michigan State and I I was doing this and I was working as a paralegal. You were going to go to law school, right? I went to law school. I dropped out. Yeah.

16:21So many of us. I know. I know. The smart ones, we escaped. So I was working as a paralegal and also I was a student and I was also doing a little bit of network. I think it was network marketing. I didn't know it was network marketing at the time. I was selling knives door to door. Oh, okay. Yeah. What were they called? Was that from your bad experience? Yeah, exactly. Cutco. If I'm going to go door to door, it's going to be knives and knives. from now on, not Tash. Yeah. So I was doing all those things. And then once I graduated from Michigan State, I married the quarterback and we moved to California.

16:54Why? Why what? Why California? Why Michigan? Okay, well, I mean, well, you're born, there's like genetic predisposition, but like you just say like California. Yeah. Yes. Hello. I'm born and raised in California. I don't get it. Yeah, you don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. I would just watch it on TV and be like, what? Everyone's famous and beautiful. I would watch Baywatch and be like, oh, what are these people? Just everything. Everything, everything, everything. So what part of California do you guys? We landed in Orange County. Okay. Yeah, that's where he grew up. Yeah, and I continued doing all the things.

17:23So I started going to, I started taking the LSAT over and over and over again because my score was so low. I kept hoping it was going to get better. It kept going down. I'm like, maybe I shouldn't do this. And I was still working as a paralegal. And I was doing all my different businesses. So I'm flipping cars, working as a paralegal. Still in California? Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. But not with a lot. Okay. At that point, I'm just like buying and selling. Okay. So I'm working as a paralegal, flipping cars. I am working as a personal trainer. Okay. And I'm also teaching fitness classes. Okay. And I'm coming up with other ways to make money.

17:58Like anything I can do to make money. I started putting together flyers to teach other women how to start, come up with a creative idea and start a business. And I was selling, trying to sell seminar attendance, but like six people would show up. Okay. And so I'm doing like 19 different things. I'm newly married. I now have a baby. And a mentor basically just said to me, you're just working and working and nothing's working. And it's not going to work until you pick one thing. You need to pick one thing. I was like, oh, that's scary. Yeah. And so? So the thing and the additional advice I received was to pick the thing where there's the right opportunity.

18:44Like pick the one you're, it doesn't have to be the thing that you are like, oh, I was born to do this. But pick the one where you see there's a really a good opportunity, the same way I did with the cars. And in that moment, I'm like, it's fitness for me. For me, it's fitness because everyone was coming to me. so many people were saying to me like this workout that you're doing and the way you're mixing the music like can I buy that from you it takes me so long to create these classes and I thought about wait hold on hold on you're mixing your own music oh yeah yeah I'm mixing my music okay I'm creating the workouts to match the music okay and what year is this the uh uh 1990, five, six, seven.

19:24Okay. You know, so I'm all these years, right? But it's like around 90, probably seven, 98 that I get that advice to just focus on one thing. So I decided to focus just on fitness based on seeing my mother teach jazzercise, which for those people who aren't familiar was this workout in the eighties. Her name was, I think Judy Shepard Misset or something like that. and my mom would get 45 records and then she would watch a VHS tape of the routine that went to that music. And so I'm like, that's what I'm doing. This is a business. I'm gonna basically franchise this. I'm gonna get other instructors and I'm gonna get them hooked on.

20:07I'm gonna create the music and the choreography so you can just plug in your personality. Your students will fall in love with you. They never need to know who I am. Let's just let, this will let you shine. And so I created that format kind of based on the Jazzercise model. How did you understand that hero's journey? Make them the hero. I didn't. You just thought it was a great idea. You were like, this would be a great business. This is a problem. I wish I had this. That's the through line of everything that I've done is like, I wish there was a. I wish there was someone who. And then I just go, oh, if I wish, then I should probably try to figure out how to be that.

20:43Yeah. Yeah. From the beginning, though, you didn't necessarily want the credit for that. You were like, no, you're going to be the star. Absolutely. And that had a lot to do with my imposter syndrome when it came to fitness, because I was always like, I'm here by accident. My degree is justice, morality and constitutional democracy. Don't ask me about the insertion location of a hamstring. You know, like I just I hear a lot of people have fun and I know music like I really, really knew music. Like, you know, DJ CJ. But her stuff. And, you know, music is everything, right? So for me, I didn't care so much about the biomechanics.

21:16I was just like, I know how to make people have a freaking experience with music. As you know, because you used to take those classes. I did. I did. 24-hour fitness, baby. TKV. It was all about the music. And then the ringing of the bell. The sound effects. Ding, ding, ding. The sound effects. I mean, you know where I got the idea for the sound effects is I used to watch ESPN cheer competitions. Let me just tell you. It just spoke to my... It spoke. When you do an air jack, you hear a sound effect. Yes. Oh, there we go. Every time you play, great. Yes, I mean, the sound effect made it stronger.

21:47Every time you hit, you're like, oh, my triad. There it is. My triad's coming. Okay, so I'm picturing this as a movie. And so we start off 2004, 5. And then we flash back. Yes, I'm sorry, go ahead. Remember, we're starting in the middle. Starting in the middle. We're looking at the end. I love it. Go to the middle. Then we go to the inception point. 16 years old, 18 years old, you figure out you're an entrepreneur. Then you come out to California in 1985, 96, 97. These are all the rolling credits of the years that are happening. And then you realize that you have a business by empowering others to be the heroes of their own journey and you're monetizing on the front end.

22:21But let's go back to actually they're buying a CD from you. Yeah. Right. And so what is the business there? Where do you start? I mean, how does one just make, hey, you 15 people buy this CD and then the pricing of it. Like I want somebody who's listening to this to say, I see a problem. There's Chalene burning CDs. What is that? Yeah. So what that looked like is me mixing the music, making something really unique that no one else could have. Like it would cost you so much money to have a DJ mix the way that I would mix and add in the sound effects. You were mixing. Yes. I learned how to do it all on computer, you know.

22:58Okay. So I learned Pro Tools. I don't even know what it is today. But I learned how to do all of that. And I could, my musicality helps me to figure out, like, take that part out. That's a lull. Here's the energy. And I can picture what the music will tell people what to do. It's like paint by numbers. And so I mixed all the music. But then when they purchased from me, they needed the music and they needed the choreography. And I really didn't come up with this myself. It was really looking at the Jazzercise model. Okay. And making it my own. Like using her. You're doing this on your own. You're in Pro Tools.

23:30Yes. You're mixing the music. And then I bought a giant, and this is my husband and I, we've got a little baby and we would take turns back. This is cassettes. It's not even CDs. So we bought this giant machine. We took all the money that we had to invest in this giant machine where you would actually put the cassette tapes and record one from the other. And in the middle of the night, we would set the alarm so that every 60 minutes I would wake up every 60 minutes and go in that bedroom and flip all the cassettes over and make hundreds of cassettes. And then for the VHSs, we found a company that would just duplicate the VHSs for us.

24:07We'd pack up the boxes ourself in that separate bedroom. So you're going to a studio and you're recording the VHS choreography. I would do it at local gyms and I would just ask if I could use their gym in the off hours to work on choreography. Most of them didn't even know I was recording videos. Okay. I never paid. How were you recording the videos? I hired someone's husband who owned a camera. Okay. Did it sit on the shoulder or a stand? It was on a stand at first. And I have like the original footage. Oh my God, it's so embarrassing. I'm a meme. I'm like literally a meme. Blackmail me. It's all horrible.

24:42Everything. Your friend's husband is with his VHS on a tripod and you're in a gym. You're in a gym. They don't really know what you're doing, but they're like, sure. Sure. And so you are burning your, not even burning, you're duplicating your cassettes. Dubbing. Dubbing. Dubbing? Yeah, dubbing the cassettes. We're having the VHSs replicated. Where is your market? How is this starting? People are like, I wish I had that. There isn't even social media at this point. Right, that's what I'm saying. It's word of mouth. So I'm an instructor and I'm like, got this hot CD. Oh, it's email. Cassette. Okay, there was emails.

25:16Emails. Tell me back to me now. Yeah, so there were emails and I would get on these message boards of fitness instructors and people would, you know, talk about this workout that they did. And also, timing-wise, it was right on the cusp of Taibo. So what worked beautifully is everyone wanted to teach kickboxing, and there was no way to teach it or learn it the proper way. So everyone was looking for that. So it was so easy. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. I mean, my certifications, without doing any social media marketing, which sounds so crazy to me now, just word of mouth, I would have like 300 people who were instructors.

25:54and they're so we're not meeting you and they're saying hey I heard you have this thing with music and then when do you come up with your offer like how do you price it are you printing quickly because I was a certified fitness instructor so I knew okay I can tell people you can't buy this unless you're certified with me so they would have to go through the certification process which was like$300 and then you got on the continuity program so there was you know you you had to get a new round every I think we did every other month what was your retention I mean I'm asking really, I'm asking these crazy, I'm fascinated.

26:26I had no idea this is the backstory. Girl, you're going to ask me what my retention was. The woman who doesn't know she's a half a million dollars in bra, you think I care about numbers? She's just like, let me do it. Let me just make it. That's like one thing I love about you though, because I struggle with some things like that. Like, no, no, she's done it. You can do this. Okay, okay, okay, okay. So we're on this certification. We're on a continuity program. We're guessing retention is pretty high because if people's classes are filling, then it makes them the hero of their own journey. The gym and the health clubs freaking loved me because new members are coming in saying, do you have this thing I'm watching on TV called Tyboe?

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27:05Specific. Okay. And so then I could call the gyms and say like, hey, I'm going to come into a training at your gym. You get all the instructors there in the area, all of them. I'm going to do this for you for free. And at the time, Body Pump was licensing their programs. And I would say, I'm not going to charge you, the gym anything i'm going to charge the instructors so i would charge the instructors the gyms loved me they're like can you come back and so it was wait a minute so when i was doing tkb it wasn't licensed to 24 hour it was correct really that's right yeah and did you also incorporate pio were you and hip hop hustle and hip and and and that was all instructor based yeah yeah no Oh, yeah.

27:45All instructor based. Now, in hindsight, would you have done it different? I don't know. Probably not. I'm all about like, what is the least, what is the easiest way, the least resistance, the least amount of headache? So I don't know if I would have done it differently. You know, I look at other companies who did and how they struggled and how they had. I also don't like to play games. Like, if this doesn't work for you, then walk. You know, and I just, I feel that way about almost all things. So it's like, I don't need to sign a contract in most instances. If this works for you, great. If it doesn't, then we should both go our separate ways.

28:20And that's how it was with the gyms. And even for the instructors, they were paying for the continuity. I didn't have to worry about pleasing the gyms. The proof was in the pudding. If people were showing up. That's so good. And that's what they wanted. That's so swag. That's so swag. Okay, so then what year is this? When you were doing the certifications, I'm going to gyms. This is like 1997, 98, 99. around and then I created a fitness apparel line so that there was a look when you you oh there was a look no there was a look no this look pretty you know I don't even know if you guys remember like the Zumba had a look oh yeah but this predates it oh I could tell you this is I mean stories okay yeah we met with them and helped them like come up with we we were first at creating that culture where you wanted to belong yes you wanted the outfit if you're in the trucker hat classes the trucker had me like signature it was so uh oh my god like parasitic but there were belts so you would wear belts and these cargo pants what kind of belts to work out oh okay because it was so swag it was it was like you walked in and you're like hey hey guys bench pressing yes look at it back to work out and uh yeah like the little skirts that now lulu lemma like you know 20 years time um so i'll give you some b-roll because it's some pretty funny stuff Like, I'm like, oh, my God, this is so embarrassing.

29:40My kids love to mock me. But it was like a self-identification. If you go back to, like, very basic marketing principles, it was self-identification of a tribe. I am belonging. And what happens, specifically for women, when you go into, like, a gym, you're kind of like, where do I fit in? And all of a sudden, you look at something and you say, I could belong to that. I could buy that and I could belong to that. And it was just, it just fed into it. It worked well, really well into each other. So all of this is happening during this time. And then you sign a contract. We're at 99. You signed the contract in 2004.

30:09Correct. What is happening in that five-year period? The business is blowing up. You know, we've got like 60 people around the country. It's almost like their own little franchise. Like they're selling, they're doing their certifications in their state. So we called them area promotion directors. Got it. And so in each state, we had one or two fitness professionals who would host certifications. So I didn't have to fly anywhere. I'd stop doing the certifications. So we had a team of people who did the certifications. And, you know, they were sold. They sold the merchandise. They sold the continuity program.

30:43They sold the clothing. They sold the idea. They sold the they sold the community, you know, and so every everyone you want to belong to this community. And that just exploded. Then we, you know, went international. then we started getting phone calls from all the infomercial companies because fitness infomercials yeah really popular yeah you know so i got an agent and he basically took me to all those meetings and let me i got to pick you know like who we wanted to go with based on the offer and all the offers were different and the feel was different and we decided to go with beachbody for a commercial.

31:20So what I did is I sold directly to fitness instructors. And this was to take my workouts and make them a consumer workout with me in the videos. Got it. So until this point, no one really knows me. You know, you're a turbo kick instructor, but you don't know me. Right. Although I kind of knew you because she was like big time fan, big time fan. So I knew your name. It's probably because we're local. Maybe. But like in other parts of the country, other parts of the world, people don't know who I am, you know? Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Like Zumba, most people don't know who created Zumba. True. And so now they want me to be the face of it and they want to make consumer videos.

31:56But we negotiated where we could continue to own our own business and continue to market to instructors. Really cool. So we ran these two parallel businesses and I negotiated even the names to be similar so that the names would never change. So the business I owned was called Turbo Kick and the consumer workout was called Turbo Jam. and Turbo Fire. Yeah. Oh. Were you, did you have any mentors at this time? Did you ever get nervous when you were negotiating or is that like a, yeah, tell me. Yeah, one piece of advice I give everyone is pay for the most badass attorney you can afford. The one that you're like, this is not even fair.

32:35We have to pay them. Don't call them. Yeah. It could be 15 minutes early, you know? And that's what we did. We just hired like the best agent and the best attorney that we could find. and carved out an incredible deal that later came back to haunt me because my deal was the highest they'd ever created. And then eventually they start realizing everybody wants to be a famous fitness instructor. And what they negotiated with me was because I brought them the programs. But eventually fitness companies, not just Beachbody, realized we can create workouts. We can have somebody create the workout and then we can hire someone who's good on camera and sit.

33:16Right. And everybody and their brother will do that for like peanuts. Exactly. And so right. And so then it just it was more difficult to get partnerships and to get my programs on TV. So at that point, we were there were just an infomercial company. There was no network marketing. Yeah. So then what year is this happening when you feel like, OK, maybe 2005, it was the number one fitness infomercial. I remember going to the mailbox and getting my my first commission check. and I opened it and my husband was so ecstatic and I felt like I was going to vomit and I felt sick. Because it was so much?

33:54Because it was so much and because in my mind this is already the addiction all I can do from here is be less valuable. There's no way I'll ever make more money than this. Wow. So this is the height and now I'm going down or I'm going to have to kill myself to do this again. You're already exhausted. Were you exhausted? I'm already exhausted because I'm running a full-time business. Yep. And now I'm the face of this infomercial company that had been failing. And now I also have all these consumer demands and I have to make consumer workouts. And I'm still mixing the music and making the workouts for our own company and designing the clothes and overseeing 70-plus staff members.

34:37So what's happening? Is this where the value thing starts coming in and you're like, I'm not? What was the story you were telling yourself at that point? All those things like don't stop, can't breathe, don't watch a movie. Like if you sit down and rest for a second, you are worthless. Like this is all going away. And, you know, it was challenging those first couple of years because even though I'd done the therapy, it's still there. And I was already in this place where I say I built this golden prison. And my husband and I, because we've done so much therapy and we're really communicating well with each other, we just made a decision that this has to go.

35:15Like we have to sell. We have to sell our company. And that took five years to do. We decided. From that moment. Yeah. What year do you make the decision this is in our best interest to sell? I want to say 2005 or 2006. I'm not sure. Okay. But we knew. And it was very difficult to undo what I had done. I didn't build the business to sell it. Today I build a business very differently so that if I ever want to exit, I can exit. And then I was all of the most important pieces. I was the designer. So what we had to do is I had to replace myself in each one of those, including on video. Because the instructors came to trust me and know me and like me.

36:00Even though their students might not know me. Right. I had to trust that there were other people who could do all the things that I thought only I could do. And so we had to build that. And then we had to build up our revenue and position ourselves in such a way that we could sell. and sell our IP, my ideas, and step out of that role and stay in fitness and the consumer role for a little while longer. So when you sell, how much of your, at this time, identity is in that? When you ink that, what does that feel? You know that question. How do you know to ask that question? I think one of the things that draws me so much too is the worth, the addiction.

36:48I have to grind to get this again. And so I hear it and I'm like, I see that in myself. I see this. And so I ask it because I'm like, well, what can I learn? This is a horrible, horrible, horrible analogy. But it felt like giving a child away to someone else. Because you know you can't give that child what it needs. And so, but you've made this amazing thing and you know, it's so valuable and so special and it's a part of you. But you know that you've taken as far as you can. And so it was incredibly hard. And so I went to therapy again and the therapist said, what you're experiencing is grief.

37:29And you really need to grieve this. You need to bury it. You need to let go of it and you need to just the same way you would anything. And so I did, I grieved it. And it was that's why for many years it was really weird and kind of uncomfortable when people would still love this workout that I created. And I was like, and they're still doing this thing that in my mind I had to bury. Yeah, you were almost like beyond it, past it. Yeah. It's like reviving something that you've already. Yeah. Oh, it's so interesting. Were you ever worried about like that that was the peak or that you wouldn't get another idea?

38:05No. I love her brain. She's like, absolutely not. I mean, that's the opposite problem. Like, stop. Yeah, there's too many. Okay. So then you're grieving. And I think that grief takes phases and it takes as long as it takes, but you're having ideas. And then at what point do you realize, I think of all the ideas, this is the one that I want to pursue. Right away. So as I'm, so now I'm doing, now I'm just doing consumer fitness, but that's not really full-time. And I know that I want to get into the online space because I'm already learning. Like there's so many things I can teach people and I want to be more present with my family.

38:46I don't want to feel this way. I need more passive income. So again, I looked to a model to copy and I had the, I think it was, I forget what it's called, the Tony Robbins 12, I think it's like something power. And I had bought those in cassettes. And I'm like, I know how to duplicate cassettes. I know how to record. And I've got lots of things I can teach people. So I'm going to make up something just like this. I called it car smart. And it was a series of 12 CDs. And there were things like confidence, belief, money mindset. And they were like, they were like 12 core beliefs that I had lived by.

39:25And it was like my advice. And it was just a copy of what Tony Robbins, his model, but my information. And so that was my first online product. And I started selling it online and realizing like, oh, there's so much to learn about like online marketing. And so and then social media starts like becoming a thing. And I'm like, I'm going to learn all of this. I'm going to learn this. And I'm obsessed with it. And I loved it. And what year is this? About? About 2009. Wow. So I start building that before we exit. Okay. Okay. Wow. Okay. I encourage people to do. So here you are. Now you're fully free from the Golden Prison.

40:05Not fully free. At the time in which you were fully free. Now, when you sold, did you have like a contingency and when you had to like vest? Okay. Okay. Good for you. Okay. How many years? I don't remember. Those are numbers again. Do you see where my mind goes? I'm like data analytics. But I remember going up to the meetings that we had to go to, you know, at corporate and, oh man, what a bitch I probably was. Because I was like, they don't know you guys. It would be like 12, you know, masters, you know, PhDs around the table. And I'm like pounding the table like, that's not how we do it. The sound effect goes here.

40:41And, you know, the hat goes this way. You know, like all these like dumb little things that like. But it mattered. It mattered. Yeah. And they're probably like, she's insane. And then eventually I remember the vice president calling me. You know, it's just like, you know, like you don't need to come to the meetings anymore. It was like. And then I had another mentor who had also sold businesses and he said, when they buy a business for you to kind of go away. And I'm like, oh, all right. All right. Well, now I've got some more free time. So but I was still working with them in. I'm still obviously getting my residuals.

41:11Right. And still working with them. Completely separate contract as talent. Oh. So I'm still doing consumer workouts with them. Got it. Did you do that? Eventually I didn't. Yeah. Because, again, I always struggled with what am I doing in fitness? Got it. I don't belong here. And it took a real toll on my health being in the health industry. Yeah. It's very unhealthy for me. Being super healthy all the time is really unhealthy. Yeah. So I developed orthorexia. I never had any confidence or body issues until you are asked to come out on a set wearing, you know, micro shorts and a bra top. And you have five people kind of going, they're trying, they're just trying to figure out if this is what you should wear.

41:58Right. But if you have five people just like. Totally. I think she's got a little. Yeah. For you in a different top. Yes. I've been there. I understand that. Yeah. They're like, that's making her armpit roll right here. I'm like, to this day, I'm still like, do I have an armpit roll? Yeah. something with a skin you're like yeah it's called skin yeah it's skin it's um it's got freckles and it just it took a huge toll on me my husband on one occasion got a call from someone at corporate who said you know we don't want to have this conversation directly with chalene but you know her next show will do much better if she can be smaller she needs to lose weight and get leaner and my husband tried not to tell me that, but he wears his emotions on his sleeves.

42:42Eventually he was angry and kind of retelling the story and that was kind of like, I mean, it just did a horrible thing to me. So then I dieted down. I basically was not eating and exercising four hours a day for that next series because I wanted to prove to them I could do that. and I was on camera speaking to the camera and I haven't eaten in days. I've exercised for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. And I'm looking into the camera and I'm saying, and you can get results like this too in just 30 minutes a day eating delicious food. And I thought, now I'm lying. And that's one thing I will never be inauthentic.

43:24I didn't say it out loud, but I made a decision that day and I cried all the way home from shooting in Glendale, driving back to Orange County, like a two hour drive. I cried the whole time because I knew I was done, but I couldn't tell anyone because I was still under contract. Yep. But I was done. How long? What was the duration, the remaining duration of the contract? A couple of years. Oh. Yeah. Okay. But it was different because now I'm like, now it's on my terms. And so the next programs that I filmed were so fun because I knew what I needed. Like I filmed one where I said, I don't want you to hire any more fitness people.

44:00The people in my class are real people and they make me happy and it's fun and it's real. And I don't want to pretend that I'm excited looking into a black lens. I want to look out into a room full of people, the people that I teach to. And so if I'm going to do this, that's what I want. And they did that. Yeah. And then so that was like my some of the turbo fire workouts. And then for Pio, I just said, I want to pick everybody who's in the cast. They're really going to be my friends and family. And I'm going to love this process. And they did. So my exit was really nice. And they accommodated me in every way.

44:38And I don't blame the companies at all because that's just the industry. And we did that. Even when we were filming videos with Powder Blue, I would look at what people were wearing and we'd say, well, she's in blue. It's just what you do. Okay. So if we go back and there's like an intersection again of the exit and an entry into something else and you have your 12 disc series and then you say to yourself 2009. So we're going back to like early Twitter and Facebook. Instagram's not even on the scene yet. Yes. A little bit of YouTube. Oh, wow. Oh, that's good. Then you say, I'm going to figure this out.

45:11Yeah. Then what do you start selling? After the 12 discs, what do you start selling? Then I sold a program called Smart Success. And it was a thousand dollar online program that taught you how to organize your life according and make all decisions based on a priority clarity statement. Wow. So it was goal setting and it was looking at the, you know, 10 to 12 most key areas of your life and figuring out like what are the boundaries, parameters and like priority statements you need in writing so that, you know, you're not missing your mark. and basically just taught people how to live your life according to your written priorities, not like what you say, not what you feel, but like what you, you like give yourself the space to figure out what that should look like and then to create a plan to reverse engineer it and execute.

46:05Okay, so my first question, I'm sorry, Laurie, I'm steamrolling, last question. I'm just like, I need to close this loop. Okay, so I'm probably gonna ask the question that you're like, Jasmine, why are you asking me this question? Numbers. How much of your audience do you think is like residuals from the stuff that you did in the fitness space? Like, are you carrying your audience over at this time? Okay, so it's not like cold traffic. You're not like heavily leveraging. Not much. So Facebook, huge. Okay. The first thing I did was a challenge on Facebook called the 30 Day Push Challenge, I think it was called.

46:34And I just said, give me your email address. This is, again, like 2009. Give me your email address. and every day I will send you one video a day for 30 days that will help you accomplish your goals. So this is your opt-in? Yes. And this is 2009. In one month's time, I had 100 ,000 people on my email list. And people are opening their emails at this time and they want to give you their email because it's like so special. She'll be going to email me. What I didn't realize would happen then is a couple of things. So first of all, when people spend time with you on video, hours and hours and hours, doing something they love that gives them endorphins, like fitness, they become emotionally bonded and loyal to you.

47:17They know you. You were with them as they were recovering from cancer. You got them through that breakup. Like fitness is, for a lot of people, it's their drug. It saves them. And so I had all of these fitness instructors who, you know, they just felt like I blew up their classes. I gave them and they felt very loyal to me and they also were about the same age as me. So they're growing up with me and I was trying to help them to understand like there's you're not going to ever pay the mortgage teaching fitness classes. We need to do something more. We need to do something more. And this is me up.

47:49Give me this course. You're good. This is the gateway drug. Yes. Once you realize with fitness, I can change my body and I listen to someone else as they're and they told me what to do. And I changed my body. If I listen to this person, I had changed my life. Right. And then once you figure out how to change your life, you're like, and I could probably start a business. so it's just this evolutionary process but that hundred thousand emails was getting over and then every single day people opening up an email and spending 30 days with me on video back then you know now people don't watch you know everything's on video but then it was so remarkable to get a video emailed to you oh so good okay laurie go well now it's a different question but were you falling in love with the process of business like what were you seeing happening question too because it was mostly women that you were working with yeah yeah so what were you seeing happening when women would join your courses and then tell me that progression of like what was next for them the same thing that I saw with fitness where people start to believe in themselves and go like I didn't know this was possible I loved that the people who were learning these things were as shocked as I was to learn them so growing up in a home with ADHD and not I didn't know how to finish anything.

49:03I didn't know how to prioritize things. I didn't know how to organize. I didn't know how to focus. So I had to learn that after the fact, like after college even. And so once I started studying goal setting and it just didn't work for my brain, I'm like, I'm going to kind of put a tweak on this, not that's original, but I'm going to tweak this and I'm going to teach this to other people so they understand like how to do this in such a way that when you reach your goal, you're actually happy. Because all the goal setting I learned was like vision boards and, you know, and how to set goals. But they never looked at like, what does he want to feel?

49:36So at that point, were you being really because, you know, in the beginning, like even in the fitness world, in the business world, like people were not being super authentic, meaning they weren't sharing like, I'm actually scared when I do this. I have anxiety when this comes up. Were you weaving some of that at that point? Always, always, always, always. I don't know how to do anything else. Yeah. Just like just you get what you get and don't throw a fit. Okay, so now I have like a very clear picture of like the pivots, the iterations, the evolutions of who Shaleen Johnson is today. I want to look, you have a very unique thing that I think you inherited from your dad, which is the pattern spotting.

50:10And so when you're like, now everything's, what you said was now everything's on video. But back then it was really unique and like interesting. What do you see today? What's the next interesting thing? Long form, first of all. I think that we are seeing a backlash against quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, 15 seconds, two seconds, seven seconds, swipe, swipe, swipe. It's why reels are down so dramatically on Instagram, right? And I think carousels are, I think Reels, a new study by Metricool found that Reels are down 76 % over last year. And carousels have replaced that. Why? Because I want to control the clicker.

50:54It's like when you sit down and somebody in the room is changing the channel so fast, you're like, stop. I didn't even get to see what that was. What was that? Interesting. And I think our brains want to slow down and connect. And so I think there's going to be a real resurgence of long form. I think conversations like people want to slow down, think about it, process it, read it, be able to swipe and then swipe back. We just want control over our attention. We want to consume less instead of quantity. We really want quality and we want to think about it. So I think that's a big shift. I think there's a lot of interesting changes in what's going to happen in the creator economy, in the digital course economy.

51:38I think there's going to be a lot of changes. Well, you can't just say I think there's going to be a lot of changes. Do tell. Do tell. Well, I recently did an informal survey of digital course creators by age and success. Okay. And what I discovered. Okay. Understand the metric of age, quantifiable. Success. How is it defined? Revenue? Okay. Yeah. So all seven-figure and eight-figure earners. Okay. And then I looked at their ages. Okay. And what I looked at was their revenue, roughly, their age, and how much they invested in online courses, mentors, coaches, etc. And it's shocking how the younger the entrepreneur is, the less they're spending on that.

52:27And the beliefs around they want to make digital courses, but they're not buying them. So that's going to create a recession, is my prediction, in the digital course economy. And with any recession, there are businesses that thrive. So that means you're going to have to be above and beyond. I think there's going to be a lot more demand done for you. I think people are overwhelmed with like, think about it. Like when I first started teaching digital marketing, if I was teaching Instagram, I was like, you post a square photo. now Instagram is short form video long form videos carousels lives Instagram stories DMs it's a beast just Instagram and then there's TikTok and then there's YouTube and then there's email funnels and then there's SMS like it's a lot for someone who's wants to get who wants to create a business a digital business it's a lot it's a lot and if you have that old school entrepreneurial mindset where you're like, I'll learn this all myself, you're going to burn the F out.

53:29You can't do that. So we're going to see a lot more done for you. And we're going to the people who will succeed, the entrepreneurs who will succeed are the ones who know I need to invest in others. I need to invest in agencies. I need to invest in the teams so that I don't have to learn this stuff. I'm going to be the face of I'm going to be the idea. And so I think that's where we're headed. So when you look at your product suite, based on your prediction, does anything change? Oh yeah, we are changing a lot of things. Wow. Interesting. And that's hard because, uh, you know, we have eight really different business centers, you know, some that aren't consumer based or consumer facing, but you know, we're, I'm always assessing like, where do I spend my time and what's my return on the investment?

54:16And it's hard sometimes to go like, so I have to let go of that? I really like that. And it sometimes still feels like a failure. You know, it's like, I don't want to let that sunset. I don't want to sell that company, you know, but it doesn't make sense to keep it. And you just have to be nimble. So when you look into the future, and you've seen the pivots that have happened, is there like a common thread? Like if you can go back to Chalene at 16, 26, 36, which is basically last year what would you say what would you say to her is there a common thread yeah um there are two one is i'm going to solve a problem and the number two is i am really at heart a teacher i love to take really complicated things and go i can make this easier for people and i can explain it to you so that you can explain it to someone else because if you can explain to someone else what i've helped you to understand now it's it's like guerrilla marketing Like I've done my job.

55:17Like that's how basic it needs to be. And with all of our businesses, if someone else can't explain how it's helped them and what it does, then we've missed the mark. And we've done that many times, you know. So it's always there's lots of failures. Right. And there's lots of restarts and reiterations. And it's hard because sometimes you want to hold so tightly to like this wasn't my original plan for this. but boy it looks different now and if you're not willing to let it evolve and you let your ego get in the way it's just deadly and there's going to be consequences it's gonna be expensive a lot of fallout so every 10 years you remind yourself that you are solving a problem and that at the heart of it you're a teacher who knows how to explain things in a really pillable way yeah now there's somebody who's listening and um they have been hitting their head against the wall for like many things.

56:07And so if you would go back and say one thing to that person, looking back at your career, what would you tell that person who's listening? The first thing is don't try to do it yourself. Like, you know, that's what I'm seeing today. And it's the biggest mistakes I made early in my career that impacted my, at times my marriage, at times my health, was thinking I was saving money or time by figuring it out myself. also thinking not just the time and money, but I wanted the credit. I mixed that music. I did not want to let go. I did not want to let somebody else mix that music because I wanted people to have your reaction, Jasmine.

56:45People going, ah, you mix the music. I wanted that. And I had to let go of my ego and say, I don't need credit. I need us to be at a certain place. And if I stop caring about who gets the credit, we're going to go a lot further. So I think it's, and I think this younger generation of entrepreneurs, they really need to embrace that you save yourself so many headaches, so much trial and tribulation by investing in that person who's done it. You know, it's just, it's invaluable. Okay. So clearly there's a bunch of people right now who are smitten newly and or buttressed by it. How do people go deeper with all the things that you do?

57:29Where do they get to know you as the entrepreneur, the person, the mother, the wife, like social? Where do people find you? Those are all different places. All different departments. So our business podcast is called Build Your Tribe. I co-host that with my son, Brock. And the personal, fun, you know, healthy stuff is all on The Chalene Show. I think we have like a lot of downloads there. We've been doing it like for a million years, it feels like. and those are probably the best places to get, like the personal and then the business. If you really want to know deep, deep what's going on in my life, that's Patreon, but that's another story.

58:09We're slowly going to build up to the Patreon level. So there's two podcasts, but recently I saw that you really want to go deeper with your YouTube channel, so you've got to give a shout-out to your YouTube channel. Yeah, yeah. So what I'm doing now is the podcast on video. Yeah. So it's the you I just why am I recording this? Well, I know why. Yeah. It means hair and lashes and an outfit change. I used to be able to like go sit in my room and like record a podcast. Those were the days, Shaleen. I've been the commitment to do video on podcast. I love it. And I sometimes I'm like, why did I do this?

58:41I just committed. So I just now started my hair. Oh, but I'm like, oh, it's a thing. Yeah. Clothes are a thing. I know. And for guys like my son, when we do a podcast together, he like showers. and water hits his head and then he stands in front of a mic. I'm like, it's a whole thing. I have to have like professionals come in and smoke and mirrors and tape and pulling. There's people literally holding. Literally, right? I'm like. You also have to follow Chalene on Instagram. Give a plug to your account and what can people expect? I want you to describe it. That's interesting. Do what I do. Do what I tell you to do.

59:19So it's at Chalene Johnson and you're just going to get a nice little taste of my life. I like to help people who are easily distracted get focused and understand that they can create a business of their own. Yes. And it can be really messy and really fun. Emphasis on fun. And just as a side note, seeing the way that you build a business with your husband, the relationship you have with your children, how supportive you are, and like you're passing on the lessons that you learned from your dad. It's so inspiring to me. And so I've already said, for those of you who don't know, Jalene and her daughter, Sierra, have a journal, a journaling company.

59:50We do that together. Yeah. Push journal. So I look at the purse journal. And she has her own beauty line. Yes, she has a beauty line. I mean, like her kids, it's like they all just have like this magical Michigan fairy dust on their heads. And it's just like, we're just going to make money. And so I look at this and I'm like, okay, Luna, we're going to do something. You know, I'm just like calling it over her life. I'm like, if I see it done, then I get to do it my own way. Very similar to what you did with Tony Robbins. I'm like, baby girl, we're going to come out with 12 discs. But in the future, it's like some like automatic downloads.

1:00:16Anyway. Right. Automatic downloads. Yeah. Okay. Okay, Shalene Johnson on Instagram. Listen to her podcast. Watch her YouTube. And I have to say, Lori, thank you for bringing this magical, mythical creature into— That's the easy part. I mean— That's the easy part. And then co-hosting this show with Lori has been an honor and a blessing. So fun. When you guys are watching or listening to The Jasmine Star Show, can you please tag one or all three of us while you're at it? Let us know where you're watching and how you are doing it. Like always, it's honor and a pleasure. Thank you for listening to The Jasmine Star Show.

1:00:55I'll see you next time.

From the publisher

If you’ve struggled with addiction to work and placing your value in the success of your business, this episode is for you.

My amazing co-host, Lori Harder, connected me with the magical, mythical creature that is Chalene Johson. In this episode, we're lucky enough to hear Chalene's candid and fascinating entrepreneurship journey. From flipping cars as a teenager to navigating her husband's gambling addiction AND holding the Guinness world record for most fitness classes taught, Chalene's journey has been nothing short of unique.

Click play now to hear her story and all this…

[00:01:22] Hear Chalene’s story and more about her life’s mantra of “let's figure out a way”.

[00:03:01] Chalene shares how she has to break the belief that she is only valuable because she makes money.

[00:06:50] The point at which Chalene shifts to therapy and learning was when she had an implosion in her marriage after finding out about her husband's gambling addiction.

[00:08:48] Chalene realized that she also had an addition to work.

[00:09:50] It was in high school that Chalene realized she was different. At 16 she had her first business flipping cars.

[00:14:12] Chalene learned she’s good at seeing patterns and solving problems which would lead to her success in business.

[00:17:47] A mentor told Chalene “You’re just working and working, you need to pick just one thing and pick the thing where there is an opportunity”. This was when she realized she wanted to pick the fitness industry.

[00:22:10] Chalene shares her business success was by learning to make something unique even in a saturated market.

[00:27:14] Chalene shares what she would do differently if she could go back.

[00:31:43] The best advice Chalene would give is to hire the best attorney you can find.

[00:33:02] In 2005, Chalene had the most famous fitness infomercial.

[00:35:29] After the selling of her business, Chalene learned to trust that there were other people that could do what she thought only she could do.

[00:37:23] Despite selling her business, Chalene never worried it was the last idea she would have success at. This thought would lead to her next business venture.

[00:49:34] Chalene predicts that the next big thing online will be Long Form Video. She believes that our brains want to slow down and have control over our attention.

[00:53:05] The way Chalene sees it, the entrepreneurs who will succeed are the ones who invest in others.

[00:54:07] Two common theme Chalene sees throughout her life is that she is a problem solver and that she is a teacher at heart.

[00:55:48] Chalene shares her advice to young entrepreneurs that you shouldn’t try to do it yourself. “You save yourself so many headaches and so much trial and tribulation by investing in that person who’s done it”.

[00:56:59] Chalene shares how to connect with her online. You can listen to her business podcast, Build Your Tribe, or listen to her personal podcast The Chalene Show. You can also check out her Youtube channel, @chalenejohnson, or follow her on Instagram @chalenejohnson

You know that feeling when you find a platform that just works—and you never have to worry about switching? That’s been me and Showit for the past 10+ years.

I built my website with Showit because it gives me total design freedom.

If you’re ready to build a website that works FOR you—and not against you—head to JasmineStar.com/showit for a 14-day free trial + first month free when you subscribe!

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