IAM044 – Entrepreneur & Business Owner Redefines Healthy Within the Fitness Industry

Laurin Conlin is an IFBB Bikini Pro, holds her Masters in Exercise Science and is the owner of LoCoFit. The mission of her company and brand, and all brands she aligns herself with, is to redefine healthy within the fitness industry. LoCoFit provides coaching for physique competitors and lifestyle, transformation clients. Laurin also co-hosts two podcasts, Redefine Healthy Radio and The UNglamorous Life.

CEO Hack: Know yourself and know how you work, continue to develop self (e.g. reading, audiobooks, podcast) and be honest
CEO Nugget: Honest and truthfulness. Understand where your business is and where you want to be.  Be careful with what you say “Yes” and “No” to.
CEO Defined: Take your mission and making it a realization.

Website: www.laurinconlin.com
Social Media: http://instagram.com/laurinconlin
Podcasts: www.laurinconlin.com/content/

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Laurin Conlin of LoCoFit. Laurin, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Laurin Conlin 0:37

Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Gresham Harkless 0:39

No problem. I appreciate you. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about you and all the awesome things you've been able to accomplish so people can learn a little bit more about you. Laurin Conlin is an IFBB Bikini Pro, holds her Masters's in Exercise Science, and is the owner of LoCoFit. The mission of her company and brand, and all brands she aligns herself with, is to redefine healthy within the fitness industry. LoCoFit provides coaching for physique competitors and lifestyle, transformation clients. Laurin also co-hosts two podcasts, Redefine Healthy Radio and The UNglamorous Life. Lauren, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Laurin Conlin 1:16

Yes, I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:17

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, the first question I had, which is for you to kind of tell us a little bit more about you and your business, is what kind of led you to get started.

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Laurin Conlin 1:24

So I've been in the fitness bodybuilding realm. Since I was about 18. Growing up, I was pretty active. And then once I graduated high school was going to college, I knew I wasn't going to do sports there, but I still wanted to do something. So I joined a gym because I really enjoyed weightlifting and found a group of bodybuilding meatheads to train with. And then I went to my first show and saw it and was like, wow, this is pretty cool. I want to do this. And then I entered my first show the following year, not really knowing what I was doing, but had a really great time and knew that I wanted to switch my focus to that. So took about two years off, because at that point being 19. And trying to do at that point, I was figuring, I just didn't have the look yet.

It took two years off. And then I pretty much just started competing continuously two years later, eventually earning my pro card in the bikini division. And after I switched. And at that point, in my undergrad, I had started coaching, a very small lot of people like obviously one person at first, and then it was like two, and then it was just a few, but I kept it really small, I didn't really think too much of it. And then I knew I wanted to start my master's. So I started that was getting kind of research on deck. And then that's when I actually turned pro in the first semester of my master's program. And then afterward, I had some coaches, who I was friends with come to me and really encouraged me to pursue this more. So like the coaching side of it. So I still kept it really small because I was focused primarily on school, but I just started gradually building the business from there. So then by the time I graduated, I had been doing this for about three years very part-time. But now I had the systems in place to actually be a successful coach.

Gresham Harkless 3:00

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, that's a phenomenal story, how you've been able to kind of progress from just kind of being interested in it, and actually now having a business and actually coaching clients and everything like that. So I think that's pretty awesome to hear your progression and how you've been able to kind of come to where you are now. So I wanted to drill a little bit deeper to kind of learn a little bit more about your business, and how exactly you help and serve your clients.

Laurin Conlin 3:19

My business is 100% online, I work with people, mostly in the States, but in all other countries as well. And it's basically just online nutrition and training and coaching. And there's of course, with that a heavy emphasis on the psychological side of things. I'm definitely no psychologist by degree, but I work a lot with the kind of mental side of things because they all go hand in hand.

So whether it's training programming, or it's nutrition, coaching, and you know, helping them with it depends on the client, really. So if it's like a lifestyle client, that's going to be a lot different than a competitive physique athlete, like how intensive their diet is. But I would say that my main niche is very advanced, even if they are lifestyle clients. So these are people who may not be stepping on stage, but they're really taking things pretty seriously.

It is just the level of where we're going is just different. So for anybody who's not familiar with physique competitions are very extreme, and the body fat levels and the amount of muscle that you have per division are pretty most people would consider extreme so a lifestyle client isn't going to necessarily get there, but I still take my lifestyle clients and vehicles just as seriously so everything online, we have, weekly check-ins and I have this document that I use and we go back and forth and answer your questions and kind of troubleshoot things with them and really just help them understand, how all this can fit into their lives and really be part of it instead of being something that is I'll do this nutrition thing, maybe for a few months and then the other few months the year I'm off. So I really want to make this a whole lifestyle for people and educating clients is really the biggest thing that I do daily.

Gresham Harkless 4:54

I love that you talking more about like how people can incorporate these change use or whatever we like in nutrition, but also psychological things. And, of course, fitness exercises, how they can make the right long-term changes to their entire lives.

Laurin Conlin 5:09

Oh, yeah. Because it's different for an athlete, whether it's a performance-based athlete because I work with some powerlifters or physique athletes, that's very different, because there's very distinct like offseason, and competition periods and things are semi-concrete, right? For them, it still it's making it a lifestyle, but it's making that on the more extreme end of their lifestyle, whereas with the lifestyle clients, like I said, it can be a little bit more of, hey, like, let's take the next, you know, six months to a year to really focus on this. And then you'll have the tools for the rest of your life to be able to do this yourself.

Gresham Harkless 5:39

Awesome, awesome, awesome. It sounds like you're kind of empowering your clients. And I think that's really powerful, because they're able to kind of quote-unquote, fish for themselves, so to speak, and be able to start incorporating those things into their lives and take care of their health. So that's awesome that you're able to do that. Now, when it asks you more for what I call your secret sauce, which might be like kind of your differentiator, what do you feel like kind of makes you and your company unique?

Laurin Conlin 5:59

I'm extremely organized and conscientious. And it has benefited me in so many ways with this business. So the thing with coaching is that there are really no rules of course, can really do things however you want. But I found out very quickly, that if I did things a certain way, I was just going to crumble, and I was not going to be successful. And with a one-on-one kind of client basis, everything is based on customer service, right?

It's based on, you know, the turnaround time how organized, you are time you are, you have to set boundaries for yourself and for them. And you just have to learn all those kinds of things. And I know a lot of coaches who are not organized so things basically everything's like haphazard like through the week like they don't know when people are gonna be checking in, they might be doing things on their phone, they might be doing things on the computer, they might be doing some calls, I have a much more organized system of things, okay, these are the days I do my updates, hours that I work, this is when I traveled.

And that is the only way that I've been able to maintain the workload that I have. And I also know my limits. So a lot of people will just take on a bunch of clients when they don't have these systems really set in place. And then again, they kind of fail, and they're now, they're disorganized, they're late getting back to people and this, that, and the other, and word spreads really fast.

Especially now with social media, you know, everybody's fitness industry is big, but it's still very small. So everyone's very connected. And if you are not providing the best service for your clients, why would they work with you, there are hundreds of other coaches. So what I really tried to do is no mind limits and set structure within the business that really kind of has no structure at all, and see what works for me. And I really encourage anybody who's starting out to do that.

Gresham Harkless 7:34

Yeah, I think when you peel back the kind of the onion, so to speak of any business, you'll see that is made up of processes and systems. So it's awesome that you've been able to kind of incorporate that into an industry and into your business as well, too. And I think that obviously, is a huge and phenomenal example of a secret sauce or a differentiator for you. So what I wanted to do is switch gears a little bit, and you want to touch a little bit more on it already. But I wanted to ask you about what I call a CEO hack. And this could be an app, it could be a book, or it could be something that you kind of lean on or turn to that makes you more effective and efficient as a CEO.

Laurin Conlin 8:05

So I guess I could say a few things. Well, one would, a good hack would just be the organization you have to know yourself if you're running a business or even if it's like a side thing, right? Like you have a regular job. And then you're trying to do this something else on the side, right? You have to understand how you operate and how you work what times of day you work best at, what kind of spaces things like that. And, I found out very quickly what was working, and what wasn't working.

So I had to set that up. Because when you have your own business, you can set that up, right? So at first, it was like, oh gosh, should I do that? Like, are my clients gonna be upset if I asked them to do XYZ but really people understand, so you have to know yourself and know how you work. So you can actually be effective, I would say continually self-developing is, is of course a hack that I'm sure everybody who comes on this podcast talks about, but it really is important, whether that's audiobooks, podcasting, reading, whatever it is, again, that works for you.

Taking time to do that, even if it's just a few days a week is going to be really, really important. And then lastly, just being honest with yourself, and whoever you're working with, honesty is always the best policy. And when in doubt, just be truthful, because that is going to be so much better for you in the long run. So be truthful with yourself, okay, hey, I can handle this. I can't handle that how do I troubleshoot these issues, and be truthful with my clients or people that you're working with? Or if you have employees, what's really important is being upfront and truthful. And I know that a lot of people are not truthful.

But it can be uncomfortable to kind of put yourself in a situation especially if you're managing other people. I mean, you don't want to maybe like hurt their feelings or whatever. But being honest with yourself other people and your clients is going to be a really big key to success.

Gresham Harkless 9:44

Yeah, I definitely would echo that, and being honest, as you said, and definitely upfront definitely goes a long way especially if you're trying to have like, clear communication with somebody kind of like not being clear and kind of distinct about what exactly it is that you're saying. It sometimes hurt you or I can help you in the long run.

Laurin Conlin 10:01

Exactly. And then you start stressing yourself out over these, like fake scenarios and you haven't even asked the person or told them. And I know I do that, or I used to do that, and I still do that. But for my business at least, a big thing was setting okay days and times for like people to send their updates and stuff and just being a little bit more organized with that. And a lot of coaches do not do that. They just say, hey, just update me.

And then Monday, you might get a ton, Thursday might get a ton, and the rest of the week is kind of just all over the place, right? And for me, that just didn't work, I didn't like not knowing the amount of work that I was going to have per day. So basically, I set it up for, at least for my major client interactions to be on certain days, I work at certain times that I'm actually highly functioning at because there are certain times a day that I don't function as well. And then I do other things that don't require me, you know, be doing the update. So it's just you have to be honest with yourself, and then with you know, everybody else.

Gresham Harkless 10:51

Yeah, that's all about setting expectations. And like you said, knowing yourself is huge because it helps you to be able to scale and be more effective and efficient. So those are a few phenomenal SEO hacks. And, now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be a golden pearl or piece of wisdom or golden nugget that you have for other entrepreneurs and business owners.

Laurin Conlin 11:11

I guess I would really just this kind of echoes the honesty and truthfulness again. But you have to understand where your business is and where you want it to be. And that helps you guide your decisions really through that lens. So for my business, primarily, it's coaching, but then I have a lot of other things that I do, whether it's podcasts or speaking engagements, or working with different companies for positions like that. And I have to look at everything through the lens, okay, does this help redefine healthy within the industry? Does this help my mission, this is quality products are these things that I actually use things like that, you'd have to again, have everything kind of come back to whether it's the mission statement, or whether it's just what your brand stands for and represents. And it can be, that means saying no to certain things, if they don't feel right, or they don't feel in line with that, right? And you can always say no to something and then revisit it later.

I think a lot of people see certain opportunities, and then they get worried about saying no, and then they're like, oh, it's gonna be gone forever if I don't take it. And that is true for certain things. I'm not saying don't act on things that you want to be a part of. But if you kind of have like an iffy feeling, or if you haven't weighed out all the options, and seen if it's the best fit for you, then I wouldn't go for it. And I would just really kind of delve into like, Okay, does this align with my mission statement, with my brand, how I want to represent myself? because your image is everything, no matter what your brand or company is, whether it's personally, or it's just like a whole face of a brand. What that represents, like if somebody says, this brand name, right, and you always think of one or two things, right? You want that to be a positive thing for people. So be careful with what you say yes. And also what you say no to within your business.

Gresham Harkless 12:54

I love that. I love that. Yeah, just being true to who you are and what it is that you do. But understanding exactly what you said, like your mission and your goal does it align with it if it doesn't align with that maybe it's not the right time, or maybe you just say no completely because it doesn't kind of align with where you're trying to go and what you're trying to accomplish. So I think that's a phenomenal CEO nugget. And I appreciate you for providing that. So now I know that your mission is really big on redefining what healthy means within the fitness industry.

So we have this podcast hopefully to redefine exactly what being a CEO means. So I wanted to ask you specifically what being a CEO mean to you.

Laurin Conlin 13:29

So being a CEO really is taking whatever that mission is, and making it a realization. So you can do that in a variety of ways. And it might be a product-based, company, or it might be a service-based company, or it might just be a personal brand. It might be I guess speaking and things like that would be within the personal brand. So whatever it is, whether it's services or products or personally, it really is just like what your brand and your mission statement alive. And kind of how that goes out in the world is whatever you're trying to do with whatever medium and the cool thing about, this space right now, just in life, and 2018 is that there are so many things that are rapidly changing.

I have so many different opportunities. And so like right now people ask me, oh, what do you plan on doing in five years, you know, with coaching and this and that, and it's hard to say because there's so much that is changing. And I know that again, my mission of educating people through different mediums will always be the same but it might look a little bit different.

So just being a CEO is just your brand your mission just like life in the world. And however, you want to do it is the best way you want to package it up and how you should do it.

Gresham Harkless 14:47

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And I truly appreciate you Laurin for taking some time out of your schedule. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, and see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get a hold of you.

Laurin Conlin 14:58

Yeah, well again, thank you so much for having me on. I absolutely love connecting with people in different ways. So a big thing for me like starting the podcast was I recognized really early that coaching is very limited as far as how many people you can reasonably take on. And while you still want to have a good work quality, so I knew that in order to expand I needed to travel and speak more and travel and go to fitness events and do more podcasts and be on people's podcasts and like kind of spread this mission.

So I really appreciate you for having me on. I absolutely love doing stuff like this. And hopefully, you guys found this helpful and you know, took some things away from what I said if you want to follow along with what I'm doing. It's just at @laurinconlin you will find me on all social media and my website is the same thing www.laurinconlin.com We're all services and products and things are available. And as we talked about the beginning of two podcasts that I co-host one is redefined healthy radio and the other is the unglamorous life. So if you guys like podcasts and are interested, those are two more that you can add to it

Gresham Harkless 16:04

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And we'll definitely have links to your website, your Instagram, social media, and also the to podcast and the show notes, just in case anybody wants to follow up. Thank you so much again, Laurin. I truly appreciate all the awesome things that you're doing.

Laurin Conlin 16:16

Yes, thank you for having me on, and hope you all have a great day.

Outro 16:20

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Thank you for listening

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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