IAM045 – Author & Entrepreneur Trains Personal Trainers & Helps People with Rhabdomyolysis

Joe Cannon has been self-employed since 2002. He holds an MS in exercise science, he trains personal trainers and is the author of 8 books including the first book ever written on exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis. He's been quoted in the NY Times, The Daily Beast and has even lectured to NASA.

CEO Hack: iPhone w/ Siri (responding to text messages), Carbonite
CEO Nugget: Believe in yourself and do what you're passionate about
CEO Defined: Making a difference in the world in a way I'm best able to do that

Website: joe-cannon.com/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/supplementclarity/
Shop: joe-cannon.com/shop/
Website: supplementclarity.com/

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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 0:29

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 Joe Cannon from joe-cannon.com and supplementclarity.com.

Joe, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Joe Cannon 0:41

Hey, Gresh thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:44

Awesome. What I wanted to do was read a little bit about Joe so you can learn a little bit more about his background and all the awesome things that he's been able to accomplish.

Joe Cannon has been self-employed since 2002. He holds an MS in Exercise Science. He trains personal trainers and is the author of eight books, including the first book ever written on exercise-induced Rhabdo.

Joe Cannon 1:05

I'll clear that up for you. I'll say Rhabdomyolysis.

Gresham Harkless 1:09

He's been quoted in the New York Times and The Daily Beast in even lectured to NASA. So, Joe, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Joe Cannon 1:16

I absolutely am. Bring it on.

Gresham Harkless 1:18

Awesome. Well, the first question I had was just if we can learn a little bit more about your CEO story, and what led you to start your business.

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Joe Cannon 1:25

Yeah, absolutely. I am kind of the accidental CEO and never really thought about doing this before or my younger years, I wanted to be a research scientist. That led me to get an undergrad in chemistry and biology and eventually got my Master's in exercise science. But my main interest is dietary supplements. So I'm an oddball in this industry. I like telling people what works, what doesn't work, and what side effects, etc. I was writing about supplements back in the 90s and then my life kind of took a sideways turn, my parents passed away from cancer within three months of each other. That kind of derailed me, I kind of threw myself into my work, and I stopped writing.

I went to work at a hospital-based fitness center where I oversaw a bunch of classes for people who were having health problems, arthritis, diabetes, etc. I was rolling around with that for a few years. One day I had a difficult meeting with the upper echelon of the club, and went home very tired and sat down on the sofa all by myself. This is going to get a little strange, but it really did happen. I turned on the TV, and there was Oprah. I don't actually even know what she was talking about. But I always remember Oprah saying, Why are you doing something you really don't want to do?

My eyes perked up. Then the next sentence was, what do you really want to do? And in that room by myself, I said, I want to write and I want to talk. It was like, the light bulb just went off again, over my head, it was like, I was ready again to start. Then I went in the next day, and I quit. Funny, I was literally talking to my former boss last year about this. He actually said, we thought you made the biggest mistake. But I began doing personal training one-on-one with people. I started writing again, which eventually led me to write a book on dietary supplements. Then back around 2009, 2010, I took it on the internet. I created a website, where I started reviewing supplements.

I opened up to the whole world, I said, you know, this is what the research shows, this is what the research doesn't show. And it just kind of took off from there. And in between all that I still personal, I still train personal trainers. So on the weekends, I usually go out and I do seminars for people who want to be personal trainers and those who already are fitness trainers. Then I also do lunchtime lectures to businesses that want to bring me in, you know, my motto is to have PowerPoint will travel. So I'll go in and do a little lecture on you know, top five exercises you can do for your desk or top five supplements you stay away from or something like that. And so that's basically me.

Most days of the week, I'm in front of my computer researching dietary supplements, or health and wellness weekends, I do lectures to personal trainers. Then on the weekdays, I'll sometimes go out for businesses and lecture for them as well. And in between all that, you know, I'll do started doing YouTube videos and, and you will see what the future holds. But that is me in a nutshell.

Gresham Harkless 4:20

Awesome. Obviously hard to hear about your parents. I'm sorry that happened. But obviously, it's been a transition that's led you to where you are now and with Oprah, you know, making an appearance as well. It's also been something good for you. So I appreciate all the awesome things that you're doing and you're able to kind of make an impact upon the world.

I wanted to drill a little bit deeper into your business and ask you a little bit more about like how you actually serve clients, and what are some of the products and services that you have.

Joe Cannon 4:46

So one of the things I do is again, I write these very detailed, easy-to-understand reviews of dietary supplements. I just basically give most of the way to everybody. If you want to go to my website, supplementclarity.com. There are hundreds and hundreds of reviews of pretty much everything you can think of under the sun. I also have written several books, and they're available on my websites as well as they're on Amazon. So that's another thing that I'll do. I do consult on the side as well. It's another thing I didn't mention, I consult people in the dietary supplement industry, if they are looking to put together a supplement, they'll ask my input, and I'll, you know, look over what they want to do. And I'll say, hey, go take this out, that's controversial, you might want to add this in this is a better product, etc.

So I'll do some consultations on the side with them. As well as with fitness trainers, sometimes fitness trainers will come to me with questions on different topics, and we'll, we'll do a little half hour or 60 minutes, you know, the little one-on-one coaching session on that as well. So that's another thing I do so on different days, I wear different hats, you can say.

Gresham Harkless 5:46

Yeah, I mean, I think anybody who's a CEO, entrepreneur, or business owner probably can relate to that for sure. So I wanted to now ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this can be kind of like your differentiator, what do you kind of feel like makes you unique as an entrepreneur business owner?

Joe Cannon 6:00

So one of the things that I think differentiates me is I'm a bit of a transformer, I like looking at the research and drilling down to the essence of that research and transforming it into information that everybody can take and run with right now. So I'll pick apart research, I'll find out what's good, and what's not so good. I'll give it all to you. So you can make your own judgment for yourself whether you know, it's relevant to you or not. So I like taking the complicated things, whether it's on supplements or exercise, boiling it down to its essence, and just giving it to you right then and there.

So I'm a big fan of my former teachers who assumed I knew nothing and just gave me the bottom line on things. And that's kind of what I like to do just give you the scoop on things and let you make your own choice of what you think is best for you.

Gresham Harkless 6:44

Awesome, awesome. It seems like you're able to kind of synthesize everything so that we can kind of understand exactly what you get the information, I guess that we're actually looking for in need. And that's definitely something that's a huge differentiator and a great example of secret sauce. So I appreciate that. And what I want to do is switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call now a CEO hack. And this might be a book, it might be an app, or it might be a platform or something that you use or lean on every a regular everyday basis that makes you more effective and efficient as a business.

Joe Cannon 7:13

Yeah, sure. There are a couple of them right off the bat. I'm looking at one right now. And it's my iPhone, iPhone, I used to use Android until I discovered that Siri is embedded in the iPhone, and Siri is the only woman that ever listens to me. I can, you know, in this age of text messaging, I can dictate my text messages. And not only that, will Siri will read my incoming text messages back to me. And I can actually have a conversation without even touching the phone. So you know, here we have these days, people always, you know, texting and driving, I don't even have to touch my phone, my phone can be on the passenger side seat. And I can just say, you know, hey, read a text message, and I can respond to it. And I can have an entire conversation without even looking at the phone or even thinking about the phone, whether I'm driving or whether I'm just sitting at my desk multitasking.

So I would definitely say Siri is something that I use every single day. And that's really the main reason I have an iPhone. The other thing I would point out is maybe something that maybe nobody's brought up before is we all have computers and we all need backups. I use a program called Carbonite, and it's just automatic in the background. It brings everything out to the cloud so that if my computer ever crashes, all I got to do is get a new computer or a new hard drive. And then I reinstall Carbonite push a button and everything just zooms right back onto my new computer. Carbonite has saved me twice hard drive failures where I lost the computer was gone. And if it was not for Carbonite, I would have been up a major Creek. So Carbonite absolutely has saved my butt on at least two occasions. So those are two things right off the bat, I would say for entrepreneurs. Just take a look at those.

Gresham Harkless 8:55

Yeah, those are phenomenal hacks. And obviously, as you mentioned kind of poopoo happens sometimes. So making sure that you have a backup to your backup sometimes helps save everybody so that you can make sure if something happens if technology sometimes doesn't work, how it should you have a way for you to kind of make sure you get everything back to you and that you don't lose everything. So that's a phenomenal CEO hack. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice that you might have for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Joe Cannon 9:23

Sure, I think I thought about this, and the best thing advice I can give to people especially if you're starting out is a belief in yourself. When I first got into this whole writing thing and writing on the internet thing, my mantra that I said to myself as I will make them know who I am, and by them is anybody who's looking for the real scoop real truth on all this stuff.

You know, in the world of health and fitness. There are a lot of people out there who want to sell you a product that may or may not be the greatest we want to say avoid a mineral supplement that may not be the greatest. I like cutting through the hype. And so, again, I believe in myself I believe in my abilities. I believe that my cause is just, I want you to know what I know. And what I want always, life doesn't have to be as complicated as what some of the health and fitness gurus out there will make it out to be.

So I would say Belief in yourself too, you know, do what you are most passionate about. And that's what I'm most passionate about health and fitness, especially dietary supplements. And as you mentioned, a little while ago, I've written a little book on Rhabdomyolysis, which is something I've devoted over 10 years of my life to investigating. And that's the top, it's a medical condition where your muscles break down from too much exercise. And so I'm really passionate about that.

And so I always tell people to do what they're passionate about. And again, it's an old saying, but if you do what you're passionate about, you'll never work a day in your life. And I don't think of what I do is work. But again, a lot of my day is spent in front of a computer researching stuff, whereas if I'm doing seminars, for personal trainers, that does not work at all. To me, that's fun. And so I really, even though people seem to think that, you know, I work a lot and stuff like that, you know, I love what I do.

So I honestly don't mind getting up at 5 am and hopping on the computer and working sometimes. So you know, 8 9 10 o'clock in the evening or working all day, during a seminar or something like that. So do what you do, do what you love, have passionate about what you do, and believe in yourself. And again, I think eventually, people will start to take notice, and you will rise to the top. And again, I think I think for anybody no matter what industry you're in, whether it's health and fitness, or finance, or whatever, I think that's the best advice I can give anybody.

Gresham Harkless 11:25

Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely agree with that kind of you putting yourself in your zone of genius, so to speak, because you're doing what you love, you're doing what you're really good at. And then all of a sudden, people do start to take notice, because you're in your zone of genius, so to speak. So I think that's a phenomenal CEO nugget.

Joe Cannon 11:38

Thanks.

Gresham Harkless 11:39

And now I wanted to ask you what your definition is of being a CEO. We're hoping to have different CEOs on the podcast and kind of redefine, what exactly that means. So what does being a CEO specifically mean to you?

Joe Cannon 11:51

For me, it means I get to make a difference in the world in the way that most matters to me. And that's really it's all about what I might want again, another one of my little sayings is that myself is I like to think that I'm making a difference. I'm making a difference in the world, somehow I want to leave my mark on other people. And when I get an email or a phone call from somebody that says, Hey, Joe, I just found you, you saved me a lot of money on a supplement, or Hey, Joe, I'm in the hospital right now. And I found your articles on say Rhabdomyolysis. And I showed it to my doctor that actually has happened, by the way. And you just saved me a lot of pain and suffering, you know, that makes a difference to me.

And so I look at myself as being a CEO as I get to make a difference in the world in the way that I think I'm best able to do that. And again, I think that's the best calling of a CEO making a difference in the world. And that's really what gets me up in the morning. It really was what does keep me up late at night, I want to try to, again, make a difference and make a difference in the lives of other people.

Gresham Harkless 12:51

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Yeah, a lot of people that start businesses become CEOs and entrepreneurs and business owners are really mission-driven. So to remember, like, why you're doing what it is that you do, and you're actually making a difference and an impact upon the world is a phenomenal thing. So, Joe, I appreciate you for taking some time out and the difference that you're making in the world. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and our listeners know about you your business, or pieces of advice and how people can best get a hold of you.

Joe Cannon 13:18

Sure, again, if you're in this business of health and fitness again, I would say Belief in yourself, and do what you're most passionate about. you'll never work a day in your life. You're gonna have setbacks, I have had setbacks, myself, several of them over the years. But if you get back up and you learn from your mistakes, then it was for a reason. Okay. So don't look at your setbacks as being a detour to your progress.

Again, you learn from your mistakes experience is the fruit of the tree of errors, as someone said a long time ago, learn from your mistakes, and move on. And again, you'll that'll be the best thing you can do for yourself. And again, if you ever want to get a hold of me, I'm really easy to find on Google or Bing or Yahoo or whatever just Joe Cannon supplements or Joe Cannon exercise you'll find me again, my website should just joe-cannon.com. And that's where I write about health and fitness and wellness. And then supplementclarity.com is an entire site devoted to intense user-friendly dietary supplement reviews. I do love Instagram go figure I never thought I would. So if you're on Instagram, I'm supplementclarity on Instagram. So I'm pretty easy to find.

Gresham Harkless 14:20

Awesome, awesome, awesome. And we'll definitely have those links in the show notes, especially to Instagram and your website so people can follow, and find out about all the awesome things that you're doing. But Joe, thank you so much again for taking some time out and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Joe Cannon 14:32

Hey, Gresh thanks very much. It was a pleasure doing this.

Outro 14:35

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

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