IAM339- Yoga Instructor Helps Entrepreneurs Attain Peak Performance

DeDee Cai is the first generation immigrant who have paved her own way in getting an education, and finding meaningful work. She is the founder and CEO of FIT TO PROFIT. Her company utilizes her expertise in psychology, cognitive science, holistic wellness, physical training, and business to help executive leaders and entrepreneurs attain peak performance.

She has been in the health and wellness industry for over a decade learning how to train herself to be, not only physically fit, but mentally as well. This journey was personal for her as she knows what it’s like to go from feeling stuck, miserable and unfulfilled to feeling energized, happy and successful. She has taught thousands of students, and trained hundreds of yoga instructors whom are now changing lives every single day through their instructions. She believes that this is just the beginning, and that everyone deserves a second chance to life. Her vision through FIT TO PROFIT is to empower everyone to realize his or her true potential by making life mentorship and coaching accessible to everyone, everywhere in the world.

• CEO Hack: Managing my distractions
• CEO Nugget: Ask for help much sooner
• CEO Defined: Freedom to express yourself, be your own boss and to create impact

Website: http://www.fittoprofit.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fit-to-Profit-LLC-199643704023863/?modal=admin_todo_tour
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dedee-cai-468033167/

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Transcription

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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 0:30

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 Dedee Cai of Fit to Profit. Dedee Cai, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Dedee Cai 0:38

Yes, thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to be here with you all.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

No problem super excited to have you on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about DD so you can hear about all of the awesome things that she's doing. And Dedee Cai is the first generation immigrant who has paved her own way in getting an education and finding meaningful work. She is the founder and CEO of FIT TO PROFIT. Her company utilizes her expertise in psychology, cognitive science, holistic wellness, physical training, and business to help executive leaders and entrepreneurs attain peak performance.

She has been in the health and wellness industry for over a decade learning how to train herself to be, not only physically fit but mentally as well. This journey was personal for her as she knows what it’s like to go from feeling stuck, miserable, and unfulfilled to feeling energized, happy, and successful.

She has taught thousands of students and trained hundreds of yoga instructors who are now changing lives every single day through their instructions. She believes that this is just the beginning and that everyone deserves a second chance at life. Her vision through FIT TO PROFIT is to empower everyone to realize his or her true potential by making life mentorship and coaching accessible to everyone, everywhere in the world. Dedee, Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Dedee Cai 1:50

Oh, yes, thank you again, for having me. I'm super excited to be here with all of you.

Gresham Harkless 1:55

No problem, super excited to have you on as well and wanted to kick everything thing off and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Dedee Cai 2:04

Oh, wow, I will keep it short and sweet. For the purpose of our time today, if you've already heard about it already, this has been truly a personal journey. For me. It goes back very far to when I was in my 20s and trying to figure out what it is that I really want to do with the rest of my life. I got into corporate work and realise that wasn't for me soon after, got into starting my own businesses with my mother.

So salon businesses and also restaurant business. Within that process, and about seven years timeframe, I have had a plateau, I would say a rock bottom period of my life where nothing was enjoyable to me and I wasn't enjoying my work. I almost lost myself in a process where I didn't know who I was, I knew I was going to work and coming home when the sun is down. So what I decided was to really take a step back and how I did that was got into long-distance running to find an outlet for myself just to process things and to figure out what I really wanted to do.

And within that process got me to train for my first marathon Long story short, I couldn't go very far after the first 13 miles of running and training. My girlfriend at the time suggested I take on some yoga classes just to help stretch and perhaps get me further along with my yoga, my marathon training. And I did. So that saves me physically. And ultimately, after a little bit, a couple of months of practicing yoga got me really to think about oh my gosh, what have I been up to the past seven years and what I do need to do with my life right now and realize that I needed to really take on myself and to do the internal work to figure out what I really truly want to do.

So I got on to certify myself as a yoga instructor. During the process I realized that my business with my mother was actually something I wanted to do obligation, I wanted to support her and fulfill her dream.

And that was in my dream. So that was a hard decision I had to make to step away from that business at the same time around the same year. A week before my wedding. One of my best friends committed suicide. Oh, wow. So yeah, imagine adding being at the highest point of my life and then hitting the lowest point emotionally in my life made me realize that wow, like there are so many people who have been suffering in silence and gotten me back to my dark days too, I share at the beginning that I was in my early 20s, I was suffering from anxiety and depression as well. Fortunately, I didn't take the route that my friend did.

So what caught me right there and then was the purpose of my life is to really teach people how to overcome the inner critic, the self-sabotage, and also ultimately love themselves for a second chance to live. Yeah, so that was when I decided I wanted to really explore more of how I can really turn that into work for me, and that is going to fulfill me.

So I enrolled myself in a holistic health and life coaching program, which is my sort of fee justification is in coming full circle when I was in college. As you can see, my background is cognitive and Counselling Psychology, I wanted to be a therapist, but life happens. So I didn't take on that route of going to medical school. But when I finished up my Holistic Health Coaching program, I realized that I can turn it into a coaching practice. So coming full circle in a way this is exactly what I want to do, but I just couldn't put it in words. So right away with the turning point, losing my best friend, and recalling my dark days, I decided this is what I need to do for the rest of my life. And that's when I launched my coaching business.

Gresham Harkless 6:31

Wow, definitely sorry to hear all of that happened. But I appreciate you for sharing that. Because there's a lot of times, when you're driving forward, as a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners are, those stories aren't necessarily told. And a lot of times, if you feel that way, sometimes you feel that you're weird, or you shouldn't be feeling that way. But it's something that's real.

So I appreciate you for sharing that. And also helps people to understand that to fight night, maybe not fight, but just be aware of what's going on and see how they can try to not feel those dark times as much as possible and take certain routes. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper here a little bit more about what you're doing with Fits to Profit, and then what you feel is your secret sauce.

Dedee Cai 7:17

So what we do provide currently, right now is one on one coaching with the leaders and business owners. And most importantly, I'm excited about the fact that this year, most of my clients have been coaches and consultants, what we do is really create an accountability system for everyone to have a say, and really define their business plan for the year, their action, and also really keeping themselves aligned with their purpose. And I would say the secret sauce and why we are so great. Well, what we do is that not only are we looking at someone's business step individually, and specifically we're looking at everything as a whole.

So for example, with my experience and understanding how to really balance everything, one of my core values is to really help someone understand what it is that they really truly want to profit out of having their business. Yes, monetarily, for sure, right? Why would you want to be in business if you're not making any money? But ultimately, at the same time, what does that mean for you? What do you have to sacrifice in your personal life, if I can help you to really realign everything where you don't have to lose yourself in a process, that is my goal.

So we really look at someone's business from a really holistic standpoint, and only allow the person to create a business plan that makes sense and is sustainable for the long run, running a business for myself.

And I know most entrepreneurs would agree with me that it is a long game, you're either in it for the longest time for the rest of your life. So it's important to have a foundation and a system to really sustain everything and your lifestyle is the most important and most importantly, you are your business. So you have to be able to take care of yourself so you can do and conduct the business you need to do. So that is really our unique selling point is that we are not interested in the business side of things, but we're just as interested in making sure that someone is really thriving on a personal level.

Gresham Harkless 9:25

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I appreciate you for sharing that because I think when you hear the word profit, you're automatically thinking of bottom-line revenue, how much revenue are you generating? How much money are you making, As you mentioned, a lot of times people will start businesses or organizations for a specific cause, like you have a phenomenal story yourself.

A lot of people will create a business largely because they want to solve some type of issue or problem or help out people in a certain way. So to understand that profit means more than just bottom-line revenue is something that I appreciate you for doing and helping so many others to do as well too?

Dedee Cai 10:03

Exactly, yes, absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 10:06

Nice. And I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have. But it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Dedee Cai 10:17

So a lot of what I teach is how to optimize your energy versus time because we all know, there are only 24 hours in a day. So one of my biggest hacks, and what I truly focus on every day, is to manage my distractions.

Gresham Harkless 10:34

Nice, I definitely appreciate that. Because it's funny, a lot of us forget, and I think I read something about Facebook, where sometimes you forget that these are businesses, these apps are really built and psychologically will do things to distract you. So it's great to hear that, first of all, you keep your phone, the first page of your phone completely empty, because those things can sometimes be overwhelming and distracting. And I love the fact that you have that mantra that you go back to because just like you mentioned, in the very beginning, we all have a reason for what it is that we're doing and sometimes do the day-to-day grind, and especially of running and managing a business.

And sometimes team members and employees, you can sometimes lose that focus. But if you can go back to that module and say, this is why I'm doing X, Y, and Z and this is in alignment or it's not alignment, it helps make things a little bit easier to understand what to do or not to do. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self,

Dedee Cai 11:36

I should have asked for help much sooner. Honestly, I didn't learn how to get support and ask for help until I actually launched my business. And the first time I did that was basically hiring my first business mentor. And I can tell you, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be where I am today and be this successful in a short amount of time. I was always a self-starter. And I knew that to work hard. However, what I've learned through the years of having my own business is you can learn to work hard and hustle your way through. But you can only hustle your way through for so long.

And for so much money the only way to really scale, your knowledge, your expertise, and even with anything you do is to work smart. And to do that is there so many people that are ahead of you. And you have to be able to reach out to ask for support, ask for help. Rather than doing all by yourself. Because it takes a village, it takes a group of people doing the same thing that you are doing to create that large of an impact. So ask for help.

Gresham Harkless 12:50

Absolutely. I think that's a phenomenal reminder, and especially with entrepreneurs and CEOs, a lot of times we're used to jumping in and doing things themselves. But as you mentioned, success is a team sport. So a lot of times it's mentors, it's team members, it's maybe employees, it's maybe mastermind, whatever it is very rarely and probably never do people will succeed all by themselves, even though sometimes that's the narrative. So it's important to understand that not only are you getting help, but you're also sometimes even providing somebody an opportunity to help out as well. But a lot of times we have to ask,

Dedee Cai 13:26

Exactly. So everybody is a contribution and can be a contribution. So it's as long as you are asking, you're actually allowing other people to be there for you and really calling on other people to contribute to society and entrepreneurship space. So you're helping yourself by helping others.

Gresham Harkless 13:48

Exactly. I love that. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show so DeDee, What does being a CEO mean to you?

Dedee Cai 14:01

Being a CEO means to me at the first word why Fits of Profit was created in the first place is freedom. So three specifically what I'm talking about is number one freedom of expression. For myself who it is I really was able to redefine my own definition of success through being my own boss. And then secondly, freedom to create as much of the impact that you want to create.

Gresham Harkless 14:29

Absolutely, I think that's an incredible definition in DeDee I truly appreciate your time, all the awesome things that you're doing, and the awesome things that you provided to us today. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're doing.

Dedee Cai 14:48

Anything additional, I think the interview sums it up. You can definitely check out my website is that www.fittoprofit.com. And send me a note there. I'm also on Facebook under dedee-cai or Fit to Profit as a company. And I'm also on LinkedIn looking for me a dedee-cai. And I will love to get connected with you, no matter the reason whether you are looking for support. If you need a listening ear, as I've already shared, I've gone through quite a bit in my life. So I'm definitely here for a purpose.

Gresham Harkless 15:38

Awesome. Well, thank you so much again, DeDee. I truly appreciate you for fulfilling your purpose and working towards your purpose. And it's a great reminder for all of us to do the same. We will have those links in the show notes as well so that anybody can click through and follow you and see all the awesome things that you doing. But again, I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Dedee Cai 15:56

You do the same thank you so much to have me on the show and it's such an honor to be able to get my story, my voice out there. My intention is to inspire as many people to take charge of their lives as possible. And thank you for making this opportunity possible for me to do that. Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 16:14

No problem.

Outro 16:16

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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