IAM356- Business Owner Passionate about Helping Others Become Who They Want to Be

Heather Chisenhall is a 29-year-old disabled veteran turned small business owner, wife and a mom of 2 crazy boys. She fell into Fitness, Health and Wellness by accident when she was trying to find more natural ways to treat her depression and anxiety and quickly learned that her passion was to help others to help themselves become who they want to be, even if they are unsure of what that is!

• CEO Hack: Reading – Miracle Morning and The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins
• CEO Nugget: Don't quit, keep going, do whatever you have to do but don't stop
• CEO Defined: Being rich and full of spirit

Website: https://www.thehealthygene.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehealthygene/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/thehealthygene?_rdc=1&_rdr

Full Interview

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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 0:29

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 Heather Chisenhall of the thehealthygene.com. Heather, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Heather Chisenhall 0:40

Hi, thank you. I'm actually really excited to be here today.

Gresham Harkless 0:43

No problem. Super excited to have you on and I want to read a little bit more about Heather, so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Heather is a 29-year-old disabled veteran turned small business owner, wife, and mom of 2 crazy boys. She fell into Fitness, Health, and Wellness by accident when she was trying to find more natural ways to treat her depression and anxiety and quickly learned that her passion was to help others to help themselves become who they want to be, even if they are unsure of what that is.

Heather, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Heather Chisenhall 1:16

I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:17

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Heather Chisenhall 1:25

Yeah, so it's been about two or three years ago. It was after I had my son and I was going through a lot of depression and anxiety and struggling with it. The doctors just wanted me to take all the medications and do all the things and they didn't want to treat my symptoms. They just wanted to band-aid me and I was like, no, give me something that I can do to actually help myself in the long term. They were like, well, I guess you can try exercise and nutrition and see if that works and I was like, okay, let's try it.

So I tried it. And behold, it completely changed my entire life. I started to be happier, and healthier, things just were working better for me. When that happened, I was like holy cow, I can help others do this, I can replicate what I'm doing and make something that has just been something that I enjoy doing into a career because who goes to a job that you don't enjoy doing?

I had done that for my entire life and I was like no, not anymore. It is time for me to make this my career. And I started in my garage, I converted my garage to a fully functioning gym. Just about three months ago, I actually opened up into a 3000 square foot location in my downtown area and have expanded enough to be able to do this. So I kind of fell into it. Now I just like to help people the way that I wish I would have been helped from the beginning.

Gresham Harkless 3:17

Nice, well, I definitely appreciate you for doing that and appreciate you for telling your story and being courageous because I think depression and any type of frustration usually is something that's the back closet that you never want to talk about.

I think that there are so many people that are going through it, and I appreciate you for first of all telling your story, but even taking it so much further and actually helping others that are struggling with that. A lot of times you feel hopeless and don't know who to turn to or what to listen to. And sometimes doctors will say take this or take that when in reality sometimes there are other alternatives. So I appreciate you for doing that.

Heather Chisenhall 3:51

Of course. Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 3:54

Yeah, no problem. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper. Can you tell us a little bit more about like how you're serving your clients? Tell us a little bit more about that new gym that you have opened and where exactly, it's located.

Heather Chisenhall 4:04

Yeah, so I am in Libertyville, Illinois. I'm about 30 miles outside of Chicago, almost on the Wisconsin border. The service that I provide is personal training. I do one on one, and I do small group training, but it's all personalized. I do some group training. If a group comes to me and asks for group training, I have the space for it.

I do wellness coaching and nutrition coaching, just to try to serve all of the things that helped me to the community around me because a lot of people don't realize that you really can and you're supposed to heal your body from the inside out, instead of from the outside in.

So that's really what I tried to nail down and really instill into the community around me to get started at a young age. I've got two kids, and they're in the gym, they're working out with me all the time. Like, I want to see families doing it together, because it really starts as a child, I should say, and really working your way up and just growing and learning as you get older.

Gresham Harkless 5:18

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And it's funny, I used to go to like preschools and teach sports camps to a lot of little ones. But one of the big reasons I enjoyed doing it so much was because hopefully, I was planting some seeds that hopefully they would love doing it so much.

That you're training them whether you know it or not, so you just want to try to train them to have a healthy, nutritious lifestyle, so they can continue to do that throughout their entire lives.

Heather Chisenhall 5:43

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 5:44

Yeah. And so it was definitely the food and the nutrition and then the working out that helped you to get through that difficult time. And that's what a lot of people are going through. Is that correct?

Heather Chisenhall 5:56

Yeah. I mean, not everyone goes through similar situations, I actually got diagnosed. It's been I guess, three and a half years ago with being borderline pre-diabetic. And I was like, How is this possibility, I am a thin person, I am reasonably active. I'm not a couch potato. I don't eat all of the sugars and sweets and stuff. But stress has had was my culprit. I didn't know how to cope with it. I didn't know how to deal with it. And I didn't know how to release it. So learning how to do all of that lowered my levels back down. And so yeah, it did jumpstart me a little bit.

Gresham Harkless 6:40

Right. Well, I definitely appreciate you for sharing that with us. Especially a lot of people that are listening to this are definitely movers and shakers and trying to charge through things. And sometimes when you try to take on the world and put the world on your shoulders, it can create a really stressful environment. So understanding exactly how to manage that is something that I think is not really looked at enough. And definitely, I appreciate you for helping out with that.

Heather Chisenhall 7:02

Yeah, thank you. It's my passion now and is just something that I really enjoy doing. And something that really helps me get up in the morning.

Gresham Harkless 7:12

Right. That makes perfect sense. So let me ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for you or your organization, but what do you feel kind of distinguishes you and makes you unique?

Heather Chisenhall 7:23

So what I think makes me unique is honestly the fact that I'm not scared to tell my story. The fact is that when someone walks into the gym, they feel automatically welcome. They feel everyone that is walked in has told me that it's just like, almost a breath of fresh air. I actually really struggle with social anxiety. But I do a really good job of masking it and letting other people feel comfortable. Because I remember walking into gyms and the discomfort that it made me feel. I don't want people to feel that because they can't stay consistent, and they're not going to stay on top of it. And then it's just not going to do anything for them.

So I want them to feel welcome. I'm not scared to tell them my story, I will actually tell my truths, to get them to be able to open up with their truths to me so that I can actually get to the root cause. Because I'm not trying to band-aid anything, we have to work through our skeletons and our things in the past, to be able to move forward and get to the future. Our dots actually don't connect walking forward, they only connect from behind. So you literally have to connect those pieces behind you in order to move further in life.

Gresham Harkless 8:46

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And a lot of times I say, sometimes things happen for specific reasons. And just like what you said, being able to connect those dots looking back is huge, and doing that. And I feel like it also definitely probably helps out too, because you have kind of been in those shoes that other people are going through. So not only are you outside looking in trying to figure out that anxiety or maybe fear, they might have way come into the gym, and you're able to really understand that. So it sounds like you're able to create that deeper connection as a result.

Heather Chisenhall 9:20

That's my goal and what I try to do with all of my clients.

Gresham Harkless 9:25

Yeah, that makes sense. So I appreciate you for sharing that with us. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Heather Chisenhall 9:42

Honestly, I would really have to say reading. I love personal development, and personal growth. It's actually one of the things that got me started, learning. I actually didn't know anything about self-help, personal growth, or personal development books, and Mel Robbin's five second Roll is probably one of my favorite books that has hit home the most.

Because literally 54321 Go, has made the biggest change and impact on my life to be able to do things and how Elrod is Miracle Morning. Both of those two books, I would probably say are my CEO hacks to get you jump-started and going.

Gresham Harkless 10:29

That makes sense. I haven't read The Miracle Morning. But I think I heard Mel Robbins a couple of times, and I have her audiobook. So yeah, a lot of times, you can, see outside things, and sometimes things that are hitting our head to get in our way.

So if you have that 54321 mentality to anything you're on. If we all do that, are on the fence about it helps us to launch ourselves into positive action in that positive action becomes even more and more and more it starts to build that momentum.

Heather Chisenhall 10:58

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 11:00

Yeah. Now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can hop into be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Heather Chisenhall 11:09

Don't quit. Don't take no for an answer. You're gonna fail. Take those failures, turn them into learning experiences, and keep going. And literally, don't stand in your way. Because you are your biggest critic, you are the only person that's actually holding you back. Don't do it, step aside, keep moving, fall backward, fall forwards, do whatever you have to do, but don't stop.

Gresham Harkless 11:39

Yeah, rest, if you must, but just don't quit. Because a lot of times, they may not look pretty, but it's hard to be somebody that never gives up. So if you keep on moving forward, and no matter if it looks pretty good. It doesn't look as pretty as you want it to be just keep moving forward. It's hard to beat somebody that does that.

Heather Chisenhall 11:55

Exactly. It's the picture of the iceberg. Everyone sees the little bit of the iceberg that's on top, but they don't see that huge mass that's below and all the work that was put in to get you to where you are.

Gresham Harkless 12:11

Yeah, it seems like there's definitely this mentality or belief of overnight success. I don't know if it's as a result of social media or social media has just made it a lot harder, or that a lot more prevalent that people see that and think that you just start a business, and then you're just successful. It definitely takes a lot of time effort, and failure to kind of fall your way to success. And if you understand that, it helps out a little bit. But a lot of people don't even have that reality, I guess.

Heather Chisenhall 12:40

Yeah. And they really don't even have the willpower or the drive to accept the failure, because failure is its failure. It's that they quit at the moment. And they've completely lost an opportunity because of opportunity can always come back. But instead of growing with it. They just dropped it and pushed it off to the wayside. And sometimes it is a shame.

Gresham Harkless 13:12

Yeah. It's funny,

Heather Chisenhall 13:14

Sometimes.

Gresham Harkless 13:16

Yeah, it's funny. There's a quote that talks about the graveyard about people who don't even get started, they said the most valuable place not like the bank, this billionaires house, or any of these places is the graveyard because there are so many people that have these ideas, these great books that they want to write these inventions they want to create, but they never create them because they never get started. And it's just it's a shame.

Heather Chisenhall 13:39

It really is. I've never even looked at it like that. But it's true. All of these great ideas have been buried when miracles could have happened with some of the smartness and ability that hasn't been put to use

Gresham Harkless 13:54

All that potential so well. So I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote and quote, CEOs on this show. So what is being a CEO mean to you?

Heather Chisenhall 14:09

So my first thought, when I think of being my own CEO is being rich and I don't mean rich, as in financial. I mean being rich and full of love and full of happiness and full of being able to use my time the way that I want to use my time. Just being rich and spirit and giving the way that I want to be able to give and not have to live by someone else's rules.

Obviously, I still have to be civil and you have to be politically correct with people, but you could live life on your own terms. To me, that is just pure richness, and that's what I see in the CEO. Especially in my profession specifically.

Gresham Harkless 15:07

Yeah, absolutely. Because you get the opportunity to have such a great impact on people's lives and to see them, do some remarkable things. I think, as you said, is definitely a richness and an ultimate gift to be able to have that opportunity.

We definitely appreciate you for doing your part to help out so many people that might be struggling through things or just trying to have and see better parts of their lives. I definitely appreciate you for taking part in that gift and doing your party, man.

Heather Chisenhall 15:37

I love it. Thank you.

Gresham Harkless 15:38

You're welcome. So, Heather, I truly appreciate your time. 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 hold of you.

Heather Chisenhall 15:50

Like I've already said, really just don't give up. Keep truckin', keep moving. Go and read. It's a kid's book. It's called The Little Engine. They could just reach me at www.thehealthygene.com or you can email me directly at Heather.Chisenhall@thehealthygene.com

Gresham Harkless 16:12

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, we'll definitely have those links in the show notes. I appreciate your time. Appreciate all you're doing and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Heather Chisenhall 16:19

You do the same. Thank you so much. Gresh

Outro 16:21

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.

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This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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