IAM1544 – Fitness Expert, Consultant and Writer Helps Clients With Health Fitness Content

Matt Weik, the owner of Weik Fitness, LLC, is a well-respected fitness expert/author/podcaster with a global following. His work has been featured in nearly 100 fitness magazines, and 2,000+ websites, as well as has numerous books and audiobooks that are published. Matt Weik graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Kinesiology. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, personal trainer, and sports nutritionist. Matt is also a member of the supplement expert panel.

• CEO Story: Matt started writing for bodybuilding.com while he was still in college doing content writing. One article turned into many until they came into a contract agreement. After he graduated he worked in a gym as a coach and also trained student-athletes. He then worked in a large supplement industry for a decade while continuing to write content for different publications. Finally came that he is not set out to be confined. And so in 2016, he started his own business in fitness and from there everything was just full steam ahead.
• Business Service: Content copywriting on fitness or business on their website or social media. Personal training and nutrition consultancy.
• Secret Sauce: Different skill set and background. The broadness of the knowledge of the background.
• CEO Hack: Continuing education and improving every day as an individual and business owner
• CEO Nugget: Nothing changes if nothing changes, do things differently.
• CEO Defined: Your own decisions make you win or lose both of which are equally important in helping you learn.

Website: www.weikfitness.com

Facebook: weikfitness
Twitter: weikfitness
Instagram: weikfitness
LinkedIn: mattweik

Episode Link: https://iamceo.co/2018/12/19/iam132-fitness-expert-consultant-and-writer-helps-clients-with-health-fitness-content/

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Transcription

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00:25 – Intro

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.

00:51 – Gresham Harkless

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 Matt Weik of Weikfitness. What I want to do is introduce Matt so you can hear more about all the awesome things that he's doing. Matt Weik is the owner of Weikfitness and is a well-respected fitness expert, author, and podcaster with a global following.

His work has been featured in nearly 100 fitness magazines, and 2000 websites, as well as having numerous books and audiobooks that are published. Matt Weik graduated from Penn State University with a degree in kinesiology. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, personal trainer, and sports nutritionist. Matt is also a member of the supplement expert panel. Matt, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:32 – Matt Weik

I'm ready.

01:33 – Gresham Harkless

All right, let's do it. So the first question I had was just to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

01:39 – Matt Weik

So I started writing almost 2 decades ago for bodybuilding.com. When Ryan DeLuca first started the website, He was in need of some content and I was very active on the forums. He said, hey, look, you seem to know what you're doing, know what you're talking about. You seem knowledgeable and well-educated. Why don't you start some content for us and see where it goes? I didn't think anything of it. I was in college at the time. As you mentioned, I was going for kinesiology. I have a minor in business. So I thought, well, you know if I can help some people out, I'll write some content and see what happens.

So one article turned to 3 articles, turned to 10 articles, and turned into a contract where I'd be writing 3 articles every week, you know, for every month. And things just really took off from there. And I started out writing on their site. I graduated. I worked in a gym as a trainer and a strength coach. I worked with a high school, with high school athletes, you know, getting them ready for their competition. Then I got this opportunity to work in the supplement industry. So I went and worked for one of the largest supplement companies in the world.

I had a blast that, you know, I was there for almost a decade. I continued to write the entire time for different publications, and websites, you know, I was on various podcasts and radio shows. And finally the time came where I was like, you know what? I'm not really set out for corporate America. I don't like being confined and all the red tape that you have to follow. I just want to be me. I want to do what I love.

And while I love the people that I worked with, my passion has always been through my work as a writer and an author. I just love putting things down on paper, typing things out, publishing them on my website or another website, and helping as many people as I can. So that's where the fire really was lit within me. And I decided, hey, look, I gotta get out of corporate America. I'm gonna start my own business. So in 2016, I officially started Wike Fitness. And from there, everything has just been full steam ahead.

03:32 – Gresham Harkless

So now I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about how you're serving these clients. So I know you mentioned some of the things that you're doing. So could you tell us exactly how you serve the clients you work with?

03:41 – Matt Weik

Yeah, sure. Wike Fitness is really an umbrella for 3 different services that I cater to my audience. One, obviously, like I already mentioned, is the content and copywriting side of the business. So if anybody is looking for blog articles or copy for their website for a product that they launched or copy for their product label itself. You know, anything in between, it could be social media posts, it could be newsletters, anything health, fitness, supplementation, nutrition, you know, business, entrepreneur, anything like that if people have a concern or they just don't feel like creating themselves, whether it's because they don't have the time or they're just not good at writing. They all reach out to me and I produce the content for them based on their needs.

Some clients, say, hey, look, I need X amount of content pieces every month. You're the professional. You go ahead and do it and just send it to us. Some people are like, we've really drilled down on the topics. You want X, Y, and Z. You want these keywords included. And we get really dialed in. So that's one area of my business. Another area, which I kind of touched on earlier is the personal training and the nutrition consulting side of the business.

So I have a whole bunch of clients. I work with junior high, high school, college, and professional athletes, helping them, especially with their nutrition, more so than they like the personal training, strength training side of it, because a lot of them have their own strength coaches, but they don't have the knowledge for the correct supplementation and nutrition to get them the results that they want. So I work with a whole bunch of clients in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA tour, USTA, you know, all that stuff.

And I just love it because unlike people that are in the gym sometimes where an external factor is making them go do, you know, what they're doing, Like a doctor is saying, you need to go exercise. Or a family member is saying, you should really go watch your diet. Where they themselves, it's not like an intrinsic reason for why they're actually doing what they're doing. They really don't adhere to it as well as an athlete, who wants to perform at the highest level, who wants to get that edge on their competition. So I have that personal training and nutrition consulting side of the business just to help people who are looking for it.

And generally, the people who reach out to me, they're not coming to me because somebody else is telling them to go do something. Most of the time it's because they're either following my work or through word of mouth, people are saying, hey, I work with Matt or I know this athlete works with Matt and I want to get on board and see what we can do here. So that's a separate, secondary side of the business. And then the third side of my business is a business consulting and brokering side. So as I mentioned, I was in the supplement industry for about 10 years And I built so many relationships.

I, you know, my network is immense. I have other people coming to me saying, hey, Matt, you know, I'm trying to get distribution in this area, or hey, Matt, I'm trying to get into retail with this specific type of market. And, you know, I use my network, I help them, and we get it done. We get them in the places that they need to be. I do some consulting for them as well, whether it's on the product development side of it, or they're trying to figure out what the market is looking for, what the consumer really wants. And those are the 3 things that really keep me busy almost 24 hours a day, but it's something that I love. It's 3 pieces of the industry that I care about the most. And it's where I feel that I can make the most impact.

07:10 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be what you feel kind of distinguishes you is sets you apart. And you might have already touched on it, but could you give us an example of your secret sauce?

07:19 – Matt Weik

My personal secret sauce is kind of my background. I don't feel that I'm any different than anybody else that's out there. It's just a matter of having a different skill set and knowledge and background that kind of sets me apart. This isn't to diminish other writers and content creators that are out there, but a lot of them, have a passion for something, but It's very narrow in their overall knowledge of something. So they just kind of run with it. Maybe it's a blog. You know, with, my background being with kinesiology and going in depth in the human body and how it works, how it functions, how to build muscle, how to decrease body fat, and how to utilize supplements the correct way.

I think it's the broadness of the knowledge and the background that really sets me apart. There's not one thing where I'm just like, he's just a fitness guy or he's just a nutrition guy or he's just this. And that really helps me with my brokering as well as working with all these professional athletes because let's be honest, everybody wants to work with professional athletes. Everybody looks at it and they go, oh man, if I could just work with this one team, with this one athlete, my business would blow up. The fact of the matter is they're very selective with who they want to work with.

So if you're just, let's say, if you're just a writer getting that position with, you know, say the Philadelphia Eagles or the Pittsburgh Steelers or whoever is very difficult. But when they can look at you and say, wow, this dude's a strength and conditioning coach, he's a sports nutritionist, he's a personal trainer, obviously he knows what he's talking about. Okay, let's roll, let's figure out what he can do for us. So I think it's having the credentials in the background and the education, the degrees, the certifications that truly sets me apart, not only in the writing realm but also in the training and consulting side of it as well.

09:12 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. So now 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 as a business owner. You know what?

09:22 – Matt Weik

It's interesting because I put so much time into my business. I mean, as I said, it could be upwards of 18 hours a day, But every single spare minute that I have that's not with my family, it's, I guess you can call it continuing education. My wife is a teacher, so she always has to do these continuing education things where she has to go learn something new in order to get credits toward maintaining her position at a school district. So I kind of take that same mentality as I read as many books as I can. I'm a very slow reader. I can type fast, but I'm a very slow reader. So I love audiobooks.

If I can get my hands on an ebook versus a paperback or a hardback book. I would prefer that. But even on YouTube, I look for professionals and I look for ways to improve my skill set as a person, as a business owner, as a marketer, a content creator. Just anything that I can use to make myself better, which in turn would make my business better, which means I can cater to my clients on a higher level is something that, you know, That's my hack. So many people get complacent where they're making a certain amount of money or they're doing a certain job and they get put on autopilot kind of where it's kind of like Groundhog's Day.

They wake up and the movie Groundhog's Day, not the holiday, where it's like Bill Murray wakes up and he's doing the exact same thing every single day. And that's how a lot of people are. Their alarm goes off, they get up, they go get, you know, their shower, they brush their teeth, they get dressed, they hop in the car, They go to the office, they do their work, and they go home. It's the same stuff every day. And for me, like that is boring. I don't want to do the same thing every day. That's why I love having so many different clients and people that I work with. For me, it's always bettering myself, my abilities, and my skills, so that I can continue to progress as not only a person but a business owner.

11:23 – Gresham Harkless

That makes perfect sense to me. Yes, I love that visual from Groundhog Day, so I definitely can visualize that. 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 could have it to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

11:37 – Matt Weik

You know what? I love to quote that nothing changes if nothing changes. And it kind of goes back to what we literally just talked about. You know, It's the need to continually evolve. So many people say, I'm not making enough money or I'm not happy with where I am in life or I'm not happy with this. I don't like that. And it's like one negativity, one piece of negativity after the other. But when you ask them and say, okay, so what are you doing about that? You don't like your job? What are you doing about it? You're not getting that promotion. What do you do differently to make them want to promote you? And most times people are like, what do you mean?

Because They're not doing anything. So the fact is that, again, nothing changes if nothing changes. If you want something to happen, if you want your life to get better, if you want more money, if you want to climb up that corporate ladder, if you want to be a better husband, a better father, whatever the case may be, you have to change yourself to make these things happen. It's not going to happen for you.

Nothing's gonna be given to you. It's not like you're gonna become a CEO or an executive of a company just because somebody's like, you know what, I like that guy, he's a good guy. Let's just give him that position. It's just not gonna happen. That silver platter is never going to show up in front of you. So, you know, you need to change. You need to better your abilities and your skill sets if you want change in your own life.

12:54 – Gresham Harkles

There you go. I love that. If you want to level up your life, you need to level up your actions and actually take actions, so to speak, so that you can kind of reach those goals. 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 this show. So I wanted to ask you what being a CEO means to you.

13:11 – Matt Weik

You know, I thought about this and most people probably don't know about white fitness. I'm a, I guess what you could call a solopreneur. It's just me. I don't have employees. I don't have contractors. I do everything myself. So, you know, I take on a whole lot. And that's something that I love. I feed off of the stress, but I love the fact that being a CEO, especially of a solopreneur business, is my own decision and this goes for other CEOs that have one to a thousand employees as well, where their decisions either make them win or lose.

So it starts with a vision or a thought that a CEO has that can trickle down obviously to the directors and to the employees and then they go out and execute with me personally because I can only speak on my own behalf. That execution is so important because either I win or lose based on how I execute. And there are times where I have huge wins and then there are times where I take the L. And when I take the L, that's just as important because I have to learn from that.

So I don't make that same mistake. So, you know, for me, being a CEO is about making the tough decisions and putting everything on your shoulders that could potentially come back and completely backfire. I mean, you could lose a ton of money by making the wrong decision, but it's the preparation, the planning, and then the execution of all of that that I love about being a CEO.

14:43 – Gresham Harkless

There you go, yeah, I love that definition. I always tell myself, no pressure, no diamonds. So sometimes you have that pressure and like you said, it could be good, it could be bad. Just depends on how everything kind of works. But Matt, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get in touch with you.

15:03 – Matt Weik

Yeah, I mean, I appreciate the opportunity to come on the podcast. I think what you're doing is amazing. You know, I've had a blast, you know, talking to you and hopefully getting some value out there that others can take away from our conversation. But I mean, for me as a content writer, obviously, I want to promote my content as much as possible because I think it can truly change lives. I see it every day through the emails, the messages on Facebook that I get, different comments that, you know, my work, even if I'm not directly working with somebody affects and changes somebody's life.

And I love that fact. So if you're looking for content that deals with health, fitness, nutrition, supplementation, or business, maybe you're looking to have your own startup or you're looking to be an entrepreneur and you want some advice, Please visit my website. There is a ton of free content up there that you can use to your advantage to change your life and your business. There's a whole bunch of different eBooks on productivity and goal setting and health and fitness. I just urge everyone to go check out the website because there's so much stuff up there that's a value that I think you guys can take away for free and definitely help change your life.

16:07 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. I appreciate that, Matt. We'll have the link in the show notes just so that anybody who wants to check out your website, can follow through. But again, I appreciate you for all the awesome things that you're doing. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:18 – Matt Weik

I appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time.

16:20 – Outro

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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