Lift Your Life To New Levels With Peter Taunton - Lift Brands

Luck and hope is not a business plan. Along with his daily devotional, he has a to-do list that he’s kept since he was 12 years old. Social media has become an avenue for him to express himself – if you see four guys in a meeting, three in suits and one in jeans and flip flops – he’s the one with the money. He rides his bike around Miami to meetings. He prays with those he meets with. Known as Pistol Pete, even the homeless community leans on Peter to bring smiles and connections.

Transcript

Welcome to the Everyday Mindfulness Show where we educate and inspire people to live fuller lives through mindful practices. Let's get started with your host, New York Times contributor, Leadership advisor, Sought after keynote speaker, The author of the Amazon hot new release, Everyday Mindfulness from chaos to calm in a crazy world, She's smart, Strong, Sassy, And a trendsetter in the field of mindful leadership. Your host, Holly Duckworth. Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Mindfulness Show where we have the privilege and honor of speaking to CEOs, Executives, Researchers, And real people living and practicing mindfulness in business and in life. My name is Holly Duckworth. I'm the mindful leadership guide and we have a very special conversation planned for you today. We are talking to the owner of the world's largest wellness franchise with over 6, 000 locations around the world. But more important than that, When I had the chance to talk to Peter Taunton, He said, You know what? What's really awesome about my bio is I love my life and it's all real and he has grown and expanded and learned through so many experiences and we get the privilege of learning how he has grown his life with mindfulness practices around this idea of Lyft Brands. He's a CEO of Lyft Brands and he continues to live and grow mindfully. Coming at us today from Miami, Welcome to the show, Peter. Hey, Holly. Thank you. It's my pleasure. And thank you for that very gracious introduction. I appreciate that. You know, The fun part about the show is we get to have real conversations. I don't script the show. A lot of podcasters, They script the show. We get to hear six questions in nine minutes. Just, You know, That's not what mindfulness is about. So I'm curious as someone who helps humans around the world be more healthy in their body through Lyft Brands and all of the franchise ores around the world, What's mindfulness mean to you? We're going to talk, You know, Body, Mind, Spirit, And some of the new products that you're launching out into the marketplace. So let's start with mindfulness. What's mindfulness mean for you? Well, You know, That's a great question. I think for me, When I think about mindfulness and all of that mind, Body and spirit, I think about balance. And truly when people come into one of my facilities, The one common thread that I have across all of my brands, And there's really, There's three brands, There's Snap Fitness, Nine Round and Fitness on Demand. And amongst those three brands, That's what comprises the 6, 000 locations in 28 countries. All of them are wellness related. They're all wellness related. And what that can mean, It can be, You know, Physically, I'm going to try to get you in shape, But mentally trying to overcome some of those barriers that some people have about that chronic 10, 15, 20 pounds that they can't ever seem to lose, Right? And help them through that path. And then just the idea about having a balance in their life, Whether it be balance at home, Balance in the gym, Balance at work. It's all synergy goes a long way in our lives. And I think as we get older, We start to appreciate that even more. Ooh, Synergy, Such a great word. And when we were first chatting, You said, Holly, I started, I was the guy that handed the locker room key in the locker. So how does one go from a vision of really, Truly boots on the ground, Young kid to having a vision of growing a wellness franchise? That didn't happen overnight. Yeah, No, It's really amazing. Literally, I was the guy 35 years ago, Giving you a towel and a locker key. So I was that guy. And I think by having an opportunity when I was about 22 years old, I had an opportunity to turn around a failing health club. And that the opportunity that was given me was, Look, We can only afford to pay you $16, 000 a year. But if you're able to turn this failing club around, We will let you acquire equity with the profits that the business generates. So the club up to that time had never made money, And the owners were feeding it every year. So they were tired and spent of feeding this thing every year financially. So I was kind of their Hail Mary, I believe. And all I needed was an opportunity. So there was no plan B for me. So coming in and trying to turn around this failing club, I really just hunkered down and literally left it all on the field. We had no budget. We had no money for marketing anything. So I had to get creative. I went to all the local businesses. I remember going to the carpet store and saying, Look, I need carpet. And here's the punchline. I don't have any money, But I have memberships. So would you be interested in trading? And to my surprise, They said yes. So I literally I went to every carpet store, Every painter, Every electrician, Plumber, You name it. And I ended up remodeling this facility, You know, Room by room. And by doing so, The membership base there, They looked at me and they said, Look, This guy, He's so passionate about what he's doing. He's part of our community. He's involved. And that's that was, I think, My blessing was that the community recognized all the hard work that I was doing. And they rallied behind me. And you know, The rest is history. So from that from that point, When I starting with nothing, You're fearless. So once I had that club, Once I had 50% ownership in that facility, I got I took a loan out, I bought the partners out, And then continued to grow that club, Grow that business. And then I leveraged that into another club and another club and another club. I did that for 20 years, Holly. And then and then sold all those clubs. I sold them all. And was thinking about what is my next thing and and, You know, I'll be damned that I fell right back into the health and wellness space. I started this franchise called Snap Fitness. And I built one club when I built that first club. Did I know I was going to have 1000s of locations? Well, Of course not. I didn't. But I knew I was capable of doing it. And I built a club I built in and my timing was right. And I hired good people that were willing to get dirty and and fight the good fight with me every day. And before I knew it, I just had this behemoth of a club of a business that I leveraged over the years into buying other brands and expanding and becoming international. And I've enjoyed every bit of it. Every bit of it has had its own set of challenges, But nothing was insurmountable. Oh, There's just so much to unpack in that that story for our listeners in terms of of learning lessons. But, You know, Just one I can really highlight for folks, You know, This we're recording the show in 2020. A lot is evolving in personal and professional life. But I really honor in your story that you did have a presence in each of these these experiences that be here now, Be here now, Be here now that you you were, You know, Honoring the time and learning the lessons when you were rebooting the first gym. And you saw that as an opportunity. And I think that's a key lesson for all of us right now is we're all on some level in that question. You said your question was, What's the next thing? And, You know, A big thing I talk to a lot today, I do a lot of consulting and a lot of helping individuals who feel like they're stuck in their lives. And I think that the biggest hurdle that people need to overcome is fear. And fear is a dream killer. And what I just try to let them know is, Look, Out of all the people that I've met in my years of being an entrepreneur, I can tell you, I haven't met one successful person who can't talk to you about overcoming adversity and, And fighting through hard times. And, And it's those character building moments, I always say that, You know, In, In times of failure is where all the lessons are learned. Anyone can make when things are going great, You almost don't even pay attention, You just you're just kind of flowing with it. But when you have adversity, It requires you to, To dig, Dig your heels in a little bit, Analyze what the problem is, Identify where it's coming from, And try to resolve it and then try to eliminate it so it doesn't rear its head again. And that's a, That's a, That's a fight that every entrepreneur in business experiences, Not once or twice, But literally, You know, Probably hundreds of times in our in our lives as real entrepreneurs. So I'm curious in your experience, What are tips or strategies, Things that you do, That either get you into that flow state or keep you in that sense of flow? Because right now, I think so many of us are, Are trying to grasp for something that is going to get us flowing in that new direction? Well, I think the first thing you have to do, You have to be in the right mindset, For one, All right, You have to have the right mindset and going into it knowing that this is not going to be easy, It's going to be a lot of work. So understanding, Rolling up your sleeves and being prepared to put in the work number one, Number two, You've got to be able to set up a chronological order of whatever business it is that you're starting to do. We spoke about it earlier, I'm getting ready to launch a CBD oil company. So in that process, I went through a number of different layers of what I need to do. And a lot of it is in a chronological order. And if you look at the entire template of things that you need to do, It may become overwhelming. So you need to take little bites of it, And you need to start at the beginning and then work your way through it. And then as you as you get towards the end, Things start to blend and come together. And you realize, You know what, I actually I have a company here now, I have a business, It's been it's been filed correctly. I have a I'm fulfilling a void in the in the community today. It's either a void or I'm an enhancing an existing product or service. So I think about it. And once again, When I go to the market with something, I don't want to be just another me too. I want to make sure that I have a differentiating point of difference. So I can screen my point of difference from the mountaintop so I can thin myself from the herd, Which is a good thing. Staying myself from the herd and standing alone with my own flag is a good place to be in business. And often a place where folks do find that fear factor. Yeah, We're gonna unpack that CBD oil thing here in a minute. But I'm curious, Do you have a daily mindset or mindful practice? Is there something that you do either for body, Mind or spirit that you do on every day or once a week? Or what does that look like for you? Every day and you know what, I've come a long way in my life. And when I stepped away from my company, When I was in my early 50s, I realized that of all the things I had accumulated so much, And I've experienced such unbelievable success and wealth in my life. But I found myself that I still was not really truly happy. I was single and I really believe that all of us are meant to experience love. So as cliche as it sounds, I really hung my banner on that money does not buy you happiness. And normally the only people that say that are people that are rich. But I'm telling you the truth is money will not buy you happiness. And I was living proof of that. And it's not like I was ready to jump off the 41st floor here in Miami, But I was literally just ready, You know, Really doing a lot of reflecting. And from that is where I came to the conclusion of what I need to be thankful for. So I focused on my philanthropy, Really giving back because how can somebody that comes from a two room schoolhouse quit college, Experience all the success. So I feel like for me, That God has clearly blessed me. So my daily routine, I mean, I start, I read a daily devotional, And then I actually post it on my Instagram, I read the daily devotional, I break it down. And it's literally just my interpretation of what the devotional is. And I tried to break it down in real layman's terms for for for just a person who's not a complete Bible banger, I don't recite scripture, But I can I can relate to what it is saying. And so I break it down. And I did that for a while. And then I got away from it for a couple of days. And I, You know, I literally had dozens and dozens of people say, Hey, I missed those devotional things that you were doing. So then I picked it back up again, And I never stopped. So I do it every day. So I feel like in my case, I've got a lot to be thankful for. I mean, I don't believe that things that I don't believe in luck. Okay, Let me put it that way. You know, Luck and hope is not a business plan. So I feel like some of the things that I've experienced in my life were meant to be. And I really look back at the next 50 years of my life. And I say, All right, You've blessed me with this amazing life. What is it you want me to do? And and I really I look to that. So every day I do my devotional, I have a to do list, Which is an old habit of mine I've been doing since I've been 12 years old, Which keeps me on track. So I don't just float through the days kind of kind of just whimsically moving from one end of the house to the other. I have a plan of things that I want to do. And and part of that is, You know, The daily chores that we all have, And then a lot of it is business related to jump around. Well, Peter, You're being being modest and I was modest in your in your introduction in 2010. You were named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. And I always love interviewing the best of the best in the world because they always do what you just did. They give me that look like Yeah, I really don't want to talk about my award. All the best the best leaders are, Are so humble, But I think it's nice to highlight those things for our listeners that, You know, You talk about coming from, You know, A one room schoolhouse and you do the work and you do the work and and, You know, The daily devotional at the show has a book that matches up to what we call the everyday mindfulness book and it's a daily daily reader a daily inspirational thing and it is so powerful that that practice of applying it to your life, Whether it's a Bible passage, A quote and inspiration a story that I'm glad to hear that you that you provide that for your team and your your your fans and followers because the power isn't in the quote the power isn't how do you use it to empower your life every day? Absolutely. And that and you know, And I'm glad that you bring that up. Thank you, By the way, But but for me, One of the reasons I got into social media because I wasn't real social I didn't I didn't put myself out there. But then as I started as I had the time and I started digging into social media, I was seeing so much of it that was just fake fake fake hike and people standing in front of, You know, Jets they don't own and fancy cars they don't own and fanning hundred dollar bills and saying give me $20 a month and I'll make you rich in six months. Look, So I threw my hand in the ring and I just said, Look, I'm going to give it to you raw and real. In fact, I did take a picture that some of the people that were helping me with my social media, I did take a picture in front of my jet and my Ferrari and you know, Some of my lake home and things. And I and I told him after I did it, We did the shots all in a day. And I said, I'm never going to do that again. And I just said, That's not who I am. I don't need to. I understand that you want it because it's validation. But money doesn't make the man I'm still the guy. I'm much more comfortable hopping out of my Ferrari in in a pair of faded blue jeans and a t shirt and Obama jacket. I'd much more be that guy than the guy that rolls up and hops off in our money suit. Now believe me, I can dress it down and throw on the Armani suit if I have to, But that's not who I need to be. I don't need to prove that to myself. In fact, I always laugh about it. If you ever go by a lunch meeting, And there's three guys in suits and one guy in in jeans and flip flops, He's the one with the money. So you know what, I'm comfortable in my own skin. I really am. And I find that some of the things today that bring me the most joy, Believe it or not, One day a week, I hop on my pedal bike, My bike and, And this trailer that I bought on Amazon. And I go to the local bakeries around where I live in Miami, And I get that and I go buy a couple of cases of water and I pedal into the hood of Miami where the homeless are. And I've been doing this for months now. And it's so rewarding for me because I just roll up on him, Hey, How's it going? And I hop on my bike and sit down and visit with him a little bit and say, How did you get here? And I have genuine conversation with these people. And sometimes when I when I leave, I'll say a little prayer over them. And all that all that I say is, Hey, Look, Hey, God, Please bless, Let's just say the guy's name is john, Please bless john as much as his life as you've done for me and let him know that you're always there by his side. And, You know, And let them know that you will not you will not give up on him. Right. And, And so then I just say, Hey, John, You know, I'm your, I'm your friend. So when you see me around, Holler for me and anything that I can help you with, I will generally try to help him. And I see that now when I'm around my neighborhood here every occasionally I'll hear, Hey, Pistol, That's some people that's my nickname pistol Pete, And, And they'll I have pistol and it'll be some homeless people, Right. And I ran around, I'll go over and chat with them for a while. But it's I really made friends with these people who who, You know, They're living, You know, An unfortunate situation right now. I love that I'm able to bring a smile and some warmth into their lives. In this time of life reboot, I hope that's one of the pieces that stays with all of us is we are one human family. And I tell my friends all the time, I want to be the same girl, You know, The five star fanciest restaurant is having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the backyard with my flip flops. And I really think there's so much power in that as we reboot. If you're if you're looking at your life reboot and saying, You know, Why I tell about money, I've got to, You know, I'm so sorry. There's a there's a place for the right amount of financial circulation that you're the good you're willing to let into your life. But it's not everything in all of the CEOs that I have the opportunity to interview have a similar story that, You know, We've we've worked so hard to attain, Take, Attain financial success. But there was so much more that we wanted. Yeah. And it's that so much more that you're referring to that that a lot of us, You know, God willing, We're able to, To kind of stop the music for a little bit and take a breath and, And reflect and say, Okay, Where are the areas of my life? What did I miss? And, You know, What would I have done differently? In fact, That's a question I get asked all the time and say, Peter, If you could do anything over, What would it have been? What would you have done differently? And my response is always the same response. I always say, I wish I would have danced more. And I figuratively say that I mean that, Hey, Look, You know what, I wish that I had that I had been able to see all of my kids games and dance recitals. I, You know, I wish that I could have taken longer family vacations, I wish that I could have been, You know, More involved with my church, More engaged, More present with my friends. I mean, I had so many amazing friendships that I made throughout the years that that literally I didn't, I didn't intentionally walk away from them. But I did because why because I had this company that, You know, I started it, I remember sitting writing the operations manual for Snap Fitness and literally writing this thing and thinking about this, Conceptually trying to put this business plan together. And then in the blink of an eye, I'm building three, I mean, After opening for four years, I built 377 stores in one year, One time. Think about think about that, Holly, I was opening a club more than one club every day, Not not signing a lease, I'm talking about physically opening a gym more than one a day. I mean, Come on. I can't even. And you know, It's amazing, You're talking about amazing. If you had walked through my international headquarters, You would not see people running around there with their hair on fire. So what that's one of the things that I'm really thankful for that I was able to hire the right talent and able to get people to stay in their lane. And the same the same systems and processes that I had in place when I was building when I was opening five clubs a month is the same systems and processes when I was opening 377 in a year. So it's all I did was plug in more resources in the same channel. So there was a number of different channels, I would just plug in more human resources to keep up with the demand. And you know, It worked beautifully. And I didn't I didn't take a college course on it. A lot of it was just really straight away common sense, Common sense. And some of the greatest life lessons I learned, I learned from my father at a very young age. I smile and laugh, We're gonna have a whole nother show. We're gonna have you on we're gonna do a whole show on common sense is not that common. Well, I can't do the show and and have people they're gonna come ask me well, He talked about his his daily mindset routine, Your devotions. Do you do you actually have a daily physical fitness routine? I know you're in rewire mint, We don't have retirement around here, Renew mint. But do you have a daily fitness practice still? Yes, For sure. I try I work out every day, I work out every day, Just because it's good for my it's good for the head and the heart and all those things. Now, Obviously, Since this latest crisis, My workout has changed quite a bit. But you know, It's kind of like a jail cell workout right now. Because I do push ups and sit ups and I do some dips with a chair, I get as creative as I can in here. And then I try to go outside and go for a run or take my bike out and get after it. But it's, You know, It's a little bit different. But every day, Without question, I do something. You know, I pride myself, I stay in great shape. I really do. I don't deny it. It's a habit that formed for me, I started working out when I was 13 years old, And I never stopped. I never took a break, I've never stopped. So it's just part of my mental psyche. And I'm not obsessed with it. And for me, Something that I've done that really makes it easy. I weigh myself every day. And some people say, Oh, My gosh, You're neurotic. And I go, No, I'm not going to give you that. It's not neurotic, I hold myself accountable. And for me, My 178 to 182 pounds, That's my zone right there. When I get below 178, Which isn't often, But when I do, I eat more to get back in the range. And when I get over 182, Then I just throttle back my calories a bit. Easy way to manage it. And I've been doing it that way for 20 some odd years. I stay around seven and a half to 8% body fat. So I'm really lean and, And I'm in shape. You know, I can, And what's interesting, I can do more pull ups today than I could when I was 20. You know, 18, I can do 18 pull ups is my record. And funny, I still try to break my record every day. What a wonderful example, Though, Of a living breathing real life mindfulness practice. Give yourself permission to find that thing. It may not be push ups, But it might be writing words, It may be a few extra minutes with your kids, That mindfulness, The practice of being present in the moment with non judgment, I love that you don't have a number you have have a range. And for so many, We get attached to a number and then we beat ourselves up with that number. And here you are, You've conceptualized, You've grown and you've built a worldwide wellness franchise, And you to live in this space of, Of grace and accountability in that same, Same breath. And I hope more people can hear your story, And be inspired to find that zone of greatness for them in areas that are important to them. Yeah. And you know what, That's, Those are great points, And I always say it's, I think that you've really missed something as people, We really miss something when we equate success to money. And you know, It's success, Financial success is always great. But having success in all these other areas as well, Having that balance with your family with your friends, And being present and, You know, And it's easy to that sometimes when you when you're an executive and making big decisions every day that people think that you've got to be this type A personality all the time. And that's not you know what, There's, There's certainly, There's certainly a time in your life and in your day where you've got to make the call. And that's, That's my job as a founder and CEO. When I was in there flying the plane on behalf of my company, I'm making decisions on behalf of hundreds of families. And those families are, Are banking on the fact that I'm going to make that right call for them that I'm not just going to willy nilly spitball ideas around that I'm going to put up be very mindful and thoughtful and some of those decisions are very tough. So that's one situation. The other situation is just the normal guy that's just chilling hanging out with friends having a margarita on the beach. I don't need to be I don't need to be the CEO in those moments. So separating the two personalities, If you will, It's healthy to do that. And it's a lot of people have a hard time with that transition. So we teased up a new opportunity that that's really coming to an economy near you. And that that's that is this the science and the research and the products around CBD oil. And this is this is a topic that much like mindfulness is evolving. It went from woo woo, Oh my gosh, I never want my name attached to it for some people to now I'm curious, I'm willing to discover and grow and make the right choice for me and my body, Whatever that is. We're not we're not saying we're on this show, We want to empower people with data and research. So I'm curious with your commitment to wellness worldwide. Tell us a little bit about the products that you're finding and the research and how you see it infusing in the work that you've been building over your lifetime. Yeah, That's, That's great. Well, First of all, With CBD oil. So when when people think about CBD oil, I want to separate so THC, When people smoke cannabis or have that that that's THC and that's what that's what makes you a little loopy and gets you high. Okay, CBD oil has no THC at all. All right. And CBD oil has been an Eastern medicine forever. It never left. All right. So with CBD oil, For me, I didn't want to be just another me to CBD oil company out there. I look long and hard and found this this woman out of Colorado, Who is she's so passionate about what she does. She's a great she's a doctor and she's a scientist and and she realizes that with CBD to be effective, It's all about absorption and she created her own absorption process where 90% of the CBD products that we have 90% of those products are absorbed into the system. So with her products, Literally our our customers can use a fraction of what they've been using from other other people's products and have the same result because it's highly absorbed. So think of it like it's a concentrate. But her products work great. They're GMO free, Gluten free, Vegan, All organic. So they're all the right things for me. But I didn't I wanted to make sure that the product that we had was safe and healthy. I'm not trying to go to market with 50 different skews. I think I've got 14 or 15 different products today, But they're all great. And I use them and I stand behind them. And the testament to ours, Nine out of 10 of our customers reorder. And what I tell my customers is, Look, I'm not this is this is something that I'm passionate about. I think CBD oil is the Tylenol of the future. I truly believe it. And a lot of people that take it will tell you the same thing. But for me, It's it's I stand behind the product. So if someone orders my product, And they're not 100% satisfied, Send it back, I give you all your money back. So it's I keep it really, I want to completely disarm people and say, Look, I'm passionate about what I have, I know that it can help you if this is what ailments you have, I know there's a high probability it's going to help you. But if it doesn't, If I don't deliver on my promise, Just send it back. I'll give you money back, No problem. So nine out of 10 people, They reorder, They love it. Okay, The other side of my company that I said, Look, What is my stake in the sand? 10% of retail, I give back to charity. So 10% of my profits, And I don't if you look at the price points of my products, They're the same as everyone else that's that's selling CBD products. So I'm right in line with theirs. So I didn't inflate my prices by 10%. So I could give 10% back. I'm right in line. So I'm I'm literally taking it out of my margin, So I make skinnier margin. But I'm happy to do it. Because for me, I've done fighting the financial war. I'm not in this for the money. I'm in it for the challenge of building a company, A great company. And I also love my philanthropic endeavors as well. That's part of who I am as well. Peter, It's such a gift to get to speak with somebody who is visionary, Courageous, And willing to do the hard work and hard work with your hands of building and the heart work that you're doing with something as simple as you know, Going out and meeting with the homeless folks or meeting with top scientists and researchers in CBD products and offering the same willingness to do the work with your hands and your heart. Thank you so much for finding me here on the mindfulness show and being willing to talk wellness, Body, Mind, Spirit and the continued growth and evolution of these these industries in the products and in the services that you and your team continue to provide. Yeah, Hey, What a blessed life I have. I'm thankful to have a front row seat to to what I'm able to do. I love it. Well, Thank you for saying yes. We're going to make sure to include all of your links in the show notes, Including that link to your daily devotional. So folks can can continue to learn and be nourished by by your experience in products and services and in your thought leadership before we let you go. Is there any any last minute thoughts before I let you go? Oh, Boy, Just you know what? If you want to if you if you think that I'm interesting, You want to learn more about me. I really only do one. My only social media stuff is Instagram. So it's Peter underscore talent and ta un t on and and from there, You'll see exactly what I'm doing, Whether I'm in some corner of the world trying to help others or you'll see my business or my faith. So I keep it all. You know, I would say real and raw. What you see is what you get and I hope you enjoy it. Oh, No, My favorite is what I love about my life is it's real, Right? Thank you so much. We hope you'll come back and join us on another episode. Until then, Remember, So much. It's my pleasure. You're welcome. Remember mindful matters and study. We'll see you on another episode soon. Thank you for joining us for today's show. For more mindfulness every day, Visit everydaymindfulnessshow. Com and download the three day challenge and experience the ABCs of mindfulness.