From Fitness Enthusiast to Elite Entrepreneur: Zach Bailey's Inspiring Journey and Keys to Success
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This week on Mimir I sat down with Zach Bailey who is a young, fearless entrepreneur. His entrepreneurial journey began after deciding not to finish pursuing his college engineering degree, and he's never looked back. Only a few short years after making that leap, he is now a coach helping other entrepreneurs be the most elite versions of themselves. Zach surprised me with his maturity and self-confidence. Our chat focused on a few main topics including why fitness is so important to entrepreneurs, what makes a good leader, and how to create the ultimate morning routine that will level up your life.
After Zach chose not to finish college, his first thought was, “how can I make money as soon as possible?” The answer for him lay in fitness. Since he was little, Zach's mother instilled a healthy lifestyle in him; always filling his lunches with nutritious meals and encouraging both her kids to participate in sports. College was no exception, and it's where his obsession with weightlifting began. He recalls, “I was skipping chemistry classes to workout.” So, the answer for Zach about how to make money was clear, he became a personal trainer. In addition to developing a fitness app and day trading, Zach was still looking for other ways to grow and succeed. This got me thinking…
I'm not sure if as a society we underestimate young people, and as a result that encourages them to under perform, or if some people just need more time to mature. But I think about myself as a college sophomore, and I'm not sure I could've done what Zach did. He left the college safety net and his mentality was not just, “how can I make money,” but what are all the avenues through which I can succeed. Most people would answer that question with predictable answers such as stock trading, investing, a random part time job, but what I found so fascinating about Zach was that he knew that in order for him to grow as an entrepreneur, he had to grow as a person.
Through his personal training, and personal workout journey, fitness became the foundation for his self-development. He already had the discipline to put in the work because he could get himself to the gym everyday, and overcoming challenges wasn't a problem either since he was used to the hard work of lifting weights. This a great example of why I believe fitness is so important for entrepreneurs. When you're physically healthy and not bogged down by insecurity or lack of energy you can do anything. Fitness becomes that first step in a greater path to self-improvement. When I asked Zach how he took that next step towards improving himself, he recalls that it was simply just, “digesting one podcast, one book, and incorporating one habit at a time until it became all I did.”
In October of 2019 he started his self-coaching business. What he thought would be a side hustle to his personal training, quickly became the place where he wanted to spend all his energy. But because he was still so young and had very little real-world business knowledge, he decided to hire a mentor to teach him the basics. Looking back on it, Zach realizes that he was looking for a quick fix and that's probably why he ended up choosing this particular mentor. As we know with quick fixes, they generally aren't the means to achieving long term success. After his mentor sold the business to someone else out of the blue, Zach learned that his mentor lacked integrity. It became clear that he wasn't in the business of helping people, he was in the business of getting rich quick. The irony was certainly not lost on Zach, and when I asked him how he felt after learning that his mentor was basically a fraud, he replied,
“I have more confidence in myself than ever that I will build a rock solid business with an amazing team that will never go through anything like what these guys did. I'm very careful with who I look up to now.”
Looking back on his mentor experience, Zach is grateful for it. “I learned key lessons and went through self-development as it relates to business that was crucial in becoming the version I am now.”
Even though I personally have never had a mentor, I found myself relating to this part of Zach's story. Almost all of the leaders I have been previously exposed to were not what I would consider to be great leaders. But because both Zach and I have seen exactly what a great leader is not, it becomes clear what a great leader is. Through sharing our experiences, we were able to draw some common denominators. The first thing great leaders do not do is go into business for the wrong reason. In Zach's case, once his mentor had checked that box of making money fast, he lost interest and passion in following through to develop the people in front of him. Additionally inn both our cases, our previous leaders lacked self-awareness. Most people are purely reactive to scenarios. When confronted with a situation they let their emotions dictate their responses. But, as Zach says, if you “become aware of your emotional triggers that manifest in the form of stagnant beliefs or thought patterns, when an external event happens, you can instead view the situation as objectively as possible,” and act on what is best for your team.
With these leadership traits in mind, I wanted to leave you, the readers with some tangible habits you can start to incorporate to develop yourselves even further as great leaders and entrepreneurs. Based off of his experience as a coach, “fitness is often the most urgent area of opportunity for entrepreneurs,” and as Zach has shown us, fitness is a great foundation for starting your self-development journey. His first piece of advice is to start by committing to a feasible level of action that's already within your knowledge and experience. For example, if you want to start weight lifting, start by taking classes at your gym to develop the habit of showing up. “The most important thing is to start shifting your identity that you are now the kind of entrepreneur that takes part in healthy activities. There's time down the road to develop and optimize your routines, but just get started.”
Furthermore, if you're looking to develop or improve your morning routine (like I always am) to support your new healthy identity, Zach's advice to curating one is to remember that a morning routine is foremost a means to a result. They should go through fluctuations depending on what you need. “If you're an anxious person, you would want to set up a vehicle to reduce that. Start with meditation and journaling in the morning to support the additional inner work to identify the root of your anxiety. Simply analyze when you first wake up, what improvements or goals do you want out of that experience?”
This was a huge lightbulb moment for me. I'm crazy about my morning routine because I am not a morning person. Thus, my immediate goal is to feel grounded and energized for the day, so it makes sense to include morning affirmations and breath work that leaves me feeling energized.
For Zach, he's looking for peace, so here's what his current routine looks like. He starts with a cold shower, followed by breath work to create “space entering [his] day that gives a sense of control and tranquility.” He also works out 6-7 times per week and always drinks 5 liters of water a day. “When I was going through some intense inner work I had two hour morning routines because that was what I needed then. But right now I'm just in the zone and I don't need more than that.”
I look forward to seeing Zach continue to grow his coaching business and personal brand. If you want more fitness tips and tricks follow him on Instagram and YouTube. Also if you're ready to become your elite self check out his Elite Self Coaching.
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