Chris
But Hello, everyone, and welcome to the next episode of my blank fitness journey podcast. I am still clueless about what number we are on; I don’t know. But it’s gonna be a good one no matter what. We are here with Nathan, born, and we’ll chat with him here in just a few minutes. But before we do that, I would love to introduce to you my beautiful co-host Megan Davis who is sitting in her brand new office with her not-so-brand new plant friend. Say hello, Megan.
Megan
Because it’s probably a little bit better than all the places, I’ve been to so far. Yeah, you’re like slitting the gym bathroom one time.
Chris
Gosh, that was awesome. You’re super clear, and they’re so camera quality looks great. And you’ve only nice eyeballs that look nice. I can see your muscles.
Megan
Thank you. Thank you. I will try to keep those out.
Chris
Yeah, the sun’s out, guns out, baby. So Megan, how is your fitness right now?
Megan
Um, let go in. The last time we did this, we had our friends in town. So that was really fun getting to work out with them, and it made getting back into the swing of things a little bit easier. We are looking for something to sign up for. Have you come up with anything?
Chris
No, I have not.
Megan
Maybe you can do the water polis, a water Palooza online qualifier, with me.
Chris
I will do it with you, pose as a female for you through competition, and still get utterly destroyed. So that’s maybe that’s what we’ll do.
Megan
I like this idea.
Chris
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Megan is just balling out on Monday. Don’t shake your head. Monday, we had bar muscle ups, and you’ve been working on you like you just celebrated five bar muscle ups in a row. And then you knocked it out, like several times in a workout.
Megan
It’s true. It was a lot of fun. You made me sound good, and I’m catching up on the skills you already have. Thanks for being excited.
Chris
I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m going to live vicariously through your athletic career. And that’s okay. Again, I really I’m okay with that. We did a workout yesterday with a benchmark workout procrastinator called Helen. And it’s three rounds of the 400-meter run, 21 kettlebell swings, and 12 Pull Ups. And it’s cool because you can see your progress over time when you track your workouts. And we did this workout three years ago. And then we did it again, I think last year or the year after. And then we did it again yesterday. And I look back and my time was to the second the same score as it was two years ago, three years ago. And yeah, while that may not feel like I’m making tremendous progress in the gym, I’m actually Megan said, really? Yeah. But you’re running two businesses, you’re dealing with the kids, you’ve got a family, we’re doing all the different things. So
Megan
I’m getting older, and
Chris
aging. I am eligible for the Master’s athletes next year. So yeah, I guess that’s not bad to age into a different group. Maybe they’ll use like, you know, like a two-pound kettlebell or something next year when I’m in the master’s program.
Megan
Oh, I’m saying you’re doing all that and aging and still managed to have the same time. I think that’s pretty good.
Chris
It’s okay. So thank you. Thank you. Well, Megan, before we chat with Nathan, can you hit me with the nutrition tip for the week?
Megan
Yeah, so I’d love for you to chime in on this as we go. But we’ve been discussing how to maximize your results from your time in the gym. So we covered the importance of sleep, which is hard to get when you’re doing all those things that you’re doing. But if you can get at least seven or more hours, it really helps. We discussed the importance of eating some protein and carbs right after your workout last week and trying to get at least 20 To 30 grams of protein and 2030 grams of carbs right after to help you recover. So today, we’re going to talk about just, in general, getting enough food. So whereas last week was right after your workout, this is about getting enough food to support muscle repair, growth, a healthy immune system, and metabolism. So I don’t know when we have people coming to the gym. You know, a lot of us, Me included a lot of us, want to work hard in the workout, gain muscle, and lose excess fat mass, and we see that many people default to starving themselves. Like, you know, to really ignore their hunger cues to think, okay, I’m starting to exercise, I want to get ripped, I’m just not going to eat. And it doesn’t work, right, it works against your body, not with your body, we see that they’re not able to keep up the same intensity, they’re not able to gain strength, they might get sick, like get a head cold or something like that, because their immune systems are down. And then definitely they don’t see those changes they wanted to see from the body. So usually, at that point, we, you know, get to come alongside them and kind of figure out, hey, what’s going on is, you know, just adding exercise to your schedule. Is it making you miss some meals? Like, you know, how can we help you in this get some more food in. So I think that’s why it’s really great that we do have nutrition coaches that can come in and help you figure out what’s a good calorie range for you to support, you know, a healthy immune system metabolism, muscle, but not access, you know, fat mass, right. And so what we usually find is that, you know, we kind of start with their basal metabolic needs and add from there, whereas many people come in thinking they have to eat under their basal metabolic needs. And so it’s really cool to see how that works. But I think that the big point is that if you want to maximize your results from your workouts, it is to, you know, make sure that you’re not starving yourself, that you aren’t eating enough, in general, like consistent, gently through the day, good quality proteins, carbs, and fats. And that will help you see those changes in muscle gain and fat loss from your time in the gym. And just better intensity on your workout and more strength is great.
Chris
Yeah, it is amazing how much I think diet culture has affected our ability to consider a few foods as fuel instead of, like, hey, it’s a bad thing that I need to cut out. And so I know that I’ve seen you work with tons and tons of people. And almost always, when people come in, they’re not seeing the results they want on the body. Almost always, it’s because they’re under-eating and fueling, and then they can’t give it their all in the gym. So yeah, that’s, that’s great advice. So if you are somebody that is finding it, hey, I’m working out five, six days a week at the gym. I’m under-eating for what I should be doing and still not seeing the results I want. That’s a good sign that it’s time to maybe consider bumping up your calories. But realistically, it’s time to hook up with a nutrition coach like Megan, or Alyssa, one of the other nutrition coaches, and just, you know, check in and say, Hey, this is I’m feeling. I do not feel like I should help myself. So awesome.
Megan
It’s confusing. So I think it’s really it’s, it’s such an important piece, though, of you know, seeing those results. He’s making sure you’re getting enough.
Chris
Yeah, lean into the experts who understand it and deal with it daily. So that’s why we that’s, I guess that’s why I have you here. Right. My
Megan
I hope there are a few other reasons, but yeah.
Chris
Okay. It’s one of the reasons you’re right; you’re right. We can’t get into all the reasons for this PG-rated show. All right. So it is time to introduce our guests today. I’m overly excited about having Mr. Nathan Bourne on with us. He is a relatively new gym member and has been with us for about eight months. Something like that. And he comes in with CrossFit experience, exercise experience in general, and collegiate athletes. He’s a guy that gives it his all the time. And he’s also a serial entrepreneur like myself. And so maybe we’ll get into some of your business stuff today, too, Nathan, but welcome to the show.
Nathan
Yeah, thanks for having me. It’s good to hang out with you guys in this setting in this context. So yeah, I’m excited already learning good stuff today.
Chris
That’s what I say when I’m hanging out with Megan. I learn something new every day. So Nathan, give us a brief history of your exercise journey.
Nathan
Yeah, for sure. Totally. It’s interesting, you know; as I was preparing my thoughts for our time together today, I knew I would be asked to fill in the blank on my journey.
Chris
if you want to do it now, you can. I’m not going to stop, you know, go.
Nathan
Speak to it and what the car should say because athletics has always been my fitness. I never really honestly until I became a member of CrossFit, which has been 18 months, you know, try for us for the last seven or eight. I never really saw fitness as its own thing. I really just thought you had sports, you know, and people that were athletes had to do all these things, you know to maintain their performance. So it’s been interesting, and even recently, like last week, it became clear that CrossFit is a sport like a separate animal. It is not just the working out part of a sport. And that’s helped me a bit too. And I can speak to that more down the road of our conversation here, but I am the fourth of nine children. So I come from a big family. My father was a division one soccer player. He’s kind of a freak of nature, just six two ways, probably right now 210 pounds and in great shape, and just turned 60 This year in February, so fun. Six boys, three girls, and nine children. My youngest brother’s 19. My oldest brother is 40. There are 21 grandkids. Mom is 59, and my dad is 60. Right? So
Chris
Yeah, that’s a busy family.
Nathan
Busy family. And I am the only born boy under six feet. I’m 511. Air in personality. I’m six-three, but it’s crazy. My partner, who that’s 23, Today is his birthday. Just got off the phone with him. And he’s six, five, just a monster. So yeah, state champion wrestlers. Soccer, lacrosse, football, swimming. You name it like that was our, our, our just lives. You know, we’re sports, both male and female. So I played every sport under the sun. And then, about my sophomore year of high school, wrestling became my magnificent obsession. And I then went on to wrestle division one at the University of Pennsylvania. And that was a really cool experience. Speaking of food and nutrition, I mean, that’s an awful starting point, being a wrestler because you form horrible habits around cutting weight, you know, and binging and purging. And you know, when you’re 16 and 17 and 18 and 19, your early 20s, No big deal. You eat a cheesesteak at a weekend party, and then you cut 15 pounds and 72 hours when you wrestle the match. So, when I stopped wrestling and embarked on entrepreneurship, fatherhood, and everything in my life over the last decade, I completely put Fitness on the shelf. And I look back and go like, what was I thinking? And it’s, obviously, mental, emotional, and psychological, far more than physical. But I look back now that I’m on a regimented diet, and I’m consistently in the gym, not as consistent as I’d like. And there are some other life events, you know, recently that I can speak to, but I think, oh my gosh, I mean, for a decade, I’d like maybe run once a week. There would be days, like months, that I would not work out. And I never got way, way out of shape. But I got out of shape. Like I’ve got a few pictures from a few years ago, three, four years ago, man, face, you know, look at my body. I had enough muscle memory that most people wouldn’t have noticed. I knew how awful I felt about myself. I knew how awful I felt, physically tired, all those things? So if I had to fill in that blank, it’s almost like a comeback.
Chris
Going. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, all at a time back, baby.
Nathan
Come back. It’s a Yeah, it’s a comeback kid story. And it wasn’t until recently that I, because I’ve always identified as a star, just being athletic. Like, I got eight of them, you know, you need some. I mean, I just was a stud. So I didn’t realize until this most recent experience in CrossFit that TAM went far away from this battle while so yeah, coming back is probably the best way to fill that blank.
Chris
That’s awesome. So what was that crescendo, and you’re like, crap, it’s time to finally do something about this. I need to find something other than running once a week to do for work out.
Nathan
When I realized that your game was not going to do it. Soft J. Logging jogging. Yeah. You know, I think you have your day of decision in life, right? This is in parenting, it’s in relationships, it’s in business. It’s in life. Once it equipped me well, I heard that the word decide is a lot like suicide, homicide, or genocide. The root of the word means to kill. And essentially, when you make a decision, and you decide, you’re killing the alternative, right? You’re going Nope, this is where I plant my flag. This is where I draw my line. And there’s no going back. And often, I think, to have a day of decision, you must have a day of disgust. Right? Where you’re like, I’m not tolerating this anymore in my life. It could be your finances, right? It could be your relationships and certainly should be your health. And I think it just had that day, you know, and it’s never like an exact day, right? It’s not like this day, you know, but it was a season, it was a moment, about 18 months ago, where I realized that this is not who I am. You know, I’m not a person that doesn’t embrace fitness. I’m a division one athletes, like, what am I doing my life that I can’t even, like, go up a flight of stairs, and low key be like, like, hurt. And you know, I had, like I said, just enough of a build, that if I wear the right shirt, you didn’t know, we didn’t know. But if I wore the wrong shirt, you know, it was just like him, and I really let this core go. And you know, aging, I’m 33. Now I’ll be 34. Some things are not coming back in October like I get it. Like it’s a, it’s a different build now, right? I don’t have the cut I used to have. But I don’t care because I’m stronger than I ever want. And under that little bit of pizza, right here is an abdominal wall that I’ve built in CrossFit, you know, doing bar muscle ups and doing the squats that we do and doing the deadlifts just the heavy-duty work, that is a day in the Life at CrossFit. That the only other place I think you could find is Planet Fitness. A gym that is doing a whole lot of nothing. They’re not building that core strength. And you just know, as an athlete, when you’re weak or strong. You know, when you’re capable of when you’re incapable. And no matter what you look like, it will never replace how you feel. So I felt like shit, you know what I mean? And I finally got to a place where I, I, I owned it, recognized it, was disgusted with it. And then I made a decision. And I’ve just been consistent, you know, and I’ll never return. Like, there’s no going back to that, like I will, I will be doing CrossFit. And in that box, like some of the people you see in the 60s and 70s, I will be doing that. Like, I’m never going back to that season in my life. So yeah, yes, that’s that.
Megan
That’s incredible. I think that you know, we have a lot of people in the gym who are previous athletes, like yourself, and then people who never get athletics. And I think it’s really funny, because, when I hear you say that you’re like, I can’t imagine, you know, what am I doing, I do anything active. And like for some people, that was their norm before CrossFit, they’re like, now I can’t believe I’m doing something active more than once a week, you know, and it’s like, just thinking about those two different mindsets and how like beneficial it is that you get to cross paths. Whereas, in collegiate athletes, you know, it’s, you don’t get to cross paths with many people, and you don’t get that kind of experience. And I think it’s really cool to see, and to hear you say that and to recognize that a lot of people don’t have that same mentality, but then that is like that is a really good thing to recognize that you know, hey, it’s been four days and I haven’t gone you know, and done exercise. I need this to be not good.
Nathan
Yeah. And you know, you guys are surprised to see some of it just from you know, if you’re in the room when I’m in the room, but that’s a space for me, you know, I grew up the second half of the story is I grew up with a uniquely challenging upbringing. We were very poor growing up now. I mean, you can make 100 grand, but nine kids are going to be poor, but my parents combined, you know, didn’t do very well financially. My father played for UConn and then left to buy and didn’t pursue a successful career and didn’t have successful businesses that we just sort of survived. And I grew up in an environment with some not-so-great things about it, but then I had some really great things about it, like our relationship with God and the ability to know the Lord and serve people and have compassion. And I’ll never, that’s, you know, irreplaceable, but it was an interesting experience, because, you know, we go feed the homeless, and then like, we’d also eat, and it was, like, kinda like gray as to who was really getting the care and who was getting the carried out. And, you know, churches often provided Christmas, and I don’t think that’s our wrapping paper. I think someone else brought that gift. So that kind of grit, you know, that’s just like, reality, I didn’t have much of a childhood, you could say, right, like, very early on in life, I was like, adulting, you know, like 10. And wrestling and athletics became this space, where I could be a savage, you know, I mean, I could step on that mat. And I was nice outside of the mat. I had good sportsmanship, but it was known like Nathan was born. Like, that guy is a mean, dude, in that circle, you know, like, he’s got to be a savage. And it was just the perfect way for me to not go to jail; it was the perfect way to not get into a fight; like in school, I just kept it cool. And then I got on the mat and was like, this person’s gonna die today. Like, it’s gonna go down. And, you know, CrossFit is kind of like that, too. I’ve dabbled in things and tried to pick up stuff. But until I, I, like, encountered CrossFit, you know, like, you have that collision with it. And this is what I think is the world, according to Nathan, by the way, you know, so that’s a disclaimer, but CrossFit is an interesting animal because I think its strength is its weakness like it is for all of us, its strength is how scalable it is. Right? Like, there are so many levels, there are so many methods, like, that’s new to me to this level method, right? So I can go in and do this workout. And this person can go in and essentially fire the same muscles, right, trigger the same movements. Because of that scale. People stay down on the scale in a way that they really don’t need to watch it; I watched, I’m like, bro, I know, you can lift more weight than that, like, you need to hit the wall like you need to get comfortable with that space, that it’s a fight. And it’s a battle. So there’ll be times where, you know, I yell out or something, or I’ll cursor, you know, and I think sometimes it can be jarring, for people coming into just kind of do their thing. And I’m like, sorry, get out. But like they don’t know, the journey. Right to 30, almost four years, that led to that moment. I’m not lifting that 405-pound deadlift because I want to look good on the beach. I’m doing it because that’s my life. It depends on my ability to get that thing off the ground. And I think if people operate that, that they can trigger, there’s something in their life that’s like, Y’all hadn’t gone to that place yet. Go to that place and watch your ass, get over the bar; you’re gonna find a whole new strength within you that, like, food is important. And sleep is important. But you put to sleep, food and water and the things you do up to that moment. And then you’ve triggered it, you spark it with that thing from childhood that’s traumatic, or you’re pissed off about that divorce, you’re going through whatever that life event is. And I think that’s the greatest gift of CrossFit because you get to just play in that space a lot. And there’s a very few environments where you can do that, and not, you know, go to jail. So, yeah, I don’t know if that makes sense. It might be a little too intense. But, you know, that’s how I see it.
Chris
So I’m gonna put in a disclaimer that I’m gonna suggest that some of these people get therapy right; CrossFit is great therapy, it really is, and you do you can see when people are on or are comfortable being uncomfortable and I think that’s kind of what you’re talking about is there are people in the gym that are there to be comfortable, and that’s okay, like but it’s really cool that you get to demonstrate it. It means you’ve seen me do it. And you’ve seen, like, there’s plenty of people. Like, it’s okay to say, hey, like, you can push harder. And then you’re that example. And they’re like, oh, yeah, I guess I can. Yeah, no, I think that that’s
Nathan
right, it picks up. If you do it at that moment, the way you’re doing things, the way you do everything. So you do it, and you go, maybe I could be a little bit of a better father. Yeah, you probably could. I know, I could write like, maybe, I could be able to better have a spouse, a leader, an employee, you know what I mean? And you start to see the spillover. And you go, wow, CrossFit is about everything, but working out. Yeah, right. Like, that’s just a space to come check back in and, like, fill up, you know what I mean? Like, well up and source up, and then go back out. Because if I’m in the class for an hour, I’ve got 167 other hours that week, then in the week, right? If I’m in it for five hours, I’ve got 163. Do the math, right? 168 hours a week, however many hours you’re in there, you’ve got all that part of that life outside. And I think people need to see that box accordingly. The most brilliant thing about CrossFit. This is like, you guys probably know this because, you know, your beliefs, obviously, is that there are no mirrors. It’s the secret sauce of CrossFit, right? Like, hey, what’s the thing about CrossFit? There are no mirrors. There’s no ego, right? There’s no looking at yourself; you’re not self-conscious, the way you would be when you’re in a gym, and everything reflects how you look at that moment. You know, there’s something about that space that’s industrial. I mean, it’s like, Man, this place is awful. I can’t wait to get in here. And as a rabbit, you guys have great facilities, but intentionally it’s industrial like that. And I think that that’s, that says something to you know? I don’t know. World Coordinate crossfitter coordinate that.
Chris
it. Megan’s frozen right now, and I’m curious to hear her thoughts. Whenever it looks like a bath, she’s low, lolly mad at what she just said, or she’s getting ready to explode.
Megan
I’m back. What did I miss?
Chris
We were just talking about how you looked? Beautiful. That’s what we’re saying.
Megan
I was trying to say that we also have great toilet paper, nice facilities, and great toilet paper.
Chris
No, you’re right. And it is like your opportunity to zone out the other 23 hours daily. So that way, you can zone back in on them intentionally whenever it’s time to leave. Like, I think many of us have these hobbies or vices or whatever it is where it’s just like mind-numbing. And so this is something that Megan and I talked about, like, is the time that you’re taking off? If you’re like, Go lay down in the bed, is it gonna refuel you? Or is it just blank time, because like you said, I want the gym, I want the gym to be somewhere where people come in, they give it 167%. They walk out feeling crushed. And then, quickly, they rebuild back up, and then they can go out and crush 167% at-home parenting business, finances, and other things. So yeah, love it. Love it. Love it, man. What do you think?
Megan
Yeah, I think it’s really cool. I would say as someone who didn’t like both of you did athletics in college, you know, and I think that it was really cool for me when I got to see a little glimpse of what that was, like in the strength, like the mental strength that it teaches you. And like you said, it teaches you how to push yourself to those limits, find new ones, keep doing it, and how that translates. So like, I would see Chris, you know, go in training for a goal training for meat or something. And then, you know, he would just go all out, he didn’t care who was watching, you know, slapping his legs, he’s yelling, and I’m like, What is going on right now? And then like, you know, he’d hit the lift, you know, and he’s reached this big goal, like, it was really cool. I’m like, Can I do that? You know, and it’s so it’s really fun. Like, now you know, I will allow myself to push myself harder. It allows me not to worry about what I look like rolling around the floor because I went too hard. You know, whatever it is. It’s fun. And then, like you said, it’s really good to be in an environment where other people are doing it. Some people are not there yet, but it’s fun to do it together. And each one of you gains something from it. So I think it is like you said, a good thing about CrossFit.
Nathan
And all ships rise with that tide. That’s the beauty of it: that scalability that relativity allows people to just push a little bit more, right. So many constructs wouldn’t be fitting because it would be like only meatheads. Or only Uh, you know, yogis or something, and it’s like, I just can’t move my body that way. So you guys are cool, but not for me; CrossFit is just what it is, right? It’s cross-sectioning, you know, fitness. And I think that’s cool because you’re essentially giving permission to each other. And it creates this effect that I loved most about wrestling, which was this individual experience tethered to a team effort, you know, and I think that CrossFit checks those boxes because, you know, it doesn’t have to be a partner workout, you know, you’re in it, you know what I mean? Like, alright, we’re all in this suck moment together, right? And everyone hates it no matter what part of the method they’re on, you know what color they are, like, it just sucks for everyone. And that’s what I have learned is that CrossFit is zero fun, sir. Like, it’s no fun; CrossFit is for you if you like the suck. And I love that about it. Because I, you know, I found in wrestling, particularly high school wrestling, because you get really good if you’re really good, you know, to the point where you can wrestle division one, by your senior year, it’s like rare that you even have a good match, you know, you’re kind of like, you’re good for the whole, just the age range of 14 to 18, you know, so you’re kind of wait until you can get your butt kicked again. CrossFit kicks your butt every time it becomes like, this is awesome. Every time is like a finals match in a tournament, you know, and it’s all relative; I still, in my mind, think of that division one athlete that I could barely, you know, do the simple workout, and you guys see me on the floor dying, but I don’t want to work out to go by that I’m not like near death. I love that. So, yeah.
Megan
I also like that you can also. I’ve seen you do it. I mean, you balance so many things. It’s like you come in, you really don’t have anything left to give, but like it gives back to you, right? Like you come in, not sure if you’ll be able to how much you can give to the workout? Well, because you can scale it or because there is a lot of energy coming from the other people, your team, if you will have other people in your class like you do, still being fired up and energized, which is, I think, also really cool.
Nathan
Yeah, and you mentioned it well, there when you’re talking about all that Chris is bouncing. And I think when you have broad shoulders, right, as Chris literally has, but you know, when you know how to carry the weight of the world, right? You don’t realize the burden because many of those stressors are like micro, becoming new norms. You know, and sometimes just compare it like, some of our peers haven’t even had children yet, right? Or gotten married yet. And it’s like, okay, like, you must have had a tough week, you know, we’re like, Do you know what it’s like to stay up all night with like a newborn or when it’s like, stay up all night with a sick child, and still come in here and do it. And I’m not discounting like everyone’s a different season, right? I’m not saying that those things are comparable, per se. But that’s why you hit that same number two years later. That’s a big deal, right? Because of what’s happened in those two years, you become less selfish and more selfless. Because you’re developing an organization, you’re building leaders. So you’re giving of yourself constantly, you’re pouring out. So you actually have less. So when you do that Hellen workout today versus two years ago, there’s less fuel in the tank, right? We work in finite resources; you can get all heavy and be like, No, it’s more. It’s not. It’s not more gravity that has been on us for two more years, pulling us all down, and like, it’s a real thing. But to still hit that benchmark says everything because now you’re kind of recruiting, like all of the things you know, like, like, it’s my dad way. Do you know what I mean? Like, I’m like, Oh, I lift that thing with like, as a dad, literally not as like a guy, you know, I lifted up because I’m picking up all this stuff that I have to do to build this, you know, world for my children and for my spouse and for my, you know, employees and so on and so forth. So, I know that’s a little intangible, but I think you guys are picking up what I’m putting down.
Chris
Yeah, absolutely. And I think many people in our situation come into CrossFit for sustainability and durability through life’s stressors. Because again, if we can stay as good as we once were, that’s great. Like it’s not coasting like I don’t want to send my coach through. It certainly is not coasting. But if I don’t ever hit another PR, but I can stay close to where I was, that’s okay. It really is. Okay. So tell us a little bit about the things you have going on in your life that you need to be prepared for. CrossFit fuels you up.
Nathan
I’ve got five children. Our fifth child was born on June 26. Levi, I call him little Levi.
Chris
No boy, calling it quits after five.
Nathan
Yeah, you know, my parents were not selling what they were thinking; you imagine having five? And they’d be like, I think what is yours for more?
Chris
We’re about halfway, right?
Nathan
That’s nuts. So you’re done with Dun, dun, dun. But yeah, between that. And the other thing, too, right? I joined Triforce. So I moved to the area on January 1, but a week or two came to try for us. And at that point, I had 13 employees checked yesterday. I think our org charts are at 58. Oh, God crap, massive growth this year, right. So I know you guys see me. I’m on the phone. Like literally in the workout. Like I’m like, Oh, are they taking a little break? Like I can do if I’m working through the workout. Because I just have to, you know, and you might be like, You need to come in at 530 in the morning. I’m not one of those CEOs, like good for them. You know, write a book about it, bro; I’m up all night doing things. I don’t sleep enough to get up that early. But yeah, balancing fatherhood and running an organization, we serve all 50 states. And our mission is just like resonating with the market and our value. And it’s starting to feel like an overnight success, right. But I founded the company with the first version almost seven years ago. So it’s been a pretty long night. Right? It’s been a slumber party. So a lot of times, I think people see the outputs. And they don’t necessarily consider all the input, right? All the things that happen outside of that workout, too, right? Like to see Oh, and they compare themselves to the wrong person when they really shouldn’t, you know, they should compare themselves to themselves. So yeah, that’s some of the things I balanced regularly.
Chris
Sweet man. Well, we’ve got short on time. But give me the 32nd elevator speech for your company. And so that way, if people want to hook up with you, they can.
Nathan
Yeah, right on. So our clients are local businesses and nonprofits, many chiropractic offices and gyms, and clients like you. And our mission is to be the world’s most employee-centric company. So everything we do is through the lens of the employee experience. And what we do is provide an all-in-one subscription for bookkeeping, payroll, benefits, and HR suite tech-based, but high touch in that each of our clients has a single point of contact; we call their people advisor website my cor.io. NYC o r e.io. I think this is my Florida.
Chris
Awesome, you nailed it, dude. Yeah, I think we’ll probably end up making lots of money just from being on this incredibly, wildly popular podcast that all of our families will listen to. So, Nathan, we’ll have to have you back on again. Man, this was super powerful. I mean, you’re really fun to talk to, and I get to hear your story. And I think you bring things to life in a really unique way. So appreciate you, bro.
Nathan
Yeah, thank you. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for creating the environment we all get to enter into, including this extension of it as a podcast wy, cool. Yeah.
Chris
Awesome. See you there tomorrow.
