March 7, 2022 • 26 mins
Power Couple Jason and Halani Lobdell join us to talk about how they entered the world of entrepreneurship, how it affected their family and how patience and understanding helped every step of the way. Hear how getting through the hurdles of balancing their relationship and business as well as the pandemic impacted their brand.
Host IG:@itstanyatime
Guest IG: @mr2weeksout @mrs2weeksout
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. Our next
(00:22):
guests are the co owners of the Loft Jim here
in Atlanta. They are both dedicated fitness entrepreneurs and enthusiasts
and have been booming at business all throughout the pandemic.
They are some of the most enthusiastic and dedicated fitness
practitioners in the health and wellness industry. Money Movers, please
welcome our first husband and wife power couple, Jason and
(00:44):
Halani lobdel A k Mr and Mrs. Two weeks out
aprecial job of happiness. So it is such a pleasure
to have you on our podcast today. I'm really excited
because you are actually our first husband and wife um
entrepreneur power apple to be here on the podcast. It
is such a pleasure and I can't wait to hear
more about your story. Awesome. Thank you for having us.
(01:08):
We're honored. So let's start at the beginning. Your husband
and wife and you also work together. Tell us a
little bit about the black love story that is Mr
and Mrs two weeks out. So and our story kind
of differs. Okay, but this is my I'm not not
Since we were twelve and thirteen once to junior high
school together. Um. Actually I dated his best friend our
(01:32):
junior year of high school and he went off to college.
But we were close because we were always together. I
was dating his friend friend off college. We remained close.
It was our senior year of high school and just
the attraction kind of grew over the summer and we
got to school senior year and I was like, you
know what, I think I like you. And literally from
(01:54):
that day for where we were inseparable and here we
are all these years later. Shoot, it's been what twenty
three years? Twenty years and been married in January. Wow, okay,
so Mary twenty three years. How long have you guys
been in business together? Being in business together is actually new. Um,
Jason has always been He's been a serial entrepreneur. My background, Um,
(02:18):
I was a um firefighter for eighteen years. Yeah. It
was a battalion chief with the Cap County Fire Rescue
into Camp County, Georgia, and I literally just started on
the entrepreneur journey almost two years ago. Next month makes
two years for me, so that's truly we really really
went into business together totally two years ago. But we've
(02:40):
had the gym. I would say this with all my
businesses through the years, though she's always played instrumental role.
You know. So I got a gym. She was still
a firefighter, but she still had the busiest class at
my gym. You know, I have an online program and
we have a lower body blast that she coned up.
So you know, this has been over about six years
(03:01):
as far as the programs that I had, but yeah,
she was an entrepreneur with my business and she was
helping me out right. Thank you for your service because
I'm like jaw drop, being a firefighter and a battillion
chief is huge, huge, huge. And second, Jason, I love
that you were like, let me chime in and give
you know, the woman who supported maybe my entrepreneurship dreams
(03:22):
like her her do because you know what they say,
there's always a strong woman behind every successful man and
vice versa. So I love to hear that. It's amazing
how you guys have supported each other. So Jason, I
want you to chime in and talk about you said
you've been an entrepreneur for a long time. Take take
us back to some of your earliest businesses and sort
of paint that picture for us. Okay, Well, before I
(03:47):
actually was an entrepreneur, I was. I was at work early,
Like in middle school, I was working eight hour shifts, um,
being a janitor at a truck stop, well eighth grade, yeah,
or MS carriers inwood um. And then from there, but
I worked for a guy in my neighborhood who's entrepreneur. Um.
(04:07):
And from there I um another neighbor he had this
place called this fletchers um al Spiza house, and I
knocked on his door asked for a job, and I've
been working for him. So I was always under entrepreneur,
watching them like be the boss, you know, as as
a young team. Um. So by time I got seventeen
(04:28):
eighteen years old, I begin to throw parties. And um,
I was throwing high school parties, then turning into college
parties and then growing up parties. But that's when I started,
like seventeen eighteen years old, I became an entrepreneur full fledge. Wow.
I mean I love those stories of you know, young
kids who were like no, I was getting a paycheck
(04:49):
when I was in the eighth grade and as a janitor,
like you were just like, I'm gonna do whatever it
takes to hustle, because most eight graders are like, no,
they won't even clean the rooms much as after other people. Yeah,
that's pretty impressive. That's pretty impressive. Okay, So now you
guys have started this business. The loft is here in Atlanta.
It's a super successful gym. Um, talk about what brought
(05:12):
you to the health and wellness industry. Really I brought
us to the health and bonness industry. So we both
were athletes growing up brand track who played football. Um,
and so what ended up really really pushing us into
this space. I got pregnant with our second child, our son,
and I gained fifty pounds and with that it was Okay,
I really got to get back in the gym. I
really gotta lose this weight. So once my six week
(05:35):
check up, be like, you can go work out. So
I got really really heavy in the gym, and my
trainer at the time, his name is Rock, he was like,
you should do bodybuilding competition, she should compete, And so
I started gearing up for my first competition and literally
That's what started the entire fitness journey for us. So
(05:55):
I could competed in eight shows and during that time
train with me competing. He's watching what I'm doing, and
you know, he's seeing competing takes a whole another level
of commitment and a lot more often than the average person.
So of course he's right there with me doing it
as well. And that is literally what created this space
for us, is me losing the fifty pounds from the
(06:18):
pregnancy and starting competing. So he saw the changes in
my body, he saw what food would do, how it
would change my body, and it was like, hey, we
might just tap into this. Yeah, that's the fact. Um. Yeah,
And just to doe down on that. Um, you guy's
about the name. Where did Mr two weeks out come from?
Mrs two weeks out? Um? She was at a bodybuilding company.
(06:40):
She was at a body building conference and the guy
um that was speaking, he um, somebody was talking while
he was talking, so he told the guy to stand up,
take your shirt off. Guy, tak your shirt off. And
he looked at me and it was like, you stand
up and take your shirt off. I said, oh no,
I'm not a body that on with her he said,
it's okay, just stand up and take your shirt off.
So I stood up and took my shirt off. He said,
not that guy, and looks like he's two weeks out.
(07:02):
So two weeks out means you're two weeks out from
a show, from a bodybuilding competition. So it's that perspective,
it's your your leaning, your tones, you look like your
two weeks out from actually stepping on the stage. And
so at one point, you know, that's just how he
walked around all the time he wasn't competing, and so
when he finally got on Instagram, that was his name,
(07:23):
and then I followed suit a few months later and
just you know, tip on the the female from out It. Wow, No,
I love that. And I want to talk more about
the brand that you guys have created on Instagram because
it's super popular and you guys had such great content
production on there. So now you're heavy into um bodybuilding, weightlifting,
(07:43):
and both of you guys are walking around looking like
black Head and Barbie and say okay, let's buy a gym.
Well how that came about? Again, Like I said, after
when I started throwing parties and took my money and
invest in trucks. UM. So I was in the trucking
industry for about ten years and the opportunity presented itself.
A guy who owned the gym, n KB rest in Peace.
(08:05):
He passed away, and my my, my boy was like, hey, bro,
it's a gym over here here on fak head. You know,
we could partner up this that this type of thing.
So I was already in fitness and things that nature.
Just I was like, okay, cool, I'll buy you know,
I buy into a gym. Um, just being an entrepreneur.
UM bought into the gym. But the gym was slow
since KB passed away, it was like dead. So then
(08:27):
I became a trainer trying to get people to come
to the gym. So I was literally sitting there. I
wrote down everybody's number in my phone. I called him
that I got this new gym. I want you to
know your trainer. Yeah, I got this new gym. Come
on down. Just like so that kind of pushed me
into being a personal trainer. Um. But the crazest thing
(08:48):
about that is, like that said I was making six
figures in the truck and industry. I knew if I
was gonna get into this fitness arena, we are your discussed.
I was gonna have to take five hundred dollars a week,
you know, be on type of salary, and um, it
got to a point where my trucks were filing so
I couldn't do both, and the guy was contracting where
he said, man, look if you're not here Monday, you
(09:08):
know you can point his trucks. Had to have a
conversation with Halani, like, we're gonna go from two thousand
dollars a week to five hundred dollars a week. You know,
it's a good possibility we're gonna lose his mercedes. We're
gonna lose this one, lose that. But I don't think. Yeah,
it got ugly, you know what I mean. But you know,
we just had a real serious conversation and it got
(09:29):
to a point where I had to pick passion over paycheck.
And that's what I did. You know, she rallied behind me. Um,
I let the trucks go. My Mercedes had to go
to I mean, listen, there's like lifestyle is super easy,
you know what I mean, there's no sacrifice, but you
have to sacrifice to you know, exactly if you're falling
your passion projects and dreams. So like, this is the
(09:50):
stories that I want people to hear. It's not just
like oh cool, absolutely, so that's what happened, man, and
just had my back against the wall. Um, I just
got creative. We got creative. We started thinking of other
ways to make money in the gym. Um just example,
her class, right, she's doing a class. She gonna we
put thirty people in the class, right, charging ten dollars.
(10:13):
She makes three hundred dollars. But we created another Facebook
group and started doing classes online. Now she's making a
thousand dollars in that hour. So we just really got
my bag, really got creative and started doing new you
just trying new stuff, man, and before you know what,
we looked up. Um, two thousand and fifteen made twenty
five dollars the whole year. You know, that was a
(10:33):
year to grind, a year to struggle trying to figure
it out. By two thousand and sixteen, we was making
twenty five th allars a week. So you know, we
really put our head down and and got busy. Yeah yeah,
I mean sometimes you have to like literally you have
to go through hell to make it out to the
other side. And you know, I wonder like, especially when
(10:54):
you guys are a married couple, you're working together, you
have a family, Um, how was it navigating you know,
working together and these stressful times? Like what resources did
you guys fall back on and like what were the
conversations that you look back at that really helped you
make it through? Yeah, like Jason said, and that's a
good question, because two thousand and fifteen is rough. You know.
(11:16):
It was one of those years where he was like,
I don't want to do the trucking anymore. This is
I'm following my passion. I want to train, I want
to be you know, owning this gendis is when I
want to go to a hundred percent. And I'm sitting
back like, yeah, but you're cutting your our money and
half more than in half. You know, you're you're taking
what's two thousand dollars a month to support our lifestyle.
It couldn't support it. And so literally, you know, I'm
(11:37):
watching things change for us financially and I'm sitting back
and I'm looking at him like you better dig us
out of this hole. Right. It's really hard because you know,
on one hand, you want to support your partner and
following their dreams and you're like, I want to be
that wife. That's like, okay, honey, cool. But at the
other time, you're like, I'm worried, I'm stressed. Like it's tough.
(11:59):
It's really absolutely because when it's just the two of us,
we can thug it out, we can rund. But we've
got a family. We've got two children at this point,
our children are young, and and we had just gotten
a new house. And it wasn't a small house, you know,
and so we're like, like, we've got stuff to take
care of. It's it's more than just what it is
that you want to do. But then I understood that
(12:20):
he had to be able to pursue his dreams as
well as have a family and and and that's so
important in keeping true to who you are. And when
you can be happy with who you are, of course
that projects to your family as well. So I had
to say, yes, I'll support you, we'll vote through this together.
And we did. And the next year, you know, he
(12:41):
had made over a million dollars that year in the
fitness ground, you know, So me sticking behind him, allowing
Jason and do what Jason does. Jason always get it
out of the mud. You know, when you're starting a
lot of times you know you have to make some
sacrifices and there's some things that just have to go,
but that's temporary. If you put the work in and
you execute, the possibilities are endless. And he did that.
(13:03):
Oh my gosh, you guys are giving me goose bumps
because I also work with my spouse, and there's so
many people who were like, how can you work with
your spouse? And then you know, you entering these conversations
where it's such a beautiful thing when you see spouses
working together, and it's really like amazing, and I love
to hear about it. Um yeah, so Tanie, I'm sorry.
(13:24):
I love working with you know. I tell people people
all the time they say the same, Now, how do
you guys work together? You do everything together? One thing
I can say is I know he had We have
each other's best interests at hard not to work about
someone stealing from You don't have to worry about being
in competition. I don't have to worry about anything that
can take place negatively because we're a unit. We're a team,
(13:44):
and so everything that we do work wise is for
the benefit of what we have gone on personally, So
why would you not want to work with who you're with? Absolutely,
and it's just such a wonderful thing. So I'm so
excited to have you guys. Okay, I want to dig
deeper into your journey as an entrepreneur too, because Halani
as well you Now, you guys have stabilized the gym business.
You're packing out classes, um, you know when you're exploring
(14:07):
all these different things, both of you together with branding
and marketing and social media, and then you launched a
clothing line. Yes, So the way that happened, I never
personally wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was against it.
I would say that was good for him. I was
die hard, fired apartment. I'm gonna do this for thirty years.
I'm gonna retire, I have my pension and we'll live life.
(14:28):
But what ended up happening is that people kept sending
me things on social media, sending me as le as
you wear? Can you put this on for us? Can
you promote it? And I would do that. It is
free stuff. I'm like, okay, that's fine, and it fits
my lifestyle because fitness was a part or is a
part of my lifestyle. So there was a young lady
who reached out to me one day on Instagram and
(14:48):
she said, hey, Halani, I don't know if the products
you're promoting are truly yours or if you're really promoting
other people's things. But if they're not sure, she was like, sys,
you need your own. And a light bulb went off
for me because I said, you know what, it's true.
These people are sending these companies are sending me their
products because I'm making the money and it fits with
our overall brand. I'm into fitness. I was still competing
(15:10):
at the time. We owned the gym. We had an
online program, you know, and so it's like, why not
start on my own line, you know? So I did.
I literally um to the store, tell the story we
want all the time. So I was working at that time.
I was doing a side um like a part time job.
I was um analysts on a these live rescues. I
(15:33):
was flying up to New York on Sunday's going to
do that part. And so I an extra month and
so I said, you know what I'm gonna buy. You're
talking about the band story. I was like, I'm gonna
buy these bands Resistance bands for my class. I teach
a class at our gym called Blue Campus Lower Body
Cost and I said, gonna buy these resist these fabric
resistance bands for glue camp and I bought them. I
(15:56):
took a picture of them and put them in my
story and I'm like, hey, guys on Saturday, I'm gonna
have new bands for you guys at class. Well, I
started getting d MS from people saying how can I purchase?
How can I purchase? So I told Jason, I'm like,
these people want to purchase my bands, and how am
I gonna get it to them? And he said Shopify?
And I said what Shopify? And he wouldn't tell me.
(16:19):
He said, google it Google Shopify found it was an
e commerce platform and I'm like okay. So literally I
set up my Shopify store and literally five minutes one
of my clocks, it took some pictures of the bands,
put them online, went to bed I had. I was
on shift the next day, so I woke up like
four hours later and I had made over four hundred dollars.
So I was like, Jason, I made over four indred
(16:39):
dollars in my sleep. I got my investment back already
has had doubled my money already, and I'm like, okay,
this is, you know, for my money back. I went
to work and all day my phone was just going off,
just the beginning of sales coming through, and so I'm
calling him like, this is insane. To see the power
of your online you know. And I had sold out
(17:02):
in less than twenty four hours and had made well
over a thousand dollars and a two hundred dollar investment.
And so that helped me right then, to see the
power of you've got a brand. People are buying what
you're selling aboutely absolutely, So then I decided, okay, let
me go through with this. Athletisure were in line. So
I did my research, found the vendors, and decided to
launch on a specific date. And it went crazy. It
(17:25):
went absolutely. It was. It was bigger than I ever
thought it would be. Because I didn't think this was
gonna be I called it my little side business. It
was let me do this on the side. You know,
companies are sending me their stuff. I can capitalize off
of it and provide some dope stuff to you know,
people who wanted. But I didn't look at it as
being like a real business. If that makes any sense
(17:48):
until it turned into a real business. And my first
year in business I had made you know, I'd made
one point one million dollars my first year in business,
and I'm it's a business, you know, yeah, you know.
And so that's what started my entrepreneurship journey. Really is
is the band seeing the power of being able to
(18:12):
provide products to people outside of your normal circle. Wow,
that's an incredible story. That's a incredible system. Come on
with the one point one million dollars. Yes, yes, absolutely, Okay,
So now you guys are thriving and you've got a
gym business, you've got merch and the pandemic hits. Um,
(18:36):
how did that really affect business? And how did you
guys manage to pivot and end up where we are today?
So I'll say, um, during the pandemic, we damn their
heads survivor's remorse because the fitness industry was like the
toilet toilet tissue industry. I guess everybody was trying to
get in shape from the house, you know what I mean.
So the gym closed down and I had to pay
(18:58):
the rent with gymnist and a third I always had
my online fitness program in the back pocket and it
just boom. You know. So, um, we did five times
the numbers during the pandemic. Um. It was, it was,
it was phenomenal. And she was nervous about her brand,
like with damn, you know, I just started this business
(19:19):
and now the gyms are closed. But because at that
point I was five months in business. And I told Jason,
I was like, well, I guess that's the end of
body envy because no one is going anywhere, so no
one is shopping. And he said, just see how it goes.
To see how it goes. And I'm like, okay, So
I ordered I keep on doing what we're doing. I'm
ordering anything to worry and it keeps going. I mean,
(19:41):
I couldn't believe the amount of people that were shopping
at home. I could not believe it home to where
their leggings at home, Hello leggings and you know, and
like you said, it's almost like we feel bad sometimes
for saying that the pandemic was good good to us
the financial arena, because it was. It really really was,
(20:02):
and so we were to thrive even more so during
that time frame. Wow, I love that, um, And I
mean there's a there was a lot of silver lions
that came out of the pandemic, and a lot of
businesses that thrived and a lot that had to pivot
and still came out on top. UM. One of the
things that I love that you guys do is you've
now created this brand, you know, Mr and Mrs two
weeks out and you know, I think a lot of
(20:23):
people look to you as like marketing Maven's. Um, how
did that come about? And can you offer any tips
to people who are trying to build a brand on
Instagram social media? What are some of the things that
you would advise people to do or not do well? UM?
For one, I can just tell you what we did.
You know, we seek information UM. As soon as the
(20:45):
right before the pandemic hit, I was going to conferences,
going to Flying Out the Vegas Grand Cardon's conference. I'm
actually going to another one Click Funnels tomorrow. I'm still
educating myself. But before that, we were buying courses in
books and you know, we were we were invested in
learning how to monetize on social media, UM, how to
(21:07):
run ads or you know, on Facebook ads and these
these types of things, UM, Amazon merchandise all that. You
know what I mean, so I think educating ourselves with
you know, using other people's platforms and stuff like that,
just taking their course and things like that really helped
us um understand social media a little better. And you know,
(21:28):
one of the things that I've always understood with social
media is to be authentic. One of the things that
you know, we're not going to force anything when we
post things that are pertaining to us or we include
our children is truly what's taking place. We don't try
to recreate things and just we're just who we are.
We're very consistent and we have created a space for
(21:50):
us that makes sense for us. So we know, family fitness,
that's us, right, so we make sure that we show
that we don't try to venture outside of those browns
because that doesn't embody who we are. So we're through
to who we are. We're very authentic and we stay
true to that, and I think that's what helps people
to really really resonate with us as a couple as
(22:10):
Mr and Mrs two weeks out, because they understand that
this when you see when you meet us in real life,
it's like, oh, they really are these people. This is
really what we see is what we get when we
see him in person. And I'll say this also, sometimes
you have to I guess flow in your gift, right. Um,
I was a trainer. I'm training Rick Raws. I'm training
all these people. I got fifty thousand followers as popping.
(22:31):
I'm the trainer that's custom and keeping it real and
things of that nature. But you know, I think the
thousand followers. Um, when I started really studying social media
and things of that nature, trying to see what people,
when my audience want from me, I post a picture
of my shirt off and get a thousand lights. I
post a picture with a sweater on with her, I'm
get three thousand lies. I'm like, damn like this family
(22:52):
dynamic love, so you know what I mean. So I
would encourage anybody watching this. Sometimes we try to go
so or it gets what does best on our pages
and things that maybe sometimes you gotta go. She didn't
think that she was gonna be selling clothes, but everybody
sends her clothes. She looks good in them. Million dollars later,
I guess we're selling clothes, you know what I mean.
(23:12):
So sometimes you gotta do what people want to see,
and that's just you know, that's just that, you know.
I think it's just also testament to the fact that
like sometimes the universe literally is knocking on your door
being like cell closed, cell closed, cell closed. You're like,
nobody wants me to sell close, and it's like yes
I do, Yes, I do. And it's just being able
to receive that and just do it, execute and do it. Absolutely.
(23:35):
Let's tell people this all time. No matter what you
do in life, right, whether you cut grass, you cut here,
somebody's making a million dollars doing it, why not you?
It doesn't matter what you do. Somebody is making a
million dollars doing that exact thing. Why not you just
get creative getting your bag figured out? You know. Yeah,
you have to be open to identifying opportunities. Every single
(23:57):
one of us has opportunities that are presented to us.
But she can be keen up to identify those opportunities.
Want you to do that, You have to execute on
what that opportunity is presented to you, and that what
happens from there is endless. Absolutely. Wow, this has been
such a great conversation. Before we leave, can you make
sure you repeat where we can find you on social media,
(24:17):
where we can find both of your education platforms, UM,
your clothing line, all of it. We need to know
all the details, okay, so you can find me. I'm
Misses m R S the number two weeks out on Instagram.
My clothing line is Body Envy the Body and it's
a Nancy B's in Victor and my university is bosh
(24:38):
University b A W. S E University dot com. The
Instagram name is also the same and I am Mr
two weeks out on Instagram, UM the Loft Athletic Club
on Instagram, X Fitness on Instagram and four K Pathway
to Success dot com is a website before K Pathway
(24:58):
to Success on Instagram. Jason and Hellani has been such
a pleasure chatting with you today. Continue to grind, continue
to rise, continue to inspire so many others and make
money while you're doing it, not just for you, but
those around you. Thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you so much for having us appreciate awesome. All right,
(25:18):
Mr and Mrs two weeks So would you guys mind
sticking around? But that's for another in depth interview on
how to build a fitness brand and exercise brand, but
also the importance of communication while working with your spouse awesome. Alright,
Money Movers, that's all the time we have for today,
but Mr and Mrs two weeks out will return later
in the week for a deep dive into building a
(25:39):
business in the fitness industry, so you won't want to
miss that. Make sure to tune in Monday through Friday
and subscribe to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood,
so that you two can have the keys to financial
freedom that you so rightly deserve. Thank you so much
for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you want more
or a recap of this episode, please go to the
bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money Moves
(26:01):
podcast blog. Money Moves is an I heart radio podcast
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Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts from.
Hey money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey money Movers, Welcome
to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood. Our next
(00:22):
guests are the co owners of the Loft Jim here
in Atlanta. They are both dedicated fitness entrepreneurs and enthusiasts
and have been booming at business all throughout the pandemic.
They are some of the most enthusiastic and dedicated fitness
practitioners in the health and wellness industry. Money Movers, please
welcome our first husband and wife power couple, Jason and
(00:44):
Halani lobdel A k Mr and Mrs. Two weeks out
aprecial job of happiness. So it is such a pleasure
to have you on our podcast today. I'm really excited
because you are actually our first husband and wife um
entrepreneur power apple to be here on the podcast. It
is such a pleasure and I can't wait to hear
more about your story. Awesome. Thank you for having us.
(01:08):
We're honored. So let's start at the beginning. Your husband
and wife and you also work together. Tell us a
little bit about the black love story that is Mr
and Mrs two weeks out. So and our story kind
of differs. Okay, but this is my I'm not not
Since we were twelve and thirteen once to junior high
school together. Um. Actually I dated his best friend our
(01:32):
junior year of high school and he went off to college.
But we were close because we were always together. I
was dating his friend friend off college. We remained close.
It was our senior year of high school and just
the attraction kind of grew over the summer and we
got to school senior year and I was like, you
know what, I think I like you. And literally from
(01:54):
that day for where we were inseparable and here we
are all these years later. Shoot, it's been what twenty
three years? Twenty years and been married in January. Wow, okay,
so Mary twenty three years. How long have you guys
been in business together? Being in business together is actually new. Um,
Jason has always been He's been a serial entrepreneur. My background, Um,
(02:18):
I was a um firefighter for eighteen years. Yeah. It
was a battalion chief with the Cap County Fire Rescue
into Camp County, Georgia, and I literally just started on
the entrepreneur journey almost two years ago. Next month makes
two years for me, so that's truly we really really
went into business together totally two years ago. But we've
(02:40):
had the gym. I would say this with all my
businesses through the years, though she's always played instrumental role.
You know. So I got a gym. She was still
a firefighter, but she still had the busiest class at
my gym. You know, I have an online program and
we have a lower body blast that she coned up.
So you know, this has been over about six years
(03:01):
as far as the programs that I had, but yeah,
she was an entrepreneur with my business and she was
helping me out right. Thank you for your service because
I'm like jaw drop, being a firefighter and a battillion
chief is huge, huge, huge. And second, Jason, I love
that you were like, let me chime in and give
you know, the woman who supported maybe my entrepreneurship dreams
(03:22):
like her her do because you know what they say,
there's always a strong woman behind every successful man and
vice versa. So I love to hear that. It's amazing
how you guys have supported each other. So Jason, I
want you to chime in and talk about you said
you've been an entrepreneur for a long time. Take take
us back to some of your earliest businesses and sort
of paint that picture for us. Okay, Well, before I
(03:47):
actually was an entrepreneur, I was. I was at work early,
Like in middle school, I was working eight hour shifts, um,
being a janitor at a truck stop, well eighth grade, yeah,
or MS carriers inwood um. And then from there, but
I worked for a guy in my neighborhood who's entrepreneur. Um.
(04:07):
And from there I um another neighbor he had this
place called this fletchers um al Spiza house, and I
knocked on his door asked for a job, and I've
been working for him. So I was always under entrepreneur,
watching them like be the boss, you know, as as
a young team. Um. So by time I got seventeen
(04:28):
eighteen years old, I begin to throw parties. And um,
I was throwing high school parties, then turning into college
parties and then growing up parties. But that's when I started,
like seventeen eighteen years old, I became an entrepreneur full fledge. Wow.
I mean I love those stories of you know, young
kids who were like no, I was getting a paycheck
(04:49):
when I was in the eighth grade and as a janitor,
like you were just like, I'm gonna do whatever it
takes to hustle, because most eight graders are like, no,
they won't even clean the rooms much as after other people. Yeah,
that's pretty impressive. That's pretty impressive. Okay, So now you
guys have started this business. The loft is here in Atlanta.
It's a super successful gym. Um, talk about what brought
(05:12):
you to the health and wellness industry. Really I brought
us to the health and bonness industry. So we both
were athletes growing up brand track who played football. Um,
and so what ended up really really pushing us into
this space. I got pregnant with our second child, our son,
and I gained fifty pounds and with that it was Okay,
I really got to get back in the gym. I
really gotta lose this weight. So once my six week
(05:35):
check up, be like, you can go work out. So
I got really really heavy in the gym, and my
trainer at the time, his name is Rock, he was like,
you should do bodybuilding competition, she should compete, And so
I started gearing up for my first competition and literally
That's what started the entire fitness journey for us. So
(05:55):
I could competed in eight shows and during that time
train with me competing. He's watching what I'm doing, and
you know, he's seeing competing takes a whole another level
of commitment and a lot more often than the average person.
So of course he's right there with me doing it
as well. And that is literally what created this space
for us, is me losing the fifty pounds from the
(06:18):
pregnancy and starting competing. So he saw the changes in
my body, he saw what food would do, how it
would change my body, and it was like, hey, we
might just tap into this. Yeah, that's the fact. Um. Yeah,
And just to doe down on that. Um, you guy's
about the name. Where did Mr two weeks out come from?
Mrs two weeks out? Um? She was at a bodybuilding company.
(06:40):
She was at a body building conference and the guy
um that was speaking, he um, somebody was talking while
he was talking, so he told the guy to stand up,
take your shirt off. Guy, tak your shirt off. And
he looked at me and it was like, you stand
up and take your shirt off. I said, oh no,
I'm not a body that on with her he said,
it's okay, just stand up and take your shirt off.
So I stood up and took my shirt off. He said,
not that guy, and looks like he's two weeks out.
(07:02):
So two weeks out means you're two weeks out from
a show, from a bodybuilding competition. So it's that perspective,
it's your your leaning, your tones, you look like your
two weeks out from actually stepping on the stage. And
so at one point, you know, that's just how he
walked around all the time he wasn't competing, and so
when he finally got on Instagram, that was his name,
(07:23):
and then I followed suit a few months later and
just you know, tip on the the female from out It. Wow, No,
I love that. And I want to talk more about
the brand that you guys have created on Instagram because
it's super popular and you guys had such great content
production on there. So now you're heavy into um bodybuilding, weightlifting,
(07:43):
and both of you guys are walking around looking like
black Head and Barbie and say okay, let's buy a gym.
Well how that came about? Again, Like I said, after
when I started throwing parties and took my money and
invest in trucks. UM. So I was in the trucking
industry for about ten years and the opportunity presented itself.
A guy who owned the gym, n KB rest in Peace.
(08:05):
He passed away, and my my, my boy was like, hey, bro,
it's a gym over here here on fak head. You know,
we could partner up this that this type of thing.
So I was already in fitness and things that nature.
Just I was like, okay, cool, I'll buy you know,
I buy into a gym. Um, just being an entrepreneur.
UM bought into the gym. But the gym was slow
since KB passed away, it was like dead. So then
(08:27):
I became a trainer trying to get people to come
to the gym. So I was literally sitting there. I
wrote down everybody's number in my phone. I called him
that I got this new gym. I want you to
know your trainer. Yeah, I got this new gym. Come
on down. Just like so that kind of pushed me
into being a personal trainer. Um. But the crazest thing
(08:48):
about that is, like that said I was making six
figures in the truck and industry. I knew if I
was gonna get into this fitness arena, we are your discussed.
I was gonna have to take five hundred dollars a week,
you know, be on type of salary, and um, it
got to a point where my trucks were filing so
I couldn't do both, and the guy was contracting where
he said, man, look if you're not here Monday, you
(09:08):
know you can point his trucks. Had to have a
conversation with Halani, like, we're gonna go from two thousand
dollars a week to five hundred dollars a week. You know,
it's a good possibility we're gonna lose his mercedes. We're
gonna lose this one, lose that. But I don't think. Yeah,
it got ugly, you know what I mean. But you know,
we just had a real serious conversation and it got
(09:29):
to a point where I had to pick passion over paycheck.
And that's what I did. You know, she rallied behind me. Um,
I let the trucks go. My Mercedes had to go
to I mean, listen, there's like lifestyle is super easy,
you know what I mean, there's no sacrifice, but you
have to sacrifice to you know, exactly if you're falling
your passion projects and dreams. So like, this is the
(09:50):
stories that I want people to hear. It's not just
like oh cool, absolutely, so that's what happened, man, and
just had my back against the wall. Um, I just
got creative. We got creative. We started thinking of other
ways to make money in the gym. Um just example,
her class, right, she's doing a class. She gonna we
put thirty people in the class, right, charging ten dollars.
(10:13):
She makes three hundred dollars. But we created another Facebook
group and started doing classes online. Now she's making a
thousand dollars in that hour. So we just really got
my bag, really got creative and started doing new you
just trying new stuff, man, and before you know what,
we looked up. Um, two thousand and fifteen made twenty
five dollars the whole year. You know, that was a
(10:33):
year to grind, a year to struggle trying to figure
it out. By two thousand and sixteen, we was making
twenty five th allars a week. So you know, we
really put our head down and and got busy. Yeah yeah,
I mean sometimes you have to like literally you have
to go through hell to make it out to the
other side. And you know, I wonder like, especially when
(10:54):
you guys are a married couple, you're working together, you
have a family, Um, how was it navigating you know,
working together and these stressful times? Like what resources did
you guys fall back on and like what were the
conversations that you look back at that really helped you
make it through? Yeah, like Jason said, and that's a
good question, because two thousand and fifteen is rough. You know.
(11:16):
It was one of those years where he was like,
I don't want to do the trucking anymore. This is
I'm following my passion. I want to train, I want
to be you know, owning this gendis is when I
want to go to a hundred percent. And I'm sitting
back like, yeah, but you're cutting your our money and
half more than in half. You know, you're you're taking
what's two thousand dollars a month to support our lifestyle.
It couldn't support it. And so literally, you know, I'm
(11:37):
watching things change for us financially and I'm sitting back
and I'm looking at him like you better dig us
out of this hole. Right. It's really hard because you know,
on one hand, you want to support your partner and
following their dreams and you're like, I want to be
that wife. That's like, okay, honey, cool. But at the
other time, you're like, I'm worried, I'm stressed. Like it's tough.
(11:59):
It's really absolutely because when it's just the two of us,
we can thug it out, we can rund. But we've
got a family. We've got two children at this point,
our children are young, and and we had just gotten
a new house. And it wasn't a small house, you know,
and so we're like, like, we've got stuff to take
care of. It's it's more than just what it is
that you want to do. But then I understood that
(12:20):
he had to be able to pursue his dreams as
well as have a family and and and that's so
important in keeping true to who you are. And when
you can be happy with who you are, of course
that projects to your family as well. So I had
to say, yes, I'll support you, we'll vote through this together.
And we did. And the next year, you know, he
(12:41):
had made over a million dollars that year in the
fitness ground, you know, So me sticking behind him, allowing
Jason and do what Jason does. Jason always get it
out of the mud. You know, when you're starting a
lot of times you know you have to make some
sacrifices and there's some things that just have to go,
but that's temporary. If you put the work in and
you execute, the possibilities are endless. And he did that.
(13:03):
Oh my gosh, you guys are giving me goose bumps
because I also work with my spouse, and there's so
many people who were like, how can you work with
your spouse? And then you know, you entering these conversations
where it's such a beautiful thing when you see spouses
working together, and it's really like amazing, and I love
to hear about it. Um yeah, so Tanie, I'm sorry.
(13:24):
I love working with you know. I tell people people
all the time they say the same, Now, how do
you guys work together? You do everything together? One thing
I can say is I know he had We have
each other's best interests at hard not to work about
someone stealing from You don't have to worry about being
in competition. I don't have to worry about anything that
can take place negatively because we're a unit. We're a team,
(13:44):
and so everything that we do work wise is for
the benefit of what we have gone on personally, So
why would you not want to work with who you're with? Absolutely,
and it's just such a wonderful thing. So I'm so
excited to have you guys. Okay, I want to dig
deeper into your journey as an entrepreneur too, because Halani
as well you Now, you guys have stabilized the gym business.
You're packing out classes, um, you know when you're exploring
(14:07):
all these different things, both of you together with branding
and marketing and social media, and then you launched a
clothing line. Yes, So the way that happened, I never
personally wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was against it.
I would say that was good for him. I was
die hard, fired apartment. I'm gonna do this for thirty years.
I'm gonna retire, I have my pension and we'll live life.
(14:28):
But what ended up happening is that people kept sending
me things on social media, sending me as le as
you wear? Can you put this on for us? Can
you promote it? And I would do that. It is
free stuff. I'm like, okay, that's fine, and it fits
my lifestyle because fitness was a part or is a
part of my lifestyle. So there was a young lady
who reached out to me one day on Instagram and
(14:48):
she said, hey, Halani, I don't know if the products
you're promoting are truly yours or if you're really promoting
other people's things. But if they're not sure, she was like, sys,
you need your own. And a light bulb went off
for me because I said, you know what, it's true.
These people are sending these companies are sending me their
products because I'm making the money and it fits with
our overall brand. I'm into fitness. I was still competing
(15:10):
at the time. We owned the gym. We had an
online program, you know, and so it's like, why not
start on my own line, you know? So I did.
I literally um to the store, tell the story we
want all the time. So I was working at that time.
I was doing a side um like a part time job.
I was um analysts on a these live rescues. I
(15:33):
was flying up to New York on Sunday's going to
do that part. And so I an extra month and
so I said, you know what I'm gonna buy. You're
talking about the band story. I was like, I'm gonna
buy these bands Resistance bands for my class. I teach
a class at our gym called Blue Campus Lower Body
Cost and I said, gonna buy these resist these fabric
resistance bands for glue camp and I bought them. I
(15:56):
took a picture of them and put them in my
story and I'm like, hey, guys on Saturday, I'm gonna
have new bands for you guys at class. Well, I
started getting d MS from people saying how can I purchase?
How can I purchase? So I told Jason, I'm like,
these people want to purchase my bands, and how am
I gonna get it to them? And he said Shopify?
And I said what Shopify? And he wouldn't tell me.
(16:19):
He said, google it Google Shopify found it was an
e commerce platform and I'm like okay. So literally I
set up my Shopify store and literally five minutes one
of my clocks, it took some pictures of the bands,
put them online, went to bed I had. I was
on shift the next day, so I woke up like
four hours later and I had made over four hundred dollars.
So I was like, Jason, I made over four indred
(16:39):
dollars in my sleep. I got my investment back already
has had doubled my money already, and I'm like, okay,
this is, you know, for my money back. I went
to work and all day my phone was just going off,
just the beginning of sales coming through, and so I'm
calling him like, this is insane. To see the power
of your online you know. And I had sold out
(17:02):
in less than twenty four hours and had made well
over a thousand dollars and a two hundred dollar investment.
And so that helped me right then, to see the
power of you've got a brand. People are buying what
you're selling aboutely absolutely, So then I decided, okay, let
me go through with this. Athletisure were in line. So
I did my research, found the vendors, and decided to
launch on a specific date. And it went crazy. It
(17:25):
went absolutely. It was. It was bigger than I ever
thought it would be. Because I didn't think this was
gonna be I called it my little side business. It
was let me do this on the side. You know,
companies are sending me their stuff. I can capitalize off
of it and provide some dope stuff to you know,
people who wanted. But I didn't look at it as
being like a real business. If that makes any sense
(17:48):
until it turned into a real business. And my first
year in business I had made you know, I'd made
one point one million dollars my first year in business,
and I'm it's a business, you know, yeah, you know.
And so that's what started my entrepreneurship journey. Really is
is the band seeing the power of being able to
(18:12):
provide products to people outside of your normal circle. Wow,
that's an incredible story. That's a incredible system. Come on
with the one point one million dollars. Yes, yes, absolutely, Okay,
So now you guys are thriving and you've got a
gym business, you've got merch and the pandemic hits. Um,
(18:36):
how did that really affect business? And how did you
guys manage to pivot and end up where we are today?
So I'll say, um, during the pandemic, we damn their
heads survivor's remorse because the fitness industry was like the
toilet toilet tissue industry. I guess everybody was trying to
get in shape from the house, you know what I mean.
So the gym closed down and I had to pay
(18:58):
the rent with gymnist and a third I always had
my online fitness program in the back pocket and it
just boom. You know. So, um, we did five times
the numbers during the pandemic. Um. It was, it was,
it was phenomenal. And she was nervous about her brand,
like with damn, you know, I just started this business
(19:19):
and now the gyms are closed. But because at that
point I was five months in business. And I told Jason,
I was like, well, I guess that's the end of
body envy because no one is going anywhere, so no
one is shopping. And he said, just see how it goes.
To see how it goes. And I'm like, okay, So
I ordered I keep on doing what we're doing. I'm
ordering anything to worry and it keeps going. I mean,
(19:41):
I couldn't believe the amount of people that were shopping
at home. I could not believe it home to where
their leggings at home, Hello leggings and you know, and
like you said, it's almost like we feel bad sometimes
for saying that the pandemic was good good to us
the financial arena, because it was. It really really was,
(20:02):
and so we were to thrive even more so during
that time frame. Wow, I love that, um, And I
mean there's a there was a lot of silver lions
that came out of the pandemic, and a lot of
businesses that thrived and a lot that had to pivot
and still came out on top. UM. One of the
things that I love that you guys do is you've
now created this brand, you know, Mr and Mrs two
weeks out and you know, I think a lot of
(20:23):
people look to you as like marketing Maven's. Um, how
did that come about? And can you offer any tips
to people who are trying to build a brand on
Instagram social media? What are some of the things that
you would advise people to do or not do well? UM?
For one, I can just tell you what we did.
You know, we seek information UM. As soon as the
(20:45):
right before the pandemic hit, I was going to conferences,
going to Flying Out the Vegas Grand Cardon's conference. I'm
actually going to another one Click Funnels tomorrow. I'm still
educating myself. But before that, we were buying courses in
books and you know, we were we were invested in
learning how to monetize on social media, UM, how to
(21:07):
run ads or you know, on Facebook ads and these
these types of things, UM, Amazon merchandise all that. You
know what I mean, so I think educating ourselves with
you know, using other people's platforms and stuff like that,
just taking their course and things like that really helped
us um understand social media a little better. And you know,
(21:28):
one of the things that I've always understood with social
media is to be authentic. One of the things that
you know, we're not going to force anything when we
post things that are pertaining to us or we include
our children is truly what's taking place. We don't try
to recreate things and just we're just who we are.
We're very consistent and we have created a space for
(21:50):
us that makes sense for us. So we know, family fitness,
that's us, right, so we make sure that we show
that we don't try to venture outside of those browns
because that doesn't embody who we are. So we're through
to who we are. We're very authentic and we stay
true to that, and I think that's what helps people
to really really resonate with us as a couple as
(22:10):
Mr and Mrs two weeks out, because they understand that
this when you see when you meet us in real life,
it's like, oh, they really are these people. This is
really what we see is what we get when we
see him in person. And I'll say this also, sometimes
you have to I guess flow in your gift, right. Um,
I was a trainer. I'm training Rick Raws. I'm training
all these people. I got fifty thousand followers as popping.
(22:31):
I'm the trainer that's custom and keeping it real and
things of that nature. But you know, I think the
thousand followers. Um, when I started really studying social media
and things of that nature, trying to see what people,
when my audience want from me, I post a picture
of my shirt off and get a thousand lights. I
post a picture with a sweater on with her, I'm
get three thousand lies. I'm like, damn like this family
(22:52):
dynamic love, so you know what I mean. So I
would encourage anybody watching this. Sometimes we try to go
so or it gets what does best on our pages
and things that maybe sometimes you gotta go. She didn't
think that she was gonna be selling clothes, but everybody
sends her clothes. She looks good in them. Million dollars later,
I guess we're selling clothes, you know what I mean.
(23:12):
So sometimes you gotta do what people want to see,
and that's just you know, that's just that, you know.
I think it's just also testament to the fact that
like sometimes the universe literally is knocking on your door
being like cell closed, cell closed, cell closed. You're like,
nobody wants me to sell close, and it's like yes
I do, Yes, I do. And it's just being able
to receive that and just do it, execute and do it. Absolutely.
(23:35):
Let's tell people this all time. No matter what you
do in life, right, whether you cut grass, you cut here,
somebody's making a million dollars doing it, why not you?
It doesn't matter what you do. Somebody is making a
million dollars doing that exact thing. Why not you just
get creative getting your bag figured out? You know. Yeah,
you have to be open to identifying opportunities. Every single
(23:57):
one of us has opportunities that are presented to us.
But she can be keen up to identify those opportunities.
Want you to do that, You have to execute on
what that opportunity is presented to you, and that what
happens from there is endless. Absolutely. Wow, this has been
such a great conversation. Before we leave, can you make
sure you repeat where we can find you on social media,
(24:17):
where we can find both of your education platforms, UM,
your clothing line, all of it. We need to know
all the details, okay, so you can find me. I'm
Misses m R S the number two weeks out on Instagram.
My clothing line is Body Envy the Body and it's
a Nancy B's in Victor and my university is bosh
(24:38):
University b A W. S E University dot com. The
Instagram name is also the same and I am Mr
two weeks out on Instagram, UM the Loft Athletic Club
on Instagram, X Fitness on Instagram and four K Pathway
to Success dot com is a website before K Pathway
(24:58):
to Success on Instagram. Jason and Hellani has been such
a pleasure chatting with you today. Continue to grind, continue
to rise, continue to inspire so many others and make
money while you're doing it, not just for you, but
those around you. Thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you so much for having us appreciate awesome. All right,
(25:18):
Mr and Mrs two weeks So would you guys mind
sticking around? But that's for another in depth interview on
how to build a fitness brand and exercise brand, but
also the importance of communication while working with your spouse awesome. Alright,
Money Movers, that's all the time we have for today,
but Mr and Mrs two weeks out will return later
in the week for a deep dive into building a
(25:39):
business in the fitness industry, so you won't want to
miss that. Make sure to tune in Monday through Friday
and subscribe to the Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood,
so that you two can have the keys to financial
freedom that you so rightly deserve. Thank you so much
for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you want more
or a recap of this episode, please go to the
bank Greenwood dot com and check out the Money Moves
(26:01):
podcast blog. Money Moves is an I heart radio podcast
powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc. For
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