June 17, 2025 • 29 mins
Energy is not a luxury—it's a leadership system. In this episode, I sit down with Devan Gonzalez, a performance-focused fitness entrepreneur who helps high-achieving business leaders reclaim energy and clarity through simple, sustainable routines that fuel long-term growth. If you're scaling your agency and feeling the weight of fatigue, disconnection, or burnout, this conversation will reframe how you think about leadership—starting with your body.
Most business owners don’t realize how much their physical energy is silently sabotaging their leadership until burnout forces a pivot. Devan and I explore how business leaders can scale without burnout by anchoring their routines in habits that sharpen clarity, improve retention, and support sustainable leadership. You’ll hear how energy for entrepreneurs isn’t a bonus—it's the infrastructure for strategic thinking, emotional regulation, and team influence. This episode unpacks the high-performance habits that drive momentum and offers a new lens for how to lead from the inside out.
Books Mentioned:
- Money Muscle Mindset by Devan Gonzalez
- The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
Connect with Devan Gonzalez
To learn more about how Devan helps high performers integrate mobility, recovery, and strength into leadership routines, visit https://www.devangonzalez.com/ or connect with him on Instagram at @devan.gonzalez.
Join Dr. William Attaway on the Catalytic Leadership podcast as he shares transformative insights to help high-performance entrepreneurs and agency owners achieve Clear-Minded Focus, Calm Control, and Confidence.
- Free 30-Minute Discovery Call:
Ready to elevate your business? Book a free 30-minute discovery call with Dr. William Attaway and start your journey to success.
- Special Offer:
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Connect with Dr. William Attaway:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. William Attaway (00:00):
I'm excited today to have Devan Gonzalez on
the podcast.
Devan is a mindset-drivenentrepreneur the CEO of Strive11
Fitness, host of the MindsetCafe podcast and the
best-selling author of MoneyMuscle Mindset, the underground
playbook for aspiring gym owners.
With a deep passion forpersonal development, fitness
(00:24):
and building thrivingcommunities, Devan has dedicated
his life to empowering othersto unlock their full potential.
From his start as a teenagemartial arts instructor to
becoming a fitness industryleader and franchise visionary,
Devan's journey is a testamentto resilience, innovation and
(00:45):
the power of a winning mindset.
Along the way, he's inspiredcountless individuals to break
through mental barriers, achievelasting results and live with
purpose.
Devan, I'm so glad you're here.
Thanks for being on the show.
Devan Gonzalez (01:00):
No, thank you so much for having me.
This is a true honor.
Dr. William Attaway (01:04):
Thank you so much for having me.
This is a true honor.
Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help
leaders intentionally grow andthrive.
Here is your host author andleadership and executive coach,
dr William Attaway.
I'd love to start with yousharing some of your story with
(01:26):
our listeners, particularlyaround your journey and your
development as a leader.
How'd you get started?
Devan Gonzalez (01:33):
I think it really came from, you know,
childhood, being the oldest ofthree boys and kind of naturally
getting put into thatleadership role of being the
oldest brother.
But also, at the age of 13, Igot my black belt and I got the
(01:54):
offer to become a martial artsinstructor, and for me it was an
honor to do so, because Ididn't love martial arts right
in the beginning I was actually.
I was one of those kids thatwas too old to be in the little
kid class, but too young to bein the older kid class.
So I was in that weird middleground and so naturally you get
rounded up, you know, and so forme I was always getting my butt
kicked whenever we had a spar.
(02:16):
And then my coach essentiallytold me is that, you know, he
had one of those mindset shiftswith me.
He was giving me a one on onelesson and he basically said he
was like look, you're gettingyour butt kicked right now,
right, and I was like, yeah, andhe was like so what's going to
be different if you actually tryto fight back?
And I was like, uh, I don'tknow.
(02:36):
He's like well, if you'regetting your butt kicked now and
you're not fighting back andyou fight back and you still get
your butt kicked.
Nothing changes, right.
And I was like right, he's like,but what if you don't get your
butt kicked when you fight back?
I was like hmm, that'sinteresting.
I was like fair point.
I was like okay.
And so when I did the nextsparring session it was actually
(02:56):
one of my testings for a beltand I went out and I was like
I'm just going to swing for thefences, you know.
And that was when I learned Ican actually hold my own and
that light and that light bulbfor me and that self confidence
I was built I wanted to helpinstill in others.
So when I got the job offer forthe martial arts instructor, it
was like wow, like now I get tohelp lead other people to see
(03:19):
that that light bulb moment.
Dr. William Attaway (03:23):
I love that .
You know, I often say there'sno such thing as a wasted
experience, and I love how youtook that experience that you
had and you then funneled thatinto now serving other people.
With what?
Devan Gonzalez (03:36):
you've learned.
No, yeah, I mean, and that Ithink was kind of like the
catalyst for every step I'vetaken and even for, like one of
my my biggest, like you know,core values is, which is just
having a positive impact on asmany lives as I can, while I can
, you know, with the wholetomorrow's never promised and
everything.
It's just like your legacy tome is every impression, every
(04:00):
conversation you have withpeople.
That's true legacy.
So it's like I want to be thatlight bulb for as many people in
as many different ways aspossible.
So taking that next step as apersonal trainer, you know, next
step as a gym owner, next stepas a franchisor, like all those
steps all kind of aligned withthat same purpose.
Dr. William Attaway (04:17):
And through it all, mindset has been
something that you have reallyfocused on and you believe this
is absolutely essential forsuccess.
Why do you think it's socritical?
Devan Gonzalez (04:26):
I don't.
This is one of those thingswhere I think there's a lot of
things that are opinions andsome things are facts, right,
and for me I would almost argueand say that it's not even just
what I feel.
It's almost a fact that mindsetis the start and ending of
everything, right?
Any successful person that youlisten to, you listen to them
talk about, you know theirmindset, you know their drive,
(04:49):
all those things they all soundvery similar because they all
have similar traits that allowedthem to get to that level, and
so my thought is that everythingbegins and ends with your
mindset, right?
So if you believe you canachieve something, you can.
It may not happen immediately,but if you believe and continue
to believe, you can achieve it,you can.
But the moment you stopbelieving in it is the moment it
(05:09):
becomes impossible, becauseyou're going to look for every
possibility or every reason whyit's not a possibility or a
reality for you to achieve that.
Dr. William Attaway (05:18):
That's good , I agree.
I often say mindset is 90% ofsuccess or failure and it's
really up to you.
You have agency, you get tochoose.
A lot of people are looking atyou and at your journey and
they're like holy cow, manDevan's never struggled like I
(05:39):
struggle.
He's never had the hard dayslike I deal with with.
His journey's just been up andto the right, like when, when.
If somebody were sitting acrossfrom you and they were to say
something like that, what wouldyour response?
Devan Gonzalez (05:52):
be.
I would just, I mean, I do getthat, that response, and I do
get that.
You know that kind of commenthere and there of even even so
much of the you know, wow,you're so lucky.
It's like how you know, youknow, and it's like you see, and
we see the tip of the icebergfor majority of people, right,
(06:14):
and it's like you don't see the18 hour days that I was putting
in for not a, not a week, not amonth, but years, right, you
don't see the failed attempts,you don't see all of the
graveyards of a business, ideasthat came before the one that
worked, right.
And so it's like people see theend result and all of a sudden
(06:35):
just try to rationalize it asluck.
The luck is is made from yourinactions and unluckinesses,
from your, your unactions, right, your inactions on on something
.
So that's that would.
My thing is like look, Istruggle just as much as you
launching the franchise.
It took me almost 13 months tosell the first franchise.
(06:55):
There was a lot of times whereI was like you know what, Maybe
I didn't go the right route onthis one, Maybe I should have
stayed a different course andthen did this.
But then you have that otherside of your mindset.
It's like, no, you knew thiswas going to be hard.
No one told you how fast youwere going to sell a franchise,
so stay course.
How fast we're going to sell afranchise, right?
(07:17):
So stay course.
Right.
And you know, having yourcouple core people that keep you
in line and you can kind of letthem know what's going on, can
help.
But at the same time you haveto realize, at the end of the
day, you have to rely andbelieve in yourself.
And it's almost like adelusional self-belief to a
degree, right, because there'syour past experiences of it not
working out.
It's almost like your resume ofit not working, but it's like
(07:38):
there's still that chance thatyou know again, betting on
yourself, that you could bet onblack and it hits right.
Dr. William Attaway (07:46):
You know, I love that.
I love that metaphor.
You know betting on yourself.
You know, and I love yourtransparency in describing the
graveyard of the business ideasthat didn't make it Again.
Most people are looking at yourhighlight reel.
They're looking at the one thatdid and thinking, oh, this is
so great.
As you went through thisprocess and you've touched on
(08:08):
this a little bit, like itsounds like you had your bouts
with imposter syndrome, like somany of us do.
You know, is this going to work?
Can I do this?
Am I the guy that can pull thisoff?
If somebody's listening and Iknow they are who is struggling
at this moment with that,they're in that moment where
they're doubting and they'rewondering can this, will this,
(08:31):
can I?
Will I?
What advice would you give them?
Devan Gonzalez (08:35):
I mean if, if you're thinking can or will,
like you have to, you have toreframe it and be like look,
it's not a matter of if, it'sjust a matter of when, right,
and that's how I like the.
I mean even back in in this,you know a little tangent, but
even back in, like college, youknow, it was like if I wanted to
(08:55):
talk to a girl, maybe it didn'thappen right, right then, but
it wasn't a matter of if, it wasjust a matter of when we would
get to connect.
And that same area applies tobusiness, right, the.
You know, it's not a matter ofif I was gonna open a gym, it's
just when I was gonna open a gym.
So I would tell people when Iwas a personal trainer, I would
tell people I was opening a gymand they'd be like okay, cool.
I mean, how many personaltrainers say they're going to
(09:17):
open a gym?
99% of them Right.
And so when you tell that tosomeone like they give you like
the pat on the head.
They're like okay, you know,all right, kid, keep, keep going
.
But for me it was like it's Imight not open it today,
tomorrow, this year or in fiveyears, but it's going to happen,
right, and I mean there wasprobably a five year span of
different partnerships,different investors, different
(09:38):
you know ideas that didn't panout or that I pulled the deal on
because I was like I'm just,I'm forcing this, I don't want
to be stuck in this one Um andso five years, you know, five
years.
After doing all that, then itflourished, right.
And so it's like you have torealize that if you, as long as
you still have the belief in itbeing a possibility, it's going
(10:01):
to happen, and posture syndromeis all self belief, right, and
that that doesn't change.
Because even now I'm a part ofa business mastermind and I got
moved up to the upper levelgroup and now we had a meetup in
Rosarito.
So now I'm already the CEO, I'malready the owner of the gym
(10:21):
Launching the franchise at thatpoint hadn't been launched yet
but now this meetup, a lot ofpeople didn't want to go to
Rosarito, so there was like 10of us there and so there was no
hiding in the back right andimposter syndrome definitely set
in when I'm sitting aroundeight figure earners, you know
seven, eight figure earners, andall of them are, you know, have
(10:42):
five to 10 years on me in ageand in business, right.
And so it's like, well, I'm theyoungest one here and my
business is the youngest one andI'm my business is doing lowest
in revenue, like the impostersyndrome was definitely real.
Is this even the right table Ishould be sitting at?
Because when we had to do abreakout and you give advice to
each other on different problems, it's like if I give them
(11:04):
advice, are they going to laugh?
Then I just thought and I waslike well, what if I know
something or have a differentperspective on it that I give
them that could help them?
If I don't give it to them,then I'm doing them a disjustice
.
But if I do and they don't takeit, no harm, no foul, it
doesn't hurt me if they take itor don't take it.
Might as well, just say it,just say it right.
(11:26):
And after I did it and gotstepped outside of my comfort
zone, all the other nine peoplewere talking to me afterwards
like, dude, you're really smart,you have a lot going for you.
And I was like, really Ithought a lot of things I was
saying was common sense.
I didn't even think of it thatway and then that was the first
light bulb to realize thatcommon sense, or what you
(11:46):
believe is common sense, is onlycommon to the person that knows
it.
Your life experiences, yourthings you've read all those
things are all stuff that youknow and now it's common sense
to you, but other people mayhaven't experienced it, so it's
not common to them.
Dr. William Attaway (12:03):
You know, I heard somebody say once common
sense is not a flower that isplanted in every garden.
Yep, and I think that's true.
You know, we, we have the curseof knowledge.
We don't know what it's likenot to know the things we know
and have the experiences thatwe've had, because that's it's
just normal for us.
But other people don't havethat, and I love how you
(12:23):
describe that, that you canbring that to bear for other
people who haven't learned orbeen exposed to those ideas, who
haven't had those experiences,and you can leverage those
experiences then to help them,to benefit them, if you're
willing to be a conduit of thatlearning instead of just trying
to hold it in for yourself andbe a reservoir of it.
I think that's one of thethings that sets you apart.
(12:45):
It sounds like in thatmastermind, that's exactly what
you were doing.
You were sharing freely andopenly, which is the best thing
to do in that type of a setting.
That's where you get the mostvalue.
Devan Gonzalez (12:54):
No, exactly, I think that you always I mean a
majority of things in life likeyou get in what you, or you get
out what you put in right, youcan't expect to do nothing and
get the world in exchange.
Like you got to put your effortin to receive it on the back
end in relationships, in life,in business, like that's just.
That's just how it goes.
Nature of the game.
Dr. William Attaway (13:14):
I love that and I love what you said about
feeling like you know, is thisthe man?
Am I in the right room?
I joined a mastermind last yearand at the first session that
we were going around, I waswondering the same thing, like
holy cow, I'm not at the levelof so many people around the
circle man, am I in the rightplace?
And I think that's so normal.
(13:39):
And I love the transparencythere, because I think a lot of
listeners are feeling that too.
But it's about putting yourselfin rooms where you're not the
smartest person in the room,where you're not the most
advanced person in the room.
Putting yourself in the roomswith people who are farther down
the road than you are, that youcan learn from, that you can be
challenged by, that you can beinspired by.
Devan Gonzalez (13:59):
I think that makes a tremendous amount of
difference in expanding ourmindset to see maybe some things
we've never seen before, sothat we can achieve things we've
never achieved before, exactly,and I think that doing that and
stepping outside of yourcomfort zone because when you
feel like you're the big fish,right, you've outgrown that pond
and you need to become thelittle fish again, but you get
(14:22):
fed knowledge and it helps youcondense your timeline to growth
or to success, because theother people in the room are
going to level you up by their,by their ripple effect, right,
and so being around them andgetting in those bigger rooms
and bigger tables, like thathelps you, as uncomfortable as
it is, as you know, much of animposter, as you feel at the end
(14:43):
of the day.
For me, an imposter syndromelike you have to think about it
is what?
What do you feel an imposterabout being an entrepreneur?
Like, do you own a company?
Well, you're an entrepreneur,right.
It's just a title on paper,right?
So what are you settingyourself to feel and posture of
that?
You're not an eight figureentrepreneur, like those titles
don't really matter.
Dr. William Attaway (15:02):
Right, that's exactly right.
I want to talk about somethingthat you mentioned a minute ago
and it really it struck mebecause I watch a whole lot of
people never make the turn thatyou made, moving from an
individual contributor apersonal trainer in your case
into somebody who is going to bea gym owner and then the CEO of
(15:26):
a franchise.
That's a turn and most peopledo not make that turn for a
variety of reasons, but I thinkforemost among them.
We get a dopamine hit from theindividual contributor stuff.
We get that dopamine hit fromachieving and doing and getting
our hands dirty and all thatfrom achieving and doing and
getting our hands dirty and allthat.
(15:48):
And for a lot of people it'shard to make the turn to
learning how to lead a teamwhere you're not doing
everything anymore.
You're getting things donethrough other people.
Did you struggle with that?
Was that a hard turn for you?
Devan Gonzalez (16:01):
Oh, 100%.
That's probably one of thehardest turns, I would say.
Opening a business is easy.
Growing it obviously is tougher.
But the first tough part ofthat and I think the hardest
part, for me at least, was notnecessarily delegating, because
you can delegate meaninglessstuff, but giving a task that
(16:22):
you feel that are superimportant.
In large scheme of things,they're probably not as
important as you're letting thembelieve they are.
But that first step, even withmy business partner who you know
, my former business partner,who wasn't an entrepreneur, you
know, even with him, like when Istepped away to launch the
franchise side and letting himrun everything, like it was kind
(16:42):
of putting a lot on his plate,but I had to trust the you know
the stuff that we worked on andstuff You'd be fine.
And also trusting my team thatI've taught them well and
they've grown, and not being thebottleneck that you know comes
to solve every problem.
So even when I launched thefranchise, like I was even just
in the back office, then I wasgetting them coming back to the
(17:03):
back office, asked me everysingle question, big or small.
Majority of the times therewere small questions and it was
like look, you guys know theanswer to this?
Like I don't, you know.
So I was like then it wasalways like daily, you know, if
not hourly, like what do youthink we should do?
Well, I think we should do this, exactly, okay.
So why did you come back here?
Right, you know?
(17:27):
So it's like.
But then, but having them buyinto it and like realize they
know it, they don't need to getmy approval on all the little
things.
So then it was like, okay, I hadto actually step out of the gym
and, you know, work remote.
And then it would be mybusiness partner would call me
and he'd be like hey, you knowthis member X, y and Z, what,
what do you want to do?
And I was like all right, whatdo you want to do?
Like.
And then he was like I don'tknow.
And I was like I was like,honestly, I'm on the phone right
(17:48):
now with someone else.
I was like you know, make adecision, let me know.
And I would just hang up.
And I wasn't even on the phonewith anyone else, like I just
wanted to, I just wanted toforce him to make some decisions
.
And I told him afterwards.
I was like we'll talk about itafterwards, right, I was like I
(18:09):
don't make every right decision.
I was like I'm the one that hasmade majority of the wrong
decisions in here.
Right, we've lost thousands ofdollars because I've made bad
decisions in terms of we shoulduse this software versus this
software and it not pan out andus having to switch, and so
forth.
I was like so there's a lot oflearning that comes a lot with
it, and learning comes fromthose mistakes.
So I think that realizing thatif you want to grow a business,
you need to be able to delegate,otherwise you're always going
(18:30):
to be working in your businessand not on your business.
Dr. William Attaway (18:34):
I love the question that you asked there of
your team.
What do you think?
I think that's one of the mostpowerful questions because it
helps them learn to own not justthe responsibilities and the
tasks, but the authority.
When you learn how to delegateauthority, you're going to start
making traction.
You're going to start seeingchange.
(18:55):
I love that.
That's part of your story.
Let's talk about Strive 11Fitness for a minute.
What do you believe makesStrive 11 Fitness different?
I mean so many franchises,right, so many fitness
franchises.
What makes you believe makesStrive 11 Fitness different?
I mean so many franchises,right, so many fitness
franchises.
What makes you guys different?
Devan Gonzalez (19:11):
So Strive 11 was kind of founded off of my
personal training experience andto give you a little backstory
on it, right, like when I waspersonal training, I would send
my clients to boot camps inbetween our sessions because
majority of people didn't wantto follow homework, right, and
follow workouts to do so I'll belike, okay, go to you know gym
(19:31):
A or gym B or whatever and dothese in between.
And so they would do it.
And over the years I mean I wasa personal trainer for 15 years
, right, and so over the years Iwould have them come back with
similar complaints withdifferent brands over the years.
And I was like, with similarcomplaints with different brands
over the years, and I was likeit's crazy that they all have
the same problem.
Like, are they not solvable?
Or did one company startanother company was like, look,
(19:53):
that's working, I'm just goingto copy and paste it, change
colors, change logos and we'regood to go.
And in most cases that's prettymuch what it is.
You know their spiel orwhatever they say their
differentiating factor is isn'treally a true differentiating
factor, whether it's the amountof time they're working out or
you know a heart rate system.
It's like majority of gyms dothat as well.
(20:15):
But for Strive 11, essentially,our whole goal was to solve the
problems that they weren'tsolving, and number one being
class times right.
So it is a bootcamp style model, but we don't have class times,
right.
So you can come in just likeyou would at a corporate gym, at
a big box gym, and once youwalk in the door then you would
start your workout at that time,but you get the same energy,
(20:36):
the same feel, the same groupexperience as you would in a
bootcamp, a traditional one thateveryone starts the same time
because other people are alreadydoing that workout, right, and
whether they're almost done,whether they're just starting,
you're all working out and doingthe same stuff.
So when you walk into the gym,one of the trainers greets you,
they show you the warmup andthen they put you into one of
(20:57):
the 11 stations that's where the11 is, drive 11 comes from, but
one of the 11 stations, all thestations, are on a singular
timer for the room, so all thestations are rotating, you know,
every about two minutes, and soonce you come in, you get
placed into essentially thisrotation.
That just doesn't stop Right.
And then you can do one round ofthe 11 stations, which is 30
(21:18):
minutes.
You can do two rounds, which isan hour, and then you know in
any combination in between.
But then you do the abs or thecool down station afterwards and
in total you can do up to likea 75 minute workout, right.
But if someone's in a rushtoday, you don't need to do the
warmup, you can stretch realquick, hop in, do 11 stations
out in 30 minutes, right.
So it's like our whole thing islike something is better than
(21:38):
nothing, and I guarantee 30minutes here is going to be more
calories burned, more musclefocus than you doing an hour
alone at your gym, right.
And so that was the one of thebiggest factors of eliminating
class times for people, becausetraditional class times don't
work for a lot of members.
You know, and showing up latealways kind of brought up that
(22:00):
you know, when you're in middleschool or in high school and you
walk in late to a class and allof a sudden everyone turns and
looks at you and you'd hear apin drop, right?
People get.
People are already nervouscoming into the gym in the most
case, especially in thebeginning.
Well, we eliminate that becauseyou're never late, right?
So no one's really turning tolook to see who came in, because
again there's people coming in,there's people leaving the
entire time.
Dr. William Attaway (22:23):
I love that , I love the model and I love
the fact that you've really putyourself into the, into the mind
of your ideal clients andthought what are they really
struggling with?
What are the things that makethis uncomfortable for them?
And you've really tried to dialinto those and address those.
Devan Gonzalez (22:38):
That's really creative have other like
features and stuff.
Our whole thing is always tosolve the problems that would
keep a member, you know, interms of retention and so forth,
one of them being that we havea meal plan service.
So if you want custompersonalized meal plans, we have
a software that does that aswell.
So we have a custom meal plans.
We have, you know, bodycomposition scans.
(23:00):
We have the heart ratetechnology, we have the
challenges, we have all thedifferent areas of fitness and
personal development that youcould think of to make sure our
members are getting more of aholistic approach to their
journey.
Right, and that's one of thethings that members do like is,
yes, a lot of gyms will say youknow, you should feel better,
look better, your clothes fitbetter.
That's all cool, but that'salso, I feel, you know, kind of
(23:22):
a scapegoat to you know,actually giving people what
they're paying for.
So, having the body compositionscans, it's like these are your
actual numbers and whetherthey're good or bad readings,
like we can adjust from there.
Right, we can see when youplateau, we can see if you're
declining, and then we can talkabout it.
Right, and that's one of ourbiggest things is like look,
(23:46):
there's going to be ups, there'sgoing to be downs, but just
like in anything in life, youcan't fail if you don't give up.
Dr. William Attaway (23:52):
I love the use of objective data there
instead of just a subjectivefeel you know, because I think
data tells a story and I lovethat you're utilizing data in
such a way that people can seethe story and they can say, ok,
this is, this is the reality,that he is not what I feel like
today or what I wish were.
This is what it is today.
(24:13):
I think that's that's brilliant.
Devan Gonzalez (24:15):
And I mean just like in business, as you know
like you can't improve somethingwhere you don't know the
numbers right.
So that's exactly right Ifyou're like I don't care what
someone's weight is, right.
But because people get kind ofobsessed about their weight on a
scale, it's like we tell peoplelike that's one piece of the
equation I need.
I'm looking at your percentageof muscle increase or decrease,
(24:35):
your percentage of body fatincrease or decrease your water
retention, like those are thethings I'm actually looking at.
Your weight is just one of thepieces of the equation that
gives me that.
That's good.
Dr. William Attaway (24:47):
That's really good.
Let me talk about you for asecond.
So your team, your business,your clients, now your
franchisees, need you to lead ata higher level today, Devan,
than was true three, four, fiveyears ago, and three, four, five
years from now that's going tobe even more true.
(25:08):
How do you level up as a leader?
How do you develop the skillsthat your team, your business,
your clients are going to needyou to have in the months and
years to come?
Devan Gonzalez (25:22):
I think that it's it all starts again with,
like, the mindset or realizingthat I don't know everything,
right, no one knows everything.
And the moment that you thinkthat you know everything is the
moment you're actually going tostart declining.
But having almost you know Iheard this, this title, this
analogy but a white beltmentality right Always.
(25:44):
You always be learning, rightand know that you can always
take something new from aconversation, from a podcast
such as this.
You know a book right and knowthat you can always take
something new from aconversation from a podcast such
as this.
You know a book, right, there'salways a new perspective,
there's always a new, you know,angle, but there's always other
skills because, again, the worldis always evolving and there's
new things and new developmentsall the time.
Like, you have to stay on top ofyour game, but you can't know
(26:06):
every, you can't solve everyproblem that may or may not
happen, right, so sometimes youalso just need to know that
you're adjustable, right.
So I don't think I'm the bestor anything in that nature, but
I know I will outwork anyonethat is put in front of me
because of my past.
You know resume, right, I'vedone so in the past and I know I
(26:27):
have that belief in myself thatI will do so in the future.
And I know I have that beliefin myself that I will do so in
the future.
So if something happens in youknow, a problem or something
I've never overcame, I know Ihave the ability to resource and
ask and, you know, do researchto find the answer.
Dr. William Attaway (26:44):
I love that teachable spirit and that never
stop learning mindset.
I think that's so good.
In that vein, is there a bookthat has made a big difference
in your journey that you wouldrecommend to the leaders who are
listening?
Devan Gonzalez (26:57):
I mean there's a lot, but I would say one of the
biggest eye openers for me, interms of leadership especially,
was Jocko Willing's theDichotomy of Leadership right,
and the reason it resonated somuch with me is because I read
it at the time I was juststarting to delegate right, and
so I think it left a hugeimprint on me.
(27:18):
But also having to train mymanagers and train the
franchisees to understand thesame principles, I think it's so
crucial, because when your teamis doing poorly, it's your
fault, right.
When your team is succeeding,it's because of them, right.
And so, realizing that ifthey're doing something wrong,
(27:40):
is it because they don't havethe skills, the knowledge you
haven't taught them, the systemand process, or it's something
that needs to be fixed, andthat's something that you need
to analyze.
And in doing so, when you're,you know, letting them know of a
problem or letting them knowthat they did something wrong,
instead of just correcting them,like, let them know, like, hey,
look my fault, I, maybe, I,maybe I under explained this
(28:01):
wrong.
Right, when we do x, this ishow you do it.
You do it by doing a, b and C,right, so you know, and you go
through that way.
That's again my fault, maybe Ididn't teach you in that way or
explain it in a certain way.
And then, all of a sudden, byyou having a buy-in to their
mistake and being their leader,it actually has them buy into
the mistake as well.
(28:22):
Like for me, I don't acceptexcuses, right, I do not accept
excuses from my family, from myteam at work, like excuses.
Dr. William Attaway (28:43):
It means you didn't accept responsibility
for the mistake, but I doaccept mistakes Right, because
that means you know somethingwent wrong, something didn't
happen Right.
There's so much insight andwisdom that you bring to this
conversation and I'm so gratefulthat you're willing to come on
and share this with ourlisteners.
I know many of them are goingto want to stay connected to you
and continue to learn more fromyou and about what you're doing
.
What's the best way for them todo that?
Devan Gonzalez (29:03):
I mean, the platform I'm on most is
Instagram, and I mean my handleis just devangonzalez, but you
can go to my website, it's justdevangonzalezcom.
It has pretty much everythingabout me on there, excellent.
Dr. William Attaway (29:16):
We'll have all those links in the show
notes, Devan.
Thank you for your time andyour generosity today.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm excited today to have Devan Gonzalez on
the podcast.
Devan is a mindset-drivenentrepreneur the CEO of Strive11
Fitness, host of the MindsetCafe podcast and the
best-selling author of MoneyMuscle Mindset, the underground
playbook for aspiring gym owners.
With a deep passion forpersonal development, fitness
(00:24):
and building thrivingcommunities, Devan has dedicated
his life to empowering othersto unlock their full potential.
From his start as a teenagemartial arts instructor to
becoming a fitness industryleader and franchise visionary,
Devan's journey is a testamentto resilience, innovation and
(00:45):
the power of a winning mindset.
Along the way, he's inspiredcountless individuals to break
through mental barriers, achievelasting results and live with
purpose.
Devan, I'm so glad you're here.
Thanks for being on the show.
Devan Gonzalez (01:00):
No, thank you so much for having me.
This is a true honor.
Dr. William Attaway (01:04):
Thank you so much for having me.
This is a true honor.
Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help
leaders intentionally grow andthrive.
Here is your host author andleadership and executive coach,
dr William Attaway.
I'd love to start with yousharing some of your story with
(01:26):
our listeners, particularlyaround your journey and your
development as a leader.
How'd you get started?
Devan Gonzalez (01:33):
I think it really came from, you know,
childhood, being the oldest ofthree boys and kind of naturally
getting put into thatleadership role of being the
oldest brother.
But also, at the age of 13, Igot my black belt and I got the
(01:54):
offer to become a martial artsinstructor, and for me it was an
honor to do so, because Ididn't love martial arts right
in the beginning I was actually.
I was one of those kids thatwas too old to be in the little
kid class, but too young to bein the older kid class.
So I was in that weird middleground and so naturally you get
rounded up, you know, and so forme I was always getting my butt
kicked whenever we had a spar.
(02:16):
And then my coach essentiallytold me is that, you know, he
had one of those mindset shiftswith me.
He was giving me a one on onelesson and he basically said he
was like look, you're gettingyour butt kicked right now,
right, and I was like, yeah, andhe was like so what's going to
be different if you actually tryto fight back?
And I was like, uh, I don'tknow.
(02:36):
He's like well, if you'regetting your butt kicked now and
you're not fighting back andyou fight back and you still get
your butt kicked.
Nothing changes, right.
And I was like right, he's like,but what if you don't get your
butt kicked when you fight back?
I was like hmm, that'sinteresting.
I was like fair point.
I was like okay.
And so when I did the nextsparring session it was actually
(02:56):
one of my testings for a beltand I went out and I was like
I'm just going to swing for thefences, you know.
And that was when I learned Ican actually hold my own and
that light and that light bulbfor me and that self confidence
I was built I wanted to helpinstill in others.
So when I got the job offer forthe martial arts instructor, it
was like wow, like now I get tohelp lead other people to see
(03:19):
that that light bulb moment.
Dr. William Attaway (03:23):
I love that .
You know, I often say there'sno such thing as a wasted
experience, and I love how youtook that experience that you
had and you then funneled thatinto now serving other people.
With what?
Devan Gonzalez (03:36):
you've learned.
No, yeah, I mean, and that Ithink was kind of like the
catalyst for every step I'vetaken and even for, like one of
my my biggest, like you know,core values is, which is just
having a positive impact on asmany lives as I can, while I can
, you know, with the wholetomorrow's never promised and
everything.
It's just like your legacy tome is every impression, every
(04:00):
conversation you have withpeople.
That's true legacy.
So it's like I want to be thatlight bulb for as many people in
as many different ways aspossible.
So taking that next step as apersonal trainer, you know, next
step as a gym owner, next stepas a franchisor, like all those
steps all kind of aligned withthat same purpose.
Dr. William Attaway (04:17):
And through it all, mindset has been
something that you have reallyfocused on and you believe this
is absolutely essential forsuccess.
Why do you think it's socritical?
Devan Gonzalez (04:26):
I don't.
This is one of those thingswhere I think there's a lot of
things that are opinions andsome things are facts, right,
and for me I would almost argueand say that it's not even just
what I feel.
It's almost a fact that mindsetis the start and ending of
everything, right?
Any successful person that youlisten to, you listen to them
talk about, you know theirmindset, you know their drive,
(04:49):
all those things they all soundvery similar because they all
have similar traits that allowedthem to get to that level, and
so my thought is that everythingbegins and ends with your
mindset, right?
So if you believe you canachieve something, you can.
It may not happen immediately,but if you believe and continue
to believe, you can achieve it,you can.
But the moment you stopbelieving in it is the moment it
(05:09):
becomes impossible, becauseyou're going to look for every
possibility or every reason whyit's not a possibility or a
reality for you to achieve that.
Dr. William Attaway (05:18):
That's good , I agree.
I often say mindset is 90% ofsuccess or failure and it's
really up to you.
You have agency, you get tochoose.
A lot of people are looking atyou and at your journey and
they're like holy cow, manDevan's never struggled like I
(05:39):
struggle.
He's never had the hard dayslike I deal with with.
His journey's just been up andto the right, like when, when.
If somebody were sitting acrossfrom you and they were to say
something like that, what wouldyour response?
Devan Gonzalez (05:52):
be.
I would just, I mean, I do getthat, that response, and I do
get that.
You know that kind of commenthere and there of even even so
much of the you know, wow,you're so lucky.
It's like how you know, youknow, and it's like you see, and
we see the tip of the icebergfor majority of people, right,
(06:14):
and it's like you don't see the18 hour days that I was putting
in for not a, not a week, not amonth, but years, right, you
don't see the failed attempts,you don't see all of the
graveyards of a business, ideasthat came before the one that
worked, right.
And so it's like people see theend result and all of a sudden
(06:35):
just try to rationalize it asluck.
The luck is is made from yourinactions and unluckinesses,
from your, your unactions, right, your inactions on on something
.
So that's that would.
My thing is like look, Istruggle just as much as you
launching the franchise.
It took me almost 13 months tosell the first franchise.
(06:55):
There was a lot of times whereI was like you know what, Maybe
I didn't go the right route onthis one, Maybe I should have
stayed a different course andthen did this.
But then you have that otherside of your mindset.
It's like, no, you knew thiswas going to be hard.
No one told you how fast youwere going to sell a franchise,
so stay course.
How fast we're going to sell afranchise, right?
(07:17):
So stay course.
Right.
And you know, having yourcouple core people that keep you
in line and you can kind of letthem know what's going on, can
help.
But at the same time you haveto realize, at the end of the
day, you have to rely andbelieve in yourself.
And it's almost like adelusional self-belief to a
degree, right, because there'syour past experiences of it not
working out.
It's almost like your resume ofit not working, but it's like
(07:38):
there's still that chance thatyou know again, betting on
yourself, that you could bet onblack and it hits right.
Dr. William Attaway (07:46):
You know, I love that.
I love that metaphor.
You know betting on yourself.
You know, and I love yourtransparency in describing the
graveyard of the business ideasthat didn't make it Again.
Most people are looking at yourhighlight reel.
They're looking at the one thatdid and thinking, oh, this is
so great.
As you went through thisprocess and you've touched on
(08:08):
this a little bit, like itsounds like you had your bouts
with imposter syndrome, like somany of us do.
You know, is this going to work?
Can I do this?
Am I the guy that can pull thisoff?
If somebody's listening and Iknow they are who is struggling
at this moment with that,they're in that moment where
they're doubting and they'rewondering can this, will this,
(08:31):
can I?
Will I?
What advice would you give them?
Devan Gonzalez (08:35):
I mean if, if you're thinking can or will,
like you have to, you have toreframe it and be like look,
it's not a matter of if, it'sjust a matter of when, right,
and that's how I like the.
I mean even back in in this,you know a little tangent, but
even back in, like college, youknow, it was like if I wanted to
(08:55):
talk to a girl, maybe it didn'thappen right, right then, but
it wasn't a matter of if, it wasjust a matter of when we would
get to connect.
And that same area applies tobusiness, right, the.
You know, it's not a matter ofif I was gonna open a gym, it's
just when I was gonna open a gym.
So I would tell people when Iwas a personal trainer, I would
tell people I was opening a gymand they'd be like okay, cool.
I mean, how many personaltrainers say they're going to
(09:17):
open a gym?
99% of them Right.
And so when you tell that tosomeone like they give you like
the pat on the head.
They're like okay, you know,all right, kid, keep, keep going
.
But for me it was like it's Imight not open it today,
tomorrow, this year or in fiveyears, but it's going to happen,
right, and I mean there wasprobably a five year span of
different partnerships,different investors, different
(09:38):
you know ideas that didn't panout or that I pulled the deal on
because I was like I'm just,I'm forcing this, I don't want
to be stuck in this one Um andso five years, you know, five
years.
After doing all that, then itflourished, right.
And so it's like you have torealize that if you, as long as
you still have the belief in itbeing a possibility, it's going
(10:01):
to happen, and posture syndromeis all self belief, right, and
that that doesn't change.
Because even now I'm a part ofa business mastermind and I got
moved up to the upper levelgroup and now we had a meetup in
Rosarito.
So now I'm already the CEO, I'malready the owner of the gym
(10:21):
Launching the franchise at thatpoint hadn't been launched yet
but now this meetup, a lot ofpeople didn't want to go to
Rosarito, so there was like 10of us there and so there was no
hiding in the back right andimposter syndrome definitely set
in when I'm sitting aroundeight figure earners, you know
seven, eight figure earners, andall of them are, you know, have
(10:42):
five to 10 years on me in ageand in business, right.
And so it's like, well, I'm theyoungest one here and my
business is the youngest one andI'm my business is doing lowest
in revenue, like the impostersyndrome was definitely real.
Is this even the right table Ishould be sitting at?
Because when we had to do abreakout and you give advice to
each other on different problems, it's like if I give them
(11:04):
advice, are they going to laugh?
Then I just thought and I waslike well, what if I know
something or have a differentperspective on it that I give
them that could help them?
If I don't give it to them,then I'm doing them a disjustice
.
But if I do and they don't takeit, no harm, no foul, it
doesn't hurt me if they take itor don't take it.
Might as well, just say it,just say it right.
(11:26):
And after I did it and gotstepped outside of my comfort
zone, all the other nine peoplewere talking to me afterwards
like, dude, you're really smart,you have a lot going for you.
And I was like, really Ithought a lot of things I was
saying was common sense.
I didn't even think of it thatway and then that was the first
light bulb to realize thatcommon sense, or what you
(11:46):
believe is common sense, is onlycommon to the person that knows
it.
Your life experiences, yourthings you've read all those
things are all stuff that youknow and now it's common sense
to you, but other people mayhaven't experienced it, so it's
not common to them.
Dr. William Attaway (12:03):
You know, I heard somebody say once common
sense is not a flower that isplanted in every garden.
Yep, and I think that's true.
You know, we, we have the curseof knowledge.
We don't know what it's likenot to know the things we know
and have the experiences thatwe've had, because that's it's
just normal for us.
But other people don't havethat, and I love how you
(12:23):
describe that, that you canbring that to bear for other
people who haven't learned orbeen exposed to those ideas, who
haven't had those experiences,and you can leverage those
experiences then to help them,to benefit them, if you're
willing to be a conduit of thatlearning instead of just trying
to hold it in for yourself andbe a reservoir of it.
I think that's one of thethings that sets you apart.
(12:45):
It sounds like in thatmastermind, that's exactly what
you were doing.
You were sharing freely andopenly, which is the best thing
to do in that type of a setting.
That's where you get the mostvalue.
Devan Gonzalez (12:54):
No, exactly, I think that you always I mean a
majority of things in life likeyou get in what you, or you get
out what you put in right, youcan't expect to do nothing and
get the world in exchange.
Like you got to put your effortin to receive it on the back
end in relationships, in life,in business, like that's just.
That's just how it goes.
Nature of the game.
Dr. William Attaway (13:14):
I love that and I love what you said about
feeling like you know, is thisthe man?
Am I in the right room?
I joined a mastermind last yearand at the first session that
we were going around, I waswondering the same thing, like
holy cow, I'm not at the levelof so many people around the
circle man, am I in the rightplace?
And I think that's so normal.
(13:39):
And I love the transparencythere, because I think a lot of
listeners are feeling that too.
But it's about putting yourselfin rooms where you're not the
smartest person in the room,where you're not the most
advanced person in the room.
Putting yourself in the roomswith people who are farther down
the road than you are, that youcan learn from, that you can be
challenged by, that you can beinspired by.
Devan Gonzalez (13:59):
I think that makes a tremendous amount of
difference in expanding ourmindset to see maybe some things
we've never seen before, sothat we can achieve things we've
never achieved before, exactly,and I think that doing that and
stepping outside of yourcomfort zone because when you
feel like you're the big fish,right, you've outgrown that pond
and you need to become thelittle fish again, but you get
(14:22):
fed knowledge and it helps youcondense your timeline to growth
or to success, because theother people in the room are
going to level you up by their,by their ripple effect, right,
and so being around them andgetting in those bigger rooms
and bigger tables, like thathelps you, as uncomfortable as
it is, as you know, much of animposter, as you feel at the end
(14:43):
of the day.
For me, an imposter syndromelike you have to think about it
is what?
What do you feel an imposterabout being an entrepreneur?
Like, do you own a company?
Well, you're an entrepreneur,right.
It's just a title on paper,right?
So what are you settingyourself to feel and posture of
that?
You're not an eight figureentrepreneur, like those titles
don't really matter.
Dr. William Attaway (15:02):
Right, that's exactly right.
I want to talk about somethingthat you mentioned a minute ago
and it really it struck mebecause I watch a whole lot of
people never make the turn thatyou made, moving from an
individual contributor apersonal trainer in your case
into somebody who is going to bea gym owner and then the CEO of
(15:26):
a franchise.
That's a turn and most peopledo not make that turn for a
variety of reasons, but I thinkforemost among them.
We get a dopamine hit from theindividual contributor stuff.
We get that dopamine hit fromachieving and doing and getting
our hands dirty and all thatfrom achieving and doing and
getting our hands dirty and allthat.
(15:48):
And for a lot of people it'shard to make the turn to
learning how to lead a teamwhere you're not doing
everything anymore.
You're getting things donethrough other people.
Did you struggle with that?
Was that a hard turn for you?
Devan Gonzalez (16:01):
Oh, 100%.
That's probably one of thehardest turns, I would say.
Opening a business is easy.
Growing it obviously is tougher.
But the first tough part ofthat and I think the hardest
part, for me at least, was notnecessarily delegating, because
you can delegate meaninglessstuff, but giving a task that
(16:22):
you feel that are superimportant.
In large scheme of things,they're probably not as
important as you're letting thembelieve they are.
But that first step, even withmy business partner who you know
, my former business partner,who wasn't an entrepreneur, you
know, even with him, like when Istepped away to launch the
franchise side and letting himrun everything, like it was kind
(16:42):
of putting a lot on his plate,but I had to trust the you know
the stuff that we worked on andstuff You'd be fine.
And also trusting my team thatI've taught them well and
they've grown, and not being thebottleneck that you know comes
to solve every problem.
So even when I launched thefranchise, like I was even just
in the back office, then I wasgetting them coming back to the
(17:03):
back office, asked me everysingle question, big or small.
Majority of the times therewere small questions and it was
like look, you guys know theanswer to this?
Like I don't, you know.
So I was like then it wasalways like daily, you know, if
not hourly, like what do youthink we should do?
Well, I think we should do this, exactly, okay.
So why did you come back here?
Right, you know?
(17:27):
So it's like.
But then, but having them buyinto it and like realize they
know it, they don't need to getmy approval on all the little
things.
So then it was like, okay, I hadto actually step out of the gym
and, you know, work remote.
And then it would be mybusiness partner would call me
and he'd be like hey, you knowthis member X, y and Z, what,
what do you want to do?
And I was like all right, whatdo you want to do?
Like.
And then he was like I don'tknow.
And I was like I was like,honestly, I'm on the phone right
(17:48):
now with someone else.
I was like you know, make adecision, let me know.
And I would just hang up.
And I wasn't even on the phonewith anyone else, like I just
wanted to, I just wanted toforce him to make some decisions
.
And I told him afterwards.
I was like we'll talk about itafterwards, right, I was like I
(18:09):
don't make every right decision.
I was like I'm the one that hasmade majority of the wrong
decisions in here.
Right, we've lost thousands ofdollars because I've made bad
decisions in terms of we shoulduse this software versus this
software and it not pan out andus having to switch, and so
forth.
I was like so there's a lot oflearning that comes a lot with
it, and learning comes fromthose mistakes.
So I think that realizing thatif you want to grow a business,
you need to be able to delegate,otherwise you're always going
(18:30):
to be working in your businessand not on your business.
Dr. William Attaway (18:34):
I love the question that you asked there of
your team.
What do you think?
I think that's one of the mostpowerful questions because it
helps them learn to own not justthe responsibilities and the
tasks, but the authority.
When you learn how to delegateauthority, you're going to start
making traction.
You're going to start seeingchange.
(18:55):
I love that.
That's part of your story.
Let's talk about Strive 11Fitness for a minute.
What do you believe makesStrive 11 Fitness different?
I mean so many franchises,right, so many fitness
franchises.
What makes you believe makesStrive 11 Fitness different?
I mean so many franchises,right, so many fitness
franchises.
What makes you guys different?
Devan Gonzalez (19:11):
So Strive 11 was kind of founded off of my
personal training experience andto give you a little backstory
on it, right, like when I waspersonal training, I would send
my clients to boot camps inbetween our sessions because
majority of people didn't wantto follow homework, right, and
follow workouts to do so I'll belike, okay, go to you know gym
(19:31):
A or gym B or whatever and dothese in between.
And so they would do it.
And over the years I mean I wasa personal trainer for 15 years
, right, and so over the years Iwould have them come back with
similar complaints withdifferent brands over the years.
And I was like, with similarcomplaints with different brands
over the years, and I was likeit's crazy that they all have
the same problem.
Like, are they not solvable?
Or did one company startanother company was like, look,
(19:53):
that's working, I'm just goingto copy and paste it, change
colors, change logos and we'regood to go.
And in most cases that's prettymuch what it is.
You know their spiel orwhatever they say their
differentiating factor is isn'treally a true differentiating
factor, whether it's the amountof time they're working out or
you know a heart rate system.
It's like majority of gyms dothat as well.
(20:15):
But for Strive 11, essentially,our whole goal was to solve the
problems that they weren'tsolving, and number one being
class times right.
So it is a bootcamp style model, but we don't have class times,
right.
So you can come in just likeyou would at a corporate gym, at
a big box gym, and once youwalk in the door then you would
start your workout at that time,but you get the same energy,
(20:36):
the same feel, the same groupexperience as you would in a
bootcamp, a traditional one thateveryone starts the same time
because other people are alreadydoing that workout, right, and
whether they're almost done,whether they're just starting,
you're all working out and doingthe same stuff.
So when you walk into the gym,one of the trainers greets you,
they show you the warmup andthen they put you into one of
(20:57):
the 11 stations that's where the11 is, drive 11 comes from, but
one of the 11 stations, all thestations, are on a singular
timer for the room, so all thestations are rotating, you know,
every about two minutes, and soonce you come in, you get
placed into essentially thisrotation.
That just doesn't stop Right.
And then you can do one round ofthe 11 stations, which is 30
(21:18):
minutes.
You can do two rounds, which isan hour, and then you know in
any combination in between.
But then you do the abs or thecool down station afterwards and
in total you can do up to likea 75 minute workout, right.
But if someone's in a rushtoday, you don't need to do the
warmup, you can stretch realquick, hop in, do 11 stations
out in 30 minutes, right.
So it's like our whole thing islike something is better than
(21:38):
nothing, and I guarantee 30minutes here is going to be more
calories burned, more musclefocus than you doing an hour
alone at your gym, right.
And so that was the one of thebiggest factors of eliminating
class times for people, becausetraditional class times don't
work for a lot of members.
You know, and showing up latealways kind of brought up that
(22:00):
you know, when you're in middleschool or in high school and you
walk in late to a class and allof a sudden everyone turns and
looks at you and you'd hear apin drop, right?
People get.
People are already nervouscoming into the gym in the most
case, especially in thebeginning.
Well, we eliminate that becauseyou're never late, right?
So no one's really turning tolook to see who came in, because
again there's people coming in,there's people leaving the
entire time.
Dr. William Attaway (22:23):
I love that , I love the model and I love
the fact that you've really putyourself into the, into the mind
of your ideal clients andthought what are they really
struggling with?
What are the things that makethis uncomfortable for them?
And you've really tried to dialinto those and address those.
Devan Gonzalez (22:38):
That's really creative have other like
features and stuff.
Our whole thing is always tosolve the problems that would
keep a member, you know, interms of retention and so forth,
one of them being that we havea meal plan service.
So if you want custompersonalized meal plans, we have
a software that does that aswell.
So we have a custom meal plans.
We have, you know, bodycomposition scans.
(23:00):
We have the heart ratetechnology, we have the
challenges, we have all thedifferent areas of fitness and
personal development that youcould think of to make sure our
members are getting more of aholistic approach to their
journey.
Right, and that's one of thethings that members do like is,
yes, a lot of gyms will say youknow, you should feel better,
look better, your clothes fitbetter.
That's all cool, but that'salso, I feel, you know, kind of
(23:22):
a scapegoat to you know,actually giving people what
they're paying for.
So, having the body compositionscans, it's like these are your
actual numbers and whetherthey're good or bad readings,
like we can adjust from there.
Right, we can see when youplateau, we can see if you're
declining, and then we can talkabout it.
Right, and that's one of ourbiggest things is like look,
(23:46):
there's going to be ups, there'sgoing to be downs, but just
like in anything in life, youcan't fail if you don't give up.
Dr. William Attaway (23:52):
I love the use of objective data there
instead of just a subjectivefeel you know, because I think
data tells a story and I lovethat you're utilizing data in
such a way that people can seethe story and they can say, ok,
this is, this is the reality,that he is not what I feel like
today or what I wish were.
This is what it is today.
(24:13):
I think that's that's brilliant.
Devan Gonzalez (24:15):
And I mean just like in business, as you know
like you can't improve somethingwhere you don't know the
numbers right.
So that's exactly right Ifyou're like I don't care what
someone's weight is, right.
But because people get kind ofobsessed about their weight on a
scale, it's like we tell peoplelike that's one piece of the
equation I need.
I'm looking at your percentageof muscle increase or decrease,
(24:35):
your percentage of body fatincrease or decrease your water
retention, like those are thethings I'm actually looking at.
Your weight is just one of thepieces of the equation that
gives me that.
That's good.
Dr. William Attaway (24:47):
That's really good.
Let me talk about you for asecond.
So your team, your business,your clients, now your
franchisees, need you to lead ata higher level today, Devan,
than was true three, four, fiveyears ago, and three, four, five
years from now that's going tobe even more true.
(25:08):
How do you level up as a leader?
How do you develop the skillsthat your team, your business,
your clients are going to needyou to have in the months and
years to come?
Devan Gonzalez (25:22):
I think that it's it all starts again with,
like, the mindset or realizingthat I don't know everything,
right, no one knows everything.
And the moment that you thinkthat you know everything is the
moment you're actually going tostart declining.
But having almost you know Iheard this, this title, this
analogy but a white beltmentality right Always.
(25:44):
You always be learning, rightand know that you can always
take something new from aconversation, from a podcast
such as this.
You know a book right and knowthat you can always take
something new from aconversation from a podcast such
as this.
You know a book, right, there'salways a new perspective,
there's always a new, you know,angle, but there's always other
skills because, again, the worldis always evolving and there's
new things and new developmentsall the time.
Like, you have to stay on top ofyour game, but you can't know
(26:06):
every, you can't solve everyproblem that may or may not
happen, right, so sometimes youalso just need to know that
you're adjustable, right.
So I don't think I'm the bestor anything in that nature, but
I know I will outwork anyonethat is put in front of me
because of my past.
You know resume, right, I'vedone so in the past and I know I
(26:27):
have that belief in myself thatI will do so in the future.
And I know I have that beliefin myself that I will do so in
the future.
So if something happens in youknow, a problem or something
I've never overcame, I know Ihave the ability to resource and
ask and, you know, do researchto find the answer.
Dr. William Attaway (26:44):
I love that teachable spirit and that never
stop learning mindset.
I think that's so good.
In that vein, is there a bookthat has made a big difference
in your journey that you wouldrecommend to the leaders who are
listening?
Devan Gonzalez (26:57):
I mean there's a lot, but I would say one of the
biggest eye openers for me, interms of leadership especially,
was Jocko Willing's theDichotomy of Leadership right,
and the reason it resonated somuch with me is because I read
it at the time I was juststarting to delegate right, and
so I think it left a hugeimprint on me.
(27:18):
But also having to train mymanagers and train the
franchisees to understand thesame principles, I think it's so
crucial, because when your teamis doing poorly, it's your
fault, right.
When your team is succeeding,it's because of them, right.
And so, realizing that ifthey're doing something wrong,
(27:40):
is it because they don't havethe skills, the knowledge you
haven't taught them, the systemand process, or it's something
that needs to be fixed, andthat's something that you need
to analyze.
And in doing so, when you're,you know, letting them know of a
problem or letting them knowthat they did something wrong,
instead of just correcting them,like, let them know, like, hey,
look my fault, I, maybe, I,maybe I under explained this
(28:01):
wrong.
Right, when we do x, this ishow you do it.
You do it by doing a, b and C,right, so you know, and you go
through that way.
That's again my fault, maybe Ididn't teach you in that way or
explain it in a certain way.
And then, all of a sudden, byyou having a buy-in to their
mistake and being their leader,it actually has them buy into
the mistake as well.
(28:22):
Like for me, I don't acceptexcuses, right, I do not accept
excuses from my family, from myteam at work, like excuses.
Dr. William Attaway (28:43):
It means you didn't accept responsibility
for the mistake, but I doaccept mistakes Right, because
that means you know somethingwent wrong, something didn't
happen Right.
There's so much insight andwisdom that you bring to this
conversation and I'm so gratefulthat you're willing to come on
and share this with ourlisteners.
I know many of them are goingto want to stay connected to you
and continue to learn more fromyou and about what you're doing
.
What's the best way for them todo that?
Devan Gonzalez (29:03):
I mean, the platform I'm on most is
Instagram, and I mean my handleis just devangonzalez, but you
can go to my website, it's justdevangonzalezcom.
It has pretty much everythingabout me on there, excellent.
Dr. William Attaway (29:16):
We'll have all those links in the show
notes, Devan.
Thank you for your time andyour generosity today.
Thank you so much for having me.
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