Episode #520: The 9 Shifts-Deekron Krikorian's Framework for Ultimate Health and Wellness

0:00 I am super excited to announce that we now have a formal partnership with the prospect wizard. And when I say wizard, I mean wizard. Obviously, you have a website. This allows you to convert your website traffic visitors directly into leads. It's not just another chatbot and it's not AI, but it allows a visitor to call, text, or leave a voicemail, immediately goes to you, your sales team, or anyone else in the club instantly. MIT shows a study that if you contact the lead within 10 minutes, chance of them converting goes up 9 times that of the average. We got the Atlanta Clubs on it, Vida Fitness, Gold's Gym, Mountainside, City Fitness Philly, College Park. Become one of the next halo companies to deploy the wizard. It's easy to use. Go to the prospectwizard.com. Get a free 30 day trial. Talk to my boy, Dave Gallon. He will get you all set up and let the leads flow based on the wizard. Go get them.

1:03 This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks NYC. Have the pleasure of welcoming back, Dichron, known as the fitness DJ, is part of his, AKA, University of Michigan. So shout out to the 15 and o Wolverines, which I attended, my boy, Eyal and d z. And, you know, you've got a, a really interesting successful entrepreneurial route that you've taken. So maybe give our audience a little bit of, the background on that, and then, I'll ping you with questions on the book and the takeaways there as well as, you know, a holistic approach to, getting people to live the lives that they should be living. Awesome, Pete. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Looking forward to sharing a bit about my story, providing some value to your audience. So, yeah, you can say that I'm somebody who's had a lot of different career iterations. I would say the undertone in my life has always been, fitness and wellness partly because of my dad who was a professional athlete. He was a professional rugby player in Romania, which is where I was born. And from a young age, he really instilled the importance of exercise and and eating well and education. He said, these things are not optional.

2:11 Quick funny story about my dad. He would actually come in on Saturday mornings when my brother and I would be sleeping. It'd be, like, 7 AM. He'd rip open the blinds. There'd be all kinds of sun pouring in. My brother and I'd be startled like that. What's going on right now? And he'd be like, okay, boys. Get dressed. Get your sneakers on. We're gonna go to park, and we're gonna exercise. And we were like, no way. We started protesting. Dad, it's too early for this. We don't wanna go. And he'd be like, nope. Nope. You gotta get going. And we'd protest and be like, dad, Saturday morning cartoons that all our friends get to watch, and we don't get to watch, but he just wasn't having it. And so it was really that discipline. It was that instill instilling those those, I guess, ways of thinking and prioritizing health, wellness, education. So these things are not optimal. You do them whether you like it or not. And so following that philosophy throughout my life paid a lot of benefits. It helped me feel better, helped me look better, helped me just handle everything better. And so wanting to contribute that to others is what led me to what I'm doing now. And so, yes, I've had the corporate background. I was in accounting after undergrad.

3:13 I got my MBA at Michigan. I was doing management consulting, but I always had this passion to help people. And my brother was was also a a musician and DJ, so why would I at the time, I was working out to his his, his music tracks, his techno mixes, and they were very motivating. And I said, I wonder if I could do something more with this. And that's when I took what he was doing and we were doing with the label, and I said, I wonder if we could use in a fitness setting. And that's when I met David. I was promoting basically this this record label that was customizing music for fitness classes to give people motivation, and it was my first foray into the to the health industry. So I was never a personal trainer per se. I didn't have the the the background of of coach you know, personal training people or leading group fitness classes. It wasn't my thing, but I was kind of creating this content for them. I was creating the these music mixes to use in classes. And from there, I took it into a podcast for consumers called motion tracks. We grew to over a 100000 monthly listeners. Once we hit about a 1000000 downloads of our content of these, like, specially customized running music mixes, we took it to sponsors. We worked with some of the top sponsors in the space, Gatorade, PowerBar, ASICs, Secret Deodorant. We did a bunch of cool stuff during the time. We launched an app. Apple featured the app for over a year. We got national media coverage for the for the app itself, and, that was a good run. We had a good run for a few years. And then back in 2018, I was like, okay. Things are slowing down here with the app. There were some competitors who had

4:43 entered the space. They were kind of better funded than we were. And so at the point, I was like, okay. I wanna pivot into something else. And I had this big email list of people who had downloaded my app, and I didn't know what to do with it. But I said, hey. You know, I've been into fitness and wellness my whole life. Maybe I could help you get in shape. I could coach you. And so I got 6 clients right away from kinda like that first outreach, and so the rest is history. So since the last this since then, the last 5 years, I've been just getting more clients, you know, changing how I think about helping people and to the point where today I've got this holistic approach where I help people make long term lasting changes in their body, in their health by starting with their mind. And so that's really where I am today, and that's what my book is about. So so give us a little background on, you know, the 9 shifts. Right? And and why isn't there 10? You know, we we did a book with 52 takeaways. Okay. You know, as you kinda hover around that number, and and what's the most impactful?

5:41 Maybe just give us a little, you know, like, preview here. Sure. Sure. So, the 9th shift is sort of the second attempt at writing the book. The first attempt didn't go so well. It was it wasn't it was missing a little bit congruency. So there were, like, 10 challenges people faced, and there was, like, a 4 step system and 8 habits they had to follow, and it wasn't quite coming together. So when I scrapped the first version of the book, I started working with my editor, and both her and I were familiar with this whole, like, 3 by 3 framework that a number of other coaches were using. And I had never thought to to try to use it for self, but when I started playing with it, it actually made everything come together nicely. And so the 9 shifts are actually grouped into 3 categories. So I look at it as 9 total challenges that get in the way of somebody over 40 who wants to elevate their mind, their body, and their life. And so it's it's 3 categories, mind, body, and life. And under these 3 categories, you have 3 challenges each. So three challenges under mind. So how does the mind get in the way of having the body and and the life we want?

6:45 So there's emotional eating, there's limiting beliefs, and there's wavering motivation. So these are three ways the mind could get in the way. The body itself gets in the way of our body goals because of a slowing metabolism, changing hormones, or, you know, injuries, limitations that we accumulate over time. And then the 3rd category, life. How does our life get in the way of having the body we want? Well, it's stress, limited time, or having to travel or attend social events. These things can all throw us off. Temptations, eating poorly on the road, etcetera. So we the way we grouped it, the framework started making a lot of sense, and it sort of encapsulated it, most of the challenges that I saw my clients coming to me with. So somebody gets the book, they do this on, like, you know, like, a self help type of concept. You also have, you know, coaches that you envision, you know, training or certifying in the 9 shifts, or is that something that you do and you kinda scale that, you know, through technology and people, you know, interacting with you directly? How do you think about technology? It seems to me and Dave gave me a little background. Like, you're about a relationship. You're about, like, you know, personalizing a motivation, you know, articulate it the way you wanna articulate it. So how do you think about scaling the business? Or, you know, some people say I wanna scale the business to x. It's like, why don't you scale the business to, like, 10 minus, you know, less than 10 take take x divided by 20. You're gonna affect a lot of people. Yes. You know, like, it doesn't need to be, you know, an empire here. I'm gonna I'm gonna affect this, and they're gonna basically waterfall that down,

8:18 because that's all they talk about. When you lose weight and you got your shit together, people come up to you and say, how'd you do it? Right? It's it's word-of-mouth. So how do you think about scaling, and and how do you kinda manage your own success or milestones? Yeah. It's a great question and something I think about pretty often. So for now, Pete, again, because I I didn't come from in a way, I kinda backed into the industry. So, you know, I'm a corporate guy. I didn't have the fitness background, but I sort of started putting the pieces together. And, you know, because my system is sort of self created, it's also unique. Yes. I do have assistant coaches that work under me who handle more, like, the accountability, the check ins, the ongoing stuff. And then I work with the bigger challenges with clients, so it's kinda like their limiting beliefs, their identity, their fixed pattern, stuff that makes them feel upset and then reach for that bottle of wine, you know, twice, 3 times a week. You know, it's it's that stuff that I am skilled in because I've had a lot of mindset training. So I work with people more intimately. You know, to to our maximum level of client load, we've handled between, like, 20 to 30 clients at a time. How do I think about scaling? I think part of it is one reason why I wrote the book is to just be able to get the message out more easily. I plan on doing more public speaking. I plan on doing more cool podcasts like this one.

9:36 So I want people to start becoming more aware of this more holistic comprehensive approach to solving this problem and not just diet and exercise. And I think over time, what I wanna do is I wanna make the mindset the foundation and make the body one outcome. You may want that, or maybe a better career is another outcome, or maybe a better marriage is another outcome. So it's the the elevating your minds is the underlying theme, and then I we can add more programs. And I would bring in specialists in career or in in, you know, marriage counseling, all that, but it would still be part of this holistic way to elevate people overall. This is Pete Moore. I wanna let you in on a little secret. There's this company called Promotion Vault, and what they do is they give out rewards from retailers that allow you to incentivize your members without having to do zero down and 1 month free, or giving away shakes or giving away t shirts. What you want to do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value, and that doesn't discount your own products and services.

10:39 So here's the deal. There's something called Rewards Vault. The rewards vault is going to allow a member to set up their own profile. They are going to answer questions. You are gonna get those answers. You're gonna be able to target those members, and you're gonna reward them inside your club, inside your spa, and outside of the club, and outside of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay their monthly dues, and to be rewarded properly for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards. You shouldn't be. Promotion Vault's your answer. Trust me. This is real. So we've been getting involved with some of these GLP, weight loss drugs. Mhmm. Talking to a lot of groups that are have different slants on it, and now you're finding out that, hey. This isn't necessarily just for weight loss and for, you know, reducing your risk of diabetes. It's actually, you know, smoking cessation. It's actually, you know, a friend of mine who used to order pizza down at Emory at 1:55 AM before Domino's closed, you know, he said to me, after being on Ozempic for, like, 6 months, he's like, Pete, I actually have to remind myself to eat. The fact that that came out of his mouth if you met him, you know, that was like a shocker. That was like a tell for me. So do you view technology and some of these pharmaceutical drugs as basically maybe an on ramp into the 9 shifts and, you know, maybe it doesn't all need to be natural? You know, if you're on there, that's great. And if it has those impacts, I'm actually gonna

12:12 deal with the side effects, which is your body, you know, reducing muscle, density, and your life's gonna be much better because you could actually shop at a regular store instead of the big and tall or the husky section of Sears, which I used to have to do at h twelve, which is very damaging Right. To me. So how do you view technology and, you know, drugs as part of the solution here, which probably has only been the last, like, 12 to 18 months of people really Yeah. Onboarding this in a mass market way. Yeah. And I've had a couple of clients go on it. Yeah. I think it's, it's personal preference ultimately. I think some people are okay with that. I think some people maybe have tried a lot of things and are frustrated, and the promise of, hey. Just take an injection. It seems simple. You know? Anything that's simple, the human mind is gonna gravitate towards. The human the human mind, in general, because of our comfort zone, it's gonna cause resistance. We don't like to work. We don't like to exert ourselves. We don't like to spend a lot of time, take risks, etcetera.

13:12 Unfortunately, those things are required for true growth. And if you do the the injection okay, potentially, it's gonna help you lose weight in in what I would consider more of a forced way. So what you're doing is you're you're slowing down the digestion of food. You're also kind of forcing the body to digest food slower with these gl gl gl glp one agonists. And it it unfortunately, I think, over time, they may find that there are side effects. There aren't any long term studies on how well these things work for humans or what the side effects might be, you know, 10 years out. And there's already some people indicating whether it's been thyroid issues, digestion issues. I myself have suffered from digestion issues. I know how important it is to have proper digestion. And if these things are slowing down digestion, we may end up seeing more people with gut dysbiosis or more people with issues in their gut health, and that will disrupt everything else, unfortunately. So we'll I mean, it remains to be seen, but I'm I've always been again, because of my dad's discipline and and the the mental strength he instilled in us, I will always go for what may be harder, but better for me in the long run versus what's a shortcut, but may cost me in the long run, if that makes sense. Yeah. When you look at people making behavioral changes, and we had a a a a woman who wrote a book, basically, just like simple things, you know, like, do this, don't do that.

14:34 You know, take a walk, don't take a nap. You know, eat this fruit, don't eat this, you know, peanut M and M's. What what do you think are some of the biggest inhibitors or drivers? And I'll just give you an example of 1. Like, I'll go into, I'm on an airplane, like, 250 days, a year. I'll go into Hudson News, and I'll have, like, a healthy snack area. Okay? But you flip over one of those, it's like 10 serving sizes, which people think is like 1. You know, the sugar content's like 12, but then you gotta multiply that by by 10. You know? So you get a 120 grams of sugar, and you think you're you're basically taking care of yourself. So it's almost like mass deception of, like, a healthy snack or healthy meal. Now what are some of the things that and it's probably not gonna be, like, policy or politics or, you know, like the FDA coming down. It's gotta be education. So what are some of the things that you see people doing? It's like, how do you not know this?

15:29 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's some very basic things like that. You know, I think sometimes they'll just eat late. You know, people have snacks after dinner, and they'll just be craving stuff. And, you know, they wonder why that's happening. When you look at what they did during the day, they didn't even stop to eat very much. You know? And they finally stop, and the stress comes down. Now cortisol drops, and the body is like, oh, wait a second. I'm I'm because when we're stressed, cortisol is up, we're in fight or flight mode, the butt the appetite gets suppressed. And so a lot of people, they they just run around all day, and then at the end of the day, they haven't eaten anything, and now they're just gorging, which is not healthy. Right? Again, it comes down to the digestive system. You don't wanna overload the system before bed. That's a common mistake.

16:12 I think you know, I work with a lot of high achievers. They're perfectionists, and they're very all in or all out. So if they can't get that perfect 60 minute sweat dripping workout in, they'll do nothing. They'll be like, oh, I'll just wait till this deadline season is over, and then I'll just get back in my group. And that's a mistake. So going back to to the tips, can you do at least a minimal amount? Can you do what's better instead of just perfect? And so I call it taking imperfect actions. It's going for that walk when you can't get that full workout, and it's having, you know, more awareness of what you're eating versus just grabbing whatever's there because you don't have time. Gotcha. Rewinding a bit to something you said before that that that I wrote down. You got 20 to 30 clients right now, or at a certain specific time. Do people graduate from this and and you kinda refill, Or do people kinda say, look, I'm I'm I I I get it, but I still wanna make sure, like, I've got connectivity to you. And then you could say, hey. My business model is set up to help as many people, so I must have to, like, put you through a cohort and then have you go on your own and, you know, go into the wilderness and and tell people you're practicing this. So how do you think about that from a business standpoint and also just from, like, a behavioral standpoint? I actually don't want you to be a client for more than, like, x number of months because then I may not be educating you on how to do this. Like, you don't need me forever. How do you think about that? Yeah. It's a great question, and it's very case by case. You know? Some people struggle more in nutrition. Some people

17:42 struggle more with their exercise, struggle more with their mindset. So everybody's gonna have a different journey and a different timeline. But, yes, it gets to a point where, like you're saying, you know, I don't wanna work with people more than a certain amount time because then we're just rehashing stuff and you're not getting it, and you're preventing me from helping other people. And so there's this fine line between giving people the basics, giving them the nudge they need, and then after, like, maybe, like, 6 to 9 months saying, okay. Like, enough's enough. You this should be enough time to to learn the habits now. And if you want some light touch ongoing accountability, connectivity with us, we do have I do have an ongoing ongoing group coaching model where I do office hours and people check-in, and we still send them their accountability forms, and they kinda keep us posted on how they're doing. But they've learned enough about the principles that they could just practice them now with just a little bit of accountability to keep going. That's great. You know, one of the things that we harp on a lot of bricks and mortar brands and businesses is to say, you're giving your product away. You know? You you charge in $99 for unlimited, you know, to something that is probably the second or third most important thing in someone's life. And it definitely is the most impactful for their longevity, for their attitude, for, you know, the confidence that they feel. So how do you go into a a a situation and say, look. This is worth probably depending on how much you make, right, and earn. My ability to make you an overachiever or to exceed your own expectations

19:14 is worth 1,000 of dollars a month. Right? I don't know if I can charge that. I don't know if I have the guts to charge that to you, and I don't know if you're gonna see, you know, what the analogy is that I can say, well, this is you know, how much do you spend on a mattress or, you know, you bought yourself a Rolex? I mean, what I'm doing for you is way more than than the Rolex purchase. So how do you think about that when you say, I changed your life. Right? Everything about it is positive now. What percentage of that do I get? Not just you, but I'm saying it our business in general, I want people who are listening to this to think about what's my price to value and and what percentage of that upside do I get for doing that for you? Yeah. Yeah. It's a really great point.

19:55 It's like what we do for folks is priceless. You know, it's like I work with with my client Johnny who's, you know, he's a he's a pilot, you know, does well, and he's going through a divorce, and me helping him and his wife come to the table and not lawyer up, who knows how much that has saved. Right? Or, you know, somebody who is diabetic, it was prediabetic and I helped them not be diabetic anymore and lose the weight and get healthy again, what does that word to them? Salesperson who could sell more because now they're more confident in how they look. You know, there's all kinds of money that could be generated because of that. So I think it it it's a balance between, you know, how much do I put in in terms of my time? Because that's obviously a scarce resource. What is their ability to pay and sort of like the the more they can pay, the more we can provide. Because when it comes to optimizing your mind and your health and your nutrition and your sleep and all these factors, we can really take it to high levels. You know, I've got antiaging doctors on my staff who could step in and get help people with longevity.

20:56 Like, there's a lot we can do. I think about the story that Tony Robbins tells that he had some kind of really successful hedge fund manager who wanted Tony to coach him 1 on 1, and Tony charged him $1,000,000 a year for that, right, because he has the ability to pay, and there's so much value in it. So I think it's case by case. So for me, it's like, how do I scale it, create more content, create a course that people can follow so I'm not as actively involved, but they still get the benefit. They pay less, where somebody wants a higher level of service and support, customization, optimization, really high level, then, you know, they would pay commensurate to that. And how much of this the interaction with a client do you want to rely on having a conversation, building a relationship, or saying, look. I need you to, I need you to get an Oura ring. I need you to have an Apple Watch. And I want I wanna download all your data, and I'm basically gonna be, like, your data human scientist Mhmm. Versus, you know, maybe some people don't wanna share that with you because, you know, they might trip up, and they don't wanna disappoint you. You know? Hey. I see your your heart rate went up at, you know, 2 o'clock in the morning. You know? Obviously, you know, you didn't get a good night sleep last night or Yeah. You know, it seems like you're, you know, there's gotta be some M and M's in here somewhere, you know, or Oreo Thins, which you eat by the sleeve, not by the cookie. I just had that experience. Or trail mix, which, you know, you think is good for you until you read the back label. So how much of it do you wanna, like, rely on someone's honesty of their progression, and how much do you wanna rely on hey. Look. Just give me all the data. Let me really see what's going on with you. I'm not gonna ask questions maybe you don't wanna answer.

22:30 Yeah. I personally, I think data's great. I think it could really help us track things better, get a better sense of what's happening with the person. I have clients who are more data inclined, and, you know, they'll track all their food. They'll give us their Oura Ring data. They'll give us their Apple Watch data, and that's good. And we can we can guide them more clearly and and understand patterns more quickly, but not everyone's gonna do that, to your point. I mean, some people just don't wanna do it. They don't have time to do it. They're not tech savvy. It's just not for them. The good news is, you know, optimizing with data is only 20% of the battle. 80% of the battle are the key habits around what I call food, fitness, stress, and sleep. These things are in our control. They don't require devices. Just keep us a little posted on what you're doing. As long as they're doing, you know, really handling those four areas well, they should see benefits in their metabolism, in their stress levels, in everything that they're looking to achieve, body fat, etcetera.

23:30 This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast. We are partnered up with a company called Higher Dose, higherdose.com. They are the leader in workout recovery products, infrared technology, LED light masks, neck enhancers, and other products such as PMF mats and sauna blankets. If you have not gotten on the workout recovery train yet, your time and your stop is now. You gotta get these products in there before these workout recovery and spas end up saturating your market, having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations for $200 per month where they're paying 39 to you. Let's become an expert in workout recovery if we are already an authority in workouts. Higher dose, check it out. There's a wholesale code and we look forward to helping you augment your products and services to meet the demands of your members. And, hey, let's get people happy, healthy, and sweaty, and the recovery should be just as good as the workout.

24:41 On your LinkedIn, you've got a lot of, content related to your book signings, to your, you know, speaking events. I feel like the next iteration of fitness studios and health clubs and and large sports complexes, People like you should be going in there, you know, and saying like, hey. Why am I going to a bookstore? Why don't I go into a health club? You got a 3,000 square foot studio. It's got nice hardwood floors. You got a microphone. You got a sound system. Let me just come in there and basically provide this to your members. We'll do a book signing there. You guys buy the book at cost and, you know, I'll get business out of this. But now I'm basically guaranteeing you that there's gonna be 10 people in the room. They're gonna shake their head, and they're gonna say, hey. I'm gonna commit to my membership at this location because they exposed you to it. They're like the lead generator to their success, and they don't have people like you that they can afford to have on staff. So have you bumped into any walls? Has has anyone asked you and said, hey. Come speak at my club or come speak at my pickleball event? Come you know? That's where they are. Right? And I feel like there's a disconnect right now between content and motivation and, like, the actual physical plant of where that's happening. Yeah. That's interesting you said that, Pete, because I actually did come across a gentleman who owns 2, gym locations here, like, higher end gym locations. They're sort of like a a CrossFit, but more, a little bit more holistic in their approach. And the owner, William, found out about my book, and he wants me to come in and speak to to his folks, to his members, his classes. So, yeah, that that's definitely an avenue. I haven't fully explored it yet, but definite possibilities there. Yeah. I feel like there needs to

26:14 be, like, agents that focus on this is how we're releasing the book. We're gonna go hit, like, 3,000 studios with, like, an RV and, you know Yeah. Eventually, that's the kind of marketing that we'll we'll get to. Yeah. So food, fitness, stress, sleep, what other advice, as we close out here? Either a quote or you know, you know that building this is not gonna be, you know, overnight, you know, on CNBC or something, but, you know, like, look, I'm doing the right thing. I'm on the right path. You know, you've got experience that, you know, is unmatched from a corporate standpoint, understanding the numbers, understand how to do marketing, understand what big brands want, understanding how to, you know, basically pressurize, you know, communities and and population. So how do you think about your own path, or is there a quote that you'd give or advice to your younger self? Yeah. Pretty good, pretty good thing to think about. I would say, you know what, Pete?

27:09 One thing I I've really benefited from even more, I would say, than my business school experience was the personal development work that I did to understand how I'm wired, to understand, like, you know, my emotions, my thoughts, my feelings, where are they coming from, and how do I shift them so I could get out of things that other people struggle with, like self doubt, you know, imposter syndrome, limiting beliefs, self criticism, shame, all these things that we go through as human beings. There's not enough emphasis on understanding that and gaining emotional intelligence. And it's it's ironic because we all wanna get better. We wanna all wanna achieve goals, but that can't happen without behavior change, and behavior change is not logical. You can't tell a smoker, stop smoking. It's not good for you and have and and have them stop because they won't. It's not a logical thing they're doing. So it's behavior change comes from our emotions. So so the more we can become emotionally intelligent, the better we will feel inside. Our self worth goes up.

28:05 Our confidence goes up. Our ability to be consistent and say no to the bad stuff and the bad habits also goes up. So to me, change comes at an emotional level, and that's why my book is called the mind first method to transform your body in your life. You have to start with the mind first and get deep to understand yourself. Awesome. Hey, man. We love what you're doing. Glad we, reconnected. Congrats on the book. We, we put one together. We know that's not easy. At the end, I just wanted to get it out there and said I've I've looked at this enough times. It's as good as it's gonna get. Yep. Exactly. I gotta get it out to the world. But let's definitely connect about trying to, you know, put some of these partnerships or or awareness together of these groups of people that are kinda like entering their journey but don't really get the direction because these places are not staffed to actually, you know, have the motivation or have the quantum leaps that, you know, they can get from, from from a partnership with you or just, you know, go and speak there for an hour and, you know Yeah. I would love it. It's really just a trigger.