Through the Grit and the Grind

Steve Gamlin knows his passion. Many people spend years trying to figure out their life’s work. Eventually, some find their passion while others do not. On the flip side, some people intuitively know what energizes them. And when you know it, you know it! Steve fits into this latter category. He is a visualization coach and public speaker. This is how he makes money and earns a living. This is not, however, his passion. His passion is connecting with people. In a few minutes, I’m going to let Steve prove this to you. Let’s listen to the conversation.

In May 2022, Steve joined me on my podcast. He was celebrating an anniversary. I called it ‘bittersweet’. But since Steve is watching his calories, he preferred ‘unsweetened’.????

Steve: Regarding my anniversary, it's actually not bittersweet at all. It's 100% sweet, or unsweetened because at least then you don't gain weight with the unsweetened stuff. At the time of this broadcast in early May (2022), this is my one year anniversary joining an organization called Apex. Apex's number one aim is to help you create the most elite version of yourself. Apex is a group of entrepreneurs and business people. There are people from all walks of life and from all around the world. And tomorrow (at the time of this broadcast) is my one year anniversary.

To understand the value of Steve’s anniversary, we need to take a few steps back in time. We need to go back into the COVID 19 era and look at what Steve was facing.

Steve: At the time I weighed 247 pounds, which is the heaviest I've ever been in my life. Even at six (feet) two (inches), that was a lot for me. I needed to take better care of my health. No, I didn’t need to; I chose to. I wanted to. I needed to give up the nightly (really) tall rum and coke. I had a rum and coke each night after dinner. I had a nice tall one every night. And you know it's funny, it wasn't an addiction. I could skip a night and it would not be a big deal. It was a really lazy habit at the end of the day. I just chose to relax and chill with a tall rum and coke. And believe me, it was about 50/50 between the rum and the coke.

So, what’s the celebration all about?

Steve: I stopped all of that. And I started making positive changes. I'll say it's been easy because it's just been one day at a time. I'd wake up and tell myself that I'm going to walk today. I'm going to work out today. I'm going to make fruit smoothies after my workout. I'm going to jump right into my work. I'm not going to fool around and waste a whole day on social media. I'm going to choose better food with one plate portions. That was a big thing for me. I used to just eat and get a whole other plate and sometimes part of a third one. Now, just one-plate portions.

So, how is that going?

Steve: Every day I just take little steps and I'm down – I think this morning I was at 224 pounds (as of May 2022). That's 23 pounds down. And this feels really good. The energy is better. The head is clearer. My creativity is better. Now I'm getting back on stage. I feel better about myself being up in the public eye and speaking at in-person events again. I’m getting all new pictures and videos done. And I’m just really loving what this year has inspired me to create for myself.

How does Apex fit into this picture??

Steve: There’s actually a couple of months prior to that. I joined Apex, which was at the urging of a dear friend, Chris Whitehead. He’s a mentor and a brother to me. We lost somebody very important to both of us. His name was Lonnie Robinson. He passed away in early March of last year (2021). Lonnie handled my website, digital marketing, membership program, and my vision board mastery program. He's the one that put it all online. Then he passed away. I knew how to manipulate the website. I know how to build pages. But it's not my core strength. I was adrift for about a month and a half. Then Chris reached out to me and said, “Hey, brother, I know we miss Lonnie so much. But where are you at? Where are you going from here?”

I said I'm really numb. I'm just not in a great place. I'm nervous because of the growth that needs to take place in my business. We were coming out of COVID. At the time, we were only one year in. It decimated my revenue. Ninety percent of my revenue was gone the first year. I said I don't know what I'm going to do.

Chris said, “You know what? I think it's time to introduce you to Apex.”

Steve: I thought, oh great a bunch of alpha males sitting around thumping their chests.

Chris responded: “Is that your impression?”

Steve: Yeah, that was my impression. It's a bunch of alpha dudes flexing all the time. That was from the outside looking in.

They had an annual event called The Million Dollar Mastermind. I wasn't able to attend in person. It's down in Dallas. But I could watch it virtually. It took me all of 15 minutes with the first speaker on stage.

I told myself, “Now I get it. It's a brotherhood/sisterhood of people who are just phenomenally successful. Or at least phenomenally driven to create their own success. And I thought, oh my gosh! The door opened and there was my tribe! They were the people I need to be with right now. I needed to be inspired. I needed to get back up on the horse with my business and take it to new heights.

What else inspired the changes you made? ?

Me being sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I wasn't growing as much. I started to become one of those people that would say, “I'm getting ready to get ready. When I launch this new program, things will be great! And somebody would say, “Weren't you going to launch that six months ago?”

And I would respond, “Yeah, I'm trying to make it perfect. I want to make it just right. I just want to tinker with a little bit.”

So, you created your own stumbling blocks. Which is normal. But recently, you were able to get back on stage. What was that like?

Steve: I was on a stage two weeks ago (April 2022) for the first time in 27 months. I was in a room with actual real people. It was a very small audience. It was a very intimate event. But, oh, I got up there and I had so much fun. We each only got 15 minutes. It was a wonderful little event. It was almost like a little TEDx-type of event. I think there were six speakers. We each had short presentations. It felt so good to be back on stage.

Afterwards, someone asked me, ‘Steve what's different now? I mean, how do you feel about finally being back on stage?’

I said, ‘You know, I'm actually very grateful for the pandemic right now. I'm very grateful for the past two years because it made me become a better speaker. For two years, I have been staring into a small camera having to convey the same emotion and message without the ability to walk around the stage and without the physicality that I would have on stage.

I've been doing this for two years. When I got on stage last week I was a better speaker than I was 27 months ago. I felt it! And I saw the video. I said, ‘Wow! I can see what has happened in the past two years. I have become very intentional and connective.

I'm looking forward to more events, bigger events. I’m looking forward to getting back out there and hitting the road. I've already been in contact with my agent. She told me we're getting a new web page together. We’re going to put out a new video with new head shots. We're going to get me back out there.

I miss it so much. I miss the actual physical connection of eyeball to eyeball. Whether someone's in the front row or all the way in the back, when I say something and they nod and they don't even know they're doing it, I can see it. I feel that connection. I miss that so much. I really do. I love it!

Thanks for reading!

Credit for images: https://pixabay.com/