Josh York , CEO of GymGuyz, shares how he commands attention so much so Phil Knight ,  founder of NIKE, responds right away.

This episode of Close The Deal Podcast is a mindset masterclass to command the attention your business needs.

Josh York's 10 Close The Deal Mindset Success Quotes:

1. "People like to say, think outside the box. I like to think like there’s no box."
2. "If you don’t quit, you can’t lose."
3. "Be impatient with action and patient with results because results take time."
4. "The action takers are the money makers."
5. "Motivation lasts about 25 seconds. Discipline is what will take you to the top."
6. "You have to scratch, crawl, bite—do whatever you have to do to get to the top of the mountain."
7. "If you’re not first, you’re last. We don’t quit because we don’t ever quit."
8. "The easy way never pays well."
9. "You need to be willing to do the hard things every day to make success feel easier over time."
10. "You should always be a student. Always be learning, always be curious, and always ask questions."

Prior Close The Deal Podcast, Your First Franchise edition, with Josh York:

To learn more about GYMGUYZ, contact me.

Close The Deal Podcast Show Notes with Josh York

ewell smith

Disruptors, I've got a fun show for you guys, a great show. this is the first This is the first guest from Close the Deal that I'm bringing back for the second time. First time this has happened. And I'm going to tell you why in a moment, but the the the guest today is Josh York.

00:16.19

ewell smith

ah Buckle up your seatbelts because he's going to take us on a ride today. ah He has a ton of energy. his his He's a motivator. And he's also the CEO and the founder of Jim Guys, one of the fastest growing ah fitness franchises in the United States at this moment in time. And Josh, I want to welcome you to Close the Deal podcast.

00:37.61

josh york

Thank you so much. First of all, I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate you having me back and I'm ready to get into some great information and give a great episode to the people.

00:41.74

ewell smith

Yeah.

00:46.32

josh york

So let's do it.

00:47.20

ewell smith

So we're going to run this a little different. and you know For those of you who want to know about Jim Guys, I'm going to have the link in the show notes to that episode, where if you want to learn about that franchise, they can learn about that. go go Go deep dive on that. But today, we're focusing on what does it take to make it in business. And there are a few words we're going to throw at you, and we're going to have you rip on those words. But I want to start with the tire on the back of the wall that's behind you.

01:15.91

ewell smith

um The last time we spoke, I kept noticing that tire and I finally asked you after the episode, what's the deal with the tire on the wall? So I'd love to you to share a couple things. You, obviously there's very much a creative piece to you.

01:33.83

ewell smith

Because that's the small tire on the wall. You also shipped some big tires. Let's start with the big tires and and how why you ship big tires to CEOs, executives around the United States. And then you can talk about the significance of that particular tire. And this is what it takes to get attention in today's world.

01:53.24

josh york

Absolutely. So I like to always say, people like to say, think outside the box. I like to think like there's no box. Okay. And, uh, you know, um, you know, I live this whole model of, you know, fuel your drive and it's, you know, it's the pillars of success within our organization. It's the core values of our company drive. And one day sitting in my ice bath, which I do every single day, 27 degrees in the morning. And I was like, man, you know, it'd be really great.

02:20.03

josh york

If I started shipping people 18 wheeler truck tires, because it just makes a huge statement. And the message I'm going to put on a tire is my driving intensity will leave tread marks all over your floor. We need to connect. And usually I don't give out my secrets, but like, i you know, I don't really mind because I know no one's going to do it.

02:34.37

josh york

Number one, it's very, very expensive. Okay. You're talking about $600 every package.

02:36.60

ewell smith

me

02:38.89

josh york

Number two, there's a lot of work involved in it. You need special type of bubble wrap. You need expansion wrap. It's a whole process to do. And an 18 wheeler truck tire is very heavy.

02:49.99

josh york

So if you're not working out and exercising, you're most likely not even moving it.

02:49.98

ewell smith

Yes.

02:53.04

ewell smith

Yes.

02:55.19

josh york

Okay. So I was like, I'm gonna start shipping people tires. And the message I'm going to put on there is my drive and intensity will leave tread marks all over your floor. We need to connect. And that was like my kind of way to like get connected with some great people, get on some of the biggest podcasts in the world and really open up some massive doors for me.

03:13.64

josh york

But one day I tried to flip the script a little bit. and said, you know, I want to meet this one person in particularly, but, you know, and i I shared actually with some of the people in my office at the time and they like laughed at me and they said, I was crazy. They're like, there is no way. There is no way you're going to meet him. No way. And I said, I want to meet Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. And let me just tell you something. So I'm very clear. and And for everyone who's listening, the last person you would ever ever want to bet against is me. Okay. You'll lose every single time. Okay. I will outwork you. I will outwork you and I will outwork you. I will do things that you will never do. I never tap out. And you know, literally when you walk into our, our world headquarters, the first thing you see in the wall is we don't quit because we don't ever quit.

04:00.01

ewell smith

Mmhmm.

04:00.96

josh york

And those those people that made those comments that day, of course, they're not even part of the company anymore. Because you know if you don't believe, you're not going to achieve. And I can't obviously have people on my team that don't believe in things I'm going to say. or And if they don't believe in things I'm going to say, the most likely I can believe in what other people have to say. So I went out, got and a big box.

04:19.20

josh york

In that box, I put a heartfelt letter, the 2030 Canvas of Mr. Knight in his younger years, a hardcover copy of his book Shoe Dog, which is the greatest business book you will ever read in your life. I would highly implore you highly to get that book and start reading it. It's just unbelievable business book. And the tire. And I shipped it out.

04:39.86

josh york

Nike stated if you were lucky you would get a package back within six months to a year. Most likely you're not going to get a package back due to the amount of packages Mr. Knight gets because you know he's backed by a veil of corporate protection and he's worth you know 37 plus billion dollars and you're most likely not gonna get in touch with the guy. He's most likely not gonna ship it back to you. Well, man did I make a splash. I got that box back in seven days. Seven days it came back to me signed. Signed the tire, signed The canvas signed the book and I just sat there for a second because I was like, first of all, when the box was coming in my office, I ran to it like a, like, you know, with anticipation of like a five year old child. I couldn't even believe it. I was like, I couldn't even believe it. now Now the one part of this I didn't share is that Nike made it very clear. If you do not put a prepaid box in the box, they're not going to ship it back to you. I didn't want the tire. The tire was to send a statement. He paid to ship the tire back to me.

05:37.29

josh york

So I thought that was pretty cool. So anyway, got everything back and um that's where the miracle really dies, right? Like the magic is really after that point. Most people stop there and they just don't continue. Well, it took me about close to 70 phone calls and I got in touch with this handler. I'm not even going to mention her name because I don't want people looking her up and calling her because she wouldn't like that. And she said that she'd been with him over 30 years and she said,

06:06.59

josh york

Phil Knight pretty much deemed that remarkable and special. He's never been approached in that manner. He's never even received a tire and he would agree to meet. And we were set to meet in 2020, March, and then COVID hit. And that kind of pushed everything off. And we are going to meet. We have not met yet. We are going to meet. It's in the works. But the the point of this story is you have to learn to have developed, you know, develop discipline and be consistent and understand that you have to be inpatient with action and patient with results because results take time.

06:39.97

ewell smith

yeah wow

06:42.05

josh york

Things do not happen overnight. You have to put that work in and understand that there's, there's, you know, there's a price to pay to be able to, you know, have greatness come your way and whatever that greatness may be.

06:53.28

josh york

And, you know, here we are today, you know, I, I, some of the biggest podcasts I've got on, I've sold 78 franchises from. You got to think differently. You got to think differently than everybody else. And that's how I like to think. And that's how I've been doing things the last 17 years.

07:08.62

ewell smith

that That's the creative piece I love.

07:11.32

josh york

Yep.

07:11.04

ewell smith

and and and And you also had to jump in some other hoops too, because that's not a truck tire. You had to do your homework, because I don't think they would accept a full blown truck tire at their headquarters.

07:22.89

ewell smith

and you And you found that out. How do you find that out to do to know that? What dimension of a tire you can shift to the car?

07:29.27

josh york

yeah Honestly, I just I just figured it was just more like me just saying like, you know, there's no way I'm gonna ship an 18-wheeler truck tire to him. It's just too much and you know, you gotta understand like it's almost like it's almost like a little annoying because it's very hard to like get rid of like it's not something yeah, it's not like you just say alright go throw it in the garbage.

07:37.30

ewell smith

ah

07:44.43

ewell smith

Yeah.

07:47.69

josh york

You gotta like you need like two people three people to pick it up or you gotta roll it like it's very heavy.

07:52.72

ewell smith

i Has anybody ever taken the pictures of the tire in your office and showed it to you and sent it to you?

07:58.31

josh york

Yes, actually one person did, one person did.

07:58.00

ewell smith

and that

08:00.71

josh york

one

08:00.82

ewell smith

yeah I would have, I'll tell you what, if I received a tire in my office, I would have that sucker now and on display so I could tell that story because I love the creative piece of that.

08:10.76

josh york

Yep, absolutely.

08:11.73

ewell smith

And talking about, they call those, and in the direct mail world, they call that a clutter buster. you didn't You obliterated everything else. So I love that. All right. So you you I wrote down a list of words.

08:27.92

ewell smith

ah Just to let you kind of rapid-fire on these words. You've already you've already tapped into a couple of those words. um And we started with the creative piece, with the tire. let's And there's no rhyme or reason and in the order of these words. ah But I'm just going to name them one at a time and let you go and see what comes to your mind. Focus is the next word.

08:56.32

josh york

pain

08:57.89

ewell smith

Mm, interesting.

09:02.16

ewell smith

Pain, and and you can elaborate too. I mean, it was yeah, yeah.

09:04.25

josh york

Okay, everybody can I say pain is because

09:04.92

ewell smith

be

09:09.19

josh york

There's a price to pay and I'll tell you right now, the easy way never, ever pays well, okay? And being focused is one of the most important things because people like to jump all over the place. But along with focus comes pain because you're going to have so many roadblocks, you're going to fall into so many holes, you're going to get ran over, talk about 18 wheeler trucks, you're going to get ran over, forward, back, forward, back, you're going to have... they' See losses are lessons and you're going to have lots of losses.

09:37.56

josh york

It's part of the game is going to happen and you're never ever going to be able to avoid that. But you have to be willing to sacrifice and all this ties in with focus because if you don't quit, you can't lose.

09:45.87

ewell smith

Yeah.

09:51.65

josh york

But it's very hard to be focused when you have all these things constantly being thrown at you over and over and over again.

09:51.50

ewell smith

Yeah. So, One of those things that helps with that is another word that you talk about and and I can relate to um is passion.

10:11.07

josh york

Heart.

10:11.18

ewell smith

but yeah So what is it about, I mean, when you're in the, fitness there are there are some industries, I hear people say, you don't have to love what you do. I disagree. I think you have to at least have a genuine interest.

10:23.60

ewell smith

But when you have passion, it's ah it's a total,

10:24.01

josh york

but love if you love what you yeah If you don't love what you do, it's not going to work, man.

10:29.56

ewell smith

Yeah.

10:30.72

josh york

It's not going to work.

10:30.66

ewell smith

Yeah.

10:31.32

josh york

like i like I don't work. I freaking love what I do.

10:34.97

ewell smith

Yeah.

10:35.38

josh york

like i'm oh I'm here like seven days a week, man. I'm um' i'm here like at seven in the morning, and I'm here until eight o'clock at night, nine o'clock at night sometimes.

10:38.38

ewell smith

Yeah.

10:43.85

josh york

i am i'd like i I love what I do, man.

10:47.22

ewell smith

Yeah.

10:47.81

josh york

And the greatest thing about our business, which makes it even better, is that on the flip side, you get to help people and change lives. So what's more rewarding than that?

10:54.37

ewell smith

Yeah.

10:56.32

josh york

There's nothing in the world more rewarding than that.

10:59.24

ewell smith

and it's contagious too. When you love what you do, people, they flock to it, they do.

11:05.69

josh york

100%.

11:05.83

ewell smith

All right, next word. ah This kind of ties to the first one I asked about, sacrifice. And I saw something recently and you mentioned the word tuna.

11:18.51

josh york

Yeah. So I just recently did a keynote and, um, you know, they asked me to share the story of Jim guys.

11:18.81

ewell smith

yeah

11:24.40

josh york

So pretty much what I did was I shared the story and I left out all the pain. Right. And then I said, and that's pretty much it 10 years of franchising overnight success. And everyone started laughing.

11:35.62

josh york

And I said, Oh guys, I'm so, I'm so sorry guys. I, I left out so much of this story and I had a piece of paper. And I wrote down like 20 things. and we'd we we'd be hear We'd be there way too long if I told them everything. I wrote down 20 things that have happened over the last 17 years in business, 10 years in franchising. And one of them was in the early days, all I would eat was peanut butter and jelly and cans of tuna to save money. Like I'd make a Costco run once a month and I would literally just load up on that. And I can't even look at tuna anymore. I literally vomit or throw up. I can't even look at it.

12:09.81

josh york

But like I did everything in my power to save money so I can put everything back into the business. And that's what allowed me to really you know elevate. And look, I still own 100% of my company. like You know, and again, i I'm a very positive person and I always want to, you know, push and wish positivity on other people. But the fact is, I don't think anyone would ever be able to get to where I got to without taking in an investment. it It's just impossible. you and that You would never be able to do it. There's no way in hell you'd ever be able to do it. And especially the fact that you're not gritty enough to probably even do it because, you know, we created a new category. So that makes it 700 times even more harder.

12:43.03

josh york

than what everyone else did because everyone else takes a path that they understand and they see how to travel, right? Like if you compare, since we're talking about Nike, compare Nike and Under Armour. I have much more respect for Nike than I do for Under Armour. Why? Well, nike Nike clearly shown the path of how you have to grow and what you got to do and Under Armour just followed it. That's it, right? But Nike, the reason Nike has a book called Shoe Dog and Under Armour doesn't is because Nike started that. They created that category and that's what we've done in the fitness space.

13:13.40

ewell smith

100%. All right. The next word, I'm going to go with resilience because you you're tapping into that because when you're paving the path, there's got to be a little bit of resilience there.

13:26.39

josh york

Listen, if you don't have resilience, it's never going to work, man. If you don't have resilience, it's never going to work. all right Like everything you want to achieve in life.

13:38.40

josh york

you must be resilient, okay? Anything that's worthwhile, you have to, okay? You just have to. And, you know, the problem is, it's like, people don't realize, like, sometimes, like, the next day could be the day that changes everything for your life, and you quit the day before because you're soft weak, and you fold like cheap chairs. That's the problem. And you got to understand, you got to hang tight, doggy paddle, and just sit tight and know that things will get better, like,

14:03.15

josh york

You got to scratch, crawl, bite. You got to do whatever you got to do to get to the top of the mountain. It's not easy to do. And if you don't have resilience, you're never going to get there. That's why it's very important to do hard things every day. like the harder the The more discomfort you put yourself in on a daily basis, the more comfortable over time you will become. And it's very important. like I teach my kids. like My kids are freaking animals, man.

14:25.48

josh york

They're just, my kids are on another level. Like it's not even horrible.

14:27.86

ewell smith

no Yeah.

14:28.64

josh york

Like just, cause I brainwashed them. Like I just brainwashed them to understand what it takes to win. And you know, they know, I tell them if you're not first, you're what? They go, we're last. I was like, that's right. Cause we're number one. Right.

14:39.09

josh york

And if, if something happens and like, you know, my oldest was telling me like, it was a short video test. I said, okay, but listen, that's good thing. Right. Like in sports, if you fail and you you don't succeed and you don't win the title, it happens.

14:50.89

josh york

But that, you know, it's a lesson you're learning. Like. It takes a while before you start to win. And that resilience has got to be part of the equation.

15:00.46

ewell smith

And then that folds into the next two words. And ah and you you've taught you have blood into those two words. Discipline is the next word.

15:11.39

josh york

Yeah, discipline is the most important thing. People think you need to be motivated. Motivation will last you about 25 seconds. That's it. Discipline is the number one, hands down, most important thing. If you are not disciplined, you will never do anything well. it's like You know, look, I'm in great shape and I work out.

15:26.94

josh york

I take care of myself. Okay. And you see that you feel like when I walk in a room, you feel that presence. Okay. But it also, it's written on the top of my forehead. You just don't see it that I'm a disciplined person.

15:38.46

josh york

I have grit. I have the ability to have patience and, um and, and wait for things. Cause you know, I've been working out since I'm 15 years old.

15:44.13

ewell smith

Uh-huh.

15:45.25

josh york

I'm 41 and I don't ever miss ever. I don't ever miss ever. you have to have discipline. And that's why I talk about working out. Working out is very important for a couple of reasons. Number one, it helps build the skill of discipline.

16:01.51

josh york

It helps build your physique, which in return will build your confidence, which in return is like a calling card when you walk into a room. And on the flip side, what are the benefits? of Well, you're healthier, your heart's healthier, you have better blood circulation, you don't get sick. I can keep going on. Movement is medicine, but the bottom line is you need to work out an exercise and I can teach you a lot of these skills. ah But discipline is hands down the number one most important.

16:23.02

ewell smith

And time, how's time played in all this?

16:26.93

josh york

Everyone's got the same 24 hours in the day, man.

16:28.60

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

16:29.27

josh york

It's all how you manage that time. People are like, oh, I don't have time to do this. Please tell us. Don't don't talk to me about that because I always find time. But there's a reason why I wake up a at three twenty nine every day.

16:39.38

josh york

There's a reason, you know, like I number one, it's my quiet time.

16:39.46

ewell smith

Yeah. yeah

16:43.37

josh york

My phone's not blowing up. No one's bothering me except sometimes my international franchise owners. But other than that, you know, I am I am on, you know, I'm on so early because I have to be on so early because if I don't take care of myself Then I can't take care of the rest of the day and I can't be it I can't be you know, the leader that I am, you know And that's why you know people call me the fearless leader because you know, I do what you got to do

17:07.62

ewell smith

And in that leads, ah and I have all these road words written. I've just been checking them off as we're going down the line just because they just naturally happen when we have a conversation like this. Action. I have ah i know what you're going to say there.

17:21.16

josh york

ye Listen, the action takers are the money makers, baby.

17:25.94

ewell smith

fifty

17:26.46

josh york

every Everyone wants to to to win. It doesn't happen without execution. It's action. And people think you need to like do like 700 things every day. No, you don't.

17:37.33

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

17:37.73

josh york

Do things that move your business forward every day and rinse and repeat that for 10 years.

17:41.55

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

17:42.99

josh york

You will win. You will win.

17:44.15

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

17:45.12

josh york

That's what it's about. Nothing.

17:46.19

ewell smith

Yep.

17:46.88

josh york

Rome is not built in a day.

17:47.73

ewell smith

Yep.

17:48.20

josh york

Okay. You can't build a physique in a day.

17:48.67

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

17:50.04

josh york

You can't build a house in a day. You can't become a doctor in a day. You can't become a lawyer in a day. You can't go from being a baby to a teenager in a day. Doesn't happen. Doesn't work.

18:00.49

josh york

So you got to understand that's what it's about.

18:03.80

ewell smith

Okay. The last one, is is kind of the two words together.

18:08.50

josh york

Yep.

18:08.63

ewell smith

And this plays into what you do with your franchisees, and it's learning slash coachability.

18:18.83

josh york

less man If you are not learning every day, it's a problem. okay And if you're the smartest person in the room, that's also a problem.

18:21.99

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

18:25.19

ewell smith

Mm-hmm.

18:25.98

josh york

I only put myself at the table with people who are smarter than me, have more money than me, and more successful than me. Because what does that do? That allows to elevate you. And it's very, very important. And that's how you that's how you have that's how you have to grow and develop yourself. Like it's the most important thing. Like if you don't do things like that, you're not going to grow. You should always be a student and you got an ABL. Always be learning. I am always learning and I'm always curious and interested and I ask questions and you have to do the same or you're not going to have success in life. It's very simple.

18:54.58

ewell smith

Yep. 100%. All right. So I got one bonus though. you and ah In Louisiana and New Orleans, we call that land yap, which means a little something extra. The bonus is this. And it's another layer of PR that you do. Cameo.

19:08.94

josh york

Yeah, so you got to put yourself out there.

19:11.14

ewell smith

Yep.

19:12.20

josh york

Yeah. yeah

19:14.28

ewell smith

And by the way, I was flipping through my phone looking for something to to bring to thank one of my clients. And I thought about doing a cameo. And I ran across somebody on cameo named Josh York.

19:26.66

ewell smith

So I'm giving you a chance to promote your cameo appearance on cameo.

19:31.69

josh york

Yeah, like you got to put yourself out there, man.

19:32.02

ewell smith

it

19:33.37

josh york

If you don't put yourself out there, it's not going to happen, you know, you got to put yourself out there. It's very, very important. And, you know, if you don't, you know, you know, you might be uncomfortable, you might not want to do it. And I felt the same way.

19:46.36

josh york

I, you know, I honestly never ever wanted to do it.

19:46.10

ewell smith

Yeah.

19:49.78

josh york

I think it's weird to do, so like, I just didn't like to do it. But like, you have to do it. If don't,

19:55.03

ewell smith

You did.

19:57.09

josh york

I'm not saying you can't be successful, but you're missing like everything. Like you're missing a huge mark. Now, if you follow me, you will know. I don't share anything with my personal life. I don't share anything, anything like I don't put anything with family, my children, nothing. I don't, I'm not into that. I won't do it. Never will never had. And it's not going to change.

20:14.29

josh york

But, you know, when it comes to business, I promote everything. And also for me, indirectly, it it it also motivates and inspires my franchise owners. That's very important to me too, right? So, you know, if you want to be a good leader, you got to lead by example. And I do that every day and I don't do it by by talking, I do it by demonstrating.

20:24.34

ewell smith

Yep.

20:26.67

ewell smith

Mm hmm.

20:28.40

josh york

And that's very important.

20:30.44

ewell smith

Man, that's my list. i yeah ah we We went right down that list.

20:33.12

josh york

love it

20:35.08

ewell smith

I knew this would be easy to do this list with you because you and I speak the same language. And I appreciate you, Josh. i appreciate You're inspiring.

20:44.08

josh york

I appreciate you.

20:44.88

ewell smith

I love you. I love your clips. people cannot you And this is all about connection. um How can people find you? How can they connect to you with what you do? Just follow you.

20:56.60

josh york

Yeah. If you just go on Google and type in handsome, I come up on every page. ah you can do You can do that. Now you can find me on Instagram, LinkedIn. I'm just typing my name and I come up and you can connect with me. And, uh, you know, most of the time I do respond.

21:10.10

josh york

but if not, my team responds and I still go through it and I see it. So I'm on top of it. But ah yeah, that's the best way to connect with me.

21:15.87

ewell smith

Josh, I appreciate it. ah I'm gonna have the link to your other show. I'm gonna put that video below this video for for the franchise. And folks, if you're interested in the franchise, I'm working with Josh and his team, you can get in touch with me.

21:28.62

ewell smith

Just go to closethedeal dot.com and just hit the Contact Us button. We'll be in touch. Josh, thank you so much and appreciate you, sir.

21:37.53

josh york

Thank you so much. I appreciate you.