This episode is not your normal entrepreneur story; it is more of a rags to riches story, but even that isn't what you'd expect. Our guest, Chris Coleman, has gone from excelling at school to working at Circle K and realizing he wanted to be in control of his life, to being homeless, all the way to today owning his own business: Health is Wealth Nation! That journey has pushed Chris to be in control of his life and he loves helping others take control of their life via their health. Without further ado, here is our conversation with Chris.
Transcript:
Chris: Hey, my name is Chris Coleman, and I'm the president and co-founder of Health is Wealth Nation.
Marcus: Awesome. Well, welcome to the podcast, Chris.
Chris: Thanks for having me.
Marcus: Yeah, man. I've really enjoyed getting to know you over the last six months or so, so I'm glad that you're able to join us today to record this. So, before we get into what Health is Wealth Nation is all about, why don't you tell us the story of Chris? Are you from Mobile? Did you go to school here? Where did you go to school? What did you study if you went to college? That kind of thing.
Chris: Okay. Well, starting from the beginning, of course. Born and raised here in Mobile. I'm the son of Vancil Coleman, and Adrian Coleman, so when I say that it's because I take traits from both of them. So, my mom is ... I call her my angel on earth, and my dad has that New Orleans blood in him so kinda like a savage. Just very intense, so I call myself just a harmony of both of them. Like I said, I grew up here, Mobile, all my life. I went to McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. I had a full scholarship. Played sports, but the scholarship was with academics, and from there, just ... I grew up playing by the book. We did everything by the book; Catholic, going to church, altar-boy, staying out of trouble, don't want attention. That was pretty much my upbringing.
Graduated from McGill. I played football and basketball at McGill. I was a varsity player junior, senior year. Very good, point guard. But, graduated. Went to Tuskegee University for one year, and that kind of starts my nadir, or like my rock-bottom kind of phase in life where I was in school. Excelled in school my whole life, but got to college, went like, "Something about this isn't for me. I'm smart, I'm intelligent, but something doesn't fit." Personal problems growing up in a urban, kind of lower class. So that catches up with you and it's noticeable at that period of time in life where you're kind of, "Okay, they have this. I don't." Things like that. In college, that's where I made a decision. "Okay, this isn't for me. My family needs me back home." So I dropped out. Came back home, got a few jobs. I was working 80, 85 hours a week sometimes. Working at Circle K down in the bay, when it was down in the bay. And Greer's on Broad Street, when it was further down Broad Street. During the day, 40 hours, during the day 45 hours at night and then after that, basically, I can't take this, I can't do this anymore. From that it starts my entrepreneurial journey.
Marcus: I know there's more to your story and we'll get into that-
Chris: Of course.
Marcus: In a little bit. But it's interesting to me that you excelled in school, and I love the fact that you said that you had a scholarship to McGill but it was for academics-
Chris: Right.
Marcus: But somewhere along the lines, something just didn't click. Can you point to anything in particular that ...
Chris: What I will say is, like I said I excelled at school, I loved learning, I still love learning even though I haven't been in school since '09, '10. I'm all about higher learning, but I would say it's not enough. I think formal education, if you want to put a title on it, it gives you a foundation, it gives you a structure for life, but you have to do your part. You have to do the extra work. Okay, what fits me? That's a template for everyone, but you have to figure out what you want to do in life and then reach out to those that fit that model that you would trade places with in life. There's just more to it than just school. I really look at it as a tool, you wouldn't have someone show up to a house to build a house and they only have a hammer, like, "All right, ready to go." "Don't you need more than that?"
Marcus: Unless you plan on gnawing through these two by fours, there's something missing.
Chris: I'm not the expert here, but I think you need more than a hammer. That's how I look at school. That's definitely a tool, it helps, but there's so many other resources and routes to go.
Marcus: You came back. I don't know if it felt honorable at that time, but helping family out ... I don't view anything as more important than family. You may have other information that I don't have about that, but in the grand scheme of things you did what you thought you needed to do, came back. But somewhere along the lines, there was something that triggered with you as far as the entrepreneur side of things and knowing that this 80 hours a week or whatever it is is not what I was destined for. I was destined to actually create something and build something. Can you remember when that ...
Chris: That's a great question. If I had to-
Marcus: That's why we're here, Chris.
Chris: Hey, it makes sense. Those awards are starting to add up.
Marcus: Oh, no, no, no.
Chris: This is a great point because I actually don't believe in defining moment. I think there are a cumulative of things that add up and one just happened to be that lucky one. It sends you over the edge pretty much. If I had to pick one, it would be I was working at Circle K worked over night, that was the only shift I did at Circle K, work overnight. I was the only one at the store doing everything, but when I came in I did an hour or two with somebody before they left. Then I did all of the graveyard shift things.
One night, it was an older lady, African-American lady, very heavy set, couldn't really walk around a lot. She did everything sitting down on a stool because you just couldn't get around. You could just see it in her eyes. She was stuck. That's all she had. That's all she had in life. She didn't have any other options. Although she did, but in her mind that's all she could do. It was just one night, I can't recall but something happened in her personal life and she had to go, she needed to go. Somebody needed her, but the boss, the person I called was like, "No, you can't. You need to stay here. You can't." She just cried. So if I had to pick one thing it would be that. I vividly remember saying in my mind, "This ..." and I don't want to make it like she was terrible, but I was like "This will not be, I will not be her in life."
Marcus: Right, you wanted more options in life is what it was. It wasn't necessarily that one person.
Chris: Right, exactly. That just-
Marcus: You knew that you needed to have additional venues.
Chris: Exactly, and really take control. She wasn't in control of her life. She was out of control and dint' have any input in her life. "Okay, I need to position myself where I call the shots, I'm in control of what happens in my life."
Marcus: Yeah. So I know at some point in time, you found yourself homeless?
Chris: Yeah.
Marcus: Talking about the ultimate rags to riches. The riches are to come, right?
Chris: It's coming.
Marcus: Yeah, so-
Chris: Seeds are planted.
Marcus: The seeds are planted. How did you end up there?
Chris: It's actually a story that lot of people don't anticipate, and really initially it doesn't make sense. It was actually a decision I made. I really believe there are multiple degrees and different levels of being homeless. There are some people that go to an address everyday, but they feel homeless, they don't have a home. They have a roof over their heads, but they don't actually have a home environment. Then there are some people who don't have a roof and they're happy in life. They have everything they need. In my situation, I was just in a space where even after that this was ...
Okay so the story I just told about the lady, this was maybe 2010, '11. I found myself homeless January 2013. Like literally kind of New Years. Within that time, even though I made that decision that this will not be me, I'm still kind of making compromises in life, I'm still kind of just taking what's given. January 2013 came and said, "Okay, I'm done. Can't do it." If my life is to change, I need to change. If I want something better, I need to become something better. I had too many safety nets in my life. I was in Baldwin County. I stayed in Spanish Fort. Worked at the Daphne, YMCA. I know you go there. Staying with my grandmother. My dad wasn't really in my life growing up, but he was kind of helping out and stuff like that. I just had too many safety nets and so, "Okay, I need to do something. It needs to be a string. I need to depend on Chris. I need to work on Chris." At the time-
Marcus: So your answer to that was homelessness.
Chris: Go homeless. It sounds bizarre, doesn't make sense, but-
Marcus: No, I love it.
Chris: Yeah, but when I did it I felt liberated like, "Okay, nothing's holding me back now. Nothing's holding me down." If I don't succeed now, who do I have to blame? Me.
Marcus: Only you.
Chris: Yeah, I'm fully in control now. So that was my logic around it. I wasn't homeless like I didn't have a home to go to, but I was living out of my car. So sleeping out of my car. Worked at the Y. So I hope that the people at the Y when they hear this, don't get mad, but I was taking showers at the Y.
Marcus: It's what it's there for.
Chris: Exactly. So taking showers. I would come in early. I worked in the mornings so I would come in early, take a shower. I'll be there all day. They'll have a meeting, the boards, everything would have a meeting and leave food out. I'll go get that, save it for later. Then overnight, I'd actually sleep in my car no matter how cold it was. It was very cold just like the winter time. So it was very cold. Sleep in my car. I'd go to Waffle House and order something, but I'd be there for like three to four hours just-
Marcus: To be there, to be warm.
Chris: Waste some time. For a week or so, I actually had a coach, he coached at a school in Baldwin County and he had a key to the gym part of the school and he had an office and for a week or so he let me get the key. I would just go in at night, go in his office, and I would just crash. It wasn't like I was sleeping on the street, on a cardboard box, but ...
Marcus: But you're homeless, man.
Chris: Exactly.
Marcus: Yeah, it's not rainbows and unicorns and stuff like that. I think you've taken drastic action in making yourself homeless in order to prove a point and the rise out of that. You've made some decisions since then obviously, otherwise you wouldn't be on this podcast, but you've made some decisions since then that have gotten you to a point to where now you're a business owner. You're actually helping people. You've got your life on track. This is all Chris.
Chris: There you go.
Marcus: Awesome. So why don't you tell people what Health is Wealth Nation is as far as business goes, and kind of paint that picture for us.
Chris: Okay. Well, Health is Wealth Nation is a organization and a team and I've branded it as a division of Herbal Life Nutrition. I'm the co-founder and president of. I'm a distributor with Herbal Life Nutrition. It's a supplemental company. They've been in business since 1980. It's in over 95 countries. Started in California by Marquis. He was the owner and first distributor, and then from there it just skyrocketed. But what I'm passionate about is that it's really known everywhere. You go to California, you go to Miami, you go to Jamaica, you go to places like that. Herbal Life is huge. China, they have subways that are branded that are branded with Herbal Life decals. It's actually crazy. But here in the south where health and wellness is needed the most, it's really just non-existent. There's people that are doing it, that are dabbling in it, but the opportunity is huge here.
Marcus: So is Alabama 49 or 50th in-
Chris: Alabama is actually the number five fattest state in America. Mobile is the number seven fattest city in America. We're actually number one when it comes to obesity in adults.
Marcus: It's insane and very scary.
Chris: I'm glad you said it because a lot of people see my passion. They see how intense I am about it and they think, "Whoa, calm down." This isn't a laughing matter at the end of the day. Of course, it's fun looking good, exercising, but at the end of the day we have people dying due to their eating habits. That doesn't make sense. Back in the day we were hunters and gathers. It just made sense to eat right. Now we're dying because we're not.
Marcus: Okay, so I didn't grow up here, but I certainly get ... I have an inner fat child, right.
Chris: We all do. We all do.
Marcus: So what is it about the southern, I mean is it ... I say southern culture as a whole. You're an African-American black man, not just the black community, but both black and white are plagued by this, right?
Chris: Exactly.
Marcus: What is it about the south that is just ... I mean I know we love gravy and fried, if it's gravy and fried then it's even better. It's mo' better as we say down here. But what is it about the south, how can we ... What causes this? Is it really just the food or is it-
Chris: Just like I said with having a defining moment, it's not really one thing. It's really a cumulative of things, factors.
Marcus: Sure because one meal isn't going to make you fat-
Chris: There you go.
Marcus: But eating 10 years at McDonald's is going to-
Chris: This is decades of habits and traditions and just the culture. I think a huge part of it and I'll just choose two because I can just go down a list. I would say cost of living impacts decision making down here. Also, there's tradition. Things being fried is a staple down here. Football country and having parties and festivals, it's just ingrained. That's all we know.
Marcus: So Wren was making fun of me earlier, because I made some comment and he was like, "Well you didn't get raised on fried shrimp like I did." We all laughed because fried shrimp is a staple down here. Honestly, one of my favorite restaurants is R&R Seafood because they're one of the few restaurants that has steamed shrimp.
Chris: Okay.
Marcus: Because steamed shrimp is one of my favorite meals. They don't pay for advertising on the show or anything, but I love ... It just boggled my mind moving down here because so many places you go, it doesn't matter how good or how fresh ... Literally, go to the bay, pull a fish out of the water, put it in a platter, but before you put it in a platter, the very first thing everybody wants to do down here is slip it into some flour and batter it up so that it can be fried. I can appreciate something that's tasty, but that would not be my first stop for the fresh fish and food that we have and grow in this area.
Chris: Right, like I said, it's all about habits. It's decades. This goes back generations. It's just habits. It's what you learn. Somebody growing up when they were three, four, five, they help their grandma cook and saw how they did it and now they want to do it with their kids like it's ... It's not going to stop overnight, but it's definitely a problem that needs to be solved.
Marcus: So Health is Wealth Nation is ... I know you have an Herbal Life component of that. What else is under that umbrella?
Chris: Well, right now, that's basically it. The primary endeavor, if you will.
Marcus: Okay.
Chris: To get off the ground. Of course, down the line it's going to be a brand. It will be a conglomerate of multiple brands, but I'm using the engine that Herbal Life has basically to just fuel everything else I want to do. When I look at it overall, Health is Wealth Nation is really just one component of two other pillars that I have with my book. I consider that a pillar. I grew up Catholic so Holy Trinity, if you will. Then I have my power lifting aspect that I do with growth addicts. So strength and wellness, that will be a future endeavor, but that's really my three pillars. Holy Trinity with the mind, with my book. Helping people shift that mindset. Having people go from thinking one way to another. Health is Wealth Nation, like the body, growing. Then growth addicts. Well Health is Wealth Nation really be at the spear at it. Going in, getting well, eating right. Then with the body, growth addicts with my strength training and power lifting, embracing strength. There's nothing wrong with being strong.
Marcus: Right. Now you have a story. You wear a button all time. Every time I see you, you've got a button that says, "I've lost over 30 pounds. Ask me how." How did you lose 30 pounds?
Chris: I filled the gaps. It's that simple. Too many people want to make it complicated, but I filled the gaps in my life and what I needed to do. I really believe there's five aspects to accomplishing any goal you have. There's healthy eating, exercise, supplement. You need something to fill the gaps. You need a coach. You need somebody that knows what they're doing that's going to guide you.
Marcus: Hold you accountable.
Chris: Exactly, hold you accountable, give you the right information. And you need a community. You need something to be a part of on the days you don't want to do it. They're going to inspire you and encourage you to go. I really just base it off that. So at that point, I gained ... January 2015, was when I started with Herbal Life. I was a district manager with a previous company, with Cutco Cutlery, slinging knives and doing that. I actually could write a whole book on that, but I actually wanted to focus on my story and what I did to give it intent so everybody can apply it. Not just people with Cutco and what not. I started with Herbal Life when I was a district manager. I was working 20 hour days in the office, training reps, recruiting, interviewing. So I needed to fill the gaps back then. Two months after starting with Herbal Life, I gained 10 pounds lean mass, dropped seven pounds of body fat. Just starting on my program back in January 2015. I was like, "Man, this stuff works." Then from being a client and coaching over the years, I got up, I was 185, 190 because I was real strength oriented. Wanted to gain some weight, but I looked like a blowfish.
Marcus: Like a diet of Krispy Kremes was-
Chris: Exactly, like I accomplished my goal. I had the strength. I made some gains, but the aesthetics of it wasn't so pleasing. So I was like, "Okay, I need to do something." I made a goal to lose 30 pounds. Pretty much it's really just plugging in numbers, filling in the gaps. How many grams of protein I need a day, how many my overall calories for my weight. My lifestyle, I'm so busy so I can't cook so I need something to fill in the gaps. How many times a day I can eat. Just fitting my lifestyle. I don't believe in cookie cutter programs and one size fit all. We're all different. You need to find what fits. First of all, what fits your lifestyle. Fill in the gaps for you. That way it can be sustainable. Because if you just give somebody something to strength, they'll do it for two weeks. They'll lose some weight.
Marcus: But it's not going to be internalized. It's not going to be something they're going to stick with.
Chris: Exactly. Most of the time, they get fed up, they hit a relapse, they quit, and then they gain the weight or they're back where they started. You need something where you can fill the gaps and it's sustainable. Now you're not doing a plan. Now you're just doing your life. Now you just have something where you're just living your life.
Marcus: I love that you differentiated between that loss, lean muscle mass gain. I guess I just want to highlight the fact that the scale is telling a story, but the scale may not be the end all be all, right.
Chris: Right.
Marcus: So if I'm a male, 195 pounds, but I've got seven percent body fat, then who cares if my BMI says that I'm obese.
Chris: There you go.
Marcus: Right, but if I'm a male and I'm 235 pounds and I have a BMI that says I'm obese then I may ... I'm sorry, if I have a body fat percentage of 20 or 25% or something along those lines, then I may want to do some things to cut some of that fat off.
Chris: Exactly.
Marcus: It's interesting to me how, because I have been heavily influenced by body building and stuff like that so I grew up devouring Flex Magazine and all the Weeder Magazines and stuff like that. It's always been interesting to me because my father had a heart attack and when he left the hospital, they told him, "Here are the things you need to do in order to make sure that you stay healthy." The things that you would normally ... our system has been set up in such a way that ... So when he left they said, "No red meat, stay away from saturated fat, eggs are evil." All of these things, which you're laughing because now we know better. We know that saturated fat isn't necessarily evil. Eggs are fine. The other thing too is, "Don't eat anything with cholesterol." Which is part of the reason why eggs were bad, but we realize that if I eat fat, that doesn't necessarily turn immediately to fat. Food is just fuel that goes into our body and that there maybe some benefits to eating higher level of protein and maybe even a little bit higher levels of fat in order to help you stay satiated, but staying away from the process foods and stuff like that.
Chris: Right.
Marcus: Okay, so Marcus is talking a little bit too much now. Let's throw this back to you, but what are some of the things that you see that people are doing that maybe could be tweaked or could be changed. Or what are some of the common misconceptions that people have about just health in general that maybe you could shed some light on?
Chris: A major one is calories. A lot of people say, "Count your calories. This has too many calories." But all calories aren't made equal.
Marcus: Amen brother.
Chris: One gram of protein and one gram of carbohydrates has four calories. One gram of fat has nine calories. So if someone says, "All right. I'm only going to eat this amount of ..." You could eat a certain amount of calories and I could eat a certain amount of calories a day. We're eating the same amount of calories, but if you're eating more fat and I'm eating more protein carbohydrates, I'm going to get different results. The calories are the same, but they're different. At the end of the day, it's just a source of energy. I really think people they have ... To really answer your question, a big one is too many people eat for purpose, too many people eat for pleasure and not for purpose. They're eating based on how they feel in the moment. If they didn't eat at all today, "Okay, I need to eat because I haven't eaten," or "Okay, I'm sad right now. Okay, I just got of work."
Marcus: Then they have that ice cream.
Chris: Yeah, but if you've earned it, that's great. I can devour a box of Krispy Kreme donuts like nobody else, but I've earned it from eating good over the course of the week or a day or ... Sometimes I cheat everyday. One week I ate ice cream or I got some gelato from Serda's every single day, but for 80% of the day I ate completely clean. Just rice eggs, sweet potato, grilled chicken for the entire day so I can have something at the end of the night, but it's portioned. Also, I had to go out and get it. I don't have a huge tub at the house where I-
Marcus: Have you been looking in my freezer, man? Don't be playing like that.
Chris: Hey, it's a great tip. You can have something, but go out and get it. That way it's like a small portion, etc. If anything that's a huge misconception. People need to eat more for purpose. Okay, I need to fuel myself for the day. I need to hit this goal or I need to manage this illness. At the end of the day food is nothing but information that we put into our body for our body to do what it wants to already do.
Marcus: Back to the business side of things. I want to get some of this information out there and, obviously, if you have questions about fitness or getting healthy definitely contact Chris. We'll give all of his contact information at the end of this, but I wanted to get some out there because I feel helping people understand what it takes to be healthy and not just ripped, but healthy.
Chris: That's a byproduct at the end of the day.
Marcus: Right.
Chris: If you're healthy.
Marcus: It's important. So going back to the business, do you remember the first time that you made that sale or you signed somebody up to be a distributor of Herbal Life where you thought, "Okay, I can actually, this is something I can do. I get this."
Chris: Yeah, actually it all started back a couple of months after I was homeless. That was back in January of 2013. April I started as a sales rep for Cutco Cutlery, Vetco Marketing and that was just out of the blue. I literally had a job set up in New Orleans at a Wal-Mart because at the point I was homeless. That was something I pushed out, "Well one day I want to own the Saints, I want to own the Pelicans." I had these huge goals. My family's from New Orleans so ...
Marcus: Somebody's been watching too much Gary Veen, huh?
Chris: Hey, this goes far. Matter of fact, I've got an article I'm preparing to write on, "Why Me Owning the Saints and Pelicans has Nothing to Do With Gary Veen. "
Marcus: Okay.
Chris: So I'm glad you said that. That's going to be a good article. But yeah, my family's from there. I used to play basketball. I'm only 5'5" so well ...
Marcus: I was going to say there's something that doesn't make sense there, but-
Chris: Yeah. I recently decided, my family's there from New Orleans and playing basketball. I can't play basketball or go to NBA one day, but I can definitely be an ownership.
Marcus: I think it's important to have those goals because without those you really don't ... You're kind of shooting in the dark.
Chris: Exactly.
Marcus: You were telling us about that first time, though. What was that like?
Chris: I started as a sales rep. The decision I made with being homeless, if I'm going to do better in life I need to become better. I completely stepped outside my comfort zone, started as a sales rep. I knew nothing about sales. You see the way I talk now. I never talked growing up. I was a mute. I would say "ta-he" instead of "the" in a crowd. It was crazy. I started the sales job, "Okay. I need to do this." I literally saw somebody else do it that I knew and I was like, "Well, if he can do it, I can do it." I just always had that mentality. If he can do it, I can do it. So I just need to do what he's doing and listen to what he says, and then go from there.
My first sale was, I was selling Cutco Cutlery, went out on an appointment and just at a car dealership. I'm sitting with them and showing them the knives and, "Okay. Let me call my district manager. See what deal we can do." Got on the phone with him, he told me what to do, told me what to say. I said it. Then I made the sale. This is it? This all I've got to do? Then after doing that so many times, you no longer need that assistance. Now you have the structure, the blueprint. You can almost predict what you're need to say, what you need to do. Then from there I just made things my own. Since then it's really just been ... I don't even see myself as sales, I'm just adding value and helping people solve problems. I think that's a huge thing. People overcomplicated it. Sales, making sales, signing people up, et cetera. If you can help someone solve a problem in their life and add value to their life and make their life better than it was before you got there then-
Marcus: Yeah, it's a win-win.
Chris: Exactly.
Marcus: A true salesperson is looking for a way to solve someone's problem or requirement that they have. Not trying to sell them something that they don't need or want. One of the most, I tell my boys this. One of the most valuable lessons that I ever got was one of the very first jobs right out of college. As an inside sales rep, they had kind of an open door policy with a sales training institute. It was Sandler Sales Training which I think there is one here locally, but I don't know if it's the same outfit or not. But anyway, for me it was very valuable because I had much like you, I had kind of a skewed vision of what sales was. Going there and understanding that sales is really about asking the right questions, right. Sales is not to try and trick them into saying something and then you go "Aha. I got ya." It's more along the lines of asking the right questions so that you can reveal what the problem actually is so that you can solve it. If you don't know what the problem is you're not ... It's more of a consultant type mentality than anything. Yeah. That's cool.
So if you were talking to someone that wanted to get started running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them?
Chris: Be aware of what you want in life and then go out into society and find people that have problems pertaining to what you love to do and then find a way to solve it. Everything I do is based on what I love. I love to write. I don't know how old I was, but I said, "Hey, I want to write a book one day." I don't know if I was seven, eight, nine, but one day I want to write a book.
Marcus: That's always a good goal.
Chris: Yeah, exactly. It's just something I want to do. I've always worked out. I've always knew, even if I didn't have the resources, didn't have the knowledge to eat right, I always knew that was important. I saw other people do it. I've always loved working out with strength training. I'm about to compete. So everything I do as a business, if you will, is just me living my life. There's a quote by L.P. Jacks and I don't know it specifically, but it's in my book where the master at the art of living doesn't distinguish between work and play. Recreation or education. At the end of the day, he's just simply living his life and pursuing excellence. He let everybody else make that distinction of what he's doing and what not. To him everything's the same. He's just living his life.
Marcus: It's interesting because earlier today, that takes so many different forms, but earlier today we were sitting and it will have been released already by the episode we did with Steven McNair and he very clearly has a love for history and architecture and stuff like that. So when somebody hears you say what they love in life. What you love in life may be fitness, like what you talked about. It may be advertising. Like what we deal with. It may be history. This guy has made a business out of helping people navigate the waters of renovating historic buildings and homes. It doesn't matter what it is. If there's a passion to be had. We sit across the street from Hoffman Furniture. Well somebody may have a passion for furniture or interior decoration or that kind of thing. It's just a way of ling that out day to day.
Chris: There are millionaires now from playing video games.
Marcus: Yeah, doesn't that blow your mind.
Chris: I was told not to play them when I was younger and do my homework, but now people are wealthy because of it. Literally whatever you want to do. I don't care what it is. It's not if you can do it, it's how.
Marcus: If you can make a living doing it.
Chris: Exactly.
Marcus: What are the last two books or resources you've read recently that you've found helpful?
Chris: At the top of my mind and head, really anything by Grant Cardone. He always talks about swimming the koolaid so I ... Then also him being from Louisiana. I kind of have that attachment if you will, but also with sales. I view sales just like he does. I'm just living my life and adding value. Anything from his books. "Sell or Be Sold," that changed my mindset.
Marcus: "Be Obsessed or Be Average," "10X."
Chris: Exactly, "10X," "Going Big." That's a lot of principles I go by. "Think and Grow Rich" that's one of the first books I really read. 2013, I was like, "Oh, man. This is just ..." Literally just threw me in a pool I had no idea about. With values and things, adding value, faith, having a burning desire, burn the boat. Those kind of things.
Marcus: That's by Napoleon Hill by the way if you're listening.
Chris: Yep. "Think and Grow Rich". Eric Thomas, "Secrets to Success". But as far as resources, not just books, articles. I read articles a lot. Print every single day. One thing I like about articles is that they're made in real time. So instead of reading a book from centuries ago, you can read an article about something that you can actually apply today. A lot of times I start my days reading an article and then apply it, repackage it for my life.
Marcus: That's awesome. I love, Grant Cardone is kind of come from left field. If you are listening to this and you've not checked out his stuff, know that he puts out a lot on social media. You can look at it. Some people will like it some people won't, but you cannot argue with the books that the man has written and the value that those bring to somebody that is in sales. Actually everybody is in sales so I don't even say that. There's practical application for his books in everyone's life, but "Sell or Be Sold" is key to just about anybody that is looking at a business owner/sales type position, entrepreneur type position. "Sell or Be Sold", go out, get it, don't even think about it. Just read it. It's probably a weekend read. It's light, but man it'll change your perspective on what sales actually is and how to do it correctly.
What do you like to do in your free time? Any hobbies besides lifting the weights?
Chris: I was just about to say that's all I do. Honestly, I don't have free time. I don't believe in it. I think we all have something we can accomplish. If we do have free time where we say we're bored, I just think it's a justification for escapism. I just think we could be watching Hulu or watching Netflix, but there's something we could be doing in that moment.
Marcus: Sure.
Chris: To be productive. At this point in my life, I'm just living my life. Whether I'm writing articles, messaging somebody, sending emails, if there's something that would be considered a hobby it would be reading.
Marcus: That's valid.
Chris: Exactly. If I do need to shut off my brain, I would just pick up a book or if anything YouTube and watch something that's just stupid, if you will. But yeah.
Marcus: We know you, I've seen your phone, all those cat videos.
Chris: Man.
Marcus: I'm just playing dude.
Chris: Puppies, puppies with me man.
Marcus: Puppies. I'm a dog fan too. All right so tell people where they can find you.
Chris: You can find me, just type in Christopher Ray Coleman on Facebook. Health is Wealth Nation on Instagram. The 180 Effect on Instagram soon. We're working on HealthisWealthNation.com. Got to get that up and running. I'm all over the place. If you type in Chris Coleman, Health is Wealth Nation, you'll find me. Soon you'll be able to google me.
Marcus: Yep, absolutely.
Chris: Just google me and I'll pop up.
Marcus: Very cool. Well I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?
Chris: Be brilliant. That's how I end my book. That's the last two words of my book. Something my mom instilled in me before I walked out the door going to practice, church, school, whatever. She'd say, "Chris, be brilliant." That's just what I do. I'm starting the campaign soon with having tee-shirts with my "Go Brilliant" little design and everything. That's just what I want to put out into the world. Find a way to be brilliant. Don't live somebody else's life. Find your brilliant lifestyle that you can live.
Marcus: That's awesome. That is really awesome. Well Chris I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and share your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur. It was great talking with you.
Chris: My pleasure.
