505: Differentiate Yourself in the Marketplace, Provide a Superior Solution and Dial-in Your Ideal Group of Clients with Biohacker and X Gym Founder PJ Glassey

Robert Plank 0:00 Music marketer of the day, number 505. Differentiate yourself in the marketplace, provide a superior solution, and dial in your ideal group of clients with biohacker and X gym founder, PJ glassy. Hey everyone, we're so glad you're listening and we're talking right now with PJ glassy. And you can find out PJ's website at x gym.com and he's the founder of X gyms in the Seattle area, where he invented his own methodology to save time, decrease injury rate and tone muscle instead of bulking it up. So we're gonna hear all about PJ's business, what he does differently, and how he's one of the top fitness bloggers, and how he continues to create free content for people through his blog, his partner blog, and his various ex gym blogs. So PJ, glad to be talking to you.

PJ Glassey 0:46 Hey, thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

Robert Plank 0:49 Yeah. I mean, I'm glad to have you. And it seems like I've interviewed not a ton, but a handful of, like, gym owners, fitness people and your type of person, man, you guys have it really dialed in, really focused, really intense, but also really nice and really sharing with their information. So I appreciate your personality type, I guess I would say, yeah.

PJ Glassey 1:11 Well, thanks. I mean, it's my goal just to help as many people as possible to really get to the truth of health and fitness. And the goal here at the ex gym is to get people healthy. It's not necessarily to, you know, have someone come in because they want to get shredded, or that six pack or anything like that. You know that that stuff's all fine and dandy, but our goal is health. And if the if they end up getting shredded and a six pack when they reach optimal health, that's great. But, you know, some people don't, and that's fine too, but the goal of optimal health is really the most important thing. So I do that through my blog and other social media and different outlets as well, just trying to help people and just to get them, get them to optimal health, because that's when we have the most fun out of life. Super

Robert Plank 2:01 cool. I agree. Yeah, when you're healthy, you live longer, you enjoy stuff better. I mean, it's all upsides. And so I'm really curious about what you've done to differentiate yourself, because, I mean, as you know there, I mean, the world is just lousy with gyms, right? There's one on almost every corner. There's tons of people blogging and teaching fitness and so, so how do you differentiate yourself? Is it this whole thing you're talking about, of being healthy, not just looking good, but, but, you know, having your body better, or is it something else?

PJ Glassey 2:31 Yes, well, it's both. So my online presence is more about health. And, you know, I'm a bio hacker, and so I tend to do a lot of experience on myself and experiments on friends and family and experiments on ex gym members. And, you know, trying to find the new stuff. And I spend two or more hours a day researching the new studies and things that have come out all the time. Because every day there's something new. It's really exciting. So I'm just trying to find shortcuts. And my whole thing is shortcuts. And the X gym is a shortcut, because the workout takes just 21 minutes twice a week, and so it's a big time saver. And that's where most of our clients come from. Is just super busy people. So the emphasis to the X gym, the focus there is marketing to people who are really busy, but once they get into the X gym, we try to get them focused on health as the number one goal. And then so then, from my other channels and blog and everything, it's really it's more about the health thing, and shortcuts to health, also shortcuts to fitness, but just getting there as fast as possible to reach optimal health is the ultimate goal.

Robert Plank 3:49 Well, great. So, and that sounds like a great solution for people in this day and age who are busy or dreading the extra time commitment of going to the gym or getting healthy and things like that. And so, I mean, how did you get from there to here? Did the gym come first? Did the websites come first? How did that evolve? Yeah,

PJ Glassey 4:08 so I got my degree in Exercise Science from SPU Seattle Pacific University back in the 80s, and then I started training people out of their homes. And I was, my goal was to develop an exercise system that solved the three main problems I saw with traditional training. One, it's dangerous, so people get hurt a lot. Two, it's great at bulking people up, but most people don't want that anymore. Nowadays, you know, bodybuilding and getting huge and jacked and all that stuff was cool back in the 80s, and but it started to fall out of favor into the 90s, and that's when I was really getting my big start. And so I wanted to develop something that would tone and condition and strengthen without making people bigger. And then the third thing was just the time. So. So traditional training takes a lot of time. There's, you know, doing all of those sets and all those reps and, you know, progressive lifting and all that kind of stuff. It's at least an hour three times a week minimum. And then as you get in better shape, it takes more time. So the people who are in really good shape are working out 1020 hours a week, including me back then, because that's all I knew. And I'm like, dang, you know when I when I get this is fine now when I'm in college, and you know, when I'm in my 20s and 30s, that's fine. I've got the time, but, and then when I'm in my 40s and older, I know I'm going to have a family, I'm going to have a job with lots of responsibility, probably people under me, and I'm just not going to have the time anymore. So that's why I set out to solve those three problems, time bulking and injuries. So then I used my own clients, mostly training them out of their homes and some local gyms in the area to as guinea pigs to experiment with this, using the research that I was studying to figure out the experiments. And so they helped me develop this, this program, and I just kept trying new things with them all the time. And they thought it was fun, because it's new stuff, and if it would work better, great, if it would be the same or worse, then I just discard it. And so just using the scientific method, developing the system, out the system and the methodology, until 10 years later, I was just too busy and I had to scale myself. So started the X gym, and then opened up another one, and then expanded the first one and moved it and then expanded the second one, and that's where we are now today.

Robert Plank 6:45 Super cool. Well, I love your thought process. I like that you. You said, Well, I I'm gonna make this solution based on the the three biggest problems that I see, not just one big problem or not just this huge line on your list, but what, uh, what you narrowed it down to with the injuries, the too much bulking, and the time factor. And then What's also great about your journey here is that it seems like one you built one thing up, and then it like sort of outgrew itself, or you had to move on to the next step in order to scale yourself. So you started off by just doing the one on one stuff, doing the guinea pig stuff, but then that became such a huge beast that you had to create these, these retail locations, and just the whole concept in general, of you of kind of doing the the one on one first, and using other people as guinea pigs, and trying out different things in research. I love that concept. I love that that approach there, and I've seen it happen in all these different kinds of niches, like for example, like copywriting people, teaching people to be you know, how to write sales letters and things like that. I've seen people try to just learn things and re teach. And you can always tell when they're just like teaching something that they don't know. But then if they learn something and go and get clients and figure out their own flavor, their own system. Now they have a system to teach. And similar to me, like I'm a computer programmer, and at first I thought, I'm just gonna learn computer programming and just teach what I just learned. But instead of doing that, I took these skills and went to people and created different types of software, and once I figured out my own system, then I was able to teach my own system compared to just being a parrot of other things that I learned. And it sounds like your approach is pretty similar there, too, exactly.

PJ Glassey 8:30 Yeah, I always make sure that I start with the research, and then the next phase is I try it on myself, and if it works as good or better than other things. Then I'll try it on friends and family, people who love me enough to not sue me. And then if it works great on them, I'll try it on some of my employees. And if it works great on them, I'll try it on some of my long term ex gym members, because they're all always up for new stuff, and then if it works great on them, then it's adopted into the system to improve on the system as a system upgrade. So we're constantly getting better, and we're always improving. In fact, just this morning, we tried a new experiment, and it's it's for a new cardio kind of methodology that I'm experimenting with. I have been for months now, but this was the first time that it was open for X gym members to try it out, and I explained right at the beginning of class and at the end. Hey, you all are, you know, you're part of the X gym, which means you're part of the ongoing experiment to get better. So we need your feedback. Let us know what you think of this, what you like, what you don't like. We'll continue to refine and tweak and just make it better for you and make it better for everybody in the future. So we keep getting better, and we're able to help people get healthier and fitter in the least amount of time, as fast as possible. And really. Safe way. Well,

Robert Plank 10:01 great. So you found this technique, and you ran it through all the various stages to get the bugs worked out, to figure out a way to to make it work the best, and to be, you know, as as easy to follow as possible, and and added it to the the whole system. So, I mean, that's, that's freaking great. That's a great way to to improve any any process for doing or any kind of business. And so as things were picking up here, did you ever get stuck or discouraged or backed into a corner in some way and just said, like, you know, I know all my goal or I know what I'm heading towards, but I just have this big honking obstacle in the way that that ever happened along the course of your journey? Yes,

PJ Glassey 10:40 and it's still actually happening. We're getting better with it, but the main obstacle that we're up against is trying to explain to people how we're different and why other gyms and personal training studios and, you know, big box gym, traditional training all the way down to, you know, a specialized CrossFit gym. Why we're not competition with those facilities? Because we are opposite of traditional training in many ways. It's kind of we took traditional training turn it on its head, and instead of, you know, weights and reps and PRs and all that kind of stuff. We don't care about any of that. We just care about time under tension, controlled movements. And so most of our stuff is lightweight or body weight. And so it's, it's our biggest obstacle is just educating everybody on, hey, we're actually different and but we're different in so many ways, it's really hard to explain it. So we have a video. The best thing we have right now is our video on our website, just kind of at x gym.com, just kind of explaining the methodology and system. But you know, to keep it to two ish minutes, there's just, is not enough time. And so that's our biggest thing is it's just getting through to our market, how we're different, why we're different, and our main market is the 40 to 70 year olds who are really busy. They've been injured. They don't want to get injured again. They're not interested in bulking up anymore. They just want to be fit and healthy so they can enjoy life. So we're not even competitors with the 2030 something CrossFit crowd. I used to do that when I was in my 20s and 30s, and it was really fun, you know, setting PRs and lifted a bunch of weight and doing reps and working out with other people and, you know, encouraging each other and yelling at each other in a big group. That's great for that age, and I certainly encourage people to do that whatever is best for them at that point in their life, they should do because anything is better than sitting on the couch. But then when people get into their 40s and they start getting busy, they need something that's that is more suited to their real busy lifestyle. And of course, we still have 20 and 30 somethings, and we even have people in their 70s and 80s. But the main part of our bell curve is 40 to 60 up into 70, including what we just were approved for Silver Sneakers, which is the 65 and older group. And so we're even covered by insurance for a lot of their supplemental insurance programs, which is really exciting, because we're perfect for that demo, just because of our safety and how adjustable it is. Our program is to any fitness level

Robert Plank 13:41 that is super cool. And, and, yeah, I find that really interesting in that there's, there's that one aspect of having to educate people a little bit, but once they're educated, then it really, it makes it clear how you guys stand out, where you're in a separate category from all those other gyms where venue there's so many of them, there's only one of you guys. And then you, you looked at all the possible things people could do, and you said, you know, 80% of this isn't, isn't what we're gonna do. Most of this that you could do is, is what we're just gonna drop and ignore. We're gonna focus on this really specific stuff. That way we have a really clear message. And it's almost like, like, like a mission kind of thing, like a passion sort of thing. Of you know, have you been frustrated with all this usual, just garbage with the gym? Well, let's have something that's more focused, better for your age group. You won't get injured, and you have that ideal customer, you have that main demographic. But it's not like you're ignoring the others. You're just saying that this is the best bang for for our buck. So I found that whole thing really interesting.

PJ Glassey 14:46 Yes, yeah, it's, you know, we're here to service a purpose to a certain kind of person. And there's, there's really been a hole in the industry for X generation. And beyond. Because for those people, they they've done traditional training, they've done big box gyms, they've done smaller, intense group kind of training, and it was fun. Well, it lasted, but they don't have time for it anymore. Plus, they're looking for something more focused, something that can be more customizable for them, and it just fits their personality, because people change over time. So that's what we're here for, and that's what we're here to provide, is to fill that big hole. And but it still It takes some education to get to those groups, the ex gens and, you know, the silent generation above them and to explain, you know, hey, you guys don't think there's anything out there for you, because all you really see is the crossfits and the orange theories and the big box gyms that you're not interested in anymore. And so you think, Well, gosh, you know, I guess there's, I guess I'm gonna go, I have to do walking around the block and, you know, or whatever, and it's at home or online or some sort of video, and they're really frustrated, and they want to go work out somewhere. And so it's getting to them and explaining, you know, hey, we're the boutique gym, so you don't have a whole bunch of people walking around big crowds, and we're actually specialized for your your demographic, and so it's a matter of just getting to them and explaining it, and they get it, they get it fast, and they understand because they're smart. But that's the again, it just comes back to that obstacle question,

Robert Plank 16:41 yeah, and it sounds like these other gyms have left it wide open for you. And so now I'm curious about what you guys have done as far as your advertising and marketing. What have you been doing to get the word out?

PJ Glassey 16:52 Well, it's mostly SEO and word of mouth. So we don't do we don't buy a whole lot of advertising or marketing. We have a newsletter list, and you know, we do the newsletter, which is great. And then there's the different channels, so there's the X gym.com There's the blog on there, there's my personal blog, and there's a couple of those. So PJ fit.com is personal blog, which I'm migrating over to a new blog that or website with a blog section to it and a vlog section to it, with my fiance, who is also passionate about helping people get healthy. And so that's beach and peach.com and so doing a lot of there, and then putting out just really good content with our Instagrams and Facebook and stuff like that, and just giving away a lot of stuff for free, just trying to help people to, of course, help them, but also establish us as the expert, and so people tend to come to us now when they want an answer for something, and that's really our goal, is to be a resource for people to come so they don't have to go on the web and try to google it and then get confused about all the conflicting information. So they can come to us to figure out, you know, what the recent research says, and we can tell them, because we've done the research and we've made sense of it, and based on my degree in college education, I know how to read research studies and to find which ones are non biased and Which ones are are quality, peer reviewed, and so I can sift through all that stuff where normal people, just the lay person just can't, and they wouldn't even want to put in the time to learn how anyways,

Robert Plank 18:52 super awesome. So what sounds like so people, they they know about you from the from visiting the gym, or from, uh, doing Google searches. They they found your blogs and all this information, and then now that they know of you, and now that they subscribe to you and check out the new things that you have now, like you had got them hooked once, and now they they read the things that you have going on. So that way, you've simplified all this research for them. You've taken out the biases and all that and so like, do you ever get stuck as far as blog content? Like, with all the different blog you have to update? Like, do you ever have to think about the different topics or the things you're going to write or make videos about? Or is it a matter of you're always reading? So that's just never a problem. It just seems to always come to you

PJ Glassey 19:41 the latter. I'm always reading, I'm always researching, and stuff just comes to me. And other people tell me, Well, you know, you should be going into Google Trends to figure out what's being talked about right now, or, you know, what's trending on on steam it, and you know, things like that, to figure out what to write about. And I think that's it. That's great advice. But I just I have been able to do that, because what I tend to do is write about what I'm currently passionate about, and if it gets reads, then fine. If it doesn't, it probably will sometime down the road for somebody that searching for it. And so I find that it's more fun for me, and I'm more likely to write new content if it's something I'm excited about, and then I'll just put it out there, and just once I put it out there, it's out there, and it stays out there. And then if somebody finds it and it helps them, that's fantastic. So that's kind of the way I do it, although it probably if somebody wants to really promote themselves effectively and grow their readership and all that kind of stuff, it's probably smarter to go with the trends and they're right about that stuff. And I've tried it, but, like I say, I just can't do it because I It feels forced. And then what I write, I'm not as passionate about it, if, even if I know about it, because, you know, I'm kind of the Add guy where I see that shiny new squirrel, and I get really excited about it and that then I just so that's what I write about, and that's kind of the way I do it.

Robert Plank 21:19 Okay, great. And nothing wrong with that. It's what works for you. And then some people might come up with these topics based on the trends, or they might be like you were. You have so much going on. There's so much that you're always reading, checking out, passionate about, so why mess with what works? You're always going to have that, that, that sort of ever overflowing fountain of new things to talk about. And, I mean, it sounds like you post things, you put so much stuff out there so frequently that you're probably hitting those trends anyway, right? Yes,

PJ Glassey 21:51 it's true. And what I really need and just talking this through, I'm gonna, I have a social media person that so I'm gonna contact them and have them focus on all the trend stuff, and then find something I've already written and then put it out there, because I've written hundreds of posts and I've got a book out, and so there's a lot of content out there, and I've made hundreds of YouTubes and but I'm a horrible promoter, so once I make the content that I'm passionate about, I need to be a lot better at pushing it out there and making sure people know what's there and but that's not my passion. I just actually, I don't enjoy that at all. And so I just need to refocus my social media person on that and make sure she knows every time I put something out there, and then to look up the old stuff and see what's trending, and then, you know, promote it. So thanks for that. You just gave me a gift.

Robert Plank 22:49 Well, you're very welcome, and that's a really good strategy for everyone to be listening to. And even even I need to be better at that. And number one, delegating the things that aren't fun for you. That way, you can just focus on on your own creative stuff. And if someone else is better at the social media promotion and you're the person to crank out content Great. Number two, you're also reminding me that a lot of us out there have have, just over the years, written so much content that it's it's first of all, not getting promoted a ton, but also, if there's some trend that was was super popular a couple of years ago and fell by the wayside and now is another is popular again. Then there's probably some old piece of content of ours that either can be used as is or have a little bit of tweaking and can just be made new again. And a lot of us are probably working too hard by recreating all this old content when they can just reuse what they already have. So I mean, great advice in general. As far as anyone looking to be an authority, put out the content for their niche, get traffic, have all this content, all that stuff. That's a really good reminder. And in general, and, and, yeah, I really, like a lot of the just the a lot of your thought process here, and a lot of kind of what you built, as far as you're always curious, you're re teaching things that you're actually doing, not just things that you've heard about. You make it your own, add your own flavor, and it's a ever evolving thing. This is really interesting to just kind of hear about how your business is growing over time, and I want to make sure that everyone knows where to find all these great resources that you've been mentioning, like the website for your gym, these various blogs, as well as anything else you want to mention. So I mean, where can people find out about you? Give us some links and resources if you can

PJ Glassey 24:34 sure. So, X, gym.com, x, g, y, m.com, is the gym, and there's also links to the other channels and so, but then my new blog, or, sorry, go ahead,

Robert Plank 24:50 I didn't say anything.

PJ Glassey 24:52 No, okay. And then the the new page is beach, and page.com so it's. GE and PE GE, so nicknames for Beverly and PJ, bj.com and. And then, of course, the different social channels. There's the X gym YouTube channel, there's the BJP YouTube channel, and, and then there's the Instagram, I think for Instagram, it's x gyms, and for Twitter, it's x gym, or maybe those are reversed, but those are that's a good start anyway. All right,

Robert Plank 25:34 great. So X gym.com basically gets you to all those other locations, like the YouTube, Instagram, the Facebook, and then beach and peach.com is that more personal blog? So if you're curious at all about any of this fitness stuff, or you want to keep up to date with latest and greatest bio hacking news, or even better, if you're in the Seattle area, you want to check out some of these gyms. Make sure you go to x gym.com that's x, g, y, m.com, and then we'll see you there as you discover lots of different tips, techniques and things to do better as far as your health, especially if you're getting up there in the years. And it's not the same as in your 20s and 30s, when you had all this free time, when you didn't get injured, and now this is more doable. So check out x gym.com for all those things and more. And thanks so much, PJ. I appreciate you coming by and sharing some of this great knowledge with us. And also Congratulations on your engagement too. Yeah,

PJ Glassey 26:29 thank you. Yeah. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

Robert Plank 26:33 We really appreciate you listening to today's episode of marketer of the day. Subscribe to us on iTunes and rate and review us at marketer of the day.com/itunes, you.