Contemporary Networking – Jenn Trepeck
Guest: Jenn Trepeck
Release Date: 11/15/2021
Welcome to Trulyfit the online fitness marketplace connecting pros and clients through unique fitness business software.
Steve Washuta: Welcome to the Trulyfit Podcast. I am your host Steve Washuta, co-founder of Trulyfit and author of Fitness Business 101. In today’s episode, I discuss contemporary networking. I have Jen Trepeck to break down this topic with me. She is the host of the salad with a side of fries podcast. She’s also a health and nutrition coach, you can find her at jenntrepeck on Instagram. We discuss again the definition of contemporary networking.
What exactly is it we discuss? Are people overlooking networking as a tool to grow their fitness and health business? What are the different tricks and components and tips to contemporary networking? are gone the days of old-school networking?
Can we not still go to these meet and greets and local conferences and, and meetings and things of this nature? Or do they still work in our health and fitness industry? And what exactly has changed? What will change moving forward in our industry as far as networking is concerned? I don’t necessarily agree with this, which is a good thing. It’s good to have these conversations where people don’t always see eye to eye with me, where is zoom better?
For one on one is zoom better? When we expand our crowd and have larger people in more of a classroom-type setting? How is this going to look moving forward? Will people be doing this in 10 or 20 years? Or are we going to revert back to more in-person things?
And I think it’s great to have this conversation, especially during the pandemic and how people’s businesses have changed and we’ve shifted online. Is it going to stay this way or is it not going to stay this way?
Is networking now something we can do virtually on a regular basis? Or Duke? Should we still have a foot in sort of the local market? It’s important as fitness and health professional that we network, but how do we do it? And what are the appropriate ways? That’s what Jen and I break down was a great conversation. I’m sure I’ll have Jen on in the future to discuss other topics around this area.
With no further ado, here is Jen and I discussing contemporary networking. Jen, thank you so much for joining the Trulyfit podcast, why don’t you give the audience in listeners a background on who you are? And what it is you do in the health and fitness industry?
Jenn Trepeck: Sure. So first of all, Steve, thanks for having me. I’m excited for our conversation. So my background is really in business and marketing. And I came to the wellness world through my own saga of weight management, I feel like calling it a journey, by the way, like does not do it justice like this was a saga.
And ultimately, long story short, I became a health coach in late 2007. So like before, health coaching was the thing. I built my business on the side while working full-time. And then in 2019 left my full-time job. So July 2019, left my full-time job.
I launched my podcast in August of 2019, which is called salad with a side of fries. So you can get my approach, I think, right? And you know, I suppose the rest, as they say, is history. Here we are over two years later.
Steve Washuta: Well, let’s explain that name a little bit more. And that approach. So I mean, I get it, it seems like you’re talking about having sort of a different take on dieting and how you go into these things. It’s not all about just healthy foods, we need to take in a little bit of everything. So but expand on that.
Jenn Trepeck: Yeah, so the premise of the podcast is wellness and weight loss, but for real life. Right. So there’s a lot of health coaches out there that will say you’ve got to do keto, you’ve got to be vegan, you’ve got to do all of these things. I’m really not that person.
Um, so we explore a lot of wellness philosophies and approaches, I sort of described it as the podcast that answers the questions that come up when you’re having a drink with friends, or when you’re in the locker room at the gym. Right? someone’s like, oh, this person looks great.
What are they doing? Should I do that? Okay, the answer is probably no, yeah. But let’s talk about it. Let’s look at it from a foundation of science, but in a really approachable way. How do we think about the things that we’re seeing on Instagram and the things that we’re hearing in the news? And what do we need to do to get from where we are to where we want to be? And if weight loss is a thing for you, that will be the side effect of focusing on our health and putting into place all the things that we talk about?
Steve Washuta: Yeah, that’s a great way to put it. And there are too many people who are what I call dyed in the wool. There they find a team like it’s like a college football team and they may only route, for one thing, right? Everybody has to deadlift four days a week.
Everybody has to follow the keto diet and anytime someone says always, you should typically run away quickly. Okay, right. That’s just not the case. and all of our bodies are different. And there’s more than one way to do it, there’s more than one way to diet properly. And there’s more than one way to live properly.
That’s what we really promote here to me personally, as a, as a personal trainer who works with the general population is we need to find something that you enjoy doing in the fitness world, we don’t necessarily have to write out this prescription that I think it’s best for you. If in the midst of exercising, I find out that you love kickboxing, but we’re going to do more of that.
And if you don’t love kickboxing, but you love to jog on the treadmill, I’m going to make sure we integrate that into your routine, but it doesn’t necessarily matter. It’s not the approach. It’s what do you like? How can I get you there? And I’m sure that’s what
Jenn Trepeck: exactly I’m like, there are certain fundamentals of how the human body works, and how our body is designed to process food and use food. And then within that, there is tremendous variation. And so you’re exactly right. It’s about saying, Okay, here’s the foundation of what we know of how the body works. Now, what do you notice, if we start here? What do you notice about how your body responds to different things.
And one of the things that, I think, is the unintended consequence of diet culture, and fad diets, and all of the things that we hear about is that we have trained ourselves out of paying attention to our body, we follow the rules, instead of noticing what’s actually happening. So even if we’re getting hunger signals, right, like our stomach is growling, you know, we can’t really concentrate, we’re like, Nope, I was told to eat less.
So I am going to ignore your hunger go away, right like it, that actually has unintended consequences to of creating a situation of what we call metabolic syndrome, or where your body’s not properly responding to leptin and gray, feeling weak, become resistant to the hormones that tell us when we’re hungry. And when we’re satisfied. The same way that we can become resistant to insulin, right? We know that to be diabetes, there’s a lot of hope we’re not doomed, there’s a whole lot that we can do. And so that’s really salad with the side of fries.
Steve Washuta: I like it, I think it’s part of our responsibility as people in that industry, to obviously educate the public. And one of the more difficult things I think it at least for me to get across, I’m getting better at it is that are assessing our baseline is very tough, and people don’t understand that.
So they think they’re operating maybe at you know, 90 or 100% of what they are, whether it’s their energy, if you want to use the term energy, I know in sort of the nutrition world, that means calories, I don’t mean calories, I just mean your ability to function day to day how you feel your clarity, literally how you feel, how you feel, and clarity of mind those things, people think they’re, they’re acting sort of optimally, when they’re not even close, but they don’t know any other way.
You need, sometimes you need that hard reset, and you need to take a step back and either change your dieting approach, or change your sleep or change your food so that you and take time, you know, this isn’t a one-week thing, take a month, and then sort of assessing how you feel, whether it’s through like the intuitive eating, or just, you know, whatever aspect it is that that like you said, is really taking time to assess you as an individual and not just reading a diet and saying it worked for Jenny at the gym. It’s got to also work for me. Yeah, exactly. So we could talk about anything and everything was
Jenn Trepeck: just gonna say I’m like, I could say something about intuitive eating, but I’m gonna let it go. Because we have so much to cover.
Steve Washuta: Well, we did the Intuitive Eating episode, which I thought was really good. But I’m sure we’ll do a follow-up to that at some point because I’ve had people come back with questions concerning so you might be the next best person to talk to here when we go back to that, but awesome.
Well, I had you on it because you use the term and a phrase that I thought was very interesting. And it’s called contemporary networking. Networking, in general, is something that is that I push in my book, fitness business, one on one behind me and that I always talk about with personal trainers and people the health and fitness industry. I just wanted to get your take on the definition of contemporary networking, and how you work with either client explaining this or how you yourself use it.
Jenn Trepeck: To understand contemporary now working, let’s lay a foundation of understanding what’s sort of like the antiquated networking was, right? A lot of time, right? It would be some sort of a happy hour, be a ton of people, maybe you get a ticket for one drink, then it’d be a cash bar, right. And it would be a million people all trying to hock their wares or meet as many people as possible.
Iwas Hi, here’s my name. This is what I do. What do you do? Cool. Hi, here’s my name. This is what I do. What do you do? Right, and you’d walkout at the end of the night with a stack of business cards. Now, I in those days, would pause every few minutes, go over on the side and write notes on every business card. So I could understand or remember who that person was.
Contemporary networking is no longer about the person you’re talking to. And it is no longer about trying to get a million people to have years apart. Because a business card without context becomes garbage. What I mean by context is a relationship, and an understanding of who you are and how you operate, and things about you as a person.
Because when we connect as people and individuals, what we do for a living doesn’t even matter, the referrals will come. Right. And that’s the piece of it too, is that we’re focused on referrals, not the person we’re talking to. So I always say every person is a window to 1000 plus people that you don’t know.
So it’s not about whoever that person is, right? If you’re a personal trainer, and this person is in great shape, and already has a personal trainer, you might be like, I forget it, no, that person has friends. And that person’s personal trainer may not be the magical fit for all of their friends, they might not even block their personal trainer to working out with all their friends, you can be that person, if you build the relationship, if they get to know you and your approach and who you’re a right fit for. Right. And I think there’s a lot of sorry, oh,
Steve Washuta: no, I was just gonna add, I think some people may hear that and think like, oh, this is just like motivational stuff like, No, this is how it works. So it as a personal trainer, and this is also going to sound like some motivational nonsense, you should treat every session as if somebody is filming you, you have no idea who’s looking at you, you have no idea who’s in the corner who might say they need a trainer and their connections, anybody can potentially be your golden ticket.
It’s usually not the person you think is going to be your golden ticket. And by golden ticket, I just mean somebody who had knights your career, let’s say they have a big standing in the granary you didn’t know about that? Or they have 50 employees, and they decide that you do such a good job. They want to take you and have you trained their whole company, you’re going to now work for their whole company, right? So like, instantly, you can grab yourself a job just by putting in the effort to in each scenario as if this could be your golden ticket.
Jenn Trepeck: And I don’t mean show up fake. All I mean is I think body. And I say, everybody, you know, in air quotes, right, is telling us to do to build our business is social media. And I, I disagree. Yes, I think you need a social media presence.
Yes, I think you want to create content because sometimes people are using social media. But I don’t think that Instagram and Facebook and Tik Tok are going to be your main revenue drivers, creating clients to fill your funnel and build your business. My entire business since 2007, has come entirely from referrals of past clients and people I’ve met, you know, whether it’s through formal networking, or you know, through friends.
And it’s because especially in what we do, right, whether it’s the nutrition side, or the fitness side in, if we don’t have trust, and we don’t have rapport, it doesn’t matter. You could be the greatest person on the planet, but no one’s gonna hire you. If they don’t get that. You know, where they get that is somebody they know, sharing you with them.
Not just you, oh, you’re a personal trainer, you look great yourself. But what would make you the right fit for this client for their friend? So for example, for me, I’ve been there. I’m not the one who’s going to tell you you have to be vegan. Not the one who’s going to tell you that, you know, you can’t eat at night if you’re hungry. Or I grew up as a dancer, how many people grew up a dancer there anything that we can find the common ground between the potential client and us, right, and that happens most of the time, not in our conversation.
But in the conversation that someone else has had a potential client before they call you. And so that also means right when we have these networking conversations, going beyond what you do, right, what do you like to do when you’re not working? What’s your favorite? Talk about TV shows? Talk about what you did over the weekend.
What are you doing for the holidays? One of my favorite questions is to say to somebody what’s the latest and greatest? Right or what’s your biggest win this week? Anything that gets us talking about something that makes us think excited,
Steve Washuta: I’m gonna I’m going to shamelessly plug my book here I have a big section in the book about building relationships and why it’s so important to build these relationships with clients. And that is how you should always have what I call a check-in phase. And this doesn’t have an update phase.
This doesn’t have to be for personal trainers, anybody in the health and fitness industry, whether you’re helping people as a, as a life coach, whatever it is, where when you initially meet with them, you check-in you say, How’s everything going, how was your weekend, or how was yesterday, not only do you make that connection, to find out the little things about them, you learn their dog’s name and their daughter’s name and where they go on vacation.
And if they have a second home, and if they, if they don’t like American Horror Story, and you do or if you know, their favorite team is whatever, but you also get a sense of like, what they’re going through, so that you could adjust accordingly and do a better job, meaning if that person tells you, you know, I had, I had a rough night, and I didn’t really sleep much.
You know, I ended up eating a bowl of ice cream that I didn’t want to eat or like whatever they’re going through, it allows you to then pivot and deviate and set a new plan and help them and makes you better your job. So it’s, the more information is only better, not only because you’re connecting, but then you can do a better job.
I think to piggyback off what you were saying with this networking, why I do not push the social media networking, at least me we all need a footprint on all the social media, but it shouldn’t be your main driver for a lot of reasons.
Number one, yeah, I think your growth should be commensurate with your experience meaning like, as, as I grow as a whatever job I am, what’s a personal trainer, as I grow, I also want my clients to also grow on that, let’s say parabola, right of that graph. I don’t want to get too many clients too quickly.
Because I don’t know how to do a good job yet. So then now I’m doing a shitty job for 50 people, instead of just trying to learn how to do a good job for one or two. And I never really build myself up the right way. So I think that’s one reason. And then another reason is, we have no idea.
I know this is going to maybe sound like hyperbole, but I have no idea where these platforms are going to be in five or 10 years, Instagram has talked about taking away likes, who knows if like, things are going to completely change, or now they’re going to charge you for an account and you don’t have the money to pay for it. So, you know, relying on that is I think is very risky, instead of having those interpersonal connections, that that will always get you through the rough times financially.
Jenn Trepeck: Right. And I think, you know, as we talked about what we pay for, right, I think there can be a networking group that you pay for. You know, I wouldn’t necessarily be afraid of making that commitment.
Because, right, there are a few things one is, think about the people that we want to connect with, the people we want to connect with, are the people who are willing to put their money toward what’s important to them, toward building their business, growing their community, meeting new people, right, those make for really interesting relationships and connections and people who know other people, right? And so if we think about it, we’re always showing up to the free thing, who else is always showing up to the free thing? Are they your ideal client? Are they the people who know your ideal client? Maybe, right could be a mix.
But I also wouldn’t shy away from making that commitment to yourself and your business, to say, I’m going to take this seriously to meet new people regularly. And build those relationships. Because that, like you said before, with social media, like that’s real.
And, you know, one of the people he always says it’s not what you know, and it’s not who you know, but it’s who you know, who knows what, you know. And the way we get there is overtime, not, you know, sort of diarrhea of the mouth and trying to tell everybody in the first conversation, everything that you know, and trying to get them to close and buy from you instantly.
Steve Washuta: Yeah, I mean, personally, I just think it’s kind of gross. I mean, to each their own, I don’t have that personality, I would never just try to expand my business as much as I could and say the things that people want to hear just for the sake of everything, I think it’ll come back to bite you in the butt in the end anyway because people are naturally intuitive.
They can kind of seek out that fakeness but I do also think that then what happens is people spend so much time and this goes to what you just said in that quote, I spent so much time trying to convince people how smart they are or how much they know they are and they don’t spend enough time actually perfecting that skill set and you know, before you know what you know the gig is up.
Jenn Trepeck: And it’s not even so much like saying what you think people want to hear? Or trying to be a professional networker. I think of it more as making new friends Being a human in the world, right? And presenting yourself as a resource when they have questions, rather than trying to show them or convince them that you know your thing. I think it’s sometimes like that quiet confidence that goes a really long that long way in contemporary networking.
Steve Washuta: Yeah, I think I think the issue that people have with it, unfortunately, this is a whole nother conversation is that there’s sort of a facade through this through the guise of social media through Instagram, that a lot of this stuff is working when it’s not right, that these people who are doing nothing but the opposite of what we’re saying, are gaining followers and gaining, you know, quote, unquote, clout, but I do think there is a misconception about the money that they make and, and the lives that they leave.
And I think, again, a lot of it is just, you know, this, this faking influencer lifestyle, these people who are not happy, who maybe who aren’t doing well, right, there are people who live in like, you see these college kids who say, a year-old guy or girl who lives in a dorm room who has no money, who’s taking these pictures, who has 30,000 followers and trying to give motivational advice. And people think, Okay, this guy has his life in order. It’s like, that’s not the case. It’s just people following him because he has ABS not because he has information.
Jenn Trepeck: Well, and totally, and I think we’ve sort of misconstrued audience size as value. Yeah. And right, I mean, you and I both know, as podcasters, you know, one of the things we talk about all the time is the cache of data, right, and analytics, and downloads, and all those kinds of things. And there’s a misconception that number of listeners is the be-all-end-all, the benchmark of value, and the benchmark of whether something is worth someone’s time.
The truth is, a small audience that is engaged, can be way more powerful than a massive audience that half listens. And I think we can think about that with our clients with our networking, and meeting new people, all these things, really great quality, deep relationships, and friendships only in superficial things, people who know your name, see a business card and topic.
Steve Washuta: That’s a great point. And I want to expand on that a little bit. I never, you know, really put it in that way. But I think you know, that you can have 10 or 12, that might even be a lot. But let’s just say you have 10 or 12 clients for life, literally for life, that you can meet that who become family, and they go to your wedding. And all they want to do is stay with you. And you have that for life.
When you build your business off of scalability, and you’re just providing these quick things that are not personal, then you’re losing these people. So you spend all of your time trying to then acquire new people and acquire new people and acquire new people. And let’s just call it levels, the right one being surface two being a little bit more three, being deep, you never get to even level two. So right, because you don’t build that, you know, the sort of tiered structure level connection, these people come in, they go, they don’t think they owe anything to you.
And, or, or it might be like, you’re projecting yourself as somebody who is like, famous, so they’re like, Well, I don’t really care about this person, I’m just going to take their information, they make a lot of money, they, they have a great life, where you don’t you know, your clients have respect to you as well. And your lifestyle and right, you go through and they won’t if you never get to that next level.
Jenn Trepeck: Right. And that next level is when the referrals happen, that next level is when you have momentum in your business.
Steve Washuta: So let’s talk about maybe some tools. I know that you know, we just talked about social media, I think it’s important to have a presence, at least on all of them. So people know you exist, you don’t know where people are gonna be looking for you. But what are some other tools that people can use as networking or contemporary networking?
Jenn Trepeck: Sure. So, um, you know, like we said before, be willing to pay for a networking community and group and find one shop around, right. You don’t have to commit today one but shop around. There are tons online right now where you could start to connect with people all over.
There are tons that are very hyper-focused in certain areas and communities. I also wouldn’t be afraid of the ones where I think the old networking was one person in a profession in a group. Yeah, and I wouldn’t shy away from the ones where there are maybe multiple fitness people because not everybody is a fit for everybody. And sometimes people get to know you, by contrast to what they see in others. Right? So that could be your magic ticket, you know, so I wouldn’t run away from those.
I would find those communities ask around. Who do you know? Who always seems to have new friends? Or is if you need an online networking group, send me a message, you’re more than welcome to come to visit. You know, one of the ones I do and if it’s a fit for you, certainly, you know, the more the merrier kinds of things. meetup.com meetup can be a huge place. And you don’t have to just look for fitness meetups and try to pounce and prospect every person in that group. If you enjoy hiking, join a hiking meetup, go hiking with people and see what friends you can make.
I will challenge you in conversation with new people. How long can you go before you ask the question, what do you do? That’s the old way, the old way is to start with what you do. The new way is, hey, you’re a person. I’m a person, let’s be people. Let’s have a conversation. And eventually, we’ll get to what we do. So I think those are a few things to keep in mind how effective those things are. And early air, you know, if you’re not taking care, go back, jot down some of those questions that I like to ask in a conversation so that you have things to say other than what do you do?
Steve Washuta: Yeah, that’s very interesting. You say that I, I was telling a story. The other week, I had really good friends in the last city I lived in. And for the first year and a half, I honestly didn’t know what any of them did. It just never came up. We had so many other things in common. They were such great people. And we would do all these things. And I didn’t know like we randomly came up in conversation one day, the guy’s like, I’m moving. I’m like, Oh, my God, you’re moving is like I’m in the Air Force, I get moved all the time. Like, I didn’t know you were in the Air Force.
There is a lot more to what do you do in your conversations to build relationships with people and you know, sort of add or expand on some of the things you were saying, I think this sounds like some sort of like, Tim Ferriss Four Hour Workweek book thing, but I would like to draw out a map of your fit your industry, whatever it is your career, and then kind of like have branched off like what interconnects with mine, right? So like, if you’re a guy who fixes engines and a car, then you say like, Okay, well tires for a car, or like if somebody needs a paint job, or if somebody needs to, to transmission or whatever, right, and like, find one person, at least in all of those branches that you can refer out to and then they can refer out to you.
It’s so easy to find these, whatever your business intersects with, you need to find somebody from each group. So I know a physical therapist, I know a sports medicine doctor, I know nutritionists, I know, life coaches, I know, people who deal with specific diseases that my clients may have, or you know, disorders like Parkinson’s and things of that nature. So you just gotta be interconnected in those communities. And sometimes it takes a little while to do that. But it’s, it’s, it’s going to give you lifelong referrals.
Jenn Trepeck: And yeah, and I think, you know, there are pieces of that, that are sort of the old way, right, of saying, oh, this person and that person, those are the people I want to meet. Yes, that’s helpful. And if we focus entirely on those people, you might miss the person who happens to love cars, and has a garage full of 10 that all need work.
He might be a mortgage loan officer. And you would never know if we’re only focused on the people who work inherently in those businesses and industries that seem connected. And so I like it’s the yes and right, it’s to do these old things and keep going to meet the people.
Steve Washuta: That’s a great point, I think I’m going to be very leading in this question. And you can take a different angle or choose something else or disagree with me, I’m totally okay with disagreement, but I think there is, you know, things shift. And I think we’ve shifted so far into this, you know, virtual online environment, and you were stuck inside with COVID that people are going to want to get out of.
They are going to want to have these like interpersonal relationships and people are just lonely, right? There’s a big, looming sense of loneliness. And I think maybe the next step moving forward and networking is actually larger, bigger, more in-person groups like the ones you were talking about, rather than just sending a friend request, do you think that is maybe coming? Or not? Not so much?
Jenn Trepeck: Yes and no. So first of all, I’m not a fan of friend request networking. I think that, for me, at least falls into the category of 90%. fruitless, I think, yes, we are starving for that happy hour, and that in-person get-together.
But I also think we have to remember that a zoom networking event requires zero commutes. Right? So typically, I live in New York City, if there was an event that was a 90 minute or two-hour event, it’s actually three hours of my life, when I include the half-hour there and the half-hour home, right. I think one of the things that have come out of the last year and a half plus is that we remember what it’s like to spend time with people in our family or to have that time, you know, to do other things.
So there’s a bit of like an adjustment to say what’s worth the commute time? Where Don’t I need to spend commute time? And so maybe it becomes a once a month in person, and every week on Zoom? I don’t think the pendulum is going to swing 100% Back to the other direction. Because I think we’ve learned geography doesn’t matter. Convenience is really important. And zoom offers that or, you know, whatever, a similar online.
Steve Washuta: that’s an interesting take. And I guess time will tell, I think, similar to you that it’s, it’s here to stay. And it’s a great networking tool. But this could just be anecdotal and personal. And, you know, I can’t speak for everyone, I haven’t done any due diligence and research on this, I feel one on one zoom, I don’t lose much, comparatively speaking to a one-on-one. Any other situation, one on one at a bar, one on one at a personal training session.
But in groups, I lose so much of it. When I’m in a room training seven or eight people for a class, the inter dynamics between all of those people in me and the presence and the demeanors and how that works.
To me, I lose that on Zoom, I just don’t get that by just seeing someone’s face. And by maybe having a personality sort of tamper down. So I think maybe, I don’t know. But I in my personal business, I’m continuing to use the electronic versions for all of my one on ones, and I’m doing what I can to get out for the bigger groups.
Jenn Trepeck: So I think there’s a difference and distinction we need to in working events. And times when we are meeting large groups of people and times when we are doing our work. That’s true. And working with clients.
I agree with you, I think in working with clients that you know, and with, you know, group fitness, there is a piece of in person that is very different on Zoom. When we talk about networking and sitting in front of a computer screen, where everybody is sort of in the same situation when we’re sitting there and we’re having a conversation. If that’s not working for you. We want to think about how you’re showing up.
Right? How can you help your personality and your energy translate through the screen. So that other people feel the magnet of your energy? So PS if you don’t feel like you bring your best energy wearing sweatpants, you know. In a nicer top, change your pants, do what you got to do. If the event you know starts at 7am, but you’re not really like so great in the morning.
Don’t wake up at 6:55 for the 7am. It’s not going to be what you want it to be or if you’re not great in the morning. Find one that’s or noon. Right?Realize when you show up at your best what you need to do that smile. Smile, like more than you realize. And nod your head right so I don’t know if so. There’s a lot of actors and performers and theater people who I know are also in the fitness industry. Um, and there’s also many who aren’t.
One of the things that I learned doing theater growing up. Is that there’s a big difference between acting on the stage and acting on a screen. Right so in a movie, they could have like a massive close-up on your face. And you blink and it communicates a whole lot. Right? But in live theater, if you’re on a stage and someone is sitting in row L. And you blink, they’re not going to notice.
It communicates nothing. And I think we have to think of zoom as more like live theater. Where we have to go a little bigger. We have to not be a little larger, you know, a little more exaggerated. If you’re using your hands. They need to be in a different place. If you’re not right then if you’re living in front of someone. Um, you know, smiling might be great. Draws attention to you away from the other squares that aren’t moving.
There are little things that you can do when you’re on an online platform. To help your energy come across when you’re meeting new people. And by the way, if you start by asking questions, and avoid what you do. It inherently builds the relationship in a different way than when we start with those same old questions. And so you absolutely can use online platforms that are live and face to face. You know, even though a screen to make new friends and build those relationships.
Steve Washuta: And if you can’t find them, I would say make your own. I was invited to one I know, it was just like sort of impromptu. And it was fantastic. And then I decided to make my own what basically, somebody just asked a question, right?
That’s what you do you start the start these things off. So that everyone has a say in this particular question, right? People aren’t speaking at you, but you’re speaking together? And it might be how, how has your business changed since COVID? What are you doing to help it via the online space or something, right?
So, you know, seven or eight people get on you. You send messages to people to see if they want to beyond. They all sign up through some sort of Calendly link. And you get on and you know, you’re sort of the pseudo host. You introduce the question and you go around, and everyone introduces themselves and talks. And it’s, it’s really that easy. You don’t have to like, you don’t have to seek these things out. You can design them and create them yourself.
Jenn Trepeck: Totally. And if you’re looking for something, and you’ve never done it before. And you’re not really sure reach out, you know. I’m happy to connect you with, you know, people or you know, platforms or whatever. There’s a lot of tools out there. But it is just likes everything, right? In the fitness world, most of us tend to work for ourselves. Somebody, even if we work for a bigger organization, nobody else is building our business for us. Right? So it takes that initiative. So if you take the initiative, people will meet you.
Steve Washuta: Give us some more information about a salad with a side of fries. What is the last episode? What is the next episode? Where do what are you working on? And then also just for me, how do you pick your topics? And guests? How do you go about that?
Jenn Trepeck: Okay, so a salad with a side of fries is available. All the podcast listening platforms, you know, pick your favorite, we’re there. Um, my website is a salad with a side of fries.com. My social media is all at Jen Trepeck, jentrepeck. Today’s episode went live.
It was called adulting as a lot. I agree. Right? And it’s really about how do we juggle all the balls? How do we, you know, when we feel like we’re pulled in a million different directions. And then we’re supposed to think about our fitness and our wellness? On top of it, it’s like, have a day off and off day. Whatever that looks like and just forget it. Right?
So the episodes about how we manage to keep all the balls in the air. And find room and time for these things. On top of everything else that requires our time, effort and energy. Um, and then I do a nutrition nugget. Which is sort of a short segment at the end of the episode, which is also separately on Fridays. So that one that’s coming out this week is on goat milk.
It sounds weird to us. It’s actually, I think over 65% of the world’s population drinks goat milk. So I think it’s interesting. Um, and how do I pick my topic? So a lot of it comes from what I see coming up with my clients. Um, a lot of it is conversations that I’ve been having these conversations for my entire life, you know. First in my own stuff, and then, and working with clients since 2007.
My gut, you know, and it’s funny things. I also pay attention to questions that are coming up. People send me questions, you know, on social media, or through my website. Or friends, you know, or I’ll be at a networking event. And somebody will say something, and I’m like, You know what, that’s a really good question. We should address that. Because I always think that if one person’s asking a question more then that person has that same question. It’s only they had the courage to share it.
Steve Washuta: I agree. Well, Jen, thank you so much for your time and information. And I hope to steal you for another hour on a future podcast.
Jenn Trepeck: Thank you, Steve. Happy too.
Steve Washuta: Thanks for joining us on the Trulyfit podcast. Please subscribe, rate, and review on your listening platform. Feel free to email us as we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks again!
