EPISODE 223 WITH GREG BIRCH: UNVEILING THE JOURNEY FROM MILITARY OFFICER TO ENTREPRENEUR

Ready Yet?! Podcast Episode 223 with Greg Birch: Unveiling the Journey from Military Officer to Entrepreneur

Transcribed with Descript

Erin Marcus: All right. Welcome, welcome to this episode of the Ready Yet podcast. My guest, Greg Birch. Let’s see. I don’t even know where to begin because every time we talk, we talk about the most random things, right? And then we have a great conversation. So I, I can’t wait to see what we share with everybody today, but officially business wise, before we get into all that why don’t you tell everybody who you are, what you do, your little origin story, however deep you want to go.

Greg Birch: Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I’m going to tell us, this is pretty funny. I’m a six foot seven Puerto Rican from Tennessee. All right. You’ve got as a unicorn as they come. Yeah, I served in the military as an officer for 11 years. Got out, said, you know what, I want to find out what, test my metal, what I’m worth and started as an entrepreneur in sales and slowly built myself into owning my own insurance agency.

Greg Birch: And through that, I went. Down a personal development, kick and journey. Yes. Got me to a point of spiritual alignment with my life. And, and it was through that, that I that I created my coaching company. And it was, it’s through fitness. It’s a fitness and nutrition and mindset, really coaching company that I use physical fitness.

Greg Birch: As a tool to get through mental toughness and spiritual alignment in life to help to you to find out what your true purpose is in a, in a, in a nutshell, that’s what I do.

Erin Marcus: That’s it. That’s if only it were that simple, right? If only that’s so right. I love, I have like 8 million questions. I have personal questions for my benefit.

Erin Marcus: I have business questions. Let’s go. Let’s go. So. One is, I don’t know if I knew about the military background, because Most, not all, and I have no military experience directly. I’ve but it seems such an opposite ends of the spectrum from a mindset like what were the biggest shifts and, and not even just in your current coaching business, but even going in as an entrepreneur.

Greg Birch: Oh man, it was so, it was, it was really challenging. So I came from a, I came from a military family, right. And I knew I was gonna surf. It is new. It’s just like, like an intuitive feeling. 9 11 was my senior year of high school. I remember vividly that day. I skipped school actually. And then my dad happened to be awake and we’re sitting there watching TV.

Greg Birch: And he, well, he was watching TV. And I was like, why is my dad awake? Watch TV. Cause he worked a second shift and he’s usually asleep. And went outside to go or run out the living room. Be like, dad, what’s going on? And I leave the TV and I mean, I was stared dumbfounded as we watched Twin Towers get hit by these planes.

Greg Birch: And the first words out of my mouth was I’m going to war. Like this happening, right. Got an RTC scholarship, this mission as an officer. And so and, and bam, boom off to the races. Right. Coming out of the military I will tell you in the military, I felt like. I was competing with a, and this is going to sound terrible.

Greg Birch: I was competing with a bunch of monitor lickers. You know what I’m saying? Like, I look at them. I’m like, you also got a commission. Cause going into becoming an officer, we’re, we’re like, Hey, you’re going to be the top, you know, 2 percent entire nation in the history of the entire nation. That’s how many people get their commission to be an officer, right?

Greg Birch: It’s less than 2%. And so we’re like, this is like the cream of the crop. Like you’re the best of the best. Right. And then you get there and I’m like, I’m like, people are like, going to snot bubbles, like picking a nose and need them. Let’s like, how would the fuck

Erin Marcus: it’s so interesting. So I have a few years on you.

Erin Marcus: I was already well into my corporate career when nine 11 happened. And I remember leaving the house that morning. My husband at the time. Had thrown on his back and was stuck on the couch. So rather than us both leaving, which we would never would have even turned on the TV, he was watching. And by the time I got to work, we were watching on the big screen in the office all day.

Erin Marcus: But so when I was in high school, this is Chicago public schools. There was two ways into the military. There was, I had friends who were going into the air force. On scholar, like big deal situations. And then the rest of the people I knew it was one of those things like, well, you can go to jail or you can go into the military.

Greg Birch: Yeah, I remember that. That was a thing. I remember that. That was, that was a thing. That was a thing. That was

Erin Marcus: a big thing. That was a very common thing.

Greg Birch: It was the closest. The closest we got to a draft is possible. Right. Right. It’s like, well, you’re a delinquent, a piece of shit. You could go serve your community in jail, you know, clinking on rocks.

Greg Birch: You could go mop floors in the army. It’s like, I’d rather mop floors, bro. I

Erin Marcus: don’t know that they knew what they were saying. I think a few of them would have made a different decision.

Greg Birch: I remember that.

Erin Marcus: Right. So you come out of that. What made you decide to like, do something on your own versus. The people I know who come out of the military and then do like they’re in all they’re so far from a frame of reference of you’re in charge of everything.

Erin Marcus: You have to come up with everything. Like it’s even harder than people of corporate careers and then make that jump.

Greg Birch: I being an officer. For the most part, if you’re a good one, I’ll caveat that for going, you’re the jack of all trade. Like you have to understand every single piece within your organization and you have to be able to do it.

Greg Birch: Not to the best, but better than a passable score, right? To where it’s like, Oh, this is still good work. Right? So you’re going to have specialists, you’ll have chief warrant officers, you have NCOs that are specialists in that. But like, if they’re gone, if they’re on leave or something like that, you have to be able to step in.

Greg Birch: Right? And you have to be able to know that the job’s being done correctly. And the only way you know that the job’s being done correctly is if you can look and do it. So, so coming, coming out of the military of, I took, I took a lot of pride in that and being able to be the guy that I could jump into any job and I could do every piece of it.

Greg Birch: Right. Now I will say that a lot of NCOs used to tell me all the time, like, sir, you’re an officer go like, you don’t need to be doing this. I’m like, I’d be there turning wrenches when I was a young lieutenant, like down the motor pool, turning wrenches. And they’re like, the fuck are you doing down here, sir?

Greg Birch: I’m like, Hey, my guys are down here. I’m going to be down here doing the same thing. Cause if they aren’t here. I have to still be mission effective, right? So understanding that piece of it helped me, I think, become an entrepreneur where I’m now, everything’s on me where the biggest hangup that I had in the transition was, was the uncertainty of it.

Greg Birch: It’s living in a constant state of uncertainty.

Erin Marcus: Oh, that’s so true.

Greg Birch: Cause that’s what it is. That’s being an entrepreneur. It’s just like, I wake it up every day with your butthole puckered. How am I going to get paid today? Like, I wasn’t, I wasn’t used to that. I was used to being, to being a very structured, you’re going to be here at this time doing this.

Greg Birch: And I’m always going to get paid. I know exactly when I’m gonna get paid. I know like. There was no question, right? There’s no, it was, I was certainty. So trading that certainty for uncertainty and now realizing that, like, I don’t know exactly what I need to do. I just know I need to do a lot of stuff and I need to do it a high level.

Greg Birch: And I just need to start throwing shit at the wall and see what sticks. And then when it’s stuff that sticks, stick with it. Now it’s

Erin Marcus: right. Throw the intention behind it

Greg Birch: and just start do and stuff that doesn’t stick, get rid of it really quickly and being willing to fail. They’ll fast, they’ll hard get up and keep moving, right?

Erin Marcus: It’s so true. And it’s interesting because like, before we hit record and we were talking about your, some recent experiences you had, and I want to get into this because I have a friend who has a similar story with a heavy military background and he owns a very successful multimillion dollar business.

Erin Marcus: And it’s funny to listen to him tell the stories of the things he had to learn as a leader and how things are different. You talk about the uncertainty and he talks about the first thing he had to learn that is outside of the military when you scream at people they can just leave as opposed to inside the military where they can’t do it.

Erin Marcus: You can yell and they don’t, they don’t get to leave you. You’re still in charge at the end of the day and learning a new approach to leadership, right? But you’re using a lot of phrases That are very host. Some personal journey work phrases that I doubt you would have defined those things quite so succinctly in the beginning, right?

Erin Marcus: Yes. No, you’re right. Where, right? How did you figure out? Cause this was a big shock to me. I come out of corporate. I had a very, very successful corporate career that I was like, Oh, Erin’s so great. Erin’s so great. I’m so brilliant. Look at all I’ve done. I’ll do great on my own. Right. And that’s when kind of like to your point, you realize you were really successful on a very narrow path that somebody else created.

Erin Marcus: Now the wheels are off the bus, nobody knows what they’re doing and it’s all on you. The biggest shock to me was that it was more about how I was thinking than what I was doing that was going to be the difference.

Greg Birch: You’re, you’re on the money there.

Erin Marcus: How did you, like, that was one of the most horrif like, blue collar, grew up in Chicago, work ethic, work harder, work harder, work harder, I’m thinking I’ve got this, and then you realize, all wrong.

Erin Marcus: All wrong. So, was that like an ah ha moment for you? Was that a slow, a slow immersion in there, like?

Greg Birch: It was, it was a slow decline into a pit that I then grabbed a shovel and dug deeper to

Erin Marcus: think like, just this activity, activity, activity,

Greg Birch: right? I’d tell somebody came by and said, Hey, idiot. Maybe

you should look

Erin Marcus: over here instead.

Erin Marcus: Yeah.

And

Greg Birch: you ever have one of those conversations that you necessarily didn’t want to have, but you’d need to have? Oh, yeah, you were told something that it clicked in you and you’re like, man, that’s that’s that’s It’s like an epiphany at the same moment. They see they said you’re like, man, it’s so fucking accurate

Erin Marcus: Is that really that’s what it is?

Greg Birch: That’s that’s what happened to me you know when I first started sales and I think what happened to me Is has happened to a lot of people where I got initial success My first three months in sales, I started in an insurance company and I started in October at the end of October, like literally last two days, October is when I actually was able to start selling from getting my license.

Greg Birch: And they started at the beginning of October, they started a fourth quarter blitz of like competition of all the new agents that have been with the company for two years or less. And. When I came on board, the guys that brought me on board, they liked me. They’re like, dude, you’re heart charging. You’re fucking go get her.

Greg Birch: Like we’re going to, we’re going to get you to make, to fucking win this competition. And I did, I beat everybody nationwide. Every agent that was brand new across the nation. I’ve got a football over there. It has fourth quarter blitz 2017 MVP. Right. And what that did was it got me a big fucking head, right?

Greg Birch: 2018 was just a steady like Fresh and burn and it was because brutal it was because I was I was looking for a quick solution I was looking for I was I was looking to shortcut and not do the fucking basics that everybody has to do to be successful Because I think that’s

Erin Marcus: not you know, and here’s the thing though.

Erin Marcus: I don’t think You’re talking about that now and I know you’re past it. So you’re like, okay, that was wrong. Yeah. But I don’t know. In the moment, I wasn’t intentionally right. It’s not a malicious wrong. It’s not a manipulative wrong. It’s not an entitlement wrong. It’s a success driven. Let me see how I can make this happen faster.

Erin Marcus: I was talking to somebody yesterday and what he said the way he put it was fantastic. Everybody thinks. only about the next sale in their business. And yet, if you thought about your business as a 20 year situation, it wouldn’t bother you as much to take one year to get it great. Instead of taking one hour to do a crappy job at it.

Erin Marcus: But because we don’t think about that 20 year situation, we just think about what can I do right now to get as much as I can right now to solve this problem right now that we don’t, we, you know, we kind of, we set ourselves up for failure in a way by being that short sighted.

Greg Birch: And that, so I feel like there’s levels to it and I agree with everything you said.

Greg Birch: And I feel like that’s the next iteration of what I was going through at that time. Because that was more of a

solopreneur.

Greg Birch: Right? I was that solopreneur. And in November, literally almost a year later, this is November 2018. I’m in a different company now. And I’m seeing this guy post all these numbers. Of these sales.

Greg Birch: And I’m like, dude, how are you crushing it, bro? Like what’s going on? We have a conversation on the phone. He lives in Chicago and I live in Dallas. And he says, Hey man, I go out to Dallas all the time. Cause there’s leads are plentiful out there. And I, he stock up leads for like a three weeks, every three to four weeks, he’d fly out to Dallas, spend a weekend and just run business like mad and then go back.

Greg Birch: So he comes the weekend before Thanksgiving. In November, 2018. Now this particular month I had done maybe, I think I had done like a thousand dollars worth of sales a week, maybe 2000, my guys get into holidays. I wasn’t really fucking my own. So we sit down, he comes out, he meets me. We go out to serious pizza, which is a little pizza by the slash joint downtown a little Be Bellum and, and I, and I sit down, I’m like, Hey man, how’s, how’s a business this weekend, right?

Greg Birch: This is Saturday night. He’d gotten Thursday. And he sold Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and this is Saturday evening. He just finished his last appointment. He’s like, yeah, man, I ended off at 36, 000. And I’m like, the fuck? Like, 36, 000 for the month so far? He’s like, no, for this weekend. And I’m like, what the f Bro, bro, give me the fucking secret sauce.

Greg Birch: Explain

Erin Marcus: this to me.

Greg Birch: Cause I’m like, this is my backyard. You don’t even fucking live here. I’ve done like 3, 000 for the month. So far, and you’ve done like 36, 003 days. What the fuck? Right, right. And he’s like, and he’s very calm. And he’s just like, well, Greg, let me ask you some questions and see how I can help you.

Greg Birch: That fair? And he was like, yeah, that’s fine. And he starts going through these questions and he’s asking me questions like, hey, What’s your lead flow look like? Are you buying leads each week? Hey, are you going to training every single week to, to, you know, to be part of the group? Are you, hey, what are your dial days look like?

Greg Birch: Are you controlling your dials? Are you controlling your activity? How many appointments are you scheduling every single week? And he’s going through all his questions, right? And I’m tap dancing. I think I’m answering great because I fucking don’t have the answer and I, and I, and I know internally like, I know what he’s looking for and I know what I’m doing, but I’m doing something that’s different because of this, that, the other.

Greg Birch: And I’m like, justifying it in my mind. Right. Yeah. So I’m tap dancing. I think I’m doing well. And after a few questions, he just looks at me and he smiles and he’s like, Greg, I know what your problem is, man. And I was like, what’s that? And he’s dead pan. He looks me through and he’s like, Hey, Greg, you think you’re special and you’re fucking not.

Greg Birch: And I was like, for context sake, right? This guy was a Russian American. He’d had his citizenship for a fucking year. He sounds like grew and looks like grew from despicable me. No shit. Like, and I’m like this, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve fucking got blown up in Afghanistan and Iraq, motherfucker. I’ve like caught soldiers in combat.

Greg Birch: You telling me that I’m not special. But then he followed up with it. He’s like, dude, I’m not special. I’m not special either and I know this and so I follow a system that works and the system is I go to training, I fucking buy leads and he’s, and he’s going over it and he tells me the justification, the reasoning behind it

and

Greg Birch: afterwards I was like, dude, he’s fucking right.

Greg Birch: He’s fucking right. And he was because I was like, dude, and what it was, it was ego. It’s because I’ve had some experiences. I’ve had these, these things, these great things that I’ve done in my military career And so I’m coming out with like. I’m going to do it my way. And I was trying to do something my way when I should have just been following the system.

Greg Birch: And you know, just for context sake, I, in 2018, I sold about 75, 000 that entire year, right. And I, right after Kim and I had that conversation in December, I started changing things. I started following the system. In 2019, I sold 425, 000, right. It was a massive difference.

Erin Marcus: And it’s so funny that you and you call the ego and I had a similar conversation with a coach and this is what she it’s so interesting like people really need to realize that this is such the key I forgot what I was complaining about but it came down to the fact that I was doing all this work I know I’m smart I know I do this I you know MBA all the you know corporate background yay yay yay how come it isn’t working instantly Right.

Erin Marcus: How come I wasn’t already at that million dollar mark? How come I wasn’t already? And it’s funny. I think my conversation was in 2019. So we’re right on. How come I wasn’t already there? And. She looked at me and she said, You’re very impatient. And I took that as like, Yes, I’m impatient. I want to, I expect to do the work, but I also You’re a doer.

Erin Marcus: I’m a doer. So I expect to do the work, but I also expect the work to actually work. And she looks at me and she said, Do you know what impatience is? And I said, what? And she said, it’s entitlement. And it’s like, like mouth drop. Cause entitlement to me is like, this is not, it’s the opposite of my value system and it’s entitlement.

Erin Marcus: Why should everything work for you? Why should everything just be like, And I had the same exact response that you did, where I was so horrified at myself. And it was also one of those moments that I might get frustrated or whatever, but I’ve never been, I’ve never had that feeling again. I was so horrified with the truth about the way that I was thinking.

Erin Marcus: It’s like instant solution.

Greg Birch: Yeah, it’s crazy when a mirror is hold up, held up to us and shows us

Erin Marcus: an educated mirror though. Yeah. Right? Like a constructive,

Greg Birch: yes. Educated mirror. All of us have downfalls. All of us have struggles. We all have past traumas that hold us back that are like literally keep us spinning us in the same loop.

Greg Birch: A lot of, there’s a lot of people that probably listen to this, that. The same thing keeps happening in your fucking life, right? Right. We keep calling it. Why

Erin Marcus: do I keep hiring my mother? I don’t understand.

Greg Birch: Why do I keep dating the same women that keep it crazy? It’s because you have some past trauma that’s causing you that you’re living in the past and then you’re manifesting and you’re creating it in your reality, right?

Greg Birch: And so part of that is like when, when someone holds it up to us and we see it. Clearly, and you have that, that realization, that’s you, that’s like, that’s like your subconscious and your conscious mind almost coming together at that point. And you’d be like, Oh shit, it’s like this epiphany,

Erin Marcus: right? But the challenge in that moment, and this is the other, one of the other things I want to talk to you about the challenge in that moment, you have a choice in that moment.

Erin Marcus: You can choose to be defensive or you can choose to be open to the feedback, right? Because I think there’s probably been several of those opportunities for me in other situations that I didn’t click in on, for whatever reason, right? I was closed to the feedback.

But

Erin Marcus: when you can be curious about yourself, right?

Erin Marcus: And why you do things and why something may or may not be working and be open to those feedback loops. That is really how you can propel your progress faster.

Greg Birch: Even being defensive is, is part of the ego. How many, how many times have you witnessed or maybe even experienced yourself, a hater, a hater says, a hater says something that’s just like, you’re like, man, fuck that person.

Greg Birch: I hate her. I don’t care what they say. That can bother me happens. Right. I had a conversation with somebody the other day. Literally just actually yesterday, it was, it was a, a, a new client that just came on board and she was talking about how New Year’s Eve, she took pictures and somebody, this girl that she knows that there used to be friends, but they’re not stupid situation, right?

Greg Birch: Yeah, but they saw the pictures and they were talking to a joint friend, a middle third person. It was like, oh, is she pregnant? And she’s not pregnant, and she just looked a little bloated, right? And she was like, fuck this girl, blah blah blah, and I was like, you know what? This is what, I was like, you know what you can do with this is A, exactly what you said, you can take offense, and you can just be like, man, fuck them.

Greg Birch: I don’t care. She’s just negative. Or, you can say, Is there any truth in that? Why does that bother me? And maybe, and why does it bother me? And maybe why does that bother me? There’s a, there’s a nugget, there’s a, I guess even criticism, even when it comes from the worst place ever from the haters, there’s a probably a nugget of truth within it that you can look and say, you know what?

Greg Birch: Thanks for pointing that out to me. I’m gonna go ahead and fix that shit.

Erin Marcus: Well, and that was one of the things that I learned. If I am. If I have a reaction, there’s a reason because if I was okay, I’d have zero reaction. Like, I’m five feet tall. I’m the opposite end of the spectrum. I’m five feet tall, right?

Erin Marcus: So to make fun of me for being tall, for example. It just doesn’t even register because it’s irrelevant. It’s not a thing.

Greg Birch: Then, you know, so it’s silly.

Erin Marcus: It’s silly. And so that’s how I’ve learned. Like if I have zero reaction, it’s because that’s not a issue that what if it was, it’s been resolved or it just was never an issue.

Erin Marcus: So if something, if I do find myself reacting,

Greg Birch: That’s a good, that’s a good way to. If it bothers you and you’re like, fuck that person, there’s a, if it’s like, Oh, she’s too tall. And you’re like, okay. Go about your day.

Erin Marcus: All right. Okay. Okay.

Greg Birch: Sure. Whatever.

Erin Marcus: Right. If I have a reaction, there’s a reason. Either I’m scared it’s true or I’m scared it’s not true or you know, whatever.

Erin Marcus: But there’s a reason for the reaction because otherwise there’d be no reaction.

Greg Birch: For those of you listening, you need to write that shit down. Like, like, because that’s like, that’s actually a very wise, very simple. Yeah. Yeah. Wise piece of advice that you can take with you in your life. Right. And start asking yourself those questions.

Greg Birch: Just like she’s saying like, Hey, if something bothers you, like, why does this bother me? And actually dig in. And find out ways that you can improve yourself because if you’re the person that forget,

Erin Marcus: right, it either change it or let it go,

Greg Birch: change it or let it go. I would change it. I’m the kind of person I am now is I would change it.

Greg Birch: I’d like, you know what? This bothers me because I am getting kind of pudgy and I do look pregnant. This, that, the other, and I would go fix it. And then I’d go tell that person, thank you for saying that because I highlighted something. I

Erin Marcus: think I’ve got, I don’t know. Is it 10 years that I’ve got on you?

Erin Marcus: Cause I’ll just. Here’s the difference. At my age, I let it go. Cause I would say in, even in my early forties, I would have had the same response as you or like, Oh, let me fix that. Let me work on that. And now I’m much more of that.

Greg Birch: It doesn’t bother you because it’s not important to you, it has no impact in your life.

Erin Marcus: The best thing about getting older is how much I don’t care. The best thing about getting older is how much there is now in life that I just don’t care about.

Greg Birch: And also, I found that when I, as I’ve gotten older, that especially when it comes to business, We’re always putting out fires, right? And I’ve realized that if I give things a day, it usually solves

itself.

Erin Marcus: If you’ve been on my to do list for a while and I keep putting you on the new list, I can probably just stop copying and pasting that. It ain’t gonna

happen.

Greg Birch: Not everything is gonna be world ending. Like, fires, I don’t have to put out every fire. And people can put out fires without me. Yes. So that’s a big one.

Greg Birch: Also, I’ve, I’ve realized as I’ve gotten older, especially in business, I’ve just, the longer I’ve been in business, I start to see the same things. I’m like, eh, you’ll figure it out.

Erin Marcus: That’ll blow , that’ll blow itself out. So I have a we can pretend this is a coaching session and people can see what you’re all about.

Erin Marcus: It’s a, this is a challenge I’ve not solved. I’ve not resolved this for myself in the slightest. So my background, I’m 53 years old now. I did competitive powerlifting since I was 19 years old. I’ve done bodybuilding competitions and boxing and due to injuries from all of those things, I am not able to do the physical exercise that I used to have as so much of my identity.

Erin Marcus: Okay. Right. And stress relief, right? So my go to stress relief was always very physical in nature and it was very tied to who I was. The gym rat. I was the strongest girl in the gym because again, I, so my training partner for years was six, four and he was literally twice my weight. So every time we’d be working out together and I was lifting more than half.

Erin Marcus: Of what he was lifting. I used to tease him and go, you know, technically I’m actually stronger than you over here, right? Bound for bound in competition. I’d actually win. And it’s, I, I absolutely agree with you. The amazing advantage for a entrepreneur business owner. That will happen in their business if they embark on a physical wellness fitness adventure.

Erin Marcus: Like, you learn how to work the plant. There’s so much about not just needing the stamina, but what it takes to really go on that personal journey that will benefit your business, right? And so, what do you, like, I don’t want to liken it to people who haven’t done it yet. Cause I guess that’s a different background, but like, what do you recommend or what do you think about for people like having to make that mind shift and talk about what triggers you and what doesn’t I’m doing great because I’m throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Erin Marcus: If I can’t train the way I used to screw this, I’m not doing anything. Right. So that’s very effective. That’s been working wonderfully. And it’s, it’s just been such a. I have, going back to the ego, going back to, I’ve never had a physical problem I haven’t been able to resolve. And it’s so interesting how this one is just tripping me up and it’s not fun.

Erin Marcus: But I don’t think I’m alone in

it.

Greg Birch: So, I I really want a Lamborghini. Like, I really want a

Lamborghini.

Erin Marcus: You won’t fit in a Lamborghini.

Greg Birch: Oh, I will. I’ve drove one. I’ve drove one.

Erin Marcus: You won’t fit in my Mini Cooper.

Greg Birch: However, I can’t afford a Lamborghini right now. Not, I mean, I, I, I probably could, but it would be like, it would be too, too much of a fucking hassle in my business.

Greg Birch: Like, so, We look, not a good choice. Does that mean I’m not going to buck and drive at all? I’m not going to own a car. Right. Right. So I got my four,

Erin Marcus: it’s completely absurd, absurd,

Greg Birch: right? It’s the same exact concept. And so you’re, I mean, you hit the nail on the head already. You know, it’s ego, you know, I know it is.

Greg Birch: Right. So what do we get? What do we get from the physical activity? Like, what do we truly get? Let’s just break it down scientifically. Okay. And why physical activity is so beneficial, right? One, it releases dopamine. Two, endorphins, right? Two of the things that help you to release stress, happy drug, and it helps mentally, helps combat anxiety, depression, helps clear your mind.

Greg Birch: It helps you to be problem solve, all these things, right? It’s all these mental benefits. So if you know that that’s the case and you’re struggling because you used to, it’s your ego, I used to do this, I want to still do that because that’s my identity. I see it, right? What you need to do, what I would recommend is to, is to bind identity in another thing.

Greg Birch: And there’s nothing wrong with that, right? So take another physical activity that you can start with, that you can start practicing because progress brings joy. Right. You may be a terrible runner right now. You may be like, I’m a fucking terrible runner. I don’t want to run, but go on. Like go on like 20 runs to prove yourself 23 mile runs.

Greg Birch: Can you do a three mile run? Could you, if you really tried, maybe, maybe not. Get yourself to where you can run.

Erin Marcus: This is not an, again, bodybuilding and five feet tall. I always say I’m very curvy. This is not an endurance body. Yes, I get it. Right. But it’s like, it’s like,

Greg Birch: find something that still gets you the endorphins and the, and the, and the dopamine hit rush and Push yourself to do it.

Greg Birch: Almost like you’re proving yourself wrong. Right? Well, and I like wanna prove yourself, right? Like, I’m not good at this. I’m gonna prove myself. Right. I’m gonna do it for three months and then I show you how much I suck at this. I’m . Right.

Erin Marcus: But one of the things you said that I think is very true is progress brings joy.

Erin Marcus: Yes. Pro and I, I think that is also a, and one of the reasons I like physical fitness as a mirror for business approaches is because there is no instant gratification. There’s nothing you can do to get your body overnight. That’s just not how that works.

Greg Birch: It is. It is a concern. And it’s like a journey that once you’ve started, you’re on, on the path.

Greg Birch: The rest of your life. There is no end to it. You know, I had, I had a shoulder shoulder injury in 2016. I used to compete at USPF also. My bench was, I’m tall. I got, I got long. I

Erin Marcus: don’t know how, yeah, those are long levers. That’s not

Greg Birch: my bench used to be 455. And and I injured my shoulder, rear labral tear, had a surgery in 2017.

Greg Birch: I did, I had to go through physical fitness or physical rehab. And, and I was in a sling for a long time, about a year, almost like eight, nine months. And when I came back, even now, my, my, my range of motion is nowhere near it was my strength is nowhere near it was. So I had to find ways to alternate.

Greg Birch: In order to still get a workout in and still feel good. Right. I do a lot of alternative shoulder exercises. You know, I can’t, I cannot use dumbbells. I cannot press dumbbells like that right there is about as high as I can go. No shit. Right. You know, it’s just like, this is not going to go right. And so I have to do machines or I can, now I can do, I can do raises.

Greg Birch: I can do lateral raises and front raises. I can do upright rows. I can, I can do alternative shoulder exercises. I’m just not gonna be pressing a lot of weight, right? Even the bench press. I don’t do as much. I do. I do on a machines. I do a dumbbells. I cannot do on barbells. So I found other ways that I can still get my hit.

Greg Birch: And I’m not going to be pressing the heaviest weight like I used to be like I used to get off on like going to the gym and fucking putting four plates on you. I stop and look and be like, who the fuck is that? I

Erin Marcus: mean, I was, I think I weighed in at like 108. I’m little. It’s not just I’m not skinny.

Erin Marcus: There’s never been bone sticking out anywhere, but I am little and I could press plates. And if you want to laugh, it’s watching the, cause I can’t get it off the rack cause I’m not tall enough. I can’t, I can’t lift it off the rack. So you get the big giant guy standing behind the bench plates on the bar and me laying down on the bench and there’s plates on the floor cause I can’t reach the floor when I’m laying on the bench, my feet aren’t flat on the floor.

Erin Marcus: So I have to put. Braces on it for and you watch the the 18 year old guys who haven’t filled out yet. They’re just starting to you know, guys grow like puppies. They grow taller before they get thicker. Right? So they’re tall and lanky and they don’t have any muscle tone yet. And they’re looking at the plates and they’re looking at the trainer and they’re looking at me and they’re trying to figure out what is going on.

Erin Marcus: And he would just nod and smile and hand me the bar.

Greg Birch: And then they do their jaws kind of drop and then you rack it you look like that’s right. That’s fucking right. You know, and then they’re like, they’re like that meme of the woman that’s doing like the math and they’re like, trying to do the math of like, what’s her weight versus how much does she press?

Greg Birch: Like, what’s my weight and

Erin Marcus: the best one, I forgot what I was doing shoulder presses. I’m built weird for a girl. I can do things I shouldn’t be able to do. And then like other exercises that should have been easy. I can never even do. And I was doing shoulder presses with 40 pound dumbbells. Sitting on the end of a bench and at the child care group walked by through the gym and into the back and this little like seven year old boy stopped.

Erin Marcus: And was watching me and then kept going. And then this guy next to me took his headphones off and he goes, you just changed his definition of a woman.

Scaring, scaring

Erin Marcus: small children. He’s not wrong. He’s not wrong.

It was hysterical.

Erin Marcus: It’s like, Oh my God.

Greg Birch: So I want to, I want to get deep here and I’m going to get, I want to get let’s just say deep.

Greg Birch: Okay. So. I grew up skinny. I mean, scrawny, like I was like Ichabod Crane, baby giraffe, arms and limbs, just, you know, 170 pounds, six, seven. I thought it was genetically. I was not going to, but I was, I was very self conscious about this, right? I was a fast runner, but everywhere I went, people stared at me.

Greg Birch: I’m already, I’m already just a massive dude. But people stare at me and I felt internally like I was a freak that that’s why they’re staring It was my height. I am kind of freakishly tall

Erin Marcus: freakishly little

Greg Birch: and and It bothered me, self consciously, my self image, I don’t, I don’t, so just as much as like there’s people that are overweight that it, underweight people, it bothers them too, in the same way.

Greg Birch: And so when I first started lifting, and I first got into it, and I went, my first deployment, I went from 170, 75 pounds to 250 pounds, that deployment. And so I came back, I was a different human being, look like I ate a person,

Erin Marcus: you gained me.

Greg Birch: And, and I went from being able to barely be able to do 135 bench press to being able to do 405 pounds for like five reps.

Greg Birch: Right. And to, to go from that extreme. Right. So the other, and I found such confidence in my ability to, to attract people in a different way. I knew when I walked into places that they were looking at me because I was jacked, right? Not because I was a skinny kid, right? And so when I got injured and I couldn’t press the same weight, I went through a similar transition period where it’s really challenging for me.

Greg Birch: And when I realized. That ultimately, it had to do with how I felt, this was all within, this was all internal. This was all how I felt about myself. And had nothing to do with, with the external world. Cause both times people were looking at me just because I’m

Erin Marcus: right, the facts of the situation didn’t change.

Greg Birch: No, the facts didn’t change. And so I felt I, I internally, my mind attached. Self worth to the amount of ways pressing and how people would see me in the gym versus who I was as a person, the content of my character, right? And so when I started to realize that I began to unpack it within my mind and within my soul, my spirit, I found other ways that I could find that I, that within myself, that I could see worthiness and greatness within myself.

Greg Birch: And that comes from within, not from externally. It comes from within. Yeah. When you start to see yourself in that way, you start to highlight the things that you’re great at and also the things that you want to improve on and seeing yourself in that same mirror, that same, you know, that, that accountability mirror we talked about.

Erin Marcus: Well, and it opens the opportunity to do what you said before, which is. Do the physical fitness, not because of the external, but because of what’s good, right? When you’re not What it does for you. What it does for you. The advantages and the benefits that it provides. Not just the external, which as you point out, is perception anyway.

Greg Birch: Exactly. Because, right? Because,

Erin Marcus: and I was, I was so, I was, I was ripped. I was so ripped so hard. It’s like giving a gift because

Greg Birch: you, it’s, it’s, as you, like, as you say that, I fucking had this epiphany. It’s like the difference between, we was passed by the holidays, it’s like the difference between giving a gift because you want people to be like, oh my God, you’re the best gift giver versus giving the gift because you truly wanted to, to bring joy to

Erin Marcus: somebody else.

Erin Marcus: Make that person happy. Yeah.

Greg Birch: To make that person happy, right? And the one is more like, I want you to be like, this person’s the, I’m the best gift giver ever. I want people to look at me like that. Right. And there’s like, I just want someone to be happy. I want to bring happiness and joy. And I get, I get joy because you’re joyous.

Erin Marcus: I mean, think about if you brought that to everything that you do, because it’s being not altruistic, but it really is. What’s the intention behind the behavior?

Greg Birch: Yeah, it’s intentional. It’s, it’s, it’s ego. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s having a selfish versus selfless view of the world and your actions,

Erin Marcus: but it’s also, what’s interesting is the ego is attached to something you have no control of and no idea if it’s happening or not, because when I was all ripped, Especially being female.

Erin Marcus: Some people think that looks terrible. There’s a sig But you also

Greg Birch: don’t, at that point you don’t give a shit what they think. No, because

Erin Marcus: I thought that was awesome. Right? Because I thought that was awesome. And my people, quote unquote, my people thought that was awesome. It’s just, right, so it just shows you like no matter what you do half the people aren’t going to approve of it anyway.

Erin Marcus: Just be you. I agree. All right. I’m just going to stop because we could just keep talking. We’ll do this is good. This is just what happens. So, all right. If people want to learn more about you, find out how you can help them with what we’ve been talking about, all the other things that you have going on, what is the best way for them to find you and connect with you

Greg Birch: best way is Instagram.

Greg Birch: I am Gregory a Birch underscore that’s G R E G O R Y a B I R C H underscore Yeah, I, I post content all the time. I’ve been on a little bit of a hiatus because of the holidays and I’ve been spending time with my kids. So I haven’t posted as much, but typically I post reels and content daily in order to help people to be the better version of themselves.

Greg Birch: And I just want to like help as many people as possible. Love it. If you want to learn more about my coaching, I’ve got a website. It’s delta fit life. com. And so I. I go into a lot of detail. I tell a lot of stories and people I’ve helped and, and exactly what I do and how I help. And so you can look at it there, but anyone that wants to send me a message or have a question, I’m, I respond to everybody and I’m happy to do.

Greg Birch: Awesome.

Erin Marcus: And we’ll make sure all these links are available. Thank you again for spending time with me today. I love chatting forever. Yeah, definitely. This is

Greg Birch: great. This is great, Erin. I appreciate it.

Erin Marcus: Thank you. Thank you.