RYB 852: How Health Problems Turned Into A Fulltime Business and The "FAT BURNING MAN" with Abel James

I’m excited to have Abel James here with me today. I love the story about how he started and how it’s led him to where he is today. He’s also gone through many struggles and ups and downs, but he’s come out on the other side, ready to take on the next challenge, take action, and make things happen. It was a great interview and will show you that you never know where your journey will lead you. Let’s get right to it and learn from Abel!    Abel’s Entrepreneurial Start    I loved the saxophone in elementary school and learned to play at a young age. Music was very important to me, growing up and helped me build confidence and become the great speaker that I am today.    In my teens, I was selling things on eBay and selling my music online, too, and have always had an entrepreneurial start.   After college, I worked as a strategist and got my business chops going. However, I wasn’t healthy and ended up being really sick for a long time. I was overweight and didn’t eat well. During that time, I actually ended up losing everything in an apartment fire in Texas. After hitting rock bottom I realized that I needed to make a change and started to research how to live a healthier lifestyle and spent a lot of time doing research to find the best methods for me.  Be Prepared to Pivot At Anytime    Everyone gets burnt out eventually. For me personally, I’ve had multiple career paths, but I’ve created transferable skills that I can take with me no matter what industry or niche I’m working in. It’s important to see the waves and catch them when you can. However, there are times when the rug will be pulled right out from under you. In these moments, you’ve got to be ready for anything and to move on to a new path.    When you work online, you always have to be able to adapt because things are always changing. We’ve gone through multiple business models because things never stay the same. Just stay positive and keep moving forward.    Get out there and go to conferences and meetups, even virtually. It’s so important to build relationships and networks so you can help each other to grow. Your network will be able to help you when you need to pivot.  Abel’s Transition to the Fat-Burning Man    In my 20’s I was following the wrong advice and was getting really sick all the time. When I started shifting my research I realized that I needed to change my lifestyle. I spent a lot of time interviewing people and coming up with my own health plan and within a month I saw a significant change and felt so much better overall.    I started running marathons for a while and realized that it wasn’t that hard to achieve those results. I’ve learned a lot about fueling through nutrition and realize just how important it is. My podcast took off fairly quickly once I started it. I had a lot of listeners and had some great people on the show even in the early days.    I had to deal with getting a roof over my head and making money at the same time as I was working on my business. I was working remotely part-time as a consultant until I was able to make enough money doing my business. I did my “passion project” for free for about two years before I was able to focus on it full time. I knew that I could make this type of business consistent if I put all my energy on it. You always need to make sure that you find a balance between doing what you love and providing for your family