"I don’t worry about myself at night, I worry about the people who work for me and the people who they serve," with Dr. Sean Pastuch
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Dr. Sean Pastuch is a thought leader in the health and fitness world whose industry-disrupting company, Active Life, is bridging the gap between performance and rehabilitation. Dr. Sean believes that the larger the problem, the more valuable the solution. He believes that the biggest problem worth solving is the absence of healthcare and the abundance of sick care in the United States and Internationally. That’s why the mission of Active Life is to humanize the doctor, professionalize the coach, and empower the individual.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I grew up in the best family anyone could ask for. My parents made sure that I learned how to work hard, stand up for myself, and take ownership of my actions. I am intensely afraid of falling short of my own potential and I feel a calling to help other people find the value in pursuing their own. Since I don’t know what that potential is, I have a consistently burning fire to push myself to do more. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it causes problems.
What inspired you to start your business?
I started my career as a personal trainer in 2005 and kept running into situations where my vision for what could be exceeded the industry standard. I kept being told by my client’s doctors that I had to “work around their injuries”, which seemed backward, “who is going to fix their injuries?” I thought. So I enrolled in Chiropractic school to learn how to save the world.
When I realized that most people would prefer not to be in my office at all (because no one wants to make repeat trips to the doctor), I started asking them where they would rather be. One after another they would tell me “in the gym” and “in the ocean” and “playing with my kids”. So I got to work at combining my experience and education as a trainer and chiropractor and began building solutions to help people get out of pain without ever going to the doctor or missing out on their active life. Eventually, that led to creating a whole new industry in which we are teaching fitness professionals and medical professionals how to bridge the gap between them.
Where is your business based?
We work with people from all over the world. We have clients on six continents and in every state in the US. Our Headquarters are in Long Beach NY.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
My business started as an extension of my clinic and my gym. The first step I took was learning where the threshold was between good enough to launch and perfect. The next step was giving away all of my influence for free on social media, podcasts, Youtube, and anywhere I could. The first workshop of the working model that I ever hosted was attended by 60 fitness professionals from five countries and 22 States domestically. We had over 120 applicants to attend and charged $20 for admission. The $20 was just to hold a spot to ensure the best turnout, everyone who we allowed to attend, who said they would attend, did in fact show up.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Giving away our influence. We recently gave away $1,811,000 of education to fitness professionals over a one-week period. We built a product that we planned to sell, and instead, we gave it away when the pandemic hit. The value of that has been people deciding to buy from us who previous to getting the free content had no idea who we were. We give away our best stuff on our podcast, Instagram, and Youtube. It’s the same stuff people pay us thousands of dollars to be held accountable to do, and it’s all there for free.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
There are the obvious ones, like losing my businesses in Hurricane Sandy in 2012, being sued by my next-door neighbor for making too much noise in our gym in the same year (we won the lawsuit, five days before Sandy kicked us out anyway), splitting up with multiple business partners who were also my friends, but none of those were as hard as the biggest one which was personal development.
I believe that if you want to be more successful in business without sacrificing growing your quality of life at the same time, you have to become a better person. That means gaining self-awareness to your blind spots and acknowledging that despite your best efforts, you need to improve how you show up for yourself and for others. I hired coaches and intentionally surrounded myself with friends who would demand of me to improve at all times. I did, and continue to do the difficult work of staring down the areas where I am ineffective and unintentional to make them better. It’s not about you, and everything is your fault.
How do you stay focused?
My assistant and my team keep me on track. My assistant schedules my every move including when I eat and when I take breaks and when I end my workday to spend time with family. My staff depends on me to be effective and to finish things on time. I don’t worry about myself at night, I worry about the people who work for me and the people who they serve. That will keep anyone focused.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
We give away our value and let people see it. We have a clear story to tell and a clear process that we follow. We aim to be the most human, digitally based company in the world and to do that we need to make sure that people feel our support in an overwhelming way.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
The area of our business that is most lacking is marketing. I don’t have a great answer for you here except that we pump out copious amounts of media and stay consistent with our message.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Surround yourself with people who you want to be more like. That means spending time watching Youtube of people you want to emulate, watching documentaries of high achievers, listening to podcasts by people doing what you want to do, reading books, making friends with people and spending as much of your time being influenced by the appropriate energy. And above all, take radical action. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
The podcast app - It’s like taking college courses for free.
Blog - I don’t have any blogs I follow.
Book - Blue Ocean strategy - It’s a simple, and elegant way to think.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Mentors. There is nothing more valuable than a person who wants you to be successful and can help you see how to do it.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Jesse Itzler. He puts his money to valuable use and prioritizes the experiences in his life that the money affords over the scoreboard that is his bank account. He developed meaningful companies and pursues fulfillment. That’s what I want to do.
What is your beauty routine? What are some of your favorite products?
I get my haircut every week on Thursdays at 9 am.
How do you balance work and life?
I have hard stops in my schedule and I buy back my time by hiring staff to do things that I can’t do as well as they can or as quickly as they can. The moment that I can hire someone to replace me, I do. I haven’t taken a raise in three years despite growing the company by 800%. I could, but I would rather be a provider for others and have the time I want.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Barefoot walks
What do you have planned for the next six months?
I don’t plan that far ahead. I think it’s a mistake that people make, like the five-year plan. Who saw Covid-19 coming? How are those plans looking now? My six-month plan is to be enjoying what I do.
How can our readers connect with you?
Instagram is the best way, they can find me at @drseanpastuch, they can find my business that helps people get out of pain without going to the doctor or missing the gym at @activeliferx and they can find my business where we mentor fitness and health professionals at @activelifeprofessional