Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tony Babcock. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tony, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
Laying down on a giant hardwood floor in a puddle of my own tears, I wondered where I went wrong. The floor belonged to the actor’s studio that I ran in downtown Toronto, and featured gorgeous bay windows, a post-war aesthetic and a space to call my own. Everyone around me celebrated as I told them things were “great”. But they were not.
The reality was, I was sinking under the weight of 200K of debt, trapped in responsibilities of running a business that my poor ADHD brain couldn’t navigate, and telling myself that success was material. As the summer hit, business declined. And because I was renting the studio, and rent was over $6000 per month plus utilities and soon I was paying with credit card checks and empty promises. The pressure was too much.
And then, suddenly – it all stopped.
As I flatlined on the hardwood, shaking with uncontrollable sadness, I looked to the left and saw the FOR SALE sign hanging in the window. My dream was over and my body was processing the grief, the loss, the anxiety and the anger all at once. And then. Everything stopped. A breath of deep awareness and peace came into my body and the words “You do not need this studio. You do not need anything but yourself, you are all you need and you are enough”.
From this moment everything changed. This was the first moment I looked in the mirror and saw the reality. I was hiding behind the curtain and putting on a show (no surprise that I am an actor). And it was time to come out. Within 5 years, I opened my wellness company The Present You Inc., met the partner of my dreams and turned my 200K of debt into 200K of savings.
I started to live my life based on complete and utter truth, honesty and authenticity. I started to fully feel all the feels and teach others to do the same. And whenever I am feeling low or discourage, I lay on the floor and breath and remember “I am all I need”.
Tony, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I like to say I am a healer who helps others through many different vehicles. My training was in psychology, English & Theatre and eventually branched out into Life Coaching, NLP & Breathwork.
I run three main businesses:
IYA Studio for Actors, is an acting studio with heart. We help motivated actors gain more visibility, build their self-confidence and think outside the box to put themselves first – building an acting career with creativity and confidence.
The Present You Inc., is a holistic healing company that helps busy overachievers find calm on demand, so they can gain clarity on their current reality, heal their heart, and take messy, intuitive action on the path to their life’s purpose.
The NO BS Biz Co., which I co-run with Amanda Rose, is a business coaching company that helps overwhelmed biz-owners cut the crap, empower themselves and take quick, cutting action steps towards building their dream business – their way.
Amongst my three businesses, I am most proud of my ability to keep connecting with new people, weathering the storm when industries shift (and they always do), and my ability to pivot quick! I run my businesses through the philosophy of “Yes! And..” borrowed from the world of improv – which means, I am always responding to what life hands me, accepting it and turning it into opportunity and expansion. This is the one skill that has kept me alive.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
One of my businesses, The NO BS Biz Co., is co-run with the amazing Amanda Rose (seriously, if you don’t know this amazing woman – look her up). Amanda and I have a really awesome origin story. We actually met in grade school! Both studying to be actors, we met eachother in a school for the performing arts and we weren’t actually besties or anything (surprisingly). We liked eachother, but we were both so determined and confident in our acting goals that we barely had time for ourselves let alone other people. We parted ways and eventually ran into eachother again in ‘the big city’ of Toronto auditioning for a Commercial. This time, we started to get closer but life wasn’t ready for us to be besties yet. Years later, I happened to see some amazing fitness programs Amanda was marketing in one of her first businesses, and I reached out. At the time I was running a small business as well and we chatted, catching up. Again, years went by. And then, one day we finally had a deep conversation and talked for like 12 hours straight – making eachother laugh and the rest was history. We realized that we have so much in common, namely being overly ambitious Aquarians who DO before we THINK and from this notion we created program after program until we said to ourselves – “Let’s open a business!”
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Complete and utter transparency and honesty. This is the single most important factor in business longevity in my opinion. This builds that trust factor with your audience because everyone resonates with a deep universal connection. The more we can authentically share our message and our story, the more powerful our impact is in this world. Reputation for me is all about consistency. But as someone with ADHD I’ve learned that consistency doesn’t mean you are perfect – it means you own your flaws, lead with integrity and empower compassion in others.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.thepresentyouinc.com
- Instagram: @thepresentyouinc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tony.babcock
Image Credits
These are all personal photos. No Photographer credit is necessary.