We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joe Buckner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joe below.

Joe, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

If I were starting over, I would keep my full time job and build my business on the side. I left a 6 figure job and benefits to open a gym with not much money. If I had kept my job, I would have been able to take all of the money from the gym and invest it back into the business instead of needing an immediate pay check. There is no nobility in suffering and poverty.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am 47 and a son, father, grandfather and friend. I own and operate Beautifully Savage Boxing in Fort Collins,CO which is a boxing based group fitness studio where we have classes that are half boxing and half functional fitness in a group setting. I also do all of the apparel design and manage our social media and marketing campaigns.

What sets us apart is that we are a community and brand before we are a gym. We aren’t concerned with how much weight you lose or anything like that. We only want to remind people that they are worth fighting for. If we can do that then we have done our job.

I am most proud of having created a community of humans who love on and support each other. Whether its a first timer or a veteran, we are a family.

I am also an executive coach and my focus is on working with men who are busy dads and have found themselves lost in their roles as husband, father,employee. I help them get their swagger back.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

In 2016 I wanted to open my gym but had no money or idea where to get any so I reached out to my best friend in Arizona. He had always told me that if I ever showed him a business plan that he would take one of my ideas seriously.

So I called him and asked if I could go visit him and share my business idea. He obviously said yes and I set out writing the worst business plan in history and I set out on the drive to AZ. 16 hours in the car with my then fiancé and her kids and we went to Phoenix and I put him through 2 workouts in his garage in 2 days and asked him if he would help me with the start up money for my gym.

He met with his wife and they agreed to invest $15,000 in my business to get it started.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Books that have helped me tremendously in my entrepreneurial journey are: Shoe Dog
Legacy
Fish
Building a Story Brand
Contagious

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mrjoebuckner.com
• Instagram: @mrjoebuckner