Speaker 3 0:03

You can learn how to perform at a high level and still find yourself asking if it's working for your life. This conversation invites a question: what does performance look like when it actually supports who you are and how you want to live?

Speaker 2 0:18

This is the Your Next Success podcast, and I'm your host, Dr. Caroline Sangal I'm a life first career coach and strategist on a mission to normalize questioning your career because I believe each of us is made on purpose for a purpose only we can fulfill. The longer we live out of alignment with who we are, what we do best, and why we are here, the more we miss out. And the more the world misses out on what only we can give. The Your Next Success Podcast is where we explore how to build a career that truly fuels your life. We talk about self-discovery, smart job, search strategies, professional growth, and you'll hear stories from people who have navigated big career transitions themselves, so you can create a life, first career and become your own version of authentic success.

Speaker 3 1:15

Today's guest is Rob Tracz, high performance coach, speaker and creator of the Prime Performance Process. Rob works with entrepreneurs and leaders who are driven to grow, helping them strengthen resilience, gain clarity, and build consistency in how they show up. His work blends performance psychology with practical strategy, grounded in the reality of what it takes to keep moving forward over time. He also hosts the Surviving The Side Hustle Podcast where he explores the real experiences behind building something meaningful while navigating the demands of life and work. There's a version of performance that many people learn early. It's about showing up, pushing through, staying disciplined, and doing what needs to be done. It creates results and builds progress. It earns trust, and at some point it also invites a question, how is this way of performing, shaping your life? In this conversation, Rob Tracz shares the path that led him into the world of performance and personal development. From early experiences in sports to building a career centered on growth and achievement, he reflects on what it means to stay driven while also becoming more aware of how that drive shows up. We talk about mentorship, self-awareness, and the role of structure in helping people move forward. We also explore how performance evolves over time, especially as your priorities, relationships, and perspective expand. This episode is for anyone who's learned how to push and is now ready to think more intentionally about where that effort is leading.

Caroline 2:57

Welcome, Rob Tracz to Your Next Success. I am super excited to have you on the podcast today.

Rob Tracz 3:04

Well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Caroline 3:07

Awesome. Yeah, I was on your podcast. Loved that experience, thank you for that. if anyone hasn't heard that one, you need to go to the Surviving The Side Hustle podcast. I happen to be a guest of Rob's and he has lots of other phenomenal, fabulous stories that you absolutely wanna make sure that you hear. And now let's get into Rob, let's get into your story. So we're going to get to how you're a performance coach, how you help lots and lots of people. But what about you? Let's talk about your story, kind of your origins. Where were you born? What was life like for the very youngest, Rob?

Rob Tracz 3:43

Yeah. So, um, I was born in just outside of Philly and, um, lived there for a little while until I was about, I'd say seven or eight. And then my parents got divorced and my younger sister, myself and my mom had moved up to, most people say upstate New York, but if you're from New York, and much if you're above the city, um, most people think you're upstate New York, but it's, I consider it like the Hudson Valley. It's not that far, like Poughkeepsie range area. Um, and I lived there all through high school and, and then went to college, undergrad, upstate, um, far further upstate and then came back down, started working in Connecticut area, and then eventually made the move over here and, uh, currently living in Connecticut. So like, hit the whole tri-state area moving through. Uh, life was great kind of up, upbringing. But um, when we were making that transition from Pennsylvania to New York, we had moved around a couple different school districts. So there's a couple years between like first, second, and third grade where I was switching different districts. And, um, that made it very hard to one, make friends because you put in out a lot of effort to kind of connect with people and, and it's really hard to maintain though friendships, right? Because you're a little kid and then you're just moving and made it difficult. So it was always hard for me to connect with people. And eventually I got into sports and, um, athletics became kinda like the gateway to personal development for me. So then I developed this sense of, okay, working hard, kind of moving, working on myself can lead to success in different, whatever that success kind of was. So for me at the time, it was the connection, the friendship, the attention from others, and that helped me do really well. And, and that gateway kind of opened this whole journey, as I was saying, through academics and personal development, and led me into getting, um, going into grad school, getting my master's, and becoming a very successful strength and conditioning coach, but then ultimately hitting, uh, this burnout phase where things needed to change and I wasn't quite ready to make that a shift or dropping that previous identity of myself and stepping into this new role. So that was a whole another journey and path to kind of going onto. So, uh, there's been a lot of ups and downs and personal development and momentum's kind of been the through line for myself all the way through.

Caroline 6:02

Yeah, and so, moving so young. It, I also moved different school districts, different things just as my parents' kind of jobs ended up up shifting, and I think that's something a lot of people don't recognize, especially when you go to an area now, was it, was it still city-ish areas or was it more smaller town like? When the places that I ended up moving, it was like everybody was related to everybody. You know, somebody's, somebody's cousin and all their little, even at first, second, third grade, like the little friendship groups were already formed. So coming in as a new entity is a little daunting and you don't really know who to trust or who you, who can be your friends or any of those things. But tell a little bit more about that.

Rob Tracz 6:44

Yeah, that's so true. And yeah, it was very similar to the same kind of thing. There was family run businesses, everybody knew everybody, cousins, best friends and such. I just remember it was so weird because growing up, just outside of Philly, we were in the suburbs, we had sidewalks to kind of ride the bikes on and run around drawing with chalk. And when we moved up to upstate ish, New York where we have finally called home. I just remember being like, there are no sidewalks. Like it's just like outside and then grass and there's like cows and like trees everywhere. Like what is this? So for me, that was the whole, whoa, where are we kind of thing. Yeah.

Caroline 7:21

Yeah, that's amazing about the, the sidewalk connection factor. Um, yeah, I hadn't connected it, but like when we were trying to get our house before we even had kids or stuff, like, I wanted to make sure there were sidewalks. And I'm pretty sure that's why, because I lived in some places where there were sidewalks and you could ride your bike there, and then there are places where you weren't. And so then you're forced to like ride your bike on grass or packed gravel and neither works very well and or you're just by yourself and you're like, this is kind of lonely, you know? But if you're at least in the neighborhood, you just ride your bike on a sidewalk, you could happen upon somebody else happening to be outside. And so those kind of things. So that's, that's,

Rob Tracz 7:58

And we're not saying there's anything wrong with, uh, non sidewalk towns. It's just that's not what I was used to. I was just used to like a traffic light at every intersection, and then I was like talking to my dad one time, I was like, I think there's only one traffic light in town, it's so weird.

Caroline 8:11

Yes, yes, yes. Wherever you are, there's great, amazing things about it. But coming is in as a newcomer. Even some, you know, regular infrastructure, things that you take for granted can help that transition. But I always thought that it was easier for boys than it was for me. And based on your experience of it was still difficult and challenging to find friends, maybe it's just difficult and challenging moving as a child. Regardless. It doesn't matter, boy, girl.

Rob Tracz 8:41

I think, I think it definitely is just challenging regardless. Um, and'cause I was a young age and I didn't really, I didn't really have too many hobbies outside of like just watching TV and playing like video games and, and I'd never wanted to play sports. Like, I remember my dad talking to me about like, he's like, you should play flag football. You'll love it, you like watching football with me. And it's the same thing except you got a flag in your, on your pants and people try to grab it. And I'm sitting there thinking that there was like a flagpole and like I had to run around with this like flagpole attached to me, I was like, I'm not gonna do that. That's, that's weird. So.

Caroline 9:15

Yeah, that's, that's cool. All right, now what about, um, what did your parents do for work?

Rob Tracz 9:23

So, um, so my dad was an aircraft engineer working over at Boeing and he worked there for his entire life. And then my mom was, had some type of office job when she, when we lived in Pennsylvania, and then when we moved up to New York, um, we spent a year in like a trailer park where my mom was adjusting and trying to find a new job, and then when she found a job, she was working some sort of office role in an environmental, um, type of business, so I, I'm not a hundred percent sure what her role was, but um, that made a big transition'cause we were pretty comfortable when we lived in Pennsylvania and then moving to New York. It was like, okay, well now we can't afford a lot of different things, we have to make these big adjustments. I didn't really have too many friends. I was, uh, I didn't know that sports was gonna be the huge game changer that it became for me. Uh, so

Caroline 10:20

Literal.

Rob Tracz 10:21

I was kinda like afraid to do that, afraid to make friends and like I was a shy little kid and I just wanted to kind of keep to myself. And it wasn't until we made it to Highland, which is that small town we called home that I met my friend Sean. And Sean was the same as me, very, um very, like internally driven. He also liked like Pokemon cards and video games and a lot of stuff that I liked and we bonded over that. And his dad was also the youth football coach, so his dad is what inspired me or got me to come out to football practice in the first place.

Caroline 10:53

Did you start with flag football or by that age? Where is it just real football?

Rob Tracz 10:57

Well, at that age, um, there was like an in-between. And um, so there's like a tackle football, but it's like for the young kids and there's a lot of different rules on that. But the problem was because of my current hobbies at the time, I was heavier than everybody else in my grade. So the few friends that I had in my grade, I didn't even see at practice, so I had to play on the team older. So I didn't even get to play with my friend Sean or his dad. I got stuck with a new team, new coach, new people that I had no idea who they were. So it was even more traumatizing to me because I got older kids now, can't, not making friends. I don't know what I'm doing. The very first day of football practice, I learned two major life lessons, the first one was that you can't wear jeans to football practice. So I figured that out and I was like, all right, good, got that down. Second thing I learned was like, Hey, I can, I'm terrible at this. I was like, I don't, I'm really bad at this. And I could see some of these other cooler kids to seem to get through everything with ease. Like they run so fast, they can do the warmup laps, they can do the pushups, they can do all that stuff really well. I started to internalize that, and I'm struggling to go through like the jumping jacks and the warmup stuff in the beginning, but my older brother was the one who kind of mentioned to me, he's like, Hey, if you do these things on your own at home, that'll make it better for you to play when you're out there. So then I started to do those things on my own at home, got a little bit better in shape, and then eventually the following year I moved into a different position, started playing a little bit better, which then led to more playing time, more friends, more friends, eventually led to more birthday parties. More birthday parties led to better make sure your grades are doing well. So then I was like, okay, now I gotta learn to prioritize, get my homework done before practice this, this, and that. And that kind of became like the system that I followed for so long that helped me be successful.

Caroline 12:50

How much older is your brother?

Rob Tracz 12:52

So he's about four years older than me, or I guess was, so my mom ended up remarrying and he was a stepbrother of mine. Um.

Caroline 13:02

so did he live with you or was this like an older brother that stayed with your dad? So this was like, is this new family, older brother? Yeah. Okay.

Rob Tracz 13:10

This would be, yeah, my mom's husband's son, so he's a stepbrother and he would live with us every once in a while'cause he still went to his mom's also, so he did just split time and then I would see him every once in a while and he would, um, he would, he's a little bit older, so he was always like, Hey, you gotta start working out, you gotta do things if you wanna play more, have more friends and stuff like that.

Caroline 13:32

Oh, it was nice to him to be a, a bit of a mentor, like not just a brother, but like really taking that role and, and doing what he could to give you some, um, helpful advice that really kind of really improved your social life, your regular life. Now, what about in school? Were there any subjects that you actually enjoyed more than others?

Rob Tracz 13:54

Yeah, thinking back on it, like I really, I really enjoyed the school, the school district that I kind of stayed in. I, I really like all my teachers, I've reconnected with a lot of them actually after undergrad and kind of like revisited the school. I've spoke at the school a few times um, so it was like teachers, great place and they've really helped me kind of keep myself focused and kind of going through. And I remember in high school actually, um. So for, just to give a little background, so in high school I played football, wrestling and lacrosse, and football was my favorite, lacrosse was my second favorite, but wrestling was probably my best sport. So I was a varsity captain as a freshman and there's a lot of pressure and my coach put a lot of, um, expectations on me, not only for myself to do well, but then also as a role model for the, for a lot of the other guys. So, wrestling took a huge priority for me during the season my, uh, global honors teacher, uh, really saw that it was weighing on me a lot and she would come to me afterwards and be like, Hey, talking to me, saying like, what's going on? I explained to her how tough wrestling had been and all the expectations and things like that, and she was so understanding that instead of just being like, Hey, you just gotta get that done or you gotta get your grades up, she like worked with me to help me create a better plan so that I could fit my studies back into my schedule and my life so that I could continue to do better. She did show a little bit of tough love, and she's like, Rob, you are an athlete. Like, you know what it means to like buckle up and put in the work. So this isn't gonna be easy, I'm not gonna just help you with your grades, but like, you're gonna have to show up and put in the effort and, and I'm so grateful that Ms. Gruner did that because that really helped me be able to adapt down the road, especially in grad school, and different things to make changes for, uh, according to the priorities that I held important at the time.

Caroline 15:50

It seems like there's a lot of people that have come into your life given you advice, and you listened and you took it, right? And, and sometimes'cause people will be like, oh, teenagers are difficult and this and that. And I, and I have some, and they're, they're, uh, fun in different ways, but like, why do you think that there were certain voices that you actually wanted to listen to and take action on that, like what? How did they show up differently than anybody else trying to tell you what could or could have been done?

Rob Tracz 16:22

You know, that's a great question and I'm not a hundred percent sure why. I think maybe, uh, part of me understood that um, so some of, I, I think I understood certain influences, so, because there's also a lot of, let's say, not as positive influences in high school with other kids and, and different parties and things like that. But I think when I had moved to Highland and I had gotten connected with my friend Sean and the core group of friends that I had, I think they were a huge role model because there was never really pressure to go out partying or drinking or any of these other things, especially in high school. And as a group of friends, we really prioritized athletics and I think that also allowed me to develop a good relationship with, um, with the teachers and the other coaches and role and the other models that like I looked up to, and I think that helped me kind of make better decisions. So when a teacher that I cared about and genuinely liked came to me and showed interest in me as well, not just like, Hey, you need to get your grades up, but like, Hey, let me help you with this. I think that was an opportunity for me to then like pay attention. Like, oh, okay, they don't just care about X, Y, and Z. They actually care about me, it seems like they're interested in not only my grades, but my general wellbeing.

Caroline 17:45

That's awesome. Now, when it came time to figure out what you were going to do after high school, what even went into that decision? Like who did you listen to? What did you consider? How did you ultimately choose to A, go to college, and B, where to go?

Rob Tracz 17:59

Yeah, so, um, well because of sports being kind of like that main thing for me, I, and I, any free periods I had, I was always in the, in the gym classes playing badminton or whatever the other things were going on. So I was like, oh, that's it, I'm just gonna be a gym teacher, this is gonna be awesome and great. And I started looking and my football coach went to this one school, actually two of my football coaches went to SUNY Cortland and SUNY Cortland, upstate New York was, is well known for phys ed. So I was like, that's it, that's where I'm going, I applied to a bunch of different schools, um, and they all I got, I got accepted by all of them, but then Cortland was the only school that I applied to that didn't recruit me for football. So then I was like, all right, well, I really want to go here, they didn't recruit me for football, so I was almost like, all right, I'm going to, I'm gonna go there and I'm gonna walk on and play just so that I can prove to myself and to the school and all this other stuff. So that was pretty much why I decided to go to Cortland. Um, and then it worked out because I walked on, made the team, um, had some playing time, scored a touchdown, college football, so I was pretty amped. Um, but then I quickly realized that I didn't want to be a phys ed teacher while I was in school. So then I was like, all right, well, tried to think about like, okay, well what am I interested in? I love being in the gym. I love working with the teams. I love working with, with everybody, kind of like for this improvement. Personal development's always been a thing. I was always the guy who was like reading Men's Health magazine and like sharing odd facts to my friends. And I was like, all right, well maybe, maybe the gym, maybe something around there. So I, so I found that I could study Kinesiology, which is the study of human movement, and I've really enjoyed that. And as I was, I shifted out of football and I started playing rugby and that was amazing experience because that was the same athletic physical components as football, but then there's also this much bigger social component and it was different. So it was unique and new and it was a new challenge for me to learn. Um, so that, and then playing, I realized I could continue that team comradery, after football, after college.'cause that's something else I could continue to do, but once I graduated with Kinesiology, I was like, oh, well what am I gonna be doing now? So I did an internship in the strength and conditioning facility and I was like, wow, this is great, this is an opportunity for me to be around, not necessarily just my team, but a lot of other teams so I can continue to preach and talk about personal development to help these other athletes become better versions of themselves so that they can play better and work and win championships and so on. And when I made a shift into like strength and conditioning and realized like, oh, I wanna get my master's and I want to get really good at this. So I got my master's in exercise science concentration in performance enhancement. And that was just like a whole new world for me because that was like, okay, now that I have this done, where do I wanna go? How do I continue to help people? And that became like a whole new world for me as well.

Caroline 21:43

I forgot to ask, from your younger self, pick an age when you started to make sense of the world and look around at adults or what you thought success was, what did you think from like a, a pre version of what you know now? So.

Rob Tracz 22:02

Really good question. So what was the, what was the definition of success for myself? Like maybe when I was like younger, before college?

Caroline 22:11

Yeah. Yeah. Or, or even like at your youngest self, right? Uh, you know, even moving or like, what was success, because I imagine life in Pennsylvania is very different than life in New York. And so at some moment of time, you started out with a definition of this is what it means to be a successful adult. This is what they look like, this is what they have, this is what they do, this is who they are. I know that inevitably those who really embrace personal development and, and you in all arenas and now performance coaching and all that, outside of just physical things for people. I know that your definition has likely shifted, but what did it. What was it, and then we'll talk later about how did it evolve.

Rob Tracz 22:54

Yeah, that's great. And I, um, I think, you know, as a kid, the first thing you assume success really is, is just like financial success. Like, okay, well how do you make more money? Because when I was younger, we coming from a spot where we had money and what we seemed like we were comfortable to then moving to New York, living in a trailer park and then not having the same resources as a lot of other families that I grew up with, made it like, okay, well money is the top priority. So I think for a lot of the things was like, okay, well, depending on what colleges I'm going to like the finance thing was always something there, like having to take out the student loans, having to pay those back. All that pressure was all on top of me, so I think at the time it was like, all right, I just need to make sure to be successful. I just need to make as much money as I possibly can.

Caroline 23:41

Okay. All right. So now you're in, you know, you decide and you go to grad school and you get the exercise, um, science and all of those things. You've had this introduction into kind of more personal training, relations, uh, ships and, and coaching people on their fitness, as well as the whole overall component. And then how did you choose how to branch off after that? Like, and then what happened, you know.

Rob Tracz 24:08

Yeah. Are you familiar with, um, strength and conditioning industry as like a professional industry by any chance?

Caroline 24:14

Just from, just from hearing you say it on other podcasts, but I bet my listeners are not. So,

Rob Tracz 24:19

So, there's typically like two main routes. There's obviously a lot of things you can do, but usually you either try to go collegiate, working with different high school, college, maybe even professional teams, and try to work with a single organization and then hopefully build yourself up to bigger, more lucrative finance like, like uh, organizations. With that, there's a lot of job insecurity, so you don't know where or how long you're gonna be in one spot. If a head coach gets fired, you might lose your job when a new coach comes in, brings a different staff. So that was always kind of uncertain for me, so I decided to go the opposite one, which is the private sector, which tends to be a little more entrepreneurial. You get to kind of control your schedule, owning a gym, you get a lot more control over things and, and when I took that step, I realized that there's a, the ceiling for how much money you can make is so much higher compared to the college and professional setting, because the more clients, the more people you bring in, the more money you can make. And then I realized the more hours that I work, the more money I could bring in. So when I started doing that, I quickly scaled my book at business up to this point, working 15, 16, 17 hour days, training sessions back to back to back, starting as early as 3:00 AM and not ending till around 10 on other days, doing that seven days a week. For almost three and a half years straight, like holidays, birthday parties, like I worked through all of it and on paper I thought I was being success because, or had success because that's what I was doing. I was, I was making a lot of money and I was doing really well for myself at such a young age, and I was excited and, and happy, and I was motivating me to keep going far, plus you pair my identity as an athlete and yeah, no, like someone tells me you can't, or you should slow down because you're working too much, that's just fuel on top of me saying like, oh, you don't think I can keep going? Let me prove it. And I would just keep driving, keep grinding and keep, keep hustling.

Caroline 26:15

And also based on what you thought success was, you're doing it. You're executing it like more and more and more give me more, right? Like higher performance. Let me keep going. Let me do this thing. And I imagine that you know it, as exhausting as it was, there was also some sort of a component of like, wow, I'm really helping this person. I'm making a big difference in their life. I have to do this because they're leveling up and their, everything is dependent on me showing up here for them. And so like, it just makes this cycle of you being the perpetual helper and who helps the helper. Like how, how. Then how did that work out after several years of what you, you think, in some ways is doing the right thing and it is impacting lives, but what were the effects then that it ended up having on your own life?

Rob Tracz 27:06

Yeah, you know, it's great because I, I called that period, the time when I was stuck in robot mode, right? So like robots as at least right now with where AI is, if robots are still like super efficient, getting a lot of things done, you tell it to do A and it does B, which leads to C and then super efficient and optimized and that was great and I thought I was, had the success that I wanted. But the problem is staying in robot mode too long, you lose out on that human side of yourself, which is like your emotions, your feelings, the awareness of what's going on. And during that time I was financially doing well, but then like, the girl I was dating and I, our relationship fell apart. My own health started falling apart, even though I'm supposed to be this role model for strength and, and health and, and nutrition. I was eating poorly, sleeping poorly, just all these other things. And my friends stopped calling me and my parents would just text me on the holidays because I was never coming home. I was too busy. Oh, I got, I got clients on Christmas. I got X, Y, and Z on birthday parties, so I didn't realize that everything was kind of falling around, falling apart around me. But for the little bit that I did see, I was almost like, okay, so what? Like I'm still wearing this badge of honor of like working harder, harder, harder, and one of the hardest things that I did lose though was my dad to pancreatic cancer, he got really sick pretty quickly, and I remember him leaving me a voicemail in the beginning of June and then passing away before the end of July, just about five or six weeks. And that was tough and I regret not spending a lot of time with him when I still had the availability. And that hit me and I realized like, Hey, this isn't, this isn't what I want to be doing. As I mentioned earlier, he worked at Boeing and he was, he would work for so long, but he had always talked about getting to retirement and wanting to be able to chill and relax in that free time. And then I realized that I was doing something very similar, like, Hey, I'm just working, working, working, making decent money, but I'm not, I don't have anybody to spend it with. I don't have any free time to enjoy any of it and that clicked in my head, but I didn't, I didn't make any adjustments. I just went right back to that hustle and for another year or so, I continued grinding, grinding, grinding, until I finally was like this, enough is enough, this is close to what I want, what I wanna be doing, but this isn't exactly it. I don't really know what it is, but something needs to change. And then that began the journey of one, developing my personal brand, but then discovering what I wanna be doing, which is this Prime Performance coaching. And now I'm on this mission to help other solopreneurs or owner operators who, who were like me, they were the personal trainer strength coach who's stepped into entrepreneurship, but they assumed that the only way to achieve success is to sacrifice themselves, and I wanna be that person who's there to share and show them that like, Hey, you can still achieve success, whatever that might be to you without having to completely sacrifice yourself.

Caroline 30:15

Yes. Uh, well, I want a couple things. First, I'm so sorry about your, your father, and that's, I think that's a trap that, um, a lot of us get in. You were, were getting into it. Even he was getting into it, you know, it's like you, you just keep working and working and working and working and working, and you're thinking that the people that you love, the things that you want to do, they're always going to be there. And then after you get done working, and then there'll be another period of time where you're gonna get to that and you'll be able to enjoy or maybe occasional times that you've ever taken a break and gone on vacation, you can like, oh, this is kind of nice. And when I retire, or when I, you know, do I'm, I'm gonna do more of these things. And then you just keep working to push yourself to that next level of financial independence, freedom. And yet in the meantime people grow up, you know, people get sick, this, this, and, and that and the other happens. I'm curious though, I think there's a, a another part of your story of when you were pushing so hard and working all of those hours for serving multiple different clients, then how do you, how did you switch from go, go, go, go, go mode to now, okay, it's time to wind down and time to sleep. Like that's, I think another thing of, of when you're constantly in that grind and hustle, sometimes we can end up choosing things that aren't, ultimately, aren't the best for us. But in the moment there's, there seems like no other option. So what, what was that like for you?

Rob Tracz 31:45

So I made the decision that like, hey, I want to change something needs to be different here. I can't just trade myself for clients. And like, my clients were great, um, and they, they genuinely care about me, but they still wanted to make sure that I was there for their training session. So everyone's always like, dude, you need to take some time off. Like you should, you should take a vacation or something, but make sure it's not when I'm scheduled to kind of train kind of thing. So it was, it was like a process for me, I'm like, okay, well how do I start to do this? And then I got interested in online coaching and I was like, all right, well if I get some online fitness clients, then I won't have to take on as many in person and then that can start to buy me some time. So then I began to do that a little bit, and then I started researching supplements and, and different products because people had always been asking me about which proteins to use or which creatine brands, and then I was like, well, what? Instead of me referring this out to everybody, why don't I just research a manufacturer and try to figure this out and piece that together? Eventually I saved up enough for some vanilla protein and found out that not as, not everybody loves vanilla protein as much as I love vanilla. So once I then saved up enough for chocolate, things started going a little bit faster and made it up to like 32 products, and now that's pretty great. But I was kind of piecing things together, trying to buy back some of my time. And it wasn't until I started developing my personal brand where I was like, oh wow, I could get into speaking, I could share things, I could share the process that's helped me be successful, this helped me bring awareness to what I've been doing to other people and help those individuals who were, who are who I used to be, and help guide them so they can maybe avoid some of these pitfalls. But that was a process because I'm trying to build a bunch of things while maintaining other things, and then also trying to build back a social life because I'm trying to, I don't want to wake up i'm a hundred years old and still be by myself. I wanna make sure that I'm out there and connecting with people. So I started juggling a lot of different things, which slowed down the progress because diluted focus yields, diluted results. So I'm spread out all over the place and I'm just like at a crawl pace. And just in the past year or two is where things started to like really hone in, it's like, okay, now this is why you do these things. This is why you do the speaking. This is why this is how you do this. And it all started to fall back into place for me.

Caroline 34:11

So as you are looking at your life now,'cause you had been work, work, work, work, work focused, um, but then what were some of the components? So it seems like relationships, seems like, you know, social life, all of that, then did you just start blocking appointments for yourself or how did that, how did that work to, to, you know, reintroduce the greater good of your life, not just on a financial mission.

Rob Tracz 34:37

Well, I mean, I, I started to, and um, I was really poor at sticking to my boundaries, so I would, I would plug it in, but then it would never happen. And so then that would became like a new thing for me to learn was like, okay, how do you stay disciplined to yourself? Like, I understand, like I plug, plug these certain times to work on the business certain times to like do outreach on different other areas. And eventually it became like, Hey, I gotta hire somebody because if I can't hold myself accountable, I need a coach, I need a mentor, I need a strategist that'll help me moving forward and then that allowed me to not fold on my boundaries and allowed me to kind of di dig in and dive into it. So that's why I really appreciate mentorship, not only from like the early days with Ms. Gruner and Mr. Witty and, um, Mr. Caswell, my friend Sean's dad as coaching mentors, but also the people that I find now that I can go to and I can seek out to that'll help guide me kind of moving forward, how to help me solve the new problems that the business has developed, and how do I move forward at a rate that's comfortable and defined by me, that I'm, that I'm appropriate and happy with.

Caroline 35:46

I think this is such an important, um, characteristic to of the top performers in any field have coaches, right? Just like if anybody's ever played a sport on their own, watched their children play a sport, the perspective from the sidelines or the perspective from the coach, or from the perspective of an older, wiser person who's already been there and played the game is way different than the person on the field in the middle of it. Thinking and doing the best they can from their own lived experience thus far. So I think this is so important and, and maybe it's easier coming from a sports-minded world for people to be open and receptive to coaching, but I'm so impressed that, that you got to yourself to a certain level and you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I need to bring in somebody on the outside to help me get to that next level of what I'm seeking. And now you do that for, for so, so many people.

Rob Tracz 36:42

And that itself is also a whole nother challenge that I needed to discover and figure out too. Like I've definitely spent way too much money investing in coaches that weren't the right fit for me. So there's, that's another component too, is like, okay, well, there's a lot of advice out there like, how do I know who to trust and who to follow? And that was a process too for me to kind of figure out like, okay, well is this person aligned again? Is it, am I listening to another Miss Gruner, or am I just listening to Joe Schmo down the road who's not really interested in my best interest?

Caroline 37:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How do you, how do you discern that a little bit? How you, how do you start to to figure that out for yourself?

Rob Tracz 37:21

I think the, um, best thing though is kind of like developing that relationship and thinking more of like a relationship kind of approach instead of just always transactional has always helped me make better decisions, right? So like we want to do business with people that we like and trust and we know. And for me at the time, it was always like, okay, I just need to find somebody to guide me. So I would just throw money to whoever, just to kind of help me get the ball rolling, but then I quickly realized like, oh, this isn't really what I want to be doing. So then I would make a pivot, and then I'd spend more time kind of investing and learning and in today's world, like, it's so easy to understand somebody like to get to know somebody, whether you can have a conversation one-on-one like you and I are having, or maybe you can't. You can still listen to the podcast and get a feel for who that individual is. You can read their book, you can consume their content. So I think is about really aligning yourself or those people with what you're trying to build and grow. And then you can kind of follow through and, and then not being afraid to invest in yourself and the things that you're doing also. So like one of my mentors, I just kind of found him, read his book, started listening to his podcast. I went to one of his workshops, met him, I thought he was awesome, signed up for another workshop, continued working with him, and then eventually he had an opportunity for me to come on and become a facilitator for him. So now i'm continuing to develop the relationship with him as things are growing for him, he's helping me grow, and that's just so valuable, being able to develop the relationships.

Caroline 38:59

That's awesome. How do you find people now that that end up working with you as their coach? Like where is your, where are your people? What are they doing for you to be able to find them?

Rob Tracz 39:10

It's tough, right? Because the people who've gotten the best results from working with me are like that younger version Rob, who's just like grinding in the gym where they don't really have a lot of time going out to connect or maybe they're not even sure that they need the help, so for me, the way that I get connected is through having genuine conversations. Is that relationship kind of growth thing connecting with you and being clear on who it is that I can help and then providing value to that individual that I'm work, I'm speaking with. And then through just being top of mind and connecting and, and sharing a lot of valuable information and resources, my work just kind of gets spread out and I get introduced to a lot of people and, um, just genuine connections. And I have to have like a good vibe with somebody too, right? So like it goes both ways. Like I wouldn't wanna hire, I wouldn't want somebody to just come and start working with me if I can't have like an honest, comfortable conversation. If I feel like I'm on eggshells, or if it feels weird, then it's probably not gonna be best fit or beneficial for them on the other side.

Caroline 40:12

That's so important also to listen to those, uh, those signals and those clues and those feelings that we're having about whatever the environment, whatever the workplace, whatever the working relationship. Yeah. Some people are, are showing up, wanting to do their best to help move their lives forward, the world forward. Those people I jive with, you jive with. Sometimes there's other people that like, they're, they're great people and they, they probably will be served better by someone else. So I think that being honest and listening,'cause you know, in that quest for success, it could be easy to try to take the quick dollar, but that's gonna have other, uh consequences down the line if it's not ultimately a, a, a good fit. So I think that's a, a really, really important point as well. Okay. So I'm curious now, as you've kind of evolved from this, you still have some, some core facets of your work, right? Still some through lines. So this relationships, this people who are striving to be a better version of themselves. Um, and whether that's fitness, whether that's holistic, more holistic coaching, um, and things that you do now, but like how, and, and your quest from not just a financial situation, but now to a more holistic life view of who you're trying to be. How do you now define authentic success for you in this moment?

Rob Tracz 41:36

I think the most simplest definition that I could come up with for success is, is just like forward progress. Like for me, just moving and achieving the things that I set out to do, whether that's connecting with more people, the business, or um, speaking more success. I think success is, is just that forward growth for ourselves, whether that's personally with my relationship with Victoria or we moving forward or we continuing to grow that relationship, is it with my friends? Am I still being able to be a good, uh, friend to a lot of people? Can I support them, my customers and clients? Like am I able to show up and continue to do a better service, provide more value to them? And I think the through line, through all of these different terms of success or parameters of success, I think is just that forward growth in progress.

Caroline 42:31

Hmm. As you fast forward or envision, you know, you living your best life coming forward, let's say a year or two, or three or four from now. What does that look like? What do you wish would happen?

Rob Tracz 42:46

Yeah. So, um, It would be pretty identical to what I'm doing now, I think it would just be a little bit bigger of a scale. I would have a couple more coaches running a lot of different workshops and things that I'm doing, more bigger events, more people. Um, I think it would just be an amplified version of what I'm doing right now.

Caroline 43:08

That's awesome. That's great. That means you're, you're living in your purpose in this moment. Um, and you wanna keep doing and sharing your, your, your voice, your light, your impact. How do people find you? How do they work with you?

Rob Tracz 43:21

Yeah, the easiest place to find me is on socials, um, Instagram and LinkedIn is where I hang out the most. You can find that just by searching my name should be the pop first one to pop right up. Um, but also my podcast, as you mentioned earlier, is a great place to stay connected, hear the stories that I'm learning and connecting with. And that's at survivingthesidehustle.com and if anybody's interested in hearing more about the different strategies that we teach at Prime Performance, um, or if there's any concerns or questions about what I kind of talked about today, always open for a conversation and the easiest place to kind of book a time to chat with me is survivingthesidehustle.com/freecall.

Caroline 43:59

Awesome. Thank you Rob so much for sharing more of your journey, more of your story on your next success. I can't wait to see what you do next and I'm really excited to be connected with you.

Rob Tracz 44:09

Awesome. Thank you so much for having me on today. This was so fun.

Caroline 44:11

Appreciate you. Thank you.

Speaker 3 44:13

Rob, thank you for sharing your perspective so openly. I appreciate the way that you talk about performance as something that can be developed, shaped, and supported over time.

Speaker 44:24

Thanks for listening to Your Next Success with Dr. Caroline Sangal. Remember, authentic success is yours to define and includes aligning your career to support the life you want.