Brian Gryn: How to Quit Corporate at 40 and Build a Thriving Business Without Risk | One Thing That Worked

Brian Gryn

Health coach and host of Get Lean Eat Clean — on leaving corporate for health and wellness, building a business around a specific niche of 40-plus men, and how one hour a day on a passion project is the safest exit strategy

Watch on YouTube Work With Brian
17 minutes
Career Pivot · Niche Strategy · Sleep & Performance · Client Retention

About the Guest

Brian Gryn — Health Coach and Host of Get Lean Eat Clean

Brian Gryn didn’t start out in health and wellness — he was in the corporate world before realizing he was really into fitness and nutrition, and started his business over 15 years ago training individuals in a small studio

Once COVID hit he moved everything online, and today he works mainly with middle-aged men, 40 plus, taking them through a transformative health journey to build strength and sustainable healthy habits so they can live a thriving life

From Corporate to Coaching
left the corporate world when he realized he was really into fitness and nutrition, and started his business over 15 years ago
A Specific Niche
works with 40-plus men on a transformative health journey — at 46, a niche he can relate to and draw personal experience from
Sleep First
the number one habit for high performers — if sleep is not going well, everything else takes a toll on relationships and business
A Book Funnel
wrote a book around his healthy habits so people can read, watch or listen, then decide whether to come into his world as a client

Key Quotes

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If you try to get everyone you’ll probably end up with no one. You’re better off picking a specific type of person that is your client and focus on all your materials and all your content on that individual.

Brian Gryn
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You could buy followers anywhere, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to have a thriving business. It’s really important to just speak to engagement more than anything.

Brian Gryn
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Have something on the side that they’re passionate about. It doesn’t have to be a full-time income, but you never know, over time it could build to more than that.

Brian Gryn

Episode Chapters

0:00 Intro 0:54 Brian’s Line of Work 1:53 Main Things That Worked 3:03 Drawing From Personal Experience 3:59 One Primary Habit for Our Health 6:18 Finding Clients 7:32 How to Be Competitive 10:33 Content Generation Approach 11:28 Making The Best of YouTube 14:01 Advice for Future Entrepreneurs 16:32 Work with Brian

Full Transcript

BTW: This episode of One Thing That Worked is produced by Beverly Media. Featuring entrepreneurs and podcasters who share the one decision, strategy, or habit that had the biggest impact on their business.
0:00 Intro
Brian And what I’ve also learned is you don’t need to have like millions of subscribers to have a successful business. You could buy followers anywhere, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to have a thriving business. So…
Sergey Hey everyone, this is One Thing That Worked. Today my guest is Brian Gryn, who’s an entrepreneur in health and wellness fields, a host of Get Lean Eat Clean podcast and briangryn.com founder. Brian, welcome to the show.
Brian Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it.
Sergey So, let’s cut right to the chase. Tell us about your business.
0:54 Brian’s Line of Work
Brian Well, you know, I didn’t start right away in health and wellness. I used to be in the corporate world and realized shortly that I was really into fitness and nutrition. So I started my business back, gosh, it’s been probably over 15 years ago, and started training individuals at a gym, a small studio, and then once COVID hit I actually moved everything online. I still see some clients, but mainly working with middle-aged men, you know, sort of this transformative health journey that I’m trying to take them through, build strength and sustainable healthy habits so they can live a thriving life. And so yeah, that was sort of the niche that I dove into over the last 5 to 10 years and just been running with it ever since.
Sergey So, what is the thing that worked the best for you since you decided to go into that direction, Brian?
1:53 Main Things That Worked
Brian Well, I would say that, you know, we talked a little bit about having a niche, right? So as I’ve gotten older, I think males when it comes to health and wellness sometimes aren’t always at the forefront. A lot of times it’s geared towards women. And so I thought that 40 plus males was sort of a niche that I felt, since I just turned 46, that I could relate to and help draw personal experiences and help them create custom wellness plans. And yeah, so that was what led me down that road. And I think what’s worked best is just creating a system around certain lifestyle factors that can help you thrive as you get older, and honestly at any age, but I think it’s important to have these principles that you follow and just take one step at a time. And that’s what I’ve sort of built my business around.
Sergey So was it something that helped you? Did it help your personal transformation? Did you kind of build on your own experience?
3:03 Drawing From Personal Experience
Brian Yeah, for sure. I think I definitely drew from personal experience, also just working with clients through the last 20 years. The importance of, obviously, managing stress and sleep and keeping up and maintaining physical activity, and then nutrition and meal timing. When I first started out it was a lot of just strength training, physical activity, and then I’ve grown it to the point where now they all work encompassing together. If you have bad sleep, everything else is going to take a toll. So you have to really make sure that you’re focusing on these main principles and doubling down on those, and then everything else should fall into place.
Sergey So speaking of one main thing that all of us should focus on, the number one will be sleep.
Brian Yes. Yes. Yes. I would say yes.
3:59 One Primary Habit for Our Health
Brian Prioritizing sleep, and a lot of that comes down to just establishing healthy habits, whether it’s a nighttime routine and a wake-up routine. These are all things that can help you establish good sleep patterns day-to-day, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but yes, like you said, if sleep is not going well, everything else sort of takes a toll.
Sergey I’m curious, for high performing men there’s still some men who look at the world through the lenses of, I need to sleep less to achieve more, right? So what do you say to them?
Brian It’s a good question. Well, I would say that if they want to perform their best, they have to prioritize sleep. And if they continually get either bad quality sleep or not enough, it’s just going to take a toll on their relationships and also on their business life. So I think you want to have parameters around grabbing like 6 to 8 hours of sleep, I would say, in that time frame. Some people can get a little bit more, some people less, but I would just say that it’ll affect everything down the road if you don’t prioritize it. So if they want to be their best in the weight room or in business, I think they have to do that.
Sergey Okay, let’s get back to the business talk again. So you have these clients who work with you, and I assume, seeing some of my friends who are in the same space, it’s really long-term clients. You kind of have them for a long haul. It’s not only client to provider relationships, it’s almost friendly relationships in a way, right? So how were you able to find your first clients, and how are you able to sustain the number of clients that let you live a comfortable life, Brian?
6:18 Finding Clients
Brian Sure. Initially most of my clients were word of mouth, and so this just led from referrals and people I knew. So really warm market. As the business has evolved, I’ve created different tools and ways for individuals to find me, obviously nowadays with social media or through my YouTube channel and the podcast, along with creating a book funnel where I’ve written a book around these healthy habits. And so individuals can read the book, and obviously if they’re reading the book it’s going to intrigue them to learn more about what it takes to work with me. So you sort of have these tenets that are out there, and some people like to read, some people like to watch or listen, and it’s just a way for people to consume information and then make a decision to come into my world and maybe perhaps become a potential client.
Sergey But there are so many competitors right now. How were you able to grasp the attention in a world where people have just so little of it left?
7:32 How to Be Competitive
Brian Yeah, for sure. It is a competitive space. I think what’s important is really focusing on, like I said, a niche, a specific avatar. Because if you try to throw out this umbrella on everybody and not have a specialization, then if you try to get everyone you’ll probably end up with no one. You’re better off picking a specific type of person that is your client and focus on all your materials and all your content on that individual.
Sergey Does that mean you have to say no to money on the table at times?
Brian Sure. Not everyone’s a fit. If someone comes to me and I don’t feel like I can help them in a certain way, I’m not going to take them on as a client. And that’s happened. So yes, it needs to go both ways, because sometimes you don’t vibe with an individual, and there’s other people that can maybe help them more.
Sergey Yeah. I interview lots of podcasters and this pattern repeats itself, that the more specialized, the more niche the podcasters are, the more the chances for them to grow. I had a guy who’s in a very technical field. They talk about statistics. He’s a scientist working at META and he’s focused on a really niche specialty in math. So it’s an interesting blueprint that people can follow. The only problem is that we all want to be generalists, especially entrepreneurs. It’s really difficult to just say no to all the other things that you think you know and only focus on this one thing.
Brian Yeah, for sure. There’s a great book, gosh, now I’m drawing a blank on the book. But yes, I think it’s easy to, especially nowadays, and I’ve fallen into the trap of trying to do a bunch of different things. It’s like you just want to focus on one thing. And same thing when it goes to social media, I would say, is you don’t have to be everywhere. I mean, I’m on a few different platforms, but some people really specialize in LinkedIn or YouTube, which is where I’ve put most of my efforts into. But other people are on Instagram, and so there’s definitely ways to reach people. It’s not so easy and it takes time, but yeah, if you try to be everywhere, that’s when you’ll be nowhere.
Sergey Yeah. What is your approach to content production? Because obviously talking to people on your podcast and writing a book seems like two different worlds, right? So were they consecutive things that you done one after another, or did you do that simultaneously?
10:33 Content Generation Approach
Brian Yeah, simultaneously. The book came about, took me probably six months. I worked with a company to help me create the book, and so as I was doing that I was doing it on the side, but I also had help doing it. With any of this stuff, yeah, so I did them together, and the podcast as well. It definitely can be time-consuming, but nowadays I think if you hire and get help and have the right people help you through that process, it can make it a lot easier.
Sergey Let’s talk about YouTube. I’m going to ask you, what are the main things that you think are helping you to grow your audience on YouTube?
11:28 Making The Best of YouTube
Brian Yeah. So, you know, I would say consistency is one thing. Doesn’t mean you have to post something on YouTube every day. Consistency, and then having good thumbnails and titles are very important. Nowadays, I don’t like to be clickbaity, but like you said, there’s so much content out there and you need people to be intrigued. And I’m still trying to figure out what the best way to do that is. But I think if you put out content that is true to yourself and you just double down on that, I think the right people will find you. And what I’ve also learned is you don’t need to have like millions of subscribers to have a successful business. There’s plenty of people who have 5, 10,000 subscribers and they’re very loyal and the engagement is high. I think that’s most important. I mean, you could buy followers anywhere, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to have a thriving business. So I think it’s really important to just speak to engagement more than anything.
Sergey Yeah. This is just a focal idea. I think in terms of YouTube, you have to understand that there’s a difference between your personal blog project, and vanity metrics, chasing these views to make you feel better, to fill some kind of a void that I think you should discuss with your therapist, right? And there’s another path where you actually need the right people to see your stuff. So if you want to sell, we’re actually a video production company and we also produce podcasts for brands. And our clients, they don’t have thousands of thousands of subscribers, but they have people who listen, who make purchasing decisions, that drive revenue and helps their business grow. So yeah, I think you’re right on point here, Brian. From your experience running this business, what would be the lesson that you want people to take away as we’re wrapping up? And also tell us where people can find you and how they can work with you.
14:01 Advice for Future Entrepreneurs
Brian I would say that I think there’s a lot of people who are in different avenues and they have jobs where they maybe feel a little bit stuck, and I think it’s important to maybe create like a backup plan and have something on the side that they’re passionate about. It doesn’t have to be a full-time income, but it could be something that they enjoy and that is a passion of theirs. And I think that’s important, just to start with that and keep their regular jobs. Because you never know, over time it could build to more than that. So having a passion project would be my word of advice for that.
Sergey That’s exactly what happened with you, right? This is how you transitioned, I assume.
Brian Yeah, for sure. Exactly, being in the corporate world, because I have a lot of friends who are in the corporate world. They’re not so happy, but they know that they don’t really have any avenues other than that. So I think time is of the essence. I think it’s important to maybe have something on the side as well, almost like a backup plan, but something that you’re passionate about. So that would be my advice.
Sergey And on this point, Brian, before we close, I like this question, maybe you can weigh in. When is the time for corporate people, when is the best time for them to leave? When is this time when they can safely leave and try a backup plan?
Brian Well, safely leave I would say when their backup plan is becoming, you know, as well as the same. And that’s based on the individual, and that might take some time. But yeah, that’s the whole idea of starting it early and just very part-time, even if it’s an hour a day or half hour a day of doing that.
Sergey The problem is that if you don’t make a conscious effort or invest yourself into this thing, it will stay as a hobby, right? So you kind of got a need to take a leap in a way, I think.
Brian Yeah. Yeah, you are right about that.
Sergey I think yes, start small, but yes, eventually you’ll have to take the leap.
Brian Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
Sergey So, how can people work with you? Who are you interested in working with, because you have limited capacity?
16:32 Work with Brian
Brian Yeah. So, briangryn.com, you can go on there and check out all the content. And I work with all different types of people, mainly middle-aged men, 40 plus, and maybe they’re sick and tired of where they’re at when it comes to their health, and they want to create some sustainable habits for their life. And so yeah, that’s my main niche. But they can check out all the content on my website and YouTube channel, and yeah, reach out if they want to just learn a little bit more.
Sergey Awesome. That was Brian Gryn, everybody. Thank you, Brian.
Brian Yeah, thank you.