Tamika Robinson: Really hard for me to have the degrees that I had and then not have the career. So I had to unwire my brain and be like personal training is a career. It’s not like, it’s not a hobby, you get paid to do it. It’s not like you can make this a full-time thing. But it was very hard for me to see that and on wiring my brain and dealing with that I was like, Oh, I had this person’s voice in my head telling me it’s not good enough because you have degrees you need to go get a salary, position or career, whatever that is. So that was really hard for me to deal with for a while.

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INTRODUCTION

Lesley Logan
Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I’m Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I’ve trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it’s the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring Bold, Executable, Intrinsic and Targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It’s a practice, not a perfect. Let’s get started.

Lesley Logan
Hey, loves. Today, I have a really fabulous fun guest. First of all, she makes me smile from ear to ear, I just met her. So that’s really amazing. I think you’re gonna really enjoy hearing her share her true journey of like getting to where she is. I also love the nonlinear road her life has taken because we cannot hear enough how many people have gone to a road less traveled, have gone a road that’s very traveled, but not the, they didn’t have the same starting point as other people. And her honesty and vulnerability is just really amazing. And I hope it inspires you. And I hope it I also believe that like wherever you are in your journey, you can see yourself in her story. I am so inspired by how she truly figured out a way to pay herself while doing a new job while working a nine-to-five and she how she came up with that she shares a great book that I think is really fun. So we take a lot of different chapters in this conversation that just one, I hope you feel like you’re part of it. And like your (inaudible) in your car, on your run that you’re like joining on this conversation to help you see yourself in it. You know, we all are on a journey. There’s no perfect way. And it’s all about turning ourselves on and celebrating those wins along the way. So she does that with her clients. She was with herself. And I really enjoyed her Be It Action Items because I think, I think that you’re going to be surprised and also I think you can actually do them in the next week for sure. Especially well, maybe number one is going to depend on where you are in your life. But number two you could do today. So without further ado, here is Tamika Robinson.

Lesley Logan 3:06
All right, Be It Babe. I’m really excited. I love when I love when people I get to meet new people in general anyways, but especially when they come from people that I love on this planet. Y’all remember James Patrick, he was on that podcast, many moons ago. And he just gave us so many amazing tips on how to set our goals. And he introduced me to this amazing woman we’re talking to today, Tamika Robinson. And so I’m just so grateful to have this shining light in your ears. And if you’re watching on YouTube, today Tamika, can you tell everyone who you are and what you rock at?

Tamika Robinson 3:37
Yeah, um, well, first of all, thank you for having me Lesley. I’m so appreciative. I’m so glad to be here. But I am Tamika Robinson, I am an entrepreneur. Basically my business is Jar Fit. I’m a personal trainer, and I help busy badass women achieve their dream body hit their goals and have everything they want.

Lesley Logan 4:02
So, okay, I love this. I love like, you’re so passionate in what you do. How did you get started though? Because I think you know, like what a dream job that is. But like, it’s not like you wake up one day and snap your fingers and it happens. So like how did we get here?

Tamika Robinson 4:17
Oh my gosh, um, I love this question. Actually. It’s a funny story. I had never planned on being an entrepreneur like ever. My whole goal was like, go to school, get a master’s degree, get a nine-to-five, call it a day. Obviously that is not how it went.

Lesley Logan 4:42
Well I did that. I didn’t go to the master’s degree, but I did the thing and I got the nine-to-five and like I was like, this is really unsatisfying.

Tamika Robinson 4:51
I didn’t even get into my nine-to-five so I can’t even say like if it was gonna be good or not.

Tamika Robinson 5:00
So I went to school, got a degree in behavioral sciences. Then I continued on and got my master’s in criminology, and I applied for the FBI three times.

Lesley Logan 5:14
What? That’s crazy.

Tamika Robinson 5:17
It’s nuts. And now later in life, I feel I figured out that it is not what you know, it’s who you know, and I had no connects. So, obviously, I did not get the job. And I pivoted ultimately, I knew that one of my like life goals was I was going to be a coach of some kind. Whether that was gymnastics, sport that I did, track, another sport that I did, or cheerleading. And it just so happened that I have a super cool opportunity upon leaving college to go run for the trial, the time trials in the Olympics. I got hurt. Yeah.

Lesley Logan 6:03
Oh, my God. Yeah. Are you kidding me? You could, like, I mean, you got hurt, but like, even the opportunity to try out for the Olympic team, like, that’s such a small percentage of people who ever even because it’s like, your timing of your strength had to be at the exact same time as like, when they’re actually doing the trials, which only happens every four years. Are you kidding?

Tamika Robinson 6:26
No. So cool. Um, I would have had dual citizenship. And you lightly I’m Puerto Rican. So I was gonna run for the Puerto Rican team.

Lesley Logan 6:39
Even better.

Tamika Robinson 6:42
Go (inaudible) in Puerto Rico.

Lesley Logan 6:44
Yeah, you represent (inaudible).

Tamika Robinson 6:49
But obviously, I got hurt. And I took a year off to try to recover. And I ended up hiring a trainer and she was awesome for the time being. And we were getting back in kind of my groove. And she was like, oh, I think you should do this show. And I was like, What’s a show? I ended up doing a bodybuilding show because Oh, my God, all the sparkles.

Lesley Logan 7:14
All the sparkles. And also, like, I have so many friends who’ve done those. And I had a trainer who also was like, You should do this. And I was like, I can’t do that. Like you know, I actually really none of that food looks good. I want sauce on my chicken. I want butter

Lesley Logan 7:37
I love milk in my coffee. There’s just too many things.

Tamika Robinson 7:42
Skim milk. It’s fine.

Lesley Logan 7:47
So you did a show, you the sparkles, do the high heels? Did you have to do the PAM?

Tamika Robinson 7:52
Oh no. They have people who already who had glaze ready. But I have heard of that trick. And I love it because it smells like butter.

Lesley Logan 8:04
That sounds like torture to every person there.

Tamika Robinson 8:07
Oh boy, like, I smell popcorn. Yeah, so I ended up doing the show. Had a blast. And then ultimately, I met my husband and he’s like, I think you should like, I think we should do this. And I was like, Oh, okay. very hesitant. I was like, I’ve never trained anybody. Like, I don’t know.

Lesley Logan 8:30
Was he a trainer? Like, did he?

Tamika Robinson 8:32
He was a trainer.

Lesley Logan 8:33
So that’s why you guys could like do this together.

Tamika Robinson 8:35
Yes. Yep. So my husband was a trainer or what? He became my coach first. And then he was like, Oh, you’ve got what it takes. Let’s, let’s do this together. And I was like, oh, okay, so we brought me on. As his partner, I ended up getting my certification through the renown, National Council of Strength and Fitness. And I got my first client and it was a blast. And then I was like, Ah, I think that I can do this. There was a lot of like moments in between I was like, I can’t do this. But I think that I can.

Lesley Logan 9:09
Thank you for sharing that. I think that’s so important. First of all want to highlight like how nonlinear any of that was, like you I don’t even actually know how you did gymnastics and track and all the things so I became a behavior science person and then doing criminology like it sounds like lots of reading and then somehow like it may be running at three in the morning unclear like so I also love that along the way you allowed people to inspire you to try out something that you probably that wasn’t like on the plan. Like it wasn’t on the plan. And maybe because like the entire plan blew up and like wasn’t happening. So you’re like, Okay, I’ll try this anything but like, I think that’s really cool that you could listen to other people around you and try those things on. So how long how long ago did you start training people on like, what have you been able to use your like behavior science degree in that way to like help people stick to their goals are like, is it all been? Like, they were like that was my life, then I came up with some new stuff because that didn’t work out.

Tamika Robinson 10:08
So it was it was very messy.

Lesley Logan 10:12
Great. We love that. Thank you for sharing. Everybody here needs to hear how messy it is. Yes.

Tamika Robinson 10:18
It’s very messy. It was very stressful. I did, I haven’t. I haven’t gotten to use all of the things that I’ve learned. I wish. Luckily, none of my clients are like killers or anything. So I’m, I think I’m good. It’s probably a good thing that I dealt with. But yeah, I’ve gotten to use some of my Behavioral Science degree in how I help women shape like, like, their goals and how they see themselves ultimately, because most of my women clients are. I mean, they’re just amazing in general, I feel, but they don’t see themselves the way that I see them. So it’s done a lot of like, reframing how they see themselves and then building up their bodies. And, I mean, obviously, like that is a key in itself, because they see themselves changing and see themselves growing and getting stronger. And, I mean, that just builds confidence. And then they can start to see and accept all the things that I have to say about them without being like, oh my god, no.

Lesley Logan 11:34
Yeah, I love that you share that. I think it’s really fascinating. I have a friend who will have her on the pod soon. She is a stylist and she is like, you know, she works with a lot of women of all sizes. And specifically she got into styling, with women with with larger bodies. And she says, she says it’s what’s amazing is when you actually feel like you look good. The changes you make in your life are very different, like so when you reframe how you talk about yourself, how you face yourself, it actually does change how you show up for your workouts, how you show up in your life. And these, these changes can be made much faster, because you feel good about yourself, and you’re not talking negatively and judging yourself. And then like, you know, basically making it harder on yourself to feel the way you want to feel.

Tamika Robinson 12:20
It’s so true. Yeah, it’s not a constant battle, in your mind anymore. It’s not like, oh my god, I can’t do this. I can’t do this. It’s it’s more like, oh, hey, but you can you’ve done this already. And so it’s no longer shifted so negatively. It’s more like, Okay, well, maybe I can try. I’ve done this, I can do that. So I think it’s just incredible to see that change. I would die to see the stylist and like how those women oh my god, I can only imagine how they feel. That’s a (inaudible).

Lesley Logan 12:58
I know. We’ll have to connect you. I’ll connect you guys because I think it’s it’s, it’s so I went over in here’s her story level here how she got there. But like, it’s actually really incredible. Growing up, because I had family members who are larger bodies, and the way they would dress is like, like, just hide everything and just put everything you know, and like don’t show up or anything. And she’s like, actually, if you highlight this, then you you know, like it actually looks really good. And like you’ve beautiful figure and it would be the frame. And then because they feel good, and they show up smiling and they like have this confidence, it changes how they show up in every other way. And I know like working with, with women, mostly myself as a Pilates instructor. Some of the things women say, but I can’t do that. And then like they’ll talk about how they are in their day. And I’m like, you know, I just want you to know, you said you can’t do a lot of things about seven times the last 15 minutes. I’m just going to point out that we’ve been doing all these things in here. You’ve been doing all these things. You’re killing it. You’re very capable.

Tamika Robinson 13:54
You’re doing it right now.

Lesley Logan 13:55
Yes. Oh, yes. Okay, so I have this girl. She, she’s in one of my mentorship groups. And she’s like, Oh, I can’t lift my legs up from the ground because it bothers my back. And I’m like, Okay, no problem. Like, that’s fine. You know, there’s other ways you can strengthen that. And then so we like every exercise. We’re like modifying how low her legs go everything. Then I just tell her okay, do your teaser and she gets into the teaser on the reformer and people who are Pilates instructors know teaser and the reformer, you actually start in a backbend you actually start like legs are lower than parallel to the floor. And then you lift them up and she did it and I was like, so just to point out that you just did it. You just lifted your did it bother your back? No. Okay, so we can do it. We just have a block against doing it here. So what are some things that you tell women to do to kind of like understand, like, how are you showing them that they can do certain things? What’s your kind of way of doing that?

Tamika Robinson 14:57
You can do it.

Lesley Logan 14:58
Oh, well, you are so sweet and adorable. I think a lot of people would just do what you say.

Tamika Robinson 15:03
But literally is that so I have this one client, I love her. She tells me about her mom all the time and her like, her mom is older and complains about like her back and her knees or hips. And she’s like, I don’t want to be like my mom. I’ll say. So Marina, we will. So one day we were deadlifting. And I put on so I put on some weight. I was like, oh, because we had been doing weight, like little weights for a bit. And I was like, you can you can handle this. And she looked at it and was like, I don’t know, I don’t think so I was like, Okay, let’s just try five. If we can do five, I’ll let you we’ll be done, we’ll be done. She ended up doing 10 for three whole other sets. I’m like, Well, you did 30. He’s like, Oh my God, it felt so good. Like, it was a little heavy, a little challenging as a camper when you did it. I was like, I know that you could do this. Because ultimately, a I’m not a math person. So thank God, I only have to count to like 20. But I was I broke down the math as like, in the previous exercises we’ve been doing, we’ve looked at we’ve done this way for this many reps and multiply that and I was like, that’s the volume that you’re lifting. I was like we’re doing half of that right now. And you’re doing it. And it’s like less weight. Well, it was less volume, but it was a little higher in way. You did it. And she was like, Oh my god. So now she’s like, oh, let’s add, like, we’re going up in increments and things she’s like, let’s have like a look like five more pounds. Can we do that? And like, Yeah, let’s go get the two now. So it’s like, progress is progress, no matter what. One percent is one percent every day and at the end of the year it’s 365%. That’s better than this many percents.

Lesley Logan 16:54
Oh my god. Oh my god. So I fucking love that. I think first of all, it’s so important that when the when we are if we are a cheerleader for anyone in our life that we actually show up when we that cheerleader and like stop them when they think they can’t do something because we know that they’ve done it before. I think it’s so easy for some of us to go, okay, they don’t want to do it. So I’m pushing them. And it’s not it’s not about pushing in a negative way. It’s about pushing them up in a positive way like you like you can do this. And, you know, I know, like, there’s a there’s a woman that we work out with. And you know, she has never lifted heavy weights before. And she couldn’t come to one of the regular, like, hit classes that we do. So she came to the barbell training. And I was so excited to see like, usually it was like my dad, my husband and I and I’m like, and, and I like I didn’t want to be the only other girl and like my trainer is always like, okay, you can do this. And I’m I’ve never had strong arms like I’ve just never say like, oh, I’m pushing the fucking bar. And I’m like, This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, right? She comes in. And she deadlifts for her first time in her life with his barbell. And it’s like she’s picking up like, a bag of groceries. It was like so easy for her. And she was like, so we put on more weight and we throw it and I’m watching this and because I got to watch her do it, first of all, she’d never done it. So she’s just like, blowing her own mind. But I was like, Oh, my God look it was so possible. And I think like so often we of course we don’t want to hurt anybody. But we also need to understand that like if you’re actually preparing yourself for this, whether it’s if you’re like ladies, I don’t even weight-lift, What are y’all talking about? Whether it’s weightlifting, or learning a new language or learning how to do your finances, you have got to celebrate what you have done. And you have to like journal about it, like, write it down, like take notes, because then you have evidence that you’ve done shit. And like you can do this other thing over here. If you walk your dog for an hour every day, you can do a half-hour hike with someone.

Lesley Logan 17:04
Exactly, I absolutely love that. I think it’s just being positive and doing it in a way that doesn’t feel so overwhelmingly scary, like enjoying the process because she had been like, she’s been working out. Someone else has been working out like you’ve been doing it now. It’s just trying to like, push yourself a little bit more. And it’s just positive reinforcement. And I love that and it works for me because I’m an ex cheerleader. So I’m like, Yeah, let’s go. You got this. So, to hype you up.

Lesley Logan 19:26
Yeah, I mean, like, so what are some other things people can do for like, positive reinforcement, like is always just words, are there other things people can do for positive reinforcement?

Tamika Robinson 19:34
Um, so I think it’s, I think you can do a lot of things I love. I love words. My love language is words of affirmation.

Lesley Logan 19:47
Tell me I’m pretty and like, Give me a hug and I’m like, the best day of my life.

Tamika Robinson 19:50
I feel great. But yeah, small action. So like, like, I recorded her deadlifting and I sent him Senator husband, he was like, oh my god, I’m so excited. So that was also what like, yeah, it’s small, like actions that literally like you can do five seconds. Like, you know if it is a recording if it is, and I love what you said journaling, that’s my favorite thing. Journaling about it and how you felt about it. A quick video to tell yourself like, No, you crushed this, I did it and like, I feel great, like flex and layer. Well, I mean, you know, whatever you need to do in the video just to like remind yourself that you did it. That’s what I think.

Lesley Logan 20:39
I love that you filmed them. I think like there’s evidence of some kind that you did something that’s so important. Because are we it’s so easy to forget the good things that we’ve done. It’s so like, it’s like anybody can remember a bad memory, like a thing that they fucked up yesterday. But like, one of the things I do here every week is like, share, it’s on Fridays. We do, FYF, it’s Fuck Yeah Friday, and I share listener wins, wins for my community, and then I share one of my own. And what’s so fun is that like, make it forces me every week, I’m like having to write down the wins that are happening to the week so that I have something because even as a positive person it can be. It’s so easy when things get really tough to really recognize that there were positive things that happened in the week. And that’s why the whole episode exists. Because it’s like sometimes people think they wait till they’ve completed a thing. So like, for example, they wait until they could they dead lifted their goal weight to celebrate any of the deadlift. And it’s like, actually, you should just celebrate you showed up today. That’s pretty big deal. If life is hard right now, and he still showed up for the thing that you wanted to do. It’s pretty amazing.

Tamika Robinson 21:43
I love that and I love that because I think that people take for granted the small things you did show up. You you warmed up you got ready you you know you started the day, like small wins are small, like they’re still wins, no matter what it looks like. Like if you did just show up to the gym and you crushed it. Great. And I think that they should be celebrated way before then because you have to do the work to go deadlift your bodyweight like what the hell Hell yeah, you did that. You worked and took all this time in the last six weeks to like build up your deadlift. And now you squatted your whole body weight. Congratulations on that. But it took work every day to get it.

Lesley Logan 22:30
Yeah, I was even thinking like, like, like just celebrating that you got you got in your car. You remembered your gym clothes, like you. You got you dealt with the parking lot. You know, like these are all wins, everyone like on a hard day. It’s a win that you like gotten to you got there and you maybe only flipped off one person on the way and like you just got there. So I want to go back to like you becoming a trainer and like making this your thing. So how easy was it for you to make this a full-time gig for yourself? Were you was there a part of your life where you were like doing another job and training? Like how did you make this a thing? Because I think a lot of people try to switch over into a new career. That switch can be really difficult. How did you do it?

Tamika Robinson 23:15
My God. I love that. Yeah, so it was very hard. I don’t consider myself like very salesy. Like, oh, hey, yeah, maybe you want to work with me? Maybe not. That’s okay. Like, I’m not gonna go petition, I guess. But I’ve gotten better at it. So I feel very proud. But when I got started, I was I was training in the evening hours and then working a job in the daytime. Trying to like build up the clientele but like still making enough money so that way I can take care of like my day-to-day life. I couldn’t live off of what I was doing for a while. So I was like, Okay, well, this just has to be it until I like figure out if this is like, a. what I really want to do. Because that was really, it was it was really I’ma go off on a tangent it was really hard for me to have the degrees that I had and then not have the career. So I had to onwire my brain and be like personal training as a career is it’s not like, it’s not a hobby, you get paid to do it. It’s not like you can make this a full-time thing. But it was very hard for me to see that and on wiring my brain and dealing with that. I was like, Oh, I had this person’s voice in my head telling me it’s not good enough because you have degrees you need to go get a salary, position, a career, whatever that is. So that was really hard for me to deal with for a while and I was like, I don’t know. So like every other week, I was like, I got a new client. That’s great. But like, it’s still not enough. Like, what am I going to do? And I’m still working. So I still have money coming in. I was like, Oh, I don’t know. Like, I just I just don’t see this, like, getting out the way learning paths and like, I like it should actually be like crushing it right now. And no, that’s not. That’s a fallacy.

Lesley Logan 25:24
Isn’t it? So funny. The stories we tell ourselves, I just want to say I love that you went off on the tangent, because I do know, what I do know many people are will have the degrees, because they did the thing. Especially I suppose with my elder millennials, we did the thing. We followed all the paths everyone said would give us the money and like none of us can buy a house. No. There’s a whole generation of people out there who like did the thing that their parents that would like make it happen. And then you yeah, change your whole life? And then you don’t, you have the degrees and you’ve got the cap and gown. And you know, I don’t have I actually only my friends who are lawyers are the ones that are actually the ones using their degree. All of my other friends. Their degrees are in the most random they we met someone the other day who’s like, head of like a gaming thing and he has a degree in history. And we’re like, oh, you can’t do that. Now. He’s like you, you can’t do that now. But like, back when I got into it, you cut and like so it’s so funny, because we all think like, oh my god, like I remember when I I remember when someone said you should become a Pilates instructor, I remember thinking I can do that because I had this degree that was not in Pilates, not in fitness. And like, I was like I can I can go do that. And then like, what does that mean? And then I found myself not even telling people what my degree was so much so that my husband only found out in the last 30 days. We’ve been married for almost eight years. And he’s like, somebody asked me what my degree was. And I told them and he’s like, Yeah, that’s what your degree is.

Tamika Robinson 27:02
So what is it in?

Lesley Logan 27:06
Oh, it’s an interpersonal organizational and business communication. So like how? Yeah, so it’s why I can be a business coach as a business degree. But like, I don’t think anyone ever knew that. You know, but like, I remember thinking like, Oh, my God, I spent $80,000 on this degree. Yeah. Hmm. I know, like, everyone just like stomach drops. And I mean, I only had to pay for 45 of it because of scholarships. And, you know, but that was 45,000 in student loans, babes. Yeah, so it still hurt to like, I remember, like, having to unravel that. And that, that. That That wasn’t my career, because I and then I remember leaving my real job and air quotes that nine to five job, and like, finding myself having to like not go like not go I’m just a Pilates instructor. Like as if that’s not a job. Do you know, like, and, you know, so? So but then I was like, wait a minute, I’m especially when I was like making six fucking figures being a Pilates instructor. I’m like, What should I do? Yeah, so it’s really I do understand having to like, figure out how your brain mentally understands, like, what your what you want to do is very valid. And it’s actually a career and it’s not like you didn’t take some sort of, like route that’s not legitimate, you know, and then also having to, to figure out the actual like, what are my expectations like it like it even like celebrating that you have a client and understand that that doesn’t mean you like you get to leave your job yet?

Tamika Robinson 28:43
Oh, yeah, I am once what. Oh, that’s great. How much am I making.

Lesley Logan 28:48
So so how, right, how much am I making, hence why everyone needs to get my magic calculator in charge of fucking worth because you do not want to be working 20 hours on as a side job for half the pay that you would actually charge to make it as a full-time job. Anyways, that’s a different tangent. So okay, so how did you? So obviously, you’re working this full-time job and you’re training? What was the like, how are you telling, like setting yourself up to be a full-time trainer? Was there any actions that you were doing to like, kind of set yourself up for that full-time gig?

Tamika Robinson 29:21
I’m setting myself up. I was okay. I calculated what it costs to be me to live my life.

Lesley Logan 29:30
Yes. Yes, you guys write that down.

Tamika Robinson 29:33
So if you are planning on serving your side hustle or leaving a full-time job, know what it is that you need to make it so you can leave and not be stressed out so you can continue your day to day seamlessly, which is nice. So I did that. And then I was like, okay, so if I’m charging clients this it’s going to take me this many clients. Alright, so ultimately, I went out and got clients I like put my one client in the show and it was like, I’m snapping all the pics and I was letting everyone know, hey, I’m a trainer now I got certified, I’m ready to go. Like if you’re ready to work with me, I started I started out a little messy and I started charging like, not below, but I was like, I’m really in a special. Yeah, yeah. So but I could get people in the door. At least, it worked. So that was nice. I was like, oh, man, now I’m working for like a little less than I want it. But it was okay. I got people in I started having or not having I started building my repertoire, shaping everyone getting results and showing those house posting like crazy telling friends and I had my clients telling friends and I was like, oh, yeah, perfect. And then slowly, but surely. It started to grow. And then when I turned pro in bodybuilding, then it kind of like exploded from there. Like, I don’t know, like, why do people want to like train with me right now. But as soon as that happened, it changed the whole thing.

Lesley Logan 31:20
It changed how you had confidence in yourself.

Tamika Robinson 31:23
Yeah, it changed my confidence. And then it showed that like, oh, okay, well, she can at her and her coach know what they’re doing. So let I’m gonna go that way. Like, oh, I can win a national show. You can win a national show. Yeah. All right. kind of helped. Yeah, not everybody can do that. But you know, it’s a it’s a good dream to sell.

Lesley Logan 31:42
Yeah. But also like I, you know, I do believe that you do have to do some work to whatever your industry is. You You don’t, I don’t and I don’t want to say this. Like, I don’t believe they have to do every single Pilates exercise to be a Pilates teacher but you do have to apply his practice to do that. I don’t believe you have to win a national title. But you do have to have enough competitions under your belt and have achieved some part of that to show like, I do know what it takes to get there on that stage. I do know the mentality. I do know those things. So I I do believe that like part of it is time and preparation. Yeah, yeah.

Tamika Robinson 32:20
Lots of time on being it. So as soon as that happen, then clients started rolling in and I love that, like my clientele is pretty mixed. So it’s not all bodybuilding. That would be a little bit nightmarish.

Lesley Logan 32:39
Yeah, have a balance. You gotta have people who also just want to do a regular life.

Tamika Robinson 32:44
Oh, this is easy. Yeah, let’s go.

Lesley Logan 32:48
Yeah, yeah,

Tamika Robinson 32:49
I like my lifestyle cleanse in a lower body building plans and the bodybuilding brings in the lifestyle. They’re like, Oh, they can do that. We can do this. Like yeah, it just it just worked out really well.

Lesley Logan 33:00
That’s so fun. Oh my god, I love that so much. Okay. Before we take a break I read that you would pretend to pay yourself $10,000 a month? Yes. Can you tell people why you did that? And how you did that? Because that is like such a being until you see it moment. I just needed to share it.

Tamika Robinson 33:22
Okay, so I actually stole the idea from this book that I read. And it’s called Oh hold on. No worries. I had it ready. I think it’s Secrets of Six Figure Women Oh, oh my god. No. Okay, sorry, it’s ok, but she did write another book called that.

Lesley Logan 33:47
Same person different book. Got it.

Tamika Robinson 33:50
That book was great. It was called Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny.

Lesley Logan 33:56
Oh everybody put that on your book. I’m gonna get my audible my next Audible is going to be this not that I have this problem but I want to help everyone who does.

Tamika Robinson 34:07
It was a psychology book about money essentially and like and then she compiled all these cool stories from all these amazing women that like were doing whatever they wanted and making five-six figures and how they overcame underearning and I realized I had a money psychology problem because I wanted I just wanted to be like even keel, comfy, cozy. I don’t need extravagant things my dream car is like a Honda Accord.

Lesley Logan 34:39
I wish I wish my dream car’s a G Wagen everyone knows like everybody sees a G Wagen on there like someday that’s going to be L’s car and I’m like it is it is I’m playing 90s Rap and I’m gonna be like and it also is going to be like this I had to pick color picked out because I wanted to be like it’s almost like that teal you paint on your toes like It’s like that like Barbie teal. And I want like that because I want everyone to know when I I’m dry. I want people to go oh, there’s Lesley like that. Like, I don’t want people guessing I want them to go. That’s her. She’s right. That’s what I want. When my car is parked on the go, Oh, she’s having dinner there. Yes, I want everyone to know.

Tamika Robinson 35:16
(inaudible)

Lesley Logan 35:16
Exactly. That’s exactly what I want. So I do understand so many people, especially women raise like, it’s okay, I have enough. Yeah. You know, and it’s like, it’s, and that’s fine. And not no one is saying, and I don’t even think this person Barbara is saying you have to everybody wants to needs to make six figures or needs to want to make a million dollars. But I do think like, we all need to make sure that we’re not under charging ourselves, or accepting being underpaid for our talented skills.

Tamika Robinson 35:46
Exactly. And it was such an eye-opener. I was like, Oh my God, I didn’t realize how growing up in me didn’t have anything. Nothing was terrible or anything. I do know that there was money stress around me. I felt it on my mom’s side, my dad and my stepmom side. So I got it from both households. It just was more apparent in one and it rubbed off. And I didn’t realize so in reading this book, and like reading all the amazing stories. There was a chapter essentially, that ultimately was like, oh, like, you’re gonna like, place higher value on you like, you deserve it. Why not? Basically, I was like, Oh, yeah. Okay, I’m feeling this a little bit. And one of the stories in the book or in the chapter was like, Yeah, I decided I was done under earning. And I wrote myself 1000 or $10,000 check every month. Just like I couldn’t cash it yet. But like, yeah, got that. Not cash for that yet. But like, I’m gonna do $10,000 until it’s reality, so she wouldn’t write herself a check every month. $10,000, 10,000. And eventually it became reality. And she was like, Oh, when I hit my first 10,000 I was so excited. Just like, she started increasing our goal slowly. Like she was like, Yeah, I was like, Oh my God, I’ll say, I’m gonna do this. So I had a bunch of Monopoly money. Okay, I should do check, but I don’t know how to write those.

Lesley Logan 37:41
I was just thinking like, how would I do this? Do we even have a checkbook in the house?

Tamika Robinson 37:47
Where does my name go? I used Monopoly money instead. It’s much easier. (inaudible) Yeah, totally put it in my little money folder. Boop. And when tuck it away, look at it. Figure out like what I’m doing calculate all my clients figure out what I’m paying in rent, what I need and all this stuff. So like, Okay, this way I want to be this where I’m at right now. How do we meet in the middle and then strategize a plan and when I made my first 10k month like, I was like, oh my god I can I can do this like what I want now it’s just like working at a maintaining it because training is kind of hard. Yeah, people told me off and on but that’s fine.

Lesley Logan 38:36
You always need more people coming in. It’s the same in my industry. Yes. And it’s and then you know, it’s also fine you get to where those like those ebbs and flows and you know, what months are going to be slower and which months are busier. That just takes time. But also like the fact that you’re like, oh my god, I fucking just like paid myself $10,000 So it is possible and yeah, I just now it’s like I can repeat if I can. If it’s past I can repeat it.

Tamika Robinson 39:01
Yeah, I can do it again. And I know what it takes. So I know that I need to be working this many hours a week, which I mean, that was kind of a lot but it was fine. But like knowing like how to do it, what needs to happen to do it having like a plan and a strategy in place to do it and making sure that like my numbers are good even though I have x y z coming out. Rent and gym rent and all those things that it costs. It sounds like okay, well, I can make this work so I think it’s just a fun a fun way to like visualize it then like actually put so much like, behind it.

Lesley Logan 39:45
Yeah, I love visualization and I love an action step even if it’s you can’t cash cheque yet you got the Monopoly money like here’s my I just gave myself 10 grand.

Tamika Robinson 39:54
Put all that in the bank, well under the mattress bank.

Lesley Logan 39:57
Yeah. Imagine someone robbed in. Like money and it’s all in the house (inaudible). Why is there so much monopoly money? Oh my god, you’re so funny. To me. This is the best conversation. I’m really loving it. We’re gonna take a brief break. And then we’re gonna find out your Be It Action items.

Lesley Logan 40:17
All right, first of all, before we get your action items, where do you hang out? Where can people find you, follow you, work with you.

Tamika Robinson 40:25
Um, I hang out on Instagram. It’s technically my favorite.

Lesley Logan 40:29
Same, I just, I mean, I hate it and love it. But it’s I know, it just feels like this is an old home.

Tamika Robinson 40:37
Right? I really want to try TikTok. I’m just I just (inaudible). Yeah. So I’m on Instagram at the figure princess. Because I’m an IFBB figure Pro. And a princess at heart. And you can work with me through jarfit.com W-W-W-J-A-R-F-I-T dot com. And that’s where I am at.

Lesley Logan 41:05
Love it. Okay. So bold, executable, targeted intrinsic steps people can take to be it till they see it. What do you have for us?

Tamika Robinson 41:16
I have if you’re stressed-out cry. It’s okay.

Lesley Logan 41:24
Fucking love that. Yes. Yes. Just feel your feelings, guys.

Tamika Robinson 41:27
Feel your feelings. Crying is perfectly acceptable. It is stressful doing whatever it is that you want to do. If that is quitting the nine-to-five and starting your own business, if it’s, you know, trying to be a better mom. It’s okay to cry. It’s, you know, something of that nature. And it’s overwhelming and you feel it and it’s heavy. Like it’s okay, let it all out, you’ll feel much better I promise. And then create an action step for yourself, I guess is whatever’s going to help motivate you to do what you need to do. I’m a big fan of list. I love journaling. So, I mean, write a to do list but write a to do list. I saw that someone else put this but I want you to write like 100 things on your to do list, right? Oh, yeah, no, I have a whole thing. Okay, I’m ready. I’m in. Um, so 100 things on your to do list. And then after five cross everything out.

Lesley Logan 42:35
So we got all of it out of your brain, and we knocked it down to the first five are the ones you got to do.

Tamika Robinson 42:41
The first five are the ones you gotta do focus on those, because everything else that you want to do after that will be there. Those are your five priorities. Get the shit done. You got this, whatever that looks like. Everything else can wait. Those are your top five. Those are what came out first. Focus on those.

Lesley Logan 42:58
Oh, I’m loving both these things. I think this is great. I’m in I’m so in. Tamika, you’re so fabulous. I hope I get to run into you in real life. I would when I’m in Colorado, you’re in Colorado, right? Colorado. Awesome. When we’re in Colorado, I’ll work out with you. I’m not gonna bodybuild like figure competition because I can’t do heels. But I will deadlift with you. And everyone, how are you going to use these tips in your life or your favorite takeaways with Tamika, tag the Figure Princess and the Be It pod. We’ll put all those links in the show notes below. And until next time, Be It Till You See It.

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Lesley Logan
That’s all I’ve got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate this show and leave a review. And, follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over on IG at the @be_it_pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us help others to BE IT TILL YOU SEE IT. Have an awesome day!

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Lesley Logan
‘Be It Till You See It’ is a production of the ‘Bloom Podcast Network’.

Brad Crowell
It’s written, filmed and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan and me, Brad Crowell.

Lesley Logan
It is produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.

Brad Crowell
Our theme music is by Ali at APEX Production Music. And our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.

Lesley Logan
Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals and Ximena Velasquez for our transcriptions.

Brad Crowell
Also to Angelina Herico for adding all the content to our website. And finally to Meridith Crowell for keeping us all on point and on time.