21: Podcast Tour Prep - Part 1

We’re getting ready! My podcast tour of the USA promoting THIS SHOW starts July 2022 and today I talk about all the updates on the tour plans.  
From tour life in a van…
Where we are heading…
What will be doing on tour…
..and WHY…
This episode is the official kick off of to all things pre-tour planning going on.
Be sure to join the Facebook group called “The ‘Everything Else’ in Bodybuilding Podcast Insiders!” to share your thoughts.

Additional Resources:
-Support my podcast tour of The United States with a donation! https://patron.podbean.com/eeinbb
-Doing a show? Not sure if you are posing correctly? Come to a Learn To Pose™ LIVE Virtual Clinic! www.posingpractice.com 
-Want to WIN your next competition? I can help! Learn more at: www.posingwinsshows.com
-FREE posing tutorials for Figure, Bikini, and Men's Physique competitors at www.learntopose.com 
-FREE ebook “5 Things Every Bodybuilding and Fitness Competitor Needs To Know Before Preparing For A Show” at www.eeinbb.com
-Grab your “My Own Motivation” tank top at shop.killitwithdrive.com 

Key Takeaways:
*The details of our tour van! (2:22)
*Previous life in airbnbs (3:58)
*My husband Vassilios’ packing “lightly” skills (7:35)
*Pop up posing clinics (9:07)
*My “why” for doing the tour (11:20)

----TRANSCRIPT----

Hey guys I hope you are all having a great start to your week.  As mentioned in my last episode I will be on the road promoting this show throughout the United States on a Podcast tour beginning next month. I will be posting episodes at least twice a week sharing the inside scoop of our tour, visiting various gyms, attending events, and of course hosting interviews. I will continue to share tips, strategies, and my personal thoughts on the industry in separate episodes as well.  I might even broadcast right from our van, which by the way, my husband and I picked up this past week. Things are getting really exciting!

By the way, I’ve never owned a mini van before so I had no idea when the listing said “stow away seats” that the seats literally stow into the floor. It was like a transformer movie.  I had no idea that mini vans were capable of so much storage.  We will have just enough space for the stuff we are planning to bring on the road and for the two of us to sleep.  We plan to hit all 50 states during the next year and, like I said, broadcast from different events and locations. If you think there is a location or event that really needs some publicity, let me know and we will consider putting it on the list.  Join the Everything Else in Bodybuilding podcast Insiders group on Facebook if you haven’t. I’ll post a link here in the show description.

Speaking of stuff, because it’s two of us and a van, we are going to need to pack strategically. I’m somewhat prepared for this because twice in my life before literally everything I owned was in my car. The first time was after a divorce and the second time was maybe four years ago when my husband and I traveled the country and stayed in various locations around Los Angelos California for about 6 months.  We rented the house back home out and sold all of our extra stuff so we could pack lightly.  

I definitely learned my lesson about packing lightly on that trip.  At the beginning of our trip we had black garbage bags packed up to our ears because I thought I might want my own pillow and stuff, and plastic bags are the easiest to stuff these things into.  At this time airbnbs were still affordable so we traveled and stayed in airbnbs the whole time.  About halfway through the trip we ended up tossing a bunch of extra stuff, and the pillows and blankets went out the door and we could actually see out the rear view window now.  Plus we didn’t look so homeless anymore without garbage bags piled high behind us in the back seats.  I did insist on carrying a set of dumbbells across the country and back that I was not willing to get rid of.  They are the convertible kind that goes from 5lbs to 50lbs.  I only used them once on the beach in Venice California, because we went to gyms instead.  Didn’t matter. There was no way they were getting tossed.  Haven’t used them since either.   And still not getting tossed.  Absolutely zero logic.  I know. But I guess this is what we call bodybuilder problems.  

On the trip 4 years ago, like I said, airbnbs were still affordable, but I didn’t say they were great.  Some were downright gross.  I can’t tell you how many places in California we stayed at on that trip that weren’t clean.   Back then it wasn’t uncommon for me to go to the store and buy cleaning supplies and clean the places we paid to stay at. True story.  

One place was so gross the dirty towels from the people that stayed there before us were still on the floor.  Dirty dishes were still in the sink.  And the accumulation of crumbs and food on the counter looked like it had never been cleaned.  Apparently the person that was supposed to clean the place had an emergency and couldn’t do so before we got there.  We were backed into a corner because pickings were already slim, especially last minute pickings in LA, so it was either try to hunt down a new place to stay, or just roll up my sleeves and clean the place myself.  I opted to clean because at least I knew if I cleaned it, it would be clean.  I’m telling you, pickings are slim in the LA area.

There was one other place we stayed at in Malibu that had incredible views of the ocean, but your bedroom wasn’t a bedroom.  It was literally someone’s living room.  So here we are in someone’s condo sleeping in their living room.  There were two other people living here at the same time who each had their own private bedroom.  It was so weird and awkward.  The condo had an open floor plan so the living room was open to the kitchen. This meant that at any time one of the residents wanted to come out of their room and grab something from the fridge, we were right there on full view on full display.  So weird.  I couldn’t wait to leave. So when I say pickings were slim then, I’m not kidding.  

And now, with airbnb prices, fees, cleaning fees, and all other fees are so expensive it’s not worth it to stay in a dump place for $5000 a month. $6,000/month if you want a decent place in the LA/Venice/Santa Monica area.  Even in Las Vegas air bibs used to be reasonable, but not so much anymore there either.  The prices are about double now.  So not worth it.  I’d rather live in a van.  So we are.

Having downsized multiple times I’m prepared to pack much lighter and only bring essentials.  We are going to buy a grill so we can cook from anywhere. We plan to have a cooler and buy food fresh daily since we won’t have the means to store food for long periods.  I have meal replacement shakes that have 36 grams of protein, 21 grams of carbs, and 6 grams of fat so I’ll have 1-2 of them a day which makes it easier to figure out food too.  I will share how we manage our food in more in detail while on the road.  This episode is more of a snapshot in time of our pre-trip planning.  It will be fun to see how things play out and evolve while on the road.  

My husband on the other hand, isn’t going to pack lightly so we will probably still be up to our ears while driving.  He is  bringing two bmx bikes and refuses to stick them on the back of the vehicle due to weather concerns and theft.  So I insisted on dumbbells on the first trip around the country and this time it’s him and our BMX bikes. He used to bmx and do tricks on his bike his entire youth so he is excited to stop at skate parks around the United States while we are on tour.  He wants me to be doing bmx tricks on my bike like him. I’ll keep you guys posted on how that goes. 

In addition to the bmx bikes, my husband is also bringing an electric and acoustic guitar.  For those of you who don’t know, my husband Vassilios is a musician and was signed to a record label and traveled for many years with the band Otherwise.  He has since been writing all new original music and was just in the studio in NYC earlier this year with multi grammy award winning producer Michael Mangini producing one of his songs.   So as you can imagine, there is no way we are leaving the guitars behind either.  So we will be cuddling with not just bikes, but guitars too.  

Right now we are finalizing all the details of our trip and making preparations.  For one, we are looking into wrapping the van with the name of the podcast all over it.  So if you see our van on the road, be sure to honk and wave! 

We also have a spreadsheet with all the locations and events we are going to stop at around the country.  We will continue mapping things out over the next week or so.  We plan to do some in person interviews of guests while on the road instead of just the virtual ones I have done so far.  

I’m also excited to announce that I plan to do pop up posing clinics while on the road.  I’ve reached out to a few of promotors from different federations to see if there are locations in the country that they might need an expert teacher to host a clinic or two for them.   Perhaps you and a group of friends might want a pop up clinic too. Perhaps you are a promoter or coach and want a clinic yourself.  If you have a group of people that want to learn posing skills, hit me up, and we might just add you to the tour.

As you know, I have experience in 6 federations so my niche is being able to switch between teaching the posing requirements for every federation and division.  I also consult people on what division and federation is the best option or options for them base on their look and best attributes.  And, I see this all the time, when people look up posing tutorials they don’t realize the requirements aren’t the same among all federations so they show up on stage doing the wrong poses.  I ensure my clients are always prepared.  

I plan to do pop up posing clinics on the road for all federations and divisions. NPC, OCB, WNBF, Fitness Universe, The WBFF, you name it.  You want to learn bodybuilding posing?  How about classic physique?  Figure? Wellness, or maybe you are a bikini competitor and you walk like a baby giraffe in high heels and want to learn how to walk a runway. I’m a one stop shop.  

Plus, most people go to a clinic right now and learn ONE federation’s posing, and honestly, I’m seeing a lot of hot mess posing coming out of these clinics.  Some people teaching these classes are decent posers but crappy teachers.  

My clinics are the starting place to being an incredible poser and performer on stage.  I still have my posing wins shows program for men and women who are the most driven in this sport to win, but if you just want to learn the basics on posing and find out if you are posing correctly, right now, you can come to a virtual posing clinic if you go to posingpractice.com . I’m excited to offer these clinics live in person while on our podcast tour. So again, hit me up if you would like me to host one for you and your people.

And let’s be real, people compete in bodybuilding shows to win them.  A perspective from someone new or different than what you are getting now could be that thing that you need to go from "meh" to awesome. There is always room for improvement.

Speaking of improvement and winning mindset….I’m also going to share on this part 1 episode of my podcast tour prep the reason I’m doing the tour in the first place. 

Have you ever heard the saying, “a dream without action is just a wish?”

I believe that if you want to achieve something, you can’t sit by passive and wait for it to happen.  Or it’ll never happen.  You’ll never win the bodybuilding show if you don’t pick a show, you know? 

You’ll never get the job offer if you don’t apply.  

You have to put yourself out there or you are only wishing for a result.

And the result I want is to bring massive attention to this podcast and grow it to a million downloads.  

I want this show to be the #1 resource on all issues in bodybuilding for competitors across all federations and divisions.  

To become the #1 resource and achieve a million downloads, it’s not going to happen from sitting by passive. 

Competing in bodybuilding shows taught me how to be patient and persistent while pursuing my goals, and to not be afraid to put myself out there for people to critique me.   

To become awesome in bodybuilding you HAVE to be patient.  You HAVE to put the work in day in and day out in the gym.  And do it again, and again, and again.  For years.  And people weighing themselves every day freaking out over a half of a pound of weight gain from the cookie they had the day before need to go and take a big dump and get over it. One day doesn’t kill your progress. It’s having the ability to detach from the emotional component of eating and look at food as fuel.  And do it again the next day, and the next day, and the next. 

I’m fully prepared to be on the road for the next year in our van promoting the show.   I’m prepared to put the work in day in and day out just like I’ve always done as a competitor. 

I’m prepared to put myself out there for my dream.

I also know when there is room for improvement. And right now, there is a lot of room for improvement getting eyes on this podcast.  It’s actually a little ironic -  the title of this podcast episode.  I called it podcast tour prep….. I didn’t mean it this way, but doesn’t “tour prep” sound a lot like “contest prep?”   Well there you go.  

Alright guys now that you have a little more background I’ll continue to share with you the inside scoop on the tour going forward.  I also have a lot more to talk about regarding this industry and will continue to share my thoughts going forward.  I might even post a second episode this week for you so if you haven’t done so yet, be sure to like, subscribe, and share this podcast to get notified of new episodes and let others know about them too.  If you are listening on apple podcasts please leave a review too.  I have some really good interviews on some juicy topics lined up too so be on the lookout for more great content coming.   And before I go if you want to show some love to our tour, you can make a contribution to our tour support and help keep us going on the road at https://patron.podbean.com/eeinbb . The link will also be in the description of this podcast.

Ok guys all for now. I’ll be back very soon.