Kicking off 2019 with a new health and wellness regime? You’re in luck! We sat down with Phil Mackenzie, Founder of The Lean Squad, to talk all about his kick-ass career and how to create a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable.
Tell us about The Lean Squad?
The Lean Squad is all about transforming someone’s life in a sustainable way. A lot of fitness plans out there are about crash diets where you cut on the calories or tend to make people lose the weight but not necessarily maintain the loss. My goal from day one was to be able to train people in a sustainable way that will allow them to transform their lives through healthy, easy and tasty recipes along with a tailored workout plan that they can do from wherever they are. When those two things are combined with support, people are able to maintain their weight loss, fat loss goals and overall health goals.
How did you get into owning your own fitness company?
I was a professional rugby player for ten years. I played overseas for the national team for Canada, which included going to two world cups. As my career was winding down, I knew I wanted to get involved in the fitness industry. From there, it really all started when I was helping my friends get lean for my bachelor party. We started a group chat called “Lean Squad” where I created plans that included workouts and easy meals to help them get into shape. When we arrived in Vegas for the bachelor party, everyone felt at their best and loved the plans I put together. My friends were really the ones who encouraged me to pursue this when I finished rugby. Post rugby career, I began to put out bigger and better plans on the internet for people to discover and ever since that day it’s succeeded my expectations and led me to do this full time.
What have you found surprising or learned about while building your business?
I have learned a ton from the first day I started The Lean Squad with my friends! It started without a website or Instagram to developing a full website and full plans that people could access. This has given me a platform to work with and connect with people. Through it all, I’ve learned that it’s important to have determination and grit, as well as be able to take some negativity that might come your way.
What makes your job career goals?
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t get a message saying that a client’s life is forever changed, they feel amazing, they conquered something they couldn’t do before, whether it’s running a marathon or simply picking up their kid, I am the luckiest guy to be making an impact on people’s lives and to receive the positive feedback from so many clients!
What does it take to get into this career?
First, it’s having the confidence to put yourself out there. For me, as a professional rugby player in England, I was one of the only Canadians in the Premiership. I had been told so many times that I suck, or I wasn’t good enough but with that, I still put my best foot forward, which helped me in building my business as well. It’s so important to believe in what you are doing and put yourself out there no matter how tough times can get.
What type of personality is suited for what you do?
There are a lot of different fitness personalities out there, personally, I try to take a fun approach and enjoy what I’m doing. You have to enjoy what you do because if you aren’t passionate about it there isn’t much sense in doing it at all.
What are three tips for being successful in this career?
- 1. Determination
- 2. Confidence
- 3. Have fun – if you aren’t having fun it’s going to cause you a lot more stress than reward!
Tell us a secret about your job?
A secret is my shirt is NOT always off – it’s only off about 50% of the day.
Connect with Phil on Instagram, as well as find him on Facebook and learn more about #90DAYLEANPLAN on The Lean Squad website.