Episode #2 - The Art of The Hustle with Danny Decker of the SFX StrengthFarm Training App
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Description
In our second episode, Kerry interviews Danny Decker of the SFX StrengthFarm Training App. We learn about the hustle it takes to be start your own digital design and website agency, adding partners to your business and launching a fitness app in a crowded marketplace.
About Danny Decker
Danny Decker is the Founder and Creative Director of Harlo Interactive, Inc. Established in 2004 Danny began the agency in his mentor’s basement next to the washer and dryer after having no luck in finding a job post completing his undergraduate English degree at Portland State University. Trained as a graphic designer in branding, logo, print, and package design, Danny saw an opportunity to offer high-impact design to the web. At that point in time, the Internet was evolving rapidly and most websites were uninspiring, flat, linear, pragmatic, and unattractive. They were made only to be functional. Websites were created by developers, not designers, and they lacked character, color, design, aesthetics, and personality.
In 2019, Sam Johnson approached Danny who he had been actively training at StrengthFarm for three years, and asked if he wanted to partner on building an app that would provide people access to StrengthFarm Training using the SFX system. Danny with 17 years of design, marketing, branding, and digital knowledge and having experienced StrengthFarm Training first hand was excited to create an app that gave people anywhere the opportunity to benefit in ways Danny had from the custom programing tailored to his physical abilities at StrengthFarm.
Show Notes
Try the SFX StrengthFarm Training App for 30 days for free on:
Transcript
Kerry Finsand: 0:11
Welcome to successfully depressed. And I'm your host Kerry Finsand it is time learned about how to navigate mental and physical health in life. And business Today I want to welcome to the show, my friend, Danny Decker, the co-founder of the SFX athletes app. Um, and I want to welcome you to the show.
Danny Decker: 0:30
Thank you, man. Happy to be here.
Kerry Finsand: 0:32
I first want to say, we've known each other for, I don't know, a good 15 years., something like that.
Danny Decker: 0:37
That seems crazy that it's been 15 years, but that's probably right. Yeah.
Kerry Finsand: 0:41
And back in the day, um, I was working for city search selling online advertising for people that don't know what that is. That's like what Yelp is today. Citysearch is pre that that and dating myself here. Uh, and yeah, we kind of met through, I think, some mutual people and it's kind of, we're both out there kind of hustling and, you were kind of starting out, uh, I think. Uh, Harlo interactive at the time or is it media? I forgot. what you started off as
Danny Decker: 1:08
It was, it was, it was Harlo media, but then we changed it to interactive because we realized that we weren't really doing all the other media. Well, I guess what we realized was we were really only get it if like a couple of things, one mainly, which was digital. And so when we were kind of looking at ourselves, like, I think it was a year, six or seven, we decided that it would be best to go with Harlow interactive.
Kerry Finsand: 1:34
Tell it, tell us a little story about how you kind of where your background, how you got into, uh, you know, business and you know, where you went to school, all that kind of stuff.
Danny Decker: 1:43
Yeah. My background is pretty. You know, it's, it's definitely different. But, um, you know, I, uh, I was the kid in, in middle school that would fit and trace letters with a ruler, um, during recess. And, uh, I never knew why I was doing that. I was really into just letters. And then, um, I would find myself just, you know, doodling and doing those kinds of things. And, um, I think by the time I was in high school, I realized that I was a creative mind as a creative. Um, more non-linear versus linear. So, uh, I decided that before I even moved on into college, that I wanted to be a designer. And then I wanted to maybe potentially someday I owned an agency. Um, my godfather who was kind of like a father figure slash mentor. Um, he owned a digital, not a digital agency, a design agency here in Portland for. 30 years and he was very successful. So I got to learn a lot from him. I kind of grew up running around in his office. Um, saw a lot of logo work that he did a lot of the design work that he did. And then, you know, everything that he taught me about just the process for design. Um, I, I was using as I went into, uh, college at the university of Oregon for dinner, a couple of years in community college. Um, the thing about that was like, once I was in that school, the journalism program and the design at U of O, I realized all this stuff they were teaching me. I was, I had to relearn, which was, uh, I guess, you know, was, nice. but, uh, you know, I took, I kind of took a long path with college. I took a couple of years off in between. Uh, ultimately realized that I wanted to be back in Portland. So I finished up at Portland state.
Kerry Finsand: 3:31
Go Vikings
Danny Decker: 3:32
Yeah, go Vikings. And you know, it's funny as I finished as an English major, I wasn't even a design major. And the reason for that way. Uh, the journalism program at Portland state was in the business school. And in order for me to be a journalism major at Portland state, I would have had to start over, uh, in the business program. And so I was like, I'm not doing that. I'm, you know, like, uh, you know, two thirds done. Um, so they're like, well, you can be an English major. I was like, And a lot of people were asking like, oh, when you graduate, are you going to go be a teacher or study English And I'm like, no, I'm going to, I'm going to start an agency. They're like what? You know? Um, and, that's exactly what I did, uh, about a year after year and a half after graduating, I decided to fire up my agency and I did it in the background. I mean, in the basement of my, of Dale's Dale's house and right next to the washer and dryer, And you know, it, uh, it was, um, it was challenging. It took a lot of hard work. I mean, I think I was doing anywhere from 10 to 15 hours a day. Um, I was also holding a restaurant job down at that time, uh, during the night. So, you know, I'd work all day to do the restaurant job at night, come home, it'd be midnight. And then I'd settle, in computer for another hour or two, teach myself the software. Um, and back then, there wasn't a lot of like, you know, YouTube tutorials, everything that you needed to learn was in texts. It was in books. So if I wanted to learn about illustrator or Photoshop, I had to do it. Um, just reading, you know, um, kind of just step by step processes and books.
Kerry Finsand: 5:09
Yeah. I mean, nowadays it's, uh, it's a lot easier. I mean, for me, like, uh, I dabbled a little bit now with illustrator. And, uh, that seems like to be the, I think that's the hardest of the Adobe softwares is at least in my opinion, I am a complete novice, but I felt like InDesign and Photoshop made a little more sense to me, but overall, they don't still make a lot of sense to me.
Danny Decker: 5:33
Well, you know, they're there tools, you know, and, um, you know, it's good to have the right tools for the, to do the job. And, you know, if you have the right tools that makes the job. I think that can be said in any, any industry or anything. So, um, you know, learning those tools though took some time, um, because of just the nature of them and the, the multi, you know, pieces that go with, um, you know, learning Photoshop or learning illustrator. And I mean, people who really know Photoshop will tell you, you can never really learn it because it has endless possibilities. And it's a pretty amazing, uh, piece of software.
Kerry Finsand: 6:11
That's for me, kind of, you know, uh, there's a piece of software. That's great for non-designers called Canva and that's, uh, something that I use all the time. And it's, it's lot it's lots of templates and things like that, but it's starting to get more advanced. It's nothing like the Adobe products, but it, it makes design fun for us. People that don't quite fully understand all the different principles and everything. Uh, but I've always liked design myself and, and both of my parents are artists and my wife's an artist. So, uh, I am different than that perspective. I can't draw my handwriting's probably the same level as maybe kindergarten right now. I don't, know. It's pretty, pretty bad. I'm just typing everything nowadays. So, I really have respect for design, especially when it's clean and simple. And I known over the years, you've done a lot of clean, simple designs. Uh, and what I've seen. I think I've been to either all or most of your different. Uh, studio locations you had around the Portland area. Uh, and I remember back in the day when you're at, was it the Ford building on division and back in the day, there wasn't anything in that area. Now it's just a booming area there and, you know, lower Southeast Portland and everything. But I remember go in your office and, you know, seeing your vision and everything and there's even talks for us, you know, maybe to work together on some stuff. And, um, I wasn't really at the point where I wanted to, uh, to work for a startup then I saw you guys just make it happen. And I was like, this is pretty sweet. Uh, so I really admired that about you.
Danny Decker: 7:41
Oh, thanks man. Yeah, it's all hustle. You know, I know I started, like I said, I started in the basement, um, No, I, I hadn't gone the summer before I started Harlow. I had driven all the way up to Seward, Alaska, and I worked in, uh, two restaurants night and day. Um, again doing like 12, 14 hours shifts and serving a hot food to tourists coming off the cruise ships. And then like a 10 week period, I saved up, um, close to about $15,000. Uh, you know, I was, I was living pretty, um, pretty lean up there and all I did was work and just stack chips. And that money was what I use to fund the startup Harlo Um, you know, obviously I didn't know that in the first year that money would get absorbed pretty quickly and it did, um, because I wasn't accounting for right. Everything else that it needed to be paid for outside of the business, like just rent living. Um, but it was my first kind of jump into self-employment and, um, you know I think that first year I made $12,000, um, it was pretty rough. I was hungry. Um, I know my first job was a thousand dollar logo and to this day, it's the worst logo I've ever made. Um, but you know, I started networking and I would work all day. And then, you know, on the nights I wasn't working in the restaurant, I would go out and shake hands. I would give him a business card out. I would try to get people to, you know, use my services rather that was a logo, a brochure, a tri-fold or a website. Whatever it was. Um, and you know, and I just kept at it. And in time, um, as I started building that network, I started getting more and more work. And I think that my work also probably the work helps. Right. Doing good work and being personable, um, communicating well with people. I think one of the biggest things is just being reliable. You know, when people are reaching out to you, um, getting back to them in a, in a good time manner. And then also, um, Just listening. And if somebody wasn't happy, I'm not arguing with them about, you know, why, well, this is what you wanted, but saying, okay, let's, let's talk about what's the, you know, how do we, how do we fix this? What's a good solution. Um, okay. I'll draft up a couple more logos or, you know, we'll we'll w we'll go find some different photos, whatever it was, but just making sure that everybody, I did work for left with a smile and they were happy with what they were receiving.
Kerry Finsand: 10:13
So how long did you have your business before you started adding employees or partners into it?
Danny Decker: 10:20
I was in You know, I was actually almost at the end of my second year when, um, a good friend of mine who I grew up with McKean Banzer Um, who was a marketing major at Syracuse that come back from the Peace Corps from Morocco and said, Hey, I'm going to jump on and do this thing with you. I said, awesome. So I was like, the one thing that we need is sales. We need activity. We need, we need to go out and we need to land work. We're project based. So whenever we go out and kill catch, um, we can, we can cook up. And so that was, you know, that was McKean's main function. The other piece was. Marketing. And then he also did a lot of the, um, just the day-to-day bookkeeping. And when Mckean came on board, he also, uh, thought maybe we should bring on another good friend of ours, Cody Galloway and Cody. Um, at the time Cody was a bartender at Mingo restaurant. And so he had been there for awhile. So we just asked Cody like, hey, do you want to, you know, do you want to join it? You know, jump in this and, and join the team. And he's like, yeah, let's do this. And so, um, That that third year we like tripled. Um, mainly because those guys were out, you know, networking and shaking hands, bringing in business, and then I would help sell that work with them. Um, and then I would execute that work. Um, and we just did that for awhile and we grew, we grew the company.
Kerry Finsand: 11:44
What I love about it. So all this is that all these people you're talking about, you know, I've definitely known for a number of years and it's, uh, and some of them I met through you and some of them I met, um, on my own. And I think why you and I have connected over the years? Is it just because we both kind of. Like to hustle and try to figure out how to make things happen, you know? And we're not, we're not scared of failing and stuff. I mean we're, we're resilient people. We, you know, we fail and then we get back up eventually, you know? And so, um, I think that's, and just use your different friends, like, um, like McKean, you know, now has Migration Brewing. Uh, it's been around for what, 10 years now. And, and so it just, it's cool to see. These people blossom, or you had this, you had this passion, you had this thing that you thought you could bring in the world and you did, and then you grew it and you found, you found your friends to help you. And it's really hard with starting a business in two things. One when you're a solopreneur. And that's what a lot about this podcast is about, is like how to help solopreneurs in business and marketing everything. And then also the, you know, the mental health and the physical health, uh, aspects. So you're kind of a, a well-rounded person. So you don't get burned out, like, uh, I've definitely have been you I'm sure. You probably have been at some point, um,
Danny Decker: 13:02
for sure. Yeah. I get burned. I get burned out. But what I try to do is I try not to, I try not to use that phrase because the minute I start labeling it is the moment I start feeling. And so that's something that I do and kind of tricking myself a little bit, but, um, you know, I think having balance in your work life, your, your family life, your, um, you know, whatever, whatever, you know, aspect of your life you have going on. I think balance is key. And so, um, you know, I think it's pretty easy to work a lot, um, when you're really passionate about something, you know, I think that's the other key is, um, I don't get burned out that much because I really love what I do. I believe in what I do. I love what I do. Um, and the success of Harlow in the work and, you know, everything that's come with it as a result of that passion. And, um, I always tell people, I'm like, you know, I'll get people that come to me and they're like, you know, what should I do? I'm like, well, you need to do something you love. What is something that you can't live without What's your dream job. If you could do one thing, what would that be? And whatever that is, you need to, you need to go do that. Um, and eventually the income and the money will come. If, if, if you really love it and you really believe in it. But, um, I think that's one big aspect to it.
Kerry Finsand: 14:25
Yeah, there, there's no question about that, you know, and one thing. Uh, you know, we both are like basketball a lot. I know we played together at 24 Hour Fitness back in the day, and I don't really play any more just because of some injuries and stuff. But uh, um, I wanted to kind of get into your most recent business that you're involved in. Uh, I know you have your, your hands in many different things, but I know in the last few years you started up an app, uh, called SFX athletes. And I want to know a little bit more about that and how that came to be.
Danny Decker: 14:56
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Happy to. So I do have my hands on a couple of things. Um, but SFX was, uh, created with a co-founder Sam Johnson. Um, and I met Sam about four years ago, um, I had been sent to him through another friend who said, Hey, this guy, Sam, he needs some design work. Could you help him out? I was like, absolutely. Um, and the moment I met Sam, I knew he meant business. He was very was very direct and he's very serious. He knew what he wanted. Um, and, uh, so he had me do a, like a design for a meal plan that he was giving to people that were training in his gym at the time called Strength farm, over in Northeast Portland or sorry, Southeast Portland. And, uh, you know, it was funny, like in our second meeting, he's like, do you work out? I'm like, yeah, I go to smart. You know, I go to 24 Hour Fitness about 3 to 4 days. And he's like, do you want to train here? And I was like, sure. Um, and I thought, he'd be like, okay, well, you know, I'll see you see you sometime, then he's like, okay, we'll sign you up right now. I was like, okay,
Kerry Finsand: 16:04
Oh direct
Danny Decker: 16:05
Right. And so, you know, I started training there and we would do these kind of multi-disciplinary workouts. It was, it was strength It was conditioning. It was mobility. It was speed. And, you know, and every day. It was different. So it wasn't repetitious that, you know, that the combinations of workouts were different. And I found that like all the training I had done up to that point, really wasn't focusing on the body as a whole, you know, um, I don't know, like if you experienced this, but in high school now I played a lot of sport and the weight Coach would teach us, okay, we're going to do one muscle a day, you know, biceps back or, you know, shoulders or legs. And so I was using that same basic system that I learned back in high school, um, which, you know, it was pretty old and rudimentary training with Sam and you know, adopting the system that he had created allowed me to grow. I think the most important piece is just like the core, um, but also all of the body. Right. So it was crazy. Cause like at the time I was playing basketball at 24 hour fitness while the younger kids, you know, I was 35. And after doing this training with Sam, um, I would go in there and run full court basketball. And not even be winded, you know? Um, I found myself moving faster, quicker, um, and I just, I was never gassed, whereas before I was always just like, you know, huffing and puffing for air, I'm not moving as, as quick as I could. But, um, the training, the training I did with Sam, um, hands down is the best training I've ever done. And. Sam asked me if I wanted to partner with them. Um, in building an app that would take this multidisciplinary system that he had created and offering it to athletes and then type really just anybody who wanted to get stronger fitter. And more explosive. And so, uh, we came together to form, um, as SFX athletes, which recently we changed the name to, uh, SFX Strengthfarm training, because we found that more people under new strength farm than they did SFX athletes. So, um, yeah, that's how, that's how it was formed. And we launched about a year.
Kerry Finsand: 18:36
So how long did you, so how long did you know him before you actually, uh, I guess got into business with him?
Danny Decker: 18:43
I think we were in year three. Um, now in each other. Yeah. We're we're somewhere in the middle of year three, maybe, maybe a year or two. Um, and I mean, listen, like Sam was one of those guys that like he's, he's driven. He's, he's hard working. He's brutally honest. Um, he, he believes in what he's doing and he has a passion for it, like no other and that, and he demonstrated that like, he, he didn't just talk the talk, he walked the walk, the guy is, uh, you know, his, his training, the training he does for himself as equal to the training that he gives to everyone else. And so, um, you know, that kind of work ethic in that mindset. Um, it rubs off on you. And, uh, for me it was like, yeah, this dude is, uh, is, it would be a no brainer department with him and do this, do this app and get it out to athletes across the globe. I think the biggest thing about it, man, is like so many kids are using that same system that we used in high school. And here's a system that is multi-disciplinary that trains the entire body. You know, um, builds explosiveness and helps reduce the injury. And so, um, if, and the athletes that he's trained, you know, both high school, college, and pro, still use this system and are seen, uh, the rewards from it, which is pretty, it was pretty awesome.
Kerry Finsand: 20:15
I know for me, um, I always like to do heavyweight we and being, you know, a smaller guy, always, like, I felt good to put up a lot of weight for your size and on a bench press, but it's like at the end of the day who really cares, doesn't matter. I rather be more flexible and more, you know overall physically fit But I've always done yoga on and off. So I've had some of that. I think for me, it probably was about. Maybe when I really started thinking about mobility stuff is probably about six years ago. And I started taking some different mobility classes and then started kind of incorporating those into what I'm doing. And now I tell everyone about it and it's all my parents. And just, uh, cause when you get older and stuff like that, I mean like hip mobility, you remember those old commercials I fallen and I can't get up. It's, you know, people are weak in their hips and the other places and the, and their core is so important. And I personally fight with. back issues. A lot of it is just because I've probably been doing things wrong for so many years that you have to retrain your body. It's so hard. So I think having something like this where you can, uh, combine this mobility, this kind of full workout routine. I think it was at four days. Is it four days a week? The program?
Danny Decker: 21:28
Yeah. So how the app works is the first thing it does that test your current physical,, strength and ability. So, and how it does, that is two basic tests. One is a plank hold hands down. Um, and so the time, you know, that you can hold a plank. And then the second is a broad jump. Um, so standing in place and then jumping forward. And so based off of that time for the plank and the length in which you've jumped, you enter in that data through the app and it will give you a score. And so that score will determine what type of programming, personalized programming, that you'll receive. The programming is four days a week and every four weeks you retest, you retest to see if your plank hold as longer than if your broad jump is, you know, farther. And if you do see the gains in those areas, you'll, you'll move up and the highest you can, you can get is a five-star. And so five-star training, um, that has a lot of routine in it that is designed to just make you stronger, fitter, more explosive, more flexible, and just overall well-rounded in your physical conditioning.
Kerry Finsand: 22:41
Yeah, I had the opportunity to try it out and, um definitely have did some modifications on it, just from some injuries that I have, but I thought it was really nicely laid out. I like how it's very simple and clean. Um, it's nice. There's explainer videos on how things work and then that, there's also a library of exercises to look at as well. Um, because I know. You know, you watched something one time you'd never done before, even if you've done it for us, it's been a while. It might take you a few times to kind of, uh, you know, look at this and how am I doing this. Right. And, you know, make sure you get the right form. And um, so I think that's really helpful. And I know personally myself, I've tried a number of different apps, uh, fitness apps. I've tried the apple fitness one. It was, it was okay. I've tried. Uh, just a time for ones that knees over toes guy. He's great. Um, his app's pretty good. Uh, but it is more of a specific training program philosophy, and then the Peloton app, uh, I've had pretty good success with that. I use that for awhile. Um, and so there's definitely a fair amount of apps out there. But I think what's nice about this is just kind of simplifying things to like two tests. What's, the jumping test?
Danny Decker: 23:48
The plank hold and the broad jump.
Kerry Finsand: 23:50
The broad jump. Yeah. Yeah. So like that, that makes it, I think makes it easier for people to understand intead of having to do a million different tests or which over-complicates it.
Danny Decker: 24:00
Yeah. Or, you know, some apps where you don't get tested at all and they just start giving you right. Lift, you know, start benching X amount of weight. Well, how does it know that? Like, uh, I think a lot of people who are training, they make a mistake and thinking that they have to. lift Heavy, um, in order to get stronger and in time you can work up to that, but it really starts with just overall strength and conditioning. And the focus too is really on the core as well. Right? The stronger, your core, the better, you know, you are physically as an athlete. Um, you know, and I think it helps reduce injuries. Like some of these things, when you, you mentioned back and things like that, um, If your core is strong and your overall strength is there and you're doing the right style and conditioning, that is based on your physical ability. Then you're going to see results and, uh, it just takes time and you gotta be committed. I think that's the one thing that we see with the training and people that are using the app is there are, you get these types that are very committed to it and they see the. They're seeing the results of it. And then you get people, other people that, you know, they're not fully committed, they're doing one day a week or two days a week. For one reason or another, they're just, you know, they're not committed to it. And so they're, they're not going to get the results that they want.
Kerry Finsand: 25:21
I think one thing we all have to realize too, is that, like, we often don't think of ourselves as athletes. And yeah. When you think of athletes, you think of these professional people that are unreal specimens and just great shape, but we should compete, sometimes with our self and these are our abilities and why can't you do athletic things just because you're not competing in a league anymore. You're competing just to live healthy and feel good, you know? And I think that's one thing that I, yeah, you know, I I've thought about that more the last few years, myself and stuff, and just like change how I exercise And, you know, sometimes I fall back to, oh, I want to, I want to try a. Doing a bunch of pull-ups again, or bench press. And I'm like, Nope, that was a dumb idea. So I do that, my shoulders and in B that's pointless. You're you're gonna, you're gonna try to hit, hit a certain number of weight and then you're just gonna injure yourself and then you're going to be mad. And then you're would I go down that circle of like, oh, now I can't do anything because my shoulders bothered me, you know? So I think we have to kind of come back to balance, like, what can we do? What can we enjoy? Maybe it's just walking every day, you know, whatever.
Danny Decker: 26:24
Yeah. It's different for everybody, but what you were just saying. I want to touch on that real quick light. Yeah. Uh, there's an athlete in all of us. Yeah. I think, yeah. We assume that the word athlete means you're this pro specimen and that's not the case. Like we're all athletic if, if we choose to be, um, and I think it's finding that within you and you're not competing against anyone other than yourself, you know? And, and then I think for me the training, I think you've gotta have you gotta, you gotta find a purpose. Like, why are you training You know, and then once you discover, find out what your, why is the thing, then you, you have to figure out, okay, how am I going to train and what am I going to use to train? Um, and so, you know, I think that's where an app like SFX comes into play is like, it helps you in, in the how and it helps you have training that is specified to your. Your ability and it's it, it doesn't, I guess the best way to put this as you don't have to think about it, right? Like you open up the app, your, your workout is ready for you. And if you do it, you're going to feel great when you're done and you get some time to rest. And then tomorrow, the next day, You open up the app and there suddenly there's a new program waiting for you to get going. And that's what I think I love about it most. And you mentioned simplicity. That's something that we really tried to focus on. We created this beta version of the app, keep it simple, you know, um, and make it effective so people can get the best workout. And so I feel like we've done that, but there's a lot of new things and features that we're going to be building here in the next, you know, six to 12 months that I'm also excited about.
Kerry Finsand: 28:11
Yeah. Just like anything you'll, you know, you'll keep developing the app add new features. I know, when I had my start-up Taplister and we were in a tech incubator and they taught us about the MVP, the minimum viable product. And you might. You kind of had that failure to launch syndrome where, oh, this isn't good enough, you know? Right. And, but you got to get out the door. If you never got the door, then how are you going to know what people are gonna like it and improve upon it?
Danny Decker: 28:35
Your users should tell you that.
Kerry Finsand: 28:36
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Danny Decker: 28:37
Like you think, you know, like what it should be and how it should be. But, and I think a lot of good, you know, startups, entrepreneurs that people that are doing this type of, um, They do know a lot. Right. But at the end of the day, your users are going to tell you where you need to improve and how you need to change the app to better suit their needs. I feel like so far we've done that and I, we had a lot of data going into it. You know, Sam had trained thousands of athletes, right? So he built a system based off of trial and error over a years of training. And then. I myself right before designing and developing this app, I had done over 300 digital projects. Right. There's a lot.
Kerry Finsand: 29:23
Well, and, and you did the program. The thing about You too is you actually did the program for a while. So you could actually understand and how to bring that to life versus someone just saying here, let's make this app for us and not fully understand the program. So I think between that. And then the fact that you've done it. So that shows that like, you know, this is something that I can do, or you also have, if you want to look up to people, I've I know there's some NFL players that have worked with Sam before, so, so he's had the kind of gamut of different people. So I think that's a nice point to get across or, yeah, he's trained everything from, you know, average. Joe's like you and I to like professional athletes and he's come up with the system. He thinks makes the most sense and all the things he developed and, and dividing, you know the power, the explosiveness, and then the mobility and just what, what your body needs to move. Whether you just want to, you know, play with your, play, your kids, you just want to play with your friends, or maybe you want to do a sport because especially nowadays, you know, less kids or more kids, or, you know, gaming and things like that. So anything you can make things easier. To get them excited about it. I think that's, uh, you know, always a good thing.
Danny Decker: 30:34
Oh, absolutely. Man. We got to get kids off the couch, like a hundred percent like, uh, you know, um, and adults.
Kerry Finsand: 30:43
Yeah. So go ahead. No, sorry. How much, so how much does this app cost? How do people get, how does it work? Exactly.
Danny Decker: 30:52
So the app is, if you, if you subscribe. Yeah. You know, signing up the first 30 days are free, so a free trial, and now 30 days is good. I mean, you're going to get a good understanding of how it works and how it works for you, especially if you're doing the four days a week. After that you can, you know, subscribe for 9.99 a month, $9 and 99 cents per month, or you can subscribe annually for $99 $99 cents a year. Right.
Kerry Finsand: 31:23
So you save see a little bit of money, you know, if you, if you do the year.
Danny Decker: 31:27
It's a hundred bucks, but just to kind of put this into like, you know, Sam personal training is $150 an hour. If you want Sam to personally train your son or, you know, if you're an athlete or you're just, you know, somebody who wants personal training, he's $150 an hour. Everything that he knows, everything that he knows is in this app, with the video tutorials, um, the system itself. So a hundred dollars a year in my mind is a steal is an absolute steal, you know, for the level of training that, uh, that one will receive. From this app.
Kerry Finsand: 32:06
Well, I think it's good. You actually, like a lot of times you would try things out. They give you like a seven day trial or a 14 day trial. So I think at 30 days you can really understand it if you commit to and everyone commits to things. So then it might be a little bit harder, but like you got 30 days, so you can, you can play around with it and see, but, I think with no matter what people do with exercising, they just have to commit whether whatever you do, you commit to it. And that's how you succeed. If you don't commit to it and you wake up in the morning, what am I going to do today? But with this app, like I know personally when I'm on a plan, some type of schedule, that's when I thrive, when I'm not, I wake up like what I'm going to do today. I don't know. I'm not really feeling it today, you know?
Danny Decker: 32:47
Yeah, I'm the same way. Um, you know, I was kinda like before I never really. I never really had a plan. I listen, I would go to the gym four days a week and I would follow this up. I'm going to do biceps today. What did I do? Oh, I did shoulders straight. Okay. I'm going to do do legs. There was always some cardio involved and, you know, um, I thought I was pretty strong. I thought I was in good shape until my first day training at Strength Farm. And then I realized I was humbled and I realized that what I was doing was absolute BS. The training, the multidisciplinary training that the SFX system has is by far the best training I've ever done. And that's why, and I believe in it, right? Like you were saying, like, I, I did it for, I've been doing it for the last four. And this is why I partnered with Sam and invested over six figures in building this app, because I believe in it, I believe in the training. And then I think it's really important that young men and women that are training or want to train are trying to play a professional sport, or just want to be healthy that they're, they're using proper training, right? They're not buying into the idea of, of heavy lifting or buying into the idea of, you know, the type of training. I won't say what that is, but. The stuff that's out there that isn't really that healthy for you, right? Rather it be your joints or just your muscles in general. So I think if people want to train smart and healthy and have something that is personalized towards their physical abilities, this is an app that they could use.
Kerry Finsand: 34:22
Yeah. How do I think? Yeah, no, I mean, and again, I like that you are a person that did the program for a long time and it wasn't something you like, this is just some customer that came to you that said, Hey, let's make this cool app. And I know you've done apps for, I think it was at Les mills. You did an app for that company too. And that's a huge international. Uh, I think you're based out of New Zealand. I want to say I do one of their classes. They had 24 hour fitness body flows, like yoga and like meditation and stuff. So from that, you probably learned a lot about, you know, what, what works and what to do and develop in that particular app before you even did this app.
Danny Decker: 34:58
I think the thing that I learned in app design is it's hard. Um, it's not simple, especially when you get to engineering It gets even more difficult. But this is where the whole idea of keeping it simple comes into play, and it's easy to say, oh, we're going to design something simple, but when it gets down to it, it's not simple to make it simple. It is, it is time consuming and as grueling as. It's a lot of Trial and error. It's a lot of, um, you know, architecture and sometimes you got to roll back because maybe what you thought was simple and good ended up not being that. So, um, and in some cases, you know, God forbid you gotta erase code and start from scratch. Um, but. Yeah. If at the end of the day, the app works better for the end user and they're happy about it. That's what it's all about. The last thing you want is somebody getting frustrated or lost while they're in the app? Like how does an asking themselves, what is this, how does this work? They should never have to ask themselves how does this work, right?
Kerry Finsand: 36:05
Oh yeah. I mean, that makes perfect sense now. Um, a couple other questions for you. One thing I kind of wanted, wanted to ask you, you know, uh, when you, what would you tell yourself? You know, when you, before you let's say you were starting in Harlo right now, some, two years ago right now, uh, you started a hard load a number of years ago. What would you do differently this time? If you were to start it again?
Danny Decker: 36:34
Oh, I could probably say there's a lot of things, um, looking back. Um, but to be honest, I don't think I would change anything. I've made a lot of mistakes. I lost thousands of dollars in those mistakes. Sure. All of my success, 110%. All of my success was because I failed first because I made the mistake and I learned from that mistake. And, uh, we had a saying that when we made a mistake, you know, me, Cody and, uh, McKean would say never again. So what are we doing to make sure that that never happens again, rather that was drafting up some piece of legal and our proposals are just, you know, growing our proposals or. Um, learning to qualify the type of people that we work with. Um, but there's not much that I would change to be honest. Um, I, I might've stayed in the last a little longer and, and try to save more money because that first year was a hustle in the second year was to be honest, every year has been a hustle. I mean, even, even when you're you're big and money's coming in, you have projects in your welcome. It's still a hustlel I mean, this is a life of an agency owner. We're project based. So there's not a day where I can just kick back in my chair and be like, oh, you know, we're good. Now every day I get up. You know, I put my hat on, I grabbed my rifle, I kicked down the door. I go out and I hunt, you know, and some days, you know, I'm bringing in some big game. Other days, it's just a rabbit, but we lived to fight another day and we get to eat. So, um, I'm going into my 19th year. Um, well, yeah, and, uh, I started SFX athletes because it's, it's. An amazing product, the system that he created and, you know, if we can get it out to more people and reach more people and when their minds and their hearts and improve, you know, help them improve physically and mentally, and it's a win, you know, and I'm happy about that.
Kerry Finsand: 38:41
I think one observation I have is that what, you know, you have a Harlo Uh, now this, uh, SF athletes. I think where the success for you has lied does that, um, you've also. Found good people to work with and you kind of ease into it. And just, just instead of just saying, okay, let's just all get together and create this company or create this app. You knew people. And that's one of the hardest things with starting a of business and things I've dealt with many times over is find the right people too, who have the same vision as you. And that's very difficult. And when you have that foundational, uh, that foundation of a good team, you feel more confident because when you're by yourself, it's just so much harder. So I think that is something that I've seen you succeed at in these at least as two examples, for sure.
Danny Decker: 39:32
Yeah. You know, I think, well, this is a whole discussion, but co-founders right. So when you're seeking a co-founder and you want somebody to join you, there has to be some alignment. Right? Cause this is. This is a marriage. I mean, essentially, right. Um, and to be honest, I, there was other business ventures I went into with people that I, they asked me to co you know, be a co-founder and they ended up not being that good because they just didn't have the work ethic. Right. Um, and that's what it gets down to work ethic, showing up, doing the work, get it done, not make an excuse as to why it isn't done, but just doing it. And, um, Sam Sam is like, you know, he is that 100%.
Kerry Finsand: 40:17
Yeah. He drives you. You drive each other.
Danny Decker: 40:19
Oh I don't think I have to drive him at all. He definitely drives me though. Like he, um, he's a source of inspiration. His hard work has work ethic. He does, and he doesn't make excuses. And I think that's one thing that I, I learned to grow and hell even more training with him was like, just stop making excuses. You know, there's always an excuse why you can't work out for an hour or, you know, or, oh, I'm too tired of this or that. Or, you know, this family there's this, that, in my opinion, those are the times when you need to train most like, you know, there's a definitely a family train You're not feeling good. Train You know, um, maybe you, you, you know, it's just been a slow day and you want to be lethargic lay on the couch. Train
Kerry Finsand: 41:02
It's all. Yeah, the mental health, like for me and deal with my mental health, like if I don't, when I exercise it feel better like today, I didn't feel like exercise this morning, but then I went and I was like, oh wow. I feel really good. Huh. See, you know, it's like,
Danny Decker: 41:16
you know this and you always will. And you always will. I mean, I can't, I can't, I've never not felt, felt good after an hour of exercise. Yeah, never. Right. The endorphins are gonna feel great. Even the times where I'm like. I'm so tired and I don't want to do it. I'll still work out and I might not give it a hundred percent just because I'm tired, but I'm going through the motions. I'm doing it. My heart rate's pumping. My blood is pumping. And then when it's done, I'm like, oh, I feel great. This is, this is,
Kerry Finsand: 41:48
it's something simple. Like what I tell myself, like, okay, I'm not motivated. So. I'm going to go for 10 minute walk, like how hard is that? And then when I get going, then it turns into maybe a half an hour longer because I'm like, oh, okay. I guess I like this.
Danny Decker: 42:01
The next thing you know You've done 10 miles.
Kerry Finsand: 42:04
Well, yeah, man. I now I'm all the wa Beaverton or something, so yeah, but I think that's, yeah, it kind of comes down to that and that's kind of the. What I like about the idea of you know talking to you in this was that, you know, you started several different businesses and then this newest one is something about the helps up mental and physical health. So I thought it was a very timely thing for us to, to discuss. And, um, I just want to thank you for your time today. It's been awesome. We could talk forever.
Danny Decker: 42:34
Oh yeah. I mean, I feel like we just scratched the surface. I think we need another, another session after this
Kerry Finsand: 42:40
Oh, yeah, we're going to do, we'll do some more, like you said, co-founders like, that's the whole thing we could talk about some day. There's so many different topics. Um, but I wanted to see if there's anything else you wanted to kind of give a shout out for any mentions, uh, you know, before he four kind of close out the show.
Danny Decker: 42:54
Yeah, I think, listen, if you're, if you're looking to find a training program to help you get in shape, uh, you can download SFX Athletes on the apple store. It's on Google. Play Um, the name is going to be changing soon. You can still Google it as SFX athletes and it will pull up, but, uh, and it will just be SFX transform training. And you can find us as https://www.strengthfarmsfxapp.com And, uh, you can learn a little bit about, um, more about Sam and about myself. Um, but I highly recommend it. Give it a shot.
Kerry Finsand: 43:29
Yeah. 30 days here. It's free for 30 days. Why will you try it?
Danny Decker: 43:32
It's free. Yeah, give it, give it a try. You're going to be okay. You know, I've had people tell me, oh, I need to train before I do that. I'm like, no, you don't, you don't need to train before you do this. You can start training now using.
Kerry Finsand: 43:44
Yeah, because they don't want to do bad. I've had that mentality before. I'm not gonna lie, but, uh,
Danny Decker: 43:49
Yeah That's yeah, that just gets back to that whole excuses things. Just do it. Yeah. Right.
Kerry Finsand: 43:53
Well, thanks again, Danny. I appreciate it. Um, I just want to thank thank our listeners you can find out more about me on kerryfinsand.com or kfinsand and more about this show. We'll have show notes in here to like list where you have direct access links to, um, his app and everything that Danny was talking about. And then I just want to close with remember you're not alone in life or business, uh, take care of everyone.
Danny Decker: 44:17
Take care. Thanks. Thank you, Kerry
Kerry Finsand: 44:19
Thanks.
Danny Decker: 44:19
All right, bye.
