Eric: Well, by this time I had already been in the fitness industry, I opened up Gold’s Gym. I was the first licensee of Gold’s Gym and opened up six clubs in Canada and some in California. Sold that and partnered with my mentor, who just passed away yesterday, 94. I partnered up with Ray (Wilson) and we opened up 72 locations in California. We sold that, again, and he always told me about Asia being a motherload. I went to Hong Kong. I landed there and there were no fitness centers. Everyone was into brand names. I knew it was the right time. Everyone told me the Chinese will never work out, women won’t sweat in front of the men, I’ll never find a 40,000 sqft building, I’ll never blah blah blah no no no no no. But I had already manifested it in my mind. I learned about manifestation at a young age. When I was 13 I read a book called “Concentration” by an Indian Yogi. It talked about manifestation. I had already manifested the exact building, the look, the smell, the sound, the escalator, four-story, ground floor, all glass, the sign, happy, money, hi-5, women, men, excitement! Everything, I had already done it. I had done it to a level that it could not NOT happen. I found the exact building, I hired the exact people. It was $4.5M just to get started. A million and a half dollars on top of that just for the rent deposit because nobody knew me. We got all of our money back in 90 days after opening.
who of Entertainment” for all 80 clubs. He came to one of the clubs and told me that. I said “well then why did you hire me? There are so many gorgeous girls there and guys. Was it because I spoke French?” He said “ No” so I said “Well then why? I really want to know for the future.” He looked at me and said “ It's that crazy look you got in your eye. It’s that sparkle, that mischievous sparkle you got! That’s who we are!” was the “Chief I got that “whatever it is”. The good news is I got a letter saying congratulations we will see you in Martinique in the French West Indies April 15th. Now, on the face of it, it sounds like a dream come true. I had one small hurdle. I had to tell my Jewish father, who told everybody about how much money I was making because I was making more than doctors and lawyers. I had to tell my father, “Dad I’m going away to Martinique to live in the French West Indies”. He's going to ask for sure, “What? Well how much money are you gonna make?” And when I told him $60 a month he couldn’t hear it. It was like a strange sound to a dog. He looked at me. He heard it, but he couldn’t accept those words. He asked me the same question again.
branding, their teamwork, and their leadership. There were a thousand people who wanted my job. We worked bell to bell. If Paul McCartney had called me and asked me to join his group I would have said “Let me finish the season and then we'll talk about it.” I wouldn’t have left for anything! They created this passion-based life. When the members would leave, nine out of 10 of them would be crying. They were crying! We gave them an experience way beyond their wildest imagination and we hit them in their heart, their soul. Doctors would give up their practice just to stay on the scuba boat, to be the scuba diving doctor. It was incredible. And I learned it wasn't about the food, it wasn’t about sports, it was only about the experience and the feeling that they got, and I created my entire world in business based upon that, the energy, the passion, the experience. I recreated everything I had learned in my fitness centers, wherever I was in the world. So, it wasn’t just a $60 a month paycheck, I got a PhD in branding and marketing from the best in the business. Michael: There you have it, follow your passion. From an early age you pretty much have been traveling the world.
Michael: (laughter) I bet he did!
Eric: I went away. I could always go back and finish number one at the spa. The doors were open and I went to Martinique for $60 a month. I traveled all over the world.
Eric: Yeah, I've been to 81 countries.
Michael: You changed your passion a little bit. You ended up looking to Asia for something. Do you want to elaborate on that a little bit.
What I learned was like a PhD from their marketing, their
In my third year we did $100M in revenue and $38M profit. We
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