Cory McKane: WeStrive App | #25

Cory McKane is the founder of WeStrive which is a fitness app for personal trainers to manage their clients. Cory and Tom discuss Cory's fitness journey and his journey as an entrepreneur. Cory explains how his app and company have evolved over the years. Tom and Cory also discuss what type of features work well in a fitness app and what type of features do not.

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Transcript

Tom 0:00

Hello friends, welcome to the Drive Fitness Program. My name is Tom Driver, and today my guest is Corey McCain. Corey is the founder of WeStrive, the personal training app. It's an all-in-one app for personal trainers to manage their clients. They also have a WeStrive for Clients app, but their focus is primarily B2B, working with trainers and providing a platform for the personal trainers. So if you are a personal trainer, I'm not sure if you use an app to manage your clients currently, but I've checked out the WeStrive app and I was completely blown away. I have a huge appreciation for what Corey's been able to put together with his team. It's super impressive. So Corey and I had a lot to discuss. We talk about his own personal fitness journey and journey as an entrepreneur, how his app has grown over the years. We also discuss what features work well in a fitness app, what features don't. You can follow WeStrive App on Instagram at WeStriveapp. And if you click on the link in their bio, you can find more information for trainers. You can find links to their iOS and Android app and follow their blog. And if you're not a personal trainer, well then go check out our app for a gamified fitness experience. And if you end up using it, please let me know. DM me on Instagram or something and let me know so I can keep up with you for possibly some user feedback. And that's it. I hope you guys enjoy the episode.

Cory 1:52

Yeah, I actually have my accounting degree. So basically everything that I did prior to the app has nothing to do with the app as far as education goes. I do have a big background in fitness. I mean, I worked out for pretty much my whole life, whether it was sports growing up and then weightlifting in high school, I've done weightlifting competitions. I did a gym owner mentorship for like a year or two where I was like learning what it'd be like to be a gym owner and seeing the behind the scenes. I've done like weightlifting competitions, bunch of friends that are personal trainers. So super into fitness and just every element of it. But I wasn't ever like I wasn't ever like a coder or developer as far as tech goes. And I was never like a you know personal trainer per se, like officially. So I'm kind of a random background, I guess.

Tom 2:37

Yeah. Well, I mean, I wanted to build my app before I even picked my degree, right? It's kind of a hard to choose because you know, there's a huge business element and then a technical and fitness, like you were talking about. That's why I was curious which one you chose. So um, wait, you mentioned a uh you you shadowed someone who owned a gym or a program. That sounds super interesting. What is that called? What was that called?

Cory 3:01

Uh uh, it wasn't called anything. I just did it. I don't know. I just knew this guy. Uh actually, the guy that lived behind me is a good family friend. Um, he owned both the golds in our our my hometown of Wenatchee, Washington. He owned the golds in Wenatchee and the golds in East Wenatchee. And essentially, what's actually crazy is no one really knows this, but he actually are you familiar with the Gold's Gym challenge, like the the competition that Gold's Gym does, or maybe they don't do as much anymore. Not like the details, but I know that they have challenges. But yeah, so like there was it was probably early 2000s through the 2010s, maybe like midway. They they don't really do it much anymore. Um, but it was like one of the first challenges, like the gyms do like gyms do challenges all the time. Now, before that, you were just kind of like at the gym, and that was it, and like you didn't really do much. And gold gym was obviously like booming in the 2000s. And he uh my neighbor's actually the one that started the Gold Gym Challenge, like the worldwide competition. Um, so he did it. It was him and then another gym on the East Coast, because I'm from Washington State and the West Coast. Him and another gym would challenge each other, and then uh they started, you know, just doing that, and then all of a sudden, other gyms picked it up, and then all of a sudden the gold corporation picked it up, and then so he basically created that whole challenge. So it was cool to like be mentored by him, and I essentially would just sit down in their meetings and like look at their I mean, I didn't know what the numbers meant at that point. I was like 16, but um, I would look at their financials and I would just kind of figure out like what it was like on a day-to-day basis, and so um got super involved in the gym process. And then I don't know at some point I was like, I don't want to do this, it's too much competition, it's stressful. But uh yeah, that's kind of what I did in high school.

Tom 4:34

At that time, you were thinking about opening up a gym.

Cory 4:37

Yeah, I got really into weightlifting, and so I thought it would be something that I wanted to do. And again, I don't remember at what point I decided I didn't want to be a gym owner, but I remember thinking like this just it just was so stressful. There's always just gyms popping up, and so I realized at a pretty early age like how competitive that space is and how stressful it can be because we especially like around that time, CrossFit was popping up everywhere, like in the 2010-ish. Um, so pretty much there's just like CrossFit gym, CrossFit gym. And then I I noticed our local gym was losing members to these CrossFit gyms, and I was like, this sounds like a just stressful, like crazy. So I decided I didn't want to be a gym owner at that point.

Tom 5:13

How do you think that compares though to certain other fitness apps that you have to compete with? Is that does that scare you less than you know, different gyms popping up because the gyms are just so location-based? You know, they can take your um like the members in that area.

Cory 5:28

Are you so you are you asking how I would compare competitor apps to if I were to my app versus if I was a gym owner?

Tom 5:36

How can I guess why did you feel why did you feel more safe going the software side than the gym ownership side is I wouldn't say I feel more safe at all.

Cory 5:45

Actually, I would say probably less safe, but but I I made the decision to create a fitness app when I was like 22, and then our new platform I started. I'm 28 now, so I started our new platform around 25, 26. And so when I was looking at gym owner mentorship, I was like 17. So I think you know, a five to almost you know eight year gap would definitely definitely switch over. But I would say it's definitely way easier to own a gym, like by far, but the the benefits and the scalability are just aren't even close. So, like the risk reward, uh, I could easily any day get crushed by another fitness app, but the potential of the reward and how many people I can affect and how much we can, you know, potentially hopefully exit for at some point on a financial standpoint is just way higher than just owning a couple gyms, you know. So yeah.

Tom 6:30

Okay, cool. So that's not why you chose the other path. It was just like you could scale out the app more and you could reach more people that way. So the risk was worth it, like on this side.

Cory 6:39

Yeah, and I mean it started off. Uh I had nothing, I didn't even know what we were doing. We kind of just started off. I wanted to make a really fun fitness app where you could find programs on a marketplace, and then that turned into one thing led to another, and then all of a sudden I have investors, and then all of a sudden, like friends are putting tens of thousands of dollars in, and then I'm putting tens of all this money in, and years later I'm like pitching at competitions, and so it kind of was just one thing led to another. I didn't start off, I thought I would be like a millionaire in in a year, kind of a thing. That definitely did not happen, it still has not happened, and it's just like a crazy journey. And I thought it was gonna be uh, you know, kind of a walk in the park, basically. So I started off very clueless, and it took me a long time to like kind of learn the the ropes, I guess.

Tom 7:20

Yeah, man, I was just as naive too, like starting my own business, but I feel like that's part of what it takes almost. Like you have to almost be like blindly naive to kind of push forward at times. I don't know, it's interesting.

Cory 7:32

It's yeah, you gotta learn the lessons, you know. Like I mean, it's uh someone people can just people can tell you stuff, but until you actually like go through that process, it's a little different than just hearing it, you know, yours yourself.

Tom 7:44

Cool. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Um, so when you started the app, did you meet like a technical founder and the two of you guys work together? Or how did you like actually build this first version that had the just the programs that people could um like it's just a marketplace for programs?

Cory 8:01

Yeah, that would have been ideal. I mean, that's pretty much everything that a startup founder wants in the first place. You either are the technical guy or you find one and you're just like buddy buddy and you you go off into the sunset. That wasn't my case. I'm from a small town in eastern Washington. Uh, it's more of a small city, I guess, but there's nothing for six hours. You got you got Seattle five hours to the west, and then nothing else for like a ridiculous amount of time. So there's not like a lot of tech where I'm from. I I did like an angel pitch one time, and it was all like real estate agents. Like there's not, there's just nothing really going on. And so yeah, I mean, I started off, and the first team I hired, it was just an absolute chit show. It was this um, I still kind of know some of the people to this day, but it was like a local marketing agency that was great at marketing, and they had like two to three developers on staff, full or part-time. And I basically part-time hired those developers on like a contract basis to build my app, which you should never do. You should have people that are dedicated to you, or like these people that are dedicated to building apps and not just like working for an agency making their websites. And so, yeah, that's kind of what's kind of what happened is I hired them. The app launched like eight months too late. It was just miserable, and uh, we didn't even have an Android version and no one cared. And so I kind of scrapped that one, moved to LA, ended up hiring a dev team out of Ukraine, and I've been with them ever since. So that was about almost four years ago now.

Tom 9:25

Okay, cool. So, how did how did you like raise you raise investments then before you even put together a development team?

Cory 9:33

And then yeah, but very little. Uh in the beginning, I probably I mostly self-funded this. I've I've like weighted tables, Uber, pretty much anything I could, and just you know, put in a thousand bucks here, five thousand here, just wherever wherever like money was coming from, I would put it in. And so that was how I funded it at first over time, and then I would get the occasional. I mean, it's it's changed over time. Like, for example, back in 2016, 2017, when I was just starting off and my totally different business platform, I would get you know two thousand dollar checks from a friend or five thousand from a friend or an investor. And then around like 2019, I started getting 10K and 15k checks. And now this year we're raising, well, I finally have my actual B2B business that we're working on for personal trainers, which I run Weast Drive, we're a SaaS platform, software operating system for personal trainers, nutritionists, health coaches, all that stuff. And so now we're getting checks for 25k, 50k, 100k. So it's a lot different, and so we're kind of in a different, different level now. But I mean, it took a long time to get here because I basically was working on the wrong business for so long.

Tom 10:34

Okay. Interesting. So, at what point could you like like leave your other job then and focus on We Strive? Like, how long has it been?

Cory 10:43

So, yeah, six took literally six years. So, I okay just just in February, I officially quit doing that at this point. I was just kind of doing DoorDash part-time, just kind of like here and there on the weekends. But I officially doing I officially quit doing literally anything on the side and went full-time on the app. So I'm paying myself very minimal from our investment funds, like on a monthly basis. But I'm an actual like salaried employee and all that fun. Definitely don't have any Bennies, but uh, you know, salaried employee just living my life, and it's it's nice to kind of do this full time. So it's it's been about four months now. Yeah.

Tom 11:19

That's amazing. Yeah, uh, that's kind of like a dream come true for me, too, right? Because I still have to like make money on the side and I'm getting it up and running. So um, like first of all, congratulations. Like, that's a huge success. Uh, I know a lot of people who have started companies and have not given have not gotten to that point, right? Appreciate it. Yeah, but uh the way you said it makes it seem like it's almost more stressful now, or is it um like how just how is it to be on that side of the journey?

Cory 11:47

Yeah, it's stressful. And I actually, I mean, I enjoy paying myself, but um I don't know, it really I hate it because uh it takes away a little bit of the uh adrenaline or ambition that I had. And so, because you know, when you're running your when I'm running a business and then I'm having to drive for DoorDash at night and then like do weight tables on the weekends, like there's this grind and hustle part of it. And now, I mean, I still work like every 10 to 12 hours a day easily, but it, you know, I'll take a weekend off or like I'll uh it's fine, I can get some beers with the boys, like who cares? Like it's so I just I take a lot more breaks now. And again, I'm working way more than 40 hours a week, so it's like I I've earned this, you know, not insane work schedule time. But yeah, it just it's it's it's it's more stressful because now there's more people's money involved and more like more people are invested in the platform, both personally and financially. And so yeah, I just you know, I'm I'm always trying to find ways to motivate myself to put in more work and you know, hustle harder, I guess basically.

Tom 12:47

Yeah, it's funny. There's something about like being broke that keeps you very hungry, right?

Cory 12:52

You know, I still broke to clarify, still very broke, still yeah, still very broke, yeah.

Tom 12:59

Well, broke on like someone else and and being an employee, right? From for someone else, like um, I I'm basically still in that position, right, where I haven't raised any money. And it's you know, there is like an adrenaline to it, like it's you're like in fight or flight mode, right? Where you have to keep getting, you know, you have to work on nights or on weekends or whatever. And yeah, there is something exciting about that. Um and it'll it would be a little scarier to have people, you know, count on you, right, to return their investments. Um what how do you manage your own fitness with all this? Because uh I'm I'm a lot better about this today, but um I about a year ago got like uh like a year and a half ago was like pretty out of shape for my standard, right? Just for someone who was trying to build like you know some fitness software, I should be in top shape. But I just found that like running the business and building software all the time, you know, kind of dragged me down. So uh, do you have you have you run into that problem or how do you manage it, you know?

Cory 14:00

Yeah, and I didn't even really realize I was doing it because I think uh a lot of times, especially with men, like we we go to the we go lift weights for five days a week or whatever. And in our heads, we're in crazy good shape because we're lifting, we're like lifting weights and benching and squatting, all that stuff. And I took a step back and I uh last, so not this last, but so December like 29th of 2019, technically right before 2020. I ran a mile on a treadmill while I was back home in Washington and I almost like died on the treadmill. I was so exhausted and miserable, and I was just kind of like, you know what, screw this. I'm done being out of shape. Um I'm sick of working out four or five days a week and not being in good shape. And so I was probably in that same shape where I had like a little bit of a stomach and wasn't that cut for probably I want to say probably a year and a half to two years. I just didn't even really realize it. I thought I was fine. Um I get I get lower body fat really like around my stomach really bad. So um what I did was I started counting calories, you know, using apps like MyFitnessPal, Lose It. We we our We Strive actually syncs up with Lose It now, so that's nice. But and uh yeah, yeah, I started running and I ran more and it's two miles, three miles, four miles, seven miles. And so I actually last May, last year, I ran a marathon. Um during shit. Yeah, during COVID. So I did the whole 26.2 miles, uh, basically, basically died, but I got super emotional though, because on the run, I'd never I'd always told myself I'm like I could never run a marathon, I could never do it. And I did it and it like broke my body basically, but it was it was cool. So I went from 217 to 197 at the time, and so I lost about 20 pounds. Um, super in great shape last year. And then now I've kind of maintained the same thing where I'm about two, uh I'm about 206 now. Um so basically I have like a pretty consistent workout regimen. So Mondays I lift weights uh and then do lift weights in the morning and then do martial arts at night. Tuesdays I do basketball, Wednesdays lift weight in the morning, martial arts at night. So we're at five workouts Thursday lift weights, Friday lift weights. So I do about seven workouts a week, and then I'll run like five miles on Sunday or something like that. So yeah, maybe eight workouts a week, something like that.

Tom 16:05

Yeah, that's tough, man. Yeah. I um I recently just got my own trainer. I'm hoping to interview. Oh, nice.

Cory 16:11

Wait, are you are you a trainer yourself? I'm not I'm not familiar with your background.

Tom 16:14

Uh so yeah, my background is in technology, right? So my degree is called Integrated Science Uh and Technology. I like focus on computer science. And so um, I actually started like coding my app myself, right? And then I eventually um got a partner who was a developer, and that's when I started, you know, trying to learn the business end of things, which I still struggle with, right? Um, and the fitness aspect is something that I've always struggled, I struggle with on and off because coded coding specifically is is pretty much the opposite of working out, you know, it's just like a completely different headspace. And I'm linking code in. Um, so it's mostly web languages like JavaScript. Um, but it's it's uh it it uses something called Ionic, which is a multi-platform language and it uses TypeScript. So it's very similar. Um, like it uses HTML, CSS, all that. So it's very similar to like a website language, but then we compile it down, and that keeps us just having one code base for Android and uh iOS, and then we have uh Java backend, but I actually like my version of the app was only a front end, like um, and so one thing is when I got a partner is that he helped me build our API and stuff like that. So nice. I I code a little bit on Java, but mostly um I'm I just do the front end stuff. Like I come up with the ideas, I build it on the front end, and then he'll make make sure it all works great. Um what oh go ahead. Sorry. I was gonna ask what languages your app uses.

Cory 17:44

Is it native or so we code in uh Flutter? It's one of Google's newer mobile languages, it's also like a dual platform based.

Tom 17:51

So nice.

Cory 17:52

Yeah, we we used to be on Xamarin, but we started running out of developers that like know that. And so we switched to Flutter, much more modern language. And ironically, now we're kind of struggling to get Flutter developers because they're in such high demand over in Ukraine where I where I outsource my team to. And then on top of that, uh, there's just a lot of people that are still learning it. So a lot of our developers are like brand new to to coding Flutter. So we have like one senior guy that kind of teaches them, and so oh wow, uh yeah, but with Flutters, Flutter's been great for us though.

Tom 18:19

Okay, when is that like brand new? Because I actually I haven't heard of that.

Cory 18:23

It's relatively new. Um, I'm not sure like what I don't I don't know the date, but I uh actually let me just let me just google it really quick. Um Flutter coding. I feel like it's maybe like uh oh yeah initial release, I guess 2017, but I don't think it got picked up until probably I've I didn't even hear about it until August. So yeah.

Tom 18:47

That's crazy. Yeah, that must um I mean that still is relatively new for just you know like existing, right? Uh is that so that's your front end language? Do you guys have like an API that you guys use, like a like a Java or like a Python backend?

Cory 19:03

Yeah, we're we're on Angular on our back end. Um and then yeah, but I mean I don't really know how else to I don't go too far to the technical, so I don't know how to yeah, yeah.

Tom 19:12

I think Angular is a component of the front end, actually, right? So I think that that has to do with um like a Flutter must use Angular, right? Because I I Ionic my app uses Angular too. So our like um our apps probably have very similar code structures, you know, for the front. But I d I wonder if they your developers probably use a different language to do the database calls. I'm not sure. And they they could possibly use Angular, but um yeah, that's interesting. That's interesting that um Flutter is compatible with Angular.

Cory 19:44

Um yeah, I I don't know too much about how like the how they kind of you know coincide, but uh but yeah, that's part of as much as I know.

Tom 19:52

Yeah, I mean, in a lot of ways, I feel like that's held me back some from running the business side of things because me and my partner are both very technical, right? So, you know, I mean it it it makes it a lot harder when we don't have one guy who's just focused on business operations, you know.

Cory 20:07

So yeah, but I will say, like, uh it's way easier to learn the business side than it is the tech side. Like there, we would be so far along if I could have just coded this shit all on my own this whole time. Like if I didn't have to wait for my dev team to release because I were I'll work weekends, I'll work mornings, I'll work nights, I'll do everything. So the amount of time that I've spent doing random things, just waiting, like only I guess we'll update our FAQs. So I'm just waiting for our app to update. The amount of time I've done that is is insane. And I if I could have coded, it would have just been completely different.

Tom 20:42

Yeah. Yeah, I try to stay away from it now, but it is nice. I can step in there and do some things, right? Like there's certain ideas I have for the front end that I can just go work on, and then you know, Matt can kind of like make it all run efficiently, but at least I don't have to like express every idea, you know, and have someone else take all those steps, right?

Cory 21:02

Exactly. Yeah, I mean, you can it kind of goes hand in hand. I mean, I don't have a co-founder myself, but you know, if I did, I would uh I would hope that they were technical or I was technical.

Tom 21:11

Yeah.

Cory 21:11

Wait, how big is your development team? The overall team of them that I outsource to, and I've been with them like for so long that they've gotten huge, but they're about a hundred employees, and then I pull around eight. So I have a like a lead web and then sorry, uh what kind of like very like four hours a month web advisor kind of a thing over there. Um, another back end guy that's just absolutely amazing. Uh, we just hired a second back end web guy, so he's they've been crushing projects together, which is awesome. Um, quality assurance, project manager, and then um two mobile devs. So I've got about a team about seven right now. Oh, and then my and then a UX UI designer who's like stupid good. So I have about eight people over there.

Tom 21:53

Wow. So they so it's a company that that set you up with these eight guys, like there's a hundred people in the company. Oh Cool, nice. So then they have better synergy and stuff. They've worked on projects before, things like that.

Cory 22:06

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So they and they they've done a lot of like um I mean they all have different experiences. So some of them, some of the employees have done like their built their own apps before. Some of them are brand new to startups. And so like there's kind of all over the board, but they tend to be super kind of unified to want to make Weast Drive better. And some of them even have like their own employee equity through WeSdrive. So it's been it's a pretty cool process to kind of have them all involved involved. Nice.

Tom 22:30

So then do you have any like um like business side employees here in America? Like, have you started hiring like a marketing team or I have a social lead here?

Cory 22:40

Uh she's just she's incredible. Her name's Rachel. She does all of our Instagram and we don't we really uh Pinterest, but we don't really do too much like Twitter or Facebook. So she handles all of our Instagram and I guess TikTok now. And she just kills it for me. I'm I'm very uh I'm very uh what's the word? Not like controlling, but like I'm very like I'm like on you. I'm like I I don't let people loose really that often because I I don't I don't trust people to be able to to do what they say they're gonna do. My dev team, like I always monitor what they're building, but I'm like, do your thing, like you know what you're doing. Yeah and then with her with social media, I ran our social account for almost six years until February. And I let I hired her in February, and uh I just I don't even I don't even approve of her posts anymore. I just let her do her thing, and she's just so amazing, and she does graphic design too, and so she's been a huge help. I have uh two, I have a blog writer for me in the Philippines and another writer or sorry, another assistant in the Philippines for me as well. Um, he kind of helps with random projects. I have a video editor in Bosnia, and I just hired a podcast editor in uh for my new podcast coming out in Venezuela. What's the podcast called? Uh I don't have a name for it yet. And I actually I don't want to say my name because I feel like if someone sees this before it goes, they'll take my name. So because it's a very like generic name, but we we decided to not call it like We Strive just because um we wanted to make it like around like fitness and that kind of stuff. So um we're probably gonna end up calling it something along the line on the long line along the lines of uh like the the wellness podcast, something like that, you know. So uh but basically I'll be interviewing like fitness CEOs and you know, personal trainers and nutritionists and all that stuff. And it's kind of like getting overall health and fitness conversations around business, essentially.

Tom 24:26

Nice, nice. Are you gonna like dabble in technical conversations or anything, or just you're gonna focus on just fitness and nutrition?

Cory 24:34

Maybe a little bit, but my old podcast I did about a hundred interviews on, I would do all technical, like how'd you grow, how'd you raise money, how'd you do your startup? And so I I think this is for a different audience. It's gonna be all about personal trainers and people that like to work out. So we're gonna try and focus it on like the actual like I want it to be about business, but also like the actual workouts and how to like become healthier and all that stuff.

Tom 24:56

Cause I'm I'm doing something similar to like I guess maybe the old podcast you did, right? Where I just interview anyone that could help me on my journey, but that's pretty wide-ranging, and I've I almost feel like I need to rebrand because I feel like I got the word fitness in my podcast title, but I only interview someone about fitness like once every five episodes or something, you know. Like I interview developers, I interview just you know, marketing experts or business minds. Like I would definitely rebrand it too.

Cory 25:24

Cause like, for example, my first podcast was called the We Strap Podcast. Yeah. And I I ended up only interviewing, like started off. I had like a people that this guy that lost 200 pounds, and I had this the the VP of the NFL. So it was like still like fitness, but then I started then the next 80 interviews were all about tech and startups and entrepreneurs and all that. So yeah, and that it didn't make sense to have it on we strive app.com anymore. It was it was like, why is this on this website? This is a personal training app, and you have this podcast. So that's why I'm excited to relaunch it. I have this badass new uh website that I'm launching for the podcast built into We Strive, and so I'm really excited for it, but it's gonna be specifically about fitness, and so that'd be that'd be my my best recommendation is like if you're gonna have fitness in there, it has to be about fitness. So I mean, I would I would maybe either change the name or you know, maybe start having more fitness interviews.

Tom 26:16

Yeah, yeah, I definitely have some fitness ones planned, but I I might do a rebrand, we'll see. Because it doesn't, and originally, right, um the app was more about tracking your workouts, which it still is, but I thought the podcast would bring um you know like attention to the app. And as I told you more, like I'm focusing more on like the gamifications, like having like a storyline to the app, which requires like less input from people. And now I feel like, well, the app could bring some attention to the pod. Like, I don't want the podcast weighing it down by like keeping the brands connected, you know, if if the app can maybe be like quickly accessible now, you know. Um, because I just thought I had to get people interested in it with the podcast like prior to that. Um, but yeah, that's that's cool, man. I hope it goes well. Uh with what you're starting.

Cory 27:04

Yeah, we'll see, man. We'll see.

Tom 27:06

Um, so I guess let's talk a little bit more about like the features on the app itself, right? When you said it started as just workout programs, would people track anything? Would they enter in like their weight and reps, or was it just like, here's what to do?

Cory 27:20

Yeah, so I mean when it started, it was terrible. Like the so we'll we'll get that out of the way. So we'll we'll talk about the very last version of my original app, and then we'll talk about uh the current platform that we have now, which is a which is targeting trainers and before we were targeting consumers. So our very first app, we had a ton of features actually. So we had over, we had the world's biggest marketplace for fitness programs. We had over 500 full-length, you know, two to three months, sometimes six month fitness plans, and you could cater them from over 250 personal trainers around the world. So you say, like, I want to work out 30 minutes per day, I want to do bodybuilding. I am an intermediate lifter, and I want to train for four weeks and I have this equipment, and then we go boom. You have five programs that you can choose from. You can buy the program and then follow in the app. So you'd have the actual day-by-day schedule, week by week schedule, and then you could actually record your sets and reps in the platform. We had a journal in there, you could track your PRs, all this fun stuff. And was that optional, or do they have to track like their totally up to you? Yeah, if you want to just look at it, it says do three six to 12. You can just do that. You don't like no one's stuck, no one's forcing you to do anything. Okay, and uh that's actually what I hated about the bodybuilding.com app body space is you like every day, it's like, how much do you weigh? How old are you? And it's like all this crap, and it's like, why am I entering this every single day? This is irritating. And so we we skipped all that stuff, and then we had like a social media wall, which is stupid that we deleted. And so, yeah, those were those were kind of the main features. And now that we're a B2B focusing on personal trainers, we have just like uh thousands of features, like it just never ending. We added five new features this week, we're gonna add 10 next week. So, like every time we're every week, we're adding a new feature. And so we do everything from we have the best program building software on the planet, we have billing, we've got nutrition plans, uh in group inboxes, we've got uh, you know, you can take notes, document storage. We've I mean, literally, like I can talk for days about all this crap that we put in deer. So um, when I started this, I wanted to just make an awesome platform for personal trainers, and we ended up just creating like an all-in-one solution. And when when you decide to be an all-in-one solution, you have to be all in one. You can't have like 80% of what people want. So to this day, we're still adding like things that we feel like trainers do want and that they need. And so um every week we have a new a new quest and to to make the app that much better, basically.

Tom 29:39

How do you manage all these features then and and have it not be like um like like confusing and complicated for the user, right? Because uh, you know, it it sounds like it it's not as simple if you have like have all these features, you know. Like how do you manage that in the app so that they don't get distracted by the features that only 10 people wanted, or you know, yeah, and that's the biggest exactly.

Cory 30:02

And so, and I mean a couple things to that. Like, if only a couple now, I've been doing this for so long that if a trainer asks for a feature, I can pretty much immediately one times out of 10, I'll go, that's a genius feature. I can't believe we never thought of that. Actually, I'd say one times out of a hundred. That never happens anymore because we've doing this for so long. I'd say 50 times out of a hundred, I'm like, uh, no one else would want that. It's very specific. And then 49 times out of 100, I'm like, that's genius, but like we've already thought of that, and we're we are going to add that to the app. And then the 49 times out or 50 times out of 100 that I'm like, eh, not a good idea. If I start hearing that idea a lot, though, I'll go, okay, let's put that onto the feature list kind of a thing. But as far as organization goes, I mean, trainers are always asking for new features. I've got have you used Figma before? Uh no, I have not. Just start using Figma, it's an absolutely amazing. Uh, what do you currently do your designs on? Are you like on a vision or keynote or what are you doing?

Tom 30:58

Uh so I will like just sit there and code my my designs and like tweak them right there. So I don't mock up. Like, I'll I run I create most of the front end of the apps, and so like I'll actually code it, code it in and play around with it um myself. Gotcha. So I don't really have to have like a mock-up process, and then Matt, my partner, will come in and and um make sure that it's all working properly because he's more of a professional. Gotcha. Okay.

Cory 31:25

So have you done any like wireframing or anything like that in the past? Or uh yeah, yeah, I'm I'm familiar. Yeah, gotcha, okay. So yeah, but so our wireframing goes insanely in depth. So we've got, I mean, our our UX UI guide has transferred all of our wireframes from Envision to Figma, and we probably have 40 pages, and then each page has like anywhere from 10 to 100 uh just side-by-side designs. Like the settings button, what does that look like? The what color is it? Okay, now you clicked okay. What what does the button look like? Like we have literally every single design done. And then I have my own entire Figma. Actually, I have two Figma documents, one's for like my actual like business stuff. And then one is I want to say 12 pages, and some pages have six new designs. I'm like, we need to add this, this, this, and this. And then some have like our nutrition update that we're gonna hopefully launch like in October, November-ish, depending on you know coding times. Um, that one's gonna have I probably have a hundred different pages that I've coded. Like when you scan the food, what does it look like? What does this recipe look like? So it gets really chaotic and unorganized, and you're constantly, especially with like our budget. We uh we were spending about 5,000 a month on developers, which for my development team in the US would cost like 40 to 50,000 a month, if not more. And now we're spending about 7,000 a month, so it keeps going up because we just keep adding more and more and more and more features. So it's it's very hard to organize, and uh you just have to kind of weigh what your users want combined with like what you think is gonna make you the most money, essentially. And so like I'm very much user focused and I'm not as much money focused. I'm more like about making my users happy, which I think will in turn lead to us making more money. And so uh, yeah, I mean, I don't really have like a direct answer. It's just it's just it's a lot, and you gotta try and be as organized as possible essentially on the journey.

Tom 33:10

Do you have like a system for feedback? Like, do you poll all your users or do you talk to them individually? Like, how do you how do you assess what your user base wants?

Cory 33:20

I talk to them individually, and I again I've been doing this for so long that I I kind of just like we probably have 400 features that we'll add in the next year and a half. And I pretty much could, if I had to, I could sit down and mentally just map out every single one and why they're more prioritized than the other, just because I've been doing this for so long. I like I know what our users want, and then I'm talking with them on a daily basis, so I know what they want there too. But I have probably like 20 to 30 trainers that I'll speak with on a certain update and figure that out. And then with that being said, actually, our our big update and like or well, not big, we have a big update coming out, but semi-big update. We're gonna be adding forums to our platform. And so we're gonna have it, we're gonna, I was gonna outsource it and just like code in another company's forum, and I was like, screw it, we'll build it ourselves. And so essentially we're gonna have a updates tab where it'll be kind of like a little forum where I'll say, Hey, we're gonna launch this update, and then all of our users can comment and say, like, I love this idea or I don't love this idea, and here's why. And so we're gonna kind of like basically take Facebook groups, but then build it inside of We Strive so that we can kind of control the conversation basically.

Tom 34:20

Yeah, I was I was actually thinking about having some sort of feedback in the app, right? Because it's so hard to get people to use your app. And once they're there, it's like, oh, can you go to our Facebook page and click on our feedback link? It's you know, I I'm I've been thinking a lot about how can I just start ripping questions off on the users, like just in the app, you know, after a workout or something if they're willing to do it, because you know, yeah, it's it's hard, man.

Cory 34:45

Yeah, exactly. It's it's it's really difficult, and like getting them to answer questions is difficult. Like I mean, getting them to literally do anything is difficult, especially downloading an app. So um, I mean, I you can do pop-ups and surveys. I've always been a huge advocate that pop-ups and surveys kind of suck and they don't you don't actually get answers, and people just fill them out really quick and bounce. So, like, I think just having tons of actual human conversations with your users is the best way to actually get feedback.

Tom 35:10

Mm-hmm. That's so true. Yeah. So you had you said you have about like 30 something trainers that you, I guess, have been using the app for a while, and you you just go talk to them and and see what these these uh long-term users think about certain features and stuff.

Cory 35:25

Yeah, so we have a couple hundred trainers on the actual app itself. And then I I have a pool of about 30 that uh, you know, they're they're very well certified, they know what they're talking about, they're tech savvy, and they understand the training industry. So I can kind of go to them. And then I have a couple of users that will literally ping me every week with like an email saying this is the feature needs to be changed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And like it, and I don't say blah, blah, blah, like in a rude way, like it's great feedback. It's like they're very, they're just they just go to town on these reviews, and so it's awesome feedback for me that I don't even have to like ask them sometimes. They're like, Corey, I think you should have this. And I'm like, cool, like, we'll we'll do it. So um, we get to a point where you have a really loyal early user base that just helps you essentially create the platform you're trying to build.

Tom 36:08

Yeah, I think that's a benefit too of going B2B is that these are these people's companies now, exactly.

Cory 36:14

Well, benefit and also also very stressful. Yeah, like if you screw up, you ruin someone's workout. If I screw up, my trainer could lose a client and then maybe not be able to pay their rent at the end of the month. Yeah. So it's like it's a huge benefit, but also like adds a ton of stress. So, like, like to to play off that point, like, yeah, if you screw up, I'm like, well, whatever, I'll just Google it. Who cares? I'll do I'll do squats this way. And yeah, if I screw up, like literally I have trainers that are like, hey, I just added this client this morning and now he can't follow the workout, and the app broke, and like I don't know, I'm just so stressed out and it's not working, and I'm just then I'm freaking out, and I'm like, ah, I don't want to lose this trainer. And more importantly, I don't want them to be pissed off at me and like leave the worst review ever. And so um, it's it's really stressful for sure. Like, there's times where I've woken up at four or five a.m. to a UK trainer that can't get the app to work, and I have to just like troubleshoot basically until it's fixed. So um it's there's a huge benefit to it, and there's also like a huge negative where like you could really mess up someone's life basically if you don't do it right.

Tom 37:16

Yeah, that's scary, man. Um, what like when you try to get new trainers right? You're usually trying to get people who like are independent trainers. Or do you ever try to go like find a gym and have this entire gym adopt your app? Is that like part of maybe your future plans? Or for the most part, do you guys just want to be like a platform that helps independent trainers manage all their clients?

Cory 37:42

So we're about like I'd say a month away, maybe a month and a half away from targeting small gyms. Uh-huh. Excuse me. Basically, we just have a couple more features that we want to see implemented into We Strive and just like made uh made public. And once we do that, we're very confident we'll be the number one option for a lot of these smaller gyms. But I already have a couple of gyms I'm talking with that are interested. And um, you know, I'm I'm like a I'm a meathead, I'm like 28, I'm not like this, you know, this tech CEO, like look alike. So I'll have conversations with them and they're like, oh, this is gonna be some adorable app, whatever. And then I'll walk them through it. They're like, this is actually pretty legit. Uh yeah, let me know when let me know when X feature is live. And I'm like, cool. Um, so yeah, we've had we don't have a gym yet, but we have a we have definitely a ton of gyms that are interested and that I've spoken with. And then we have a couple of like like groups of two or three trainers that are that are part of our platform too. Um essentially the feature that we're waiting on is our teams feature, and so that'll allow multiple trainers or aka like a gym to operate kind of amongst each other in one spot.

Tom 38:44

Yeah, do the gyms like they want ability for like even a manager to manage all the trainers within your app that manage all their clients. Is is that the kind of features? Yeah, that's complicated.

Cory 38:55

Exactly. Yeah, and so I already have the designs done and we can do it. It's just like it goes back to our conversation about uh user or sorry, feature for feature priorities. Like I just I I've had the teams update design and ready to go for like probably eight to twelve months, and I just kind of keep pushing it back because it's just not a priority. And when we have the bandwidth and we feel like it's a priority, we'll we'll go live with it, but it's just you know, we don't have enough trainers asking for it right now, so we just haven't added it.

Tom 39:21

Cool. Um, the one other thing I want to talk about, which we talked about offline once, which is uh I asked you for advice, and the one thing you told me is not to go with the social features. So um I could you just give that whole spiel again? Like, why were you so against the social features? And because my my uh partner was kind of bummed, he didn't want to take them off the app because I told him I was like, Hey man, I got this great advice, you know. And he was like, No, so uh why like why do you feel so strongly that um it was better to remove you know the social features?

Cory 39:55

And it's okay to have them if you're gonna be like a primarily social app, but like if it if it if you do have them, they just have to be legit. Like you can't, I don't remember the exact advice I gave you, but basically, like if you're gonna launch a social fitness app, people have standards. Like it'd be like if you launched uh you're like, I'm gonna launch a text messaging app, and then I'm like, okay, why can't I reply to this message? Okay, why can't I send a gift? Okay, why can't I send photos? Like if you just if you launch a half-assed feature that isn't up to par with the industry standards, you'll just get crushed. And so that's what we did is we launch our social feature. You could post images, but you couldn't post gifts, and you could post uh like uh you know status updates with emojis, but you couldn't tag people. So like people just they weren't it wasn't up to par with what a text message could do or what Instagram would do or Twitter would do. So people just hated it. And so, like, and then we didn't have find a friend, like find your friends. So if you if you don't have the find your friends function for a social app, then it's like, what's the point? Like you're just on there by yourself, like who cares? Um, we didn't have like in-depth messaging. So like messaging had the same limitations that our social wall had. So basically, my advice if I'm I don't remember what it was, but like I would just say now that if you're gonna add it, it better be really good. Otherwise, it's gonna make your app look really stupid, basically. So it'll it'll take away from the rest of the features essentially.

Tom 41:15

Yeah. No, I think uh we haven't taken it out yet, but I think we are going to because I don't think that we should focus on right bringing it up to par. I think you were saying it just you can't compete with the the other social apps if if that's their thing, you know.

Cory 41:28

It takes a lot, man. It takes a lot. I mean, it's like and so I took a step back after like six months of having our social wall for V1, like the very first because I moved our social wall from our original app perfect. And when we relaunched Weastriver the very first time, I still had the social wall last year, and I was just like, who cares? No one cares, no one cares. Yeah, like and I took a step back and I was like, if I'm not posting on my own app on the social wall that's supposed to be like going to people for fitness, and I really don't want to post because it has limitations, then why would anyone else on the planet want to post? Like if you're not using your own app and you're the target market, then it's it's I mean, I was still using my own app to clarify, like to work out and stuff, but I wasn't using it this entire feature, and so it's like if I'm not using it, who who would use this?

Tom 42:07

So yeah, yeah, no, I laugh because there have been uh certain features we've implemented that have made me not want to use like even like some of the core features of my own app. And I'm like, okay, we gotta get these out. I have to I have to be happy with it, or else, you know, what's the point? What's the point of all of it?

Cory 42:22

You know, exactly, exactly.

Tom 42:24

Um, but yeah, yeah. And I think you just said that like once you remove the social features, like your user base was pretty happy, you know. Exactly. Or they they weren't they weren't upset about it or anything, so uh yeah, no one really noticed. They no one know no one noticed, yeah, exactly. Yeah, nice. Um, I don't I don't know if you have any questions about me or what I'm doing. I guess the only other thing I'm curious about is like this nutrition feature. You're gonna try to, I guess, compete with my fitness pal. That seems like they have they have it down, man.

Cory 42:56

I mean, you know, there's here's the thing is like they might uh they might have it down as far as like you can scan foods, but that doesn't do anything for the professional, like the professional that's training you, or the nutritionist that's training, or dietitian that's training you. Like they you're just following your own thing, and they can't even prescribe you a work or a nutrition plan in there. They can't prescribe your calories in there. You just kind of like have to they they describe it, they they prescribe that stuff outside of the app, and you have to translate that yourself into the app, and then you have to get that data out of the app back to them so they can transcribe it again. It just makes no sense. So basically, we're gonna be building a My FitnessPal or a Lose It built inside of our app. And then on our back end, we're gonna have a full nutrition database and nutrition plan builder so that nutritionists and dietitians and all that stuff and trainers that are certified in that in that realm can actually build a plan, assign it, whether it's like a specific eat an apple or it's like, you know, have protein today, have this many calories. And then our actual app will show you how many calories you have and you can kind of track down from your goals each day. Um, so it's gonna make the whole entire relationship. For nutrition, just a thousand times easier for both the professional and for their users.

Tom 44:04

So uh have you heard of Trainerize? I have, yeah. Yeah. So I interviewed her on the podcast, this girl named Kayla. Uh, I talk about her like every episode at some point. But uh, she's she was my she's a registered dietitian and she um like managed my diet for three months. And she used an app called Trainerize, which helped her, like you were saying, uh, I guess there's certain limitations on my fitness pal. It connected to my fitness pal, and she was able to set those parameters and things in my fitness pal. And then I guess she had like a her own dashboard that was like better for her and stuff like that.

Cory 44:38

Um we have that's we have that same thing right now. So we we do it. So Trainer Eyes is one of our main competitors. Uh, we do the same exact thing, but instead of my fitness pal, we use lose it. It's like a slightly better connection, like it actually pulls data a little bit better. But same same concept. So we do the same thing that they do, exact same thing. But like she can't so she but she's still sending her her clients a like a PDF of the actual food to eat. Like she can assign macros and calories just like we can, but that's that's it. Like she still has to externally be like, eat these foods and do this thing, and then the clients have to like it has to pull the data and then go in. So it's just like there's there's a thousand extra steps that are just unnecessary. And so we're gonna put that all into one spot. And then on top of that, they trainerized partners with this company. Um, I can't remember their name. They're they they're nutrition, they're like a nutrition plan builder as well, that like kind of like what we're building, but they're trash, it's disgusting. I don't want to touch it. We have a lot of trainers that have used it and it's like really gross. So we're gonna build a better version of that for our nutrition plan builder and also have the better version of MyFitnessPal combined in the same platform. So they're kind of like the best of both worlds, kind of a thing.

Tom 45:45

So I kind of just realized why um you don't like that system, and she did. It's because she didn't prescribe to me anything to eat, she was very big on just managing like the macros, and I could uh I was basically allowed to eat whatever I want, you know. She she like would suggest eat more vegetables or things like this, but there was never a moment where she was like, eat this apple, eat this piece. You know, there was no micromanaging going on, it was mostly just um overseeing my macros and then like making suggestions on the side. I don't know.

Cory 46:15

I guess we have a lot of chairs that do that too. That's that's totally fine. Like we we have that as well. Um, at the end of the day, like you're still gonna have to like manually do that in a completely different app. And so it'll just all be centered into the one platform, basically. So, like, worst case scenario, like the absolute bare minimum that you would get out of it is that you wouldn't have to have two different apps that are pulling from each other and like losing connections sometimes. And like you worst case scenario, you still have it all in one place and you can have one central dashboard for fitness and nutrition. And then, best case scenario is a nutritionist can actually build you out a full nutrition plan because I know that she only wants to do macros, but I guarantee you, if she had our system, she wouldn't tell you to do like eat this, eat this, eat this of this, but she would probably make some sort of very loose plan, like you're gonna have one protein and two vegetables, and then you would have the ability to customize what that protein was, but like she would still be like, You're not gonna have fast food tonight, you're gonna have a protein and two vegetables, and then you would enjoy that because you would have the openness to go, okay, let me pick a protein, cool, I'm gonna do steak, or let me let me pick a vegetable, I'm gonna do carrots. Um, so it gives them that flexibility, but like yeah, bare minimum, they'll have those calories and macros that they can track.

Tom 47:26

Yeah, she might have just been going easy on me too, because I was unhealthy or I was eating unhealthy. So I don't maybe she does get more uh intense with her advice as it goes on. But so you're not gonna have to use lose it as well as your app. You just use your app, and but lose it is gonna do something similar, you said, to what MyFitnessPal does for trainer eyes. So does lose it take care of the whole database of food, right? Because or do you have does does We Strive have its gonna have its own database of food?

Cory 47:54

Because that's we have a we have a database. So MyFitnessPal and Lose It. Um, I'm sure they have their own database somewhere, but we partnered up with this company called um uh give me one sec. I'm thinking of so many names right now that I just like literally no sorry, Nutrition. Sorry, I had a different name in my head. Uh we were gonna part with this one company for like five years, and I was so set on it. But the company or the CEO is a total dick to me and just kind of like blew me off. He's like, it'll cost $30,000. And then he was rude, and I was like, Well, I'm not gonna give you $30,000. Um, so we're partnering with NutritionX, which is an awesome company. They do all the food data for Fitbit Weight Watchers. Um, we have a special partnership with them where basically we're gonna be pulling all of their food data. They've got like 700,000 foods, like millions of recipes. So it's gonna be a pretty awesome partnership. So yeah.

Tom 48:41

Because yeah, I built my own database of exercises, and bro, that was one of the hardest things I've done. And not just like it wasn't that hard to type it all out, but that is, I mean, we have like over like a thousand, two, three hundred exercises, it's just so tedious, you know.

Cory 48:55

Well, you typed them out. I have 1500, and they're photos and videos that we actually filmed, shot, edited, added transitions to, and then put into our database.

Tom 49:02

So yeah, it's uh yeah, I'm doing that, I'm doing that right now, but I'm building animate like like animations, so like like some guy has to like I have to move the hand like and then it runs like a little animated video, and so I only have like a a little over a hundred of those right now.

Cory 49:17

If you want to pull videos, feel free to take ours, man. I don't care.

Tom 49:21

I mean, so I'm going with the more like video game aspect, right? Oh of a fitness app. So the whole animated character is like gonna be a big selling point for me. Like, I'm eventually, like the plan is like as you you know go through these stories that we're building, you're you're gonna unlock like different skins, like for your character and different, like it's it's gonna be more like it's it's gonna be very video game focused, right? In in the same way that like Fortnite or whatever will give you different skins and you know um characters to unlock.

Cory 49:51

I think that's cool. Um, but uh yeah, so if you if you ever end up like you have the skins, but if you're like watch a video and want to add a link, like feel free to just pull from our database. I don't really, it's all on YouTube anyway, so you can just pull from it. So wouldn't bother me. Um but uh yeah, that's cool, man. Yeah, definitely cool.

Tom 50:07

Cool. Um, I think you said you wanted to do an hour, so we got like five around five, 10 minutes. Um is there anything else you want to bring up or ask me, man? I mean, you are someone who is like a couple stages ahead of me doing exactly what I want to do. So, you know, I'm anything that if you have any advice or you know, just wisdom hustling, man.

Cory 50:27

Just keep hustling. Uh, I mean, I I mean, I think my biggest, my biggest wisdom is just like you're gonna get so many countless rejections, and then you're gonna eventually get like that yes. And so whether it's like 10, 10 no's and then the 11th investor's yes, or like a thousand partners say no, and then that 11,000 or thousand and month partner, thousand and first partner, yeah, thousand and first partner is gonna say yes. So, like you're gonna get a ton of no's, just wait for that yes. Um, and just don't like let it affect you personally. Like, not everyone is a target customer, not everyone's an investor. Like, you just kind of like you know, it'll just happen and don't let any of that kind of stuff, like that negativity, like affect your day or get into your personal life, even though it will, um, but just don't let it, you know, affect you like to the extent that it should basically. That it should. Uh yeah. I don't know. There you go. Yeah. And cool. I guess my second thing would be I think you guys should start wireframing. Um, I know I know you like to go in and code, and that's way faster, but like you're kind of doing that on the fly. And I think having those wireframes laid out gives you an actual plan. Um, and I'm kind of I'm definitely not where you're at as far as just like building on the fly, but there's another end of the spectrum on this side where it's like every single detail is planned out like to the T. And I'm a little bit more towards you where like I have all the details, but like maybe I'm missing a few, and I'm like, eh, whatever, it's fine. Like, we'll we'll get it on on the while we're building it. Um, but I think you need to move more in this direction where you're you have them actually plan out and like you have the settings button planned out, and it's not just like in your head or like on a piece of paper, but you actually have it like boom, like on a like a flowing wireframe document, basically. That's my my advice. Yeah, yeah.

Tom 52:08

I do that sometimes retroactively. Like I'll build a feature, then I'll take a screenshot and I'll like I have them laid out in a way, but that's not how I I plan ahead usually just because I can code. But you're right, like that is one thing I'm doing that, like there's a couple things I'm doing that are not scalable at the moment that I need to adjust before I start building a team because it's just me and one other guy right now. So it's like there's uh like agile development, right? I call it explosive, you know, development. It's just a we just we get an idea and we just run with it, we just you know make it all work, and um, it's definitely that style is not gonna work if we get a team of you know five or six developers in here, you know.

Cory 52:46

And you have you have no evidence or proof of of anything that you've ever done. So, like if I'm a developer and I join your team and I'm like, okay, where are your wireframes? Like, where are you guys built? And you're just like, This is it. And I'm like, what do you what are you talking about? Like, where's where is where is it? And instead of like, what if you wrote down all of your designs and you're like, this actually doesn't make sense, and you could have done that in 20 minutes instead of like actually coding every single page and then going, oh, now it doesn't make sense. So like just basically building that base initially before going live with it, uh, or before like coding it, it just would save you guys a ton of time and give you a lot more structure moving forward, basically.

Tom 53:20

What software do you use like um to keep track of all your wires?

Cory 53:25

Figma, baby, Figma all day, Figma. And I I use do you use Canva at all? Yeah, I use Canva for our social media. I just started.

Tom 53:33

Awesome. Yeah, I use it made the world a difference.

Cory 53:35

It's dude, it's insane. I use Canva um for their uh phone and iPad and uh computer templates. So they have you can you can you can go to their um not templates, they're like it's like icons or elements or whatever, and you can just type in phone or whatever, and then you can pull the phone over. And then if you have a screenshot of like the size of a phone screen, and you can you can just drag it into the phone. So then it's like a it's like oh it's so much so much time saving instead of having to like cut crop it and all that stuff. Yeah, I use smart mock-ups for that, but that's what I used. That's what I used to use, and that takes forever because you have to download it and then like copy it over. And this one you just go like that, and it's done automatic and saving so much time.

Tom 54:15

So smart mock-ups actually integrated into Canva for me. So they have some deal there, but um, do you use Canva Pro then to like yeah, but it's like 12 bucks a month, it's literally it's a thousand, ten thousand percent worth it.

Cory 54:29

I use Canva every single day. I'm like the biggest Canva advocate. Like, yeah, it's a big thing.

Tom 54:34

No, yeah. My um actually the last interview I did, uh, this lady named Sarah told me I should start using Canva for my social media for um so you're lucky, right? When I post a photo of this, it's gonna look better than it used to just be like a screenshot of of me and that person like on like the camera. It was so bad. But I I uh switched over to Canva and yeah, I mean, our like if you look at like my last two or three social media posts are just like way better than anything that came before it. So welcome, man. Welcome to the world. I might have to go pro, you know, because I'm already paying for the mock the smart mock-ups, you know. That's probably like 10 bucks a month. Yeah, I'm gonna do that.

Cory 55:10

Yeah, do Canva, yeah, man. Because you get it's with Canva, you get all you unlock all of the assets they have too. They have thousands of amazing photos and icons, and it's like it's not worth it to not be able to use those.

Tom 55:21

Yeah, yeah. I was putting together some like screenshots for this like story I told you we're building, and um, they have they have really good just like images all over the place, you know.

Cory 55:31

Exactly, exactly.

Tom 55:32

Yeah, um, well, thank you for the advice, man. Thank you for coming on. Uh I hope that you know you guys continue to grow and I hope this podcast goes well. That's that's pretty exciting, man. Thanks, man.

Cory 55:43

Yeah, I appreciate it. I'm excited for it.

Tom 55:44

And this was a great interview, so thanks for thanks for having me on. Oh yeah, of course. Yep, have a good day. Take it easy, man. Peace, Corey. Thank you for listening to today's episode of the Drive Fitness Program. I just want to remind you guys that you can check out Corey's app called We Strive on the iOS and Android store. But again, the target audience is for trainers. So if you are a personal trainer or thinking about becoming a personal trainer, you can follow at We Strive app on Instagram, and the link in their bio will send you to their website where you can sign up for the trainer platform. And for everyone else, um, don't forget to check out the Drive Fitness app. I really, really appreciate all of you guys for listening. Thank you so much, and have a great day.