Why a Pro Bodybuilder Chose Business Over Sponsorships ft. Carter Montgomery

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[Podcast Intro] Paul Alex: Welcome to the Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Paul Alex. I went from being a cop to an eight-figure entrepreneur that helps average people like you and me make money every single day. I created this podcast to help you get motivated and to crush your goals. Let's win together. Remember, I have your six. Get ready to level up right now.

[Episode Start] Paul Alex: All right, guys. Today's guest is a powerhouse of discipline and purpose, a successful entrepreneur, and he's built businesses, mentored men, and guys, not only that, but he is huge in bodybuilding. I'm excited for this one, guys. As you guys know, I've been part of my fitness journey for the past few months, so I got a lot of questions to ask you. Welcome, Carter Montgomery, to the show.

Carter Montgomery: Thanks, my man. I appreciate you having me.

Paul Alex: No, absolutely, brother. So let's start from the very beginning, dude. Tell us a little bit about your background. I know you're from San Diego. I mean, you're connected with Planet Mike, one of our good friends, man, mutual friends. Shout out to Mike. But tell us a little bit about yourself to the audience, brother.

Carter Montgomery: Yeah, man. So I grew up actually in New Jersey. When I was 12, my mom moved us out to California. My dad passed away when I was five. So just me, my mom, my brother decided we needed to change. So she moved us to California. I was a very angry kid trying to figure out life and growing up. My mom was like, "Hey dude, you need to figure out a constructive way to deal with your anger." So she dropped me off at the gym, said, "Figure it out." Walked into a gym, humbled the shit out of me, but I fell in love. I fell in love with the process. That basically transitioned me into the fitness industry. Did my first show at 15, went pro at 21, accomplished a bunch of goals for myself. I realized that wasn't that fulfilling for me. I did everything I wanted to do, but I knew there was more to this. I started realizing that people treated me differently. I had a lot of opportunities come my way simply because I had a level of discipline that people could visually see. Once I really realized that power I harnessed, I was like, "Dude, other men need this shit." They need to understand the power you can harness when you actually have an elite level physique and you channel that discipline, you have that work ethic that everyone can visually see. So I transitioned into the online space. My wife was actually doing it since 2017, so she was kind of the catalyst for me stepping into that world. We joined forces, launched our company, and the rest was history, man.

Paul Alex: So a power couple that starts an online fitness company. You guys started that in 2019. So in 2019, your wife was doing it before 2017. How'd you guys meet?

Carter Montgomery: Actually at the same place I met Mike, which is funny, at World's Gym in San Diego. That's where I met my wife. We were friends for a little bit, didn't talk for about two years. Then in 2019, went to the gym, saw her there randomly. We both looked at each other and were like, "What the fuck?" I kind of didn't forget about you, but forgot this feeling we had. Started hanging out, spending some time together, and then it blossomed into our relationship. We've been inseparable ever since.

Paul Alex: Dude, I love that. You're coming up on how many years of marriage right now?

Carter Montgomery: Four.

Paul Alex: Okay. What would you say to entrepreneurs right now? I mean, dude, you guys are going from Fort Lauderdale to Miami now. Ever since I moved to Miami about two years ago and now I'm in Puerto Rico, man, I always see a lot of young guys coming down here to Miami. The number one advice I would tell them is just focus on what you have to do to level up first. Because there's the women, there's the money, there's the nightlife and all that. So what would you tell an entrepreneur right now that's in their 20s, dude, that they have everything in the world? I mean, we got like six guys right now in the back office doing their thing, but they're all single guys. I gotta mentor them. I gotta be like, "Hey, find that one girl and just stick to her." What type of advice would you give somebody?

Carter Montgomery: Yes, I call it the Miami Vortex. The vortex that Miami can suck you in and completely destroy your life. Unfortunately, you see a lot of guys come in, maybe they'll have a little bit of money, and then they get sucked into that vortex. You're never going to build the life you actually want and create everything you actually want if you get sucked into that vortex because the women, the drugs, the partying, all of that is just going to completely derail you from your vision. It clouds all of it. So the best thing you can do is double down on you and your personal development. That's why I'm so passionate about the body because I think that's the foundation of all of it. Focus on building the man that's going to attract the woman you actually want. There's plenty of dimes around here, but it doesn't mean they're going to make a great wife. Doesn't mean they're going to be loyal. Doesn't mean they're going to be that ride or die for you. I always want a woman who's going to love me inside of the mansion, but will also sit with me under a bridge in a box. I want that woman that will be loyal to me no matter what. In order to attract that caliber of a woman, you have to have your shit together. You have to have the personal development. You have to have the work ethic. You have to build a vision. You have to be able to protect and provide. If you can't do that piece, you're going to be very unfulfilled. Again, this whole lifestyle, the Miami Vortex will get old very quickly.

Paul Alex: Dude, I love that. Traditional values, dude. One of the main reasons, right before the podcast we were talking about California, the reason why we moved, it's just everything has to do with the views of politicians out there and what they got going on. So with that being said, man, let's take a deep dive into your fitness journey. What would you say it takes for a beginner right now that is listening? We've got a lot of young folks here, but we also got a lot of people that are old school millennials. I like to call myself old school millennial that are looking to start their journey. For me, for many years, for many decades, dude, I have been the type of guy that I'll say, "All right, this is the year I'm going to get a six pack. This is the year I'm going to get shredded." And then I drop off after like quarter two. What are some tips that you can tell our audience that can help them in that journey to stay disciplined like you, dude?

Carter Montgomery: Consistency is key to literally everything in life, whether it's making money, building the body, or having a successful marriage. It all comes down to consistency, doing the boring shit day in and day out. The reason I see a lot of people have a little bit of a run for say eight weeks and then fall off is because they try taking on too much too quickly. You don't need to do all the fancy shit. You don't need to go to the extreme diet, the extreme training. You just need to pick something, implement it, and then be consistent with it for a few weeks. Then stack another piece on top of that. After six months, you're going to have the entire picture built out. You'll have the consistency dialed in, and the byproduct of that is the great physique. That's really all it comes down to. But everyone struggles with consistency. The minute shit gets boring, people are like, "I don't want to do this anymore." It's true. But think about building a business. That shit is boring. It's doing the same shit day in and day out and not seeing an immediate result, but knowing that if I do this every single day, it will get me to the goal. Same thing happens with our bodies, same thing happens with the marriage. Everything comes down to that. If we can master that in our physique and just master the consistency, it could be something as simple as going to the gym every morning at 6am no matter what. Could be a 30 minute workout, does not matter. Master the consistency. Once you master consistency, then you can scale it, crank it up to 60 minutes, add the nutrition in, add the supplements in. You got to just build it brick by brick, but you can't try to build a house with no foundation.

Paul Alex: No, absolutely. Do you think, based on when we started the podcast, you initially said, "Hey, I was an angry kid. My mom dropped me off. She said, figure it out." Something that my mom would tell me. But do you think that when people make it to your level, dude, where you're a champion, that it takes something inside of them based on past trauma or possibly like pain? Like my story, I told you, man, being able to have a critical incident in your life where you're like, "Dude, this is it. I'm either going to do it or I'm going to do it." Do you think that really helps somebody project? Is that what a lot of winners and champions have in common?

Carter Montgomery: They all do. If you look at anyone who is at the top of their game, whether it's business, bodybuilding, really anything, they've had some kind of adversity in their life that is their driving factor behind everything. That pain ultimately drives their purpose. If you can learn how to channel that pain constructively and apply it to the right things, everything will continue to accelerate from there. You shared your story with me. You used all of that pain. You put it into your business and look what you've built. You've built a fucking empire, bro. So it's the same thing for me. I was an angry kid, dude. I was a shitty kid for a while, making a lot of mistakes. But luckily, my mom kind of put me in the right direction and said, "Here's a constructive way. Figure it out." Fell in love with the process. But I had pain throughout the entire journey. I knew that doing the boring shit, training every day, dieting, going through that pain was nothing compared to what I already experienced. So it was never actually hard for me. You have to have that level of pain to ultimately drive you in the right direction. But a lot of people either sedate and try to mask their pain, or they actually have never gone through any of the pain yet. If you don't go through those things, you don't know how to harness it. Unfortunately, you're not going to be able to take things to the level you need to.

Paul Alex: Dude, that makes so much sense. The reason why I say that is because nowadays, I talk to other entrepreneurs. The hardest thing that I always thought to myself, but I've also experienced in the past five years now that I've been a full-time entrepreneur since leaving law enforcement, is hiring good people. Hiring good people, dude. That could be for many things: customer service, logistics, sales, marketing, whatever it is. I see so many of the generation nowadays, especially in their younger 20s and their teenagers, they stay at a job for three months and then they transition out. I'm thinking, why is that? If you were to ask me my resume, dude, I've probably done three things: corporate sales, law enforcement, and full-time entrepreneurship. That's it. I didn't job hop or anything. I think it's just because of instant gratification. What do you think about social media, dude? Do you think social media is good or bad for our generation right now for the world?

Carter Montgomery: I think it's a double-edged sword. Social media is extremely powerful. We're able to reach people at a level we've never been able to do. You can also learn at a level we've never been able to learn before. Coaching is the new college. You can learn anything within a couple of months if you just simply pay for it and find someone. It doesn't matter what it is, merchant services, fitness, does not matter. You can find someone and learn at a very fast rate, which is very powerful. Obviously, we both built a lot of great things through social media. But unfortunately, it has trained people for that instant gratification. You see women, you see money, you see cars, you see things. Everybody thinks the grass is always greener. That's why I still love that saying, because the grass isn't greener. You need to pick one thing, stay committed to it, and drive forward. When it comes to social media, people are just consuming a bunch of bullshit. If you're looking at a bunch of chicks half naked on the internet all day, that's all that's going to be on your mind for the entire day. But if you use social media and find people who are inspiring you, teaching you things, motivating you, it can be extremely powerful for you. It can really help a lot with personal development. You can find podcasts like this, which again allows you to continue to take your development to the next level. But it's like, what the fuck are you using it for?

Paul Alex: No, absolutely, man. How do you think it is? Before you got into the online space in 2019, did you have multiple mentors before you met your wife? Did you have those key people that you can say back then that got you on the journey with your coaches and everything? You were like, "Man, if it wasn't for this person, I wouldn't be here."

Carter Montgomery: Yeah, I've actually had a lot of mentors throughout my entire life. My dad passed away when I was younger, so I spent my entire childhood, that's half the reason I was angry, because I was looking for some kind of guidance. I just wanted someone to give me the roadmap. When I got into bodybuilding, my mom was actually working with someone who she was competing with. She had a coach that worked at World's Gym. He took me under his wing. He taught me everything I needed to know about bodybuilding, all the pros and cons, laid it all out for me. That's how I was able to develop through bodybuilding. When I went into personal training, that's what I did before the online space, I had a boss, a good friend of mine now, he's actually one of my groomsmen, Tommy Reynolds, shout out to you. He took me under his wing. Same thing, dude, he taught me business. He taught me how to build my clientele, how to train them effectively, everything I needed to know to actually create some level of wealth and build something for myself. Now we step into the online world, Garrett J. White has been one of my greatest mentors of all time. If it wasn't for these people, there'd be no way I'm in the position I am right now. I wouldn't be the man I am right now to have attracted my wife. I'd be a train wreck, bro. This is why I always tell people, pay for coaches, pay for mentorship. This is the world we live in now. Everybody thinks you need a college degree. You don't need that shit. You need people that you're willing to invest in so they invest in you. It can take you to a level at a speed that completely defies logic. Things can move so quick if you just double down and have the right people in your corner.

Paul Alex: Yeah, it's amazing what you have been able to do by the age of 29, bro.

Carter Montgomery: Thank you.

Paul Alex: To be honest, I thought initially we were the same age. I was just like, "What? You're 29?" I was like, "Damn, I gotta put everything in 10x, bro. I gotta hurry up." But no, that's good, man. I'm inspired, dude. Let's talk about this because I'm interested to hear your perspective. Dude, you were on the top of the game as a bodybuilder. You were a champion. At that stage of the game, why didn't you continue to do more shows? Why didn't you continue to get sponsorships and probably do the traditional route of what bodybuilders do instead of transitioning out to the online space?

Carter Montgomery: Yeah, a few reasons. Reason number one, there's no money in it. I had paid sponsorships better than what almost anyone gets offered. I have all these things, but you're not going to create the level of wealth you need to create.

Paul Alex: How much, if you don't mind me asking, on average, how much are bodybuilders making off of sponsorships, dude? I thought they would make bank.

Carter Montgomery: No. If you're someone like a Chris Bumstead, you have a massive audience, those guys will make like multiple six figures off their sponsorship. But again, there's a shelf life to all of that. Even mine, dude, I was making like $1,500 a month for a sponsorship. There's a lot of red tape around that. You can't work with certain companies. It's still a job. You're working for them. So there's still a lot of stuff that goes on within that. I knew I wouldn't have been able to make the level of wealth I needed to just by winning shows. The other side of it as well is I knew I had a shelf life. Just like MMA, just like pro football, just like any pro sports, you have a shelf life. There's always going to be someone younger and better who's going to come in and take that spot. So I wanted to leave on top.

Paul Alex: Got it.

Carter Montgomery: The third part of it as well is just, dude, I accomplished everything I wanted to do. I just kept winning shows and I was just like, "This is not doing anything for me anymore."

Paul Alex: You're a top producer, man.

Carter Montgomery: Yeah, dude. There was nothing to this shit anymore, bro. That's when the passion really shifted. I was like, "Fuck, I want to help other people experience what I experienced." Because when you realize it wasn't winning the shows that gave me everything I had, it's the discipline I developed through the process that has given me everything I got. I noticed that men suck with discipline. They fucking suck.

Paul Alex: No, 100 percent.

Carter Montgomery: It's the craziest shit. Right now, I focus most of my clients on 40-plus entrepreneurs, business owners who, dude, they've done all this shit. They have the family, they have the cars, they have the money, they have all this, but they feel completely unfulfilled. It's because they've never mastered that level of discipline within themselves. Once a man actually does that, that's when you're truly fulfilled. That's when everything in your life will start getting taken to new levels because it directly affects every domain of your life.

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[Episode Continues] Carter Montgomery: Like, dude, there's a whole new level you can unlock when you master yourself.

Paul Alex: Every aspect of life. Mindset, health. You got to look good to perform good, dude. Finance, being a good person. That's the key one because we live in a world where, again, we talk about the grass is green and all that shit. Loyalty isn't there anymore. That's why, especially over the past year, I feel like the rubber band snapped in the complete opposite direction. Again, no shame, but with OnlyFans, that whole world, everyone going out and partying and all these things. Dude, I knew that shit was going to snap, and now it snapped. You see a lot more people talking about God and faith that they've never even spoken about that shit before. You've seen loyalty come to play, the family values that we talked about. All this stuff is coming back, and that's what I truly align with, bro. That's what I want, dude.

Carter Montgomery: Dude, it's so crazy.

Paul Alex: Emilio. And guys, obviously, if you've been listening to The Level Up Podcast, you guys know Emilio is the man behind the scenes. He makes the show happen. This is why we're top three in business in the United States. But Emilio, didn't I tell you that core values, traditional values was going to come back? Dude, we were talking about doing a podcast. We're like, "Dude, we should bring back traditional values." Because you know how that red pill, blue pill stuff is? I was just like, "What if you get a husband and wife or something and call it Purple Pill?"

Carter Montgomery: I love that.

Paul Alex: Right? That's cool, right? Dude, it will go viral 100%. Somebody's probably going to listen and be like, "Hey, Gary, Gary got an idea for your brother. This dude Paul said this." Listen, listen. But no, yeah, man, it will go viral. People need to listen to that because more than ever. My wife, dude, she wasn't on social media that heavy, but ever since we got married, I show her off on my stories and my posts because I talk about what I care about, dude. I have a big heart. So I always show people, "Hey, I don't do this just for the money. I actually do it to help my family out. I do it to give them a life that they dreamed of." That's what fulfills me, man, is to be able to help other people. Because dude, I've already done everything that I've wanted to do in life. I've done the whole undercover thing, the cop thing. It was awesome, like in the movies. I've made my money. I've gone through the journey. I've been poor, I've been rich, all that stuff. But at the end of the day, when it comes down to it, it's just true fulfillment.

Carter Montgomery: Yep.

Paul Alex: Just like you said, dude, true fulfillment. Especially here in Miami, dude, it's so hard. It's so hard because I feel like it's the new Los Angeles.

Carter Montgomery: Oh, 100%. It's insane. All you see is the material things, how much money people have, the women, all that jazz. It's all fake.

Paul Alex: It is.

Carter Montgomery: It's soulless, dude. When you live that life, bro, you realize you're still going to bed alone or you're waking up alone. You can buy the nice cars. You can have the things. That shit becomes numb, dude.

Paul Alex: Every level has a new devil, right? There's always a pit of a new peak. You can get to these levels and you realize, "Oh fuck, I'm completely unhappy right now."

Carter Montgomery: That's why again, men in general, bro, we all want the same thing. We want a loyal chick and we want to be able to protect and provide. That's what gives us purpose. We're very simple creatures, dude. Once you really harness that piece and do it, you're good. I always say, do I like everything we have? Yeah. But if it wasn't for my wife, bro, I'd probably be fine. I'm like a condom on the beach, chilling. I don't need anything too crazy. But my driving factor behind all of this is making sure that she has the life she deserves and wants. I never want to tell my wife no. Anything she wants, I will make happen. That's my drive behind everything. Same thing when I have kids. I'm going to make sure they have everything that I never had. If they want to play every sport, you're going to play every sport. Whatever you want to do, I don't want to tell anyone no because I didn't do what's required to create the level of wealth that they need to enjoy life.

Paul Alex: I love that. It's about building generational wealth, man. A lot of people, especially when I was growing up and I grew up in a poverty community, dude, I thought a lot of money in the bank account was $100 at that time. I would always hear there'd be some people that their family had built generational wealth. And you had everybody else, about 90% of the community going, "Oh, look at that rich kid." They would look down upon him. But now as an adult, now that I'm about to be a father soon, it's one of those things where you actually want that. You want to build generational wealth. You want to come from a rich family because that means that your dad or your mom did something right. And their parents did something right. And now you've got thinkers. That's what's supposed to happen. You're supposed to elevate your generational wealth and your family and your name. The exact same mindset, dude. So let me ask you this. Garrett tells me all the time, he says, "When you have kids, it's going to light this fire inside of you to produce at a level that you've never tapped into before." I felt that once I got married. Once I got married, literally, bro, the next day I was like, "Whoa." And just went full speed. Now that you're having a kid, do you feel like something changed inside of you?

Carter Montgomery: Dude, it's like my wife, I got to put a bubble around her. Now it's just more like we've been about traditional values. She has the traditional values of, "Okay, this is what we got married. We got married because we're best friends. But we also got married with the traditional values of I'm the man, I'm the provider. She is the woman, she is my peace. She would take care of the home. That's it. We're happy. That's our dynamic." So now that I know that she is pregnant, it is a game changer because now we're already thinking ahead. We're like, "Okay, we moved to Puerto Rico. What if it's a boy? What if it's a girl? Do we need to buy another home here? What are we going to do about medical? What are we going to do with this?" It's funny. We have these different conversations now. We were having dinner yesterday. She asked me, she's like, "What if you don't have to go out of town? Would you be able to babysit and run your business?" I was like, "Babe, I'm going to have a boy or a little girl strapped to my chest doing calls, having meetings, or doing the podcast. Like, yeah, that's just the way I am, man." I had a Yorkie, dude, for 16 years. Dude, I treated that Yorkie like it was my kid, bro. He was poor and rich with me. When I lost him, dude, I swear to you, it was one of the hardest things that's ever happened to me. Dude, I'm not an emotional guy. Remember, I've worked in Oakland, dude, so I've seen it all. But it's one of those things that it just hit me so hard because that dog was just surviving to be with me, dude. It was literally surviving. It had cancer. And they're so happy to see you.

Paul Alex: She's a little wiener dog, so you had a wiener dog, bro. It is what it is.

Carter Montgomery: Isn't that hilarious?

Paul Alex: It is. It's hilarious. Like, you should have a pit bull. I'm like, "No, dude, I'm going with my little wiener dog. I love her." I'm pretty sure Mike told you that.

Carter Montgomery: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mike was like, "It's so funny. You over there, you're a big guy. You have a little dog named Cookie."

Paul Alex: But if you guys don't know who Mike is, Mike is one of our good mutual friends from San Diego right now in Arizona. But yeah, man, no, no, no. It's very powerful. So yeah, now that I know she is having my child, yeah, it's a different dynamic. It's a different dynamic. And she's like, "It's going to change you. It's going to change you." And I'm like, "We'll see. We'll see." But I know it is. I know it is. I just don't want to tell her that. I was like, "All right, babe, I'm going to keep it cool."

Carter Montgomery: Totally.

Paul Alex: So, man, let's talk about your transition from the fitness, from you growing up, dude, inspiring story. I love it. To now the online world. So when you met your wife, you said she was already in the online game in 2017.

Carter Montgomery: She did, yeah.

Paul Alex: Okay. So what exactly was she offering in the online space?

Carter Montgomery: Yeah. So she graduated college early because she had a passion for fitness. She was sharing her fitness journey. The next thing you know, people are messaging her, asking for fitness tips, things like that. And at that time, it was kind of like the rise of the online world. She started seeing other people offering coaching and things like that, and she's like, "Fuck, I can do this. What's the difference between us, right?" So she was offering fitness coaching at that time. Basically exactly what we're doing now, different level, things have evolved a lot. That's exactly what her journey was. Basically helping women take control of their fitness, build a level of discipline, create an image that they're actually proud of, and really harness that confidence, because that's what women need, bro. If a woman's not confident, it fucking plays into almost every area of their life.

Paul Alex: No, absolutely, man. It ties into the relationship, finding the man that they want. I always tell people, sometimes you got to build yourself up. You're not being honest with yourself. You got to know who you are. I think that was the biggest difference between my previous exes and my wife, dude. My wife was real. We were at a stage of the game where we were in our mid-30s. We were like, "This is what I want." Off the bat, our first date, we were just like, "Okay, what is your intention with this?" We didn't got time to waste. "Okay, well, I'm at this stage of the game. This is what I want. I want to get married, but I want to be with the right person." When you know, you know, bro.

Carter Montgomery: That's how it was with my wife. When we reconnected, we were both under the impression. I was with a woman for 10 years, and we broke up. Shortly after, I met my wife. It was one of those things where I met her, I was like, "Hey, I don't want to just have fun. You are way too special of a person. You deserve more than just a fuck boy. You deserve more than that, and I want to be that fucking person." She was like, "Whoa, no one's ever said that to me. That's different, bro."

Paul Alex: Exactly.

Carter Montgomery: But that's my thing, bro. I've never been one of those guys who just wants to go fuck around. It gets fucking boring, bro. To me, I want to have my best friend.

Paul Alex: That's why I just want my fucking best friend, dude. Whether we're on a shack in the fucking islands or we're living in a beautiful home, doesn't matter. I just want my fucking best friend.

Carter Montgomery: Your war buddy. Exactly. I love that.

Paul Alex: I love that. So she's starting with online fitness for women. Then in 2019, you guys meet, get married, and now you guys launch your own program. Talk to me how it was being a beginner and going into the online space, trying to figure it all out. As you guys know, I came into the online space in April of 2020. I didn't launch my first offer until about September 2020. It was a slow climb up, dude. I was helping people at the time start small side hustles while they're working their 9-to-5s. Then I was trying to figure everything else out, dude. I didn't have social media for eight years. I had zero following. For me, it was tricky. I'm not a selfie guy.

Carter Montgomery: Me either, bro.

Paul Alex: Get on camera talking. I was like, so how was it? Was it in a situation where your wife was mentoring you, showing you the blueprint of how to build it up?

Carter Montgomery: Bro, if it wasn't for her, none of this shit would be here right now. I was a personal trainer. Any personal trainers out here probably understand what I'm talking about. You look at online fitness coaches like they're a bunch of bullshit. You can't comprehend the world, especially because you work so hard to build this in-person clientele. I had a completely warped vision of the online space. What ended up happening was I was doing like 10 sessions a day, six times a week, so I never saw her. We just got married, right? I was like, "Fuck, I'm not trying to live a life where I only see you for like an hour at night a couple times a week." Dude, that's how marriages fucking fail. That's how dudes get cheated on. That's how shit falls apart, because he's not present at all. The driving factor behind all of it was me wanting to spend more time with her. It took her a while to really show me what was possible and realizing that dude, you can help so many more people than just your 40 in-person clients. You can reach people all around the world. You can fucking impact this on a completely new level. That reframe around all of it made me actually realize, "Oh fuck, this is actually what I want to do." When I actually started doing that, everything really fell into place. She laid the blueprint out for me. She showed me what she did. She really put all the effort in the beginning to get the ball rolling and get it to the point where it needed to be. I was just so fucking good at coaching. I'm super smart around fitness. I know my shit. I know what needs to get done. I just didn't have the vision. She had the vision. She put it like you were talking about. She's the fire starter. I came in and I just fulfilled on it. We just kept driving with that. That's what blossomed into where we are now.

Paul Alex: Smart. So she's your operations. You do the fulfillment, she's the visionary.

Carter Montgomery: The visionary. I love that. You need that dynamic in business.

Paul Alex: 100%. It's also one of those things where working with your wife is a whole nother fucking ball game. If you don't have clear defined roles, it can be very tough. When we really defined our lanes, it made it a lot easier. The dynamic became very harmonious, and things were able to move a lot faster because we weren't butting heads.

Paul Alex: How do you guys separate business with personal life, man? That could get tricky itself. As you know, being an entrepreneur, you're trying to entrepreneur 24/7.

Carter Montgomery: That was honestly still to this day the hardest piece, trying to separate the two. We worked from home for years. It wasn't until a couple months ago we actually went and got an office space because I was like, "Dude, we need separation between work and home." When we're at home, we just end up working. It's 9 o'clock at night, we're talking about work. Next thing you know, we're having conversations at 9:30 at night. I'm like, "This is not the time to do it." So one, having clear defined roles was key. Two, making sure we separated it completely from our house. When your house is where you work, everything is intertangled. When we started separating things, it made it a lot easier because now we can leave the office and work's done. We don't bring work home. That was probably the biggest and most beneficial change for us. The last piece is traveling, bro. You have to have experiences. You need to actually step away from everything. As an entrepreneur, it's very hard to not work, especially when it's just you in the beginning. One thing we did early on because we both always wanted to travel was like, "Okay, we go travel, and dude, the business can take a fucking back seat. Nothing's going to fall apart in a fucking week. Everyone's okay. We make sure they're taken care of, and we just take a couple days to shut it all down and focus on each other." Doing that every quarter has been an absolute game changer because it allows us to stay connected even in the midst of all the chaos.

Paul Alex: Dude, I love that. I love that. So what are you guys working on right now?

Carter Montgomery: Right now, a few things. We rebranded under Warrior Fit. It's the fitness arm of Garrett's company, Wake Up Warrior. It's been incredible. Super grateful for that. The guy's done awesome things over the past 14 years, so being able to be in that ecosystem has been incredible. We have our own podcast that we launched too. That's one of our passion projects, just really me and her. We're moving down to Miami, so we're doing a lot of big life moves. We're ultimately creating the foundation we want. We knew kids are going to be here on the horizon too, so we want to have a place that we can call home. We got the office because we wanted to separate work. It's less business stuff, more about ultimately creating the lifestyle that's going to allow us to take things to the next level.

Paul Alex: Absolutely. Are you thinking—you know Miami already, man. Would you guys consider Miami your forever home?

Carter Montgomery: No. Not at all.

Paul Alex: I had to ask. I'm curious.

Carter Montgomery: It's funny. We made it very clear. Miami won't be home forever. We'll be here probably for like the next 10 years, honestly. But this won't be our forever home, dude. It's cool right now because when you're building, when you're scaling, and you're in the networking world, this is the place to be. It's the hub. This is the Dubai of America. This is the place to be. It's incredible. I love this. I was able to just drive down here and come see you. It doesn't get much better than that. But eventually when it gets to a point, dude, I want quiet. I want to be able to get away from people. That's one of the things I actually do miss about California. Dude, you can drive up to the mountains or go out to the desert and just get away from everyone. You don't have that here.

Paul Alex: Tell me about it. California is such a beautiful state. It's just the way it's being ran.

Carter Montgomery: That's it.

Paul Alex: Run it right, I'll come back. 100%, bro. I'll be happy to pay the taxes. I'll come back. That's what I always tell people. "Oh, did you leave because of taxes?" I'm like, "That was one of the reasons, but that wasn't the only reason." If everything was amazing there, I'd be like, "You pay for what you get." But you come here, there's no state income tax. They're always building. They're always fixing roads. It's fucking clean. They don't let the homeless run a fucking muck everywhere. It's pretty much safe for the most part. How does that even happen when they don't have state income tax?

Carter Montgomery: That's what I'm saying, dude. They let the police police, you know? That's one of the big things too. My brother's a Tennessee state trooper. Dude, I have a lot of pride for the blue, bro. Emergency services, all that, has always been a big passion of mine. My father was a cop as well before he passed away. Being in California and watching the hate that everyone had, it's insane.

Paul Alex: It's also one of those things where, motherfucker, when you're in trouble, what do you do? You call 9-1-1. What do you want? You want a cop to show up. So why is there so much disrespect? Why is there so much hate? Coming here, it's been so refreshing, bro. The cops are loved. They're respected. Have them on the billboards. They have an American flag. They actually want to work, bro. It's a cool environment to be in. Family, vows, morals—that was really lacking in California. Obviously Miami is a different world, but you still have a lot of that here. We're both here, and we both have the same views. I meet a lot of people with that. There's great people here, bro. The state ultimately cultivates a lot of that.

Carter Montgomery: No, absolutely. So let's go back to the very beginning of your transition with Warrior Fit. How did you meet Garrett?

Paul Alex: Funny story, dude. I gotta ask. I got married and we went on our honeymoon. We came back home and something hit me. I always say it was God talking to me. I had no idea what it looks like to be a good husband. I have no example, bro. No example. How the fuck do I be a good husband? So I started reading books, listening to podcasts, all this shit. I come across Garrett and his wife's podcast called Date Your Wife Podcast. I started listening to it. I was like, "Oh, wow, these people are real and raw. This is what I'm looking for." They just put everything out there. Listened to the podcast for a little bit. Ended up following him. Right when I followed him, he just started getting into lifting weights. He wanted to do a show. He was posting pictures on a story of him posing. I just sent him a message. I was like, "Bro, you look great, but you pose like shit. Please don't step on stage like that." He gets hundreds of DMs a day, does not respond to one of them, saw my message, said, "God told me to fucking respond to you." Sent me a message saying, "Can you help me out?" Got on a FaceTime, helped him out with his posing for a little bit, ended up taking over his prep, won his first show, and the relationship basically just blossomed from there. I always tell people, you are one conversation away from your life changing forever.

Carter Montgomery: Absolutely, dude. So understand the power of actually networking. Dude, networking is huge. I always preach that. Your network is your net worth.

Paul Alex: 100%. You know how many times I have met someone through another friend or possibly a podcast or an interview or a convention or a mastermind? Then that one person, a couple months later, we are both helping a ton of people. We're doing good business. Now it's a ripple effect. Impacting lives. Dude, it's wonderful. That's why I say, when we're talking about social media, that's where social media can be so powerful because you can connect with people on a completely new level. But the other side of it as well is, the COVID times are fucking done. Go meet people in person. Go put yourself in the environment. We're back to where things should be. That's what I love about Miami too. Dude, there's masterminds, networking events, there's anything you want. You can find it here. If you can't find it, you're just not looking hard enough.

Carter Montgomery: Yesterday we had a guest, Humberto Dominguez. During COVID, he was big in the nightclub industry in Vegas. He ended up transitioning from Vegas to Miami because they were still allowing people to charter yachts during COVID. He came and started a business out of doing that. It made me think of him as soon as you started saying that. Miami, you're right. People are out. They're out and about. They want to be social, dude. That's just what it is. They have the run clubs. They have the gyms. They have everything. You got the beach.

Paul Alex: Exactly. It's just what it is. Dude, whenever I go back to see my family in California, I'm just like, "Dude, it's dead." Everyone just hides away at their little spot. Out here, everyone—come to Miami at 6 a.m., everyone's out.

Carter Montgomery: Absolutely. Everyone's out. It's crazy. You got people who are leaving the club at 6 a.m., so there's that. They're up, they're running, they're doing things. It's an amazing city to just meet and network. That's what life is about, bro. It's about meeting people and sharing experiences, having conversations like this.

Paul Alex: No, absolutely, dude. For my viewers right now, I always ask my guests this. If you were to recommend three books that you have read before that help you change your life, do your mindset, your core values on the way you live, what would you recommend?

Carter Montgomery: *Conversations with God*—very powerful book. I grew up Catholic, but after fifth grade I said fuck all of that and completely disassociated from any religion, God, any conversation around all of that. It wasn't really until like a year ago, especially with Garrett and things like that, I started realizing, "Wow, all these things that are in my life right now, there's got to be someone steering this shit, bro." I'm sure even for you, you've been in very sticky situations, situations you probably should not have made it out of, but for some reason you did.

Paul Alex: Too many.

Carter Montgomery: That, to me, is the power of God. So *Conversations with God* is a very powerful one. Garrett's book called *The Warrior Method*—incredible book. It really breaks down the tactics of putting intention into the four domains of your life: your body, your being—which is your relationship with your wife and your kids—your balance, your being which is your relationship with God operating from a higher power, and then your business, your ability to provide and produce. That one is key too because it also gives you tactical takeaways on how to actually make things happen. The last one I would say is *The Way of a Superior Man*. I think it's very cool for men to actually have an understanding of how we operate and how females operate, the differences, and how ultimately if you operate the way the man actually should, your wife will always step into her feminine and allow you to actually lead. That's what we all want. We want your wife to be able to relax. That's why we talk about protecting and providing. If you can actually create a man that's able to do that, you will have a woman that will follow you wherever the fuck you go, and she will be your ride or die. Those are my top three.

Paul Alex: Dude, I love that. It reminds me of my wife every time she says, "Babe, wherever you go, I'm there." That's just the way it is. She says that to her mom. She says that to her best friend. When we moved to Puerto Rico, I didn't make that decision until two days before Christmas, dude.

Carter Montgomery: Wow.

Paul Alex: Last year. Hey, success loves speed. I move fast. So, "Hey babe, we're going to Puerto Rico. I'm talking to the tax attorney right now. Boom. Pay him the retainer fee. Make it happen. Boom, boom, boom, boom. I talked to my real estate agent. Okay, cool. Let's go ahead and start setting up the sale of the house. Do this, do this." My mom, she's like, "Again? You're moving again?" I was like, "Well, yeah, man. I got to go do this. I got to save money because for kids and the family and you, I could buy more property and do this, right? Generational wealth." She's like, "Oh, okay, I get it." The day before we left to Puerto Rico, she had a conversation with her mom. I'm listening to them talk. Her mom goes, "I can't believe you're moving to Puerto Rico. You just moved to Miami." My wife goes—and I love this about my wife—she goes, "Mom, I don't care if Paul moves to Mars. I'm moving with my husband." I was just like, "Yes." It made me feel so good, dude. That's what every man wants, bro.

Carter Montgomery: That's what every man wants. When you focus on yourself and you work on your personal development and you take your mindset, your body, you take everything to that level, that is the fucking byproduct right there.

Paul Alex: It's great, dude. I want to double down for your viewers when you said success loves speed. That is fucking key. Everything that we've accomplished in the short period of time that we've accomplished it is all because I did not hesitate to fucking move. I did not hesitate to take a risk. Men are the fucking worst when it comes to this shit. They want to think about it. They want to wait for the fucking right time. They want to do all this shit. Pull the fucking trigger and go. When you do that, that's how things move fast, bro. That's what ultimately creates success. Take the risk. Move. What's realistically the worst that happens? You just go back to where you were.

Carter Montgomery: You're right. That's it.

Paul Alex: Or you get a good lesson.

Carter Montgomery: Or you get a good lesson. Both of those are very powerful.

Paul Alex: It is. Because you're not going to make that mistake again after that. That's how you learn entrepreneurship from experience, guys. With that being said, man, I want to take just before we end this, man, Warrior Fit. Let's talk a little bit more about that, man. I'm super interested. As you know, I'm in my health journey, dude. Planet Mike's one of my boys. That might be a thing where I might get it from me and him. You might see us at your guys' program and in your guys' conferences. So what exactly is Warrior Fit? Who's the ideal client for that?

Carter Montgomery: I focus on men over 40. My goal is to help them weaponize their body and harness that power so they can directly have that impact on the other domains of their life. A big portion of my clientele are all men who have achieved very big things. They're entrepreneurs or business owners, just high producers. They've accomplished everything in life, bro. They have the house, they have the kids, they have the money, they've checked all the boxes. But they still wake up completely unfulfilled. They won't look at themselves in the fucking mirror. They won't even have sex with their wife. Everything in their life takes a fucking hit because they have not been taking control of themselves. When you take control of yourself and you actually weaponize your body and you have optimal internal health which will yield an optimal external image, everything in your fucking life will change. My goal behind all of that is simplifying the process, giving them the blueprint, and letting them go full speed. One of the issues inside the fitness industry is everyone makes everything so fucking complicated. They talk shit that people can't even understand it. You talk to me, I get it. But we need to keep it simple. Simple is key here. So I simplify it for them. I give them the blueprint, make sure it works harmoniously with their lifestyle. Then we master that consistently. The byproduct is the great physique.

Paul Alex: Dude, holy shit. You're preaching to the choir, dude. I always tell this to everyone I know. Simplicity equals success. It's everything, bro.

Carter Montgomery: It's everything, dude. Even in business, you need to simplify the business in order to scale it. If that shit's too complex, you can't fucking scale it because people won't understand it. A confused buyer won't buy. When it comes to fitness, everybody wants to talk about all this fancy shit and internal optimization and blood work and this and that. Yes, all of that stuff is very crucial. But nobody fucking cares, bro. They just want to be given the answers, given the blueprint. "Tell me what to do, and I'm going to go do it." If you can do that for them, simplify the process and just help them master the consistency—which is all mindset, dude—everything in their life just compounds from there.

Paul Alex: So your program and your mentorship actually helps men with the mindset portion. Does it also help them with one-on-one training? Are you guys doing in person? Are you guys also optimizing like, let's say somebody has low testosterone? Are you helping them with the labs and all that?

Carter Montgomery: Yeah. What we do is start with their initial conversation with blood work. We have to look at your internal health first and make sure you're optimal internally so we can drive the physical progress. One, we need longevity. We got to make sure you're on this planet as long as possible, especially for all my clients who are high producers. They are the producer for the family. If they fucking die, their family is screwed, bro. Longevity is key here. So let's make sure you're healthy. Then also let's make sure you're optimal. Do your hormones need support? Are there any vitamin deficiencies? What's going on? Let's make sure the foundation is actually built. The crazy thing is there's guys who are 45, 50, who have never got their blood work done before. It's like, bro.

Paul Alex: Carter, let me ask you a question real quick before you continue. What is the most common deficiency that you see with people that obviously don't do the blood work, dude? I know so many people now that I'm on this health kick right now for this year. My body's changing. I'm like, "This is cool." I'm preaching, "Dude, blood work, blood work, gut test, energetic test. Do it, guys."

Carter Montgomery: Most deficient: vitamin D. Literally everyone, no matter where they're located. It's the most chronically deficient vitamin I've seen in every single person's blood work.

Paul Alex: What does that cause?

Carter Montgomery: Vitamin D is a precursor to a lot of things, especially hormone function. We all hear about vitamin D, get your sun, things like that. A lot of people are deficient in it. If we're deficient in that, unfortunately it's going to affect a lot of other processes within the body. That's one of the most deficient things I see. On the other side of that is going to be testosterone. I don't know if it's environmental factors or what, but I'm talking I see 25-year-old guys up to 45, 55—at that point it makes sense—but low testosterone. When you have that low testosterone, bro, it impacts literally everything in your life for a man.

Paul Alex: I really think it has to do with their food, bro. In the States, they're not regulating it. I went to Europe. My wife is a history nut, dude. She's like, "Babe, did you know that the bread here is actually better than the States because of X, Y, and Z?" All these chemicals. Same thing with the perfume and the makeup and all that stuff. I was like, "Oh, I didn't know that, babe." Then I started talking to a friend. I have a couple of employees that are in their 20s. They started working with Mike. A couple employees, they're like, "Hey dude, I didn't know I was low on T." I was like, "Bro, you're super young. You're under 30. How are you on low T?" As I research and do my due diligence a little bit more into the space, I find out it's because the processed food, because of all the microplastic that we're consuming, dude. It could come from anything. People like drinking from the coffee pots now. You're heating up the plastic. You're consuming it every day. Big Pharma, dude, that's a big topic since last year. It's getting exposed.

Carter Montgomery: 100%. That's what I'm saying. It's the food. It's environmental factors. It could be even the technology. Even the perfumes, things like that. There's so many things that are impacting this. I'm not even lying, even females, bro, under 25, their testosterone levels are fucking dog shit. That's just not fucking normal at all. It's only gotten worse. Thankfully, we have access to things now like TRT and peptides. There's a lot of things we can do to obviously fix that. But still, got to look at the whole picture and say, "What is the root cause that's causing all these people to be so fucking deficient?"

Paul Alex: It's mind-boggling. It's crazy to me. This is the rabbit hole, dude.

Carter Montgomery: It's the rabbit hole. There's so many theories that could go behind this, man.

Paul Alex: Okay, so you help them optimize. You help them with mindset. And then what else?

Carter Montgomery: So start is going to be an initial consultation in terms of internal health. Make sure we're optimizing that first, making sure they're healthy. Then again, making sure they're actually optimal—hormones, steroids, everything there. That's got to be the key. Then we move into nutrition. When it comes to nutrition, a lot of people just like, "Hey, here's your macros. Go do your thing." It doesn't really work for everyone, especially entrepreneurs, bro. They're fucking busy people. They need the blueprint. So we got to make sure we're creating a nutrition plan that works harmoniously with their lifestyle. Do they eat dinner with the family every night? Do they go on date night two to three times a week? Do they have a lot of networking events that they go to?

Carter Montgomery: We have to map all this out and give them a solution to every obstacle that they're going to face. In this way, it's bulletproof. If they don't have that, they will fall off the map, and they don't have the time and energy to actually think about how to map their day out. So I teach them that piece, but also give them the roadmap.

Paul Alex: Right.

Carter Montgomery: Because if we have a roadmap, it's so much easier to actually work off of.

Paul Alex: Right. Right.

Carter Montgomery: Then obviously we dial in training, cardio as needed, supplementation as needed, which we base off of your blood work. And then from there, accountability is a key piece. I always say, men, grab your dick and balls. You're a man. Hold yourself accountable, but you still need someone there to help make sure everything's moving in the right direction. If it's not, here's what we need to adjust. Just making sure we have that hands-on approach to make sure we're making the most of every single week and getting you towards the goal as efficiently as possible.

Paul Alex: That makes sense, dude. And I love your breakdown. I could understand it. And I always say this, guys. I built quite a few companies, employed quite a few people, but at the end of the day, I'm a simple guy. I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not a fitness guru. That's why I hire the best of the best. So with that being said, man, where can people find you, dude? Where can they find you and your wife for the women that are watching? Obviously, um, yeah dude, because I'm even interested. I'm going to start looking into what you're offering, how we can work together, and all that jazz.

Carter Montgomery: Yeah, absolutely. Instagram is the best place to find us. Mine is at The Carter Montgomery, and my wife is Alissa Rose Montgomery. Both on Instagram. You'll find us there. Everything we basically push through Instagram, so that's the place to find us.

Paul Alex: I love that. And to go ahead and end the podcast, I always ask my guests—this is the level of podcast. We're here about self-help, dude. We're here about mindset. I always think that if you don't have everything squared away in your personal life, how are you supposed to build a successful business? So with that being said, some words of motivation for the audience, dude, based on you, what you know, your life experience, and what you do best—help people.

Carter Montgomery: Number one thing, which I already touched on a little bit, is going to be consistency. When you master that consistency, you can apply it to your marriage, you can apply it to your business, you can apply it to anywhere in your life, and everything will move in the right direction. That consistency comes with a work ethic, because it's doing the boring shit day in and day out. So don't think you need to do anything super complex. Don't think you need to have some fancy program or do all these things. Pick one thing, implement it for 30 days, stay consistent with that, and then stack another piece on top of that. Build brick by brick, and I promise you within six months, you're going to have a completely new mindset, a completely new body, and you'll be walking around a completely new man.

Paul Alex: I love that. I love that, guys. And that is Carter Montgomery. I'm Paul Alex. This is The Level Up Podcast. Guys, we are currently ranked top three in business podcasts in the United States. Make sure to leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Guys, share this with somebody you love. Share this with a friend. Share this with anyone that you care about that needs to get their health in check. All right? Once again, guys, I'll catch you on the next one.

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