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In today’s episode, Allan welcomes Joshua Pettigrew. Joshua is an entrepreneur, coach, podcast host, and owns a men’s athletic apparel brand called It’s All Mental. It’s All Mental was created to encourage, empower and help men overcome their battles with mental health barriers through engaging in physical activity. Allan and Joshua talk about the struggles entrepreneurs face going through their journey. The journey can feel lonely at times and having resilience and gratitude is key to celebrating small wins when facing struggles with your business. For more information about Joshua, follow him on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/joshdavid.p/ or visit https://itsallmentalapparel.com/
Hey, everyone, welcome to the show. I’m Allan. I’m a family man and attorney and an entrepreneur. Each week, we provide resources and advice to help build your business. Are you ready? Then let’s go.
Everyone, Welcome to the Business Growth pod. I’m your host, Allan Draper, thank you for joining us today. I know your time is valuable. And so we’re gonna give you some information that makes up for your time investment today. I’m excited to welcome Joshua Pettigrew to the podcast today. He’s an entrepreneur, coach. He’s a podcast host, he owns a men’s athletic apparel brand, called It’s all mental. And he does all sorts of things. It’s all mental was actually created to encourage, empower, and help men overcome their battles with mental health barriers, which I think very cool. We’re gonna get into that a little bit. Welcome to the show. Josh. Glad to have you.
Man. I’m so excited. Thanks, Alan. I appreciate you having me on. And I’m excited for it.
Yeah, so we were chatting a little bit before we press the record button here. And being an entrepreneur is not easy.
For sure. It’s a it’s a journey, man, for sure. And I think a lot of people see the highlight reel right on on Instagram and Tiktok of being an entrepreneur, but man, there’s a it can be great and is great. But there’s a lot to it, for sure.
You know, I have three children, I talk a lot about how business is like having kids, like when you start a business, it’s, you know, in a bunch of different ways. One way is, I never look at my business and say it’s all right. It’s all right. It’s either, like, driving me crazy, which I’ve been running into some crazy issues this week, very typical stuff. Or it’s like, oh, my gosh, this is what I helped create. This is unbelievable. It’s just like kids, right? You never look at your kids and think they’re all right. They’re either driving you crazy. Or they’re the most incredible thing on the face of the planet. Absolutely. I think I want to know a little bit about it’s all mental I want to know, is, you know, very similar to the kind of the startup process is, is challenging, but you’re very protective of it. Like you’re protective of your kids, like you can say whatever you want about your kids to your kids, etc. And the same about your business, but somebody else says something. And it’s you know, those are fighting words. I want to know about your struggles, I want to know about the things that you could tell yourself, when you’re starting, whether they’re motivational, whether they’re practical, you know, let us let us have some
of that. Absolutely, yeah, and I’m more than happy. I’m, I’m extremely transparent with the journey. And I think that’s the beautiful process of it, right, you get into it. And for me, the struggle that the story kind of the idea behind the it’s all mental brand, I grew up in a home that was I didn’t have a terrible childhood, right? Like, I don’t have the story of my parents leaving for weeks, or I wasn’t homeless or anything like that. But I did grow up in an abusive home, my dad was abusive to us as kids and my mom verbally and physically. And I kind of held on to that, why did hold on to that pain for a long time. And at the age of a very young age, I wanted to be anywhere but home. So I left home, got addicted to alcohol and prescription pills, later on cocaine at a very young age, I wasn’t really searching for the high in those things I was necessarily searching for, to cover that pain of what I was dealing with. And so you know, many years went by, and I finally got into the realm of fitness and physical activity, whether it be you know, hiking or mountain biking or dirt biking, I was into those things. CrossFitting. And I thought, Man, these are healthy habits that I’m establishing and I don’t necessarily need to be fulfilled with those other things. And that was kind of releasing that dopamine hit for me. And I thought I can’t be the only male out there that’s experiencing pain, whether that’s an entrepreneurship, rough story, marriage, whatever that looks like, right? All of us have things that we’re dealing with and we all have a journey that we’re on. And so I wanted to create a community of men that says hey, these, the apparel is not necessarily the driving force behind this. It’s a tool to realize for men that hey, we have a community that we’re all facing things. And we’re all going to get through things together. And when I told myself anything you can do mentally when you can push yourself past that, whenever I set a goal and says, I will reach this destination, or I will build this business, or I will have a successful marriage and be a great dad, I accomplished all those things, because I told myself mentally that I would get there. And so that’s really what I wanted to create in the it’s all mental brand.
Yeah, that’s awesome. Man. There’s so much. I think starting a business, a lot of people think it’s all about your connections, and it’s all about your resources, what funding you have the idea, your partners, and those things are important. Don’t get me wrong, but there’s this toughness aspect about starting a business. You know, I’m coming off just yesterday with one of my companies a mass exodus, and I haven’t really experienced anything like it before. And, and there’s been, there’s been times where I’m like, I Why don’t we just call it quits, right? Sure. And so at this point, for me, though, I’m pushing forward, not because of any monetary aspect, if that were my motivation, screw it. I’m out, I’m out. I got, I can use my time in other ways that will make me more money. It’s not about that. But Josh, dude, I don’t want to, I don’t want to tell myself, I don’t really care that much about what I’m telling other people. But I do not want to tell myself that I’m a quitter. And I think that that resonates. I think one of the reasons and you know, this is an outside observer. But I think one of the reasons why you’ve been so successful is because you’ve had a rough time, and you didn’t quit, right? You sounds like you made some decisions that made your situation a little rougher than it could have been. But what what is it? What is it that an entrepreneur has to hold on to in the early days when there’s not much there? To keep them going?
A big thing for me was, how bad do I want it and the resilience of it? And the outcome of just, you know, what’s possible as an entrepreneur, I feel like you’ve got to be a little bit crazy. Yeah, you’re either really stupid, or just playing crazy sometimes isn’t what it felt like. Because there’s times in that journey that there’s a lot of times as an entrepreneur, it’s very, it’s a very lonely journey. A lot of people don’t relate to that. I left a very high paying six figure job, and everybody thought I was crazy says, What are you doing? Like you have a wife and two kids? And, and this is yeah, but this is what’s possible. And this is what I’m believing in. So yeah, I think just holding on to that of of there getting the bill for the regret man was the biggest thing for me is saying, What if I don’t try? Like what if, you know, what if I do get there. And so that was the biggest driving force for me,
nailed it, man. And a lot of what you’re saying is just, it’s hit me a little different today. Because especially the loneliness part, to be honest with you. And I want you know, the listener to know like, when you’re in a startup, it helps out partners, it helps out people along for the ride, but you have to figure out if you’re not there yet, what happens when you get to that where you’re, you’re like, man, it’s, it’s all up to me. And it’s never really all up to you. But sometimes it feels like it is
yeah, definitely. And I just actually hosted my first mastermind this, this last weekend. And it was so cool. Because, for me, I put on, you know, kind of one of my goals for this year. And on my vision board, I’m a very believer in that, you know, evaluating your goals. And if you don’t set goals as an entrepreneur, you’ll end up a year or two years down the road with accomplishing nothing. But I put down on my on my vision board. And as one of my goals, I want to speak on stages with these guys that are running 100 million dollar companies. And then I literally just sat there and I’m like, Well, I’m not getting invited to these stages. So I’m just going to create the stage for myself. And I think as an entrepreneur, you have to do that. You have to look at it as like, no one is coming to save you. No one is coming to do it for you. No one’s there to sign your paychecks. But you can you just have to make it happen. But yeah, that journey is lonely. But also finding those people in that network that are entrepreneurs, man, it’s it’s an incredible friendship and an incredible bond that I can explain to somebody that hasn’t been through that.
Yeah. Yeah, it’s funny. So and I actually didn’t think I was going to bring this up, because the feelings and emotions are so raw, but it just happened yesterday is less than 24 hours ago. And this mass exodus left us with, like, 35% of the team that that was there 24 hours 24 hours ago, right? Sure. And that 35% I had an all hands on deck meeting about two hours ago. I told him you know, there’s there’s very few things that I value as highly as I value loyalty. And I was trying to express how much they meant to me just just because like I didn’t feel like I was alone. But you hit on a couple of good points. There’s no One there, that’s gonna sign your checks except for you, there’s no one that’s going to, there’s nothing guaranteed in entrepreneurship and starting a business, especially in the early days. The longer you put, you know, you invest, the longer you stick with it, the more guarantees I think you have. I consider a lot of my sources of income to be more stable than anybody that isn’t in business, but it takes time. But that’s the good stuff, right? Everybody wants to payout but they don’t want to do what it takes. The cool thing about it being tough, and this is, you know, especially for my listener, right now, the cool thing about what you’re going through, is that most other people don’t want to go through it. They’re like, You know what, I’ll just go get a nine to five. And, and so if you’re going through that, if you’re having a tough time, reassure yourself and pat yourself on the back, because you’re doing something that a lot of people don’t want to do. And then one other thing that I would mention I want to ask you about Josh is, what the role is, in when you have a goal, you talked about your vision board, having having your goal of speaking on stage and, and kind of creating that for yourself going out and hunting, you know, bringing something back to the cave for yourself. How important is small wins in that process, just recognizing that you’re making some progress, even though you’re not getting that big end result that you’re looking for? Sure. I
think a big thing for me gratitude and just being thankful in the moment was a hard thing for me in the early days, because I was like, man, I’ve seen these guys. And they’re driving. I mean, these guys showed up to my event, they’re driving Rolls Royces and Ferraris. And it’s, it’s incredible. Like, that’s, that’s the end goal, right? And it’s awesome. Like, I’m happy for them. Because there’s some of my greatest friends. But yes, celebrating those small wins, I think. And they begin to stack up and you look back a year later, or five years later, like holy crap, I’ve made a lot of headway. And my wife was, you know, very pivotal, or in very key in that moment, she’s like, Hey, celebrate the small wins. And, and when I started to develop that, just understanding that gratitude was huge for me is like, I may not be to my end goal yet, but like, I’m very thankful and very grateful for where I am, because I have come so far from where I started. It’s, it’s super important.
It’s crazy, because, you know, I spent two years of my life in South America. And I got there and dirt floors, and you know, everything. And it was a pretty developed country, I was in Chile. And I thought that people were going to be not as happy as we are in the United States, where we have more possessions and all of this, and I realized that, you know, it’s all relative, happiness is relative. And so every morning, I start my day, very early into my day, I list at least three things that I’m thankful for. Sure, I’ve been doing this for years. And now at this point, it makes me think a little bit. And I like to be thankful for really like granular things I live in Arizona. The sky is blue most of the year here. Yeah. Right. And so all right, the sky is blue, something super simple. Sure. And I have noticed that that it changes everything. For me having that grateful mindset, and what has been your experience with the gratitude, in terms of not just overcoming hurdles, and, you know, kind of getting to the next level, but in motivation and keeping your focus where it should be?
Yeah, gratitude played a huge part. So kind of a very close topic to my heart, I was at a point where my wife, I was chasing the next goal chasing the next deal. And my wife came to me and we this is just right after we had our first little girl, she kind of when she says, Hey, I’m done, like I’m, I’m checked out, I don’t need a business partner, I married you for you. And so she began to develop, she says, Every day I’m gonna write down something just like yourself, she said, every day, I’m gonna write down something I’m grateful for, and it’s not going to be the same thing every day. So she created, she basically journaled 365 times something different that she was grateful for, and then led into actually her brand she does women’s gratitude journals and planners, for entrepreneurs and things like that to just basically keep that in the forefront of their mind. So for me, man, I just, I think, I’ve liked the last couple of weeks, especially I’ve just had an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and everything, like I don’t make the right decision all the time. But really just making the best decision. I know how, in that moment, and feeling grateful for where I am and saying, Hey, tomorrow’s a new day, like, I’m gonna make the best decision I can today and move on. So
yeah, I love that. So and I totally share that sentiment where it’s always I tell myself that that the joy and the achievement the recognition belongs in the journey and not in the destination, but I don’t always, you know, put my money where my mouth is with that. I’m always like, Okay, what’s next? We just hit this milestone. What’s next? And I came across this book and I, I’m in the middle of it. I can’t remember who the author is, but it’s called the gap and the gain something like that, where he talks about how really successful people is very common with entrepreneurs and business owners. very common for us to always be looking at, you know what’s next and not enjoying the here and now. And I used to think that it was achievement, gratitude, happiness, and I realized I had those kind of out of order a little bit. And, you know, I’m really addicted to the startup process, because I like feeling like a little out of control a little, like, I don’t know what’s going to happen. But then when that situation occurs, then I’m like, Well, you know, what am I doing? Anyway, it’s, it’s, the gratitude is such, it’s, and it sounds cheesy, and like, you know, like, it’s not that big of a deal. And, but it’s, it’s so huge to what we’re trying to accomplish.
Sure. And even there’s men that I work with, right on the coaching side of it, that are 789 figure entrepreneurs, and they’ve got the money thing dialed in, and they’ve got Ferraris and jets and things like that. And then I come in, and it’s like, what truly makes you happy? Like, to your soul to your core, like, who are you? It’s not the next deal. It’s not the next exit. It’s, it’s not any of that stuff. And, and when I get super granular, granular with them, it’s like, what are you thankful for, just wake up and realize, you know, there’s guys that have accomplished everything but but feel empty. I was talking to a guy the other day that’s on track to do 150 million in this company. And he says that at a certain point, he said, I was losing my wife and my kids. He said, at any point in time, he says, I would have handled it all over because all I wanted in that moment, was my wife and my kids because he felt empty, right? Money solves money problems. It doesn’t solve what I think truly, the human nature is we all crave desire and connection. And I think that’s a big part of you know, the entrepreneurship is also balanced is kind of a funny thing. And entrepreneurship world, like so many people say, there is balance, there is no balance, like you’re willing to win looks different for everybody. And yeah, for what is your price to win, but also the guys that I come into, you know, that are on the on the track of losing their marriage, but they built an incredible business. It’s like, hey, let’s dial that in, and what’s important to you, and what are your core values, and what really means something to you before it’s too late. So I just think not being obsessed with the destination, like you talked about is just enjoying that journey, and also being grateful for just what’s around you.
Yeah, no, I get and it’s so weird. And in this, you know, experience we call life, it’s, we don’t know what our priorities are sometimes. So we get down the road a little bit, you know, it’s super important to set those objectives to, you know, I’m a huge Simon Sinek fan, I love find your why. And I love the Golden Circle mentality and all of that. But sometimes you don’t know. And sometimes you, you know, there was this old like 90s, like rock song, and it was called, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone? Sure. And it was super cheesy. But I think the message is, it really rings true. And it’s hard for early entrepreneurs to know, because they’re kind of in the grind phase and just trying to make it work. I did want to shift gears a little bit. And I wanted to hear about how physical health affects aspects of entrepreneurship. And especially in the startup phase, what is it about going to the gym or finding your outlet that is so important. It’s
been a huge thing for me to the point, right? It doesn’t necessarily mean like I’m, I love CrossFit just for the fact of the community and what’s involved in that. I love that aspect of it. But for me, movement is a huge thing, right? There’s going to be times where as an entrepreneur, you’re like, Man, I feel like I’m taking 10 steps back, you know, but, but also, it’s just that movement is what gets me going, it’s a big, big key factor for me. Because if I sit, I feel like I’m just dying, right? And I have to get that movement and I think ties directly to your mental stability. And I think it’s a huge thing of all the you know, endorphins, it releases it gets your blood flow, and it helps like, so much creativity and all these different things that it plays into factor. There’s so many statistics on it. And so it’s just, it doesn’t necessarily mean having to go to CrossFit. It’s just get out and go for a walk, get out and go for a hike, just get moving. Don’t sit in the same position, but it’s a huge thing for me every day. And every day. You know, I show up to CrossFit. I say hey, like, I’m gonna give it my best today and just see what that looks like. So it’s a huge thing for me, it plays a key success. I go, you know, five to six times a week, and that may look different. There may be some days and I’m winning way better, but at least some showing up and it creates that discipline.
Yeah, I’m really like active in sports. I like playing basketball, you know, pickup games, things like that. But I was never really like a gym goer until I started my first business. And I needed an outlet mentally and I just picked it up. I just kind of fell into it. It wasn’t like recommended or I didn’t read a book about I just kind of fell into it. And you know, that was eight years ago, eight ish years ago and it Honestly, my days, don’t go as well when I’m not moving my body. Sure. And there are times when I’m stuck in my chair for hours, and it’s really terrible thing to do. But I’ll have call after call after call fire after fire after fire. And I’ll get up and I’m like, I just need to move my body, I’m going to go for a walk around the neighborhood, I don’t care, I may or may not make it to the gym. And then there’s days when it’s like, I get to the end of my day, and I’m like, Man, that was a tough day. And I look back, I’m like, Where? Where did I mess up my routine or what you know, what was missing? And it was that aspect of, you know, moving my body and it’s so weird that now it has become much more of a mental, motivational and emotional thing for me, than it even is physical.
Yeah. 100% creates that discipline. Right? And I think when you a big thing for me is that just goes back to the mental aspect of it. Of what I can put myself through difficult times at the gym. Like, I look at problems in life or fires in life. And it’s like, I’ll get through this, like, I just pushed myself for two hours or an hour at the gym like, Oh, get through this. This is gonna be fine.
Yeah, for sure. Man. I feel like I could talk to you for another couple of hours. Josh, this has been fantastic. Likewise, Ben, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Where can people go? Where can my listeners go to find out more about it’s all mental about all the things that Joshua Pettigrew is doing? Yeah,
I’m pretty active on Instagram. That’s probably a big platform for me, Josh David dot P. You can find me there or our brand is it’s all mental dot USA on Instagram. Shoot me a DM a message. I’m more than happy to connect people and help people add value to their life, whatever I can do. Whatever that looks like so
awesome, man. Well, I enjoyed the discussion. And best of luck in all your future endeavors.
Hey, thanks so much, man. Good talking to you and have a great rest of your day.
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