You do not need to have a lot of money or a ton of possessions just to consider yourself rich. Warren Gendel, Cofounder and CEO of Club EVEXIA, is here to share how he set aside his life of affluence to find deeper meaning in life by embracing a minimalist lifestyle. He joins Richard Robinson to discuss how he overcame personal isolation, trust issues, abusive relationships, and hostile business takeovers to finally unlock his best version as a businessman, husband, and father. Warren also explains how his transformative inner work allowed him to get rid of his materialistic dreams and achieve a life focused on being, not doing.
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Embracing A Minimalist Lifestyle With Warren Gendel
This episode is with Warren Gendel. He is the Cofounder and CEO of Club EVEXIA, a fantastic sports and work club here in Marin County, California. He tells an incredible story of repeated failures and successes, betrayals, trust issues and going within and finding, creating himself anew and how his values have changed and how he wants very different things now than what he once did and how he is living a rich life. Thank you, please stay tuned, standby, here we go.
I’m here with Warren Gendel who is the Cofounder and CEO of Club EVEXIA, a fantastic large club offering excellent workout facilities and trainers and all kinds of great programming and as well a beautiful workplace here in Marin County. I’ve been going there and I’ve met Warren and enjoyed meeting him.
Warren, you have your own podcast and in one of the early episodes I was listening to, you were so just candid, vulnerable, disclosing about your own backstory, your story, back and current, which has included a real journey with money with lots of ups and downs. That’s why I asked you to participate in this show, speaking to that specifically. Thank you for saying yes, thank you for being here.
Thank you for having me. It’s an honor that you actually came up to me and heard the podcast and understood my message about vulnerability and I wanted to put myself out there for so many reasons. I guess I wanted people to see me for who I am and not what I built because Club EVEXIA is near and dear to me. As you said, it’s fitness, wellness, and social, bringing it to Marin County. I decided to put myself out there with my business partner and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done to be honest with you.
I feel so much lighter about expressing my backstory and how I got here and who I am and I hope it can help people. As a matter of fact, it has helped some members come up to me and said they were really thankful and that they were actually honored to be members here after hearing my story. I’m excited. When you talked about your topic, it’s crazy. I usually take time to think about it but when you told me the topic and you explained what you were going to discuss, it just resonated toward me. Thank you again for having me.
Looking Back To Warren’s Childhood And Upbringing
My pleasure. Why don’t we start with your backstory briefly? So much of your story, you have different phases with each one with its ups and downs until you’ve come to this. You’ve had a whole lifetime with however many successes but your story is punctuated with these rides. Without going too much into detail can you help the readers understand what you’re referencing even when you started as a kid. The presence of business and money, it was prevalent in your life.
It really was. I’m born and raised in California, grew up in here in Marin County. It started as a child in the family business and I grew up with a lot of money. My father is from California but my grandfather was from Poland. He came out to the states as an immigrant, started his first company in Southern California. It was potato chip factory. My father and his three brothers took the legacy and we had a big produce center in Los Angeles and a candy manufacturing plant in Richmond, California here. We were like the Willy Wonka family.
I actually grew into a ton of money with my father but the roses didn’t always smell good for me. It was very troublesome for me because my mom and my father were back and forth a ton. Growing up, I probably lived in thirteen different homes. My dad was pretty much not a present father because he was into the business so we had housekeepers, we had the 10,000-plus square foot home growing up in Marin County. As I said, I moved thirteen different times with my mother they were back and forth.
I grew up with a lot of not pleasurable things. I was exposed to a lot of alcohol, drugs and gambling all through that process. It was very troublesome for me growing up. I had two idols growing up, one was Jacques Cousteau and one was Arnold Schwarzenegger. I say that because they played a very big part of who I am now and what I’ve gone through to keep perseverant in my endeavors. As a kid, I did everything on my own. I’m the little one. I have two siblings. They were never around, it was always me. They were closer together.
I was always pushed to the side. I learned on my own a lot. Scuba diving, I got certified as a diver at thirteen years of age. I think the underwater world was my escape. I would go underwater, I would love to scuba dive, it was my escape and just be my peace. That was amazing. Arnold Schwarzenegger, I was fascinated by the human body, I loved bodybuilding, I loved the way that the human body did develop that way. As a kid, I was always trying to be active.
Fast forward, I graduated and I went to Santa Barbara for college. I went there purely for surfing, believe it or not, and there was a moment when I went to a gym and there was a big bodybuilder gentleman who’s my mentor to this day. I started talking to him and he brought me under his wing for bodybuilding.
I was a very active young man in college, in high school, surfing, smoking a lot of weed back in the day, but it was what we did in the ‘80s. I ended up doing bodybuilding and so bodybuilding was that breaking point for me which actually saved my life. I did five bodybuildings in college. It was interesting for me. I just really gravitated towards the discipline and I think the discipline was something that I never had as a child because I had absentee parents.
What it did for me was to really connect me to me against me and the aspect of accomplishment. I was trying for the Santa Barbara title, it took me five different times to win the title. I won Mr. Santa Barbara in 1992. I was a personal trainer all through college. I went from Santa Barbara to San Diego State and personal training supported me through college. I got my Master’s in Exercise Physiology and came back to Northern California where I started my first company.
I really appreciate you just going through these major events and I want to ask you a couple of questions about some things you said before we get too far away from it. Regarding wounds of wealth and living a rich life, I just want to ask you some key questions about that early part of your life being a kid, growing up, getting yourself into college, working through it. You mentioned a couple of things that I think a lot of viewers can very much relate to. That’s the experience of we had a lot of money, we had successful businesses, Willy Wonka factory, the whole bit and my dad was absent.
That was a big one for me. Not only was my father absent my mother was never around. They were back and forth. They got remarried three different times. I watched my father remarry to a woman within 6 months that he met her and she had 2 sons. One was older than me, one was younger than me. This is the woman that took my dad, got him to marry her and then built this huge house in Marin County which was 13,000 square feet. She would torment me when my dad was always gone. She would punish me. It was horrible for me.
It was really devastating for me to a point where, I talked about it on my podcast, I tried to take my life at one point during this time. It was interesting and it was my brother-in-law at the time that actually walked past me and saved me but I was tormented from her verbally and she would put me to see a psychiatrist saying I needed help and I was 13, 14 years of age. They finally got a divorce. All this money we had, it was interesting. I hated it. I didn’t want to be around it.
My dad was my mentor, I admired him but he was never present. It was tough for me. We had Rolls Royces. My stepmom would drive me to school in a Rolls Royce, I didn’t want to be seen in it. For me, I didn’t want to be the spoiled rich kid and so that was really damaging for me. Don’t get me wrong, I had a really good time a lot of instances with the big yachts we had, but in reality, I just wanted to be loved and be heard. It was fast how quickly I became an adult.
Despite having everything in life, do not lose the desire to be loved and heard. Share on XIt sounds like you had to parent yourself. You had to bring yourself up.
I really did. My housekeepers were my closest people to my life. We had a lot of different housekeepers and they’re the ones that I would actually go talk to and cry to and they would cuddle me and take care of me. My dad was a loving man, don’t get me wrong, but again, it was all about making money with his brothers and it was fast paced and a lot of stuff that was very damaging to me.
I call this the poverty of affluence.
The poverty of affluence, I like that a lot.
There you are, ideally so privileged from all of purposes. The people that don’t have that money, they get their grandparents to mind the kids and the grandparents love the kids and they’re long-term whereas with all that money you had housekeepers minding the kids and they might have been very nice but they come and go and all the rest and you end up raising yourself and find yourself suicidal as a late teenager. How old where do you think you were when that happened?
I was about fourteen years of age and prior to that, I was an abused kid too, believe it or not, and that was very torturing for me. I’ve been with my wife many years. I broke this chain in my family. I didn’t tell her anything about my past until about a few years ago. I was living this life in denial my whole life about being abused.
Call it what you will. You’re calling it denial, I’m not going to dismiss that, it sounded like it was very real and alive for you but you just weren’t sharing it.
That’s right, I definitely suppressed it. It was definitely tough for me because we had a lot of different housekeepers and one tried to have their way with me and so every time we had new housekeepers, it was pretty scary for me.
By the way, I personally can relate to these aspects of the story. I think a lot of people can. I know this is your story but I want to interject. For me, when I was a kid, an icon that I could hold on to, a point of reference, was the comic book character Richie Rich. The character was that he was very wealthy, everybody knew it, he knew it and he was still a really nice kid and unaffected by the wealth. He could relate to anybody.
Most of the characters in the comic books came from there was the kid from the haystack, the farm boy and all these different kids and he could relate kindly and honestly and be a nice boy to everybody. It didn’t matter who they were where they from. This was an image, a character that helped me. As well his name was Richie Rich and I was Richard Robinson, RR, and his name was the same so I could relate to that. Anyway, I guess I just wanted to share.
What’s interesting is in high school, I was friends with everybody. I wasn’t this stuck-up athlete person kid. I was connected with so much diversity that my heart was open for everybody. Some of my friends would not make fun of me but say, “Why are you friends with these people?” It was the most wildest thing. Now you said that, it resonated why. Thank you for sharing that.
“Why are you friends with him? Why did you have him over for lunch?” “It’s because he’s a nice guy, because I like him.” Sure, he’s from that part and everything and his clothes and his family is all very different than mine but so what? I like him. He’s a good guy. Anyways, so I can relate to aspects of your story thus far. Being in an abusive relationship with a father’s second, being in a blended family situation that’s not going well and dad doesn’t notice. He’s not connected and present enough to pay attention that his son, his kid, that everybody’s actually hurting because they’re too busy doing their thing.
This is the poverty. A lot of people in a lot of situations suffer from that. Affluence enables that much more because they can be very engaged in many very dynamic things and not need to be home and not send the kids to good schools and have the best care and all the rest. That’s just part of the mix. The possibility of moons of wealth that some people are brought up. Some parents are so engaged in their whatever, business and other activities, and the kids are cared for. They can check out. They can not be present.
It’s almost where my dad was. I think in his mind, “I’m going to provide this incredible house and these cars.” In the meantime, his wife, my stepmom, would mess up my room and have the housekeeper clean all her kids rooms then to tell my father how much of a slob I was. My father would look at me like, “Son, you’ve got to take care of your stuff.” I was like, “Dad, that wasn’t me,” but the problem was he wouldn’t believe me. Growing up, I don’t trust anybody, so it’s been one of my things for me to this day in business is who do I trust, when do I trust, and so trust has been a big part of growing up for me and as an adult.
Getting Into The World Of Business
I get that. I want to get to that later because you have different stories you’ve told me some already but I want to share it with the readers. One of the themes that you’re talking about is betrayal and trust and so we’ll come back to that. Thank you. It’s just great the way that you’re describing how you resourced yourself, how you accessed the underwater world, how you accessed your physical body, how you brought yourself forward from what sounds like really a very isolating experience.
It truly was.
Yeah, and also very disorganized experience filled with lots and lots of contradictions and, frankly, hypocrisy about love and how to live. You parented yourself and a lot of people, in many situations, kids have to be there called a parentified child. Either they’re parenting themselves or very often, they’re also parenting their parents.
These things happen. You talked about how your housekeepers were your family. I remember when I was an intern working at a school system and one of the other interns said she asked the kid to draw a picture of his family and he drew a picture of himself and his housekeeper and that was the kid’s picture of his family. That’s what you’re talking about.
I went to an intensive retreat and I had introduced people that I want in my family, a third person on who they were and it was very hard for me to introduce my father as my father to the people in my group. It’s tough, for sure.
Let’s come forward and so you did college and I guess where I’m going when I introduce these highs and lows you talked about, I don’t want to steal your thunder, you had three separate businesses that rode a wave.
Yeah, Club EVEXIA’s my fourth. Coming back from college, since I was a trainer, my first job was selling fitness equipment at a store in Marin County and had five stores. Killed it, crushed it, sold so much equipment for him because I just knew fitness from my training days. Bodybuilding, again, just reference that as something that was so powerful for me. It is, like I said, who made me who I am now as a sense of accomplishment.
As I called up my father and I told my dad that this business that I’m in, I can do this on my own, I learned the business through the owner of the stores. He took me to trade shows and I was able to establish relationships. My wife was working in the San Francisco newspaper so what I did was I quit and went to the leap of faith and trusted the ability. I don’t know where this came from because at that time, I was 22. I decided I can believe in in the ability of selling.
I would look for used fitness equipment and then I would resell for 10x or more and I would literally be in street corners and flea markets with a bunch of equipment selling it. Fast forward, I was able to establish $10 million business from doing that. I had ended up with five of the same stores around the Bay Area.
It took me two years to get my first brick and mortar. I was on this trajectory. We were the top dealers. I guess one of the big things is if any of your readers can really take one nugget from it is if you find your passion and you can really stick to your passion, no matter what that is, and being able to monetize it, that is the way in my mind is how life should be and that’s what I did.
We can get into the other businesses. I always stuck to what my comfort level was, which was fitness and wellness. My fitness stores were so unique because we had personal trainers I had in them and so we’d offer trainers for our client, for the customers to go to their house. They would teach you how to use it and so it was a very dominant and powerful business during the ‘90s.
Did you just say you went from selling used fitness equipment that you bought for whatever cheap from people letting it go and selling it at flea markets?
Sausalito Flea Market was one of them, as a matter of fact.
To a $10 million business?
That’s correct. Each store was doing gross $2 million a year, just about, and we were really crushing it I had stores around the Bay Area and a big distribution center in Richmond. It was a very fun ride for me but I had it taken away from me from a hostile takeover from a customer. It was a merger acquisition guy plus a lawyer. It was a customer came in, bought about $10,000 worth of equipment, scoped out my business, asked a lot of questions, came back a year later bought about $10,000 more and asked me if I wanted to scale it to a big business.
Obviously, now I’m 25 and I said I would love to do that. He wrote a contract that I didn’t give it to my attorney, big lesson for me, but he seduced me with a $300,000 check as a buy-in and I accepted it. Over the next 3 or 4 months, he brings in a CFO. I start talking the CFO, asking him questions. He’s referring me to, “You’ve got to ask Phil.” I said, “No, you ask me.” He says, “Well, no. Phil owns the company.” That’s how I found out. I called up the gentleman and, “What are you talking about?” He goes, “I own 52% of your business.”
At that point, I lost my mind. We just had our first baby, just bought our first house. I called the police department because I was on my way to see him saying, “I’m going to beat somebody up.” I was that frustrated. It was like my whole life. I went to the CFO and I was going to just beat the crap out of him and I didn’t but the police were already there.
He took over my company. I treat my employees really well. They walked out on him a couple of months later and I ended up with the business back but I didn’t realize he drained my bank account. He didn’t pay any of my bills, didn’t pay any of my leases and so I tried to sustain it for six months and I had to file Chapter 7.
This is what’s ironic. This is where it gets really tough for me because my father went into a depression during that time and that’s one of the reasons why I moved back to the Bay Area. He got remarried to my mother and that was the last time they got remarried but I started helping him. To your point, I was bringing him back and they had an American Express card they were spending $17,000 a month on it through my business and my dad was somewhat trying to help me. The minute I lost my business, he fled. They went to Los Angeles and they left me high and dry and that’s was a very tough situation for me, especially when I had my first my first baby. That was business number one.
Business number one with two betrayals, one from the guy who said, “I’m here to help you scale your business,” and it ends up he owns more than half and then a and then another betrayal from dad. Mom and dad, effectively.
That was a rough one for me. You can understand why trust is very difficult. I did a thesis in college, it was children and plyometric training, I love working out with kids. I had this crazy idea of opening up a studio for kids for fitness, six and a half to fifteen. I was able to get $50,000 from a good friend of mine to start it and it was in San Marin here in Northern Marin called Fitwise for Kids. I’m going to plug it. It was circuit training, big emphasis on nutrition.
That took off. That was 2004. Obesity was on the rise. I said I can scale this. I was watching one of the fastest growing franchise at the time called Curves Fitness for Women. They had like 2,000 of them or more. I’m like, “That simple stupid how to operate. I can do the same thing.” I learned that. I ended up franchising Fitwise for Kids and I had 75 locations. I was in sixteen states, Australia with them, I was on all the media, Inside Edition, the Today Show, CNBC as one of the fastest growing kids’ fitness businesses. It was such an amazing business for me, what I was doing for the kids. It was incredible.
I’m on this high. Once again, from the low to a high and then the 2008 banking recession wiped me out. That was a rough one for me because then I brought in investors. I had sophisticated investors in it. I was scared. I was able to spin that and we were able to sell it to one of my franchisees in Boca Raton who is actually still going with them, maybe a handful of them left. I was able to get my investors whole. All I really wanted to do is live in integrity with that. I ended up with nothing. That was a big hit. At that point, I don’t know what to do. I’m trying to reinvent myself.
What year is that?
That was 2009 and ‘10?
Do you have a wife, still 1 kid, 2 kids?
That time, we had two kids. When I met my wife, Lisa, she had a little girl that was three, so I went into this instant family to begin with, which was a total paradox on who I was before because I never could commit to any girlfriends just because of my upbringing. My wife was my rock. It’s almost like she was like a mother figure that I never had. I think that was what it was that really captivated me. There’s 13 years apart from my stepdaughter to my first daughter and then my son is 4 years from my daughter.
In 2010, you’ve got a wife three kids and a failed business again.
Yeah, and so then I’m like, “This is not going to be good.” I went back to what I knew, which was selling fitness equipment. I started going back in that whole sweet spot. That’s why I talk about your passion because for me, my passion was always around the same area. I started doing the same thing. When I had my fitness equipment stores, one of the gentlemen that I brought aboard, I gave him my commercial division before I lost my business and he’s thriving to this day from me doing that to him.
I have a tendency to give a lot. I set him up. I called him up. I said, “Steve, I need to do something. I just lost this.” I started my grassroots of selling fitness equipment but I started doing it commercially. I start outfitting property complexes, design their fitness centers, police departments, fire departments. I started just hustling. That built me to a consulting business then I started doing consulting. I start able to pay myself a little bit more in the consulting during that time. I was able to build health clubs. I built like six health clubs from the ground up for various people from Humboldt County all the way to Central California.
I had corporate wellness and the corporate wellness was IBM. They were a big client. I outfitted them. I did a lot of lunch and learns for the executives. I had trainers in there, I had yoga instructors. Very powerful. I had two other big companies at Bio-Marin and Restoration Hardware. Now I’m loving life because my overhead was low. I’m still skeptic. I’m still trying to figure out money. It’s interesting for me. From my growing up, I always wanted to provide nice for my family but not over the top.
I had this standard of living. I always wanted to make sure they lived in Marin and good areas of Marin and it was hard for me to afford it but that’s what I wanted. I think that was just from living the rich life as a kid. I just challenged myself on that in the nicer area. I guess for the finer qualities of life for my family. I was doing really well with that and that was from 2012 to COVID, basically. COVID hit and wiped me out again. The COVID one was the massive one, almost like the atomic bomb in my head.
I for sure thought that was it. I was in the fetal position, crying in my closet. My wife was holding me. I didn’t know what else to do. It was rough but I think that humbled me. I stuck to my passion, I said to myself, “I can build health clubs. I love this.” I wanted to do something in Southern Marin way back. Many years ago, I thought about doing a health club in Southern Marin. I applied and applied for that disaster loan, the PPM from the COVID. Believe it or not, through my consulting business, I got a check for $250,000 from that.
In disaster relief?
It was unbelievable. During that time, I was drinking whiskey. At 4:00, I’d start. I was bottoming out. I didn’t know and that came in. My business partner, Scott Raymond, who I’m with now, really good friends. Real estate, he just sold his management company. I went to him and proposed an idea of opening up a fitness center, which is Club EVEXIA.
What’s even crazy is we did this whole plan and we went in to do it and we’re getting an SBA loan and we just almost got approved and they dug some stuff about me back in when I got my first that bankruptcy that was 2007 or less than that or that they denied our loan. We’re all in. We have a lease and so I’m like, “I don’t have this money to put in EVEXIA.”
Scott ended up stepping up and putting in ten times more than I did but we’re 50/50 partners because I’m the man that knows how to do this business and he’s coming in as my CFO on a whole different level and we started Club EVEXIA. We started doing this in 2021. We talked about it, we decided to step up, we paid off all our debt in four years here. It’s going amazing but it’s the journey to me that I’ll never forget.
I got shingles from building it. I almost died from it. That’s why I wear sunglasses this left eye, it’s just sensitive. It’s definitely challenging. I was asked to speak on a panel. Let me back up. When we built EVEXIA, I was spinning so hard on who I was. I didn’t know what to do. I started doing really some deep work and I went to my very first intensive retreat for seven days, high end retreat but that’s what started my process of doing self work on myself.
That’s when I knew that I needed to figure myself out because I couldn’t sustain what was going on in my head. I look at the success of it like you get to a point but I wasn’t curing myself. I wasn’t figuring out who I am, loving myself and so I was about to just snap. I told Lisa, my wife, I need to find help and we went. As I mentioned, I went to this amazing retreat and I’ve been in men’s groups, co-ed groups, I’ve seen therapy, I still see therapy and I’m working on myself daily. I meditate, I get up at 3:00 in the morning every morning.
I meditate, I work out at the club at 4:00 AM so I have a really strict regimen that I really like. It’s definitely something where it’s a reminder on what the finer things are. You can’t chase the money nor do I want to. I feel Club EVEXIA now is a place that has brought me to the best person I am and I’m able to help hundreds of people, whatever that is and they’re finding their peace at EVEXIA.
Finding Trust After A Couple Of Betrayals
I appreciate you going forward and I do want to hear about your personal journey and whatever Maui is bringing you but I want to just address what you just talked about the development your journey to the next iteration after three previous failures. One due to pretty significant betrayal, major takeover, and the others have just life.
The economy crashing through the real estate bust that happened in 2008 and then COVID and taking the carpet out from underneath you. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that and then you just said that your partner Scott, you guys didn’t qualify for the loan that you were expecting. You already have the lease on the place. You’re literally banking on that loan. It didn’t come through.
Now what? We’re committed. You’re 50% partner. He says, “All right, Warren. I understand. You don’t have the cash for that right now,” and he puts forward 10 times as much and keeps the previous arrangement that you are still 50% partners. Many people knows standard business practice is that how much you put in forms how much you own. Maybe that gets me negotiated, but very often not, it just informs. Who owns what and ultimately, who wears the pants and all of that? The two of you chose to maintain the same agreement even though the circumstances had absolutely changed.
He is my guardian angel. There’s no doubt in my mind. I don’t want to speak for him, but I will on this one. He never invests and it was a wild moment for both of us. It didn’t go through because of my bankruptcy way back when. I didn’t think it was because it was twenty-plus years before and he’s like, “I’m going all in.” He had the cash to do it at that time and now he’s paid off and everything is great. That was amazing. That was a whole thing that was absolutely phenomenal.
We were on a theme of betrayal and trust. I think a lot of people in many walks of life, can struggle with this for any number of reasons, and people for whom money plays a large role in our history and our lives, that can have its own shape. You told stories of the shadow. Now your journey with Scott is the opposite.
When I did this panel about my story and I happened to go over just real quickly, the different businesses and I lost them, people came up and we’re so motivated by that and it dawned on me that it needs to get that out there more. Your passion, you have to stick with it. You can’t give up. You have to stay the course. In my mind, life is just a series of problems that happen, but you overcome those problems and if you keep chasing the same dream, it’ll surface. I think people will fail or something will happen and they’ll try something else. I’m going to go for the next best thing. Take a turn.
I never took that turn. I always just knew that the fitness and that space helped me through my journey, that I just wanted to just stay that course and it did. I look back at the hostile one, the first one, I get it. That’s just negligent. I should have given it to my attorney. That’s a mistake. The other two, people would fold and not give up and get a 9:00 to 5:00 job.
Do not dwell on the past and stay in the present. You cannot be a better person if you linger on your past decisions that you cannot take back. Share on XGrowing up, my whole family went to Panera so maybe that’s a big thing for me. I don’t understand what it’s like to have the same paycheck every time. It just did never settle with me. I wanted to control my income the way I want to control it and whatever that looks like. I got to put in my dues and my time to do that and my sacrifices. Do I regret some of the areas as a family, as a father? Yes, because I can’t bring back my memories.
That was my codependency growing up and that’s where the wounds from the money I was exposed to. I’ve got to keep working. I was my shield. I didn’t have to work. I should have gone to Disneyland with my family and enjoyed that, but I just decided to keep working. I’m really upset with myself about those choices I made, knowing that I could have done these things. Now it’s a different feeling. Now it’s like I can’t dwell on the past and get to stay present and be the father to all my kids even though they’re older, but those are the decisions that I can’t take back.
Doing The Inner Work And Embracing A Minimalist Lifestyle
You were talking about how you went to Maui and I’m aware. We talked before that in your story, now there’s a different evolution that you’re bringing in. You started working on yourself in depth with all these different ways, groups, therapist modalities and now you’re going to Maui.
The reason why I bring that up is because when I went by myself for a quick trip. I had a moment there where I realized that I bought a one of my dream cars not too long ago because I asked my wife before I did it. I don’t want to be selfish. “Would you mind?” She said, “You deserve it.” When I was over there, I realized I don’t want any of that. When we end up over there, I would not take any of that. That’s meaningless stuff. I feel like I’m caught in this race here to being like everybody else to have these things that don’t do it for me anymore.
For me, it’s living and being and not chasing who has the nicer car, who has the biggest house and who has the most money in your bank. That’s not what I’m looking for. In my businesses, it was just how much money can I make and support. I guess when you get to the top to a point, I look in the mirror and go, “Now what am I going to do?” It’s an interesting feeling, to say the least.
For me, it’s how much is enough. What does enough mean? I can truly look him in myself going that I gave it all what I can give and I’m very grateful that I can actually monetize something like what I build with Club EVEXIA and at the same time, help all these people. The financial part of it, it’s not what I’m doing it for.
That’s why I think I wanted to put myself out there to our podcast and be so thankful that you put me on yours to let people know that I’m not this privileged person that came into money, who put all those money into this business that have it. It’s not how it worked for me. There is hope for a lot of readers, to trust the process and yourself and yet, they say, you’ve got to go for it.
Trust the process and always believe in yourself. Share on XYou’ve got to believe in yourself and that’s the lesson I’m learning too. It’s loving myself. I didn’t know how to do that. I’m probably the guy that has the lowest self-esteem. I’m an introvert, but I’m a professional extrovert, but I’m getting better of being confident to myself. I think there’s a lot of messages there. If the people can’t do it, they just have to believe in themself to do it.
I love that reality that you’re coming to. A lot of that has sustained you over decades through very challenging turns. At this time, there’s something else going on for you is what you’re sharing, and your experience is going to Maui, you just bought your dream car. You’ve had this car in mind for however many years, decades, whatever. It’s been a fantasy. Finally, you achieve it and you’ve changed.
Overnight, to say the least. It’s something that I never thought as obtainable. Once you obtain it, it’s like, was it worth it? Is it worth it? What’s worth it?
I want to invite you to rephrase that because that’s not what I hear you’re saying. It’s not about is it worth it. I hear you saying, “Is it me? Do I want this? Is it really who I am?” Not is it worth it. You’ve had the journey, you spent the money, you’re not second guessing that. The question is, is it me now and going forward. I hear you saying you want to go to Maui and have a more minimalist lifestyle, more simple lifestyle.
That is not me, you’re correct. The real me is that person over there living that lifestyle with minimal stuff. That’s who I am. What I realized out of my journey to this point is I would be happy with a Vespa and beautiful water, my wife, my family.
You can say a hot motorcycle. You said a Vespa. You didn’t say a Harley, didn’t ask for a hog, you didn’t want to classic Italian bike. You want a Vespa. What I’m bringing out is a change in your values. You said you grew up in affluence such as it was, considerable affluence, being driven in a Rolls-Royce to school. With all of the ups and downs, got to get up again. Got to pull it together. Got to get up again.
I’m suicidal, I’m lying in a closet, I’m crying. I’m this, I’m that, I’m betrayed, I’m disappointed, I’m whatever and you come back around. It was a priority, as you said, to a live in Marin. You want to certain lifestyle, especially for your kids. That’s what you knew. That’s what you wanted to offer. Okay, now you’re at this time, it’s 2026, you’re this age, you’ve achieved, you are where you are. After all of that and you go to Maui and something reorganizes. Is this correct?
A thousand percent. I’m tearing behind my glasses when you saying that. That’s right.
Organized and what you now are oriented to is I want less. What is it? Is it connecting to the land? What is this?
It’s connecting to the land, it’s living simpler, it’s living with no agenda. No hurry. None of this mainstream media that we’re hearing in this world right now because when I’m over there, I don’t listen to in that or anything that’s going on. I’m being and I’m fulfilled. My shingles doesn’t hurt when I’m there.
When you obtain something you once considered unobtainable, ask yourself if it is worth getting at all. Share on XI am being. On the topic of wounds of wealth, are you living a rich life, you’re describing an incredible circle, an incredible cycle. The thing that you’re talking about is, as you say, meditators. I reflect on Buddhist monks, all these different spiritual gurus and everything that be here now. All these things are about being and whatever that means for you, your journey, your unquestionable wounds in however many areas we’re talking personal, we’re talking very many things.
We’ve been talking about it through the lens of wounds of wealth, which is true but it’s not the only wounding that a person experiences, not the only wounding that you’re experiencing. You have brought yourself through personal growth and now you’re at a stage where at this age can I ask you? It doesn’t matter, but how old are you?
Fifty-seven.
You’re 57 and you’re saying, “I’d rather be less, I’d rather live on the land, I’d rather be in the moment, in my whatever.” It’s pretty profound. Do you have suggestions? That’s a huge message in and of itself. Do you want to bring that forward for the reader in any more specific way?
What stands out in the reason why I want to start being because I was the best parent I can be to all my kids. I stayed the course through these trials and tribulations, through losing companies, to just things that I committed to and my kids, all of them are thriving in their own ways. Happiness for me is once I was able to accomplish that, just start being. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Give yourself an opportunity to for some TLC within yourself, I think. Be present the whole time. The being part for me is being present and that’s what I want to continue to do. Just believe in yourself and that’s it. Believe in yourself and just start being and not doing.
Are You Living A Rich Life?
Consistent with the theme of the show, as you reflect on yourself and these lessons that you’re at least changes that you’re bringing in, your world view, what’s important to you and everything and how you’re positioning yourself, I don’t know if you’re positioning yourself to change your life or not, in your opinion, in your estimation of yourself, all in, are you living a rich life?
All in. I am. I am now. I wasn’t before but I am now. I’m living a rich life and it’s getting richer and richer every time. Meeting you, sitting with you has made it even more richer. I really mean that.
It’s a blessing to the audience that you honestly tell your story and reflect on yourself and your journey and reflect and say, “Yeah, I am living a rich life all in. Sure, day-to-day, it can be this and that and all that. We all have and you run into dynamic business and whatever all many irons you have in the fire and on and on. It is now.
I guess that’s the wounds of wealth and so many things that you’ve done for your own well-being. Starting back when you are a kid, I just dropped just connecting to the land connects for being in the water being in your body. That’s very here and now inherently. Anybody that’s gone scuba diving. It’s all about right here, right now.
Your head cannot be somewhere else because you got a mind, your equipment. Be here now, which is a very profound Buddhist philosophy. Not just them but that’s what comes up. I love the point that you need your story where you say this, that and the other and then I started to do inner work. It’s just coming up for me. I’ve got to say. Do you ever watch the series Mad Men?
Yeah.
Spoiler alert for the readers. We watched the lead character and not only him, but the focus was on him going through just a ridiculous life. He’s an advertising executive on Madison Street. Apparently, they self-named himself. They coined the phrase Mad Men because they’re on Madison Street. He goes through and he trashes everything. He trashes his relationships, he isolates himself, he uses so much alcohol, and cigarettes, and whatever all.
Finally, in the last episode, in the last scene, he’s gone all the way from New York to California to return a ring to this woman. He feels some allegiance and he gets there, her daughter doesn’t even want it. That’s the only thing that was driving him with any kind of allegiance. It was the right thing to do, and then it didn’t even matter.
He actually sits in a group he doesn’t want to and he actually has compassion for this other man who’s disclosing and then it shows him in the last scene, he’s actually sitting down and meditating and it’s the first time these actually being present to himself, instead of drinking, chasing women. All the things that he did through the whole series. It was so entertaining and so destructive. He actually sits down to meditate and that’s the beginning. That’s the end of the series. He’s taking becoming something else. He’s becoming himself.
That’s awesome. That is really cool. That just came to you?
Yeah, as we were talking and remembering that series.
That’s my rich life I’m living. That’s my rich life. The work I’m doing now, the meditation. I love Buddha and so I practice as much as I can. I’m learning as much as I can and I live by that.
I really appreciate the time, Warren.
Me too, Richard.
I think we’re good. Do you have anything to add?
No, I don’t have anything to add.
Get In Touch With Warren
Thank you, Warren. What a pleasure to have you. I look forward to seeing you at the club. We have the website for Club EVEXIA, there’s an email address for Info@ClubEvexia.com. Can people reach out to Club EVEXIA and you if they’re inspired? Is that okay with you?
It’d be great, yeah. Warren@ClubEvexia.com.
You even give your own email address. Thank you very much and we’ll call it good for now.
Thank you, Richard. I really enjoyed it.
Important Links
About Warren Gendel
Marin County has been my home for 45 years. After building Fitness Wize, Inc., Fitwize 4 Kids, Inc., and Well-Fit, LLC here in Marin County, I have decided to bring Club EVEXIA to Southern Marin. As owner and operator, I’m excited to start changing lives by bringing fitness and wellness to the community.
An ambitious and versatile leader who started his first company immediately out of college, Warren used his strong entrepreneurial and interpersonal skills to develop a multi-million dollar business. He went on to launch and oversee the expansion of another company that has emerged as a highly-acclaimed, global enterprise.
With over 30 years of successful executive management and business development experience in the health and fitness industry, Warren is a collaborative leader who champions employee satisfaction by staying focused on training and development. He is a visionary entrepreneur with a track record of growing businesses by identifying unique and underserved markets.
Warren prides himself on being a team builder who is able to rally teams around executable and exciting visions for success. Among his accomplishments are pioneering one of the fastest-growing and nationally-acclaimed healthy lifestyle centers just for kids, as well as founding a company that provided customized and personalized fitness systems to individuals and large organizations across the Western United States.