Grit.org Podcast Episode #16 with Corey Howell now live!

Our next podcast interview is now live! Corey Howell grew up a stand out surfer on the East Coast. As he continued his surfing career, he found a passion for fitness and helping others. While winning a collegiate surfing national championship, Corey made his way towards becoming a Chiropractor. Once graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic, he opened up his own practice in his hometown of Melbourne Beach. His holistic approach to health has impacted hundreds of lives. Enjoy this episode telling his story from athlete and coach, to doctor and entrepreneur!

Link to the interview is below so be sure to check it out and let us know your favorite part of the interview.

Colby H.: Welcome back to the Grit.Org podcast. My name is Colby Harris, I'm your host for today. I'm here with today's guest Corey Howell. Corey, thank you so much for being here man.

Corey H.: Thank you for having me. Oh man, it's been a long time coming. I know you've been in my DM's trying to get me here since February, but the timing is perfect. So I'm stoked to be here.

Colby H.: Yes man, really excited to have you here. I know it's been this back and forth, but just a little background. I've actually known Corey since, well, it's probably 2014-15 that we first met. Corey actually trained me while he was surfing at UNF getting his degree. We kind of linked up, perfect little situation and just followed you ever since man. So really appreciate you being here today, to share a little bit your story.

Corey H.: Of course. I'm stoked to see what you've become with great University.

Colby H.: Hey, appreciate it man. Just again, super cool to be able to sit down with you and have this conversation. I feel like there's going to be a lot of good value, a lot of business, wellness, overall health and really, all of our listeners will be able to get out of here and have that value to go execute on their own lives.

So diving right in, Corey, tell us a little bit about your upbringing, and what led you to Melbourne Beach. You're right next to prime surf destinations in North Carolina where you originally grew up. So tell us more about those early days, and what led you to Melbourne Beach from Wilmington?

Corey H.: I grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, where I would go to Surf City topsoil a bunch to Surf. And through my years, competing with Esa, and SSA and other various organizations. I ended up moving to Florida, because we found ourselves coming to Florida almost twice a month whenever it was competitive season, and my family just grew a bond towards wanting to go to Florida, not only just for the convenience of the contest, but also the weather.

It's a really nice lifestyle, there's a lot of different waves to choose from. And my family's been living in Wilmington North Carolina for a very long time. So it was a much needed change of atmosphere.

Colby H.: You still spend much time up there?

Corey H.: My great-grandparents still live up there, a couple of my cousins and nephews. So yes, I go up there every once while, probably like every two years.

Colby H.: Nice, yes. I'm from Highlands North Carolina originally, I don't know if you've ever heard of it. But that's where I grew up before I moved to Florida and picked up surfing and stuff down here. So tell us a little bit more back in those times of growing up in Wilmington and into Melbourne. Obviously, you're a very accomplished surfer, but were there any other passions that you had at that age, that kind of got you into sports originally?

Corey H.: Yes. At first, growing up, I did the typical skateboarding, surfing, played basketball, I was super into soccer, but I really was finding that I couldn't do everything at once at early age. So I was missing the practices, but showing up for the games, and my parents really didn't think that was fair or right for everybody else.

So I just kind of ended up sticking towards surfing, and going to the skate park just to work on pumping and technique and whatnot. But for the most part, I was only surfing on the weekends. I was going to public school. I still went through public school all through high school.

So school was pretty center focused on the weekdays, and then I got to have that Sports application over the weekend.

Colby H.: Yes. And I think it's really cool too, surfing and skating even is individual sport. Compared to all these team sports, all your success rides on your shoulders. So what would you say that experience was like through the early age? And what did you learn through that of just stepping into individual sport and learning it that way?

Corey H.: So I started competing when I was about four years old, and I was winning a lot of things actually at four years old. I had an incident where my pinky got slammed in the door, I think at the age of six and a half, and that kind of put me on ice for about four or five months. I had to deal with going through that, and the amputation. And after that, I kind of fell off like my winning streak and I was kind of more in like that struggling style. I was kind of a little unconfident in my abilities, I was always kind of like looking over my shoulder and seeing who was watching me, and it just kind of put a lot of stress and strain on like how I felt as a kid competing.

And so, it was pretty challenging, I would say it wasn't until I hit about 15 or 16 years old that I saw a major difference in how I was able to compete and my confidence and my abilities to compete.

Colby H.: And that kind of segues right into my next question, again, you had multiple junior pro event wins, multiple East Coast title wins. But like you said, you do at a young age kind of tie your personal success to your sport. That's like your identity. So was there a time going through that High School period where you were really all in and so focused on winning, that you kind of felt deterred from surfing and almost considered even giving up maybe?

Corey H.: Yes. I definitely had the conversation with my mother. She said Corey, you're a really talented individual, you're a great athlete, you're committed in what you're doing. Are you sure surfing is like what you want to do? Because she was being real with me, like are you sure? Like you're really being hard on yourself, obviously surfing is a subjective sport.

And so she just wanted to make sure that this was something that I wanted to actually commit my time to. Which was a really great question I think for her at the time, because it was something I never really considered that I could do anything that I choose to do. I just got to think like is that what I would like to do with my time?

And I think at 15 years old, when I could start to actually drive, I started going to the beach more, I started to work out more, and I started to see that my confidence grew the more that I got stronger. Not only because I was getting physically stronger, but mentally, I knew I was doing what a lot of other people were not doing. And that gave me the confidence, it made me not have to look over my shoulder anymore.

And I knew like I was focused, I had drive, and I could see how training carried over into the surf world. And at that time for me, I didn't really see many people's training and surfing, it was kind of like a try hard almost like. It's kind of crazy to think you're looking back now a lot of these guys are training, but back then you didn't really see that as much.

You saw like Taylor Knox doing a lot of like Bosu ball training, and we had Endo board. But other than that, I didn't really see a lot of people exposing that side of the world. So it was kind of new to me, I felt like I was on the brink of a discovery.

Colby H.: Yes. I think one of my favorite parts from that is I love the saying don't be disappointed with results you didn't get from work you didn't do. And it sounds like that's perfectly applicable to that situation, because like you said, it was almost uncool to train and surfing 15 years ago, you just wanted to go out and be the hardest surfer out there, be the best you could be.

But like you said, working out was something that sets you up for success in the water, made you feel that much more confident. So tell us a little bit more about getting into working out, I know obviously that was a big portion of the last decade of your life as you kind of furthered your expertise. So tell us about breaking into working out, and what value you found in that. Not only in the water, but just for your overall mental health as well.

Corey H.: So whenever I first started working out, I would just go to the HealthPlex. I was just trying to like learn any kind of workout with weights, bench press, squat, the average. And then I started to look up what calisthenics was, body weight workouts. And I saw all the bar workouts that you could do. So I was like well, surfing is much like only bodyweight stuff. You got a little bit of resistance with the water when you're paddling, but for the most part, everything's calisthenics body based workouts.

So I started to get pretty heavy on that, I was starting to do things like the front plank, back lever, handstands, not the handstand push-up at the time, I just wasn't strong enough. But just things that people normally thought were like with the wow factor, you know what I mean? And through that, I started to keep showing up to the gym, learning a little bit more. Sometimes I would be more in like the resistance phase, where I would want to like do more like weights. Other times, I would switch back to the calisthenics. It was always like a constant oh, this is better, okay, no, now this is better, okay, I learned something new here so I'll do this for a while. So I never really focus on like one exact thing when it came to fitness. I was always trying to like discover more, try new things, because I think that's really how you end up learning and figuring out like new techniques.

Colby H.: Keeps it fun too.

Corey H.: Sure.

Colby H.: I mean, it gets old to just go in and sling up dumbbells for bench press all the time. I mean, I'm trying to get into the cow stanks thing now, but a little bit heavier set for it, so it's going to be a longer road for me to kind of get into the handstand push-ups, a little bit more advanced stuff.

So thinking about your next step now. I mean, at this point, working out, surfing very well, and obviously, you really excelled in school, maybe even just tell us a little bit about that. Like how did you balance school on top of pursuing all these other things, because I know you were a standout student all the way through Elementary, Middle School and High School. Tell us more about that, and how you bounce it, and really some of the things that you believe helped you excel at school.

Corey H.: Yes. I mean, of course, my parents like motivated me to be like school focused. But I think also my drive to like not want to slip up, like show people that I could do both. I wasn't really one to brag, but I would want to, like for me personally, I wanted to push myself. I ended up getting only one B in high school and that was while I was in Middle School for high school Spanish.

And then I carried over to do my AA degree while I was in high school. And through that time, I was getting all straight A's as well. And so for me, it was kind of like a test to see like how far could I push myself in academics, while also doing the same thing in sports. Because a lot of people tell you got to choose one thing to focus on and be great at one. But in this instant, I think it was best to do both.

Because I've seen a lot of people progress and be at the highest level of that you can at surfing, and then at some point, they have to have a career change. And so during that latency phase, a lot of people kind of fall off and make different decisions as well. And I was seeing this at a young age and realizing this was something that was going to be me in the future. So I had to, even though school wasn't always the most fun, I saw the relevancy that I needed to pursue something more just for myself.

Colby H.: So at that time, was the decision already made that you wanted to be a chiropractor? Or tell us kind of about making that decision to go ahead and eventually get to go to UNF. I know you said you got your AA while still in high school. But tell us, was that the plan all along? Or how did you end up landing on that?

Corey H.: Yes, not at all. UNF was obviously an easy decision, it was the closest University to the beach, so that was a major requirement. And also they had a really cool surf club at the time, we were like on the brink of becoming like a real surf team. I think we got like fourth or fifth in the East Coast Conference the year prior to me joining.

And that year, we ended up becoming a really great surf team, we ended up winning and started our, now I think like we're on like our 11th or 12th consecutive win streak for UNF, which is awesome. But that year that I joined, we won our first East Coast Title.

And all that time I was working out, and I was seeing my results, not only in school grow, but also surfing too. I was still working out all the time, it was like my passion and that's when I started training you a little bit as well. Because I could see the results for myself and I wanted to give that same result to other people.

Colby H.: Yes. I definitely want to talk a little bit about that too, because again, I love the don't say no mentality. Like create the time, don't be that, I've tried to make that change over the past year, is try to be the guy that's willing to make the time. We don't need to talk about my problems and what I have going on, but how can I help you and how can I make my time to be there?

So talking about creating that time to impact others. In a 2018 interview with Ron John, when talking about being a surf coach. You said just to help them build confidence outside the ocean and inside with their abilities. And to see them become overall happier and more confident themselves is empowering for me. A quote you said in 2018 about being a surf coach.

So can you elaborate more on that, and kind of the power you've found in assisting others while also chasing dreams of your own?

Corey H.: Yes. I was just actually talking to one of my patients today over lunch. I brought her a pizza, 93 years old a. And I was telling her, it's so incredible that I get to do something where I provide value to other people. I can make people literally they'll walk in with the worst day ever, they have all these problems. I give them confidence, I give them information about what's going on with their body, and I can empower them by teaching them how to take care of themselves.

And that's something that I've tried to give in all stages of life for people who are older, younger, still I'm training with like young kids and athletes for their mental state as well. And just trying to create, be a relatable figure for them. So that's why I ended up becoming a chiropractor, because I saw that a lot of people were enjoying their chiropractor. When I went to UNF, I joined the athletic training program.

I knew that was something that dealt with sports injuries, and I ended up working with a bunch of sports teams at the time. They had an incredible program there. If you're interested in learning about the body and taking care of athletes, I highly recommend joining the athletic training program. Just as a stepping stone, if you want to be an athletic trainer, that's awesome too.

It just wasn't like what I personally wanted to do. But through that program, I learned more through those two years alone, the value of like the research they provided, how to take care of athletes with taping and modalities. Working with different sports teams, and seeing how each sports team worked differently, worked out differently. And through that experience I saw a common theme that everybody loved to see their chiropractor.

Even if they were doing the same thing to everybody, everybody loved their chiropractor. You could spend five minutes with them, you could spend 45 minutes with them, everybody loved their chiropractor. And so it gave me the freedom to say like hey, I can be anybody I want to be. I can choose any technique I want to do, as long as I have great communication and the passion to help people, I can be that person that people want to go see. And so that's why I ended up going the Chiropractic route.

Colby H.: And the experience really is what led you there, because that was going to be another question. I remember back when we were even training together, it seemed like you had this swagger to like you had it figured out. You made me, just like you said, you built that confidence in anybody. You were like running with me and doing the lunges, and doing the warm-ups and showing me how to do. I was like oh Corey's doing it, and he's confident and I can do it, like I'm going to follow in his footsteps.

When discussing navigating that next chapter, I think that's a huge struggle for a lot of young people these days, is they want to figure it out, they want to know what they're going to do after college or going through college. What would you say based on the stories you just shared there, what would you say people could do to best set themselves up or give them the best opportunity to figure that out?

Corey H.: Yes. I was doing something with Mr. Mitch Kaufman here in Jacksonville Beach. And in his Studio was Mike Ryan, he was the head athletic trainer of the Jacksonville Jaguars for like 30 plus years. And through that conversation, I was like hey man, like I would really like for you to come talk to our class since you're a former athletic trainer, I think he was just retiring. And you have such a great wealth of experience, and you're a big figure in Jacksonville. Come and speak to our class, and he said okay, perfect.

And during that little conversation I had with them prior to him coming, he gave me some valuable information. He said Corey, what is your dream job? And I said well, of course, it's to work on the world surf league as medical doctor of some sort. Whether it's to help people out or be the director, I don't know. But just to be there in the presence of my favorite sport would be incredible.

And so he said all right, perfect, so you already know what you want to do. Now who has that job that you want, or who is currently doing the job that you want, I said okay, well that led to the question, well actually, who is it? And I went on Instagram, and I did all this searching to see who that person was. And that's the nice thing about the internet now, is like you can find out information very quickly.

And so I found the person, I saw that they were doing a seminar and I easily went to the seminar, no questions asked and I met the person. Flew to California, had no ticket for the seminar I just showed up, because it was already sold out. Yes, I just ended up meeting the guy, and he's like oh yes man, you came all the way from Florida, no ticket, just to come to this? I said yes sir, of course.

And he said all right, well, at the end of the seminar, you can just pay us, but just come in for now. And I said all right, awesome. So I sat there and I had eight practitioners there all approaching problems differently from their point of view. And I was learning like crazy amounts of information, while I was already in Chiropractic. And I was like wow, all these people are like people I want to be associated with. And they ended up, at the end of the seminar, they had like a trick contest, like who can do the best trick on the ground?

And of course, I started, I did the front plank going up into a handstand push-up and everyone's like what, that was crazy. Like everyone's freaking out. And it was like a cool opportunity, because all that work I'd done in the past, working and training, I was now talking about it and being about it, which a lot of people like to see. And so I ended up meeting the guy, Dr. Tim Brown and became great friends with him, and everywhere he goes, like seminars wise, I tried to be there, and I just became like a great bond with him.

And ever since then, I was like wow, that's a great way to approach the problem, where do I want to go? Who's there? I need to meet them, what skill set do they have? I need those skill sets and just go from there. Because I think a lot of parents look at me as an example for their kids. I surf, I go to school. I have a clinic now. I'm somebody that a lot of people would like to be, and that's awesome. But people think that everyone needs to go to school, and I quickly remind them, like what are you interested in first? You can go to school, but if you don't know your end goal, you might be wasting time.

You're better off trying different fields and professions, shadowing people with things that you think you're interested in. Seeing and exploring that route first, and then if you like it, great, then pursue it. But if you don't like it, at least you tried it, so then when you look back, you don't like second guess yourself.

So that was a big thing for me. I ended up shadowing like ICU doctor, physical therapists, chiropractors, obviously athletic training, personal training I was into. And I found that chiropractic for me was my calling, and so, I feel confident now that I made the right decision.

Colby H.: And it's just such a good nugget for young people out there, trying to figure it out, because I've noticed that same issue now as most people say well, I don't know what I want to do and it's okay. Well, what have you tried? And then they don't necessarily have a track record. Like I remember I had a rule in high school even trying to get a jump on the gun figuring out what I want to do.

By the time I was a freshman, I made a rule that I wouldn't work the same high school job for more than a year, because I knew I would have exhausted the value at that point. Working as like a food delivery boy or as a kayaking tour guide, or then anything else that came along the way. Like trying to switch it up to best, trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I did learn I love speaking, I love talking to people, I love conversation.

So I think that's super important for anyone listening that's trying to figure out, it's like go try to decide for yourself, figure it out for yourself by getting that experience. And you started to talk a little bit about all these people that you've encountered through that mentality, and I had a long list here of all these very high achieving, high level doctors and employees at places like WSL.

So tell us a little bit more about getting in front of a mentor like that, and how do you approach trying to kind of work with someone to add that value to them, while also, they're going to give it back to you.

Corey H.: For sure, that's a great question. Finding a mentor, a mentor can be like in a profession and a passion of yours a hobby, or just even somebody you want to learn information from. I have mentors all across in different categories, whether it's through gardening, doctor stuff, just friends that I like to be associated with. Mentors can be found anywhere, it just depends what information you're looking to seek.

And so, the best way I think to get in front of a mentor is to just say hello, it's easy. You can of course always invite them to lunch or dinner, and have a real genuine conversation with them, but they just don't have the time for that. Just even saying hello, and trying to get establish a connection with them, will serve you great deal.

Because then, your goal after you establish connection is to follow up, maintain that relationship, because it's easy to say hello to somebody once, but it's another thing to follow with them like a couple months later. Like hey, I saw that you're doing that, that looks awesome. Hey, how are you doing? I've been working on this, can you check this out? And so that shows people that you are not only interested in the first conversation, but you're interested in actually becoming a friend with them.

And that's what a lot of people I think are missing, is they want something immediately whenever they meet somebody. And maybe sometimes you just need to play the long game, until you figure out what you can deliver for them as well. Because people don't like when you take, take, take. So if you can somehow give something back to somebody, even if they have everything, there's still something that you can probably give to them that will make them happy.

Corey H.: Yes. I think there's very few supplements for time even, just to engage in that conversation and be genuine through it. Like you said, not necessarily shoving it down their throat of hey, oh come be a guest on my podcast, but instead, oh, beautiful car man, I hope you're doing well. Something very basic to get your foot in the door with that.

Kind of pivoting into another topic that I wanted to ask you about, when thinking about your sports career, again, we didn't touch on a ton, so maybe we'll loop it back real quick to your time at UNF on the surf team. You guys, like you said, well, on 11 East Coast titles?

Corey H.: Yes, something like that. I think while we were there too, we got second in the nation two years in a row.

Colby H.: And first once or twice right? Or I guess you won some individual?

Corey H.: Yes. A couple of us won some individual titles, which is great. I think we won, the girls won, the guy won, I think Patrick won like the longboard twice and then I ended up winning the short board twice.

Colby H.: So tell us a little bit about the mentality going into that. You were kind of heading up the team your last two or three years there, and again, found a lot of success. And it's not easy to coordinate that through raising funds, and then actually performing in your heat. So tell us a little bit about that as kind of leading it, and also just competing, and the mentality behind trying to go out there and win every year at nationals.

Corey H.: Yes, it was awesome. We had a great group of like friends that ended up becoming a great force in the surf team. We had some of the people originally that were more like just stoked for us to even be there, and then as we started to have more accolades, people started to come from South Florida to the team.

It was a big like pivotal switch for UNF I think, because we started to see people from the beach sides coming to UNF. I mean, you're thinking South Florida to Jacksonville, that's quite like a temperature jump. But people started to see that we could still surf and go to school, which I think is what a lot of people actually like to do.

And so Max Martens and I started to really develop the surf team, get people interested in coming and have it be like a great atmosphere, not only for the parties and the clubs, but also, for the surfing. And yes, we didn't really do much like training I would say, but it was more just like having the ability to corral everybody and have like a similar goal.

Our goal was to win the national championships, which has never been done by an East Coast team ever. And so that's pretty crazy when you think about it, but that was a good goal for us to have. And unfortunately, it never happened. But through that, we actually had like a lot of people that I think were kind of like falling off from surfing, and then they reignited back into surfing, because we actually had like an athletic team to be associated with, which was really cool.

Colby H.: Yes, I love the atmosphere that you created. It sounds like that's really what you guys did. It's like hey, we're going to worry about what we do in the water when we're out there, but other than that, like let's just be stoked to hang out and be getting ready to go do something like that at nationals.

Corey H.: Yes. I mean, for sure, like a lot of them were seriously competitive. Like everybody kind of wants to win, but it's like it's different. And so to like make everyone feel comfortable, like not too much pressure, because some people just don't perform under pressure like that well. Still keep the fun aspect of it, I think is what now UNF team is still doing amazing. Everyone's just stoked to be there.

Colby H.: Yes. It's definitely thriving, and that's one of the pitches I've always gotten about going to UNF, is that the surf scene is super cool. Not even just with the team, but kind of know a lot of guys from the Pier, from Talbot even all the way up to Fernandina. Like guys kind of all get out together in those areas.

So thinking back to that time, and then immediately kind of pivoting into the business world. Not only with your coaching, individual surf coaching, but fitness in general, and then your chiropractic office. What have been some of the things maybe outside of creating that camaraderie in that atmosphere that you've taken from your experience in sports, and just directly applied it to business.

Corey H.: I'm not really good at business to be honest with you. I don't know, it wasn't something that like I was ever forced to do as a kid. I was just always told just to go to school and everything's going to be good. And then switching into business, business was pretty challenging for me. I don't know why, but like taking money from people was always like difficult to me.

I felt like I always had to be like the plug, always giving people hookups, and like establishing connections, and switching into a more business role. It's important to take capital and money, and that's something that I still like working on myself, because you want to try to give people so much. But if you're not taking also, then it's hard to keep building.

And so with the clinic, it was a great opportunity. Like I said, I'd shouted so many doctors and I had gone across the world to take information, techniques, different products, and then now is my chance to blend it all together. And that's why I didn't even hesitate whenever we got out of chiropractic school, my wife, Jesse, she said Corey, you need to open a clinic. I said really, are you sure I need to open a clinic?

She said yes, you're good enough. I said okay, I was like but I just don't know, like I don't have the notes, I don't have the software, I don't have this or that, she's like you'll figure it out. She's like either way at some point you're going to have to figure it out, so why not now. I said okay, you're right. I mean, because if I go work for somebody else, yes, it's going to be a great experience for me, but then I'm going to have a latency period where I'm not making any money, so the best time to not make money is like right now.

Before like I become dependent on it, and she was 100% right. I went straight into it. I knew nothing about construction, but we worked our way through it. I knew nothing about billing and doing some of the node stuff, we worked our way through it. Same with the technique. A lot of people didn't really realize that I was pretty fresh out, but I had the confidence that I wasn't going to hurt anybody, so I really need to actually work and perfect my craft.

I wasn't practicing on people, but I was actually honing in on my craft of what I was really good at, identifying things I was a little weak at, and then seeking out some mentorship and help for like picking up the bar on some of that stuff I was struggling with. But at no point did I feel like I was not where I needed to be. Like I didn't have like impersonating syndrome. Every time like I helped somebody, I felt like people appreciated what I was doing and it just gave me confidence to keep it going.

Colby H.: Yes, that's amazing that you took that risk. And have you just been, I mean, like you said, you had a lot to, not only it was funny you said you wouldn't be making money, but in a business, you're investing in as well. So I mean, have you been able to just completely fund it yourself to get everything off the ground and get all the equipment things like that, you needed your space?

Corey H.: Yes. Through athletic training, I acquired like a couple Mac pros and a lot of other therapy devices. But I ended up doing like payments on my table, and then I ended up manifesting a Shockwave machine. When I was out in Canada, I was like man, I really want to Shockwave, I really want to shock wave, and I tried like three different types of shock waves and there's levels to shockwave and it comes with a price tag.

And somehow, I just ended up with a perfect opportunity to buy like the highest grade shockwave machine for a crazy price. So I was like all right, let's do it. And so along the way, I just started manifesting these things into like what I wanted to have. Dr. Colby here at Back In Motion in Jacksonville Beach, he hooked me up with a vibe play and a pelvic bench. Every seminar that I went to, I tried to like buy a product.

So it wasn't like I had a lot of expenses all at once, I steady accumulated things, and then before I knew it, I was like wow, I have everything that I actually need to open a practice. And then since then, I've tried to roll over almost all my profits into equipment. Because reinvesting into a company, it takes time, but I was okay without making money for now. I was stoked to just even be afloat, much less be able to like have profits to keep buying more stuff. So everything I buy, I kept using myself, so it was like a win-win.

Colby H.: Right. Just able to keep the doors open too. Like you said, I mean, getting people in and having that opportunity to serve at the highest quality too. I'm sure it's a huge confidence booster for you, especially in the early days, where you can believe in what you're selling to people already. Contrary to some people, they kind of rush into it, and then they don't have that same confidence when they are serving their customers.

Like oh, I can't wait for a year down the road, when I can actually fulfill my purpose here. So what about your day-to-day, when you're going through this in the patience of it, what have you learned through delayed graphication, and your entry into running your practice down there in Melbourne?

Corey H.: Yes. I think it'd just become comfortable being a beginner, right? Like it's okay to like want all these things, but once I get them, just seems like I'm still me. Like I could drop, I bought the new X machine, I thought it was going to be like a pivotal role and like how I was going to change my clinic, like 11 grand for the machine, still it was me. Everything that I kept buying, I thought like oh, this is going to change the game for me, no, still saying me.

And I think that's how we need to treat like having products, and nice things, and money is at the end of the day, you're still you. So like let's just be comfortable with where you're at right now, and build on that. So every day, try to like do something where you kind of push that needle forward and like step closer to like this is the person that you want to become. And that's why I just try to focus on the most.

Colby H.: Yes. I'm actually, so Wednesday of this week, I'm actually going to my old high school and I'm giving a speech on how to create success after High School. Mainly focusing kind of on what you just say, like your habits, your schedule, your mindset. No matter what job you have, like these are going to be the things you need to implement. So I've been asking a lot of people I know, how do you define success and what as someone who's still doing things every day. What do you see now in the future for Success compared to maybe what you thought it was when you were younger?

Corey H.: Yes. At first, I would say success would be having money, and I treat a lot of people with money, and I see that they think success is maintaining a great business, but also being healthy. And so that made me like whoa, okay, I already have the healthiness I have like what a lot of people are searching for is to be healthy.

So let's enjoy the time that we have now. And so success for me before would be more money oriented, success for me now is just being happy. Focusing on the things that give me passion, trying to do those every day, and then just being grateful for like where I'm at right now, that's real success for me.

Because you can be ''super successful'' and be all the way at the top, I learned that at the Jacksonville Jaguars working as an athletic trainer there for the summer, that was the top. It wasn't that fun for me. And so I think a lot of people get confused with what that being in the top is being successful, and I think being successful is having a good mindset and just being happy with where you're at right now.

Colby H.: That attitude of gratitude is really powerful. Again, same here, learning that over the past couple years like since I got out of high school, I used to say there was always somewhere I was looking to go, and then recently, I just did what most people advise you do, make sure you're around good people, and you are having a schedule and you're prioritizing making waves for yourself while also investing in others.

Try to do some right moves for myself, and for the first time, I was actually able to say, you know what? I'm like happy to be here today. I'm not like worried about what I've got going on down the road, and this and the other. So I think that's a huge thing. And even talking from you now, obviously something that was probably passed down to me through my history around you, and you're doing a lot of other stuff too.

Like you said, I mean, you'd still love to get involved with people outside the office, and one of the things I wanted to ask you about are these Typhoon Lagoon training sessions you've been putting down, something you kind of launched through 2022. So for those who don't know, Typhoon Lagoon is a wave pool at Disneyland, and you're able to rent it out and put on these sessions.

So tell us a little bit more about diving into that, and kind of launching another little fun project to get involved with people and continue to fulfill your mission really.

Corey H.: Yes. The Typhoon Lagoon sessions are pretty cool. My friend, Dalton Smith ended up like where they kind of co-created, but it kind of took the reins more so with doing it. And so he pretty much fronts the money, sets them all up, and basically, people can buy individual passes into surfing Typhoon Lagoon. Which before you had to buy the whole package, which is pretty hard to negotiate ten people showing up at once.

Colby H.: Yes, and it's steep too, it is not cheap to get out there.

Corey H.: Yes. And so it just opened the doors for other people to be able to do it singular or just meet cool people. So for me, I just show up, and I'm pretty much like the hype man. I just help people with what they're working on body mechanic wise, stoke people out while they're there, and just try to help them achieve better technique or hits, whatever we're working on for that day.

And so I go there probably like once every month or two months. It's nice because I get to Surf, I get to get some video. I stow people out and I get to meet people in the community as well.

Colby H.: Yes, that's kind of my role. We were just talking, I just came from the flag football field, and that's really, I'm the hype man. That's my designation. There's a spot for that. I mean, what would you say the value you found in that too, of just kind of being if you weren't necessarily contributing on the field or off the theoretical field. What do you think that energy has served for you in meeting people and continuing to do the things that you do?

Corey H.: Just put your foot in the door, like when you are the hype man, you're the hype man for everybody. You don't know who they are, which is the beauty of it too. So I met a lot of people just through being the hype man, because they're like whoa, okay, this person is like nice to everybody, that's incredible and people value that.

So being the hype man can be all like from giving the advice whenever they actually want it, just saying something before they walk away and they turn around they smile and they're stoked on it on you, and just bringing the energy to the room has a powerful statement. And I'm just happy to prove it.

Colby H.: Yes, just like you said, helps get you noticed. I mean, in a room of 100 people, if you're the loudest and most energized guy there, they can't miss you.

Corey H.: Of course.

Colby H.: As you said, I'm sure they'll all come over. And then back to one of the discussions we had a minute ago, talking about WSO. You said that was what you wanted to do one day, you were fully sold, I want to work on the WSLB around Surfers, work on the best Surfers in the world. Experience that energy, those are kind of smaller events, just some people on the beach, it's absolutely electric at every event.

But you ended up getting to do some work for the WSL earlier this year or was it in 2021 that you first got out? I think I saw you at the Vans Huntington Beach event. Tell us about that, that was pretty much your dream being brought into fruition. So what was that experience like in kind of the emotion you experienced through that whole process.

Corey H.: Dr. Tim Brownie invited me out and I said heck yes, I'll go there. So there was no question I went out there, I got to like meet a lot of people that I'd never seen before, a lot of familiar faces as well, which serves me good.

Because normally, people are just walking right past you, but then since some of the athletes were coming, I'm like hey dude, like that's cool that you're here right now, you've been talking about it for a long time, that's what you want to do. And so to be able to like provide value to the people that I like to be around is awesome. So working out event was great. I was hustling I think three or four days in a row all hours.

They said like oh, this is your shift, this is your shift. I'm like no, I'm going every shift. So to show up and perform that was a really big confidence booster, and then I went straight into the cabarete pro and Dominican Republic and worked that QS event and also surfed it. And once again, I was working it all by myself, my wife came and like helped me with the scheduling and timing and setting people up.

But for the most part, I was just grinding 30 people a day, surfing all day as well. Whatever my heat was up. So that was really like a cool experience, I was like wow, I can really do something with this. But it was also mentally exhausting because here I am playing two different roles in worlds.

I'm helping the people that I'm competing against, but I'm also like not paying attention to where to sit, where like free surfing as much as I should be. So it's a tricky balance, but it's something that I enjoy to do, and I look forward to doing more of this.

Colby H.: So still competing, how did that event end up going for you?

Corey H.: It was not good.

Colby H.: Not ideal?

Corey H.: No, it wasn't ideal. I just had some weird priority rulings, but it's all part of the game. You got to learn.

Colby H.: I think I saw something about that.

Corey H.: And so that day was my first QS event ever, ever competing in QS event I always was sitting at school. So this is my first time to actually go compete, I felt really good, I still had a good energetic spirit, and I was there to be there all the way up to the finals day. And so I think to be there competing, lose, but then still showing up and helping people out, like that to me is like action and I love of that.

Colby H.: Yes. So thinking about working with your athletes, so I know you said you do a little bit of the mental performance coaching as well. What advice would you give to someone that's in that situation, where they're kind of juggling a bunch, but at the end of the day, they still have a heat to get through that day. What is your general advice to try to get someone in that right mindset, to go out do their best perform and hopefully get a win?

Corey H.: Well, I mean, for sure, when you're at competition day, your practice sessions are over. You're there now to compete. Now the biggest thing is your mentality. Making sure that you get adequate sleep, you're hydrating well, you're eating well throughout the day. A lot of athletes slip up and they just surf like all day. Blow their hydration out of the water, they don't eat much and now they're like kind of weak at this point.

And so if you're really looking to be serious, you need to think about these things, like look at your calorie intake. Because you don't want to be surfing all day and then you got a big day tomorrow and now you got none left in the tank. So that's when you start to see the people that are really taking it serious, conserving themselves.

Even though you want to go out and surf all day, maybe you shouldn't. Instead of like talking with your friend’s right before your heat and not paying attention, maybe you should be like in your zone focusing on breathing. But also, everybody's got a different mentality when it comes to that. So that's where you got to like focus on your strengths and your weaknesses.

Maybe somebody's like too much in their head before, so it's good to have some conversation. So you really got to see like how you perform the best at, and then just go based on that. Because for sure, like everyone doesn't fit in the same book.

Colby H.: Yes, I can totally agree with the idea of you got to figure out what works for you. I think there's a lot of conversations that can be had. But it ends up coming down to well, this works for me, I like to do this pre-heat whether it's a weird ritual that you might have to get through, or if it is like I like to sit on the beach and chop it up with my boys for five minutes before I paddle out.

We either line up together and that makes me confident in going out on the water. So tell me about kind of what works for you? I mean, obviously, there's a lot of conversation out there of like million dollar morning routine, or do this to schedule your day. What does a day in the life look like for you now, and is there kind of a system that you like to follow to be most productive?

Corey H.: Day in a life of me is sporadic.

Colby H.: Don't doubt it.

Corey H.: It is sporadic. One day I'll be here doing this thing and the next day I'm doing like something completely opposite. So for me, a day in the life for me is like having a goal that I'm working towards, like getting like a bunch of random jobs done.

When it comes to competition time, I definitely try to focus on my sleep and drink a lot of liquids, because a couple of times, I've had like some muscle spasms and just bogged out by the end of the day. So definitely hydration for that. But I don't really follow a schedule, I just try to get adequate sleep, hydrate enough, and do something for like physical activity every day if I can. Sometimes, working, the day escapes me. So lately, I've been trying to wake up early in the morning and get after it, because by 6:30, 7 P.M I'm pretty toasted.

All I want to do is eat dinner and then just kind of chill out and do some stuff around the house. So I think now it looks more like workout in the mornings, figure out if I can surf during the day in between all my patients and then just do some stuff around the house after that.

Colby H.: Yes. Many hats over here, one of the things I definitely want to talk about is a place you've invested a lot of time over the last couple years is into your garden.

Corey H.: The shred garden.