When we started our gym in 2011, we sublet space from another, small studio gym. 

Even though the owner had “interesting” taste…

He decorated the reception area of his gym with an animal print rug, and the main gym floor with a big ass chandelier and his logo of a giant pink star in the rubber flooring…

Subleasing worked out well to start…

We were able to manage the payments and build our business, but ultimately we wanted a lease and a facility to call our own. 

All the while we were subleasing we were looking for our own space to lease. 

At that time around 2012 – early 2013, available spaces were slim pickings.

Then in early 2013 the owner of the gym we were subleasing space from found out that we had been looking at places to lease for ourselves.

It was not a secret, but we never thought to share with the gym owner our goal to have our own facility.

WELL, he took it personally and got angry with us and started to make it very difficult for us to run our business from his gym.

He started to restrict the times that we could use the space, even though we were paying for it…

Hi behavior towards us, our clients, and our daily business became antagonistic…

Our clients started to feel uncomfortable training there because of how he started to treat them…

And then then finally, he raised our rent to an unreasonable amount and gave us an ultimatum.

All the while we were furiously looking for a space to lease but all the places we found were bigger than we needed and well out of our budget.

It finally reached a point that if we wanted to salvage our business we were going to need to suck it up and settle for a space that was out of our range.

Growing up, one of the things I learned related to money was “put it on a credit card and figure it out later…”

So, essentially, 

…take the risk and figure it out later, OR

…it will all work out, OR

you’ll find a way to pay for it.

Ultimately, this was the approach for our first lease…

The only space that we could find was a 4,000 square foot office space in an office park in Needham, MA, so it did not have good visibility.

It was a 5 year lease and the monthly lease payments were insane, around $5,000 per month to start during the first year plus triple net.

We liked the space, but knew deep down that we were in over our heads, but we didn’t have a choice.

Our business was hanging on by a thread subleasing space at the Pink Star/Chandelier Gym and there literally were no other available spaces in the areas that we wanted to lease, so we had to make a decision FAST or our business would be done.

We negotiated a deal with the landlord that they would give us a stipend towards the renovations that needed to be done to the space and then we took a business loan out for the rest.

We weren’t drowning in debt yet, but that was soon to come.

Also, as part of the lease, we had to sign a guarantee. Our only asset was our condo, so we signed away our house as the guarantee on the lease.

That meant that if we didn’t pay our lease and fulfill our contractual obligation with the lease that the landlord could take our house as collateral. 

As we signed the lease, part of me was excited and optimistic, (probably too optimistic but that’s part of being an entrepreneur), about the opportunities ahead of us…

BUT also, a large part of me was terrified as I felt the pit in my stomach…

“We have to make this work or we will lose our house…”

After we signed the lease we had about 6 weeks before we could move into our new facility…

BUT the situation at the other gym we were subleasing got so bad that we couldn’t stay there any longer.

We had to find a temporary space, FAST, for 6 weeks until we moved into our new facility.

I reached out to a friend of mine from high school who owned a boxing gym in Nonantum, MA and thankfully we were able to pay him rent for 6 weeks to run our gym out of his facility.

Many clients stuck with us through this time, but some left us… it wasn’t easy losing clients, especially knowing that we were stepping into a massive financial obligation with the new facility.

When we moved into the new facility, it was a stretch to make the payments, but somehow we made it happen.

Then after about a year and a half into our lease we found that we were going to be late on a payment…

We contacted the landlord to let them know but it was not well received.

In response to this, the landlord served us with paperwork that enacted a provision in the lease that essentially evicted us – it gave us 30 days to evacuate the premises.

We hired an attorney and let him take over.

The short of it is, our attorney advised us to find a new facility while he negotiated with the landlord about our lease.

We found another facility, evacuated the first facility, and this contractual dispute went on for 18 months.

It was rough… lawsuit, litigation…

We carried a tremendous amount of stress for over 18 months as we fought this battle and tacked on attorney fees to our endless increasing debt…

We lived daily in fear of losing our business and feeling that,

→ Money was not safe…

→ Money was not reliable…

At its lowest point, the landlord put a lien 
on our condo and our bank accounts.

How we found out about the lien was that we were at the beach one day in Fairhaven, MA and had stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.

When we went to go use our debit cards, none of them worked.

The landlord had pulled all the money out of our business bank account and the maximum allowable out of our personal accounts.

We called our attorney and found out that we had a lien on our bank accounts and our condo.

We drove home immediately and closed those bank accounts and opened new ones.

As we were driving home, we were scared to find out that we might not be able to get into our house.

When we got home that day, everything was fine and we were able to get into our house.

This made us feel like our safety had been violated…

 They could take our money or our house at any time…

It was like we had been robbed, but (sort of) legally… 

I remember my mom saying to me, “If you lose your house, you can live with us.”

She was serious. 

Ultimately we found out that our house was protected by The Homestead Act, so thankfully we didn’t lose our house.

After we closed our gym, we decided that, 

We NEVER wanted to go back there…

We never wanted to go back to the debt, money struggles, and mismanagement of money from our past lives or our gym…

…and with that, we began to
heal our relationship with money.

You see, Eric and I grew up learning a lot of the same limiting beliefs around money

→ You have to work hard to make a lot of money…

→ It’s HARD to make money…

→ Money doesn’t grow on trees…

→ THEY have money but we don’t…

Also, growing up, neither one of us were taught how to manage money like build wealth and pay off credit cards.

We were taught how to use credit cards, but not how to make a plan and take action to pay them off beyond the minimum monthly payment.

As a result, we both had similar experiences with money coming into our lives and then leaving quickly thereafter, teaching us that, 

→ Money was not safe…

→ Money was not reliable…

→ Money comes, but it leaves even faster…

Throughout our lives we both rode a rollercoaster ride of money coming and going, in and out of our lives, along with accumulating debt, and then paying it off, only to build it back up again to an unmanageable amount. 

This led to me believing that I was “bad with money” and for Eric, this led to him avoiding conversations about money or taking action with money.

Our unhealthy relationship with money carried forward into our business…

So, although we did the best we could with the INSANE SITUATIONS that we had to deal with in our business, our mindset and limiting beliefs drove how we managed money and what money situations we attracted into our lives.

The experience with our gym and subsequent debt from our business and contractual dispute validated our beliefs that…

→ Money is not safe…

→ Money is not reliable…

→ It’s HARD to make money…

→ I’m not “good” at managing money…

As a result, for the past 5 years we have relentlessly worked to heal our relationship with money. 

Through combining practical principles and spiritual strategy, we’ve spent the last 5 years,

→ working on healing our relationship with money

→ becoming masters of money management 

→ learning how to be master manifestors and money magnets

→ and building wealth through a daily practice of money mastery… that is TRULY a lifestyle. 

Now we have ZERO debt, run a thriving multiple 6-figure business, take one to two 2-week vacations to Hawaii each year, have our eyes on our DREAM $800k Las Vegas home with a refrigerator the size of a one-car garage, and have PLENTY of money in the bank.

The >>> Stop The Money Struggle Madness <<< course combines the practical principles and spiritual strategy that we followed, and continue to follow, to live in abundance. 

These practical principles and spiritual strategy make up our signature EmpowerU money mindset and manifestation framework that we teach in the >>> Stop The Money Struggle Madness <<<  course.

This course launches TOMORROW, Thursday, April 15, on Tax Day, which some consider as the worst money day ever ;)…

We figured, let’s make it THE BEST money day ever by helping you to tell a new story with money and learn how to apply, implement, and integrate our EmpowerU money mindset and manifestation framework into your life to not only manifest the monies but also to manifest all of your dreams and desires!

This course will be taught LIVE this ONE TIME only AND will be offered at an insanely low price this ONE TIME only.

Keep a look out for the link to sign up and GET READY to transform your money mindset and YOUR LIFE!

Sending Vibes of Positivity and Abundance,

Artemis


Artemis Scantalides
Founder & Owner
EmpowerU Online Coaching
I Am Not Afraid To Lift® Workshops
Follow me on Instagram @Artemis_Scantalides