How a Personal Trainer Built a Protein Bar Worth Eating

What We Need to Grow, Episode 070: Listening to the Wrong People. A Founder Talk conversation with Sharon Chamberlin. Cleaned for readability; the words are the speakers' own.

A Conversation with Sharon Chamberlin, Founder of Catalyst 4 Fitness

Caleb Pedosiuk: All right, Sharon, great to see you. I'm looking forward to this conversation. You come from a psychology background, you're working in fitness, and there are, I think, three different areas you primarily take people through. One thing I want to call out: I noticed on your website, in one of the intro videos, you do these Power HIIT sessions where people come in for 30 minutes, and you tell them to come warmed up.

I was thinking about that this morning, getting ready for this conversation. I want to come ready to roll, so that the moment we hit record, we make the most of the few minutes we have together. So Sharon, please, share a little bit about your company, your approach to what you're doing, and how it's going.

Sharon Chamberlin: Well, a little background. For about 20 years, I was in the corporate world. I liked what I did. I was told I was good at what I did. And then one day I didn't like what I was doing, and I realized that I was going to be miserable if I kept doing it for the next 30 or 40 years, however long it was until I retired.

So I was talking to a friend of mine, Christy. She was in the same industry as me, at a different company. I said, I don't know what I'm going to do. This is not for me anymore. And she said, why don't you become a personal trainer? And I said, that's the dumbest thing I ever heard.

And I went home, and that night, or maybe a couple of days later, I realized it wasn't becoming a personal trainer that I didn't like. What I was pushing back against was working for someone else. I didn't want to do that anymore.

So, to make a long story short, I opened my own studio. I became a certified personal trainer and a nutrition coach, and that was about 15 years ago. Over the last 15 years, my company has changed a lot, for the better. I think that if you stay stagnant, then you're behind. I'm not saying go out on the bleeding edge, because that could be crazy. But you need to keep wanting to improve, and to improve in the right ways.

I used to meet with clients in person and online. This was before COVID, so online meant we were on a platform. I'd create a workout or a nutrition plan for them, and they would do it on their own. It wasn't a scheduled time with me, and it was at a lower price point. It was a good fit for a lot of people who traveled or whose schedules changed. Then COVID hit, and if we wanted to survive, we all changed what we did. All of my in-person became virtual, and I still kept my online. After COVID, now everything is online. So that's the service part.

As my company changed and grew, I started to provide products. I worked really hard over the years to become my clients' trusted advisor. I want them to ask me questions, and if I don't have the answer, I'll tell them. If I think I can help, I want to help. And I received a lot of questions about supplements.

Years ago, before I even started my company, I was against supplements. I don't need them, my body's fine, that kind of attitude. Then I hired a trainer to help me improve my body. I trusted her, and she said, why don't you try these supplements? Over a period of months, I finally said, okay, fine, I'll try them. And the supplements she recommended were really helpful, but I still tested them. I took them, I saw benefits and I felt benefits, and I thought, this has to be in my head, this has to be a placebo effect. So I stopped taking them, and the benefits went away. And I thought, okay, this isn't a placebo effect.

Building on that, I decided to come out with my own line of supplements. I researched and vetted manufacturers and came out with a line. It's since grown to over 20 products.

Then about two and a half years ago, I tackled what I was most excited about: protein bars. My clients would ask me, what protein bar should I eat? And personally, if I could have lived on protein bars, I would have. Then, as I got smarter and more into my company, I realized the products that were out there at the time were awful. Go eat a Snickers bar instead. Seriously, just go eat the Snickers bar.

So I decided I could do better. I went through the same process, researched and vetted manufacturers, and found one with a philosophy similar to mine. I went to them and said, I want these macros, I want this kind of shelf life, and it has to taste good. We came out with our first one almost two years ago. And my second flavour is coming out, I'm looking at my calendar, in a little less than 14 days.

So my company has changed. While I still take on clients from a service perspective, my focus now is on reaching beyond my clients and our community, throughout the country, to help health-conscious consumers eat a little better. So I'm pushing my products.

Caleb: It's interesting. I had the opportunity to take part in a disaster response training down in Tennessee, and I drove all the way down from Canada. They give you this big list of gear to bring, and a lot of it was new to me. Food-wise, it's four days in the wilderness and you're up all night. So I packed beef jerky and protein bars. I went to a local grocery store, it may even have been Walmart, went to the protein bar section, and said, I'm just going to get one of each, because I have no idea. One, one, one, one.

And I remember being in a field in Tennessee one morning, tired, and I started looking at the ingredients and tasting it, and I'm thinking, what am I even eating? It's like you're eating a bunch of Halloween candy jammed together. The flavours were all artificial. It didn't even taste right. And I remember thinking, this is just creative branding giving an impression. You put the word protein on it because it's got a touch of protein in it. It was my own fault for buying it. I'm not knocking the companies. They sold it to me, so I guess the joke's on me. But not after that. There was only one protein bar I would buy after that. I don't even know if it's the best. RXBAR, or something like that.

Sharon: There is a brand called RXBAR, yes.

Caleb: I think that's the one. But what is the name of your company? What's the name of your supplements and your protein bar? And what are these two flavours I'm curious about?

Sharon: I'll answer all of that except for one, because it's still a secret. My company is Catalyst 4 Fitness, and my brand extends from that. My supplements are Catalyst 4 Fitness supplements. My protein bar is called the Catalyst Protein Bar, and my first flavour is chocolate.

Caleb: Oh, okay, it's a secret. Top secret.

Sharon: Apparently, in many of the ways I've built my company, they're not the traditional ways. I didn't know that. I didn't know what I was doing when I started my company, and I certainly didn't know what I was doing when I decided to create a protein bar. I'd never worked in the food industry. I knew nothing other than from a consumer standpoint.

So, building on what you said, when I went to my manufacturer, I told them I want 20 grams of whey protein isolate. If whoever's watching or listening doesn't know, that's a really good protein. I want it to be high fiber, but not too high, because that might not be good at certain times. So we agreed on 12 grams of fiber. For someone who doesn't live and breathe this the way I do, 12 grams of fiber is about half of a woman's recommended daily allowance, and about a third of a man's. Most people in America, or even on this continent, don't get that much fiber. I know it's the US RDA, but our bodies are the same, so you'd still want the same amount of fiber anyway.

Caleb: I'm tracking with you.

Sharon: And I said I wanted the bar to be big enough. I don't mean heavy. I mean filling, so someone isn't hungry in an hour or two, because that defeats the purpose, whether it's a mid-afternoon snack, a post-workout or a meal replacement. And if it's that big, it can have up to 5 grams of sugar, but no sugar alcohols. I'm okay with a little bit of sugar. And I want ingredients like oatmeal, things we can pronounce and we know what they are in our bodies. And I don't want it to melt, because I know how many times a bar either gets gooey or flakes on you while you're driving. It's just a mess.

So I went to them with those stipulations. And then I said, oh, and it has to taste good. And I want a shelf life of 12 months. Go.

Caleb: That's the criteria.

Sharon: And we ended up with something that was good. When someone like you goes into a store, consumers are a lot smarter. We as consumers are a lot smarter than we used to be. I think most people are trying to make the right decisions. It's their input, where they're learning from. They're learning from unqualified people, and when I say people, it could be mainstream media or it could be an influencer. I'm using that very broadly. I don't know if they're out there trying to get media share or likes or whatever it is, but they're not telling you the truth. So you're working really hard to eat the right thing, but you're failing. And it's not because you're not trying. It's just because you're listening to the wrong people.

Caleb: We've had a couple of people on who've talked about the differences in what different bodies need. One was talking about how a certain food will give him kidney stones, whereas for others it's completely fine. Spinach, I think he was saying. And a lot of people aren't aware that there's nuance in how different people are built. If they're not getting a plan that's actually calibrated to who they are, they may be discouraged, because they feel like they're doing the lion's share of what the people they follow on Instagram suggest and still aren't getting the results.

Sharon: I can give a couple of examples. One is from several years ago, when gluten sensitivity became more mainstream. Not that people didn't experience it, but it became more mainstream. And there were studies. I don't remember who put them out any longer, it's been too many years, but I'm a data person and a study person, and this was third-party, a lot of people, controlled variables. They showed that when people said, I can't eat bread, when I stop eating bread I feel better, yes, some people are absolutely sensitive or even allergic to gluten. But the number reported at first was so high, and as the studies came out it slowly dropped, because they found it wasn't necessarily the bread. It was what you were eating on the sandwich.

A lot of us are creatures of habit. We eat the same breakfast and the same lunch, and maybe different dinners. So let's say someone had a sandwich every day, five days a week, and a couple of hours after lunch they had some discomfort, they were lethargic, maybe gas or bloating. They stop eating the sandwich and think, I shouldn't eat bread anymore. Easy. No, it's not the bread. It's the tomato or the mushroom. A lot of people think, it's healthy, it has nutrients, my doctor's telling me to eat it. But for whatever reason, it's not good for your body. Have the sandwich without the tomato. I think a lot of people could benefit from that.

The other example is from an allergy perspective. From a food standpoint, when they think you might be allergic to something, gluten or peanuts or tree nuts, they take everything out of your diet and then slowly put one thing back in at a time to figure it out. It takes a long time, because you have to try something, wait and see, then try something else. A lot of people would benefit from that. I'm not saying go to a doctor, I don't know what that costs, but you can also do it on your own to see if certain foods trigger you.

So if it's spinach, okay, he's not going to get his nutrients from spinach. He can probably get them from somewhere else, and he's going to feel a whole lot better when he does.

Caleb: So your background is psychology. How have you found the psychology of people factors into how you approach this? Long before someone picks that product off the shelf and puts it in their cart, or clicks the button online, before it's ever in your fridge or your cupboard or your bag or your car, you've made a conscious decision, and that's psychological. So how have you found that barrier, that catalyst?

Sharon: A couple of thoughts came to mind. Repeat the question so I give you a direct answer and don't talk in a circle.

Caleb: Sure. You have a psychology background. I understand it was business psychology. You moved over to helping people with their fitness. But before someone decides what to put in their cart, or what they're going to do for exercise or their rest and recovery routine, something is happening in the mind. The mind, the emotions, the will, all of that is happening in there. So what do you see there? What has your experience been in helping people?

Sharon: It spans the spectrum. Think of a bell curve: you have 80% of people in the middle, 10% at the extreme on one side and 10% on the other. That's what I've found over the years. Their background, gender, age, and of course experience are the factors that put them in each part of that bell curve.

These are all generalizations, so anyone who's watching, I'm not talking about you. Say a woman comes to me in her 20s. She's never had a weight issue before, she's always been active, she can eat whatever she wants and drink however much she wants. And all of a sudden she can't lose weight, or maybe she just had a baby and can't get rid of the baby weight. She feels lethargic, and she doesn't like how she looks. It's two-pronged. Some of it is psychology. She's used to doing all of this and getting these results, and feeling good about herself. Not only is that not happening, her hormones are changing, because she recently had a baby and her body is trying to find a new homeostasis. She looks in the mirror and doesn't like what she sees. She's also probably really tired and not getting much sleep. Whether she's back at work or not, there's stress. When she's at work she wants to be at home, when she's at home she wants to be at work, or she's wondering when she'll go back. There's a lot going on up here, and all of that creates the stress that causes some of the issues she's experiencing. Maybe that's why she can't lose weight.

I give you that scenario to explain that when I sit down with someone for their first consultation, I ask a lot of questions. Then, if they decide they want to work with me, I send them a questionnaire. It takes 15 minutes of uninterrupted time. They're answering questions on fitness and nutrition, but a lot of it dives into their mindset. Beyond the basics, what do you weigh now, where do you want to be, a lot of it dives into the why. Why, why, why. I read somewhere that it takes seven or eight times asking why before you get the true answer. My questions are designed to pull that out.

So when I design a program, it's not just the physical part, it's the mental part. If someone says they've tried every diet ever and none of them worked and they're going to give up, well, obviously they haven't given up yet, because they decided to work with me. They're not there yet. But I know that when I propose things to them, I have to present it in a way that doesn't bring them back to those other diets where they failed. Maybe they didn't feel like they had any control. So I'll say, here are the parameters I want you to fall within for your nutrition plan. You choose the foods. I'll help you if you want, but I want you to have some control. You said you're tired of eating what someone tells you, that you want to be able to eat a piece of pizza. Fine, eat a piece of pizza. Do I want you to eat a whole pizza every day for the next month? Probably not. But if you want some pizza, go have some pizza. Just work within these parameters.

And part of my program is that every Friday, all of my clients get a set of questions. Virtual clients, online fitness clients, nutrition clients, the questions differ, but everyone receives a set designed to help them reflect on the past week. How did it go? Then they get their mindset ready for the weekend, because that's when a lot of people stumble, and then they prepare for the next week. It takes five or ten minutes. They're supposed to send it by Sunday, because I respond on Monday. And it seems to help a lot. It helps people stay grounded, and still enjoy their lives.

Caleb: Very cool. That's really smart, going into the weekend. A lot of people are wrapping things up, and depending on where the time and energy is spent, that can be a routine break for a lot of people. And if you're around others who don't have the same structure or discipline, you're exposed to other lifestyle habits too.

Well, the question I really like to leave people with is what they need most to grow right now. And I'm curious if you'd answer that from the lens of the protein bar. You've got that one coming up for release very soon. What would you say you need most for it to be a successful launch?

Sharon: Thank you for asking me that. What I'm building on right now in my business, from a Catalyst Bar standpoint, is two-pronged, with the same end result. One is to continue to reach and entice individual consumers to purchase my bars. Not everyone is going to like everything, but what I've found over the past year and a half is that most people who try my bars really do like them. That's really promising, and it's part of how I'm able to bring out a second flavour. Individual consumers matter, absolutely, because they tell people. They tell their friends and their family, whether it's on social media or sitting around the dinner table, if people still sit around the dinner table with their families. That word of mouth is more valuable than paying for marketing.

The other prong, where I'm putting my time, my energy, my thought, mind, body and everything, is trying to reach other people who have health-conscious consumers or customers or clients. Not just the personal trainers and the boutique gym owners. Absolutely, I'm building great partnerships with them around the country. But also people who own hiking stores or bike shops, something like that. These are health-conscious consumers who are actively trying to improve their bodies. They don't need to be rock stars or bodybuilders competing at the highest level. They're everyday people trying to do better, to be a good role model for their kids or improve their own longevity. Those warm connections are golden.

Caleb: So where would somebody be able to track this release or buy the product?

Sharon: Directly from my website, catalyst4fitness.com. The 4 is a numeral: catalyst4fitness.com. You can sign up for my newsletter. You can follow me on Facebook, Catalyst 4 Fitness. On LinkedIn I have a business page, Catalyst 4 Fitness, where I post business things. I'm also pretty active as Sharon Chamberlin on LinkedIn, and I'm happy to connect with anyone. Those are the main avenues to find out anything about my company.

If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll receive, I'm sure, many notifications announcing my new launch, because that's what marketing does. You have to put it in front of someone six or seven times before they even read it. I'm a consumer too, and I swipe as quickly as everyone else. But it's coming in about two weeks, and I'm just incredibly excited, and very grateful for all the people who helped me through the product development. I moved to where I live now about two years ago, and I'm still meeting people and making friendships. So some of the people were here, and some of the people who took part in the taste testing were back home, and we did that virtually on Zoom. That was a lot of fun.

Caleb: Very cool. Well, Sharon, thank you so much for what you shared, and I look forward to hearing about your success.

Sharon: Thank you, Caleb.