Life & Work with Mike Quinata

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Quinata.

Hi Mike, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Columbia, MO

It started back in 2021 when I underwent surgery to deal with atril fibrillation discovered during a sleep study. I was overweight and worked a sedentary job at a local higher education institution. In my early 50s I was in very poor health. If I wanted to be around to see my kids go to college and start their lives I needed to do something about it immediately.

I started walking. Every morning before work.

I picked out a little route in my neighborhood that expanded further and further. I was faithful – rain or shine – hot or cold – I went out and walked early morning before work and on Saturdays. Built that habit.

I wanted to add weight training to my regimen and walked past a local regional commercial gym. I thought maybe once or twice a week I could take this early morning time and do weight training since it was a 24 hour gym. I went in – became immediately overwhelmed by the complexity of the equipment and my complete lack of knowledge. Walked out. Still wanted to do it, though. But in the window was an advertisement for that site’s personal trainer – Kinsley Judd.

Thought I would sign up there for a personal trainer. Or maybe just small group fitness classes. Found out there were none at my location. So I went in and started working with Kinsley who I just called Coach or Coach Kinsley – harkening back to my elementary school days when everyone that taught physical activity was called ‘Coach.’

For the next two+ years – Coach Kinsley and I worked out 2x-3x a week. As she taught me about nutrition and macronutrients and taught me about progressive overload and mobility training – I became fitter, more aware of my food story. I was on a fitness journey. And the results were nothing short of spectacular – for me anyway. Clothes were too big, energy was up, getting up and down off the floor or climbing the stairs wasn’t a huge deal anymore. People commented – first asking me if I was sick – then wanting to know what I had done. Any cheats. NOPE – just consistency over time and time under tension. Staying hydrated and getting plenty of rest. Again and again.

By the Spring of 2023 Coach Kinsley had switch gyms to a female focused gym and become the head trainer (no surprise there!) Coach was nominated by readers for the 2023 Inside Columbia Magazine Personal Trainer of the Year. She finished runner up but it was very nice accolade that recognized her motivating style, experience and knowledge. She then set her sights on Kansas City and moved there Summer of 2023. I had lost my trainer and friend but I knew that her clients in KC would benefit from her guidance like many in Columbia had experienced. I continued to workout on my own with long distance guidance from Coach Kinsley.

In the meantime – my academic department started a podcast for which I had become a producer. After our host was on vacation and we needed a backup – I stepped in and learned all about the podcast hosting side of things and began writing and hosting the podcast in tandem with the other host. With a few tricks of the trade, a new found energy and a physical transformation under my belt I thought that maybe a fitness podcast would make sense. However that was not within the purview of our academic mission. So I reached out to Coach Kinsley and asked if she would be interested in hosting a fitness podcast. She agreed and “Fitness Fix with Coach Kinsley” podcast was born.

I founded the production company as “Gray Hawk Media Productions, LLC” to run the business operations in December 2023 for programming with a focus on producing media in the health and entertainment spaces. My background is that my mother is Osage (Oklahoma) and father is Chamarro – the indigenous people of Guam. Coach Kinsley is of Afro/Latina descent and my initial focus would be to provide opportunities to provide fitness and wellness content that included focus on underserved hosts and communities. I would produce, record, edit, distribute and market the episodes and co-host with Coach Kinsley as her former client. My role would be to ask questions as if I were the interested listener. We first published in January 28 2024 and have published weekly since then. We have added a merchandise store and a weekly quick hit bonus content – The Fit Flash – where we cover a quick topic. The week of 08/18 we will publish a Fit Update in which Coach Kinsley and I are training for the half-marathon event in the 2024 Garmin Kansas City Marathon on October 19.

I travel through Kansas City often on my way to visit my mom in Oklahoma and we do pod records at Kansas City area libraries using the study rooms. Another accolade for Coach Kinsley – she was a finalist and WINNER 2024 Best Personal Trainer as voted in the popular Kansas City Magazine’s annual readers’ poll. She is currently training at Infinite Fitness in Leawood, KS.

Coach Kinsley recently became agreed to invest and become a co-founder in the company and we changed the name to “Gray Hawk Enterprise, LLC.” The name reflects a wider array of services we will provide to include: Podcast production, fitness and nutrition programming through www.coachkinsley.com where you can find our podcasts, merchandise store and training plan consultation packages with Coach Kinsley.

I’ve also added an indigenous health focused podcast in pre-production. “Osage Health Watch” will focus on indigenous health issues related to the Osage Nation along with available treatments, resources and research. My two hosts are a speech language therapist – Mike Bristow, CCC-SLP and Brandy Lemon, RN. Both are involved in Osage Nation government. We will our first episode in mid-September with a series on diabetes with the month ending with a podcast from the Oklahoma Tribal Finance Consortium focused on economic impact of diabetes on the indigenous populations in the Midwest.

We are pursing funding through various grants, ads and sponsorships as well as contracting to white-label podcast production for individuals and businesses.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest hurdle for us has been marketing, funding and the technical aspects of website building, e-commerce and social media. While proficient beyond an average user – there is still a long way to go. Both Coach and I work full-time and work this as a side gig. We are currently ‘pre-revenue’ and do very small buys in fits and starts with facebook, instagram and tik-tok. But its all done with capital investment by the owners.

Our distribution platform does not count ‘listens’ or ‘downloads’ but a combination of statistics that indicates when a ‘household’ has accessed your episode. Their ad marketplace available starts at 1000 of these households per month. We are at about 300 per month. But we are the 20th most listened to fitness podcast in Cambodia and top 50 in the Dominican Republic. At this time next year will be spinning up a spanish language fitness podcast.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Our fitness podcast ‘hook’ is that we differentiate with a shorter run time and more direct information. A large majority of current top 200 fitness podcasts spend a long time with host banter before getting to their fitness and nutrition information. While good information shared – it tends to get lost. We get right to the point – deliver the goods in a conversational and inspirational way – and let you get on with your day.

Additionally our edits are sharp and we use professional equip to record and edit our podcast content. I have a few years experience in this editing/content area having been the host/editor on a youtube series back in 2013-2014 – “Tigerboard TV”. We put out concise, well-edited and inspirational content. I learned a lot from Coach Kinsley and feel that our Coach/Client dynamic projects the fitness journey from all sides.

My background is an undergrad degree in English/Creative Writing from Univ. of MO and an MBA from Columbia College. Coach was an athlete, chemistry major, actor, head fitness and nutrition coach/trainer and trained as doula. She is a driven entrepreneur in the fitness and nutrition space. I hope that we can create a business that leverages all of these fields.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
This entire Gray Hawk Enterprise, LLC is a risk. We launched a fitness podcast in a very crowded and saturated podcast category with a strong differentiator story, cohesive storytelling and dynamic hosts. We are 28 episodes and 10 bonus content stories in and are still ‘pre-revenue’ We both believe that this is the right concept and are pursing funds from the Small Business Association through the Mizzou SBDC as well as Regional Economic Development.

We have boot-strapped the company and will continue to do so until we get traction. Part of risk-taking is believing in what you are doing 100% while you are working in it and on it. Change is in the direction and not the speed.

Pricing:

• podcast production $110 and up (depending on service levels) /ep (6 episode min)
• podcast 30s ad placement $24/ep (6 episode minimum))

Contact Info:

• [email protected]
• Website: coachkinsley.com and grayhawkenterprise.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessfixwithcoachkinsley/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FitnessFixwithCoachKinsley
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gray-hawk-media-productions/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@15MinuteFitnessFix