On this episode of the Encourage Mindset Podcast, host Ethan Van De Hey connects with Merrick Calmer — co-founder and COO of Higher Training, a company that helps people break into the sales and recruiting industry. Broadcasting from Orlando, Florida, Merrick brings energy, honesty, and a no-excuses approach to the conversation about failure, discipline, and why you always pay now in sweat or later in regret.
Watch the Full Episode with Merrick Calmer
Building Higher Training from Scratch
Merrick Calmer is one of the co-founders and the COO of Higher Training, a company based on a straightforward mission: bridge the gap for people looking to break into the sales and recruiting industry. He explains to Ethan how Higher Training works — while participants learn the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the industry, his team works in the background finding their ideal first career placement. It is a model built on giving people both the training and the opportunity at the same time.
Building the company has not been without its challenges. Merrick shares candidly that they have already changed the company name once, learned hard lessons about trademarks and contracts, and navigated the inevitable growing pains of entrepreneurship. But he frames every one of those setbacks as a small failure that leads to larger success — a theme that runs throughout the entire conversation.
Fail Fast and Learn Faster
Merrick brings a sales mindset to the topic of failure. He tells Ethan about the two biggest lessons from his sales career: fail fast, and make sure you have someone who can coach you up and give you active feedback so you can consistently grow. He encourages people to get out there, hit the gridiron, and make mistakes — but to do it with intentionality and a support system that helps you learn from each miss.
He connects this directly to entrepreneurship, explaining that everything is always changing when you are building something. Some things do not work, and that is not a sign to quit. It is a signal to adjust, learn, and keep building. Merrick makes it clear that the people who succeed are not the ones who avoid failure — they are the ones who process failure quickly and keep moving forward.
The Buddy System for Building Habits
When the conversation turns to building daily habits, Merrick gets practical. He talks about his college living situation and how he and his roommates created a buddy system for getting to the gym at 6 a.m. The accountability was simple: “Hey, I need to get up at 6 a.m. and I’m going to help you get up at 6 a.m. too, and we’re going to accomplish our goals together.”
Merrick acknowledges the reality that everyone slips. He has stopped at Krispy Kreme and he has missed the gym. But his philosophy is that messing up is fine — what matters is what you do after. Too many people give up after a few bad days, and that is where self-destructive habits form. The key is to keep showing up even when you stumble.
Finding Your North Star
One of the deepest moments in the conversation is when Merrick talks about the concept of the “North Star” — your ideal self. He explains that he focuses on his ideal self and then takes one step toward that direction every single day. The size of the step does not matter as much as the consistency of the movement. Without that North Star, you will always fall toward distractions because you have no fixed point to orient your decisions around.
Merrick is blunt: if you do not know what your ideal self looks like, you cannot build habits or stay motivated when life pushes back. Know your North Star first, and everything else — the priorities, the goals, the daily discipline — flows from that clarity. Ethan connects this to a concept from his own student organization E3, where they use the metaphor of a “tennis ball” to represent the one thing you chase relentlessly.
You Pay Now in Sweat or Later in Regret
The title of this episode captures Merrick’s core philosophy. You are always paying a price — the only question is whether you pay it now through discipline, effort, and discomfort, or later through regret and wondering what could have been. Merrick does not sugarcoat this truth. He lives it through early mornings, hard conversations in business, and the willingness to fail publicly on the way to building something meaningful.
For anyone sitting on the fence about starting a business, getting in shape, or making a career change, Merrick’s message is clear: the sweat is worth it. The regret never is.
Connect with the Encourage Mindset Podcast
The Encourage Mindset Podcast is hosted by Ethan Van De Hey and brings together leaders, entrepreneurs, and high-performers who share their real stories and strategies for growth. Subscribe on YouTube to catch every new episode.
Related Episodes You Might Enjoy
If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these related episodes from the Encourage Mindset Podcast:
- Dr. Lucy Johnson: Small Wins, Big Results
- Tim Tonella: Stop Wasting Time: How Winners Build Real Success
- Chris Whited: Win The Future One Step At A Time
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