Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. I am so excited about my guest today, Melanie Michaelchuk, who is the founder of Just Hyke. She’s very passionate about helping women over 40 embrace the outdoors and reach new heights. Melanie specializes in fitness training, flexibility coaching, and hiking preparation. Melanie’s goal is to empower others to build strength, confidence and a love for the trails, and also almost a best selling author. Melanie, welcome to the show! Yay!

Melanie Michaelchuk : Thank you for that wonderful introduction, I love that.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m so excited to have you on the show today. So just a little sneak peek. Melanie. Melanie is also one of the collaborators on six figure tricks. Houston.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: We’re not going to go there yet because we want to talk about Melanie and just hike first, and then we’ll do a little plug for the book before we wrap up today. So Melanie, tell us a little more about you and your background and how in the world you found yourself in this space of wanting to run a business called Just Hike?

Melanie Michaelchuk : Yes. Such a it’s, um, it’s quite the exciting journey. I never knew I was on this journey until I was on the journey. And so just a little bit of background about myself. I am I’m a mom. I am a wife. I have two boys. They are 21 and 24 years old. They both still live at home with me. We’ve downsized Downsize twice and they’re still here. Not sure what’s going on there, but it is what it is. And I have a love for hiking and nature and the outdoors. I grew up in Canada and now we’ve moved to Texas. We’ve been here for almost 18 years now, and when I first moved to Texas, I didn’t know the the trees and the and, you know, the flora and the fauna. I didn’t know and I had a conversation with my dad and he says, what do you mean you don’t know what that tree is? I was like, I have no idea what this tree is. So I took it upon myself. I need to learn what what the things are around me. Right? And so I started with the Texas Master Naturalist course, and it’s a six month program put on by Texas Agrilife. And it’s very it’s intense and it’s, um, it’s very interesting. And you learn a lot about the different, um, ecology of the area and more specifically of where you live.

Melanie Michaelchuk : So that’s kind of a little bit of where I come from. I didn’t delve into hiking specifically until around 2018. And it’s interesting because when I was in my 20s, I, I wanted to go hike Mount Kilimanjaro. I want I saw this television program. It was on like public television or whatever, and it was of this middle aged woman who wanted to or was at Kilimanjaro. And she said it was just so interesting, the different levels of the ecosystems that you go through and how it changes. But she also said it was a doable hike and a manageable hike for just about anybody to do. And I thought, oh, that’s really cool. I want to do that. Well, it took me nearly 30 years to get there from wanting to do it. And then I just life, let’s just call it life. Roadblocks that get in your way, whether it be time, money, self-doubt was a huge one for me. And it wasn’t until I took a coaching program in 2018 that Kilimanjaro resurfaced again. And it said, and part of the coaching program was, you need to do a project, pick whatever. Whatever you’re thinking about right now, just write it down. It’s not a big deal. Just write it. Just write it down. I was like, okay. And for whatever reason, out of my mind came Kilimanjaro again.

Melanie Michaelchuk : And then they said the next week they said, okay, now take whatever you wrote down and make it about community. And so that was the kicker that got me from basically zero to the summit was making it about community. Make it about something bigger than yourself. And so I started the project. What’s your mountain? And I started asking people to come with me to Kilimanjaro. But then I learned not everybody wants to go climb a mountain. Go figure, I guess. Apparently, it was only my dream, I don’t know. And through that journey, I managed to go to Kilimanjaro. I did end up going by myself. And that’s a whole nother story as to why I ended up going by myself, but I did. And I summited Kilimanjaro. And as I was going on this journey, my guide said to me, Melanie, you’ve made it. You’ve made it to the summit. How do you feel? And I said to him, I said, I’m just getting started. Said, I’ve made it here. But that’s not that’s not my summit. Said, I’m going to keep on going. And that’s where, you know, I motivate and empower people to follow their dreams, get to go wherever they want to go. And then if you want to come and climb a mountain to, you know, come on, let’s go do it.

Trisha Stetzel: Tell me about, uh, as you were asking people to come climb with you, um, where some of them surprised at what your goal was that you wanted to go climb Kilimanjaro. Were they just curious? I’m curious that no one came with you. So what was that kind of communication or community conversation like, as you were meeting people and asking them to climb the summit with you?

Melanie Michaelchuk : Right. Um, so my circle of people at that time in my life was they weren’t hikers. They weren’t they weren’t in the same realm as what I was in. And so I really felt quite alone when I was trying to find people. And it’s like, what do you mean you don’t want to, I don’t understand. Now, several years later, I have a huge hiking community, and I have a huge resource of, you know, who wants to come and climb a mountain. And I got hands coming up saying, yeah, that sounds that sounds exactly what I want to do. So, um, but at the time, your question was, what were people saying? And, you know, you would get well, my mom, for example, she would say, what do you want to do that for? Why do you have to go alone? And some of that creates these seeds in your head, and it plants all this kind of self-doubt, and you start second guessing yourself. Yeah, right. And you have to through coaching. Coaching is great. I’m a big supporter of coaching and through coaching I was able to work through that. You know, their comments or their there comments? I still have my goals and I still need to move forward and not let those comments stop me.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, I love that.

Melanie Michaelchuk : And then I have other people who wanted to well, I don’t want to go climb a mountain, but I remember when I was a kid I really wanted to do X, Y, z. And so we would start conversations in regards to whatever their x, y, z was.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that number one. Congratulations for doing that. That’s really fantastic. And, uh, I don’t know that I would dream about doing something like that, but I love to watch other people excel at their dreams, and I think that’s fantastic. I’ll bet you sparked some things in people just having those conversations with them, like, what is your summit mean? So one of the things that, um, I know about you is you talk about Sidewalk to Summit. So let’s talk about that and how, number one, what what does it mean to you? And then how can others apply that concept to their own lives?

Melanie Michaelchuk : Absolutely. So Sidewalk to Summit is my next book that’s coming out after our six figure checks journey. Yes, I’m excited about it. And what Sidewalk to Summit means to me is, you know, taking that person from wherever they’re at. Let’s say it’s at the sidewalk and they want to go to whatever their summit is. In the book, it takes a person through the journey of self-doubt, self-discovery, you know, the different things that go on in our heads. And then it gets into the health and the wellness and that journey of if you do want to be more fit, if you do want to accomplish certain goals, you have to take care of self first, and you have to also show up for yourself. And we’re going on that journey together. Does that make sense?

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And I love and congratulations that you’re in the middle of a second book. That’s really exciting as well. You’ll have to.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Come.

Trisha Stetzel: Back on the show when you’re ready to publish that one.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Right, right.

Trisha Stetzel: Talk more about it. So tell me how, um, Melanie, tell me how Just Hike fits into you from a personal perspective. And let’s talk about who you attract as clients into that space.

Melanie Michaelchuk : For sure. I always thought that it would be my focus. My main demographic is women, right? Women over the age of 40. And the reason for that is because, you know, my ideal avatar is basically someone who was like myself 6 or 7 years ago, and at that time I was 80 pounds heavier than what I am now. And that’s part of my journey. I had to take myself from basically the sidewalk or my living room and get myself to a point fitness level. And mentally. It’s not just fitness, it’s mental too. Um, and get myself from point A to point B and Sidewalk to Summit is that journey. Did that answer that? I think I got off track.

Trisha Stetzel: No, no, you’re absolutely fine. No. That’s great. Um, so and by the way, you guys just hike is j u t h y k e if you’re looking for it on Facebook. She’s got a lovely page out there. Um, Melanie, while we’re at this kind of space where people can reach out to you, what’s the best way for folks to connect with you? If they’re interested in having a conversation.

Melanie Michaelchuk : For sure, they can email me at info. Just hike. And like you said, it’s j u s t h y k. And the y is, you know, what’s your why?

Speaker4: Um, okay.

Trisha Stetzel: Ah nice.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Clever right.

Trisha Stetzel: So info at uh just hike.

Speaker4: Okay. Yes, perfect.

Trisha Stetzel: And her Facebook page has lots of cool stuff on it too, so you can find our Facebook page at just j t h k e. Okay.

Melanie Michaelchuk : And there’s also a website. So one other thing I have just com um go to the website. So that’s a blog. It has affiliate marketing in there. It has some lots of cool products. I have lots of recommendations if you do want to do, whether it be camping or hiking or even boondocking. My husband and I were starting to get into boondocking, and there’s lots of great stuff on there and resources for people to check out.

Speaker4: Fantastic. Yeah, I.

Trisha Stetzel: Don’t know if it’s okay to mention this, but I happen to notice you have an Amazon page too. I just bumped into it. I was like, oh my gosh, look at this. It’s amazing. There’s some beautiful gear on there, which I’m sure we could find on your website as well.

Speaker4: Absolutely. Yeah. Good. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Uh, you mentioned y y y y, and I think that that is such an integral part of things that we talk about now, and the reason why we do things instead of just doing them to do them. Because I think most of us want to live and not just live to work. Right, but but live our lives. So when you’re working with people, is that part of the work that you do with these women? So most of the most of your audience is women over 40.

Speaker4: Mhm.

Trisha Stetzel: Tell me more about the journey that they take with you.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Absolutely. The oh gosh, such a loaded question. You know, when you’re on the hiking trail, whether it be local or far away, and I always like to take people hiking on local trails before we get off onto a faraway place, just because so many issues can show up on the trail. And it really pulls out either the best or the worst of you view and I, I do basically the majority of my coaching on the trail. And so when we’re on the hiking trail, you know, um, you know, let’s say a tree has fallen across the road and it’s like, well, this is a perfect example of it’s an obstacle. Well, just like in life, roadblocks show up, trees fall over, power goes out, whatever it is. Things show up. And so how are we going to deal with this? Are we going to deal with it with with panic and and just don’t know what to do? Or can we take a systematic approach to this and say, okay, let’s look at the situation. We don’t have to do it all crazy. Just look and say, where, where do we have to go and how are we going to navigate this?

Speaker4: I, I’m like.

Trisha Stetzel: So excited about what you’re doing because I just see like this physical coaching standing right next to this mindset coaching. And that’s where Melanie is right there in the middle.

Speaker4: Right.

Trisha Stetzel: That I think that’s fantastic. So who do you serve? I know you live on the north side of Houston. Who are your best clients and do they live near you or somewhere nearby?

Melanie Michaelchuk : Some of my clients are nearby, and then I’m finding quite a few of my clients are far away. And so it’s challenging to meet in person and sometimes not the best situation. Sometimes you’re meeting on the trail or at the airport, and then that’s when you’re going out as a group. But we’ve gotten to know each other through different zoom calls or different experiences that way. Um, I do lead regular hikes if people are interested. I do lead a regular hike primarily for the Lone Star Hiking Trail Club. I’m part of their organization, and so the fourth Saturday of every month is typically when I will lead a hike for the club. Everybody is welcome to come. It’s completely free. It’s open to the public, and it’s on their website. It’s published the dates and the times and they do meet twice a month, but I only lead once a month and that’s good for me. Otherwise, it gets crazy.

Speaker4: It’s the fourth.

Trisha Stetzel: Saturday of every month.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Fourth Saturday of every month?

Speaker4: Yes. Okay.

Trisha Stetzel: And where do where do they meet you? Melanie.

Melanie Michaelchuk : So you have to go to the website. The Lone Star hiking trail is just north of Conroe, in between Conroe and Huntsville. Okay. Right. But it’s 96 miles long. We have this amazing hiking trail, and so we meet at different trailheads at different times.

Speaker4: Okay. Yeah, that sounds.

Trisha Stetzel: Like so much fun. Oh my goodness. Um. All right, so if if there are some ladies listening and they’re like, gosh, I always wanted to hike, but I’m just not sure that that’s something that I can do. What what essential tips would you give or just quick tips would you give about preparing for that, both fitness wise as well as from a mindset perspective for sure.

Melanie Michaelchuk : The. So when I start exploring a new hiking trail or a place that I’ve never been before, I will. First of all, I’ll find the parking lot. Okay. I’ll do some reviews, like I’ll I’ll check different reviews on, like I’ll go to all trails. I’ll go to Facebook pages and I’ll ask people, hey, has anyone ever been to XYZ place? Right? And just start investigating that way just to check on safety. Is there anything I need to be aware of, that sort of thing? Um, I would say the majority of hiking trails in our area, They’re pretty safe, you know, unless you’re going, like, you know, in nasty places. But just stay away. You, you know, the bad places in your area.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Don’t go.

Melanie Michaelchuk : There. Like, don’t go there. You know, you know better. But if it’s a normal road and there’s lots of traffic and you see people, then it’s a normal area, right? Um, you know, use your common sense. So that would be the first tip. Use your common sense. Okay. Um, you can find hiking groups in your area. You can ask around, see if there’s different hiking groups. Ask a buddy to go with you, um, your first time on a hike. And like I said, find the parking lot. And then I’ll just do a small bit of the trail to investigate. So I’ll go, let’s say 20 minutes out and I’ll turn around and come 20 minutes back in just to start getting a feel for the area. And as you gain experience, you’ll gain more confidence, right? And you don’t need a lot of equipment. I always recommend. Take water, take a snack, have a little backpack. Don’t try to carry, you know, a big mug in your hand for ten miles like that just doesn’t work. Get yourself a water bottle. Put it in your backpack. Have your phone charged just in case you run into any problems. There’s lots of safety stuff that you can do, uh, but just relax and have fun.

Speaker5: I love that that’s so much fun.

Trisha Stetzel: Um, is there anything. I’m just wondering, is there anything in particular when you go to the parking lot? I realize you’re going to the parking lot so that you can see the trail, but is there anything about the parking lot itself that would say, yes, this is good, a good place to hike or no, it’s not interesting.

Melanie Michaelchuk : The not really because some parking lots are just, you know, like you just park on the shoulder of a road so it doesn’t really tell you a lot of information. And I think people can be intimidated by that. Yeah, right. Um, I think if a parking lot is completely empty, it makes people feel a little wary. That’s why it’s always great to, you know, go with a friend or go with a small group at first. Find yourself. Find a community. There are some great hiking groups in the area. I run the Montgomery County Women’s Hiking Group. It’s a Facebook group. And then there’s also, I want to give a shout out to the Houston Women’s Hiking group. They have a pretty big network, and I know the lady who runs it, and she tries to keep a pretty tight ship, and they have some really good hike leaders. Um, so there are different groups out there that will help you build confidence getting out onto the trails.

Speaker5: Very nice. Do you have.

Trisha Stetzel: Those resources listed on your website? Melanie.

Melanie Michaelchuk : I have them. I would say no, not on my website, but they are referenced on the different Facebook pages.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, fantastic. If you just have a short list of, uh, clubs that you would recommend, send them to me. Folks who are listening, those are already in the show notes. So when you get on, uh, when you’re in front of your computer, not in your car, and you’re looking at the show notes for today’s show, I just want you to look in the show notes, and you can grab those resources right out of there. Thank you, Melanie, for providing those for us. Yeah. One last question before we celebrate this first book that’s coming out that I’m so excited about is, um, what is showing up for yourself look like in everyday life? You talked about we need to take care of ourselves. And I can’t remember if this was before we started recording or not, but we had a conversation around how important it is to take care of our own mind and body before we try to take care of everyone else. So what is showing up for yourself look like?

Melanie Michaelchuk : And I love that question so much. Showing up for myself. What that means to me is doing my daily meditation whenever I first get up in the morning. Both my husband and I, we’ve gotten into a routine where it’s like ten minutes. We’ll put on a meditation and start the day with whether it be gratitude, kindness, focus, creativity, whatever it is. So starting that mindset and then I do a three minute breathing exercise. I do that regularly. Uh, drinking water means showing up for myself, doing 10 to 15 minutes of just brain stimulating blood flow activity. And then I’ll start my day.

Speaker5: Yeah. What a.

Trisha Stetzel: Wonderful. Okay, so who out there. And you can put the comments below, especially if you’re looking at us on social media or listening to us on social media. Who has a morning routine that’s so important, right. That it.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Really.

Trisha Stetzel: Is. It really sets you up for the rest of the day. So, Melanie, why does it matter for us to be good to ourselves, both mind and body?

Melanie Michaelchuk : I’m sure you’ve heard of the analogy of put on your oxygen mask first before you help anybody else. And that’s truly, you know what I’m living, uh, back in 2018, 2017, I wasn’t taking care of myself. And it showed up in my physical health and my mental health. And I was, you know, not in good shape. Then both and through coaching and through learning what I need, I discovered that I need to put on my own oxygen mask first before I can help or take care of anybody else.

Trisha Stetzel: And I’ll bet you didn’t learn all of those lessons at once, and just flip.

Speaker5: A.

Trisha Stetzel: Switch and go from here to there.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Mhm. It takes time.

Trisha Stetzel: Baby steps. Yeah. Just 1%. 1% improvement every day, right? That’s where we want to go. Okay. So let’s celebrate this book that’s coming out. It’s going to be published. The e-book will be released on June 4th. I’m super excited about it. So, uh, I’m going to cheers you in just a second. Melanie. We’re looking at, for those of you who are watching us on video, you can see it. Six figure tricks. Houston, the Houston version. If you’re just listening, go find six figure tricks. Houston, out on the internet, all you have to do is search for it. You’re going to find a whole bunch of women who have collaborated on books across the nation, which is amazing. And I believe Mel’s already started a group for a second edition for Houston, which is amazing. So I want to cheers to you.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Oh, cheers.

Trisha Stetzel: Melanie on your first book, six Figure Chicks.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m sending good energy into the universe that it will become Um, because we know it will be a best seller. And so all of you who are listening, if you’re listening to the record, the back recording, it may be past time. So you can just go order the darn book. But if you’re listening to this before June 5th, June 14th, then go preorder the book. That’s what’s going to help us get to the best selling author list. Melanie, this has been so much fun today. Thank you so much for being on with me and what you guys don’t know. There’s probably some stories around how my power went out and we had to restart over, and it was raining and, uh, it was a lot of fun getting here.

Melanie Michaelchuk : We we work through all those roadblocks and obstacles.

Trisha Stetzel: That’s right. Melanie had to help me get over the tree because there was a big one. Right in my way, metaphorically speaking, today. Yes, a real one. Melanie. Thank you so much. Thank you for what you’re doing in the community. Um, if you’re guys, if you’re listening, go to Melanie’s website, which is just hike. J u s t h y k e. And you can find all of the amazing things that you’re looking for. And you can also find her Facebook page where you can see all of the things that Melanie is out there doing in the community.

Melanie Michaelchuk : Perfect. Thank you. It was super fun chatting with you.

Trisha Stetzel: Thanks, I appreciate that. That’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation, be sure to share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran, or a Houston leader. Ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.