The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex

Episode: The Real Reason You Lack Confidence — Tomo Marjanovic Breaks It Down

Host: Paul Alex Espinoza
Guest: Tomo Marjanovic
Date: November 28, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode dives deep into the intersection of personal health, mindset, and entrepreneurial success. Paul Alex brings on wellness entrepreneur Tomo Marjanovic to unpack the psychological and physical roots of confidence, drawing from their shared backgrounds in law enforcement and personal evolution into high-performing entrepreneurs. The conversation covers discipline, risk, the pitfalls of ignoring your health in pursuit of financial success, and actionable advice for anyone seeking to “level up” in life—mentally, physically, and financially.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Building a New Identity: Law Enforcement to Entrepreneurship

• Shared Backgrounds: Both Paul and Tomo are former law enforcement officers. They talk candidly about how that experience shapes their approach to business and life.
  • “We’re both ex-law enforcement. We have a very similar story almost in the same timeline.” (03:00, Tomo)
• Transitioning Out: Tomo shares his journey leaving law enforcement, battling internal politics, and the push factors that made him start over in the wellness industry.
  • “I had to make a decision: go back to police work or take everything that I had, all my credit, go into tremendous debt... and I put everything that I had into building Aspire Rejuvenation Clinic.” (27:00, Tomo)

2. Health as a Precondition for Success

• Physical Before Mental: Tomo flips the traditional script, arguing that physical health is the foundation for mental clarity and financial achievement.
  • “If your physical’s shit, you can’t get your mentality right. It’s not possible... Fix your physical form first. Your mental follows. Your money follows that.” (11:22, Tomo)
• Paul’s Personal Story: Despite financial success, Paul opens up about his struggles with depression, weight gain, and the necessity of optimizing his health.
  • “Little did anyone know... Dude, I fell into deep depression again. I gained about 50 pounds of weight.” (06:42, Paul)
  • “You need friends to tell you the truth. We need to get hit in the mouth.” (07:45, Paul)

3. Purpose Over Profit

• Beyond Money: Tomo explains that after reaching financial security, his focus shifted to impact and purpose—especially influencing wellness culture in under-served markets like Dubai.
  • “I don’t need to care about money anymore. Now I care about impact, purpose.” (08:30, Tomo)

4. Culture and Leadership: Lessons from Law Enforcement

• Transferrable Skills: Conflict resolution, communication, and documentation from law enforcement directly fueled their business agility and leadership.
  • “Dealing with how what we deal with in law enforcement prepares you to do so much more outside of law enforcement.” (21:30, Tomo)
• Creating Winning Cultures: Vision and values aren’t optional—they must be communicated for effective company culture and weeding out misfits.
  • “Here’s how most companies screw up culture: They don’t even have vision and values listed.” (22:02, Tomo)

5. The Real Source of Confidence

• Decisiveness and Self-Belief: Confidence doesn’t come from external validation or achievement but from in-depth self-questioning and clarity about desires and identity.
  • “When I started having these conversations... looking into my soul... ‘Who am I? What is the better version of myself?’... I got the confidence and I started doing it.” (38:29, Tomo)
• Paul’s Approach to Hiring and Relationships: A “maybe” kills opportunities—the decisive and confident rise.
  • “At this stage of the game, I need people that are hitters, just like in law enforcement.” (36:30, Paul)

6. Bodybuilding, Pain, and Male Identity

• Men Need to Endure Hard Things: Tomo describes bodybuilding as a formative tool for discipline—enduring and overcoming pain.
  • “Men need to go through pain. Men have to do things that are hard. You have to go through hard to be a real man.” (48:08, Tomo)
• Body Dysmorphia in High Achievers: Even at their peak, both acknowledge internal struggles with self-image.

7. Risk, Networking, and Action: Game-Changing Advice

• Three Needle Movers for Young Entrepreneurs (54:00):

  1. Don’t fear risk.
  2. Network intentionally—invest in deep, purposeful relationships.
  3. Ruthlessly prioritize physical and mental health.

• On Action vs. Perfection:

  • “Raw action solves all. Most of you analyze too much. Most of you plan too much… Just fucking move.” (61:56, Tomo)
  • “It’s progress, not perfection.” (61:29, Tomo)

8. Living Life by Design

• Redefining Success: Exposing the audience to the idea that “leveling up” is a holistic process—health, mindset, environment, and controlled risk.
• Surround Yourself With Elevators:
  • “If you spend most of your time with five people that are not doing shit in life, guess what? You won’t become shit.” (30:10, Paul)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On confidence:
  • “People will never build authority or great things because they’re not sure of themselves.” (36:09, Paul)
• On starting again:
  • “Somebody asked me, ‘What would you do if you went to zero right now?’ I said, ‘Everybody’s fucked. I’d be so excited.’” (33:42, Tomo)
• On success and health:
  • “You can earn money… but you can’t buy your way to health and wellness and longevity.” (42:26, Tomo)
• On discipline:
  • “Bodybuilding builds discipline… If you’re going into the professional route, pharmaceuticals alone, man, you screw up one of these pharmaceuticals, your whole career is going down the tube.” (50:30, Tomo)
• Paul on caring for family and legacy:
  • “It’s just the principle, guys. This is not for me. It’s more for my family.” (40:48)
• On perfectionism:
  • “You probably know you’re not doing it to the level that you could. Just start moving that needle up a little bit, dude.” (61:29, Tomo)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:00] Introductions & Shared Law Enforcement Background
• [04:53] Tomo’s Origin in Wellness: Dubai, A4M, Building Clinics
• [06:42] Paul’s Mental Health Crash During Success
• [11:22] Health as Foundation for Mental and Financial Health
• [14:15] Reality of Modern Policing & Why Good Cops Leave
• [21:30] Transferable Skills from Law Enforcement to Business
• [22:02] Building Company Culture on Vision/Values
• [27:00] Tomo’s Leap into Entrepreneurship (and Debt)
• [30:10] Importance of Environment & Peer Group
• [36:09] Confidence & Decisiveness in Life and Hiring
• [38:29] The ‘Mirror Conversation’ — Building Self-Belief
• [42:26] Health and Wealth — 1% in Both is Rare
• [48:08] Why Men (and Bodybuilders) Need Hardship
• [54:00] Tomo’s Three Needle Movers for Success
• [61:29] Progress Over Perfection
• [61:56] Take Action: Raw Action Solves All

Final Takeaways

• Building confidence is a physical and psychological process—taking care of your health will spill over into your mindset and your finances.
• Risk is necessary; network intentionally, and take daily action, no matter how imperfect.
• Law enforcement shapes leaders and entrepreneurs—use every chapter of your life as leverage for the next.
• The people and environment you choose shape your identity; surround yourself with those who challenge and elevate you.
• Redefine success in your own terms, not someone else’s social media highlight reel.

Connect with Tomo Marjanovic:

• Personal website: TomoMarjanovic.com
• [Newsletter on Substack](Coming Soon)
• Operation Optimal (Book Launch Dec 2025)

Connect with Paul Alex:

• Instagram: @PaulAlex
• OfficialPaulAlex.com