Special Bonus Episode!! Joshua Yakes is the founder of Conquer All Things, a private gym in Burbank, California, and the host of the Conquer Podcast. Born with achromatopsia, a rare condition that left him unable to see color and severely sensitive to light, suddenly temporarily losing the majority of his remaining sight at twenty-five. That year he also lost his job and moved into a school for the blind, where he learned braille and how to navigate with a cane. It was the lowest point of his life, and it was where he made the decision that has defined everything since: he would dictate his own outcome. He earned his degree, went on to graduate study at USC, opened his first business, lost it, and built another. In 2021, he launched Conquer All Things with fifty thousand dollars and no debt, and expanded it fivefold within three years. Today he competes as an amateur men’s physique athlete, stepping onto stages he can barely see under lights that blind him, while his vision continues to decline. He is a husband, a father of two, and a fourth-generation Burbank native whose mission is to heal a million hearts, foster a million minds, and change a million lives. On the Conquer Podcast, he works through what it actually takes to move from surviving a fight to conquering it. He speaks candidly about disability, adversity, resilience, entrepreneurship, and the difference between winning and choosing, and he brings a rare perspective to the question that shapes his work: what can I leave in the light before everything goes dark? Follow Josh on Social Media: Instagram: @joshua.yakes / @conquerallthings Facebook: Josh Yakes LinkedIn: Joshua Everett Yakes TikTok: @conquerallthings YouTube: @conquerallthings Website: https://www.conquerallthings.com/ If you have feedback about this episode, a suggestion for a future guest, or a story of an unexpected journey you'd like to share, please email us at unexpectedjourneyspod@gmail.com. For the video version, please go to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UnexpectedPod-Canada (We appreciate it if you would subscribe to the channel! It's free!) We are represented by Lemmon Entertainment: https://lemmonent.com/ For sponsorship inquiries e-mail: Jessica@lemmonent.com Thank you for listening and remember—sometimes life's greatest journeys are the ones we never planned.
