Categoriesbusiness

3 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Open A Gym

A few weeks ago I asked for a little insight on what you, my loyal readers, would like to see me write more about.

Oddly, “How adorable your cat is” didn’t make the cut.

What was a popular answer, almost resoundingly so, was for me to go into a little more detail on the business side of the fitness industry. Specifically, gym ownership. Even more specifically, to reflect and pontificate on what that means to me, and to offer any sage advice to those considering traveling down that path.

Read on…

Copyright: wavebreakmediamicro / 123RF Stock Photo

 

3 Questions To Ask Before You Do Something Stupid Open a Gym

1. What The Fuck Are You Doing?

Are you sure you want to do this?

I’ve come to realize there’s one of two tangibles that serve as the impetus for someone wanting to open their own gym:

  1. They’re passionate about fitness.
  2. They want to stick it to the man.

To Point #1 (passion).

I’m passionate about a lot of things too: Health, fitness, & helping people (obviously), techno, cheese, and movies.1

You have to be careful with passion.

It makes us do dumb things and make irrational decisions.

This is why I’ve yet to open up Tony’s Techno Palace of Gruyere and Sick Hip-Hop Beats.

Following one’s passion, while commendable, can be a tricky situation. Before you know it you’ve opened up a 10,000 sq. ft facility with all the bells and whistles, yet have zero idea on where or how you’re going to get clients.

Rent’s still due at the end of the month by the way.

More to the point, and this is something I’ve hit on before, I think there’s this idea (or even stigma) that the only way you can become relevant or give off the guise that you’ve “made it” in this industry is to own a gym.

Many trainers/coaches put this unnecessary pressure on him or herself to be a gym owner despite 1) not really having the desire (not to mention career capital, experience, or skill-set) to do so and/or 2) because it seems like the natural career progression to take.

NEWSLFLASH: You don’t have to do shit.2

You don’t have to be a gym owner to be successful in this industry. There are innumerable fitness professionals out there who work in commercial, boutique, box, or studio gyms who do very well for themselves.

As far as “progressing” one’s career (which, let’s be honest, means: “how can I make more money?”) I’d suggest the more pertinent question people should ask isn’t so much “Hey, should I open a gym?”

…but rather…

“Hey, what can I do to incur additional revenue streams so that I don’t have to be coaching on a gym floor 40-50 hours per week?“

That’s a deeper discussion for another time (especially when we consider how COVID-19 affected everything within the health/fitness industry), but suffice it to say this is where things like online coaching, writing, consulting, producing educational products, affiliate marketing, private coaching groups, and public speaking come into the picture.

Not ironically, all of the above are typically only fruitful when someone has spent years working in a commercial gym setting and harvesting much-needed experience.

To Point #2 (sticking it to the man)

This is also called the “my boss sucks so I’m going to open up a gym” argument.

I get it, I really do.

I spent the first five years of my career working in various corporate and commercial gyms and I’d be lying if I said I never got frustrated.

  • Why do I have to work so many floor hours?
  • Why are they taking a larger percentage of my sessions?
  • How come they won’t let me train people with my shirt off?
  • (tosses chair through a window) THIS PLACE IS A PRISON!

Stop being a child.

Read THIS post by Pete Dupuis.

2. How Are You Going to Open a Gym?

Is this a self-funded endeavor? Partners? Investors? You found a magic lamp?

When we opened up Cressey Sports Performance back in 2007, Eric Cressey, Pete Dupuis, and myself did things the old fashioned way: we cut each other’s hands with a razor blade and shook on it.

Okay, not really.

But we did sit down and discuss what each of our respective roles were going to be and also made it clear who owned what percentage of what.

We were a little different than most gym start-ups in that Eric more or less funded the entire thing out of his own pocket and we already had a set client roster primed and ready to go between the two of us.

Not many gym owners have that luxury.

NOTE: We were able to do that because 1) Eric had been saving money since he was seven months old and 2) We made it a point to START SMALL with a very bare-bones approach.

The initial CSP was 2200 sq. feet located in the corner of an indoor batting facility.

And while we had several people offer to invest at the start, as a group we wanted to avoid that at all costs.

We didn’t want to be held accountable to anyone else but ourselves. Too, we just wanted to avoid weird situations.

With investors you run the risk of too many demands/opinions being thrown into the pot – “When will we start hitting “x” numbers?” or “Why don’t we buy this $5000 leg press?” or “What do ya’ll think of adding in BOSU ball Light Saber battles as part of the warm-up?”

We wanted our gym to be ours.

The rule of thumb is this: If you don’t have a minimum of 6-months of operating costs set aside – to cover rent, utilities, insurance, any CAM fees, etc – than you shouldn’t consider opening a gym.

But if you do, do yourself a huge favor and email Pat Rigsby.

Which serves as a nice segue to…..

3. Is What I Did An Option?

To speak candidly, I never wanted to own a gym. Sure, I was (and still am) considered a co-founder of Cressey Sports Performance, but I’ll be the first to admit I wanted nothing to do with the business side of the equation.

All I wanted to do was show-up, coach my tail off, and do my best to serve as an ambassador to the brand.

I let Pete and Eric worry about the TPS reports.

When I decided to leave CSP in the Fall of 2015 it wasn’t to open my own place.

An opportunity arose where I could sub-lease at a location that was really close to my apartment.

In short, I paid an hourly rent in order to have “access” to a space to train clients. It was a perfect fit for me. There was no overhead on my end and since I already had a bunch of people lined up and ready to train with me in Boston the risk was pretty low.

(Also, the 1-mile commute as opposed to a 45 minute drive both ways didn’t suck).

Fast forward several months and the person whom I was sub-leasing under informed me she wasn’t renewing her lease and asked if I’d be interested in taking it over?

After unclenching my sphincter I put pen to paper and crunched the numbers. I came to the conclusion that if I had even one person sub-leasing under me paying me rent, that it would be a cheaper alternative on a month-to-month basis compared to what I had been doing.

I was in.

CORE was born.

Part of what helped settle my fears was that I knew what I didn’t want CORE to be. I had zero aspirations (and I still don’t) of building anything close to the pedigree of Cressey Sports Performance.

To be honest, I don’t think I have it in me – either in skill-set, acumen, or talent.

All I want (and need) is a small space to coach clients ~20 hours per week. This still allows me the ability to write, travel (when it’s allowed), and spend time with my family.

Sub-leasing is a great fit for me and I believe it’s an option more and more gym owners are considering, particularly in a COVID world.

I currently have three coaches sub-leasing under me at CORE. They’re not employees and I am not in charge of their schedule nor setting their price points.

All I do is provide a well-equipped, clean space that they can utilize and build their own businesses.

And (hopefully) thrive.

It’s a small space – 550 sq. feet – so only one coach can utilize the space at a given time. There’s a shared calendar and if someone blocks off the time, the studio is their’s to use. I’ve been using this system for just over five years and it’s worked splendidly.

If you’re someone who’s more hands-on and prefers the challenge of building a business, it’s likely not going to be a satisfying approach. However, if you’re someone like me and want something a little more low-key and are also looking for ways to offset your overhead, this option may be a home-run.

HOWEVER: As it happens I am now looking to scale the business into a larger footprint and turn CORE into CORE Collective…

…an all-in-one health/wellness location that not only provides top-notch personal training where a team of coaches can share and utilize the space, but also physical therapy, massage, nutrition counseling, and psychotherapy to boot.

Who knows, maybe I’ll also host Laser Tag tournaments on the weekends.

Which brings me to Point #1 above.

What the fuck am I doing?…..haha.

That’s That

I hope this was helpful?

Categoriesbusiness

Dangers of the Discount Trainer

There’s no shortage of topics to debate in today’s world.

  • Keto vs. CICO?3
  • How to best tackle the issue of healthcare?
  • Is Pluto a planet?

I don’t have a horse in the race on any of the above, except:

  • Keto zealots are the worst.
  • We need to be more PROACTIVE than REACTIVE with regards to healthcare.4
  • You’re goddamn right it’s a planet.

Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing your team – or side of the fence – with any topic I always say the real right answer is…

…it depends.

It’s rare for something to be so clear-cut and definitive; there’s always a degree of nuance and extenuating factors to consider.

Seriously, Pluto’s a planet.5

Copyright: 5second / 123RF Stock Photo

Dangers of the Discount Trainer

I’m going to just come right out and say it: I’m not a fan of trainers offering discounts for their services. Now, I say this with a grain of salt because I completely understand (and respect) that it’s a delicate matter and that there’s a number of factors to consider.

For example, I think it makes a lot of sense for larger, commercial gyms to offer discounts.

In Boston, like any major city, there are several notable, big chain commercial gyms vying for people’s attention (and wallets):

  • Equinox
  • Boston Sports Club
  • HealthWorks
  • LifeTime Fitness
  • 24 Hour Fitness
  • Golds
  • Planet Fitness
  • Beacon Hill Athletic Club

In addition there’s dozens of mid-level commercial gyms (not chains, but pretty big) peppered throughout the city, not to mention a CrossFit box in every major neighborhood. That’s a lot of competition and it makes sense that many of them would offer a free consultation or discounted introductory rates on training to entice more people to join.

Moreover, and as Cressey Sports Performance business director, Pete Dupuis, has noted in the past: Roughly 30% of people who are offered free consultations actually end up taking advantage of them.

“This may be a solid conversion rate from the perspective of the commercial gym owner, but not for the independent contractor who doesn’t see a single penny of the monthly membership dues these potential leads are paying.  A 30% conversion rate tells me that 7 out of 10 people decided that something for nothing was actually worth nothing.”

As a small business – and more to the point, as a gym that only offers personal and semi-private training (no open gym or classes) – I don’t have the luxury of hundreds (if not thousands) of people paying a membership fee just to walk through the doors.

Why would I offer my services and time at a free or discounted rate when I have bills to pay?6

I can hear the cacophony of pitchforks now.

“But Tony, if you offer free/discounted stuff it’s less intimidating and allows people to see whether or not you’re a good fit.

Stop being such an uppity a-hole!”

To that Point

1. Try walking into a hair salon, attorney’s office, or, I don’t know, Gringotts Bank and ask someone for 30-60 minutes of their time in order to sample the goods and to see if “you’re a good fit.”

HAHAHAHAHAHA – no, seriously, do it.

UPDATE: I should add that it’s not lost on me there’s a bit more robustness to the client-coach relationship compared to the client-attorney relationship. Helping someone to change their behavior takes a lot more nuance. That said, it’s one thing to offer complimentary sessions/discounted rates in conjunction with a clear-cut on-boarding protocol geared towards improving the client experience.

My good friend Todd Bumgardner, owner of Beyond Strength Performance in Sterling, VA, remarks that their conversion rates are very high utilizing a heavily discounted first month of training for new members.

But that’s also because they’re laser focused when it comes to their systems; new members go through a thorough “itinerary” in order to proceed.

And it’s another thing altogether to just haphazardly toss out discounts for the sake of generating some quick  revenue. 

2. This is my livelihood, not a garage sale.

Sorry not sorry.

To that end, I don’t want to sit here, come across as some crotchedy old bastard (GET OFF MY LAWN!), and rag on the notion that you should never discount your rates as a trainer.

I mean, only Sith’s deal in absolutes, right?

Some Pros or When to Offer Discounts

1. You’re New

If you’re a new trainer or coach in the industry, need experience and more eyes on you – particularly in a crowded commercial gym scenario where there’s a few dozen trainers vying for the same thing – then it makes sense to offer some discounted training to build your client roster.

It’s not beneath you to do so.

I did it.

When I was a commercial gym trainer I’d often offer free 15-30 minute “Deep Dives” for on my own time for members:

  • Deep Dive: REAL Core Training
  • Deep Dive: Learn How to Deadlift
  • Deep Dive: Shoulder Friendly Strength Training
  • Deep Dive: How Hot is Jennifer Garner in Alias?

As a result I got more eyes on me and would often have members reach out to begin training.

For the more mathematical minded in the crowd, you can also think of it this way courtesy of  Finnish coach, Joni Jaakola of Optimal Performance:

“Offer 45 minute free training sessions + 15 minute consultation => client can experience what they are about to sign into => convert 50% of them => fully booked weekly calendar in two months or so.”

2. One-Time Special Offers

My friends over at Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC are huge proponents of offering special one-time only offers of 20-25% off packages when people attend a special class or charity event.

I like this idea.

If you’re already making the time to be at a certain place at a certain time, go for it.

Offer free shit – training, tickle fights, whatever.

People attend a class, you get their names, you offer the offer, and then you follow-up with a PHONE CALL (or text) – people just delete email – for a few weeks to remind them of when the offer expires.

3. It’s August

In the fitness industry, August (in the Northern hemisphere anyway) is…the…worst.

It’s a dead-zone.

Gym floors often resemble the barren, desolate wastelands of Mordor.

Except in this case it’s because people are on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard (and not so much because of the whole Sauron thing).

So, I get it.

Sometimes you have to discount your rates to attract people’s attention and to get bodies on the gym floor.

Totally legit reason.

However, my buddy and I were headed to get some pizza after a killer squat session last week when we walked past this sign located at the main entrance of a gym chain here in Boston:

Now, admittedly, I have zero insights into this business’s numbers or the inner workings of their operation, maybe they’re crushing it, but to me this is what’s wrong with offering discounts…

…especially ones this, shall we say, aggressive.

My Take (the Cons)

Again, offering discounts is not wrong or altogether a waste of time.

There IS a time and place and a way to implement them that can and will behoove your business as well as the (potential) client.

That said, it’s important to remain aware of the concept of anchoring.

If you’re a fan of behavioral economics – such as myself – and read a lot of books on the topic as it relates to decision making and marketing this should be a familiar term.

Via Wikipedia:

“The anchoring effect is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered. … During decision making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments.”

In the case of the above offer ($15 for 70 minutes of training), the more the discount gets away from your full price, the more problems and reticence you’re going to have – from the consumer – when you reveal said full price.

 

1. Creates Price Sensitivity & Unsustainable Expectations

This is the double-edged sword of anchoring.

“Anchor” your price too far removed from your actual rates and you run the risk of creating a bevy of price sensitive clients who are going to jump ship to the next trainer or gym who offers an even better discount.

Canadian nutritionist, Steph Hnatiuk, agrees:

“I think huge discounts can attract clients who are only willing/able to pay bottom-end rates, and you’re unlikely to wow those people into full-price paying clients if their budget just doesn’t allow it. I think you wind up giving too much of yourself away in the process.”

2. Creates Discounted Effort

Pigging back on the above, in my experience I have found that discounted prices sometimes (not always) creates a culture of discounted effort.

Humans are very loss adverse.

This refers to people’s tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains: it is better to not lose $5 than it is to find $5.

If a client pays my normal rate they have invested in themselves. There’s a degree of “buy in” from the individual to the tune of if they don’t show up – and I enforce my cancelation policy – there’s an inherent loss there.

And people hate loss.

Even more than the Patriots…;o)

Investment = people (usually) go out of their way to put forth some effort and consistency.

They show up.

$15 sessions = “meh, charge me, I gotta catch up on Ballers.”

3. Creates Awkwardness

The less mental gymnastics I have to do as a business owner, the better.

  • Who’s coming in today?
  • Who needs a new program?
  • How many sessions does so and so have left in their package?
  • Why am I not wearing pants?

I prefer to keep things simple:

– I use Google Calendar to book my sessions.

– I use Excel to write my programs.

– I have an assistant who tracks all client sessions (and to let me know who needs what when).

– I almost always wear pants.

Too, when it comes to training packages, I also prefer simplicity and go out of my way to not offer a robust array of  options because, frankly, I don’t want to have to deal with that dumpster fire.

If I charge Client A “x” (a discount) and then Client B who is charged “y” (no discount) finds out about it, and is like “dafuq, Tony?”, it makes for some awkwardness I’d rather avoid.

Me touching my wife’s butt in public = awkwardness I can handle.

Me not shaving my head for two weeks = awkwardness I can still kinda-sorta handle.

Me explaining why two clients are charged two different rates = no thank you.

4. You Get What You Pay For

Image Inspired by thePTDC.com (^^I did that all by myself ^^)

This is 90% meant to be more than tongue-n- cheek than anything.

But, yeah, you get what you pay for.

Categoriesbusiness coaching

What You Didn’t Expect When You Opened Your Gym: 6 Lessons On Building a Team

It must be “gym ownership week” on TG.com this week.

Yesterday’s post on the effect social media has on the perception of gym ownership – everything is seen through rose colored glasses – was a huge hit.

Today I have guest post by another gym owner, Doug Spurling of Spurling Fitness located in Kennebunk, ME, discussing how to best build a team to help your business thrive.

Doug’s done an amazing job building a successful fitness business and he’s someone I respect a ton. Read what he has to say. He’s smart.

NOTE: Next month I’ll speaking alongside Doug (along with his staff, and my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis) at the Spurling Spring Seminar. It’s going to be a great event and tonight (3/14) at midnight is your last chance to take advantage of the early bird registration of $50 off.

Copyright: eugenelucky / 123RF Stock Photo

6 Lessons On Building a Team

Hang out in sweats all day long…

Listen to cool music all day long…

Talk shop and change peoples lives…

Life of a gym owner, right?

That’s part of it.

But they don’t tell you about the “other” stuff.

Getting good at marketing, financial statement analysis, strategic planning, holding good meetings, putting out fires, and that you’ll never be able to actually shut it “off.

I’m sure the list could go on and on, but today I want to focus on one particular aspect that I don’t think we spend enough time on as an industry.

HUMAN RESOURCES.

More leads, more clients, and more growth usually means….

More team members.

They are our biggest asset, but can also be our biggest headaches if you don’t know how to lead them.

We thought we got into this business to train people, change some lives, and do it all hanging out in comfy gym clothes.

Now I’m telling you if you want long-term success you need to get really good at human resources.

Today I spend the majority of my time on human resources, team development, holding meetings, and making sure our margins are strong as I run a payroll that exceeds a half a million dollars a year.

I love it, but it’s not what I expected as a gym owner.

I now have seven families I am responsible for, only one of which is mine.

With six full-time team members, that means six people that look up to me, six people that count on me running a successful business so they can get a paycheck next week, six people who live their life mission through my business, and six people who support their families with my business.

Woah!

via GIPHY

That’s a big responsibility when we think about it.

That being said, I’ve made some major mistakes as a leader, but I also feel that I have one of the strongest teams around.

Here are six lessons I’ve learned so far…

1. Hire for Personality, Train for Skill

I want driven, hard-working,  value-focused people, I don’t really care if you can coach a squat.

I can’t train a smile, I can train you how to coach a squat.

We aim to hire people that fit our core values, and then have a strong onboarding system that teaches them the technical stuff like how to coach.

2. Have Clear Systems

We have a master folder called “The Spurling Way.”

Every process in our business is documented under that folder.

There’s no questioning how to do things.

We get feedback when we create a new process, but once it’s put into this folder the team has agreed that this is the way we do things.

We don’t want people that want to do it “their way.”

Follow the system.

Run the play.

3. Hold Good Meetings

I think good meetings are totally underutilized.

Every day we have a meeting.

It starts each day with a daily huddle-a quick 5-minute accountability meeting about what each team member is doing that day and what that needs help with.

We have a leadership meeting every Monday, a coaches meeting every Tuesday, individual meetings every Wednesday, and a team meeting every Thursday.

Now, notice above I said, “good meetings are underutilized.”

Read a book like “Death by Meeting” and learn how to hold good meetings.

They can be some of the most productive hours of the week, or if done wrong, they can be the biggest waste of time.

4. Balance Multiple Personalities

We can’t have a universal leadership approach.

Each team member is different.

How you talk to one team member is different than how you talk to another.

One may be motivated by public praise, one may want a small note left on their desk.

We use things like the DISC profiles and the 5 Languages of Appreciation to understand how each of us functions and how each of us gives and receives appreciation.

As your team continues to grow the possible communication flaws, the potential drama, and headaches can quickly multiply if you don’t stay on top of it.

Understanding each team member, what they value, how they tick, treating them as an individual, and not have a universal leadership approach is key.

5. Communication Is Key

Communication is not what’s said, but what is understood.

Nothing drives us crazier than when we tell someone something and they don’t do it or don’t follow through with it the way you wanted it to be done.

  • Or you tell Coach A how to do something, they nod their head, and then don’t go it the way you taught them.
  • Or you come in and hear the Coach A hates Coach B but isn’t doing anything about it.
  • Or Coach A is annoyed because they feel they’re working so much harder than Coach B.
  • Or Coach A is complaining about something but then isn’t doing anything about it.

I’m sure you can think of a million scenarios that cause you to pull your hair out as the leader.

However, as the leader, you have to take extreme ownership (good book, btw), and take charge of the situation.

Quite often if you hire good people (see number one), most situations come down to poor communication and/or assumptions.

  • Someone makes an assumption that someone else took care of it.
  • Someone makes an assumption that the person understood what they just told them.

We need to over-communicate with our team, never make assumptions, and make sure that we understand each personality (see number four) and how they like to receive communication.

6. Treat Them the Way You’d Want To Be Treated

Seriously.

Seems like common sense, but as they say, sometimes common sense is not so common.

I get a lot of questions on why I have an all full-time staff, all salaried, all fully benefited, have unlimited time off, and they all work a “normal” 40ish hour work week.

It’s the culture I’m trying to build.

I don’t want people that want to train “their clients.”

I don’t want people that are just here for a paycheck.

I want people that are going to devote their lives to our mission.

I want people that are here for more than just a job.

In order to do that, I need to treat them really well.

That means a good salary, a good schedule, good benefits, constant leadership, constant appreciation, and a constant pitch of why we’re doing this.

Is it easy?

No.

Most months I shed a few tears when the payroll gets withdrawn.

It’s my biggest expense, but I also know it’s my biggest ROI.

The most common message we get from client always comes back to something along the lines of…

“You have the most cohesive team I’ve ever met. You can tell they are here for the right reasons.”

It all comes back to driving the mission, communicating clearly, leading them, and treating them the way you want to be treated.

We all got into this business to change lives, and depending on what kind of impact you want to make, if you want to change the lives of hundreds of people, you’re going to need a team to support you in your mission.

Hope this helps.

Want More?

Next month Doug will be hosting the Spurling Spring Seminar in Kennebunk, ME alongside myself, my wife, Dr. Lisa Lewis, and the entire Spurling Fitness staff.

There aren’t many events outside Boston that cater to the fitness community, so this will be an awesome opportunity for any personal trainers, strength coaches, gym owners, or anyone interested in assessment, program design, business, and mindset skills to enjoy a day of learning.

You can read all the details HERE.

ALSO: If you register by TONIGHT (3/14) at midnight you can still take advantage of the early bird registration and save $50.

Categoriesbusiness

What Social Media Isn’t Telling You About Owning a Gym

Long before I owned CORE, and even now, as a current gym owner, I’ve championed the message that gym ownership is not for everyone, and more to the point that it should not be perceived as the holy grail of the fitness industry.

There’s a running theme – which is nauseatingly prevalent on social media – that owning a gym provides some sort of pinnacle, “I’ve made it!” mentality, and that once it happens it’s nothing but rainbows and kitten kisses for everyone.

Sure, the fairy tale ending can happen.

However the reality is, for many….being a gym owner is fucking brutal.

My friend and colleague, Mike Connelly, who’s a recent former gym owner, took the time to write this beautifully honest guest post today on the trials and tribulations (and general dumpsterfireness) of owning a gym.

Cue slow clap.

Copyright: gekaskr / 123RF Stock Photo

What Social Media Isn’t Telling You About Owning a Gym

“I’m so sorry to hear about that.  Must be tough, man.”

I’ve heard that line from a lot of people in the past two months. The reason I’m hearing that so much is because after six years I am moving on from owning my business, Rebell Strength and Conditioning, and all I can think about when it comes up is how happy I am about the situation.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you it all went as I planned and that I’m coming out of this footloose and fancy free.

That’s not the case.

But, since being out of the operation of my business for the last two months, my life has changed and only in positive ways. I’m averaging just about twelve more hours of sleep a week, I’ve lost thirty pounds, my mental health is back to being stable (as stable as it will get anyways), and, most importantly, I feel like myself again.

When you own and run a business, it’s easy to get so caught up in things that you don’t even realize what is happening to yourself.  You think about bills, timelines, clients, marketing, bills, social media posts, blogs, bills, complaints, finding new clients, keeping current clients, bills, programming, systems, bills, platforms that run your business, networking, bills, finding good employees, keeping good employees, how to manage your revenue, and finally…. bills.

It’s a lot.

It’s nauseating at times. To feel stress at a molecular level (Paul Lyngso hit that description on the head) all the time becomes your new normal.

And it sucks.

But you keep going because you’re “living the dream.”

A mentor of mine once described entrepreneurship to me like this:

“There you are, riding the bull that is business, through town. People are cheering for you and admiring your courage to go out and do it on your own. You are revered and respected at the mere mention that you own a small business. Yet, through all the accolades all you can think about is, “how the fuck do I get off this bull?!”

I know that’s not the case for all business owners.

There are some out there that are owning it through and through. These people are running a business and not just getting paid for their hobby. It took me a long time to realize and then admit it, but I never broke through to that level of ownership.

I never owned my business.

My business owned me.

I could go on vacation whenever I wanted, but I always had to add the cost of people covering my work to the price tag. I didn’t have a boss, but a long client list that could, at times, be much worse than a boss.

I had the opportunity to take as much free time as I wanted, but it always came with the sacrifice of progress. When all that became too much, the progress suffered, and once that ship sails, it’s hard to get it back to shore.

As coaches, we should teach our clients to own movement, not just survive it. Well, for a long time I was merely surviving being a business owner. And that, my friends, is not a path to success or happiness.

I’m not writing this to shit all over your dreams of being a business owner.

Nope, far from it.

Nor am I here to make excuses.

I fucked this whole thing up.

I always had good intentions, but that and a nickel will get you a jaw breaker from a vending machine at your local arcade. I wanted to share this with you because the coach in me wants you to move forward with caution. I want you to realize that before you get on that bull, you better have those ducks in line and know that the glory and freedom that often get put on owning a business rarely become a reality.

I want to share this cautionary tale, because chasing down the dream of business ownership seems to be trending in our industry, and I don’t hear too many people talking about why it might be a bad idea.

I’m not the smartest guy around, but I’m not the dumbest either. I’m intuitive and have a wicked creative side. I’m strong willed and will fight to the death at the drop of a hat.

I’m a Marine.

I once did 177 get ups in one hour with a 24Kg bell for a fundraiser and then drank whiskey and danced the night away at a wedding. I can get shit done – when I want to – and that’s the thing about being a business owner that caught up to me.

The accounting, the marketing, the interviewing, the blah, blah, blah side of business that I didn’t like finally became not as fun anymore, so I just let off the gas and coasted.

That’s how you lose $4,000 in revenue in a month, and that’s the thing about losing business, it always goes much, much quicker than it comes.

It wasn’t over a bad customer experience either. In six years I can count those on one hand.

It’s because people move, lose jobs, get in relationships, and any other reason that has nothing to do with you.

There is no amount of success that can protect you from that and for that reason, you can never let up. Never.

Well, I did.

I knew what I had to do, and I just didn’t want to anymore. It didn’t make me happy like it used to. I know, I know, you’re supposed to delegate and hire out for all those items that you suck at, and that brings me to my next shortcoming.

I suck with money.

via GIPHY

I mean, I’m good at spending it without thinking, but I really suck at doing the right thing with it.

If you don’t want your business to own you, you better have a fucking stellar plan for every dollar that comes in the door.  It seems to me that every successful business has a numbers guy somewhere in the mix.

That’s no coincidence.

Then there’s me, just throwing money at things that won’t do me any good in six months, let alone a year.

I paid my staff too much; I charged too little for my product; I wasn’t patient with purchases, and I got into a lease that put me in a position where I was fighting uphill from day one.

I never gave myself a chance, but I never saw it because I always thought that if I treat people better than they would ever expect, then that would motivate them to produce. I thought that if I was aggressive with purchases and leases that it would pay off overall.

I’m not saying that employees shouldn’t be paid well and that aggressive moves don’t pay off. I’m just saying that you should have a plan for everything, and it better make sense to someone that knows numbers.

Have a numbers person!

In the end, that will make or break your business no matter how good your product is.

There are plenty of shitty gyms out there making a large profit because they have their numbers on lockdown. There are also a lot, and I mean a lot, of unbelievable coaches getting their asses kicked because they are not equally as good of a numbers person.

I’ve learned from the many, many mistakes that I’ve made over the years.  I know that I will continue to learn as I sort through and process all of this.

For that, I am grateful.

Any time we can learn from our mistakes it was worth it.

The only thing I’m ashamed of is that I allowed myself to think that my identity and character were defined by a title that I slapped on myself but was never really cut out to live up to.

That kills me a little bit when I think about it.

I let it stress me out and change who I am. It stressed all my relationships and probably none more than the one that I have with my family. My hope is that maybe one or two business owners out there who are feeling alone and completely fucked mentally read this, and it lets them take a breath and realize that they are not bad people or coaches because they are having a hard time with their business.

It’s easy to feel like a failure in that position, but the reality is that you had the guts to take a shot and that’s great. If you’re the type that just cannot go back to working for someone, then I hope this pushes you to get the help you need to right the ship.

But if you’re like me and can be perfectly happy and have a lot to contribute in another arena then I hope this gives you the guts to do the right thing for yourself and the people that you love.

About the Author

Mike Connelly: Former Owner of Rebell Strength and Conditioning for 6 years, current Fitness Director for Fitness Formula Clubs at their Oak Park, Il. location and co-owner/coach at Strength Faction.

Serves as a consultant to the Chicago Blackhawks organization for off-season camps for the past three years.

Categoriesbusiness

Business Advice For Trainers From Trainers

When I first started in this industry my business competence was pretty low. If you asked me what the term “overhead” was or what it meant to itemize business expenses I would have been like “say what again?”

I’m still not someone I’d consider to have a lot of business pedigree, but I think I’ve done pretty well for myself.

My friend Shane McLean went around and asked a bunch of coaches – including myself – some standard fitness business and gym ownership questions that I hope will resonate with people.

Enjoy.

Copyright: ruigsantos / 123RF Stock Photo

Business Advice For Trainer From Trainers

Personal trainers get into the fitness industry because they’ve got a huge passion for exercise and for changing people’s lives. However, some have no idea about the business side of coaching, particularly those who are new to the industry.

Newbie (and experienced trainers) work crazy hours to please clients which makes having any sort of social life outside of work very difficult. Trainers then start to realize there’s more to this coaching gig than meets the eye because:

  1. You’re trading a lot time for little money.
  2. It’s real hard yakka.7

Furthermore, exercise is big business nowadays. According to the website Statista, the US spent 25.8 billion dollars in 2015 on all things health and fitness. (1) That’s a fair chunk of change that has some trainers saying…….

The same hard work that goes into becoming proficient at coaching needs to be applied to the business side also.

But how do you get started?

Don’t worry this Aussie has your back.

I asked some prominent people in this industry – David Crump, Eric Bach, Johnny Tea, Chris Diamantakos, and some cat-obsessed nerd named Tony Gentilcore – a couple of hard hitting questions that will provide you with actionable takeaways on the business side of coaching.

Read on and learn things.

David Crump – Entrepreneur and Coach at DaveCrump.com 

1. At what point in your career did you realize that you needed to know more about the business side of coaching and how did you go about it?

Fortunately, I started my training career in a big box gym and moved into management relatively quickly. This gave me the opportunity to learn more about sales and the business side of fitness early on.

I did, however, realize that this gave me a leg up on many of my contemporaries as soon as I wanted to branch out on my own.

Despite my early advantage, I was still aware that if I wanted to stay ahead, that I would have to continue learning more and I found the most benefit from reading content from some of the big names in the industry as well as reading a lot of books from thought leaders in other industries.

2. What were your go to people/resources that helped you expand your business knowledge?

I can’t overemphasize the importance of having great mentors in this area. Some of the people that I have learned from directly or indirectly include Mark Fisher, Alwyn Cosgrove, Jon Goodman, Thomas Plummer and others.

It should also be mentioned that the experience of making mistakes and learning from them is paramount. Getting to make mistakes on someone else’s dime (at a big box gym) was a very valuable experience.

3. What advice would you give a coach looking to open a gym?

I would tell them to get VERY clear on what they want long-term. Many coaches and trainers think that opening a facility is the most logical next step, but that is not accurate.

Being a great gym owner means being a coach takes a back seat and increasing your level of responsibility exponentially. You have to be prepared to make your gym your number 1 priority for at least the next 5 years.

I think there are a ton of coaches that would be much happier simply renting space someone and having full freedom and control of their schedule and life.

If, on the other hand, someone knows that it is what they really want then I would tell them to start small. That means your first place shouldn’t be your 6000-square foot dream facility with every piece of equipment under the sun.

Instead, starting a modest gym and building it organically will put you in a better financial position to work the kinks out over the first couple years and eventually grow into a larger facility without being up to your eyeballs in debt.

4. The best book you’ve read about business and why?

I can’t narrow it down to 1, but I think there are 3-4 that really helped define my beliefs about business:

  • How To Win Friends And Influence People – Businesses are built on dealing with people and this book really delivers great tips on how to have better interactions and make people enjoy working with you.
  • The E-Myth Revisited – The classic business book that helps newbies learn how to move from being a “technician” to a “manager” of business owner through the use of systems in simple terms.
  • Start With Why – The most successful businesses in the world understand what they stand for and why they exist. This book helps a business owner really crystalize what makes their business unique and how to help customers understand its purpose.
  • Delivering Happiness – Written by the founder of Zappos, this is the best book on business culture, values, and customer service I have ever read.

Eric Bach, CSCS, PN1 and owner of Bach Performance.

1. At what point in your career did you realize that you needed to know more about the business side of coaching and how did you go about it?

My first training job at a big box gym gave me a first class look at the limitations of the personal training industry. Frequent policy changes, ownership transitions, and inconsistent sales goals led to a ton of stress on my business early on.

After I built a full book of business and deep relationships with clients’ ownership cut trainer-take-home pay by 30% to follow a “group training system”. At this point I was left with the decision: let my business be gutted and play the game or rewrite the rules on my own terms.

I decided to rewrite the rules, seek out mentors who had built a business I wanted to replicate and invest heavily in myself by paying for their services.

2. What were your go to people/resources that helped you expand your business knowledge?

Early on I followed the typical path: reading sporadic articles on the internet. I read everything I could on training from coaches like Dave Tate, Jason Ferruggia, John Berardi, Tony Gentilcore, John Romaniello, Jon Goodman, Nate Green, Christian Thibaudeau, and Eric Cressey.

When it came to business I dug into work by Ryan Holiday, Dale Carnegie, Chip and Dan Heath, Seth Godin, and Tim Ferriss.

Not long thereafter Jon Goodman introduced his Viralnomics coaching group to personal trainers looking to build their online business.

He was my first business mentor and pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and start treating my business like, well…a business and not a hobby.

3. What advice would you give a coach looking to open a gym?

Think long and hard whether you’re ready to run a business. Today everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and a business owner, yet no-one ever tells you not everyone is meant to run a business.

There will be long days, short nights, lots of coffee, and a constant battle to improve. While some folks are built for this challenge others simply aren’t.

Make sure you’re truly willing to make the sacrifices needed to create something great from the ground up before exploring leases, equipment deals, and opening a brick and mortar facility.

4. The best book you’ve read about business and why?

The One Thing by Gary Keller – In an age where information travels faster than ever and there’s an endless supply of “tips, tricks, and hacks” it’s far too easy to get bogged down in the minutes.

Trainers looking to build their online business fall into the same trap many of our personal training clients do: getting stuck in a cycle of information overload and inaction.

The One Thing reinforces getting clear on your number one priority for the day, week, month, and year and makes taking action on accomplishing this task the most important focus.

Johnny Tea Strength Coach, Manual Therapist

1. At what point in your career did you realize that you needed to know more about the business side of coaching and how did you go about it?

As soon as I decided to go out on my own and become self-employed in 2008, I realized I needed to learn a ton more about the business side. As new trainers, we tend to start off by thinking to ourselves, “Oh, I don’t care about the money part. I just want to train people and the money will eventually come.”

As we all know, there’s a lot more to it than just winging it and seeing where it goes in business. I’ve always loved the quote “Plan your work and work your plan”. Write down your goals (both short term and long term), and continue chipping away.

I reached out to other fellow colleagues/friends, read books, attended workshops, and picked the brains of some of my clients with a business background, and even brainstormed ideas with a trusted friend (in this case my wife).

With all this information I gathered, I applied the ideas that made sense for my business and made adjustments if needed.

2. What were your go to people/resources that helped you expand your business knowledge?

I specifically reached out to people that I respected in our industry who had a ton of success. Eric Cressey, Pete Dupuis, Chad Landers, Mark Fisher, Tony Gentilcore, John Rusin, Dean Somerset, Eric Bach, Jordan Syatt, John Goodman, John Romaniello, and David Dellanave are just a few names that come to mind, but this list is honestly endless.

Important side note: make sure you go about reaching out to people the right way. Meet with them at workshops/seminars or offer to pay them for their input and time.

Genuinely try to develop a relationship with the person before seeking advice.

No one likes creepy needy people seeking free advice.

3. What advice would you give a coach looking to open a gym?

I would say first ask yourself: why do you want to open a gym? I don’t mean that in a negative way but it’s a valid question. Here are some important questions to consider:

  • Do you want to open a gym because you just want a big fancy building with your name on it?
  • Do you have enough clients to support a gym and what’s your strategy to attract new clients?
  • Have you considered the amount of money it would cost to get started? (Oh, and don’t forget about the hidden fees too).
  • Do you have the capital to cover you for at least 6 months, just in case your business doesn’t start booming like you expected?

A lot of people want to go big and open a gigantic facility like Cressey Sports Performance (awesome facility and people by the way), but are probably better off starting small.

I would recommend possibly considering training facilities/studios that allow you to rent out space. This will give you time to build up your clientele while keeping your overhead cost low.

4. The best book you’ve read about business and why?

This is a tough one because there’s so many good books. I really enjoyed “Ignite the Fire” and “Viralnomics” by Jon Goodman because they were written specifically for people in the fitness industry, and gave actionable steps on how to become successful.

Chris Diamantakos NSCA-CPT

1. At what point in your career did you realize that you needed to know more about the business side of coaching and how did you go about it?

When I decided to leave the gym, I was looking to start my own PT business. I realized I knew nothing about business and marketing. I had a small-time frame of six weeks to learn as much as I could and actually apply it.

I picked the brains of a few gym owners and successful freelance trainers I knew and had been directed to a couple fitness business coaches who could help.

2. What were your go to people/resources that helped you expand your business knowledge?

I ended up following Jonathan Goodman and theptdc.com. If you’re wondering why, it’s because Jon personally took the time to answer my questions and he seemed to truly care about improving the fitness industry by helping trainers and gym owners with business.

3. What advice would you give a coach looking to open a gym?

Spend a shit load of time figuring out the niche you want to service and become a true expert in that field.

Realize how you can help these people the most, and continue to work hard at being great. One quote that’s stuck with me from Jon since day 1 is:

“1. Do a really good job 2. Make sure everyone knows about it.“

4. The best book you’ve read about business and why?

There are obviously tons of great business resources out there but the one that’s helped me the most directly is “Ignite the Fire.” It’s specific to personal trainers and up to date in terms of marketing techniques.

Tony Gentilcore, You’re Reading His Site Right Now*

* You’re really smart

1. At what point in your career did you realize that you needed to know more about the business side of coaching and how did you go about it?

Not soon enough to be honest.

There’s still a huge part of me that feels I’m behind the curve when it comes to business acuity and savvy.

Then I think to myself, “Huh, I’m making a profit, I’m still getting a nice stream of new clients, and my landlord hasn’t given me an eviction notice yet…I’ve got to be doing something right!?”

To answer the question, though, it wasn’t soon after meeting (and then living with) Eric Cressey that I soon learned the err of my ways. It’s hard to be around a guy like that and not absorb his work ethic and be a little more in-tune with going the extra mile to get better.

If I had to be exact, I’d say the week Eric, myself, and Pete Dupuis decided to put our balls out there and open up Cressey Sports Performance – July 2007 – was when I finally diving head first into more business-related content.8

Alwyn Cosgrove was a major influence on us when we opened up CSP, and from there all I did was following the scent of other successful trainers/coaches – Mike Boyle, Joe Dowdell, Dan John, John Berardi, to name a few – and try to emulate what they read or did.

2. What were your go to people/resources that helped you expand your business knowledge?

Giving credit where it’s due, I feel I was able to live in this unique “learning business bubble” by being in the proximity of Eric and Pete for eight years (I left Cressey Sports Performance in the Fall of 2015).

When I decided to leave I was so scared and nervous.

I thought for sure I’d fail.

Low and behold I was quite surprised to realize I didn’t suck at business as much as I thought I would.

In fact, I took solace in something I used to hear Pete always say:

“99% of operating a profitable and efficient fitness facility is application of common sense.“

That sentence alone helped mute a lot of my self-doubt and negative self-talk about business.

I mean, in a sense, business can be dwindled down to one simple act:

Don’t spend more than you collect.

Does your facility really need that expensive leg press machine or life-size early 90’s Mariah Carey statue?

3. What advice would you give a coach looking to open a gym?

The holy grail in this industry is NOT owning a gym.

There’s a connotation that you’re only successful in this industry if you own a gym.

That’s bullshit. And if anyone wants to read more of my thoughts on that I’d encourage them to check THIS out.

I could sit here and wax poetic on all the reasons why someone would and would not want to open their own gym.

I’ll just say this: I think every trainer should work in a commercial setting for 2-5 years before the words “gym ownership” are uttered. It’s times used to learn the craft, to get really good, and to understand how to develop relationships with people from all walks of life.

4. The best book you’ve read about business and why?

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, hands down.

No one book has helped shape my approach to running my business than this book.

About the Author

 Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean, is an A.C.E Certified Personal Trainer working deep in the heart of Texas. Shane believes in balancing exercise with life while putting the fun back into both.

Categoriesbusiness

On Running a Fitness Business

Yesterday a friend of mine and amazing coach, Mike Perry of Skill of Strength, posted a list or treatise, if you will, on his Facebook page of things to consider when running a fitness business.

It was great.

I wanted to share them here with my own thoughts and additions.

Copyright: tankist276 / 123RF Stock Photo

On Running a Fitness Business…

1. You’re not going to get 50 leads a week. If you do, most of them are rubbish. Don’t bother clicking on that sponsored ad.

TG: The selfie video filmed from inside a private jet or with a group of models and a Camaro in the background should be a red flag enough.

The truth of matter is: allowing your business to grow organically via patience, hard work, and word of mouth is almost always going to “win out” over the quick gratification you’ll receive from dolling out a few hundred dollars to some fucktart who doesn’t even own a gym in the first place.

Guess what: Cressey Sports Performance didn’t spend one single dollar on advertising or marketing in the first five or so years we were open. 

However, we got people results. THAT’s what got people in the door.

Quit looking for the easy fixes, shut up, and do the work.

2. Systems matter. Make it as clear as possible.

TG: There should be as little ambiguity as possible here. When someone reaches out to me asking about training I give them the rundown:

Assessment cost this much. In the assessment we will cover “x,y, and z.” And, to keep things as transparent as possible I even send along my pricing sheet so they’re aware of expected costs should they choose to continue. 

Systems will vary depending on size of a facility. I mean, how I go about “systemizing” my way of doing things – as a one-man show – compared to when I was at CSP, tag-teaming responsibilities amongst a larger staff, needs to be taken into account.

Suffice it to say, verbiage used during an assessment (and with larger staffs, ensuring the same verbiage is used to coach and cue exercises), pricing, cancellation policies, collecting payments, how programs are dispersed, tracking of sessions, scheduling, what night is after hours Fight Club, all of it, needs to be systemized to prevent chaos.

3. You cannot do it all yourself. Well, you can for a bit. Eventually you will get burnt out.

TG:I’ll tell you this: It helps to have a very understanding partner. I can’t thank my wife enough for her support throughout the years.

“Oh, my bad babe, I can’t watch Scandal tonight because I’ve got programs to write.”

The thing about the fitness industry is that we work when others don’t. This is compounded when you factor in all the chores and responsibilities that percolate the “to do” list outside the actual hours of training clients.

Cleaning, bookkeeping, program writing, etc.

One thing I’ve done that has helped my life immensely is to hire a personal assistant. For the past year Keeley has performed all the tasks that are time sucks on my end: tracking sessions, doing some proofreading, keeping track of client’s birthdays, and other organizational shenanigans.

It allows me to focus more on the things that matter most: Netflix.

Just kidding.

I do feel some people are quick to turn their nose up on menial jobs like cleaning bathrooms and such. If you’ve just opened, and overhead is high, why “waste” money on something that’ll take you 15 minutes to accomplish.

I know some gym owners – and successful ones at that – you still do their own painting, assemblage of equipment, as well as cleaning duties. 

You’re not above it. If anything it builds character and more pride in the business.

But yeah, after awhile, getting some help is life-changing.

4. If you train 30 hours a week and you want your own place, plan on doubling that.

TG: When we opened up CSP, and for the first 1-2 years thereafter we’d all put in at least 10-12 hours per day, 6, sometimes 7 days per week.

It’s no fucking joke.

Please, don’t enamor yourself with the idea that gym ownership is the holy grail, top seat, in this industry.

There’s no secret club or handshake that you’re privy to once you own a gym. For many all it means is added debt and stress.

If you’re not a businessman, don’t open a gym. 

5. Social media matters. It’s a game that has to be played whether you like it or not.

TG: My tenets to social media:

  1. Engage with your audience. What’s the point of having it if you don’t take the time to answer questions and correspond with your followers?
  2. More times than not – and I understand this is tough given the current political and social climate – distancing yourself from political and religious commentary is best. NOTE: I actually had a new client confide in me that she left her previous trainer due to his proclivity at talking politics during sessions (and on social media). I’m not saying it’s wrong or that it should be avoided 100% of the time – I’ve dabbled in it occasionally – but everyone has to weigh the opportunity costs of doing so.
  3. The more you make it about YOUR CLIENTS and THEIR journey’s, the better.
  4. Share, share, share.
  5. Less selfies, more actionable content
  6. LOLCat memes are fair game though.

6. At first, train everyone. Eventually the energy vampires will leave and you will create a solid client base.

TG:I think this sage advice. I don’t want to touch it.

But I will anyways.

I’m lucky in that when I eventually decided to leave CSP and venture off on my own I had accrued 10+ years of experience and career capital. I had also developed enough of a name and reputation for myself via my writing that I could basically feed my Zod complex and people would just come to me.

 

Haha – just kidding.9

The bulk of people who start up with me are kinda already familiar with me and know what they’re getting themselves into.

I mean, my tagline is “Because Heavy Things Won’t Lift Themselves.” 

I wonder what would have happened if I named my place Toned Tony’s Palace of Techno and Tickle Fights?

7. If you are going to specialize in one thing, you should aim to be the best at it.

TG: Again, not much I need to add here as it speaks for itself.

There was a time at CSP when we were reticent to be accepted as the “baseball facility.” We were scared that if we did so we’d be leaving other business on the table.

We were wrong.

Thankfully, we (namely, Eric) saw that there was an underserved population out there and we took it upon ourselves to be THE guys to train baseball players.

I’d caution you to think you have to be a jack of all trades. Strive to be the best at one thing and I can almost guarantee you’ll crush.

So, whether you want to specialize in training certain athletes, powerlifters, fat-loss clients, postpartum, or bomb sniffing dolphins…own it.

8. Some days owning a business is awful.

TG: Makes me think of THIS post by Pete Dupuis on “hidden” costs to opening a fitness facility.

Owning a gym can be frustrating, tiring, stressful, and altogether a cornucopia of clusterfuckery. A valuable lesson I learned from Eric Cressey, though, is to not let any of that affect your ability to provide a welcoming and productive experience to your clients and athletes.

You still need to be able to shut all that out, smile, and go coach.

9. Some people are just jerks.

TG: Oh man, this could be a blog post on its own.

You learn to roll with the punches. My wife, a psychologist, is always quick to point out that most of the time when someone acts rudely or uncouth it rarely has anything to do with you as a person.

She’s a doctor and gives people the benefit of the doubt. I just point out they’re likely an insatiable a-hole.

“It’s too cold, it’s too hot, I don’t want to do this, I hate this exercise, the music sucks, I feel fat, it’s Thursday, blah blah blah.”

The beauty about owning your own spot is that you don’t have to take them on as a client, or, worse case (and this RARELY happens), you fire them.

10. If potential clients say things like ” it’s too much money” or ” do you have anything cheaper” they are most likely going to be a pain in the butt. It’s ok to say no.

TG: All I’ll say here is that I wrote an article on why I don’t think it’s a good idea to discount your rates or offer free sessions HERE.

This Isn’t It

Mike actually made a list of 20 things, and I want to chime in on all of them. I think this post is long enough and we’re at a good point where we can stop and take a few breaths.

READ: I need to go pee. Plus, I need to go coach.

I’ll post points 11-20 next week. Till then, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Categoriesbusiness

The Art of Getting Your Shit Together

Getting your shit together is a skill that escapes even the best intentioned and seemingly organized people. This is especially true in the fitness industry, where the expectation is we work while others don’t. All…the…time.

In today’s guest post by Chicago-based strength coach, Mike Connelly, owner of Rebell Strength & Conditioning, he shares some of his insights on how to balance the teeter-tottering of work/life balance.

Copyright: vicnt / 123RF Stock Photo

The Art of Getting Your Shit Together

If you read Tony’s last blog, The Grind: Hashtags, BS, Truth, and a Little Too Much at Times, and found yourself questioning your value in “the grind” then I have some good news for you. You’re not alone. I hate “the grind”. Can’t stand it.

You know what I like? I like spending time with my wife and daughter. I like going out for some drinks with my friends on the weekends. I like reading books that have nothing to do with what I do for a living. I like watching documentaries. I just really, really, really like not working.

There, I said it and I meant it.

Don’t get me wrong. I do like coaching people. I like managing a team, setting goals, and accomplishing goals too. But, and I’m going to steal a gem of a thought from our industry, I want to use the minimum effective dose to get that shit done.

If we want to cut the fat off of our work load then we are going to have to first determine what is fat and what is essential to our success. It takes some effort and help to get your shit together but I can tell you, without hesitation, that it is well worth the trouble.

Here’s a couple of things that helped me get my shit together. I hope they help you too!

1) Make Sure You’re On the Right Path.

We spend a lot of time outside of ourselves these days. We are heavily influenced by the outside world, leaving little to nothing coming from within ourselves. That can be a huge detriment to our productivity. A lack of confidence in creating our own paths leads us to chasing someone else’s and we end up completely void of any idea of what WE want out of this.

When I first started coaching I had this idea that I wanted to be that guy that can rattle off a bunch of science terminology and statistics from studies and that would legitimize me as a coach. I was overcompensating for never having finished school and thought it was going to keep me from ever being successful.

I wanted to follow the path of the coaches I admired, which is logical. Here’s the thing though, I was chasing a ghost. I am not the coaches I admire. I am just me and that’s just fine. I don’t have a laundry list of pro athletes that I train. I do work with some, but the overwhelming majority of my business is with general population clients.

Do they need me to recite Anatomy Trains to them for them to achieve their goals? Nope. Do I need to revolutionize training to grow my business and make people happy? Nope.

Here’s what I need:

  • I need to create a community that provides comfort and motivation to those that choose to be a part of it.
  • I need to be competent in the basic training facets. In my book, that’s one form of an assessment, one method of movement preparation, a solid template to build my programs from and an understanding of what differentiates programs, and a reliable network that I can refer my clients to should a problem arise that is outside of my lane.

Believe me, if you find one of each of these facets, that is all you need. If it works, it works. No need to pile on.

The point here is that while it took a while, I have finally found MY path. In discovering that, I have been able to cut the fat off of my to do list and save myself a ton of time. If you want to know what will make you happy in your work, the answer lies within you and not on social media.

2) Huge Dumps Are Healthy.

For a very long time I lived under the lie that I didn’t need to write things down to be organized and productive. My thought was that my accomplishments to this point were proof that my “system” worked.

That’s special, isn’t it?

What I was disregarding is the fact that regardless of what my perception of my level of success and happiness to this point was (which were somewhat miraculous considering the dumpster fire that I have going on in my head sometimes), tightening the screws on your processes is never a bad idea.

Enter the brain dump.

Every Sunday I perform a ritual. I lather myself in shea butter, light my favorite candles, put on some Yanni and spend an hour inside my head. Some of that is true. Well, ok, it’s an hour that I spend inside my head.

It is somewhat of a ritual though.

I do get away from “the noise” to center myself and dig through the rocks inside my head. Not literal rocks, although if you have met me before you may wonder. I use “rocks” in the sense that it is used in Gino Wickman’s book, Traction. “Rocks” are the big things that I want to get done in the long term. They are my big goals that are comprised of a ton of smaller points to work through.

While a legit list of “rocks” is going to be relatively small, the action steps that get you to your “rocks” can be lengthy and hard to keep track of. Unless of course you take some time every week to check yo’self.

A good brain dump will clear your head, relieve you of stress, and leave you with a list of steps that will help you dominate your work week in a clean and efficient manner. Knock that shit out every Sunday afternoon and I will bet you dollars to donuts that you will sleep like a baby come Sunday night. That’s right! No more Sunday Scaries (that’s what my wife calls stressed induced insomnia)!

Brain dumps are not only good for clearing your head, but they will keep you laser focused throughout the week. Keep that list with you and use it as a guideline for what you need to get done. This will keep people like me that get distracted by shiny objects on task. It might take some practice and getting used to, but once you get it down you will not know how you survived without it!

3) Find Your Bible

Now that you’ve dumped your brain out what are you going to do with what you came up with?

Figuring this out wasn’t easy for me because even though I had started doing my brain dumps, I was still left with the task of organizing all of it’s products. It’s a legit obstacle that presents itself in different ways to everyone. The key is to find some sort of tool that works best with how your brain works.

My good friend, Todd Bumgardner, uses a notebook. He’s a hipster. If something like that works for you, go for it.

I need a little more structure and flow. Something that looks and performs cleaner. For me, the Action Day Planner works like a charm. It has a simple and manageable layout that does not confuse my apish mind.

Does it matter what you use?

No. Just use something that you can log all of your brain dumps and weekly notes in for easy reference. Anything above legal paper folded into your pocket should suffice but it’s going to depend on your style and what you need to keep up with the task. I suggest that you not just buy any old planner. Shop around and flip through them until you find one that makes sense to you.

And That’s That

There it is. Three things that will help you organize your grind and leave you with as much time as possible to do the things that we actually want to do. And let’s face it, if you are telling us that working more is something you actually want to do, you are full of it.

If you would like to gain a deeper understanding of how I have successfully organized my time and so much more, join us in Chicago on May 6th and 7th for the Spring Strength Faction Seminar. HERE is a link with more information

Categoriesbusiness fitness business

3 Steps to Fail-Proof Your Gym

A few weeks ago I received a text from my good friend (and former business partner) Pete Dupuis. He and I are both obsessed with Jason Bourne, so the first part of the message contained some sort of arbitrary reference to David Webb. We’re cool like that. The second part, though, asked if I’d interested in him writing a blog post on why me leaving Cressey Sports Performance and opening CORE was a good idea.

Apparently it was a topic that popped into his head during a 3AM, sleep-deprived haze as he was attending to his newborn son. Creative juices can strike at any moment I guess. This is good news given my wife and I are expecting at the end of January.

Anyways, I said “of course,” and what follows is, well, pretty freakin awesome. I’ve always said that gym ownership is NOT for everyone and that industry peeps need to erase the notion from their mind that the only way to “make it” is to sign a lease.

I fought the idea of gym ownership for as long as I could, until I couldn’t any longer. Until it made sense. 

Enjoy.

3-steps-to-fail-proof-your-gym

Opening a Gym? Do These 3 Things First

Just over a year ago Tony Gentilcore made the difficult decision to walk away from Cressey Sports Performance. After more than 8 years of coaching, learning, and business development, it was time to step out from behind the CSP curtain and let the Gentilcore brand loose on the local fitness community.

Tony made the right move; I’m proud of him.

Here we are just a year later, and he’s flipped his world upside down…in a good way. In the past 12 months, he’s presented on multiple continents, recorded a fitness product alongside Dean Somerset, conceived his first child10, and gone from independent contractor to full-blown fitness facility owner.

I want to show you why Tony’s decision to open his own gym (one that thousands of people fail at each year) is extremely likely to succeed. Here are three important things he did in advance of pulling the trigger on this venture to ensure that he see a return on his investment:

1) Tony Accrued TONS of Career Capital

In a field where the barrier to entry is essentially the internet access you need to secure an online fitness certification, Tony has taken an increasingly rare route to “expert” status; he actually set foot on a gym floor for thousands of hours and earned the title.

Coming out of college, he worked split shifts in a corporate fitness setting and would eventually transition to a commercial gym personal training role for multiple years before helping to launch Cressey Sports Performance (CSP).

Tony then proceeded to accumulate more than 10,000 hours of time functioning as a strength coach here at CSP (actually closer to 12,000 – I did the math). When you add up the time spent coaching in all three settings, it is safe to say that he piled up something in the vicinity of 20,000 hours on “a” gym floor prior to announcing the birth of “CORE” to the fitness world. That’s more than 830 entire days of lessons learned, people.

tg-coaching

In more than a decade of build up to CORE, Tony experienced multiple training models, learned to sell effectively in each, and identified his ideal business model and coaching format. He’s also been an employee, an employer, and an influencer in the development of a recognizable fitness brand.

Now I want you to stop and think about all of the gyms you are aware of. Can you name a single founder of one of these businesses with more relevant experience than Tony going in to the launch?

Don’t waste too much time trying to identify someone; this person doesn’t exist.

2) He Accumulated Good Will from Industry Influencers

Gyms that could be fantastic fail every day because of extensive competition. It’s nearly impossible to find a desirable location for your gym that is not already overflowing with competitive exercise alternatives. The unique advantage that Tony possessed coming in to this process wasn’t his funny blogs or his ability to instruct the perfect Turkish getup – it was his network.

tg-cheeky

On the day that he formally announced his departure from CSP on his Facebook page, Tony accumulated 644 “likes” and more than 100 comments wishing him luck and positively reinforcing the move. If you work your way through the comment section, you’ll quickly realize that it reads like the “who’s who” of our little fitness bubble.

The good will didn’t stop there; he went on to record more than a half dozen podcasts discussing his next step and ultimately saw his message reach the far ends of the online fitness community. People were talking. Everyone was talking. Leads started rolling in in the form of emails, and messages on Facebook and Twitter. He wasn’t opening the doors to his business at the same starting line as his competition. Tony was working with a stacked deck.

The lesson here isn’t that you need to spend your time and energy attempting to convince people to share your message on the internet. Instead, it is that you should spend more time making friends than you do accumulating enemies. You’ll be hard-pressed to find somebody who dislikes Tony in this field.

You can’t just ask for a spot on a popular podcast like The Fitcast simply because you need to announce your new business venture. Instead, focus on earning that trust and fostering relationships over time so that when the moment comes for you to take a professional jump the way that Tony did, the most influential people in our field are lining up to ask how they can help.

3) He Didn’t Overreach

Aspiring gym owners aren’t always effective at separating the difference between wants and needs. Sure, you want a 10,000 square foot gym outfitted with $100K in Keiser equipment, but do you need it to be profitable and happy?

Instead of dreaming up his perfect space and building accordingly, Tony started by outlining his perfect lifestyle and began constructing a business model and gym that allowed him to maintain it.

core-white

While most are asking themselves how many power racks and platforms they can cram in to a unit, Tony was wondering how much square footage he’d need to be able to coach clients 20-ish hours per week while leaving enough time to publish 100+ blogs annually and also be a present father in the very near future.

Being a new gym owner doesn’t mean that you have to work 7-days per week in year one. Tony assumed responsibility for an 800 square foot space, negotiated a tenant-friendly lease agreement, and identified a pair of likeminded coaches who were willing to pay their share of the rent in an independent contracting format. He was hardly stretching himself thin.

Tony “took the leap,” but in doing so, manipulated the risk to maximize an efficient journey to the inevitable success he set himself up for leading up to his move.

About the Author

Pete Dupuis is the Vice President and business director of Cressey Sports Performance, one of the premier training facilities in North America. He also learned how to deadlift from Tony Gentilcore back in 2006. True story.

He writes a very successful website targeting the “fitness business” crowd HERE and you can also follow his shenanigans on Twitter HERE.

Categoriesbusiness Motivational

Unexpected Entrepreneurial Shenanigans

“Unexpected entrepreneurial shenanigans.”

Those were the three words I wrote in the blank space describing my reason for having to cancel a Skype call with a marketing group recently.

Copyright: olegdudko / 123RF Stock Photo
Copyright: olegdudko / 123RF Stock Photo

 

I happily picked a time to reschedule and no more than an hour later received an email from one of the gentlemen I was supposed to meet up with more or less giving me kudos for coming up with the best “line” for canceling a meeting he had ever heard.11

I didn’t like cancelling, and I felt like a dick, but I was being honest.

Being an entrepreneur, is, in many cases, organized chaos. Emphasis on the chaos part.

Since leaving Cressey Sports Performance coming up on a year now, and embarking on some opportunities here in Boston, I wanted to share some quick tidbits, lessons learned, advice, and holy-shit-don’t-do-that-again moments I’ve learned as a newly minted “entrepreneur.”

I’m An Entrepreneur, I Guess.

To be clear, I don’t necessarily walk around referring to myself as an entrepreneur. As in: “Oh, hello, my name is Tony Gentilcore, entrepreneur.12 Maybe if my name was Elon Musk I could pull that off. But until I start sending rockets to Mars I’ll keep my mouth shut.

However, I’d be remiss not to point out that, since 2006 (when I first started writing) I’ve been busy building a “brand” that has become fairly recognizable within fitness/health circles. Despite having not officially become a “gym owner” since this year, in many ways I’ve worn the entrepreneurial hat for about a decade. And, honestly, if you’re in this industry as a personal trainer or coach, and even if you work in a commercial gym setting, all that follows still applies.

On to the pontification.

1) Books Are Cool. But They’re Books, Not Real Life.

I’m a firm believer that if you’re a fitness professional your reading or continuing education should be divided 50/48/2.

50% = Training, program design, assessment, exercise science, nutrition, or anything related to the fitness industry specifically.

48% = Business or personal development

2% = LOLCats

Admittedly, I didn’t hop on the business/personal development train until I met Eric Cressey, but ever since, I’ve been a staunch behavioral economics nerd. I devour books by the likes of Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Ariely, Chip & Dan Heath, Charles Duhigg, and the Freakonomics badasses.

It also helps I’m married to a psychologist. So getting into “lets communicate and talk about our feelings mode” isn’t uncharted territory for me.13

I feel it behooves any fitness professional to take the initiative and divide their reading material.

There’s only so much about squat mechanics you can digest that will have a carry over to your business success. If you have no idea what the term “overhead” means, how the Self-Determination Theory steers a lot of what we do as coaches, whether or not you should apply for an LLC, or have any idea how to create lead generation, you need to expand your horizons outside of Supertraining.

But take all of those business books with a grain of salt.

I’ll note, and this is something Mark Fisher brought up last weekend, most of the books you find on the New York Times Best Seller list are aimed at Fortune 500 companies. The authors write them in the hopes of getting hired by said companies as an consultant. As a result many of the “systems” and protocols they discuss in their books have little weight with a fitness facility of 1-10 employees.

Still read them. Just understand that what’s written on paper won’t always apply to real life if your company isn’t named Apple or GE.

2) Get an Accountant

Waaay back in the day, circa 2007, when we first opened CSP, I learned a hard lesson in money management.

Up until that point I had always been “employed” in the sense that I had taxes taken out of my pay check and then received a W2 at the end of each tax season.

Neither scenario happened back in 2007.

And while I wasn’t an idiot and understood the concept behind paying quarterly self-employment taxes, for lack of a better term, I effed up.

Like, royally.

Needless to say it didn’t take long for me to learn my lesson, and to hire an accountant. I’ve had the same one since 2008 and my man-crush on him grows each year.

He tells me what I can and cannot write off14, and also tells me where to siphon my money in order to better prepare for unexpected events and to better prepare for retirement.

He’s the man.

So, get an accountant, preferably one who’s familiar with the fitness industry (which mine is). The money you spend on him/her will more than pay for itself.

3) Find YOUR Work-Life Balance

I’m at a cool stage in my career. CORE – my training studio in Boston – is exactly what I need it to be.

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Many reading know the story, but as a quick refresher: I left CSP in the fall of 2015. After eight years it was just time to leave. No weirdness or animosity or knife fights ensued. Initially – from Nov 2015 through June 2016 – I was sub-leasing space/time at an already existing studio underneath a woman who owned it.

It was a perfect scenario as I had ZERO interest in owning or running my own gym. I think there’s this weird “thing” in the industry where we’re programmed to think the holy grail is to own a gym, and that you’ve MADE IT once that happens.

That’s a bunch of bullshit. Gym ownership is not for everyone.

I ended up paying an hourly rent and could train however many clients I wished any way I wished (semi-private). Plus, it was only a mile from my apartment. And I could blast techno. #winning

June 2016: Circumstances arose where the person I was sub-leasing under was not going to renew her lease. She asked if I’d want to take it over? My initial reaction:

via GIPHY

Long Story Short:

In running the numbers – overhead (rent, liability insurance, utilities), additional equipment cost, miscellaneous stuff like hiring painters, flooring, making of new logo and sign, black lights and disco balls (kidding) – it was going to be cheaper for me to take it over.

That is, assuming I could maintain my current clients (I did), have systems in place to “recruit” new clients (always a work in progress), and have 1-2 trainers sub-leasing under me to help with rent.

Also, I knew I didn’t want to be coaching 25, 30, 40 hours per week. I could change my mind, but I don’t have much interest in growing CORE to CSP levels. As of today all I need is a (badass) space to train my clients 15-20 hours per week, and an open schedule to still pursue my writing endeavors, distance coaching and travel schedule, working on some fitness products, and time to practice my light saber skills.

It was the right fit for me.

It’s different for everyone…but finding YOUR work-life balance is crucial. Not only for long-term success (whatever that means to you), but for sanity, overall level of happiness, and fulfillment too.

[NOTE: I’d head over to Eric Cressey’s site and do a search for “developing revenue streams” if I were you. It’s what will allow you to reduce your coaching volume and build on your total income if that’s something you’re interested in.]

4) Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help

This is the part which served as the impetus of this post. I cancelled that initial meeting because, in many ways, I’m a one man show.

I write the programs and coach all my clients, I’m the one who writes all the blog posts (sans the guest posts, but even those take time to format), I’m the one who answers all the emails, interacts on social media, collects payments, schedules, and cleans the facility. And none of this takes into account the clusterfuck of fuckedness that goes into launching your first product (Ahem, Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint coming very, very soon), and other things such as podcast appearances, writing responsibilities for other sites, and you know, spending quality time with my wife.

Oh, and I’m expected to be jacked. So, there’s that too.

It’s only been recently I’ve asked for help. You can’t expect to do everything. Well, you can…it’s just the likelihood of you doing everything well – and without driving yourself crazy – is slim.

I hired a “virtual assistant,” Keeley, and she’s been a life-saver.

NOTE: Keeley is a real-live person. I just mostly interact with her via email.

She came recommended to me via another colleague, and the cool thing – and this is something for you, dear reader, to consider – is that I “pay” her with programs and coaching (and fist bumps).

It’s a trade-barter situation. She runs various administrative tasks for me and helps me stay more organized and less likely to light my face on fire, and I write her programs and help guide her towards deadlifting dominance.

Win-win.

5) Consider Your Toilet Paper

This tip from Sol Orwell, entrepreneurial master:

“As an entrepreneur, it is VERY important that you get the small details right. That’s what separates the haves from the have-nots.

As such, here’s a pro-tip on leadership: the toilet paper should roll down from the top, NOT the bottom.

You’re welcome.”

The seemingly trivial stuff matters. Not having a clean facility matters. Not dressing professionally matters. Not taking out the garbage matters. Replacing broken equipment matters. Playing Beyonce radio when your female clients demand it matters. Smiling (even when you’re having a bad day) matters.

BOOM.

Categoriesbusiness

Announcing CORE: Remember When I Said I Never Wanted To Own a Gym? Yeah, About That

Some of you may recall a blog I wrote a few months ago titled I’m Not a Businessman, I’m a Business, Man.

36100738 - strong businessman

Copyright: fotogestoeber / 123RF Stock Photo

I spilled my heart into that post and revealed a few personal things. Namely, that after leaving Cressey Sports Performance to pursue other opportunities, I had zero interest in ever running or owning my own gym.

[More to the point: I wanted to iterate to fitness pros that the “end-game” in this industry is not gym ownership, that success should not be dictated by whether or not you own a gym, and that, contrary to popular belief, you can do quite well in this industry – with a lot of hardwork, consistency, and expectation management – without that monkey on your back.]

After watching Pete and Eric in action for over eight years I came to the conclusion that “business” wasn’t my strong suit.15 My strengths weren’t in dealing with spreadsheets, client retention strategies, marketing, ROI, scheduling, and endless phone conversations with parents, athletes, prospective clients, scouts, and Comcast.

Moreover, I wanted no part in worrying about overhead (rent, payroll, equipment replacement, etc) or any other “unexpected” snafus such as CAM expenses, trash removal, and which insurance policies were the best fit for the the business.

You know, Health Insurance, Liability Insurance, In-Case-The Avengers-Show-Up-and-Wreck-Shit-Up-Collateral-Damage Insurance.

When we opened CSP I recognized that my strengths resided in being on the floor, coaching, demonstrating to young athletes that the garbage they listen to today is not hip-hop, and serving as brand ambassador. I’d let Pete and Eric take the reigns on “building” the business.16

Of course, in hindsight, despite my aversion to being a “businessman” in the ten years I’ve been in Boston (eight of which were at CSP) I did end up building a “business,” in that my brand – Tony Gentilcore – became a thing.

Thanks in large part to both Eric and Pete I was able to leverage the CSP brand to facilitate the growth of my own.

Over the years I have seen my website grow in popularity, I’ve become a published author in many of the most reputable fitness publications out there, I’ve been invited to speak in places such as Seattle, LA, DC, Chicago, Sydney, London, and Prague for crying out loud, and ticker tape parades have been held in my honor. <—- Only a slight exaggeration.

Not too shabby for a kid from Groton, NY.

When I left CSP, however, I decided the best fit for me was to sub-lease space. Gym ownership wasn’t for me. I connected with a woman who already had a training studio she was leasing (a mile from my apartment no less) and she was kind enough to allow me to vomit strength and conditioning all over the place and bring in my own equipment to utilize the space. At the end of each month she tallies the number of hours I use it and I pay “rent.”

It’s a beautiful set-up. This way I can still train people throughout the week, yet without the responsibility of running a gym. I show up, I make people awesome, I leave, repeat. I still have ample time to film interpretive dance videos write, take care of my distance coaching clients, and travel for speaking engagements whenever necessary.

It’s the life I’ve been living since October of 2015.

And then this happened a few weeks ago:

Introducing CORE

I now “own” a gym. It’s called CORE.17

Own is in parenthesis because it’s not like I said “f*** it, I’m done with sub-leasing and I’m going to open up a 20,000 sq. ft facility in downtown Boston complete with state-of-the-art equipment, parking, and a juice bar that serves gluten-free, dairy-free, non-GMO protein shakes with organic unicorn tears.”

That’s not even close to what happened. (Mostly because I don’t have a bazillion dollars).

Circumstances arose where the woman whom I was sub-leasing from had her dream-job come to fruition and she decided not to renew the lease. She then asked if I’d be interested in taking it over? To which I responded…

Oh. Hell. No! in #JenniferLawrence

However, after putting pen to paper, hyperventilating into a paper bag running some numbers, and discussing things over with Lisa, it made sense to maybe give it a whirl.

Besides it would have been a nuisance to try to sell or find storage for all the equipment I had purchased, not to mention attempting to find another space to train people out of sounded about as much fun as a prostate exam.

Plus, did I mention the studio is a mile from my apartment?

It’s a mile from my apartment.

Basically, there was no denying the convenience factor. And thanks to my wife’s support (and the lessons learned observing Eric and Pete all those years) the concept wasn’t too too daunting.

So, long story short: as of June 1st I took over the lease and have been busy in the time since making the space more aesthetically “me.”

  • Having more flooring/turf put in, purchasing some new equipment & storage items, and having a platform made.
  • New paint on the walls.
  • New logo (seen ^^^) and decals to go on the store front.
  • Adding in a smoke machine, black lights, and disco ball.

It’s nothing fancy-pants, but I’m pretty excited and darn proud of the initial result.

If you’re located in or around Boston (or stopping by Boston to visit)…don’t hesitate to reach out. Deadlifts and Tiesto will be waiting…;o)

Excuse me while I go try not to destroy the back of my pants.

Trial Run of Untitled 6-Week Beginner Course Coming Soon.

In the very near future CORE will be offering a 6-week beginner program designed to educate and prime people to become their own best health/fitness advocate.

The Initial Deets

1. The course will be six weeks, meeting 3x per week in a group setting (~2-4 per class), where the objective is to learn and hammer the basics, enhance movement quality, instill a sense of accountability and intent with training, and set the framework to make you more autonomous.

2. There will also be a nutrition and mindset component, where every other weekend the idea is to sit in on presentations and have questions answered from a Registered Dietician as well as an Exercise/Behavior Change Psychologist (Spoiler Alert: the psychologist is Lisa).

3. It will serve as a wonderful opportunity to surround yourself with like-minded people and become a part of a community who’s sole purpose is to help increase your general level of badassery.

4. Only 8-12 spots will be made available to start. And I’m not saying this to suggest a false sense of urgency or as a way to lure people in. I’m not kidding, only 8-12 spots will be made available.

5. Attendance subject to spontaneous rap battles.

I’d love to find out if there’s any interest in this sort of program from people in the Boston area. If so, please contact me via the “Contact” tab at the top of the website and I’d be happy to provide more details.