This past weekend, I had the honor and privilege of speaking at Andy McCloy and Luka Hocevar’s Built to Last Gym mentorship in Nashville, Tennessee.
These guys have been so influential in my career, and they’re two of the best friends a guy could ask for.
Not only are they real coaches and real business owners, but they’re two of the realest guys I know as well.
The thing that I love the most about their group, though, is that it’s led with one simple premise:
Training and coaching comes first.
In other words, no sales tactics or marketing campaigns can save your business if you’re not great at what you do.
My talk was all about education, and how we created some truly elite coaches at IFAST – coaches that ultimately went on to work:
- In the NBA,
- MLB,
- For major corporations like Google and EXOS, or
- Develop kick-ass training studios of their own.
Now as much as I love speaking at these events and giving back, I also love to attend because they make me think and reflect on where I’m at as a coach, business owner, and just in life.
So here are 7 big things that I took away from this past weekend – I hope they help!
#1 – Build Calendar Discipline
This was a great example of “Perfect message, perfect time.”
As entrepreneurs, sometimes it’s hard to manage all of the day-to-day comings and goings of running your business.
Now factor in the fact that I’m running TWO businesses and you can imagine why I might feel a bit all over the place 😉
But here’s the important thing most people don’t tell you…
…it’s not just the doing of the standard, everyday things that’s important.
Instead, it’s doing the big picture, low-urgency/high importance tasks that really move the needle in your business!
So while I’ve been trying to “create space” in my calendar for the last month, I took Andy’s advice here and went all in on locking in and refining my calendar.
Basically, my goal now is to take all of those tasks – big and small – and carve out a specific time for them each week.
And if it’s not in the calendar, it doesn’t count!
Now instead of thinking about writing an article, I’ve got a set time to do it.
Updating finances and managing money? Yep got a spot for that, too.
But perhaps more importantly, I’ve now carved out specific times to work on my big-picture projects (like building out movement model) so that it actually gets done.
Now I realize that there’s a big difference between putting it on the calendar and actually doing it, but I’m pretty excited about this as the “doing” has rarely been the issue for me.
#2 – Make More Offers
If you came up in a certain era of fitness, it almost felt slimy to make offers.
I think a big part of this was due to the fact that many of the OG sales trainers in our space made you feel a little gross, and the last thing we (as high-level trainers and coaches) wanted to do was come across like that.
But here’s the thing – I think many of us went TOO FAR in the other direction.
We assumed that if we did great work, by some act of nature, the right people would find us and hire us to work for them.
And while that sounds great, I can assure with 100% confidence it does not work!
In fact, if you’re not constantly creating offers and putting them out into the world, it’s a sure fire way for your business to continue for struggle for months or years on end.
Now before you think I’m just going to spam you incessantly and pitch offers on the daily, I always think of our relationship (i.e. me and you) as one of mutual benefit.
I’m going to create great content that helps you move and feel better, coach and cue more effectively, or write better programs.
And as part of that agreement, you allow me to pitch my products and services to you if they can help you do things in a faster or more efficient manner.
For me, it’s always been about leading with trust and education first.
If you trust that I know what I’m doing, and that I have your best interests at heart, you’re more willing to work with me anyways.
So make more offers. Period.
#3 – More–>Better–>New
One of the biggest mistakes trainers, coaches and business owners make is always shifting to “new” things.
For instance, instead of giving their client or athlete a few weeks (or months!) to figure out that squat pattern, they immediately pivot and try something else.
First it’s deadlifts.
Then it’s split-squats.
But in this case, you don’t really know what works – or how to coach and cue something effectively – because you’ve never stuck with something long enough to really test it out!
The same can be said for selling in your business. For example, you might think you suck as a salesperson because you closed 0 out of 3 sales last week.
But is that really the case?
Sure, you might’ve gone 0/3, but your volume was really low.
So instead of thinking you need to switch sales tactics, maybe you just need a lot more reps instead?
Instead of 3 sales appointments, how much better would you get if you could do 30? Or 100? Or 300?
Hormozi talks about this all the time. While you’re creating 7 pieces of social media content per week, he’s creating hundreds.
So who is going to get better faster – the person creating 1 piece of social media content every day?
Or the one that’s creating 30, 40 or 50?
So the first step in this equation is simply to do more.
Coach and cue more reps.
Take more sales calls.
Create more content.
Once you’ve done hundreds or thousands of reps, then work on really getting better.
Subtly start to tweak things to see what works.
Refine your approach.
Dial things in to a T.
Then the final step in the equation is to start learning and trying NEW things.
But don’t start with “new” when you don’t even know what works!
#4 – Is Your Core Offering ELITE?
I’m going to lean on my own presentation here, because I think this could be valuable – even if it stings a little bit at first.
Over the 17 years I’ve run IFAST, I’ve been surrounded by hundreds of entrepreneurs and attended close to 100 fitness events.
And in many instances, fitness entrepreneurs cite things like…
- Their social media presence,
- Their marketing funnel,
- Their sales tactics,
- The equipment they have in the gym, or
- The location of the gym
…as the reason they aren’t successful.
Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you those things aren’t important, because they absolutely are.
However, before you blame those things, I want you to ask yourself a couple questions first:
- Using a scale of 1-10, how highly would I rate my program design and coaching?
- Am I providing what I consider to be a truly elite service that clients/athletes can’t get from other gyms similar to ours? And
- If push came to shove and money got tight, would my clients/athletes continue to train with me because my value is that high?
Now if you can answer those with a ton of confidence and know the value you’re bringing to the table, then by all means lock in on the business issues that are holding you back.
But if there’s any hesitation or a lack of confidence in the quality of your training and coaching, then you absolutely must fix that first.
Figure out what’s holding you back, and make it your #1 priority in life to get better at it.
Because once your core product is truly elite and second to none, everything in your life gets easier.
Sales improve because people know you’ve got the goods.
They stick with you longer and magically your retention improves.
And lo and behold, you’re getting even more referrals because you’re an awesome trainer and coach who’s getting real results.
I know this sounds simple, and it kind of is.
But if you’re training and coaching aren’t top notch, you need to lock this in ASAP!
#5 – If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes
I realize this statement kind of falls in the “No Duh” category, but that doesn’t mean it’s not 100% fact.
How many times have you gotten a piece of advice you really needed to hear, only to totally ignore it?
Or realize you were missing the mark on something, but made zero effort to address it?
Look friend – we’re living in a day and age where information is so easy to obtain.
All you have to do is punch your questions into Google or ChatGPT and you have all the answers to your problems at your fingertips.
But if YOU don’t change, then it’s all for naught.
So take a hard look in the mirror, figure out what in your life needs changing, and then do it!
You can thank me later.
#6 – Get Clear on YOUR Vision
One thing I was surprised by after my talk was how many people were shocked that I had moved IFAST from employees to independent contractors.
I mean with all humility, we had a pretty damn good run in the 2010’s, so why on Earth would I change that up?
It’s simple – because running a gym with employees, and all the responsibilities that came along with that – were no longer part of my life vision.
Instead, I wanted to focus on what I consider to be my superpowers:
- I wanted to write programs and train clients/athletes who want to get the absolute most out of their bodies, and
- I wanted to spend more time educating trainers and coaches to help THEM get even better results with their clients and athletes.
So I hit a fork in the road – either I could continue doing everything in my life at about 70% of my best, or I could start to hack away things that were no longer serving me.
Now don’t get it twisted – this is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my life, and needless to say the path from 2021-2025 was NOT easy.
But ultimately, I’ve now created a life that’s congruent with my vision and goals for myself.
So that’s the big takeaway for you – it doesn’t matter what makes other people happy.
Or what they want to spend their time and energy on.
Instead, figure out what’s most important to YOU, get clear on YOUR vision for YOURSELF, and then create a life and career that reflect that.
Simple, but not easy.
#7 – Spend More Time Around REAL People
I can’t stress this one highly enough…
…the Internet and social media ARE NOT real life.
I’ll say that again:
Social media and the Internet ARE NOT real life.
While social media is all about the flex, the clout, and building a curated image of yourself, it’s amazing what happens when you get around real people in real life.
Those walls come down.
They open up.
And they’re willing to share what’s going on in their life – both the good and the bad.
At at the risk of sounding all woo-woo, I’d dare to say this is something we all need a little bit more of.
Being around real trainers, coaches and entrepreneurs is good for the soul.
We remember that we’re not on “Trainer Island,” and that other people out there are dealing with the same issues we are.
And while it doesn’t last forever, there’s definitely some residual energy that’s derived from being around great people.
So that’s my final message – yes you can learn from the comfort of your own home.
But there’s still no replacing going to live events, learning in real time, and surrounding yourself with real people.
So look at that 2026 calendar, find an event that interests you, and make it happen.
Summary
Okay my friends, that does it for today.
These little recaps are great for me, as it helps me reflect and organize all my thoughts after a big event.
But I hope it was useful for you as well!
Whether it’s locking in your calendar, becoming elite at your craft, or finding an awesome event to attend in 2026, I hope you’ll find something in this article that helps YOU move the needle in the weeks and months to come!
All the best,
MR
P.S. – You knew a pitch was coming! But always in good taste, and whenever you’re ready…
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#3 – Ready to move and feel like an athlete again?
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