Why Third Place is the New First

Most days begin with my 15-month-old son taking down a 6oz bottle on my lap as I watch the morning news.  One morning, back in late February, I recognized a home being featured on the local news broadcast as firefighters battled a serious blaze.  The fire began in a second floor bedroom which was once the childhood room of a long-time CSP client.  The athlete I speak of happens to be the same Sahil I mentioned in my Key-Man Risk blog a few weeks back. 

Sahil is no longer a regular here in Massachusetts, as he has long-since transitioned from high school to college, and eventually from college to the “real world”.  He now lives and works in California, which is exactly where he was when he woke up to a text from me asking if his parents were safe and healthy.  He soon connected with his family and was informed that their home was no longer viable.  Thankfully, while material items were lost, everyone involved was safe and sound.

Upon learning this sad news, Sahil’s employer booked him for a first-class seat on a red eye from San Francisco to Boston with the instructions not to return to California until he was done comforting his parents.  That, my friends, is how you properly demonstrate empathy as an employer.  However, it is not the point of my story…

When Sahil finally made it across the country and arrived in MA the following morning, his first stop was for breakfast with his heartbroken parents.  I’d imagine they hugged, they cried, they reminisced, and they ate some therapeutic pancakes.  After the meal, he sent his parents back to an unfamiliar hotel room where he hoped they’d get some sleep after a difficult couple of days. 

Where did he go next?  He showed up at Cressey Sports Performance and sat in my office for hours.  Other than getting some details on the fire, I honestly don’t remember a whole lot of our conversation.  What I do remember, was Sahil’s response when I asked him what the hell he was doing at CSP during a time like this:

“This place is now about as close as I can come to feeling at home while here on the east coast. Where else would I go?”

Those of you who are familiar with the Cressey Sports Performance brand have likely been exposed to the concept of the “CSP-Family”.  Whether it be in an electronic format on a social networking platform, or in-person here at our facility, we are very serious about projecting a family atmosphere as a primary component of our service model.  As we work to cultivate this environment, it is our intention to deliver an experience that will ultimately result in CSP becoming your “Third Place”.

Embrace the concept of a “Third Place”

My initial introduction to the concept of a “Third Place” was in Ray Oldenburg’s book, The Great Good Place.  In it, he explains that third places are an extremely important part of society because they not only serve as a meeting ground for the community, but they also allow for truly creative interaction.   The first and second “places” in this concept would be your home and work.  There is simply no avoiding these two facets of your life, so the Third Place is of unique importance in maintaining one’s sanity!  If you’re struggling to envision what I’m speaking of, imagine Central Perk in the show Friends, or maybe the diner in Seinfeld.  Third places are all around you, and you likely already have one.

It is my contention that all fitness facilities should aspire to be their clients’ Third Place, as the end result is a unique culture and increased profitability. 

According to Oldenburg, here is what you need to know about crafting a true Third Place:

• You need regulars.  Nobody creates the personality of a business quite like its regulars.
• The environment needs to be comfortable and welcoming to all.  While Planet Fitness commercials implying that all gyms are packed with meat heads picking things up and putting them down are annoying, it is worth noting that they’ve mastered the art of playing to people’s need for a “safe and comfortable” environment.
• You need a certain level of commonality among the people in attendance.  In our case, this is typically a background in baseball, but a simple appreciation for exercise and/or healthy living can be all it takes to make this happen in a fitness business setting.
• The space needs to be accommodating to ensure that your regulars aren’t inconvenienced if they do choose to spend their free time lingering.  Here at CSP, we have an on-site cafeteria and an athlete’s lounge with a couch, TV and ping-pong table.

Why is client loitering a good thing?

There are a number of reasons why we not only facilitate loitering, but also encourage it.  The first, and possibly most important reason, is that we have come to realize how influential our clients have been in creating the personality of our brand.  As much as we’d like to pretend that our culture is the product of strategic planning, the reality is that we’ve become familiar with the ins and outs of baseball clubhouse culture simply by exposing ourselves to it.  For close to eight years now, our facility has served as an off-season clubhouse for baseball players from all 30 MLB organizations.  Without these gentlemen spending endless hours on-site here at CSP, I’m not sure we would have ever been as effective as we have in communicating with potential baseball clients and engaging them on multiple different social networking platforms. 

The first time anyone ever “hash-tagged” the term #CSPfamily was actually when a pro baseball player posted a tweet from our athlete’s lounge explaining who he’d be spending his day with.  That athlete, Oliver Drake, is now making CSP-family references on the internet from MLB clubhouses as he travels the country playing for the Baltimore Orioles.  If I hadn’t tolerated these guys overstaying their welcome a little bit, would I still have big leaguers creating CSP brand awareness for their thousands of followers?   I think not.

While I can generate leads and create plenty of business as the product of MLB athletes discussing our facility as their Third Place, I am also able to monetize the concept among our general fitness clientele.  One of the factors Oldenburg highlighted in his book was the importance that there be little or no social status associated with participation as a regular.  By this, I mean that big leaguers often sit alongside college athletes and every day Joe’s here in the CSP athlete’s lounge.  There is no barrier to entry in our group of regulars other than the need to have a good sense of humor.

Regardless of a client’s athletic or professional background, they’re still putting in multiple hours each day in our space.  The more hours they hang around, the more dollars they seem to spend.  Supplements are purchased, manual therapy treatments are paid for, tee shirt designs are conceived and later purchased, nutrition consultations are scheduled, and more.  Just because a client isn’t on the training floor hitting the weights, it doesn’t mean that they are tying up resources in an unprofitable manner.

Once there, don’t rest on your laurels

The needs, attitudes and interests of our clientele are changing every day.  With this in mind, we are not able to simply “set and forget” the unique clubhouse culture which is the foundation of our Third Place status in many athlete’s minds.  It is a true compliment to your business when people voluntarily spend their limited “in-between time” with you.  Don’t mess it up by failing to adapt.  Eric, Tony and I would be reckless to assume that we could forever be current in the minds of our ballplayers, so we continue to add staff members like Greg and Tony B. because of their youth and baseball backgrounds.

I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve managed to blend the second and third places in the minds of our professional athlete population.  It is rare to create a setting which doubles as a workplace and play environment, but our baseball players seem to have embraced our facility as just that.  These guys are on the job each and every time they step on to the training floor, as their ability to extend what is typically a brief career depends on our unique services.  We are thrilled to have the opportunity to blur the lines between their off-season work and pleasure endeavors. 

If you own a fitness facility, I’d encourage you to expand your mindset beyond the idea of simply monetizing training.  Your operation can be more than just a business in the eyes of your best clients.  It can be a home away from home.  It can be their Third Place.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Hiring an Office Manager

I routinely document all of the questions asked of me during business consultations with fitness facility owners.  My intention is to use these notes to become more adept at anticipating questions in future consults, while also generating ideas for quality blog content.  The list is growing at a steady pace, and one specific question has found its way into more than 75% on the conversations I’ve had.  It sounds a whole lot like this:

“How do I know when it’s the right time to hire an employee assigned specifically to handle administrative tasks so that I can focus my efforts on this business making a jump to the next level?”

While we were able to open the doors on Cressey Sports Performance (CSP) back in 2007 with me serving as our full-time “business guy”, I understand that this isn’t the reality for every new fitness facility.  In fact, I’d strongly advise against it.  I was fortunate to have Eric hand me a client roster with 47 names on it, along with the keys to his own personal brand.  I wasn’t exactly starting from scratch.  Unless one of your co-founders has a name which carries some brand recognition within this industry, bringing on a full-time business guy or Office Manager is not going to be a practical decision on day one.

For most facility owners, the goal is to achieve growth which will all but mandate an expansion of your team to include an Office Manager.  The introduction of such a team member will allow an owner to focus a little more on business development and a little less on business maintenance. 

If you are able to answer yes to ALL of the following five questions, then you are likely ready to “make the jump”.

1. Have you outlined a job description for this position?

I understand that you could be more productive if you had someone else to worry about managing the schedule and chasing clients for payments, but is that actually enough of a burden to justify adding a body to your payroll?  If you want to attract a quality employee with an impressive work-ethic, it is going to take more than a list of the stuff you hate doing during the interview process.  You’d better be prepared to articulate the day-to-day responsibilities and nitty-gritty tasks associated with the position during the search for a new staff member.  Otherwise,  you’re likely to end up with a disgruntled employee as you begin dumping unannounced busy work in their lap

There is nothing wrong with asking your Office Manager to inherit some of the tasks that keep you from finding the time to do what you do best (get clients results), but you need to make sure that your employee doesn’t feel that they’ve been misled when that time comes.  As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.”

2. Are all of your coaches operating at or close to their capacity?

If your coaches have down time in their day, then you already have a hybrid Office Manager on-staff.  There is absolutely no reason why a strength coach can’t be asked to “sit out front” and gain an understanding of the customer service demands associated with operating your business.  It is actually fairly common for us to assign a coach to front desk duties at CSP.  By giving each staff member an opportunity to function within this role from time to time, we can ensure that they are familiar with our price-points and comfortable giving the pitch or closing a sale on little or no notice.

Can you comfortably say that each of your team members have a stacked to-do list during all of the hours you are paying them to be on the clock?

3. Is your office environment hindering your ability to sell effectively?

We took on an Office Manager at CSP back in 2012 when our business was just a shade under 5 years old.  We had officially hit the point where I was spending more time managing administrative tasks than I was engaging in business development efforts.  A change needed to be made to allow for us to continue pursuing the growth pattern we’d become accustomed to.

Foot traffic at our facility was at an all-time high, and I was finding it increasingly difficult to give the sales pitch effectively while in the center of a congested office.  With a wide variety of athletes training at CSP, we offer a broad spectrum of price points.  When a considerable chunk of your clients live below the poverty line (i.e. minor league baseball players), you need to be flexible with your cost structure.  When asked what it costs to train with us, my answer is always going to be “it depends”.  The last thing I need is for clients to start comparing costs because they overheard me explaining discounted pricing to an undrafted free agent who earns roughly $12,000 for the entire calendar year.

If your gym is packed and parents are overwhelming your space as you attempt to run the business, it is probably a good time to take a step away from the front end and into a corner office.

4. Have you identified someone who truly understands your culture?

If there is one huge mistake you can make in hiring an Office Manager, it would be selecting an individual who is unfamiliar with your business’ unique culture.  We hired Stacie after she spent close to a year training with us.  When she finally came on board, she had already fallen in love with the team, training model, and our “CSP-Family” concept.  As a result, all we had to worry about was introducing her to our systems during the training process.

Since you can’t necessarily force an appreciation for a very specific culture, it’s risky to hire an Office Manager from outside of your existing fitness community.

5. Are you prepared to relinquish your “face of the business” status?

Until now, you’ve had complete ownership of your client’s first impression of your business.  From the way calls are answered, to the way clients are greeted and future training sessions are scheduled, you’ve been running the show.  When the time finally comes for you to hand this responsibility off to another, it requires an immense amount of trust.  Your new Office Manager instantaneously becomes the face of your business from a customer service perspective, so there’s no room for error during the selection process.

If you are comfortable stepping away from the front-end and allowing someone else to be the eyes and ears of your business, then you can finally begin putting your time and energy toward business development instead of customer service.

Conclusion

So, can you say that you answered YES to all five of these questions?  Don’t feel bad if you couldn’t, as handing over the reins to an Office Manager can be about as nerve wracking as dropping your child at daycare for the first time (believe me, I know).

If you were able to slap a check mark next to all five, it seems to be about time you get back to working on your business, as opposed to in it.  Don't waste time, because there's an opportunity cost associated with dragging your heels.

Minimizing Key Man Risk while Scaling Your Business

There are very few options for industry-specific continuing education when you are a fitness facility owner with a business school background.  In 2009 I attended an Alwyn Cosgrove fitness business event organized by Perform Better and it was quickly apparent that the material was not geared toward attendees with MBA's.  While the content was universally useful and applicable to a facility owner, I had already processed concepts such as profit & loss statements and other basic accounting principles.  The networking opportunities were fantastic, but the take-aways were already well within my skill-set.

Fast forward several years, and I've yet to stumble across a single business-specific fitness event which would qualify as anything other than Business School 101.  That, however, is completely understandable.  It would be unreasonable for me to expect such a service to exist, as facility owners with my academic and professional background aren't exactly in abundance. 

When applying the basic rules of supply and demand, it is pretty clear that:

SUPPLY = 0   when   DEMAND = me

The good news is that my pursuit of continuing education and inspiration requires that I step outside of our tight-knit fitness community, and into everything else.  I recently wrapped my presentation at the Fitness Summit in Kansas City by challenging the audience to contact someone from outside of the fitness industry to pick their brain and allow the conversation to travel wherever it may.  It was truly gratifying to receive multiple messages from attendees in the weeks to follow mentioning the valuable insight they'd taken away from the conversations. 

Practicing What I Preach

I have a long-time friend and client named Sahil who has recently emerged as one of the more thought provoking conversationalists within my network.  When you combine his understanding of our business model (longest tenured CSP client) and a background in private equity, you've got a guy who knows how to ask the right questions and challenge my assertions about the future of our company.

Sahil and I recently dove into a discussion of the challenges that come with scaling a model such as CSP from a single location to two or more, and the implications of having put Eric Cressey's name on our business.  He was quick to mention that no matter how effectively we scale our model, it would likely be difficult to sell the business due to what he called high "Key Man Risk".  In essence, unless it is our intention to package up Eric Cressey and sell him along with CSP some day, we are unlikely to command top dollar. 

* I should probably stop to mention that Eric and I have no intention of selling this business.  These are simply the kinds of things that guys like Sahil enjoy discussing, so it isn't surprising that we eventually had the conversation. 

The more I processed the concept of Key Man Risk, the more I realized its impact on the assumption that CSP-Mass would somehow falter in the wake of Eric's departure for Florida this past fall.  The same mentality which might have scared off a private equity professional from acquiring my business had actually fueled speculation of our impending demise as we opened CSP-Florida.   Thankfully, we were successful in proving this assumption wrong by stringing together the most profitable six month span of operation in the history of CSP-Mass. 

In reflecting upon the factors contributing to our performance this past winter, it has become clear that a combination of culture, market positioning, and existing systems were the keys to our success in all but eliminating Key Man Risk.  Here is a closer look at how each of these three factors allowed for us to thrive.

1. Culture

One of the biggest lessons I've learned in building our business is that great coaches are everywhere, but truly unique gym cultures are not.  I spent the early years of our operations focusing on promoting the accolades which Eric and Tony were piling up by publishing content in well-known magazines and traveling the globe on their speaking circuits.  In recent years, my game-plan has shifted dramatically, as I now allocate my energy toward introducing the fitness and baseball worlds to the concept of the "CSP-Family".

While Eric's departure would obviously have some impact on the look and feel of our business, we came to learn that our unique baseball clubhouse culture is actually the sum of many parts.  Including Eric, there are ten of us "regulars" who have a hand in creating the day-to-day experience our clients have at CSP.  When you count on multiple personalities to make up the identity of your culture, you effectively reduce Key Man Risk.  

In hindsight, it shouldn't come as a surprise that we maintained the same great training environment and culture when just 10% of the staff was transitioning away for a few months.  As it turns out, the real lesson learned was just how difficult it is to recreate such a unique experience in another state with another staff.  Eric was tasked with doing so in Jupiter and he quickly learned that it wasn't as simple as throwing a CSP logo on the wall, installing some pretty equipment, and turning the lights on. 

2. Market Positioning

To this day, there is no greater decision we've made than to fiercely pursue and claim ownership of the baseball-specific strength & conditioning niche.  By identifying an under-served population and solving their unique set of problems, we have captured our own specific piece of the fitness industry.  Though our services are not entirely limited to just baseball players, it is fair to say that roughly 85% of the clients through our door would fall within that category.

In selecting and pursuing your niche, the end goal should always be to be so good that a substitute does not exist.  I like to think that we've done just that, as the perception of the general public is that training at CSP-Mass, with or without Eric Cressey, is going to be as good an option as any baseball player in New England is going to find.

Had I continued to focus on publicizing individual staff members' accolades at the expense of our brand as a whole, CSP-Mass would have been a whole lot more vulnerable with Eric leaving.  Instead, we'd positioned our brand as "the baseball-specific strength & conditioning facility", as opposed to "a gym with a baseball guy on staff".

3. Existing Systems

The importance of having efficient systems in place cannot be overstated.  In this case, employing efficient systems means having standardized just about every component of the training experience here at CSP in a way that guarantees consistency from one client session to the next. All too often, I see new fitness facility owners putting the cart before the horse by worrying about brand development before they've even created a consistent and predictable training experience.  How can your clients explain to a friend what is great about your facility if every member on your team has a dramatically different coaching style and training philosophy?  You need to fine-tune your customer's training experiences before you can spend time worrying about designing a cool t-shirt or posting the wittiest Instagram post of all time.

Here at CSP, the staff has regular programming meetings and works off of assessment and program templates used by the entire team.  By standardizing these systems, we can guarantee that any coach on staff can pull up an assessment findings sheet prepared by another coach and do a great job of designing training materials based upon the notes.  When a client requests a program on short notice and the coach who initially assessed them is off for the day, we barely miss a beat. 

System standardization isn't just limited to assessment and program design.  Of equal importance is the front and back end of our business.  The training experience is actually the filler of a customer service sandwich which starts with checking in at the front desk and ends with even more interaction with our Office Manager Stacie at the conclusion of a training session.  Stacie is the gatekeeper here at CSP.  She makes sure that sessions get scheduled, programs are prepared and printed on time, and ample coaching is available based on anticipated foot traffic.  She has streamlined and systemized every component of the complex front desk operation so effectively that even I can step in and handle the job on Saturday mornings as she enjoys a day off.

The thing to take away from each of these systems is the fact that Eric's presence has zero effect on our ability to implement them.  With the appropriate structure in place, we've been able to make our clients feel like he never left.

Why Should You Worry About Key Man Risk?

Well, mostly because you work in an industry with an insane amount of employee turnover.  Not every fitness facility has an Eric Cressey to lose, but they all have a "best coach" on staff.  Is your business or team equipped to survive such a departure at this time?  Or, do you stand to lose clients immediately? 

It might come as a surprise to hear, but we've never had an employee sign a non-compete agreement here at CSP.  The way we see it, if we're creating a culture which is the sum of many parts, a brand which has captured a specific niche, and a training experience which is consistent from one visit to the next, how is a single employee going to walk away and entice more than a client or two?

I welcome your thoughts, questions and recommendations in the comment section!

Aspiring Fitness Professionals: You’re Already Coaching Inspirational Athletes

“Now that your “busy season” is coming to an end, and all of your pro athletes have reported to spring training, do you guys basically throw it on autopilot and count the seconds until next September when the minor league season wraps up?”

An intern applicant asked me this question earlier this week.  His mentality actually wasn’t all that far off from that of many other previous applicants. In fact, I ask every single candidate what his or her long-term career goal within the fitness industry is, and the response is almost universally inspired by this attitude. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that at least 90% of the responses I receive when asking the career goal question specifically mention working with either “elite” or “professional” athletes. 

Click here to read the rest of this post

5 Ways to Integrate a Charity Component to your Business

Since founding Cressey Sports Performance (CSP) during the summer of 2007, we have had the opportunity to raise tens of thousands of dollars for a variety of charitable endeavors.  From large-scale entities like the Wounded Warrior Project, to charities entrenched firmly in our local community, we've had the pleasure of assisting in fund-raising for many causes we believe in.  After all, helping others feels good, so why not?

“Successful people find value in unexpected places, and do this by thinking about business from first principles instead of formulas.”

— Peter Theil - Zero to One

I understand that creating a profitable fitness facility can be a challenging endeavor, and finding dollars in an already tight budget can be an overwhelming concept.  This doesn't need to keep you from doing so, as I've come across a handful of different ways to help your community while helping yourself.  Here are five quick ways CSP focuses on principles to "make the pie bigger" and allow for charitable contributions to flow from the business.

1. Charity Bootcamps (CSP Strength Camps)

Here at CSP, we host a charity Strength Camp once every 4-6 weeks.  We allow for members of our Strength Camp community to suggest the charities of their choice as we identify the cause we intend to support.  Part of our reasoning for crowd-sourcing the charity ideas is to engage our clients and increase the likelihood that they assist in the efforts to increase event foot traffic.  On the day of the event we suggest a $5 minimum donation, often resulting in considerably larger contributions from generous participants.  

When all is said and done, 100% of the money collected goes toward a great cause.  Outside of being able to "do some good", you also have the opportunity to showcase your unique training environment to potential clients.  Since these events are open to the public, and your existing clients often bring friends, you can expose people to your socially aware business that just so happens to provide an exceptional service.  Who doesn't like the idea of generating leads while helping others in need?

2.  Sampson the Pig

Clients of CSP are routinely taken through an initial assessment process so that we can gather the information necessary to prepare entirely individualized training materials tailored to fit their unique needs.  Once designed, programs are printed, stapled, and handed to the athlete for execution.  We've wall-mounted a nice little rack on the wall next to our front desk and ask that clients file their programs alphabetically by last name so that their material is easily located and ready to go upon their arrival.  Sadly enough, our often-forgetful athletes seem to lose their programs ALL THE DAMN TIME.

We decided that there needed to be some sort of a perceived cost associated with asking our Office Manager Stacie to re-print training materials every time you arrive at the gym.  Enter Sampson the Pig...

Sampson (named by one of our professional baseball players) spends his days propped on the front desk here at CSP where he gladly collects $1 every time an athlete requires a program reprint.  Every dollar collected goes into the pool of Charity Bootcamp dollars sent off for donation each time we host an event.  Since young athletes are notoriously forgetful, business is good as it relates to Sampson.

While I realize not every fitness facility employs the same individualized programming model we utilize at CSP, I am fairly certain each and every gym owner out there has their own set of pet-peeves which could easily translate into "fines" paid to Sampson.  Put some thought into how you can fill your piggy bank, buy one you can handle looking at every day, and start collecting!

3. Gift Certificates

When we first got started up it was difficult for CSP to find money to donate.  What we had plenty of, however, was was space in our gym and energy to work with new people.  Whenever I am asked to contribute to a charity auction, I donate a gift certificate for an evaluation and four supervised training sessions here at CSP.  More often than not, the certificate fetches "actual value" during the event and it is a great way to introduce a new athlete to our "CSP Family".  Assuming we deliver a good experience, we end up with a paying client on our hands from their second month onward.  

4. Time for a Swear Jar

What's more frustrating than hearing a college athlete drop an F-bomb in your office as parents are reading their magazines and checking FB on their phones in the waiting area?  You can finally turn those frequent offenses into a positive.  Invest in a swear jar and set the ground rules.  $1 for the minor offenses and maybe even a $3 max for the particularly "off-limits" phrases America's youth seem so fond of today and you've got yourself a nice little stream of charity dollars flowing in!

5. Observational Guest Donations

Assuming you employ a collection of truly talented individuals, operate an efficient and profitable business, and deliver a unique training environment, it is inevitable that other fitness professionals will request the opportunity to visit your facility for observational purposes.  We have a firm "open-door" policy as it relates to welcoming observational guests, as it allows us to pay it forward following years of other individuals positively influencing the direction of our business.

While we have no intention of profiting on our observational guests (with the exception of the occasional tee shirt purchase), we do ask that visitors make a donation to a charity we like in exchange for the opportunity to spend a day being a fly-on-the-wall in our gym.  In our case, observational inquiries receive a canned response email outlining what can be expected during this type of visit and providing a hyperlink to make a donation to Tree Street Youth, a great organization owned and operated by Anna Cressey's sister.  Observational guests are welcome to email us a copy of their donation receipt in order to secure their visit time-slot in our calendar.

Get Started

There you have it...five quick and easy ways to start generating some charitable money beginning as early as today.  Most importantly, I've highlighted options which will essentially cost you the price of a couple of pieces of ceramic decor (piggy-bank/jar).  Time to get started!

Streamlining your Staff's Continuing-Ed Efforts

Are you a facility owner who's made a habit of sending your entire team of strength coaches to a weekend seminar?  If your intent is anything other than building camaraderie, I would contend that you are burning through money.  Now, hear me out, as I am in no way saying that continuing education is a wasteful way to allocate your company's resources.  Instead, I am asking that you reconsider your approach to consuming all of this available information.

One of the greatest things about our staff here at CSP is their constant pursuit of knowledge.  I can't remember the last time I saw consecutive weekends pass without a team member taking a day off to attend an event.  In a constantly evolving field, such as the fitness industry, there will ALWAYS be a seminar to attend.  While some of these events are better than others, I can absolutely see the value in going.  In fact, part of our compensation package for all CSP staff members is a $500 annual continuing-ed stipend which can be allocated toward books and/or seminar fees.

Though I have never once regretted sending a coach to a seminar, I have recently come to the conclusion that paying for more than one or two team members to attend a given event is far from the most efficient way to spend continuing-ed dollars here at CSP.  We currently have a rule stating that no more than two team members are to attend a given event unless absolutely necessary.  One obvious reason for this decision is that having multiple coaches away from our facility on a Saturday compromises our ability to deliver an exceptional training experience to paying clients.  Calling in a former intern or two to pick up the slack can work occasionally, but it  can't become the norm.  This being said, my primary reasoning for this policy relates to consumption of new content.

CSP is a unique model, as our clientele happens to be nearly 85% baseball players.  With such a specific population making their way on to our training floor, our team needs think strategically when it comes to implementing the concepts learned at seminars.  Instead of shutting the gym down on a Friday or Saturday so that I can send 8 coaches to "learn from the best", I'd rather send one or two team members.  In exchange for their opportunity to learn, and us picking up the tab on event registration fees, I request that the coach collect and repurpose the information in a practical manner to be delivered to our team during the following week's staff in-service.  This way, we're boiling down an 8+ hour seminar to a single 60-90 minute content-packed presentation which speaks to our unique needs.  Everybody wins.

Every time we open up the registration process for a CSP Fall Seminar, or an event like the one we're hosting featuring Alex Viada, I am surprised to see entire teams of coaches signing up from a single facility. Are they closing their gym for the day to allow their entire team to attend?  Is it likely that 100% of the material we cover will be relevant to their success? Or, even 75%?  Maybe it is time for gym owners to consider strategically dispersing their coaches toward continuing education opportunities to ensure the best interest of their business is taken into consideration.

Blogging About the Business of Fitness

Since it’s introduction in November of 2008, it seems that the book Outliers is best remembered for a theory Malcolm Gladwell has deemed “The 10,000-Hour Rule”.  In essence, he claims that the key to success in just about any field is, to a great extent, the practicing of a specific task for a minimum of 10,000 hours.  With this number in mind, I can say with confidence that I have accomplished expert status in the art of running a fitness facility.  In fact, if we were to assume that I’d simply committed 40-hours per week to the job for the duration of our 7+ years of operation, I’d be able to lay claim to more than 15,000 hours “behind the desk” at Cressey Sports Performance.

The reality is that no new business in the fitness industry gets off the ground and running with a meager commitment of 40-hours per week.  If my memory serves me right, Eric, Tony and I were regularly logging 12+ hour days 6-days per week for at least the first 18 months we were in business.  Believe it or not, those were among the most memorable and enjoyable days of my life.  With this workload in mind, it may be safe to say that each of us is currently hovering in the vicinity of 20,000 hours contributed to the growth and development of CSP.

So, here we are on the cusp of our 8th anniversary of starting a strength & conditioning facility, and I’m just now finding the time, energy and confidence to begin putting my thoughts on running a successful fitness business on paper.  I officially hit my tipping point while sitting roughly 10,000 feet above sea level, coincidentally enough.  At the time, I was seated on a Southwest Airlines flight from Kansas City to Boston as I wrapped up an exhausting and fulfilling weekend at the 2015 Fitness Summit. 

Nick and David Bromberg, the hard-working Fitness Summit organizers and hosts, had been kind enough to take a risk on me and extend an offer to be a featured presenter at the event.  Why not “get my feet wet” in the world of public speaking in front of a room of 150+ recognizable and accomplished fitness professionals?  I had the opportunity to walk the audience through a presentation discussing the origins of our business’ success following Eric Cressey’s departure to open our second facility in Jupiter, FL.  From what I could tell, feedback was extremely positive.

In the hours and days following my presentation, I was bombarded with business-related inquiries.  More often than not, the conversation would end with me being asked what the web address was for my blog or website.  Seeing as how I’d failed to pull the trigger on any sort of site to this point, the best I could say was, “I’ve written a handful of guest blogs for Eric’s site.” 

How many times did I need to be asked before coming to the conclusion that I had some decent knowledge “upstairs” which I could really tap into and share with others in our field?

The answer to this question is: however many times I was asked in the previous 48-hours, plus the 15 additional times Jordan Syatt asked me why I wasn’t blogging as we sat side-by-side on Southwest Flight 475.  You see, Jordan is a former CSP intern, and a strength coach I’ve known for the past 4-5 years, so it was completely acceptable for him to harass me until I finally caved in.  By the time we wrapped our 2:55 minute flight, I had my first five posts loosely outlined in my mind.  The wheels were in motion.

So, I’d like to welcome you to PeteDupuis.com.  My intention is to dive into a variety of business-related concepts and lessons gleaned from my experience in running CSP since it’s inception on July 13th of 2007.  One would think that I’ve picked up something of value as CSP strung together close to 8 consecutive years of double-digit growth and steady expansion. 

I hope you enjoy my insights!