Do You Know What You Want?
When I first began coaching baseball I dreamed of winning 30 games in a season and earning $30,000 a year. Considering that the team I was taking over had never won more than 19 games in a season and the job paid $3000 - those seemed like success to me.
We eventually won as many as 48 games in a season and averaged well over 30 wins for my time as a coach - and during my last couple of years I even earned a bit more than $30,000.
But what I never considered was that being a small college baseball coach meant more time fundraising than on baseball fundamentals and hundreds of hours riding on vans and eating at McDonalds because our budget didn't allow for anything else.
And I never considered that being a college baseball coach meant being the worst kind of employee - the kind that works for someone that doesn't have a clue what he's doing.
I recall during my final year as a coach thinking that if the job that I had was vacant, I'd not even consider applying.
And to think that being a college baseball coach was my 'dream job.'
After I left coaching and moved into the fitness industry, initially I thought that I'd love to own my own studio - or maybe a few. But over time I found that training clients for fat loss did not give me the same thrill that training athletes had provided.
I did find that I loved the business side of fitness and for quite some time thought that Nick and I would open a chain of gyms throughout our region.
We pursued this for a while, with a training company in one town and a gym 90 minutes away. We looked at real estate, met with investors and even worked with a franchisor about securing the rights to all of Kentucky.
But as time passed, a few things happened:
? We realized that having to borrow enough money to open the gyms would leave us without a significant profit for quite a while.
? Dealing with developers and investors left some of our decisions and potential for success in others' hands.
? Running back and forth between Elizabethtown and Owensboro 2-3 times per week wasn't allowing me to enjoy time with my family.
None of these things were the type of success that I wanted.
During this same period, we started to do business coaching, consulting and offer products to fitness professionals.
Not too long after, we acquired ownership in the IYCA.
Things started to feel right.
I can't say that I love doing products - I much prefer working with franchisees, coaching programs, live events and Mastermind Groups.
Products are a necessary and valuable component of what we do - but I love interacting with people.
Now we're Co-Owners in over a dozen businesses and I'm happier than I've ever been.
? I get to coach motivated people in something I've grown to be very passionate about...business. Our franchisees, business partners and coaching clients are incredible.
? I get to work in the areas of our businesses that I'm best suited to work.
? I'm home most of the time. Sure, I travel some, but I'm home more than 95% of people I know and I work from home 90% of the time.
? My wife Holly works at home as well and I get to play a part in helping her do what she loves.
? We've launched two franchises that is already spanning the globe, helping hundreds of fitness professionals realize their career dreams and help hundreds of thousands of people.
So I finally have a pretty good idea of what I want.
? I want to be home more often than not so I can enjoy time with Holly, Tyler and Alex.
? I want to work primarily with entrepreneurs.
? I want to focus on business development with entrepreneurs. I could spend all day in this area and never feel like it's been work.
? I want to coach or partner with like-minded entrepreneurs to help them achieve their goals.
? I want to leave a legacy and create something that lives on.
I'm not telling you all this because I think you need to be anything like me. Far from it. The things that Holly wants in her career are different than mine. I'm certain that the things that Cressey, Robertson, English and many others all want differ from my list.
The key is discovering what you want your success to look like.
It's been a slow process for me and it continues to evolve day by day - but I love what I'm doing now and financially things have never been better for me or our businesses in spite of the economic issues we've heard so much about.
So think about what parts of your career / business that you love.
Think about the parts you don't.
Think about what's important to you.
Think about where you want to be a year from now. 3, 5, even 10 years from now.
Then start moving that direction.
It's not an overnight process. If you want more freedom, start creating systems and eventually hire help.
If you want to own a facility, start saving some money, writing a business plan and looking at locations.
If you want to train only athletes - at least start training an athlete.
But you can think bigger than that if you want.
If you want to become a famous speaker - start speaking to someone. Anyone.
If you want to write a book - start with a sentence.
If you want to move, they have big green signs that will direct you out of town...
Because - at least I believe - that it's never a finished product. Your want will always be changing...and so will your circumstances. But if you're moving in the direction that you want, I suspect you'll be pretty darn happy. And you may get farther than you ever expected.
We eventually won as many as 48 games in a season and averaged well over 30 wins for my time as a coach - and during my last couple of years I even earned a bit more than $30,000.
But what I never considered was that being a small college baseball coach meant more time fundraising than on baseball fundamentals and hundreds of hours riding on vans and eating at McDonalds because our budget didn't allow for anything else.
And I never considered that being a college baseball coach meant being the worst kind of employee - the kind that works for someone that doesn't have a clue what he's doing.
I recall during my final year as a coach thinking that if the job that I had was vacant, I'd not even consider applying.
And to think that being a college baseball coach was my 'dream job.'
After I left coaching and moved into the fitness industry, initially I thought that I'd love to own my own studio - or maybe a few. But over time I found that training clients for fat loss did not give me the same thrill that training athletes had provided.
I did find that I loved the business side of fitness and for quite some time thought that Nick and I would open a chain of gyms throughout our region.
We pursued this for a while, with a training company in one town and a gym 90 minutes away. We looked at real estate, met with investors and even worked with a franchisor about securing the rights to all of Kentucky.
But as time passed, a few things happened:
? We realized that having to borrow enough money to open the gyms would leave us without a significant profit for quite a while.
? Dealing with developers and investors left some of our decisions and potential for success in others' hands.
? Running back and forth between Elizabethtown and Owensboro 2-3 times per week wasn't allowing me to enjoy time with my family.
None of these things were the type of success that I wanted.
During this same period, we started to do business coaching, consulting and offer products to fitness professionals.
Not too long after, we acquired ownership in the IYCA.
Things started to feel right.
I can't say that I love doing products - I much prefer working with franchisees, coaching programs, live events and Mastermind Groups.
Products are a necessary and valuable component of what we do - but I love interacting with people.
Now we're Co-Owners in over a dozen businesses and I'm happier than I've ever been.
? I get to coach motivated people in something I've grown to be very passionate about...business. Our franchisees, business partners and coaching clients are incredible.
? I get to work in the areas of our businesses that I'm best suited to work.
? I'm home most of the time. Sure, I travel some, but I'm home more than 95% of people I know and I work from home 90% of the time.
? My wife Holly works at home as well and I get to play a part in helping her do what she loves.
? We've launched two franchises that is already spanning the globe, helping hundreds of fitness professionals realize their career dreams and help hundreds of thousands of people.
So I finally have a pretty good idea of what I want.
? I want to be home more often than not so I can enjoy time with Holly, Tyler and Alex.
? I want to work primarily with entrepreneurs.
? I want to focus on business development with entrepreneurs. I could spend all day in this area and never feel like it's been work.
? I want to coach or partner with like-minded entrepreneurs to help them achieve their goals.
? I want to leave a legacy and create something that lives on.
I'm not telling you all this because I think you need to be anything like me. Far from it. The things that Holly wants in her career are different than mine. I'm certain that the things that Cressey, Robertson, English and many others all want differ from my list.
The key is discovering what you want your success to look like.
It's been a slow process for me and it continues to evolve day by day - but I love what I'm doing now and financially things have never been better for me or our businesses in spite of the economic issues we've heard so much about.
So think about what parts of your career / business that you love.
Think about the parts you don't.
Think about what's important to you.
Think about where you want to be a year from now. 3, 5, even 10 years from now.
Then start moving that direction.
It's not an overnight process. If you want more freedom, start creating systems and eventually hire help.
If you want to own a facility, start saving some money, writing a business plan and looking at locations.
If you want to train only athletes - at least start training an athlete.
But you can think bigger than that if you want.
If you want to become a famous speaker - start speaking to someone. Anyone.
If you want to write a book - start with a sentence.
If you want to move, they have big green signs that will direct you out of town...
Because - at least I believe - that it's never a finished product. Your want will always be changing...and so will your circumstances. But if you're moving in the direction that you want, I suspect you'll be pretty darn happy. And you may get farther than you ever expected.
The Only True Thing in LIFE is 'CHANGE'........Let us refuse to live and UN-LIVED LIFE....KATHY
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