Searching for Mana with Lloyd Wahed

Reliability Costs Nothing – Integrity over Time Andrew Jackson shared his value equation a couple years ago, which includes ability, integrity, and benevolence. Reliability is essentially integrity over time. Do you show up each time, on time, and do the thing you said you would do. This costs no money. It takes time and effort. It means you will show up when you're sick, tired, and for whatever r...

Defining Your Core Values: Brainstorming & Reflecting Matt discusses how to identify and list your core values. These should reflect your personality but also be aspirational. For example, for Matt, quite reflection would not be a core value. He verbally processes ideas, and he would be working against his natural tendencies. Rather, lean into your personality, though work on addressing your w...

When One Teach Two Learn: Importance of Teaching In order to become an expert coach, or to master any subject, you have to coach, or teach, when it matters. You may have found at some point that you had read or consumed a lot of material on a subject. When you tried to explain it to someone else, the apparent coherent thoughts were not there. Technique coaching in person is important to mastering...

Building EliteFTS – Before EliteFTS Both Dave's dad and grandfather were business owners, who inculcated and demonstrated the value of hard work. Dave helped his dad as a teenager, and his dad stressed the importance of quality products (which Dave has stressed with EliteFTS' equipment). As a teenager, Dave grew sick and tired of being "beat all the time," so he trained harder and worked harder an...

Chase Value not Status In a social media world, it can be easy to pursue status. In the world we inhabit, it can always be easy to chase money. Pursue something else. Chase value. Deliver value to your customers. When entrepreneurs talk about opportunities, unless they are discussing some loophole or morally questionable pursuits, they're talking about a clear area where a problem exists where bus...

Excuses that Derail Progress – Valuable Things are Hard We at Barbell Logic value voluntary hardship. Simple, hard, effective training brings you toward your goals. Voluntary hardship is refining, whereas involuntary hardship may or may not refine someone who experience the difficulty. As we grow and encounter growing challenges, common pitfalls or excuses arise, where people can sabotage themselv...

Job or Business – Should I Own a Business? Not everyone should own a business. Probably, most people should not own a business. It's not an insult: it's reality. Owning a business is too much risk and stress for some people. You still may be an excellent coach or technician. You may provide a huge amount of value to your employer or to your customers. If you're the right person to own a business,...

New Year's Resolutions Done Well New Year's resolutions have really been dismissed in recent decades, likely because of the high failure rate they have (especially when you consider fitness or health goals). It's true, New Year's resolutions can be done poorly. If this is the only time of year you make big, bold goals and you find yourself never having achieved them, you may need to reevaluate how...

Don't Prioritize. De-prioritize. Remove Things That Provide No Value If you're looking to create your GAMEplan, first remove those tasks and goals that do not provide you value. Remove the unimportant and non-urgent. One way Matt has identified these tasks is by how he creates his daily to-do list. He has a to-do list that populates on his tablet or phone every day. He simply renames it. When he n...

Coaching is Secondary for Business Success Consider this scenario. Someone becomes an expert in creating a certain craft or providing a certain service. Maybe this is butchery, baking, or candlestick making. Because friends and family love what this person does, their friends and family encourage this person to become a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker and start his own business. It fails. Why...

Know Who You Are You don't need to have a mission statement, business plan, or core values to begin coaching or even start a business. Get customers now. As your business grows, you should sit down and knock these out. And there really is no better time to complete these then over the holiday season, when work tends to lesson and you look back on this past year and forward to the next year. Spend...

All In! It's time to be all in. It's time to execute. It's time to complete that task or project or goal or dream or aspiration that you've been putting off. No more. Of course, you should complete a GAMEplan so you can define your goals, the actions you take to achieve them, and the metrics you use to determine if you've succeeded in meeting your goals. But that's just the beginning, not the end....

Strong Life with Zach Evan Esh Replay Matt and Zach have interacted before, passing along business advice and Matt coaching Zach when he ran into some issues. Matt jumped on the Strong Life podcast to discuss why online coaching is better than in-person coaching . For many gym owners, they feel tied to the gym, without the ability to leave and get paid. A hybrid model of online coaching and in-per...

How to Structure Holiday Promotions: Black Friday & Pre-Christmas The lead up to Thanksgiving and Christmas is a time people spend more money. Because you believe in your product or service, and in the case of fitness your service is clearly helping improve your clients' quality of life, it is better they spend money on your service than something they don't truly need. This is a great time to...

What is Your GAMEplan? Prioritize the Important Matt shares how he discussed the  business metrics that matter  with  Cody Miller , BLOC Coach and owner of the great gym  The Strength Parlor . Cody dug in, got a hold of those metrics, and then talked more to Matt. Well, what's next? Next, you need to identify the goals that move the business in the direction you want. Likely, you've identified are...

Business Economics: Know the Health of Your Business You cannot go off how you feel about your business to know if your business is doing well. The reality is real, and if you fail to know the economic realities of your business, the economic realities will confront you when abject failure slaps you in the face. It's okay, though. Even if the metrics are bad or trending in the wrong direction, hav...

Excellent Customer Service for Online Coaching (Not Just In-Person) Customer service sets your business apart. Many coaches and gyms provide excellent customer service. Matt sees three common gym types: boutique gyms with excellent customer service but poor training, black iron or CrossFit gyms with hard training but poor customer service, and big box gyms that have good customer service with lais...

Why You Should Take a Vacation – Reset & Relax Life naturally contains cycles. You stress yourself in the gym, then you rest to allow recovery and adaptation to occur. Without the rest, there is no adaptation. Without the stress, there is no adaptation. Both contribute to the goal: improvement toward your goal. After day comes night. Following the cold of winter, comes the blooming and growth...

Automated Metrics Are Awesome – PRs Matter PRs matter because PRs measure progress toward your or your clients' goals. They let you know you're on the right track (or they indicate a change is needed). You first must develop goals based on your deep motivations and values. Then, decide on metrics that align with this goal. If these metrics increase – if you hit PRs – you are moving closer toward y...

Person of Integrity: Be One, Always Integrity underpins business success. Yes, you may think of business that have seemingly grown despite scummy business practices. Don't worry about them. Life is not fair. Still, you will create loyal customers, have great reviews, and gain word-of-mouth marketing if you show up and do what you say you're going to do and the price you quoted. Be a person of inte...

Stop Being Cheap: Value per Unit Time Too many in the fitness industry value their time too little. Comparing options for online coaching platforms, you see one option is $1 cheaper per client per month. The other option prioritizes efficiency, helping you coach more clients in less time. Which to you go with? Too many go with the first option. Start thinking about the value of your time. As a coa...

Pricing: Fewer Options is Better It's easy, especially as a small business, to bend over backwards for each customer. You develop a different price for each customer, and before you know it every customer is paying a different price. Knock this off. Don't have a scarcity mindset. Develop few pricing options for your customers. This forces your customers to make a decision and simplifies your billi...

Customer Service is King Customer service standards have fallen since 2020 and COVID-19. You notice it at nice restaurants and hotels, at airlines and in public bathrooms. Employees seem bothered to help customers. Companies don't answer phone calls or respond to texts or emails. The expectation to tip has spread to everything, with a reduced level of service and an increased rate of tipping. You...

PRs Measure Progress Toward Your Clients' Goals PRs matter. Consistency underlies success. PRs pave the road to your clients accomplishing their goals. Why? They provide dopamine hits that encourage continued work toward building habits that move lifters toward their goals. Early on, PRs tend to be easy – easy to track, celebrate, and establish. The lifter's squat increases, the athlete can do mor...

Online Coaching is Better for Coaches Online coaching is the best coaching for coaches. In-person coaching ties coaches to the tyranny of the schedule and the gym. This leads to long days, much of which may not be paid for but certainly counts in your calculus for quality of life. You can travel – or even go on vacation – and coach. You can coach when it works for your schedule, asynchronously wit...