I’m finally catching my breath from this past weekend. Last week I hosted the Nevada National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) Annual state clinic. Last year I took the post as the state director representing the NSCA in Nevada (a blessing and a curse). I was on the advisory board prior to that. Our past director was a fellow associate from the local fitness community. Being on the board put a definite strain on our relationship. What I didn’t know was that he had appointed me to the board assuming I would like having the title without having to do anything. Once I was nominated to the board I questioned, “What’s the sense of having a board/ state director if we don’t do anything?” After pushing and prodding I got him to set up a state clinic for fellow trainers, strength coaches, ATCs, etc. offering them the opportunity to gain continued education locally. We were able to organize a panel of quality speakers, lock down a venue within our budget restraints, and get the word out in enough time to get people registered. All of this, only to have him resign his post 1 month prior to the event.
I will admit that I did have an alternative motive. I was planning on opening a training studio in the near future. Freshly awarded certified personal trainers are a ripe pool from which to recruit trainers. It also fell on an emotional void I possessed. It bothered me that I had to travel outside of Las Vegas to find quality education in my field. Rarely did presenters come to Vegas. When I approached people about promoting an event in Las Vegas, they all said the same thing. Vegas doesn’t draw well. How could that be? How could the convention capital of the world be a poor draw? My attitude was that it was like any other business. It wouldn’t be the sexy overnight sensation; it would have to be nurtured and grow over time. After taking over the reigns as director, my approach was to do like I’ve done in many other aspects of my fitness business: over deliver, care about the little details & be patient. I would call in a few favors from a couple of quality presenters, work my butt off, and see what happens in 2-3 years. I’m proud to announce that in our 2nd year we broke even. The presenters over delivered. One of the highlights was having a gentleman from Arkansas say “I wish we had quality events like this in my state.” We’re moving in the right direction.
At the same time this has helped me to fulfill another professional goal of making my studio more of a national name as opposed to just a successful studio in Las Vegas. When I was drafting my mission statement and vision for the studio, one of my goals was to have people refer to what my team and I are doing as high quality. I believe that in life when making decisions you need to be true to yourself. That was something I realized in the Men Health Next Top Trainer. Selling videos and doing workouts that people watch me in is not who I am. My goal is not to be entertaining; my goal is to make people better. In regards to my studio we’re not there yet, but we’re diligently working towards that goal. It makes me think about the scene from The Godfather when Michael tells his wife Kay, “we’ll be a legitimate business one day”. I know, bad analogy, but you get the picture. When you’re trying to make a big shift in an industry it takes time, especially if you’re trying to build it to withstand time.
I guess it brings out the Boy Scout in me to leave things better than how I found them. You know that mantra. I can remember cleaning up campsites as a kid, picking up garbage on the campsite from the previous campers so that we could maintain our status as good scouts. When I moved to Las Vegas there was a vast void of fitness education that traveled to Las Vegas. The fitness employee population was alive & growing. Many people complained that they didn’t have the resources to pay for airfare, hotels and registration for the larger out of town events. Well I’m proud to announce, they won’t have to do that anymore.
I will admit that I did have an alternative motive. I was planning on opening a training studio in the near future. Freshly awarded certified personal trainers are a ripe pool from which to recruit trainers. It also fell on an emotional void I possessed. It bothered me that I had to travel outside of Las Vegas to find quality education in my field. Rarely did presenters come to Vegas. When I approached people about promoting an event in Las Vegas, they all said the same thing. Vegas doesn’t draw well. How could that be? How could the convention capital of the world be a poor draw? My attitude was that it was like any other business. It wouldn’t be the sexy overnight sensation; it would have to be nurtured and grow over time. After taking over the reigns as director, my approach was to do like I’ve done in many other aspects of my fitness business: over deliver, care about the little details & be patient. I would call in a few favors from a couple of quality presenters, work my butt off, and see what happens in 2-3 years. I’m proud to announce that in our 2nd year we broke even. The presenters over delivered. One of the highlights was having a gentleman from Arkansas say “I wish we had quality events like this in my state.” We’re moving in the right direction.
At the same time this has helped me to fulfill another professional goal of making my studio more of a national name as opposed to just a successful studio in Las Vegas. When I was drafting my mission statement and vision for the studio, one of my goals was to have people refer to what my team and I are doing as high quality. I believe that in life when making decisions you need to be true to yourself. That was something I realized in the Men Health Next Top Trainer. Selling videos and doing workouts that people watch me in is not who I am. My goal is not to be entertaining; my goal is to make people better. In regards to my studio we’re not there yet, but we’re diligently working towards that goal. It makes me think about the scene from The Godfather when Michael tells his wife Kay, “we’ll be a legitimate business one day”. I know, bad analogy, but you get the picture. When you’re trying to make a big shift in an industry it takes time, especially if you’re trying to build it to withstand time.
I guess it brings out the Boy Scout in me to leave things better than how I found them. You know that mantra. I can remember cleaning up campsites as a kid, picking up garbage on the campsite from the previous campers so that we could maintain our status as good scouts. When I moved to Las Vegas there was a vast void of fitness education that traveled to Las Vegas. The fitness employee population was alive & growing. Many people complained that they didn’t have the resources to pay for airfare, hotels and registration for the larger out of town events. Well I’m proud to announce, they won’t have to do that anymore.