About 18 years ago, back when I’d just started coaching, a gym owner in Northern California hired me to help him get his gym out of the red.
He was my second coaching client ever.
My rule back then was simple. You fly to me, we spend two days together, and then we do monthly calls to keep you accountable. That’s how my first client did it.
But this guy kept pushing. “Bro, can you just come out here? If you saw my gym, I really feel like you could help me more.”
I was new and pumped about building my coaching business, so I said yes…
…and I broke my own rule.
Day one in San Jose goes great. He shows up prepared, we work all day in his office while the gym runs, and when we wrap up I offer to take him out for a steak.
He says, “I’ve got a better idea. Come over to my place and I’ll grill you one.” Single guy, beautiful house, and dude… he could cook.
Around 9:00 I tell him I’m gonna call it a night. “No, no, no,” he says. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
I figured he meant dessert.
Around 9:30 the doorbell rings and in walks a woman in a tiny skirt carrying a duffel bag. He looks at her, looks at me, smiles and nods…
…and my eyes turn into saucers.
Turns out she “visits him regularly,” and he figured she could take care of us after a long day of work.
I told him, “Bro, that is not how I roll. I’m not gonna judge you, but you do your thing and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Next morning, homeboy is wrecked. Dehydrated, pounding one energy drink after another, and falling asleep in the middle of our session.
Day two was a total waste…
…all because I compromised on one simple rule about how I run my business.
From that day on, I decided to live a no compromise life.
I share this with you because the reason most entrepreneurs end up stuck in an average business is that they keep compromising.
They set a price and drop it the first time somebody flinches. They swear they’ll train every morning and skip it the first time they’re tired. They promise their wife a date night and then “work late” doing busy work.
Those are soft expectations, and they get negotiated away every time life gets inconvenient.
Since that night in San Jose I kill the soft expectations, make my standards rigid, and stay unreasonable about them. When I fly into LAX after a long travel day, Hugo drops me at BK Strength so I can train before I go home. I don’t care if we sat on the tarmac for three hours. The workout happens.
In Man Up I call it the difference between crop dusters and fighter jets.
Crop dusters hit snooze, let their feelings run their day, and barely get by.
Fighter jets are driven, focused, and disciplined, and to every crop duster around them they look completely unreasonable.
Make no mistake, when you start living like a fighter jet some people are gonna talk sh!t. Let them. The worst thing you can have on your deathbed is regret over everything you compromised away.
And find yourself a group of fighter jets to belong to.
Talk soon,
Bedros Keuilian
P.S. That’s exactly what Scale Syndicate is, a room full of fighter jets. Scale Syndicate is my 12-month mastermind where we get on a call every month and meet up in person every quarter, and I hand you the marketing, sales, and leadership systems running inside my companies right now.
Our next meet up is coming up and I’d love to intro you to the group.