Author: Joan Arca

When you’re out at the bar drinking a Stella Artois beer with your pals, whether you realize it or not, that beer you bought is giving clean water to a woman in need from a part of the developing world.

Did you know that? If you didn’t, I bet you feel much more compelled to continue buying Stella over the other beer options.

And Stella is only one of the leading companies making charity part of their brand.

TOMS helps provide shoes, sight, water, safe birth, and bullying prevention services to people in need around the world.

LSTN Headphones donates its proceeds towards giving hearing aids to children in need so that they can enjoy music for the first time in their lives.

When you compare these brands to their competitors, people see the ones who are involved in charities and are more swayed towards them.

This is what the millennials are bringing to the business world – social justice.

Why You Should Tie Your Business With a Charity

Social justice is all about how your business gets involved with charities and causes, while growing your business by creating a connection with your consumers.

You’re creating a win-win-win for 1) the consumer, cause you’re making them feel good about their purchase, 2) the charity, who’s benefiting from your donations by helping people, and 3) your business, which will stand out from the competition.

For the past 3 years, I’ve made giving back a part of my brand through charities like Toys for Tots and Shriners.

And I’ve found it’s one of the fastest ways to build my brand while spreading goodwill and stretching my reach to impact even more lives.

Last year, Fit Body Boot Camp went to Target and spent $20,000 on toys for Toys for Tots.

I thought “That’s good, but we can do better.”

I thought, “How can I tie in the Toys for Tots program into what we’re doing at Fit Body Boot Camp?”

So this year we’re stepping it up and raising one million dollars. For every single client we get on board, we’re donating a portion of the proceeds to Toys for Tots.

We upped the price of the 21 Day Web Special offer just a little from $67 to $69. Even though we increased the price by $2, we’re still giving back $3 of every web special we sell to Toys for Tots.

Getting involved in charity does several things for your business. Today, we live in a socially conscious environment.

Not only is giving back a good thing to do to help out humanity, it’s a good thing to do for your business by tying in a cause that means a lot to you.

When a customer has a choice between your business and another business, both parties providing the same kind of product or service, the tipping point will be which business is donating to charity.

Guaranteed, they will choose your business over the other if they know you’re giving back to a cause.

How to Give Back Without Looking Fake

When you’re the owner of a business, you’re faced with backlash no matter what you do.

What’s really messed up is, people will even come after you for donating to charity.

Crazy right?

Well, I guess you can’t blame them. How many times have you come across a slimy CEO with a big cheesy grin publicly announcing their donations to charity every chance they get?

You get enough of those guys and they give a bad rep for the entrepreneurs who have a genuine want to help those in need.

There is a way to give back without looking like you’re only in it for the publicity.

First, you need to find a charity that is meaningful to you. Once you do that, you need to figure out how you’re gonna get involved with that charity.

And you’re not doing this to inflate your self image. You’re doing it because you genuinely care about the cause you’re donating to.

There’s nothing wrong with putting it out there in your advertisements and social media. You’re basically saying to people, “Hey, I know you have a choice between my product and that guy’s product, but when you buy with me, a portion of the proceeds go to this charity.”

Make it a way of doing business rather than looking at it as a promotion or limited time involvement.

It’s critical you find a charity you’re passionate about giving back to. Cause when you’re not, people can smell the bullshit.

For me, I’m passionate about Toys for Tots. I’m passionate about Shriners. When Hurricane Harvey hit and affected the lives of our Fit Body Boot Camp owners and members, we campaigned to drive donations to Harvey.

These kinds of contributions aren’t front and center on my websites, but it’s something we talk about in interviews, podcasts, magazine articles, social media.

When people see how genuinely invested you are in a charity, they’re going to be more swayed towards your brand because you stand for a cause they believe in.

The Number One Reason to Get Involved

Two words: your team.

When you’re pounding the pavement to get those donations in, your team gets pumped up right along with you.

We hear a lot about how millennials want to be part of something bigger or want to do something meaningful.

But when you think about it, doesn’t most of humanity wants to do something meaningful?

It’s not just the millennials. But in this case, my HQ is made up of 85% millennials. And they get so excited when we have a cause that we can support and go above and beyond just “let’s run a business and make money.”

When I decided I wanted to raise one million dollars for Toys for Tots this year, I asked my team what they thought and they were behind it 100%.

They started connecting with Toys for Tots, they’re creating the sales funnel for nearly 600 Fit Body Boot Camps.

They’re leading and taking charge, and I don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting.

My team wants to bring that recognition and significance to their lives and create an impact by helping others.

Once your team is on board, they will go out and move mountains for you.

Imagine this: you’re going to the movies and you walk up to the stand to buy your ticket.

You get to the booth and you see George Clooney standing behind the counter, wearing a little bow tie and vest, ready to take your order.

There’s something wrong with that picture, right?

You don’t expect George fucking Clooney to be selling movie tickets!

Just like you don’t expect Ray Kroc to be flipping burgers at McDonald’s or Steve Jobs to be selling iPhones at the Apple Store.

If you notice one thing about these thought leader entrepreneurs, it’s this: they removed themselves from working in their business so that they could work on their business.

And they did this by setting up their business so there’s scale and structure so that they can hand it off to the next person, and leave it.

How I Left Fit Body Boot Camp

Back in 2014, I did everything for Fit Body Boot Camp.

I ran the Facebook ads. I wrote the creative for the Entrepreneur Magazine ads. I was even the guy trying to sell prospects franchises, and then once they bought one, I was the guy coaching them on how to run it.

I was it.

That Summer, I had an anxiety attack so bad it felt like I was having a heart attack. I wound up in the hospital because I was so overwhelmed.

If you want a ticket into the hospital, all you gotta do is everything in your business, all the time.

So here’s what I did – I stepped back and thought “Is this how Subway and McDonald’s and Anytime Fitness is running their franchise?”

A lot of entrepreneurs make objections for why they can’t leave their business.

They say “I’ve got clients who’ll be mad if they don’t see me. I can’t get out of there. No one does it as good as me. I don’t have the money to leave.”

I know, because these are the same objections I told myself before I had that anxiety attack.

You need to stop making objections and start outsourcing the work you don’t need to be doing.

Over at my Fit Body Boot Camp HQ, I have a team of 38 people who are servicing our franchisees, selling my coaching programs, writing content, doing the marketing and branding, all that stuff that I don’t need to be doing.

If you’re asking yourself “Where do I begin?”, first you need to figure out what the lowest common thing you’re doing right now is so that you can hire someone else to do it for you.

Outsource Your Lowest Common Work

I knew there were people out there who could run Facebook ads better than me. So I tightened the belt for a couple of months and outsourced the marketing.

I got more qualified leads, sold to more people, and all of a sudden I could afford the traffic buyer.

As that funnel kept growing, I was able to find another closer. I pulled myself out of the selling, and eventually pulled myself out of operations so I could focus on coaching.

And even if you don’t have a lot of money and you’re coming from a “mom and pop” business, you can still create a system and outsource it to others. Your income will gradually grow, and th more it grows, the more people you can hire.

The biggest reasons we fail to scale our business is not because we need money, it’s because we’re too lazy to create a process to hand to someone else.

So we just keep doing it ourselves until we wind up in a hospital bed.

Document a System

Once you document the process and systems you go through to run your business, all you have to do is hand it off to the next guy.

Most people think the documentation process is boring and tedious, but I’ve found a shortcut.

Hire someone on a temporary basis with crazy attention to detail, have them hang out with you for an entire week, and have them record every call or email you do.

Before you know it, it’s all documented. You can throw it in a 3 ring binder and hand it off.

Tell yourself right now “I will never do so and so in my business ever again!”

You’re gonna outsource those duties and create a system. And pretty soon, you’ll see how much time, energy, and money you’re saving.

Once you get yourself out, you’ll be able to scale your business, make more money, have more freedom, and spend more time with your friends and family.

Now, I do the work that’s in my zone of genius. And I have more fun doing it.

I love being the face of my brand, and I love sharing a message of passion and purpose. This is work I could do all day.

I’m actually working more hours when you think about it, but it’s work that doesn’t exhaust me or stress me out because it’s within my zone of genius.

The Power of Being a Leader

Being a strong leader is crucial when you’re removing yourself from the business. Your team is going to look to you to have the system in place so that they can run your business while you’re not there.

I was just reading a book (truth be told, I’ve read it three times) by Jocko Willink, a Navy Seal, called Extreme Ownership.

He talks about how in BUDS (basic underwater demolition seal training), there’s a team of seven guys in each boat, with a total of six teams.

Team 2 kept winning, and Team 6 kept failing.

So they decided to switch the leaders up – they gave Team 6 the Team 2 leader, and Team 2’s leader to Team 6.

On the next race, Team 2 wins, and Team 6 comes into second place.

A strong leader went into a weak environment, and the changes were drastic.

What this experiment taught is, there are no weak team members, only weak leaders.

If there’s 2 things I can tell you about being a leader it’s this: be decisive, and do the hard work.

Leadership is always the problem, and leadership is always the solution.

Check out Craig and I talk about all of this and more here.

We all want our bank accounts to be filled with money, right?

But what a lot of people don’t realize is, you should be filling up your social bank account too.

Believe it or not, your social bank account is actually what’s going to fill your real bank account even more

You’re probably wondering “What’s a social bank account? And can I buy a yacht with it?”

When done correctly, you’re damn right you can buy a yacht.

A social bank account is when you go out with a giving hand. You spread your generosity by doing things for people and expecting nothing in return.

You want to give away so much of your knowledge and services that people feel like they owe you, and want to return all the goodwill you’ve done for them.

Let’s look at Apple – they charge premium prices for their products, because they over deliver on the features and the quality. Even 10 years later, they keep making products that we just have to rave and brag about.

You ever notice how when an iPhone user meets an Android user, the iPhone user acts totally appalled?

They turn their nose up at the Android user because they just can’t understand why anyone would buy a phone that isn’t Apple.

That’s the kind of loyalty you want to develop with people. You want to give them so much value and quality that they don’t see the sense in going to anyone else.

Give Without Expectation

Social bank account is basically following the rule of reciprocity.

When you’re generous with people, they will feel like they “owe” you something in return.

But if you’re going out and doing all this goodwill just so that people can owe you, that’s really counterproductive and it’s going to work against you.

The best way for you to build up your social bank account is by going out with a giving hand, being generous, being of service, and expecting nothing in return.

As a byproduct of your generosity when you give without expectations, that’s when you get the most back.

Dude, I’ve seen people who’ve gotten Fit Body Boot Camp tattoos!

That right there is proof that when your business exceeds expectations so much, people begin to identify with your brand on a personal level.  

I gotta give kudos to Gary Vaynerchuk when it comes to building a social bank account – that guy doesn’t sell anything to anyone!

He puts out a lot of content, gives out tons of free information, dedicates himself to changing the way people think about being an entrepreneur, and all he asks is that people purchase his books if it makes sense to them.

He’s literally built an empire based on writing books on the Bestseller list by consistently delivering content and going out with a giving hand to the world.

Why You Should Give a Damn About Giving

I’ll be honest, the turning point for me when I learned giving is the secret to more success was when I realized I was putting people off.

As humans, we come from a place of desperation. We’re pretty selfish.

And when you’re broke, you’re even more desperate. We want people to buy our products so we can make money to pay our bills and provide for our families.

So we end up pushing our wants and needs onto other people in the form of “What can that guy do for me?”

The problem is, when you’re thinking about what people can do for you, they’re thinking “Well, what’s in it for me?”

Because we’re selfish!

Once I realized I was putting people off, I changed my approach. At the end of every dialogue I have with someone, I ask “What can I do for you?”

The way I see it, I have a duty to help others. I’m well connected now, and I can help bring opportunity to other people.

I grew up in this business on the shoulders of giants, and now it’s my turn to be the giant that others can stand on.

I recently recorded a podcast with someone, and when I asked him what else I could do for him, he asked me if I could connect him with a guy who he’s been trying to bring onto his show for months.

I gladly introduced them via email, took about two minutes of my time, and now I’m guessing he’s gonna have that guy on his show.

How does this help me in the long run?

My book, “Man Up”, comes out July 2018. I’m positive I can reach out to him and say “Hey man, what do I need to do to get on your podcast and talk about my book.”

Now I know I can go to him and ask for something in return because I over delivered and exceeded his expectations.

I’m no doctor, but I do listen to a lot of audio books. And one thing I learned is that the human brain consists of 3 parts: the reptilian brain, the mid brain, and the neocortex, which is our new brain.

Our new brain helps with logic, but the reptilian brain is our bullshit detector. The antennas are always up, scoping out the people who are genuinely coming to you with a giving hand, and those who are coming to you with a catch.

If people’s reptilian brains are looking for the bullshit, you may as well come forward with generosity way before asking anyone for anything.

My rule of thumb is a year before, I’ll give you so much value and generosity so that if I need something from you down the line, I can rely on you.

And even if I don’t need anything from you, you’re just gonna think of me when you come across someone who needs to connect with me. Because of that built up reciprocity.

They’re gonna think “I have to connect this guy with Bedros” simply because I’ve never asked them for anything back after all the goodwill I’ve done for them.

And that’s how you want to build up your social bank account.

Committed to your success,

Bedros

When I first started selling as a personal trainer, it was horrible. I had no idea what I was doing, and I found myself just word vomiting on people.

I would spout tons of information on my prospects, and I would overwhelm them with all the benefits and features of my services. I remember watching their eyes glaze over, and thinking “Well I’m just too smart for them.”

Yeah, I was not.

But it was one fateful day that changed my whole outlook on selling. The day that my mentor Jim Franco punched me with the truth – I was an order taker, not a salesperson.

He told me I was no different than a waiter. I didn’t sell him the 6 month training program he signed up for, he already had the intention to sign up. I took his order.

It really hit me when he asked me what percentage of people I close, and I couldn’t even give him that number. I guessed about out of ten people, I was closing 3 or 4.

So this is what he taught me: ⅓ of the people will buy no matter what, ⅓ of the people are undecided and can be sold if you have the right skills, and the last ⅓ are people who aren’t gonna buy, but a closer can convert some of those people into paying clients.

Sales is About Persuasion

Whether you realize it or not, you’re constantly selling. You’re selling yourself, you’re selling an idea, you’re even selling your child to go brush their teeth before bed.

Selling is all about persuasion, influence, and a transference of feelings.

Craig’s “Perfect Life Workshop” has helped myself, my wife, and so many of my private coaching clients become more structured and disciplined both professionally and personally.

Craig sold me on getting into this workshop because he had so much conviction in the systems he created. He truly believes in the process, and that his system is going to make an impact and improve lives.

Craig transferred those feelings to me, and now I’m just as hooked on his workshop as he is.

You have an obligation to sell your product or service to people in your industry who need your help. They’re frustrated, they’re exhausted, and they’re just looking for answers. And if you can’t sell them, someone else will.

How to Become A Better Salesperson

Anything I sell, I’m looking at how can I get you to buy it.

Hell, if I have to reach into your wallet and get your credit card to do it then so be it!

“But Bedros, aren’t you just forcing someone to buy from you?” Listen, if someone is about to jump off a cliff, wouldn’t you try to stop them?

If I have someone who’s thinking of making a stupid buying decision with someone who’s not me, where I can add more value and certainty to their life, then it’s my obligation to extract money from them in exchange for service and value.

Once you learn that you have an obligation to sell, you can move to the consultive selling process, which is getting on the phone with someone, agitating the problems they have, and be the solution.

Everyone’s got problems in their life. Maybe their problem is they’re not disciplined and organized, or they want more value in their business and relationships. And they dump that problem on you, the seller.

In my case, let’s say I have someone who has a product or service they want to sell, so they come to me looking to learn how to become a better closer.

I’m gonna stir the pot a little bit and agitate their problems.

I’m gonna ask “What is it costing you every time you don’t sell enough of your products or services? How much more of an advantage is your competition gaining?”

We’re gonna open the kimono a bit, stir the pot, and then I’m gonna say “You know what, what if instead of dealing with objections every time, the person can make a decision right then and there?”

You’ll often find when you’re selling to someone, they’ll have objections for why they can’t make a decision right away. They gotta check their finances. They gotta think about it. They gotta go talk to their spouse.

So here’s what I do when I get them on a call. I tell them “Listen, I don’t care if you say yes or no at the end of this call. But do I have your commitment to give me a definitive answer whether you’re going to commit to the program or not?”

When I say that, I’ve eliminated those objections. And, if I do my job right, I will have identified their problems, stirred the pot, and will be so fired up when I give them the solution that they have to say yes.

And every single time, I get the answer I want to hear.  

You gotta agitate those problems, and find out how that problem is affecting their life. Then, you come in on your white horse with the solution that’s going to make their life better.

Become a Professional Listener

Like I mentioned earlier, I used to have a case of word vomit. I would talk myself right into a “no”, when what I really should have been doing was letting my prospect talk themselves into the “yes”.

What happens is, your prospect talks themselves into the sale rather than you accidentally talking them out of it.

You wanna become a professional listener, and ask people 4 or 5 questions to get them to open up and talk themselves into the sale. Once you have their commitment, you have the sale.

People always ask me “I don’t know why I just keep talking around and around in circles?”

And I always tell them, “It’s because you’re afraid to ask for the sale!”

If you don’t have confidence in your product or service, and truly believe it’s the best option for people to solve their problems, then you’re always gonna have diarrhea of the mouth. You’re gonna keep talking in circles, never get anywhere, and lose the sale because you don’t believe in your product.

Dramatic Demonstration of Proof

The last time I was truly sold was when I was at Guitar Center, and I wanted to buy a simple wooden cajon.

The sales guy pointed me to an electrical cajon. I was taken aback, since this one was different from what I intended to buy, but I let him show me. He started drumming on it and man, it had built in accompaniment, cymbals and snares that you could hear when you drummed certain spots.

I went from wanting to buy a $110 cajon, to walking out with a $400 electric cajon, only because he decided to sell me through demonstration.

Believe how great your product is, show people how great it is, and present it with conviction. That, friends, is how you close sales.

Committed to your success,

Bedros

Generosity and persuasion are two ways you’re gonna make people more money. And in return, you increase your money flow just by helping them.

Craig and I’s friend Joel Marion, the co-founder of BioTrust Supplements,  is one of the most giving people we know because he actually puts other people first when he’s selling his product.

When you go out with a giving hand, you get so much more in return. And through helping others, you build relationships with people, who turn into connections in your network, who then turn into prospect clients.

Making money with friends, baby!

For me, as I’m growing the Fit Body Boot Camp franchises and my coaching business, I find it easy to go to the friends in my network and ask for references.

I go to them and I say “Hey guys, this is what I’m offering with the franchise business and this is what I’m offering for my coaching program. Who do you know that would be a good fit? I’d love to get on the phone with them and give them results in advance.”

A lot of people don’t think to start with their own network first, and  then simply ask those guys to refer you to their network.

I see it like this, if I can connect with people in my network’s network, and help them move the needle in their business, then I’ve earned the right to pitch them my Mastermind or franchise.

I recently spoke with Bill Shaw, the CEO of Entrepreneur Magazine, and he connected me with this pretty popular woman in the fitness industry.

Bill said that we had to connect because while this woman is famous and doing well for herself, there’s a lot more money to be made. There’s much more room for maximum income growth that she wasn’t being exposed to yet.

So here’s what I did. Rather than telling her to buy my products or services, I connected her with  my assistant, Joan, so that she could send her all my coaching programs, free of charge.

I even went another step further and said “Let’s get on the phone, and see how else I can help you move your needle by making more sales, reach more people, and make a bigger impact.”

Why am I doing this?

The way I see it, if I’m lucky enough to be invited into Bill Shaw’s network, I need to take full advantage and come with a giving hand to the person he connected me with.

I gave them my products in advance. I gave them my time on the phone. And only after I decide whether my franchise or high level coaching program will be beneficial to them, do I invite this person to get on board with the program.

You need a strong network of likeminded people who are gonna be the right fit for your products or services.

They say the average person knows 51 people. If I look at Craig’s network of 51 people, and Joel’s network of 51 people, that’s a total of 153 people cut from the same cloth who I can market my services to.

Helping People Make Money Makes You Money Too

One important thing you need to understand is that when you go and help other people make a lot of money, you’re gonna make a lot of money in return.

As Craig says, you don’t want to be the loose knot that holds some boats together and lets others drift away. You want to be the strong tie that brings all the boats together.

Bring opportunity to others, and opportunity will be brought back to you.

A lot of you might be asking yourselves right now, “But I’m broke, I have no money and no value to bring. How can I network with top performers if I’m not on their level yet?”

Stop it. You’re already defeating yourself!

You can go out to events, workshops, seminars, and masterminds and connect with these people.

They’re not necessarily just looking for someone who can make them money. They’re looking for someone they get along with, maybe even have a beer with.

When’s the last time you went out of your way to build a rapport and friendship with someone you’re trying to do business with before you get to the selling?

Just because you think you have no value or money to offer this person whose financial status is way above yours, doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance of getting into their network.

You don’t even have to buy anything from them! All you need to do is show up at whatever event they’re speaking in, find them at the hotel bar later, and buy them a drink. Connect with them, get to know them on a friendship level first and then bring your product into the picture.

The Power of Podcasts

In today’s digital age, it’s nearly impossible for you to not find a way to put yourself out there. One great way to really expand your reach is by creating a podcast show.

Let me tell you something, even if you have no idea how to start a podcast, just do it!

You don’t need any money to start one up. Even Craig was totally clueless about starting his podcast when he first began, but he made it happen by sitting down, opening up his computer in his living room, and just doing it.

It doesn’t even matter if you have 10, 50, or 100 listeners. People love the idea of being on a podcast. Why? The possibility of getting that maximum exposure to enhance their own business.

And for you, being the host of this podcast is what’s going to get you and your products or services in people’s faces. Which means more money in your wallet!

Plus, if you make a connection with a noteworthy professional in your industry and land an interview with them, you’ve automatically earned the respect of that person’s fanbase.

Meaning they’re gonna go to you, check out your products, and buy from you. Simply because this famous person came on your show and raved about your business.

If you’re looking to start a business in the fitness industry, you first need to ask yourself, “What are they currently doing that isn’t working, and how can I improve it?”

You need to find an opportunity to disrupt the market and stand apart from the competition to make yourself profitable and successful.

So, what exactly does “disrupting the market” mean?

How Uber Disrupted the Taxi Business

Well, let’s take a look at Uber. They found a problem in the taxi service business, and figured out a way to improve it.

Uber saw how unsatisfactory, and frankly disgusting, a taxi ride could be. The cab smells, the driver is rude, the seats are mysteriously wet and sticky.

If you think about it, you’re getting in the car with a total stranger – you don’t know their name, what kind of driver they are, no way to see other people’s’ experiences with this driver…it sounds like some pretty risky business.

Uber realized, “hey, there’s people out there who have the time and clean automobiles to drive people around and earn some money doing it.”

Then they tied everything together through an easy to use app that gives you information about the driver so you know whose car you’re getting into, and what other people have to say about their riding experience. And, payment is through the app so there’s no sketchy transfer of money.

These guys thought of everything!

Uber saw their opportunity to give people a faster, safer, cleaner, and more convenient way to travel in their community – and they did it.

How You Can Provide a Higher Level of Service

You don’t even need to be at Uber status in your  business to be an innovative thinker.

You can disrupt the market right now just by zeroing in on something in your industry that you think you can do better.

There are many ways you can provide a higher level of service to your clients that will make them think “Wow, those other guys aren’t doing this. These guys are awesome!”

A great example I like to look at is how Tesla brought innovation and technology to the automobile market.

For years, big auto companies have been saying “we make electric cars, this is how they work, and this is what you can expect from them.”

The bar for electric cars was set pretty low. Then, Elon Musk comes galloping in on his white horse with Tesla.

He thought, “What if I can bring in an electric car that can go 300, 400, 500 miles to a charge, with outlasting quality”.

 Elon Musk saw the void that needed to be filled in the automotive industry and he took his opportunity for improvement. 

Find something in the market that you want to make better and do it.

How Crossfit Made Their Own Community

So to define disrupting the market, it’s when you identify what’s not working in a marketplace, and you find a way to make it better.

Let’s look at another innovative approach a widely successful brand took to stand out – Crossfit.

They saw that these big box gyms weren’t offering any kind of powerlifting or olympic lifting platforms.

So they created their own gym that was specifically focused on powerlifting to fit those needs of people in the community.

It’s funny, sometimes I’ll hear people say, “uh, Bedros isn’t that your competition? Shouldn’t you not be talking about Crossfit?”

Listen, Crossfit isn’t my competition. My competition is McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Carl’s Jr., and all those fast food, artery clogging businesses that pile on the pounds and create the unhealthy lives that I come in to fix.

The Big Problem With Boot Camps

As a personal trainer, I saw that the glaring problem with these fitness boot camps is that they’re not weather proof.

When you’re having your sessions outside, there’s no shelter against the changing weather conditions. No one’s gonna want to show up if it’s snowing or raining outside.

And even with the beautiful sunny weather, think of all the hazards you have when you’re running a session in the park: people can trip on tree roots, sprinklers, get bitten up by bugs, have limited or no access to equipment, whatever the case is.

I knew I could improve the boot camp experience – so I put my entrepreneur hat on and went to work.

How Fit Body Boot Camp Changed the Fitness Game

In my case, I disrupted the fitness market with Fit Body Boot Camp.

I did this in two ways: bringing boot camp sessions indoors, and building a community.

I saw that bootcamps had the potential to grow, if they were more structured and focused on creating a high-quality experience on top of delivering outstanding results.

I thought, “Gee, if we could run these sessions in an enclosed space where people could show up rain or shine and use minimal, effective equipment, we could get a lot more clients. Even better, we could set ourselves apart with our distinctive blue flooring that immediately makes prospects think hey, this place isn’t like that other gym.”

So I brought the bootcamp sessions inside, set up minimal equipment that would deliver maximum results, and Fit Body Boot Camp was born.

Today, we’re on the Inc 5000’s list of fastest growing businesses because we saw an opportunity for innovation, and we expanded upon it.

The second way I disrupted the market was by building a community among others with the same goal in mind: to live healthier, happier lives.

When you go to a big box gym, no one really cares that you’re there. You go in, do your workout, and leave. No one’s there encouraging you and motivating you to keep pushing.

That’s fine for people like you and I who already love the gym, but for people who find gyms intimidating, that doesn’t help. If anything, it’s the non-gym-regulars who need our help most, right?

At Fit Body Boot Camp, we’ve built a community and a family. Our coaches care about your progress, and they want you to reach your goals.

That’s what makes us stand out from big box gyms.

Sure, you can sign up for a membership for $10 a month and do your own workouts. You could even go on YouTube and look up some exercises and do them at home.

But what you can’t get when you go that route is community, and face to face encouragement.

That’s what keeps people coming to Fit Body Boot Camp.

If you want to listen to Craig and I cover all of this and more in our Empire Podcast show,  check us out here. 

Committed to your success,

Bedros

Maybe you’re at a point right now where you’re looking at getting into a partnership with someone who’s going to build your business to success with you.

You’re sitting down one morning with your coffee and you think, “Hey, I remember that guy Bobby from the party who was saying we should start that business together. I’m gonna email him right now so we can get started”.

When you’re getting into a business partnership, you’re essentially getting into a marriage. Are you really going to marry someone you just met at a party? Hell no!

I’m gonna fill you in on the good, the bad, and the ugly of business partnerships, and how you can have a successful one.

Know Who You’re Working With

Most partnerships don’t work out because people get into them without understanding the person they’re getting involved with.

You’re not just investing in that person’s skills, you’re investing in who they are—their baggage, their friends, their family, their habits, everything. And if you’re not willing to work with their background, your partnership is going to fail.

Craig and I became business partners in late 2009 through the Info Mastermind Group, but before then, we’d already known each other for two years.

And during those first couple of years, we would spend 2 whole days together 3 times a year. I got to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of Craig.

From there, I was able to make the decision of “Is this someone I want to run my business with?” and vice versa for Craig. Obviously, it worked out.

Don’t just rely on your own intuition, reach out to others in that person’s professional circle and ask them what they’re like on a working level.

Are they reliable? Do they have follow through? Are they trustworthy? Will they promise a unicorn but deliver a donkey?

Have that adult conversation and find out the nitty gritty of your possible business partner. Remember, this is like a marriage. You can’t just wing it.

Look At What Value The Other Person Brings

When Craig and I first started, I knew I wanted to create the Info Mastermind Group. But at the time, I was coaching and consulting personal trainers.

I already had an info business of my own, but what I didn’t have was any other people in the info space as resources.

Craig was one of my few clients who had an online info business. His value to me was that not only was he extremely structured and disciplined, but he was connected to professionals in the info space I wasn’t connected to yet.

In terms of skill set, you need to find someone who’s strong where you are weak.

At the time, I was the guy who knew how to work the stage and had traffic buying experience, while Craig was more functional in the disciplines of building an online business.

We’ve mastered our strengths, and brought them together so that now, we’re strong in every area.

You want to find someone who can help you multiply the impact you want to have.

Don’t use a partnership as an excuse to avoid decision making. A lot of first-time entrepreneurs embarking on their new venture are usually scared, insecure, and nervous.

Having a partner makes them feel like they have a buoy to hang onto when it comes to making the big decisions.

They’re afraid of screwing up, so they want someone to mitigate the risk with. Don’t fall into this trap! Find someone to dominate with you, not depend on you to handle everything, or vice versa.

Write a Partnership Agreement

One extremely important thing you need to have when starting this venture is to create a partnership agreement that clearly lists what each person is responsible for, and what their expectations are.

You gotta set it up like “Bedros is gonna do X, Y, and Z, and Craig is gonna do A, B, and C”.

I was in a partnership where we had no agreement documented, and we were put in a position where we both wanted to do the big exciting stuff, but no one wanted to do the tedious stuff.

Of course there’s going to be overlap with responsibilities, but you need a set of core expectations to keep each other in line with the same vision and path.

Partnerships work best when the work and profit is split 50/50. If it’s not, sooner or later someone is going to build resentment.

If it starts at 50/50, and then moves to 60/40, the person on the short end is gonna be like “Hey wait a second, I’m doing just as much work, why am I getting less benefit?”

Unless it’s clearly stated in the agreement you’ve written, 50/50 is the fairest way to go about a partnership.

But hey, even though you own 50% of the company, work like you own 100%.

You should be constantly trying to outdo your partner. Not in a “I’m better than you” way, but so that you both are striving for greatness and maximizing the success of your business.

Ending Your Partnership

Now let’s say you’ve come to realize you and your partner don’t work together well, and it’s causing a strain in your relationship and business.

How can you dissolve the partnership without ruining friendships or destroying the company?

Clearly write out the steps to take in your partnership agreement in the event you need to part ways.

Give a time frame for how long the process will take, disclose if the attorney will be involved, whatever you need to include to have a clean break.

And if you don’t have a written agreement in your partnership, complete with a plan in place to split if necessary, it’s not too late to start one!

Another route you can go is to hire someone on your behalf to negotiate the dissolving of the partnership. That way, there’s no emotions involved in case you want to maintain a friendship with that person.

Business partnerships should be looked at as a lifelong commitment – you don’t want to take this lightly.

When you get into these partnerships, you need to be thinking “I want someone who’s going to help me grow my business to massive success”.

Communicate, be patient, document everything, and work like you own 100% of the company.

That, my friends, is how you run a successful business partnership.

Check out Craig and I’s full podcast where we discuss the ups and downs of business partnerships here.

No parent tells their child “I want you to grow up to be average.”

No parent wants mediocrity for their kids.

No parent wants an ordinary life for their child.

You simply don’t grow up expecting to have an average life…

Or an average school experience.

Or to get average grades.

Or to be an average athlete.

Or to have an average job.

Or to have an average marriage.

Or to be of average health.

You don’t plan on having a mediocre life, or only having mediocre significance on this planet, or only making mediocre money and staying stuck in mediocre debt.

Yet at some point you settled for ordinary.

No one plans on being ordinary, average, and mediocre. I know that was not what you planned for yourself.

Yet the law of complacency says that when you surround yourself with average people, harbor average thoughts in your mind, and settle for average results, that leads to a life of being ordinary and living a mediocre existence.

Settling and accepting mediocrity is also why people have regrets on their death bed.

I don’t want that for you.

The battle against ordinary, average, and mediocrity begins with being unreasonable and choosing to not settle for anything less than extraordinary.

We humans are capable of so much more than just average.

But in order to be extraordinary and to live a life well lived, you’ve gotta abandon your excuses, limiting beliefs, and damaging thoughts and replace them with a set of higher self-expectations.

You’ve gotta be unreasonable in your expectations, man.

Have unreasonable dreams.

Set unreasonable goals.

Take unreasonable leaps.

Have unreasonable thoughts.

And surround yourself with unreasonable people who share your unreasonable expectations and will hold you accountable to achieving your unreasonable goals.

Only then will you break out of the sea of mediocrity, the chains of being average, and a numb life of ordinary existence.

You’re meant for more, and you know it!

I believe in you!

Bedros Keuilian

Over the weekend, while on a podcast interview I was asked how I consistently continue to grow my brands and businesses so quickly and can almost predict the industry trends before they happen and get in front of them?

This same person even suggested that I was on a very long lucky streak.

I answered his question this way:

I don’t think it’s luck, bust most people will chock up my success to luck in order to justify their shortcomings.

But I do think my success is a byproduct two things…

1) I’m not allergic to hard work like most people are.

2) I’m a control freak.

See, most people think being a control freak is a bad thing. In fact being a control freak comes with a negative stigma.

But I think that’s an ignorant way of looking at it.

Here’s another way to look at being a “control freak”…

Don’t you want control of your health, income, relationships, sanity, thoughts, feelings and happiness?

So what’s so bad about controlling then?

I just take it to the highest level possible where I can stack the deck in my favor and get the biggest outcome out of being a control freak.

A few years ago I heard my friend Craig Ballantyne say: “control what you can, cope with what you can’t”

Now, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but this made sense to me so I went with it.

In fact, I made the decision to control everything within my power.

I control my thoughts.

I control my fitness.

I control my health.

I control my diet.

I control my feelings and emotions.

I control my marketing.

I control what I buy.

I control what I sell.

I control who I associate with.

I control my economy.

I control my relationships.

I control my actions.

I control my decisions.

I control my behavior.

I control who I allow around me.

I control who emails me.

I control who texts me.

I control who calls me.

I control how much money I make.

I control what causes and charities my money gets donated to.

I control my happiness.

I’m a control freak and I accept that I’m 100% responsible for everything in my life.

I used to not be this way. In fact I used to blame every outside circumstance and situation for my lack of success and happiness.

But now I’m a control freak because life’s better this way.And while everyone looks at that term as a bad thing and a weakness in the human character, I look at it as stacking the odds of success, significance, and happiness in my favor.

And those are good things to have stacked in your favor…don’t you agree?

Being a control freak is like having ultimate predictability in your life.And I don’t know about you, but I want my health, wealth, significance, relationships, and happiness to be predictable.

The alternative is to believe that others have control over the outcomes and results in your life – making things unpredictable.

I can tell you this with 100% certainty: no politician, no talking head on TV, no group of people, no war, no economic downturn, and no geographic location has as much impact and control over your life, success and happiness as YOU do.

So if you want a good life, then accept the fact that you’re responsible for everything in your life and then become a control freak…. it’s like being lucky every. single. damn. day.

In 2010 I decided to run my first marathon.

Up until that point I don’t even remember running more than a couple hundred feet at a time.

But in May 2010 I set out to run 26.2 miles – the San Diego marathon.

The event was only six weeks away. So I hired a running coach and the training began.

On the day of the marathon I questioned my sanity as I waited in my corral to cross the starting line.

I couldn’t believe that I was about to run an entire marathon… 26.2 miles.

The first 10 miles of the run were OK.

By mile number 15 the cramping in my calves, quads and hamstrings set in – hard!

This must be “hitting the wall” that I’ve heard about.

By mile number 18 the self-doubt and negative self talk had set in.

Why did I choose to run a marathon?

I’ve got a functioning vehicle that I could drive 26.2 miles in, what the fu#k is wrong with me?!

I’m designed to lift heavy weights not to run long distance, why would I ever consider running this stupid marathon?

I should’ve trained longer than six weeks, I should’ve trained for the marathon in the following year.

By mile number 22 I was seeing people going into full physical cramps on the side of the road and dropping out of the race.

The only thing that was running through my mind was to fake a fall and end the race, too.

That way I can blame something hobble away with a little bit of my dignity still intact.

By mile number 23 I could feel the grinding in my left knee from the two ACL reconstruction surgeries a few years earlier.

I was in physical pain. That alone would’ve been fine because I have a very high pain tolerance.

But I was also cramping up and practically limping and shuffling along and I could see others staring at me and wondering what was happening to me as they passed me by.

It was right about at mile number 24 that I started seeing the shuttles and the taxis alongside the roads.

The sign read $5 dollars for a ride to the finish line.

They were there to take people quit giving up to the finish line so that they can grab their belongings and go home.

There was approximately one taxi or shuttle every 100 yards or so and all of them had a sign in the back windshield that read $5 dollars to the finish line.

I could see people limping towards the shuttles and cabs and taking the $5 offer…

… I suppose that at that point you’re too far gone and mentally defeated to give a shit.

One part of my mind was attempting to justify why I should do the same, after all, I had gone over 24 miles already and I’d proven that I can run long distance.

What exactly is another 2.2 miles going to get me?

The other part of my mind continued to remind me that if I gave in now, about 2 miles away from the finish line, I could never say that I ran a marathon.

I’d never feel the satisfaction of running a full marathon and crossing that finish line.

I would always carry the memory of giving up in the final homestretch and that would set the tone for the rest my life from that day forward.

I don’t remember exactly what I was saying to myself in my head over and over again, but I can tell you that it was a rhythmic phrase that I used to occupy my mind and push the negative thoughts out.

It was probably something like this: keep going, just one more step, keep going, just one more step.

It was all I could do to keep my mind busy to keep from faking an injury (which at that point in time the injury would not have been faked at all LOL) and so that I wouldn’t think about giving up and limping over to the $5 shuttles.

The last 1.2 miles of the marathon was marked by 1/10 mile markers.

You wouldn’t think the twelve  1/10 mile markers would take forever, but I swear to you it felt like an eternity getting to the next marker, and then the next, and then the next.

I don’t know how it happened but I somehow crossed that finish line on my own 2 feet.

Maybe it was sheer willpower.

Maybe it was sheer stupidity.

Maybe it was anger and rage (there was a lot of that in my head in that moment).

Or maybe it was faith and hope.

Or maybe just sheer stubbornness.

One way or another I had managed to cross that finish line and I had completed all 26.2 miles in under five hours – which was my personal goal.

Since that time I see marathons everywhere, both in life and in business.

There’s always a Finishline to cross.

Maybe it’s the end of the week.

Or maybe it’s the end of the month.

Maybe it’s a long drive or an even longer plane trip around the world.

Maybe it’s a birthdate, or an anniversary.

Maybe it’s pounds lost, or pounds of muscle gained.

Maybe it’s a financial goal.

Or maybe it’s just a desire to buy house or to save a certain amount of money in an account for peace of mind and security.

Maybe it’s lives changed and clients impacted.

There’s a finish line everywhere.

And where there is a finish line there’s always one of two choices.

There’s the choice to quit and give up or the choice to persevere and to forge ahead.

That day in June 2010 when I ran and finished the San Diego marathon after training only six weeks was probably one of the best life lessons and business lessons I’ve ever gotten.

It was that day that I realized that I had 100% control over the outcome of everything I do.

That was the day that I chose to take ownership and responsibility of all things in my life and business.

There’s a finish line everywhere my friends – never forget that.