I joined the faction in January 2017 because my workouts sucked.
20 months and 5 Faction-semesters later, I am almost embarrassed at my superficial reason for joining…but hey, we all had our own ‘I need this’ moment or else you wouldn’t be reading this lesson!
Like you, I had my own shit I was dealing with. I won’t go in to details about my shit, because it’s just that…my shit and you’re here to better yourself, right? Right.
Here’s Casey’s testimonial from August 27th, 2017:
I first heard about Strength Faction in the fall of 2016. At the time it seemed like a great program- it had all the bells and whistles along with amazing testimonials, just like the one you are reading now. Unfortunately, in my mind, I could not justify the enrollment price.
As I finish my second “semester” of Strength Faction- that’s what I like to call each round of the Faction- I can’t help but sit back and think about the money I could have made, the network I could have started building earlier, and the professional support I missed out on in the fall of 2016.
Better late than never, right?
I pulled the trigger on my first semester of Strength Faction when enrollment opened up in January 2017. If we are being completely honest, I joined for the programming after a rough holiday season and an extended wave of shitty workouts. As soon as ‘Prep Week’ started (Prep Week is the first week of each semester when those in the Faction have their first ‘ah-ha’ moment and realize their lives are about to change) I immediately realized that Strength Faction was about to destroy my initial thoughts and over-deliver on all my expectations.
Over the last 8 months of being a part of Strength Faction, I have been promoted to Director of our gym, expanded and filled each of our new service offerings, integrated a sports medicine program in to our facility, helped two of our coaches reach “full-time” employment status (both of which will be joining me in the Faction this fall), launched my own website where I offer online training services, and most importantly, I improved on my abilities as a coach to better communicate and help our members be a better version of themselves.
I’m not trying to say that Strength Faction did the work for me, but what Strength Faction DID do was foster an environment where I felt comfortable posing questions in the weekly QnA sessions, providing an open network of Factionista’s who were willing to help and share experiences, and put me in front of an expanded network of industry experts in there related field to help expand my education in the realm of business, sports medicine, psychology, coaching, and programming.
I have spent my fair share of dollars on certifications and attended a whole lotta hours of continuing education work shops. None of them have delivered the results or return of Strength Faction. Whenever a new Coach or Trainer asks me what certification they should take next without hesitation I recommend a semester of the Faction. If you are serious about expanding your career, or if you found yourself in the same shitty rut that I did, the Faction is what you need.
Back to business.
I was looking for Strength Faction to be my answer to my own fitness and after seeing countless social media posts about this great community, coached by some of the brightest minds in the industry, I pulled the trigger and treated myself to my first semester of Strength Faction.
The first thing I noticed upon joining, literally in the first day, was that what I perceived as productive in my day-to-day was really me just being ‘busy’ with a whole lot of nothing.
No organization, no priorities, no system to get started, and definitely no execution on anything. I was working 7 days a week to do about 4 and a half days of work.
The first game changer that the Faction gave me was the Keep Your Shit Together Journal.
It was love at first brain dump. Organizing my thoughts, ranking their importance, and then scheduling the time that I would get that shit done was huge. I always had a planner and would write down what I needed to do, but I never put the thought forward in to ranking the order everything needed to get done and I sure as hell never mapped out WHEN I would actually do it. It sounds so simple, but man, to this day whenever I feel over-whelmed with my work or personal life, this productivity strategy is the FIRST thing that I do. It gives you the short-term game plan to kill your own tigers in the bushes.
The second tool Strength Faction handed me on a silver plate is the 5/3/1 goal setting method.
I use this strategy for quite literally everything.
Need to organize your day? 5/3/1 is there…
Need to set up a strategic marketing plan for your business? 5/3/1 can help with that…
Setting up a staff meeting or 1-on-1 meeting with a coach? 5/3/1 will help outline that conversation real quick.
5 things you need to do, 3 of those things you feel most prepared to do, and the 1 thing you can do RIGHT NOW.
So simple, so effective, and thus, so powerful in improving your day to day, week to week, and for the business owners reading this, quarter to quarter. 5/3/1 has improved my ability to identify and map out my actions, cut the fluff out, and truly key in on what really matters with my business, my coaches, and most importantly, my personal life.
The third thing (It’s always 3 Things…) that Strength Faction gave me was 100 qualified, like-minded professionals who are willing to help me with any question, concern, or idea that may cross my little brain.
Strength Faction advertises that they have a great community, and they still undersell it. The Faction community allowed me to experience what it is like to have a TRUE support network. A key resource that I never had in my first 7 years in this industry.
When I started in Strength Faction I was co-Directing a Parisi Speed School sports performance facility (www.EdgeVT.com/Parisi- shameless plug) and I didn’t see eye-to-eye with my other Director. In a Thursday night QnA I asked the question “how do you work with people who don’t have their shit together?.” This was me passive aggressively asking “I work with a jackass, what do I do?”.
The next day, Mike Connelly, better known as BPC, called me. We had a 30 minute conversation that changed my life.
His advice? Document everything and wait for upper management to come calling.
Every meeting I had, every deadline I made, every deadline that my counterpart missed, every statistic of growth in our department, my personal business/client metrics, execution of a marketing strategy, comparative sales numbers, and any other metric I could track was written down in my planner.
In March 2017, approximately a year after my phone call with Mike, I was promoted to sole Program Director. The reason cited? My ability to execute on all levels of business from sales, staffing, and day to day operations.
The real reason? Because Strength Faction provided me with the actual tactics and community to get shit done in a real-time business setting.
If I could duplicate my personal expansion to any newcomer to the Faction, I would boil it down to these three things (it’s ALWAYS 3 things)…
- During prep week identify the ONE thing you can (or are willing to) stick with for the entire 16 week semester. For me, it was the Keep Your Shit Together journal.
- Attend one QnA each week and contribute. When Todd posts in the forum ‘What are we talking about?’ write something…anything…be selfish and ask your questions. The speed of which you have you questions answered is a game changer in this industry.
- Check in with your accountability buddy and/or mentor multiple times each week. I am going in to semester 5 and am in a group chat with my accountability buddy- SHOUT OUT ROB AGUERO-HOFFMAN!- and talk with my mentor Coach Fury, weekly via text, social media, phone, and sometimes on a podcast.
For those of you going on semester two, three, four, or more, first kudos to you for continually investing in yourself! I would recommend the following stay on your radar as we enter the next semester…
- Look at your previous KYST journals and see what activity continually shows up. This go-around in the Faction, start to ask questions in the forum and during QnA’s that can help systemize this reoccurring task. Chances are if it keeps showing up for you, it’s shown up for others and see how they do it and if you can simplify it in your week-to-week.
- Write down 5 things that you want to do professionally, but the thought of it always made you throw up. Next, pick 3 of those 5 things that only make you gag. Kidding, again, but look at the list and pick three things that you can come to terms with. Last, circle the one thing you want to achieve in this next go around of the Faction. Rely on your mentor and accountability buddy to keep you moving forward, and the resources in the forum/QnA’s to keep the wheels moving. It might be the single most important thing you do this year!
- This last objective is low-key but can be a difference maker. Think of the gaps between your professional and personal life and see if the Faction can contribute resources to filling those gaps. An example being, back in January 2018, Todd asked the forum what we would like to see in the guest QnA series. My mind immediately went to something I think most of us working in the Fitness Industry struggle with (or just don’t have much exposure with); personal finances and investments. I posted in the comment thread about that and Todd had on his friend the following week to talk money and investments. Strength Faction has had Brandon Fisher, Financial Advisor, on twice now and both times have been super beneficial. So again, be selfish…what areas have gaps in them and use the Faction to help you!
And, oh by the way, here’s the email that Casey shot us on March 1st, 2018, leading us to ask for him to contribute to the expansion lesson you just read:
“Hey Fella’s,
I just wanted to shoot over (another) quick note saying THANK YOU!
I woke up this morning 3/1 with our facility at 101% of our Q1 income projections/goals. Our March income goal will be hit when our second wave of EFTs get run on 3/15. I now have the next 31 days to build momentum, game plan for the summer (Q3) and be PROACTIVE with this business.
Again, the role Strength Faction and the community you three have fostered have had such a profound impact on my PERSONAL life, it has also carried over to my professional day to day as well and I can not thank you three enough. The statistics above are great, but the FUN I’ve had working with my colleagues every day, helping them be better, having them push me to be better, has made coaching, managing, and just everything a million times better in my day to day.
<3
