Hey there, hope you’re doin’ awesome and I hope your fitness training business is killin’ it… if you’re doin the right things, then I’m sure it is.

As I write this it’s my 40th birthday, and my awesome wife Sarah’s 25th birthday ( yep, we share the same birthday)

And tomorrow our daughter Emma turns four

My twenties were crazy… giant marijuana operation, getting busted, losing everything, getting hooked on pain killers, ending up miserable.. and then…

In my thirties I turned it all around… quit drugs and became spiritual, a positive thinker, successful, a family man and an extremely reasonably happy person

My forties are gonna be even better

Here’s some lessons of life and business I learned in my thirties… there’s a lot of stuff here… but trust me, I had a lot to learn… as I pretty much just partied my teens and twenties away

Have Fun - If I don’t enjoy it, don’t do it ( unless required by law or something – like Taxes, DMV, etc)

Have a business and life philosophy -It makes doin’ things that are in line with your values so much easier… Mine are…

Here’s mine…

Life Philosophy:

Let go, trust God, be grateful, live in the moment, help others, put family first and blaze your own trail

Business Philosophy:

Do what you love, work for yourself, focus what you want, feel good about getting it, take massive action, help others and create your business around your ideal life instead of your life around your business.

The Economy doesn’t effect me – I NEVER think about the economy… only MY economy… which is ALWAYS good

Make sure to have a ‘contribution’ goal – Example, in my business… not my local personal training business, but in my info-marketing / coaching and consulting business, my goal is:

Help 1000 fitness experts make six and seven net incomes working where they want, when they want and as little or as much as they want

Now even though I have tens of thousands of trainers who follow my stuff, since only 5% of people in life are real action takers… 1000 people is a good goal

It’s attainable, it gets me fired up and helps keep me focused on what’s really important, cuz I’m as susceptible to focusing too much on the money as the next guy ( the money is important too, but it’s FAR better if the goal is tied to helping others)

My goal has a far greater reach then just the 1000 fitness experts I’m helping… I’m helping fitness experts to help more people get into shape, which not only also helps THOSE people… it also makes the lives of their family’s and others close to them better ( the family’s of the clients the fitness trainers are helping)… and on top of that it helps the fitness experts to provide a better life for THEIR OWN families and make a larger contribution to society… so the goal goes FAR beyond the 1000 fitness experts.

I hope this makes sense.

What a great industry we’re in where we’re able to touch so many lives on so many levels… it’s one of the main reasons I TRULY love the fitness training industry… not a lot of people have the kind of impact you do… and for that, I tip my hat to you.

Bottom line: It’s really important that your goal is focused on others, it’s important to have financial goals for yourself and your business

Positive Mental Attitude + Focus on a Clear and Definite Purpose + Action + Helping Others = Reasonably Happy and Successful Life – nuff said

Live in a state of Gratitude as often as possible – here’s some of the things you’re grateful for…

1. My insane little daughters Emma and Abby… they are my higher purpose… and a lot of the reasons I do what I do… they have made me a better man

2. My amazing wife Sarah… who supports me like crazy… is an awesome mother to my little girls… and has been a paramount part of my businesses and my happiness… she rocks

3. My jedi-ninja assistant Del… she’s at such a higher level than your typical assistant… a lot of my friends have personal assistants… and not one of them even comes close to comparing to Del… she’s just on another level and is a straight up BAD ASS and one of the coolest people you’ll ever meet

4. My mom… who was there for me at times when it seemed no one else was

5. My customers… thank you so much for being one

6. My blog readers… without you this blog wouldn’t exist

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YOU

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7. Good times

8. For the dark times that have turned out to help build some of my greatest strengths and assets

9. Zach Hunt… if I’m Flavor Flav… he’s the Chuck D… he’s the straight man and I’m the crazy one… Zach’s been a paramount part of my journey as an info marketer

10. So many other friends I haven’t mentioned… there isn’t enough room in this post ( Rich Golisch, Andy Jenkins, Saman B., Zach Even-Esh, Larry Lonis, Bryan Klinger, Mike Blasi, Big Mike, Chris Collins, Evan Peele, Montana Tim, Torry Dechert, Shingo Suzumura… just to name a few)

11. The fitness training industry… it’s been VERY good to me

12. God

13. Being 6’6″

14. My Harley Davidson

15. Metallica from 1983 to about about 1990… the stuff they put out during those years has gotten me through a TON of grueling workouts… ALSO… Al Green, John Coltrane, Johnny Cash and Tool

16. Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob… not sure I’d be here today without those two guys

17. Internet Marketing

18. Direct Response

19. Dan Kennedy… he’s had more effect on the way I look at business than any other person out there

20. Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”

21. Growing up in and living in Orange County California

22. Having eyes to see

23. Legs to walk

24. Ears to hear

25. Round Table Pizza ( reserved only for cheat nights these days)

26. The fact that we live in a time where where you can learn anything you wanna learn

27. Tarantino, Scorsese, PT Anderson, Coen Bros, Hughs Bros and Judd Apatow films

28. Breaking Bad, Entourage, The Office, Seinfeld, Curb your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Eastbound and Down and ‘Sons of Anarchy’… I LOVE to watch TV late at night

29. My current financial situation

30. Living in the good ole’ US of A

31. Henry Rollins Spoken Word

32. My cat Bodhi

33. The fact that it so easy to make money and get ahead these days… that even a knucklehead like me can do it

34. My friend and trainer Sako Yakinian… for kickin’ my ass three days a week when I started training again

35. Blogging… and the fact that people read mine

36. My house and my toys ( material possessions aren’t all that important, and I’ve been happy with very little, but they do add some fun and flavor to life which I enjoy)

37. The power of the human mind

38. The power of the human spirit

39. Shelby Starnes and his kick ass eating plans

I could go on and on… being grateful is one of the best states to be in… it helps you feel good, helps you attract more of things you want in life and keeps your focus off of LACK and don’t-haves

Action Alleviates Anxiety – There’s no way around fear, only through it… feel the fear and do it anyway

Step out of your comfort zone on a regular basis and realize that you and your business will only grow when you do things that take you beyond your current level of emotional comfort…. .get comfortable with being uncomfortable… feel the fear and do it anyway… life is weird and intense sometimes… get used to it

Focus on being productive instead of busy – Got this one from Tim Ferriss… typically I work 2-3 hours a day… but in those two or three hours I get a TON of stuff done

Effective Systems + The Right People to Implement the Systems = Happy Chris – Without the systems, I’d have NEVER been able to get ahead…and I’d be friggin stressed out 24/7 and always feeling behind ( been there, done that, never again…. BAD place to be)

Simply document the steps to every part of each process that needs to get in your business with any kind of regularity… and then have the right person or people follow the steps… it’s really pretty simple… yet so many trainers avoid it all together… and they’re stuck working “in” the business and rarely ever working “on” it… hard to get ahead that way.

It’s really comes down to…

A. Simplifying the actions down to the most important ones ( 5-20% of the actions are gonna be responsible for 80-95% of your income)

B. Create systems for every part of your business that doesn’t absolutely need to be done by you personally

C. Hire the right people to implement the systems

1. Everyday ask yourself what are the most important one, two or three activities you can do to get to your goals… what are the BIG things that will get you there fastest… and then do those things

2. I talk about this one all the time but that’s just because it’s so damn important…

Outsource as many things as possible that don’t actually need to be done by you… whether it’s in barter like Zach Hunt does ( he barters group training workouts with like 12 or 14 different people who do everything from build links, write blog posts, post Craigslist ads, put his lead gen. boxes around town… to even finding, screening and hiring more barter people.)

And if you can afford it, hire the work out… here’s some of the things I hire out…

• Customer service
• Article writing
• Accounting
• Incoming sales calls
• Personal training
• The boot camps
• Managing the trainers
• Outlining business and marketing audio and video programs I haven’t had a chance to listen to yet and then have the key components explained to me
• Content creation
• House and office cleaning
• Car detailing and maintenance
• Hotel and airline reservations
• Craigslist ad posting
• Traffic generation
• Web design
• Graphic design
• And on and on and on

Most of this is done with one customer service person working part time, one full time personal assistant, one part time web guy and one “paid by the job” article writer, some personal trainers and boot camp instructors and a few commission based appointment setters setting appointments for the trainers… and it really doesn’t cost all that much to pay other people to all this… yet it NEEDS to get done… but if I did it all I’d have no time for the really important stuff ( one of the most common situations the majority of fitness professionals are in) and I’d've never gotten ahead

And for the most part my only points of contact in the business are my wife Sarah and my assistant Del who oversee everything and everybody

I pretty much try to just spend my time on strategizing, writing blog posts, email marketing, a little copy writing and networking / nurturing current relationships… and peaking in once in a while to make sure everything is running smooth ( remember, you get what you inspect not what you expect)

Now… I wouldn’t be able to do that unless I had this next thing in place…

3. Step by step systems for every aspect of the business – every part of the business that is repeated with any kind of frequency has a system to it… it’s the systems that free the business owner

Keep a Balance in Life Between

• Family and social life
• Spiritual path
• Fitness
• Business

I can tend to be pretty OCD, so living by this one is important and PROBABLY the most challenging rule of them all for me for me to follow

Trust me, I’ve let things get WAY outta balance before… for three years I ate like shit and hardly touched a weight cuz I was SOOO focused on business, that I completely neglected health and fitness ( EVEN though I’m in the fitness biz) - Side Note: I did end up building two kick ass business during this period… I just got fat as shit doing it

And I’ve let my spiritual path go before as well, and wouldn’t ya know it, before long I was trying to control things, was worried about stuff and was pretty close to turning back into a full-time stoner… thank GOD I got back on the right path

No Boneheads – If I don’t like a person or don’t like dealing with them, they’re out… PERIOD ( Paul and Zach have this same rule)

Life is to short for time vampires, energy suckers, complainers, the dishonest and shady, the needy, the clingy, non-action takers, blamers, haters and anyone else who brings down the quality of my day

Like The Great Dan Kennedy says, “If I wake up three days in a row thinkin’ about you, and I AIN’T sleeping with ya, you gotta go”

NEVER allow others to dictate how you work…

…it’s YOUR responsibility to condition others to work with you on YOUR terms.

Only Enter Into WIN/WIN Relationships And ONLY With People I Like - ( Similar to the last one)

- If a relationship isn’t win/win, then huge problems will arise, nuff said

Look for the Good in EVERY Situation – it’s there, this one is HUGE

Some people are always looking for something to be upset about, without gettin’ too woo-woo on ya, I’m always looking for stuff to be happy about, and what good can come out of things that appear negative at first

Some of my seemingly biggest nightmares and curses have turned out to be my greatest gifts and assets…. weird how that works.

I’d rather be happy than be right - This little sentence is one of the keys to a happy relationship… and since a happy wife can help make for a happy a life, I try to use it as often as possible: “Yes dear, you know you’re right again… I shoulda listened to you all along”

Invest Time and Money in Info-Products, Hire Coaches and Mentors, Read Books and Learn my Ass Off About Anything that I Enjoy and Can Get Me to Where I Want to Go in Life – I LOVE that we live in a day and age where anything I wanna learn to do I can

Spending time and money on info-products and then applying what I learn has been one of the biggest factors of my current success.

Know the Right People – A lot of what makes up success in life is who you know, in fact that’s one of the big reasons me and Bedros are making a friggin’ documentary of the entire internet marketing sub-culture… it’s like putting the ol’ rolodex on steroids

We’re now friends with a ton of dudes who are very in-demand and keep a necessary wall up between them and the rest of the industry

Focus on the Big-Picture High Leverage Activities that can get me where I want to go, outsource the rest

I spend most of my work time on…

• Blogging
• Creating Copy
• Networking with the right people
• List Building
• Strategizing
• Studying Info-Products

Focus on my Strengths and Things I Enjoy – If I’m not good at it, unless I’m in the early learning stages and REALLY wanna get good at it, I have someone else do it… someone who IS good at it

Hire People Smarter Than Me - Everyone who works for me is MUCH MUCH smarter than me in what they do, if I tried to do what they did I would end up making a HUGE mess, breaking everything and losing my mind… I’m only good at a few things ( most of us are like this)… so those are the things I do… the rest goes to people who are good at THOSE things…

Only Take on Projects That Are In Line With My Current Values and Fulfill Me Beyond Just The Money – This ties into the last one… a project must fulfill me in some way BESIDE just money… too many people spend their life JUST chasing a buck, to me, that’s no way to live

For me, the money must be their, but it should fulfill me personally, be fun, help a lot of people, and build in be in line with my current brand and brand equity.

Only Create Products and Services That Fit Into My Business Model and Build My Brand - ( Ties into the last one) – I pretty much only create products and services that are a good match for my current list ( trainers) – that way it all compliments eachother… easy to go deep in one more than narrow in a bunch

Say “No” More Than “Yes” – Knowing what to turn down is very important, and 99% of stuff in life falls into this category

Example, I can’t stand moving, and when I move, I hire a moving company

Once in awhile a close friend will ask me to help them move, the answer is always “no”, HOWEVER, I do offer to pitch in a few hundred bucks to help them get a moving company or a day laborer or two

The Money is In The Marketing - Good marketers make WAY MORE than Surgeons, Lawyers, Doctors… you name it

Don’t Act Like I Know the Answer If I Don’t – Be WILLING To Admit When I Don’t Know – Be willing to admit that I don’t know the answer to something is so damn much more of a peaceful way to live than trying to be a know-it-all

Being in the guru biz a lot of people expect me to have the answers to everything, and somethings I know A TON about… but there’s a million times as many things that I have the slightest clue on

Much easier to admit it, then hide it, and give them some bullshit answer that doesn’t help them

Watch the Majority and Do the Opposite - Most people are broke, bored, miserable and have bought into the big lies society has taught them their entire life without questioning it for one second

If you watch what 99% of people do and do the opposite, you’ll almost always be on the right path

Match Every Act of Boasting with a Joke Made at the Expense of Self – Being in the expert business / guru business.. whatever you call it ( trainers are in that business too by the way)... I need to blow my horn sometimes about the incredible results I get for my coaching clients and customers, HOWEVER, I also need to joke about my flaws and what a knucklehead I can be sometimes… cuz if I don’t, then the boasting will come off too strong… there needs to be a balance.

To be followed one must be liked, but no one likes a braggart, so I balance the “showcasing the amazing things I’ve done for my clients and customers” with busting my own balls… HUGE LESSON here

Don’t Trade Hours for Dollars, Create SYSTEMS That Make Money – Self Explanatory… it’s actually why I stopped training ( not that you should though… if you like training, by all means train ) – I just didn’t want to trade hours for dollars anymore, so I systematized things and hired a bunch of other trainers to do the training for me… and went on to create a ton of info products that can sell online even while I’m sleeping

I love waking up and seeing all the money that came in while I slept from the systems I created

Have Multiple Streams of Income – I have about 20 streams of income and wouldn’t have it any other way… it just helps me sleep good at night

There’s personal training, in-home training, boot camps, affiliate products, lots of different info-products, masterminds, coaching programs, a web design service, link building, and on and on and on.

Be an Entrepreneur – Not a Manager or Technician – If you’ve read The Emyth by Michael Gerber then you know what I’m talking about, if you HAVEN’T read it, do yourself a HUGE favor and read it ASAP

If it’s Important To ME – Then It’s IMPORTANT - Quite simply time is precious, so I’m selfish with it, not that I don’t help other people without asking anything in return sometimes – cuz I do, but I generally keep that to myself

Miserable people are always pleasing others

I live by my own values and feel very fulfilled cuz of it

Blast and Cruise – When I feel like it, work my ASS OFF, that way when I don’t feel like it, I can chill, unlike Hochman, who enjoys 22 hour work days for years on end, I LOVE taking time off

For about 1/3rd of the year I like to to hang out and not do any business at all, but when I come back, I kick major ass every time, and create new money making systems that re-assure I never have to work a job

I LOVE what I do, but there’s other stuff I love to do as well, like lift weights, go to the movies, read, hang out with my wife and kids, ride my Harley and so on.

If I’m Not Pissing Some People Off, I’m Doing Something Wrong – Living by your own values will always make a few people mad, and that’s their problem not mine.

Besides, 10% of people are always looking for something to mad at anyway… so no matter what I do, the haters will always be there.

Also, to build a tribe of followers that love you, you need to have a strong voice and stand for something – you simply can’t avoid saying things that some people will disagree with about and hold against you

Trying to please everyone leads to boredom and a day job… no thanks

If They Pay They Matter, If They Don’t Their Opinion DOES NOT MATTER - Almost every complaint we get about the way I market myself is from NON-customers ( and usually it’s just negative put downs about how offensive the blog is, how “group training” is ruining the industry, how I joke around too much, or how’s they’d NEVER take advice from an ex-convict )

When we get feedback from PAYING CUSTOMERS, we treat it completely differently, and often times we learn from it, cuz’ it’s usually constructive and not just bickering, judging or complaining

Now I do care what my loyal blog readers think, but the funny thing is, almost every die-hard reader is a paying customer as well.

Customers MUST Feel Cared Genuinely Cared About – This is huge, I truly care that ALL my customers get the life they want, and that the info I provide helps them get there

Be Flexible, and When My GUT Tells Me, Break The Rules and Write Some New Ones – Sometimes the rules change, but not often.

As a wise man once said, the only thing that doesn’t change, is change itself

Genuinely Compliment Others as Often As Possible – People will like you and want to be around you more

Batch Process - I put similar tasks together, this just makes me so much more damn productive, example…

• Phone calls are done back-to-back, I schedule all calls on Tues and/or Thur, these include coaching calls, recorded calls for info-products and strategy/networking calls. If a potential coaching client can’t do calls on Tues or Thur, and HAS to do it on another day, I’m not the coach for them – and no amount of money ( well maybe millions) is worth scheduling calls on other days for me
• Keep phone on silent when working - I can’t stand be interrupted by a ringing phone, when I’m working the phone is on silent, and then I’ll simply return any calls all at once ( usually on the nearest Tues or Thur ) – this ticks a few people off once in awhile, but if they can’t deal with it there’s simply no room for them in my life
• Film videos back to back
• Check all emails at once, and then don’t even look at my inbox until the next time I’m ready to go through them all

To really succeed and be fulfilled in what you do you need a big enough “reason why” to keep kickin’ ass - Here’s a few of mine for doin’ what I do

1. My two daughters and my son who is on the way

2. I want my daughters to grow up in a safe and prosperous community

3. I want my daughters to go to private school

4. My wife Sarah

5. I want my wife and daughters to never have to worry about money

6. I don’t ever want to worry about money myself

7. I don’t want to have a job

8. I don’t want a boss

9. I don’t want to commute

10. I don’t want to trade hours for dollars

11. I want to make a giant contribution… I do it by helping trainers make more money and get more people into shape and live healthier lives… helping just one trainer get twice as many clients effects more people in a positive way than I can even count… the ripple effect is huge… healthy people usually live longer, are happier and better parents, teach healthy habits to their kids.. and on and on

12. Freedom… not being stuck in the rat race like most of society

13. So I can live my life knowing I didn’t buy into the great the lies that 99% of people have been conditioned to believe since they were young… like the only way to succeed is to go to college, work long hours and so on…

14. AND so I can help OTHER people not buy into the lie UNLESS they want to… I just love helping people wake up from a lifetime of negative conditioning… and the more people I can help do this, the more awake I become from my own negative conditioning.

15. So I can create things that make people happier and makes the world a better place to live in

16. So I can work where I want

17. So I can work when I want

18. What I do is exciting to me

19. It fulfills me spiritually (=

Those are just a few of mine… they’re definitely some of the biggies.

Emphasize my strengths, don’t try to fix my weaknesses - I do what I’m good at and enjoy… I hire out the rest

Find the path that FEELS right – not conceptually, not just to your bank account and not just something that makes ends meet… search deep inside for your path and the answer will come… inside you know what you were born to do… don’t get side tracked by all the day to day thoughts and problems that we tend to take so seriously… the answer isn’t in your mind… it’s in your soul… I know, I know… sounds pretty new agey… but it’s the truth

Be very clear on what your values are -  Because if you don’t know what’s important to you, you just mind find yourself working for someone with a stronger sense of purpose then your own… and that SUCKS

When the path becomes clear… take massive action right away and get things done fast… and whatever parts of your path aren’t clear yet will be revealed to you along the way… many times through what may seem like hurdles, challenges or mistakes… this is good

Understand that success usually happens in the middle of massive amounts of chaos… don’t sweat it… you can fine tune things later… you’re never gonna have all your ducks in a row

Be sure to nurture the important relationships in your life -  it’s one of the most important things you have

Take time almost everyday to LEARN, but don’t let learning turn into an avoidance activity - application most knowledge is useless

What other people think of me is absolutely NONE of my business - MY thoughts are my business, their thoughts are THEIR business

Have clearly defined specific goals and focus on them a lot, but don’t forget to be present in the moment – seems paradoxical… because it is… find that balance on the razors edge

Realize you’re NEVER gonna get everything done – that’s ok… just do one thing at a time and start with the most important things… get other people to do as many things as possible for you… and make it a win/win relationship

Be persistent and flexible - another paradox… again, the razors edge.

Start relationships off with the giving hand - I have multiple successful businesses and I truly believe this is the most important factor in the success of both of them

Build your business or career around your ideal life, and not the other way around - don’t live in the leftovers

Well, that’s a good start… I actually learned a lot more than just this, like I said, I had a lot to learn… but I’m getting sick of typing and am ready to go lift

Have an awesome day and I’d LOVE to hear your comments below