Transcription
Start off this interview is just kind of, uh, tell a little bit of—I can’t talk already. Uh, tell people a little bit about you and who you coach and a little bit more about you.
Absolutely. And well, it’s an absolute pleasure to be here, my man. So, uh, my name is Mark and I own a coaching company called MVP, and we mostly focus on bringing people to the bodybuilding stage. Um, so a large population of my current clients and new clients I am getting are bodybuilders or people who want to get into bodybuilding. Um, and it’s been beautiful. Um, my company’s been founded since 2020, so about five years old now. And at the beginning, all of that was just simply organic. And uh, it’s been really cool seeing how much that can change, obviously under the right mentorship. Um, but it’s uh, it’s it’s something that really opened my eyes, and I was so hesitant, eventually hiring someone. So, I’m so happy that that I eventually did. And um, it’s it’s crazy how much faster your business can grow with just proper guidance. And as a coach who coaches people who also coaches coaches—wait, a coach who coaches coaches who coaches coaches invested in coaching.
Yeah. And so like I should know how important good guidance is because like every—like I had someone the other day tell me like, “Why would I hire a coach? I can find everything online,” because that’s not the same—like you would have done it already.
Yeah. Absolutely. And like the internet’s not going to tell you exactly what to change. Like I, I made a joke like, “Chat GPT am I flat, right?” Like Chat GPT can’t do that. So Chat GPT can’t tell me if my ads suck. It can’t tell me my profile sucks. Yeah, it can’t tell me what I’m doing wrong. Only a person who has experience in the game and had skin in the game for a long time can really say, “Hey, what you’re doing, I see the intent behind it, but it’s not going to resonate with the people who you’re trying to get to resonate with.”
Yeah. So, Mark, kind of let’s talk about your story. So, you know, you were obviously been successful in a multitude of businesses before. You know, you’ve been—it’s not like you’re new to the coaching space by any means. You’ve coached tons of people. Uh, you’ve had phenomenal results. I saw, you know, the guy that won the what, the Summer Shred with Christian Groom, which was absolutely amazing. Pretty cool to see. Um, you know, I think what was the main reason, I guess, that you decided to reach out to us in the first place because you already had been successful, right? You already had done well. You you have a proven track record, but what was that feeling like of like, “I need to do something or I’m looking for something more?”
So, it’s it’s it’s funny because there’s that phrase, “Comparison is the thief of joy,” right?
Yeah.
But comparison also lets you know where the [ __ ] you fall at the end of the day.
It absolutely does. So if I’m doing 10,000 a month and this guy’s been coaching for eight months is doing 20 or 30,000, well my my intelligence and specialty in my craft is not equaling a pay—a bigger paycheck. And at the end of the day, you should be able to get paid on what you’re actually worth. That I knew that I was worth more than some of these people doing crazy monthly revenues, right? And what I was doing was not bringing in people. I was getting people who were close to me. I was getting a lot of referrals, but outside of that, no one knows who I am out in in California or Washington or the states that I live in. So, how am I going to get clients in that area who need help?
Yep. And I I talked to a few business mentors, had a few calls, and everyone seemed very like uh, very like one-size-fits-all, like, “Oh, it’s super simple. You just do this.” I’m like, “Yeah, but like I’m not trying to to coach Susan the soccer mom. That’s not my goal.” Like, I’ve done that. I did a business with that. I I scaled it. We got up to $500,000 a year with that, but I I didn’t love it. I I want to coach the people who I love to coach. And when I had my phone call with your with your closer, he kind of walked me through that. Hey, this is exactly what Will specializes in, and we will cater it more so toward your audience based on your performance. And I was like, “That’s different. No one no one said that to me at all.”
Yeah. Because I think everybody, what do they tell you as soon as you sign up that you should switch your niche because it’s dumb and you’re not going to make any money.
Yep. Right. Which is is very common. And and what’s funny too is that you know me and you had this discussion early on too of like you know of the pricing because you know one of the things that we did is like I was like, “Listen, Mark, if this is who you want to work with, this is who you want to work with, and I’m totally cool with that, but at the same time we got to package your—what you do in a way that is so different than everybody else because otherwise if you’re saying the same thing, doing the same thing, then we talk about it—that is like—it’s a ‘who’s hot right now’ thing, right? And nobody wants to play that game where you’re constantly chasing, you know, the next person or going from thing to thing.”
So, I guess what do you think has been some of the biggest shifts that you’ve had, you know, especially over the last month or two because I’m not going to sugarcoat things. You know, when you first came in the first, you know, 30 days, 45 days, we did okay, right? But I think over the last probably 30 days recently, like things have kind of taken a a big uptick. And what do you think that that has uh—I guess what do you think has changed since when you first came into where you’re at now as far as like having these bigger months?
You know what it was? It was my ads [ __ ] sucked, and I and I I couldn’t accept that my ads sucked because I thought they were good. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t really [ __ ] matter what I think because I’m not buying from me. That’s that’s that’s truly how it works. I am not my customer.
Yeah.
So like we all have our own thoughts and beliefs, but at the end of the day we are not the one pulling the trigger on the purchase. So we have to resonate with the people who we actually are trying to sell with. Then one of the things you pointed out to me or or mentioned to me like, “How are you different?” And the one thing that I really different on is I go to every single person’s show, no matter what state you’re in. I fly to where you’re at for free. I don’t charge you a single dime to spend $800 on a plane ticket. I I eat that cost because I just [ __ ] love doing it. And making a real about that and making an ad about that and telling a story about how I drove to a client’s show or flew to a client’s show and how he won the whole entire show and how the experience was and showing that story—that really helped my ads really take off, and I realized that the people who are looking for a coach want to be supported. Like there are two C categories of competitors, right? Someone who’s been in the game for so long. They just want a plan. They want to follow themselves. They don’t need anyone there. But bodybuilding is growing so fast right now. And there’s so many people trying to get into this sport and industry and they have zero experience. Some have never even been to a bodybuilding show, but they want to do a bodybuilding show.
Yeah.
So, how are you going to know what to do on show day? How are you going to know any of those things unless someone’s there to kind of hold your hands? And I realized like that’s what people wanted. So, I started running ads um that uh your client success manager helped point out to me, Amir, and I was like, “Okay, these are the ones I think resonate the most.” So, I started running them. We tested them, and the ones that were killing, we just kept boosting the ad spend. And yeah, the followers and the messages and the conversations kept piling up to the point that I actually had to hire a setter because I couldn’t keep up with all the flow. Like if you’re having 100 new followers every single day and you’re messaging 100 people, like you’re going to get lost in the weeds.
Yep.
Yeah. It’s crazy.
Yeah. I think, you know, one of the biggest things is that you just were very adamant but of putting your ego aside and going, “Okay, what I’m doing isn’t necessarily working.” And I think the other big thing that’s really important too is that uh you understood that yes, with your sport and what you do that testimonials and social proof works, but at the end of the day what people want more than anything is what they want—the accountability, they want the support, and you being able to demonstrate that through your ads right as far as like, “Listen, most of the coaches in the industry probably aren’t doing this. This is how I’m different,” allows you to kind of stand out in a crowded marketplace. So, you know, I know for you and for me in my business, like that is going to be the difference—the the biggest difference is, you know, people aren’t necessarily buying information anymore, right? They’re not buying like, you know, stuff. What they’re buying is they’re buying the person. So, they’re buying the person behind the coaching. And that’s really what makes a difference. So, if you can show how you’re different based off who you are and not what you give, then you’ll—I mean, nobody’s going to be able to copy what you do because you’re selling yourself, right? I think that’s the biggest thing is that people just don’t realize that—again, people buy from people they know and trust, and uh, you know, if you can have that personalized factor uh, it’s going to make that much of a difference.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And that’s why you’re so different than so many people in the sector is because again, the information is probably online somewhere in some capacity. No one—Wait, I have a secret module that somebody does. Well, but the support—the support was was there no matter what. You almost had to be ignorant to not accept the support between everything that was in the chat and the school and the Zoom meetings. Like, you had to choose not to show up.
I I mean, we do our best. I mean, here’s, you know, it’s like we have the five calls, you have a client success manager, we have like—we have all this stuff. And it’s funny because before we even started this interview, uh, you know what you said is like it’s not like you don’t know other people in the space, right? And you know, you’ve had conversations with other fitness coaches, uh, that are like, “Yeah, I was part of another mentorship and like you actually had coaching calls. You actually had somebody that checked in on you. That’s weird.” Um, and for us, it just shows how shitty this industry is, but at the same time of like what the expectations are. And the reason why I think we do that too is because I want to challenge you all, you know, to become better coaches as well. Like I think one of the things that I take pride on is I always ask myself, “How can I over-deliver for you guys so that you can over-deliver for your clients?”
That’s that’s exactly—exactly. It’s funny. I I was um talking to someone on a sales call the other day like, “I don’t want to hire a coach because I’ve been burned before.” And here’s the analogy I used. We have all gotten sick eating food out somewhere. We all have at one point. We still all eat food out somewhere else. We all still go to restaurants. We still all order takeout. We still—we still all doing it even though we’ve been sick before.
Yeah.
I think I’ve used the relationship thing.
Yeah. Right. You’ve never had a bad relationship. You’ve never broken up with somebody. Yeah. You never had a girl that broke your heart or cheated on you or something. Did you know this never happened?
Yeah. Oh my god. I met one girl in middle school and she was my best friend and we got married and it was the best thing ever.
Okay. It doesn’t work like that.
Yeah, it absolutely doesn’t. So, just because you had one shitty coach who did it—doesn’t care—does not mean the whole industry is like that. And that works with every single coaching industry there is out there. From bodybuilding coaching to business coaching to anything else. That’s why it’s really important to like to hop on a call and have a conversation with the thing and see actually what the what the um what the coaching service actually about.
Yeah, I got it. So, Mark, what are your big goals over the next, you know, probably month or two? You know, where are you envisioning this?
So, I just had my my first uh 20K month in March. Um, my goal for this upcoming month is uh I want to hit 25K. I know that doesn’t sound like a big jump, but I’m uh I’m trying to have short little milestones because my goal for this year is a quarter million dollars. And if I can in real—in reality, if I do $20,000 for 12 months, that’s a quarter million dollars.
Yeah.
But I just did 20. I want 25. Then I want 30. I want to be able to crank it up. My goal now for the end of the year is I would like to be at 40 to 50K months. And when we first had our conversation, I remember telling you I’d be okay at $15,000 a month. And and then you do it. So everybody, we’re going to hold Mark accountable that he’s going to hit 30,000. So that that’s it. Like I mean there’s no reason why you shouldn’t hit 30,000, right? What are you gonna do to hit 30,000? You’re going to spend more money.
Yeah, absolutely. And I I just launched two new ads yesterday. I’m testing them both against each other, and we’ll see who does better by the end of the week and we’ll we’ll crank up ad spend on the one does well.
Yeah, 100%. I’m excited for you, man. I think 30K is a good goal for you. And I know you actually have a competition prep coming. You have prep coming up, right? Or you’re in prep right now.
Yeah, I’m 19 weeks out now. So, uh, I’m I’m excited to uh—that I don’t have to do all this outreaching now either. Is that I just have—I run the ads. I have a setter that has the phone calls and that has the conversations, books the calls, and now all I have to do is show up for three to four calls a day and take care of my existing book and I’m golden.
Yep. 100%. Man, what advice would you give anybody, you know, who—again, the the the million-dollar question—who’s watching this interview and is going, “I know I need to do something, but I’m scared.”
The first thing I’ll say is you don’t know what you don’t know. And I say it to everyone is that we all have an ego going into this. And I think the first month of me being in your program was me saying, “Fuck, I can’t do things my way because they’re not [ __ ] working. So swallow your ego.” That’s the biggest thing cuz I definitely wasted my first month in the program just fighting myself the whole [ __ ] time. And and I was like, “I don’t want to run an ad like this. This is [ __ ] stupid. No one’s bodybuilders going to make fun of this. People are going to screenshot this and put me in the [ __ ] that.”
In Reddit chats.
Yeah. [ __ ] all of that. No one gives a [ __ ]—no one cares. And anyone who does actually care, you’re just mad that they’re not doing it. That’s—it’s simply just that, right? So, as long as you’re you’re putting out good information, you’re working with like with good ethics and and you truly do care. Just put it out there. Put it out there. No one gives a flying [ __ ] about you. I promise. And to quote Will, you are not special. You are not—you’re not special. I have so many funny quotes. I did an interview with uh Alex uh the other day and he would send me messages about like having his ads be like a little bit low and I go, “Whoopde [ __ ] do”—like it’s like everybody is so just like emotional about stuff and most of the stuff doesn’t even matter. So all good. Uh, anyways, Mark, I really appreciate you taking the time to jump on today. Uh, guys, if you are an online coach and you do want to scale your business, posting gifts and having a lot of fun, uh, reach out to me and we can have a conversation. But Mark, again, I’m—I appreciate you taking the time. I’m excited to see, you know, you hit big numbers next month.
Cool. All done. I’ll cut.