What I am Learning In Hawaii

First off -- I cannot believe how many humpback whales are swimming by this Maui hotel. I saw ten of them lazily swim by this morning in about fifteen minutes. Amazing.

As I interview coach after coach for the upcoming promotion of the Beachbody Coaches Network, I am learning a lot about what this opportunity really means to people.

Seen here for his turn to get interviewed is Blake Warrington, one of the top coaches from 2007. The earnings these coaches have achieved in less than a year of activity is amazing. And while these are the top performers of the young coach network, so of course their six figure results are top of the range at this point, Blake echoed the answer every coach gave when asked "How do you achieve that kind of financial success as a coach?"... The answer "Just help people."

That's the kind of answer that, if it were any other company or any other promotion, I would have rolled my eyes. "Right buddy... help people. Gotcha." But when every person stands there and tells you that they are not a "salesman", and they are not a fitness professional, but that their business turned around when they just started to care about helping people and not about selling anything, well, you start to believe it.

What is so gratifying is, THAT WAS THE PLAN. We knew that, as effective as the Beachbody approach to fitness and weight loss has proven to be over the last ten years, we know that so many of the people that buy the products from TV could still use some personalized support to realize their goals. And now the coaches are providing just that -- personalized one on one support. And as more people succeed and get healthy, the people around them always ask "how did you do it?", and that's when another customer realizes that if they want to pay it forward, they need to become a coach too.

It is so gratifying to hear this business model is growing exactly how we wanted it to. It's not the "get rich quick on the next miracle juice with a weird name" pitch of network marketing these days. It's people who are using the motivation to change their health to help others, and that circle of support turns into opportunity. Jayson Floyd said "If i see a great movie, the first thing I want to do is tell someone about it. Why wouldn't I want to do that with the products that helped me lose 40 pounds? And why wouldn't I love to get paid for doing that?"

As Robert Hudgens said, it takes two things to succeed: "It can't be about the money first. First, you need to use the Beachbody programs so you get results, and second you need to help others succeed. If you do those two things, in that order, you can't help but make the money. But it needs to be in that order."

As I read the headlines today I am further amazed: "Hold On To Your House, The Recession Is Here," and "Costs of Obesity Epidemic Higher Than Reported"... yet I am sitting here, listening to Charline Bucher and Monica Ward talk about their personal fitness and health success, and how Diane Sautman's lifestyle has been transformed by combining her desire to lose weight with her desire to add an additional income to her household. I know there are hundreds (or maybe thousands) of doubters out there, who think Beachbody went in a crazy wrong direction when, instead of selling our products in stores, we put the task of expanding our reach into the hands of our customers. While we have a long way to go to realize our goals of connecting everyone who wants support with a great coach, I know for sure, this is the healthiest way to grow the business I could have ever imagined.