Thriving Student: Michael Beiter

“Since completing the OTA in its first iteration I’ve been self-employed full time using the tools I learned within to structure my hybrid fitness and nutrition coaching business. We will reach the 3 year in business mark at the end of 2019. In saying ‘we’ I’m referring to myself and my girlfriend who is also self employed as a contractor working for Pillar Coaching Services, the business I started and modified after the OTA.

I’ve learned a lot since then and often tell people if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have jumped into business ownership. I remember reading Jon say something similar way back in the day in reference to his books. He didn’t know any better so he just did it and learned from his successes and mistakes. I’ve pretty much done the same thing and it’s resulted in a business that allows me not only to reach my freedom number but profit healthily since beginning.

I had a couple hundred bucks and a backpack with a new computer in it. I met people in my community face to face, sold them, and then serviced them online between check ins where we again met in person. I did this in coffee shops, peoples homes and businesses, and in the basement of the second oldest mall in town, right below a Maid Rite in a windowless office that was 4 feet wide by about 15 feet long. No ventilation. It was ugly, but it worked and people loved the hybrid approach. It had enough of the personal touch that personal training allowed but otherwise treated clients like they should be, as adults capable of taking direction and implementing without a baby-sitter counting their reps or time between sets and making meaningless small talk. Instead, we bred self-efficacy with this new service model that few have ever heard of.

The results speak for themselves. And as of this writing, we’ve signed 220 clients with an average monthly revenue from each of $180.00, and a lifetime average value of just over $1200. We’ve netted about a quarter of a million dollars in revenue and I and my girlfriend comfortably work for ourselves, have kicked early morning and late night personal training sessions and just returned from our second vacation of the year. It was in the Rocky Mountains where we camped and had zero need to connect to any work. The last one we took was for 8 days in February of this year and we laid on the beach in Mexico while our home was blanketed by a blizzard and sub arctic temperatures. Neither of us work more than 40 hours a week and enjoy a freedom with work we never dreamed possible.

Best part of it all? Not a single dollar spent on advertising or marketing. All of our client acquisition, 100%, has come from top of mind marketing on Facebook and word of mouth that results in referral. The simple, disciplined system Jon suggested as marketing instead of investing in all the confusing crap, has worked like a charm and eliminated a massive part of any small business budget and put that money back into my pocket.

I’ve learned, above all, that when I’m confronted with introducing complexity into my business it’s best to return to the simple systems that have delivered the success so far, a lot of which I can attribute to Jon and the OTA.”