Why Youth Training Is the Fastest Growing Segment in Fitness

Why is youth training the fastest-growing segment in fitness?

Today on "Run a Profitable Gym," Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper sits down with youth performance expert Bill Parisi to analyze the explosion in sports and fitness training for kids.

Over the last 35 years, Bill has built a network of more than 100 Parisi Speed Schools, with most locations averaging $20,000 in revenue per month while operating only four to five hours per day.

In this episode, Bill explains how NIL (name, image and likeness) deals have motivated parents to invest in training: Top college quarterbacks now earn seven figures!

He also discusses the pros and cons of early specialization for young athletes and compares average metrics from youth-training gyms and the fitness industry as a whole.

To help gym owners capitalize on demographic shifts, Bill and Chris share practical strategies: how to use events to generate referrals, how to balance seasonal variations in retention, and how to hire and keep quality coaches.

Check out this episode to discover how youth training could boost your gym's revenue and help you create a greater impact in your community.

To get more gym business data on demographics, rates and revenue, use the link below to download Two-Brain’s 2025 “State of the Industry” report.

Links

"State of the Industry"

Gym Owners United

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1:01 - Why youth training is exploding

12:04 - The early specialization debate

19:45 - Youth training metrics

33:28 - Retention in a seasonal business

37:41 - Hiring & retaining quality coaches

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:02):
We're back with Bill Parisi to talk about the state
of the industry.
And I invited Bill on this showfor three reasons.
Number one, he and I have beenaround the industry a long time.
And so I want to really get hisperspective on these numbers.
Bill's also intimately involvedwith uh Ursa, as it used to be
called.
And so he's seen data like thisbefore.
Second, Bill has particularexpertise in the youth training

(00:25):
and athletic training niche.
And I really want to dig intothat question and get his
perspective on it.
And third, uh, he's just abrilliant guy.
And um, so you know, overall,just before we even got on here,
Bill was holding up his copy ofState of the Industry with all
the sticky notes and stuff, justlike mine.
And he he brought up like 10great questions that we're gonna
get to.
But uh before we get into it,Bill, thank you so much for

(00:46):
coming on.
We're on a profitable gym again.

SPEAKER_00 (00:49):
Chris, thanks for having me.
Excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Yeah, so Bill is um the founder of Parisi Speed
Schools.
He's got well over a hundredschools across the states right
now.
He specializes in youthathletes.
And Bill, if it's cool, that'swhere I'd love to start.
The the question that I hadafter looking at the data for
state of the industry this yearis the fastest growing segment
in the coaching business,anyway, is the under 21 segment.

(01:14):
And that's the first time I'veseen it in six years.
What's going on?

SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Youth athletics, youth sports.
Parents have become mad abouttheir child playing sports and
now with NIL and the opportunityto become a professional in high
school.
I mean, uh, high school kids canget NIL deals, right?
Uh, the opportunity to get paidfor your alikeness, and now in
college you get paid, I thinkhas changed the the paradigm

(01:41):
some.
And you know, obviously the thetop two, three percent are gonna
get paid.
Most people are not gonna getpaid uh when they when they go
to college.
Um, so but but that that conceptand that opportunity and that
the that excitement, I think,has really uh taken this to a
whole new level recently.

(02:02):
But even over the last number ofyears, when there was an NIL,
you know, parents are justpassionate about their their son
and daughter sports, you know,they're just passionate.
I mean, that's you know, theirtheir success in sports is is
really important to them.
And um, but but but they what'sreally most important to them is
their kids' self-confidence andand well-being.

(02:24):
And you know, we can unpack thatmore, but but that to me, that's
a big driver is is youthathletics.

SPEAKER_01 (02:30):
Let's talk about NIL for a minute.
Like, what exactly is it for theaudience who doesn't know?
And when did that come intoplay?
Like, why is that influencingthe numbers now?

SPEAKER_00 (02:40):
Yeah, I mean, I think well, I know NIL is name,
image, and likeness.
Okay.
And there was a uh a court casethat was brought against the
NCAA by athletes that the NCAAwas making all this money with
image and likeness of theseathletes.
And, you know, it got to a pointwhere, you know, they got sued

(03:00):
and they won.
You know, the the athletes won.
You know, they won that, youknow, you you can't, I should
have the right to make money offmy name and my image.
And the NCAA was was doing thatby you know broadcasting and
whatnot, these athletes.
And now athletes are able to getpaid by businesses legally,
whatever they contract to getpaid.

(03:21):
They just got to do theappropriate work and it's got to
be within reason, meaning thatit's got to be fair market
value, you know.
And some of these guys are sobig time, you know, paying a
quarterback to, you know, atMichigan is a million bucks is
probably fair market valuebecause you're on Michigan,
you're on national TV.
Yeah, your top quarterbacks incollege now are now making, you

(03:43):
know, seven figures.
You know, they you know thatthat's the kind of money that's
being thrown to to collegeathletes today.
The average budget for abig-time college football team
for for compensation is 20million now for the athletic
department.
Football's about 13 million, butthe numbers are astronomical,
and I think it's flowing down.

(04:04):
And I don't think that's theonly driver.
I think that's creating moreexcitement and and more interest
in parents to get their kidsmore training at a young age,
because you know, when you'reseven, eight, nine, ten,
everyone has the dream, right?
Everyone has the dream to makethe professional level.
Well, now college is theprofessional level, you know?
So now the dream in some ways islike even more applicable.

(04:29):
I can say this, you know, if youjust make an FBS team and you're
kind of in the top 40 players onthat team, just making the team.
I I should say power four.
If you make a power four team,which are the top four, and you
just make the top 40, you'reyou're making a couple hundred
thousand.
You're not even you're not evenstarting.

(04:50):
You're not even a starter.
And if you're in the top, youknow, 30 to 40 on the team in in
power four, which is you know,about I don't know, 70, 80
schools, you're making a youknow a few hundred thousand.
That's the money that is beingfunneled now, you know, in
football and and basketball uhas well.
So, you know, and it just makesthe dream, I think, for parents,

(05:14):
even maybe a little bit more uhreality in a way, because now
they don't have to make the NBAor NFL.
Hey, if I make a college,high-level college team, I can
earn some life-changing moneyfor some families too, you know.
But that's that's that's oneaspect.
But before that, youth sportshave always been uh really

(05:36):
powerful.
And the driver to that is reallythe the self-confidence and the
camaraderie and the teamwork andthe work ethic you build, being
on a sports team and and and thebenefits you get from that.
So, you know, I mean, I have twoboys, right?
They went through the system,they played high school sports,
they are college athletes.
My older son just graduated, heplayed division three

(05:58):
basketball.
So he he benefited from thisgreat team, you know, that he
was on through high school andthrough college.
My younger son now is playingDivision I football, a little
bit different, a little moreserious, kids get paid, and he's
benefiting in another way.
But but but the the money forthem, I mean, that's not the
that's not their driver.

(06:18):
I mean, the driver for them isbeing a part of that team, being
a part of that community, thatfamily, that fraternity, and
just you know, developing thoselife skills.
And and and when it's all saidand done, that's the real value.
And still most parents stillfeel that's the real value that
you get out of participating.
I think the money has made itmore sexy, more exciting, and

(06:38):
for some, it's definitely moremotivating.
And parents might be willing tospend a little bit more money
now because they you know mightsee an opportunity other than a
scholarship.
So I think that has helped, butthe underlying foundation is
really what sports are supposedto do.
And really, it's sports are ametaphor for life, and you go
through sports and you learnmore from your defeats than your

(07:00):
victories, you build resiliency,you build these these behaviors
that will help you succeed inlife, and and that's really what
training help helps us prepareto do.

SPEAKER_01 (07:12):
When I talk to parents, and I've been coaching,
you know, youth athletes, notnot only youth athletes, but
they've been part of ourmentorship, our coaching
practice now for about 25 years.
And when I say, like, you know,why do you go in debt every year
to get your kid on the travelinghockey team and go to all these
tournaments and travel withthem?

(07:33):
And you know, sometimes if yougot two kids, one's at one end
of the country and the other'sat the other end of the country
to give a weekend, like why doyou do that?
And the the most frequent thingthey've ever said to me is, we
don't want to be the thing thatholds the kid back.
Like we don't want our lack ofinvestment to be the one thing
that makes the difference formaking them to the next level.
And I always thought that wasinteresting.

(07:54):
And you know, as a parent, I cankind of understand that if your
kid is passionate and they'regood and there's a chance they
could go to the next level,obviously I'm just gonna do
whatever I can to support them,regardless of what the payoff
might be at the end, right?

SPEAKER_00 (08:08):
Yep.
I think yeah, and I thinklisten, parents, I think that's
a big paradigm parents have.
You know, they they want to givethe kid every opportunity to
succeed, no doubt.
And they also listen, when yourkids involved on a team and it's
kind of like watching the SuperBowl and you have 10,000,$10,000

(08:30):
bet on it.
You know what I mean?
Like it's you're invested.
You know, it's like it's veryexciting to see your son or
someone you're close with, youknow, compete.
Yeah, you know, and and I meanthat's a that's a special
feeling to be able to have, andit's exciting for the kids,
exciting for the parent.
I mean, I I do believe sometimestoo many parents you know live

(08:52):
through their kids, and it'sit's okay to get excited.
Like, listen, you know, I was adivision one all American.
I earned a full scholarship incollege.
Like I had my thrill, right?
I had I had my time, but I stillget really excited when my kids
are out there and you knowcompeting and doing things, you
know.
And I think parents, they theywant to give the kid every
opportunity to do that,obviously for the kid for the

(09:14):
athlete, but it's a lot of funfor the parent as well, you
know, to see their their kidssucceed and just you know grow
as a person.

SPEAKER_01 (09:22):
Do you see a broader awareness in the industry, or
maybe by parents of my kid needsto be training, not just showing
up and playing more?
I I can remember when I startedcoaching hockey kids, a lot of
their parents were like, Don'ttell anybody my kid comes here.
This is like our secret weapon.
And now it's like every kidknows at least that they should

(09:43):
be working out.

SPEAKER_00 (09:44):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I think listen, the thephysical abilities of young
athletes today have beenelevated, right?
I kind of say high school is thenew college in some ways, you
know.
High school athletics is verycompetitive, it's become very
competitive because of theamount of training and and the
development of the athletes thatthey're having at such a young

(10:06):
age, and they're becoming morespecialized and skills are
increasing.
So, you know, I mean, when Ifirst started training young
athletes in 1991, the parentsthat used to send the kids to
me, they were the oddballparents, like the crazy parents.
You're you're sending your kidto what?
You know, what what's thistraining?
What training, speed training?

(10:26):
What is that?
You're like weird.
Now, if you don't send them to atraining, it's like you're
depriving your kid, you know.
So it's the paradigm hascompletely shifted.
Where, you know, now it'scompletely accepted that, you
know, if your kid is playingsports, getting them some type
of training to enhance thatbecause just going to your sport

(10:48):
practice is not enough.
No, you know, unless you're agenetic freak.
And there are some of those,there's not many, but those are
the guys that are making thepros.
And if they get some training,those are the hall of famers,
right?
I mean, it just keeps going,right?
It just keeps going.
So, but to be competitive, youyou have to be not only doing

(11:09):
training, you have to be doingthe right training.
Because I've seen a lot of youngathletes do the wrong training
and end their careers, you know,and it's really sad.
I mean, just the wrong type oftraining, too much sagittal
plane lifting, too muchsquatting and deadlifting with
poor techniques where they justdestroy their back and they're
creating their own injuries.

(11:30):
And that's really uh that's anepidemic right now.
I believe there are so manyfaulty movement patterns that
are being prescribed in theweight room and on the on the on
the field in terms of you know,quote unquote training, but
we're really breaking down theathlete's connective tissue
system, ligaments, tendons, andand and and doing in some ways,

(11:52):
in some ways, doing more harmthan good.
So it's not only it's gettingtrained, but getting the right
training, and that's wherefacilities can really stand out
if they have a good foundationof movement.

SPEAKER_01 (12:04):
I've always wanted to ask you this, and I'm sure we
could do a whole podcast just onthis, but how does training fit
into the the whole idea of earlyspecialization?
You know, it's it I I hear allthe time, like, well, early
specialization in one sport isterrible, but I go to a hockey
game where 12-year-olds areplaying better than 18 year olds

(12:25):
were playing five years ago,right?
Of course, it's more likely thatthey're gonna burn out, and of
course they're gonna haveoveruse injuries and stuff, but
like, does training off the iceactually mitigate that, or is it
still just a bad idea ingeneral?

SPEAKER_00 (12:39):
Yeah, I mean, that that that that thought process
around early specialization, itreally comes down to movement
patterns, right?
So if you do a movement patternover and over again, whether it
be a baseball throw or certaintypes of soccer kicks, you know,
that you know, you're gonnacreate the these limitations or
these overuse injuries.

(13:00):
Now, that can be avoided withproper training, right?
So the skill of the sport, ofwhether it be, you know,
dribbling a soccer ball orswinging a baseball bat or
shooting a basketball orwhatever that skill may be, that
early specialization is veryvaluable, like to learn to learn
those skills.

(13:21):
Now, but but when your body'sdoing specific movement patterns
over and over again, the bodykind of develops this kind of
overdevelopment for lack ofbetter words, in in collagen,
right?
That kind of like has thisspecific path of this movement
pattern.
And now when you do somethingoutside that movement pattern

(13:44):
violently, I mean, there's arisk for injury.
So it's really managing thecollagen, the collagenous
network of the body, the fascia,the tendons, the ligaments, it's
managing that tissue in a waythat it's omnidirectional and
it's vibrant and it's springyand it's it's not you're trained
in a way where it'sone-dimensional, right?
It's got to be multidimensional.

(14:05):
And when you do things over, nowin some things, you know, it's
it's important to do thingsone-dimensional, like a thrower.
You know, they throw a lot.
Now, if they throw correctly andthey build all the you know,
stabilize your muscles, and theyhave good symmetry and they do
other things than just throw,they're doing other you know
activities.
You know, you you are gonnadevelop this, believe it or not,

(14:26):
this elastic Achilles tendonacross your upper right peck if
you're a right-handed thrower.
That's been proven by science,where you won't have it on the
left, but that's an adaptationthat you need to be a high-level
thrower.
So you you need that, but youalso need to have these other
things to balance.
So it's important to know thatearly specialization, there's
value to it, but doneincorrectly, yeah, could lead to

(14:49):
challenges.
So, you know, have you everheard of a wrestler get injured
or or have overuse injuries fromwrestling?
No, never.
You never hear a wrestler.
Why?
Because wrestling isomnidirectional, forces are
going through the body, throughthe tissues in all different
directions all the time.

SPEAKER_02 (15:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (15:07):
So that's a sport you don't have to really worry
about early specializationbecause that's exactly what
we're talking about.
Everybody should wrestle tocreate muscle symmetry and
balance because you're using allthese muscles in all these
different positions, right?
But if the sport requires askill that's very specific, now
you got to build a program thatbuilds balance and symmetry and
that's omnidirectional.

(15:28):
So, you know, like basketballplayers, they you don't really
hear much about basketballplayer overuse injuries.
Why?
Kids that play basketball earlyon and all they do is play
basketball, they are the that'swhy they're the most freakish
athletes on the planet, becausetheir entire activity is
multi-directional,omnidirectional, doing all types

(15:50):
of changes of direction andjumping and all types of angles
and whatnot.
You don't hear about overuse inbasketball.
Maybe you get overuse fortelatendinitis or you know,
because you just you know justtoo much activity, no matter
what it is, right?
Yeah, so uh that's a a misnomerbecause it's funny when you hear
somebody like Steph Curry say,Oh, you should play all three

(16:10):
sports.
Yeah, you you I recommend playthree sports if you're a stud
and you can play all threesports and actually play, get on
the field.
But if you're gonna play threesports nowadays, you're gonna
play three sports at acompetitive high school.
Well, typically Steph Curry's astud, like he's an NBA champion,
right?
Most kids aren't that.
So to play three sports, I don'twant to play a sport and sit on

(16:33):
a bench, right?
You know, and like just go andlike not get a lot of practice
time and not get a lot of gametime.
I'd rather be training for theone sport where where I can get
playing time.

SPEAKER_02 (16:45):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (16:46):
You know, so it's about at the end of the day,
it's not about playing threesports, it's about playing time.
You know what I mean?
Like, I mean, can I wanna playsport?
I want to play a sport to play,right?
Not play a sport just to playthree sports.
So, what high school are yougoing to?
How competitive is it?
You know, what's your chances?
Who's in your position as a uhabove your grade, below your

(17:09):
grade, in your grade?
What's your chances of startingor being the second string or
not seeing time?

SPEAKER_02 (17:17):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (17:17):
Yeah.
These are all vital questionsparents need to look at and ask
when we decide or they decidewhat their kid wants.
I don't know any kid that isexcited to go out for a sport
and you know not play.
Like the goal is to play.
Now, most kids, here's thething, most kids, a lot of kids
don't play.
Not many kids are happy withtheir playing time.

(17:39):
You know, I mean, how many kidswhen the season's over and say,
oh man, uh everything aboutevery game was great.
I played as much as I could, uh,and I I I maxed it out.
Like that's like two percent.
Right, yeah, very rare.
Yeah.
More than 50% of the kids, theyend the season, they're not
happy with playing time, they'renot happy with their end result.

(17:59):
Right.
So it was more of an in someways, it was more of a drain in
some ways than uh than apositive, because playing time
and making plays is what wewant.
That that that that doesn'thappen to the majority of the
kids.
Getting a lot of playing timeand making plays, you know, you
you got to prepare for that.
So, I mean, but there's otherwins from the experience, right?

(18:22):
Like, you know, but by competingand and whatnot.
And again, I'm a parent.
I got kids.
I had kids that went to verycompetitive high schools.
My son, he we went, they went toDon Bosco High School, right?
Number one high school, one tophigh school in the in the U.S.,
you know, ranked the nationallybasketball, football, top 100
year after year.
He worked his butt off freshmanyear, sophomore year.
He was a basketball player.

(18:44):
Junior year got some time.
I mean, he he really didn'tstart.
Senior year gets his startinglineup job.
He made the starting lineup atDon Bosco.
Halfway through the season, helost his starting job halfway
through the season.
He lost his starting job toDylan Harper.
Dylan Harper was a freshman onthat team that grew two inches

(19:07):
during the season, went fromlike you know, uh six foot to
six two.
But the point I'm trying to sayis that he still had a great
experience and he still got alot out of sport, even though
like ultimately he didn't havethat starting position.

SPEAKER_01 (19:23):
You know what I love about talking to you, Bill, is
like you you will not meet atrue expert in any field who is
not extremely passionate aboutthat field, and it comes across
in everything that you say yourpassion, and it's it's a big
part of what makes you such anexpert.
We we could do an entire podcaston that, and we it would fly by
and neither of us would evennotice.

(19:45):
What I'd love to do is is kindof pivot to some of these
business numbers.
And I'm gonna ask how theycompare to the athletic training
community, the youth trainingcommunity.
Are they high?
Are they low?
What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 (19:59):
Oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 (20:00):
No, so let's start with 129 clients.
Like if if you were looking at apretty C speed school or an
athletic training facility, isthat number high or low?

SPEAKER_00 (20:09):
Um, I would say that's interesting.
That's probably like thethreshold of right where we, you
know, where we want to be or atthe beginning of where we want
to be.
Like we want to be, you know,north of we we want to be in
that hundred range, you know,for sure.
You know, uh, and now you gottaunderstand, first of all, I want
to say this book is is gold,right?

(20:31):
I made all my notes.
I mean, there's so much, so manypearls of wisdom in here, and
this is such a great blueprintfor gym owners to have a
measuring stick.
I like I said before, withoutthis, it's like going into a
basketball gym with a blindfoldon and trying to shoot baskets,
right?
I mean, you gotta take theblindfold off and see where the
goal is, like see where you needto be.

(20:52):
We all need motivation, right?
That's the number one lacking,you know, uh trait in our
society, right?
That's the behavior.
That's the number one lackingbehavior, is that motivation?
And this is a book of motivationof where we should be.
Because if you can't measure it,you can't manage it, right?
And and and this is amazing.
So that 129 number, I think, isa great benchmark that you laid

(21:13):
out based on the research.
To make 100 grand a year, that'swhat you need to get to.
I mean, that's a great number,like the 100 grand to make 100K
as an owner, 129 locked in.
And if you follow the rest ofthis blueprint, this playbook of
where you know need to be havingthese goals and getting your
team dialed into these goals,you're you're gonna get to that
next level.
So there are so many pearls inhere.

(21:34):
And that's the first one that Iearmarked, right?
Like as a as a number.
And in terms of Priesty SpeedSchool, you know, the fact that
we're really only a businessthat operates about four hours a
day, you know, yeah, typically.
I mean, we're only operating,you know, four to five hours a
day from you know 3:30 or so,three o'clock to like seven or
eight, you know, in that range,you know, we we average probably

(21:59):
15 to 20,000 a month in a in atypical program, on average, you
know, and I would say that's youknow, probably our median.
And then um, you know, we've gotour outliers, but you know, I
mean, if you're not doing atleast 20, we don't we don't
consider you successful, youknow, and that's just in youth,
you know, that's just in thatfour-hour to five-hour window.

(22:20):
And that doesn't mean someonethat's doing, you know, five
grand a month, 10 grand a monthas an add-on.
I mean, that that could beclaimed successful as well.

SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
Of course.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (22:28):
Yeah.
And those numbers, like thosememberships range for us with
those smaller numbers, issmaller for, you know, that's
like, you know, more like 30,40, 50 members.
But for us, we know at roughly,you know, 100 members, we're
we're charging at least 200 amonth, you know, for our
program.
So we know at that 100 mark is20 grand a month.
That's that's that thatbenchmark.

SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
You know, some people will hear you say we're
charging 200 a month and think,wow, you know, I that's great.
I guess I see how you can chargethat for youth.
I could never charge that in myCrossFed gym, boot camp.
But the reality is, if you flipto the average, like the median
average, average revenue permember, ARM, uh, it's like 205.

(23:10):
It's it's up there anyway.
It's not, it might be just under200 now.
It's going up every year.
And the gyms that are doing itare not necessarily just selling
group training.
They're they've got a grouptraining program for adults and
they've got a Parisi speedschool for youth, or they've got
you know, a personal trainingoption in there or something
like that.
Like, and they're buildingtoward that ARM.

(23:32):
The cool thing about Parisi isyou know, the prices are are
prescribed for you, right?
Like you don't you don't dictatethem, but you tell people what
they should charge.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, that's great, man.
Uh, the next thing I wanted toask about was the four funnels.
So, you know, over the last fewyears, we've been trying really
hard to like boil marketing downinto something really
actionable, like a checklist.

(23:53):
And and now we break it downinto four funnels and we break
those out in the state of theindustry guide.
What I wanted to ask you aboutis like, how are youth training
and athletic training gymsutilizing the four funnels?
Are they doing well at it?
Are they doing somethingdifferent?
What's happening there?

SPEAKER_00 (24:08):
Yeah, you know, I think we're we're doing well,
and we are using those fourfunnels, and the way you lay
them out, I mean, are just it'sjust genius in terms of the the
model of social media,referrals, you know, general
marketing initiatives.
I mean, looking at those fourareas and honing on them is is
huge.
And I think, you know, myparadigm changed a little bit

(24:31):
here too.
Um looking at your data, andyou've you've helped me a lot
because when I've grown, like alot of our business has been
referral.
Like I've been doing this 35years and and you know, before
social media came out andwhatnot, and we've been, you
know, 70, 80 percent referralbecause we we give such a great
service.
And obviously that's evolvingand that's changing, and social

(24:54):
is playing such a huge role inthat.
And the fact that you know, youhave a plan for that and you
laid it to these four funnels,because in my mind, it was
mainly like it was allreferral-driven for for us for
the most part.
And we would do someadvertising, we would you know,
spend some money in somenewspapers and things of that
nature.
But as this social media cameabout and has you know really

(25:15):
changed the game, we we startedto look at that and say, wow,
you know, this is this isdefinitely changing the game.
And that whole process of ofwhat you do and how you do on
social is now you know a gamechanger because that's opening
up new pockets, like you said inyour in your in your program.
That if you don't, if you're notlooking at these four funnels

(25:36):
and you're not measuring them ona weekly, basic, daily, weekly,
monthly basis, you're you'remissing the boat.
Like you're you're missing leadopportunities.
So I I think we need to put moreemphasis though, you know, on
that, on that referral side ofthe house, because I don't think
we we we know how to ask forreferrals or we we know how to
really drive referrals the waywe really could.

(25:59):
And you know, that is the thebest type of re you know
business you can get isreferrals.

SPEAKER_01 (26:05):
Yeah.
How do you teach uh Parisi SpeedSchools to uh go out and get
referrals?
A lot of gyms that I talk to, Isay, Do you have a referral
program?
Yes, we do.
And what they actually have islike a discount program that
nobody talks about, they don'tthey don't push it, they're very
passive, and it's just kind oflike a hope and pray program.
We teach gym owners to be activeabout referrals, but what I'm

(26:30):
interested in is always likewhat is the best way to get more
referrals in youth sport?

SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
Yeah, I mean this the easiest one that's worked
for us is you know, bring afriend.
Yeah, you know, bring a friendin for a for a session, you
know, anytime, but we also runchallenges.
So, you know, fun.
We call them challenges, andthey come in, it's like a
combine event, and it's an openopen event where kids come in,
they they test out, you know,they they see how how fast and

(26:58):
how explosive they are, and theyget their combine score.
So we use those two ways, youknow, a free demo class, bring a
friend, and then we run thesechallenges either every month or
every quarter, and the kids comeand they test it's like a little
mini decathlon kind ofcompetition where kids really
get excited about it and wepromote that and we'll put that

(27:18):
out there for kids to, you know,and parents to take advantage
of.
And it's it's a fun day, it's ina fun, it's a fun event.
So that's that's how we kind ofyou know excite the community
and and get people, you know,wanting to bring a friend in and
you know compete against theirfriend and have some fun.
So you got to make it fun, youknow.
And I think from an adultcommunity, you can you can do

(27:40):
things very similar.
You can you know havechallenges, you know, you have
these these different challengesand you can have different
handicaps.
I mean, we have we we positionour younger athletes, they get a
different scoring system thanour older athletes.
And it's really not aboutcompeting against somebody else,
but you're really competingagainst yourself, right?
So you get your your baselinescore on your first challenge,

(28:02):
and then the goal is let me comeback and what where am I gonna,
you know, how how am I gonnaimprove?
And then can I see myimprovement by coming back?
And that that measurement, thatexcitement to want to improve
the athleticism.
And I think with all the gymsthat you coach, people are
looking to do that.
They want to see thatimprovement, uh, you know,
measuring the outcomes.

(28:23):
And I, you know, you have thesedifferent you know competitions
and whatnot, but I think there'sways to make that easier.
I think the toll that sometimessome of these people put on
their body and the adultcommunity doing the different
types of workouts, I thinkthere's different ways.
I mean, you don't have to, youcan come up with your own
facility challenge, you know,your own four or five different,

(28:43):
you know, protocols and haveyour own community kind of event
with your members.
And I think those could bereally powerful.

SPEAKER_01 (28:53):
Yeah, you know, there there are thousands and
thousands of gyms who arerunning a high rox program for
this exact reason for adults,and it's super powerful.
A gym could put together theirown, you know, physical
challenge and and offer that asa kind of adult combine, you
know, too.

SPEAKER_00 (29:09):
Exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 (29:10):
But you give the actual combine layout and
scorecard and everything to allthe Parisi affiliates, right?

SPEAKER_00 (29:16):
Yeah, yeah.
We have it all laid out.
We have a whole scoring system,it's all computerized in terms
of you know just tallying thescores, and we have point totals
that go from zero points up to800 points.
Uh, and it's kind of like adecathlete that you know it it's
it's uh acceleration ability,10-yard sprint, 20-yard sprint,
vertical jump, standing broadjumps, uh, uh an agility test,

(29:40):
pull up test.
So it's it's these six differenttests that we measure, and they
all have a composite score.
And it's it's fun.
I mean, people love doing them.
And I think a lot of adultswould probably love doing those
as well because it's it's realphysical activity that that you
need to be athletic to.
To to do well in, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (30:02):
You know what's funny is when I was a kid, um,
we had this program in everyevery school in Canada called
the Canada Fitness Test.
And every kid would have to doit.
And the one that everybody hatedthe most was called the flexed
armhang.
And it was like this chin up,and you had to hold yourself
above the bar and you didn'thave to pull yourself up.
Like the teacher could boost youup there, and then you had to
hold it.
And it's it's even like youknow, it's it's in like Canadian

(30:25):
music.
People sing about this stuff.
When when a few years ago weheld the Canada Fitness Test
redo for adults, 30 years laterfor most of us, the gym was
packed.
Like they couldn't, theycouldn't get over like doing
these tests again that they haddone in the third grade.
And some of them even wore theirold 30-year-old Canada Fitness
Test medals.

(30:46):
Like people love this stuff.
The other thing that I reallywanted to ask you about, because
I I do believe you know inreferrals with kids, uh, my
practice as a personal trainergrew from zero to 12 almost
overnight because of gettingreferrals with youth athletes.
I really wanted to ask you aboutsocial media.
I mean, if anybody follows youon Instagram, for example,

(31:07):
they'll notice like the qualityof your storytelling and content
and video has just gone throughthe roof in the last three or
four months, I would say.
But like, what's going on there?

SPEAKER_00 (31:19):
My oldest son graduated college with a degree
in marketing communications.

SPEAKER_01 (31:25):
And when did he take over?

SPEAKER_00 (31:27):
Uh, about three, four months ago.

SPEAKER_01 (31:28):
Okay, well, okay.
I wasn't just imagining things.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (31:33):
No, I mean, he he has really shoved the camera in
my face.
He says, hey, you know, thatlisten, I'm I'm 58, right?
So I didn't grow up with socialmedia, right?
I was I'm an old, I'm an oldcat.
But yeah, I mean, you know,listen, the the the takeaway is
this.
I believe it or not, I'm notlike a big social media guy

(31:53):
where but what I did realize,what I've realized is that you
gotta be part of it.
You know, you gotta be in thegame.
And if if you're not good at itor if it's not something you
like to do, you better findsomeone that that you can bring
on board to do it for you andhelp you and and guide you
through it.
So he's been the one that hasbeen uh getting the camera in

(32:14):
front of me and and and filming,and then and then we then we
talk and collaborate on on whatwe want to say, what you what
what what I want to put outthere, and and we put it out.
It's just being consistent andand and you know, it's kind of
like I'm doing what I do, butnow there's a camera there.
You know, it's you know a lot ofthings I'm I'm I'm coaching, I'm
doing, I'm training my athletes,I'm doing an education for

(32:36):
coaches, and it's just now okay,we got a camera filming it.
So it's really just findingsomeone that's gonna, you know,
film those exciting moments.
And then when you have an ideaor a concept you want to share,
you know, put it up there, get acamera.
We bought a nice camera.
We we got a couple, you know,tripods that can hold the
camera, and we're just knockingit out.

(32:57):
And and it's it's kind of fun,and we are building a nice
library.

SPEAKER_01 (33:00):
Well, I think, you know, I think what you guys do
best is something that I'veheard from Dan Martell before,
which is capture, don't create.
And it you're definitely notstaging things, you're not
standing in front of the cameraand saying, hi, I'm Bill Parisi.
And today's tip is like it's anaction shot of you actually
coaching, and it's incredible.
I really encourage anybody tocheck out uh at Parisi Speed

(33:22):
School at on um Instagram, justfollow them and you'll see so
much good content there.
I really wanted to talk to youabout retention too, because
while retention in athletictraining and youth sports is
naturally higher than foradults, you also run sometimes
it's kind of a seasonalbusiness, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 (33:42):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
We have peaks and valleys in ourbusiness.
We have two peaks and twovalleys uh in youth.
And what's nice, adults reallycounter that program really
well.
I mean, it's it's funny.
I opened my gym, my first gym,it was a studio, 3,000 square
feet in 1993.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (33:59):
Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (34:00):
1993, I ran youth athletic training in that gym,
and I ran adult training in thatgym.
And in 1997, and and Tom Plummerand all these people will
validate this.
In 1997, we did 987,000 in thatspace.
987.
Amazing.
Yeah, in 1997, it was just I hadlike 12 full-time coaches.

(34:24):
I mean, we were, and the theaverage one-on-one price back
then was like$35.

SPEAKER_02 (34:30):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 (34:33):
I mean, I think I do it in small groups at like 20
bucks.
We were just busy day and night,like from the morning,
afternoon, and then at night,kids.
It was just completelyscreaming.
The point is that youthbusiness, that retention and and
what we did, that drove theadults.
So in youth, our valleys, ourvalleys, our downtime in youth

(34:55):
is April and May.
That's a big valley when springstore sports start.
Okay.
That's a big valley.
But adults get jacked up.
The summer's coming, so it's ait's a it's a peak for the
adult, right?

SPEAKER_02 (35:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (35:08):
We know January, February, that's a peak for
everybody across the board.
You know, January, February,March.
Everybody's through the roof.
We are we our biggest, the firstquarter is just a monster
quarter for us because we haveall the athletes, all the
adults.
It's crazy.
The next valley, you know, thenwe have the for the youth, the
valley is the um April, May.
Then the peak for us is summer.

(35:28):
We we we get really busy, June,July, and the first couple weeks
of August.
It's a big peak for athletesgetting ready for fall sports.
Yeah, right.
And then adults tend to maybeslide off a little bit in the
summer.
And then another valley for usis when fall sports start.
You know, September, October, wewe the athlete training goes

(35:48):
down some, but adults get reallyjacked up because kids are back
in school, parents getting backon a schedule, you know.
So they really have keptbalanced one another very, very
nicely.
And that same facility that Ihave operated since 1992,
believe it or not, it's the samefacility, still going today,

(36:09):
doing 900,000.

SPEAKER_02 (36:10):
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (36:11):
Same, you know, it's a little bit bigger, about 4,000
square.
But I don't know how many gymshave stayed worked the test of
time.
And it's another owner, by theway, owns and operates it.
And it's in my hometown here,it's right, right local, but
it's trugging away at, you know,just cranking out 900 grand a
year and you know, just thiscranking away for 30 plus

(36:34):
heating.

SPEAKER_01 (36:34):
Yeah, that's that's unprecedented and unmatched.
You know, and I wanted to askyou about retention.
Like, obviously, you cannotbuild that 30, 40 year gym
without amazing retention.
How do you keep the kids comingback year after year or you
know, in the off seasons withoutjust like churning them out and

(36:55):
turning new ones back in?

SPEAKER_00 (36:57):
You know, when you think about our product, right?
Our product are our coaches.
You know, it's it's all aboutnurturing and developing your
coaches.
It's knowing how to recruit,knowing how to hire, train,
develop, and retain.
It's it's all that.
It's every and that's why we putso much effort into recruiting,

(37:22):
hiring, training, and retaining.
It's it's I mean, if you do thatand you do a lot of other things
wrong, I mean, you're gonnayou're still gonna figure,
you're still gonna besuccessful.
Yeah, I mean, I I think, I mean,for the most part, for the most
part, you gotta have a goodlease and and you gotta have
obviously the proper pricingstrategies and all.
But but the secret to oursuccess has has always been

(37:45):
hiring and retaining qualitycoaches.
We do that by providing themcareer paths and and really
sound education to develop themas great coaches.
So if their goal is to go and bea college coach or or or go and
grow into another facility oropen up their own, whatever it
may be, we wanna we wanna bealigned with them and help them

(38:07):
get to their goals and andprovide everything we can for
them to succeed in thisindustry.
And that's resources, that'seducation, that's career path,
that's just you know, mentoringthem and getting them to
understand the business.
So that's that's your product.
I mean, you're you owners, youknow, the owners need to
understand like a lot of theirfocus needs to go in developing

(38:31):
and mentoring coaches.
And it's not just some guy, I'mgonna pay part-time, he's gonna
show up.
Hey man, do do do we take themto lunch once a month?
Do we have soft meetings?
Do we get to know thempersonally?
What's going on in their life?
Do we do we have our hardmeetings?
Do we have a detailed jobdescription for these people?
And do we hold them accountable?
Do we set clear expectations toour people?

(38:52):
And uh do they understand theexpectations, what's expected of
them?
And are you holding themaccountable?
Um, I mean, these are these arethings that most managers or
owners are not doing on aconsistent basis because they
just get pulled in otherdirections, and that's where
things slip.

SPEAKER_01 (39:10):
I wanted to get your take on that a little bit deeper
because you're you're a greatleader, Bill.
And you know, one of the thingsthat owners get nervous about or
shy away from even is doing likeevaluations on their staff or
writing out a clear jobdescription or even holding
people accountable.
But in my experience, thatactually the staff wants to hear
that most of the time.

(39:31):
What's your experience, sir?

SPEAKER_00 (39:33):
Yeah, I mean, listen, the owners that have
challenges with that becausethey're too nice, you know, that
or you know, or they they theythey get their priorities are
not, you know, maybe in order.
You know, they're either toonice or their priorities are not
in order.
And I think you gotta getcomfortable being uncomfortable.

(39:53):
I mean, that's the mostimportant thing.
Honesty is not always positive.
We have three core values at thePrecey Speed School.
They're really simple.
It's honest, positive, andexcellence.
Honesty in relationships,positive in attitude, excellence
in service.
That's our core values.
We've been living by them for 30years.
It's very simple.
It's nine words, right?
Nine words, that's our values.
And our values lead to ourmission and our mission

(40:14):
statement, right?
So, but just to unpack thevalues here for a second, yeah,
and this is what we live by,right?
So I asked owners out there,what are your facilities' core
values?
What's your facility's missionstatement?
What's your mission, right?
So at the precinct's pizza, ourmission, we believe we're the
industry leader in performanceenhancement for young athletes,

(40:34):
that we improve not only thespeed of movement, but the
strength of character in anyathlete, regardless of their
ability, economic status, orevent or or background.
You know, we we we're gonna helpthese kids.
Like that's our mission, right?
To empower the youth of theworld.
Now it used to be empowerAmerica's youth.

(40:55):
Now it's empower the youth ofthe world because we're all over
the world.
So, but our values are theunderlying foundation to our
mission, right?
So going back to values, honestyin relationships, positive in
attitude, excellent service.
Well, honesty is not alwayspositive.
So, like there's a there's aparadox there, right, in a way,

(41:17):
because honesty is not alwayspositive.
And understanding that dealingwith this head on with a
challenge that is being honest,it might be negative or
perceived negative, but we haveto have those conversations.
And it comes down toaccountability and holding
people accountable.
But where that gets screwed upis where you know people aren't

(41:39):
clear on expectations.
So you write down the jobdescription, you go over it line
by line by line, and then youhold people accountable.
And when they when there's athere's a challenge, then you
have to document that issue, youknow, and and make sure they
understand they made a mistakeand there's repercussions if you
do it again.
And there's gotta be a there'sgotta be a process to that.

(42:00):
And eventually you have to firepeople, right?
I mean, I mean, and the peopleare way too quick to hire and
way too slow to fire.
You gotta hire slow, fire fast.
And, you know, these are justone, you know, business
one-on-one principles, a loteasier said than done in terms
of you know, having the courageto follow through with these

(42:20):
things, because you know, thiscoach, everybody loves him, and
but he's always late.
He's always, you know, he eatshis lunch on the floor, it's not
fair, you know, all thesedifferent things, right?
So, but you know, you just can'thave that.
And and you know, listen, I'vedealt that with my whole career,
you know, and now but now wehire a lot better.
We understand and we feel whenthese things are starting to

(42:43):
brew up, where a coach maybe hisego's getting a little bit too
big.
We got to have a meeting andthen we got to decide, hey, I
get it.
It's not maybe it's not what youthought it was, or it's not
working out.
Let's figure out an exit plan.
You know, let's let's let'sunderstand if you're not, you
know, it's okay, let's figure itout and then move on that.
You know, I just think you know,it hurts hard in the beginning

(43:03):
when you got to like move onfrom someone, but it it's a lot
more painful if you let it youknow drag around, you know, for
a while.
So I I think the big thing is isreally understanding the psyche
of your coaches, having youknow, core values and
understanding and sharing corevalues with your team and you
know, having a mission, like areal mission, like your local

(43:24):
mission.
What is your mission?
You know, my organizationstarted out when I had a couple
locations with our core valuesand our mission statement.
Now it's a you know a bignetwork.
So yeah, that's it's a lotthere.

SPEAKER_01 (43:35):
Well, look, yeah, it is a lot.
And and you know, we could do apodcast on this too, Bill.
Like you've got so muchexperience and wisdom here.
Do you find that this thisdegree of honesty, clarity, does
it separate your best staff fromyour weakest staff?
Here's why I ask when I did myfirst coaching internship, it

(43:57):
was like 1996, and I felt like Iwas the best coach that was
recruited as an intern among thethree of us who were.
And at the end of the semester,you know, I worked really hard
in that job.
I was, you know, down inIllinois, sweating, but you
know, a pale Canadian kid.
At the end of the summer, I gotan A.
And I was really proud of ituntil I found out that everybody

(44:18):
got an A, including the peoplethat I thought were really
phoning it in, not trying hard,et cetera.
And later on, a mentor said tome, you know, Chris, like your
best players don't want to workwith your worst players.
And that's another reason to getthe worst players out.
Back to the question, do youthink that doing these
evaluations, giving people thismuch clarity, does it weed out
the bad ones and strengthen therelationship with the good ones,

(44:40):
or does it do somethingdifferent?

SPEAKER_00 (44:42):
I think it all depends on the individual.
I think it can make the I thinkit can make sometimes it can
make the bad ones the good ones.

SPEAKER_01 (44:48):
Oh wow.
Okay.
Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 (44:51):
You know, I think I think sometimes we're, you know,
we've we've turned housepainters and bank tellers into
world-class coaches.
I love it.
That's such a great quote.
Oh my goodness.
We really have.
Where I turned UPS workers.
I have we have a guy, his nameis Rich Sadiv.

(45:13):
He came to us in 2009.
He's been at Us at UPS for over25 years, brought his daughter
in to uh to to work with us,brought his daughter in.
She was a high school softballplayer, and he was a power
lifter.
Like that was his that was his,you know, he was a power lifter.
And uh he started working outyou know at our facility, and
then he, you know, he was he wasgood in the weight room, and we

(45:35):
said, Hey, you want to getinvolved with us, we'll train
you.
And you know, you start workingwith some athletes, he started
working with our jumpstartathletes, believe it or not, our
seven, eight, nine-year-oldsstarted working with our
jumpstart athletes.
What he had and what he has tothis day, and what the house
painter has and the bank tellerhas, they love to motivate

(45:57):
people.
Nice.
They they they they they arepassionate about empowering
other people, they're passionateabout making an impact.
They're not they're not onlypassionate about the content,
they're not just passionateabout training and lifting and
exercise, they're passionateabout people.
Find me somebody passionateabout people.
I don't care what you do, Idon't really, as long as you're

(46:17):
fit and you and you work out andyou're kind you, you know, you
can't you like working out, ifyou're I'm gonna make you a
great coach.
And those are my best coaches.
Long story short, this guy windup not only quitting UPS a few
years later, he wound upascending to not only be our
manager of our facility, hepurchased our flagship facility

(46:40):
in 2015 and then just sold thatfacility for seven figures.
Amazing.
That that is amazing.
A UPS worker that like to powerlift.
So I have a lot of those storieswhere you know they start out as

(47:01):
coaches, just coaches andmentoring them, but they gotta
have that underlying value towant to really inspire people.
If you feel if you're a coach orif you want to be a coach and
all it's about you and you'reyou're you want everybody to be
super motivated like you, and ifthey're not motivated like you,
you don't want to coach them,it's gonna be hard to be

(47:22):
successful in this industry, youknow.

SPEAKER_01 (47:24):
It is, but I think that the real leaders in the
industry create opportunitieslike this that allow people uh
who are UPS drivers who lovepowerlifting to have an
opportunity where they wouldn'thave otherwise, you know.
So thanks for doing that.
Like you're revealing thishidden coach who was buried in
UPS brown and you know,Metallica t-shirts.

SPEAKER_00 (47:46):
Like a waiter or waitress, or uh here's a here's
a little uh nugget.
You always gotta keep your slatefilled, no matter where you go.
I remember I found a coach.
I was at uh a sporting goodsstore uh called Dick Sporting
Goods, big here in the US.
And uh I my kids were young atthe time, really young, like

(48:07):
seven, eight years old.
It's like 20 years ago or 15 to18 years ago, and they're
playing with the basketballs,they're going crazy.
I'm like, calm down, like guys,we're in a store.
You can't be shooting baskets inthe store, it's not me.
So this this worker came by andhe's like engaging with my kids,
and I'm like, wow, this kid isspecial.
And I and here's the magic wordsI I use all the time.

(48:28):
Man, when I see somebody likethat, just remember the
sentence, everyone listening.
This is a game changer, this isa change your life, create
change your net worth.
Here's the here's the wordsyou're really good at what you
do.
Do you keep your career optionsopen?
That's all you need to say.
Say that a few times a day.

(48:48):
Hopefully, you can say it acouple times a week to wherever
you go.
Somebody that looks fit,somebody that that looks good,
you know, somebody that has ayou know, looks like they work
out, but they're really good atsomething.
Like, and I my bank teller, thishouse painter that I was blown
away with.
I mean, I UPS worker, man, thoseare the magic words.

(49:10):
Man, you're really good at whatyou do.
Do you keep your career optionsopen?
Now, I'm working at a bank, I'mpainting houses, I'm working at
UPS.
What do you think they're gonnasay?
No, I love what I do, I don'twant to do anything else.
They say, Yeah, why?
Well, you know what?
I own a gym, I work at a gym, wehave a great program.

(49:30):
We empower kids, empower adultsto get fit, change their lives.
Would you be interested to learnmore?
Of course.

SPEAKER_01 (49:38):
Of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (49:39):
I usually, I usually, I usually get a
confused look.
I usually get like a look up tothe side, yeah, to the side.
It's usually a confused look.
That's amazing.
Yeah, but then you got to nowbring them in, train them, and
you know, so that takes, I mean,that's what we do, right?
I mean, we we have a wholetraining system and we bring
them in, we we we build them up,but that's what I look for.

(50:00):
I I will say this.
Not I'm big in education, huge.
Yeah, not against havingdegrees.
I like people with degrees, buta lot of times, for your degree,
they got a master's degree, theythink, all right, I got this
degree, I should get this, Ishould do this.
No, I would rather I wouldrather take that house painter
that is thanking me every dayfor the opportunity than someone

(50:23):
coming into my building thinkingI owe them because they have
this advanced degree.

SPEAKER_01 (50:29):
You know, it I never made this connection before, but
when I was a new trainer, '98,um, I was talking to a college
professor and said, 'I think Ineed to go get my master's.
It's the only way I'm ever goingto make a career of this.' And
he said, What how is a master'sgoing to make you more money?
When you can tell me that, goget your master's.
And right at that time, acoworker gave me a copy of how

(50:52):
to win friends and influencepeople.
And I started practicing that.
And that's actually what made mea career.
It was the ability to connect.
And Bill, like you're an amazingconnector.
If anybody's ever been aroundyou, the first thing that's
going to happen is you're goingto introduce them to somebody
else in your network and you'regoing to make them feel special.
Is that innate?
Were you born with that, or isthat something that you have to

(51:14):
cultivate?

SPEAKER_00 (51:15):
It's funny you said that.
I was in college in the recoveryroom in a cold tub at 19 years
old.
And I was reading this book.
I was reading this book, and myfriend looked at the title.
And he and he looked at me andhe walked out and he said he was
like, Loser, like calling me aloser.

(51:37):
I'm reading this book.
Title of the book.
We're in college.
Yeah.
How to win friends and influencepeople.
Amazing.
19 years old.
So I think you said that book.
That was one of the firstpersonal development books I
read.

SPEAKER_02 (51:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (51:54):
It was the foundation to my, you know, all
my books.
And then I would say the otherone just throwing out books.
Like that's a must.
And the five dysfunctions of ateam has really laid the
foundation on building a culturein an organization.
You know, I mean, I I I Iactually did I don't know if you
know this.
I'm such a connector that atUrsa, you know, the big trade

(52:18):
organization, I negotiated andfacilitated to have Patrick
Lancioni speak at Ursa.

SPEAKER_01 (52:25):
Oh, amazing.

SPEAKER_00 (52:26):
I mean, I cut the deal.
Like, you know, like hiscompensation was like a lot of
money, it was like 30K, youknow.
But like that's the kind ofconnector I am because I was so
into the book.
I went went wet and met him.
I reached out to him.
I just attacked.
And uh I said, this the industryneeds this so much.
I had them speak.
They have, you know, they havethis big trade shows.
It's for the big box, yeah, thattype of thing.

SPEAKER_01 (52:49):
So a lot of a lot of staff, but very, very valuable
stuff from Munzione, I'm sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, that's I think maybe thisis one of the biggest takeaways.
And there's a lot of likequotable quotes from Bill Parisi
on this podcast already.
But one of the biggest takeawaysis the people who are good
connectors, even if they aren'tborn with that skill and they

(53:10):
have to cultivate it, they arevery rarely unsuccessful in the
service industry.
Now, they might not love theirjob, they might be at a
waitress, waiter level, butthey're probably really good at
it.
They might be a personal trainerwho's not making enough money
yet, but they will probably notlose their clients and they just
have to fix the money problem.

(53:30):
You know, and and what you'retalking about here over and over
is well, you have to connect,and here's how you connect, and
here's how you connect with theclients, and here's how you
connect with your staff.
And you know, one of thegreatest, I think, praises that
I've heard from the the Paris Cseminars is like you actually
learn how to connect to peoplebetter, and that's a very
transferable skill, no matterwhat kind of gym you have.

SPEAKER_00 (53:52):
Yeah, there's no doubt.
And I and I gave a talk, I speakon the Perform Better circuit,
and Chris Poirier, who startedthat, he's the CEO of Perform
Better.
I gave this talk back in 2009.
He said, And to this day, hesaid it was the best lecture on
Perform Better history.

SPEAKER_01 (54:08):
Wow.

SPEAKER_00 (54:08):
And it was my networking talk.
It's it's how to you know growyour network to grow your net
worth, you know.
Yep.
And and he said, and he and Iwent and did it this year, 2025.
I did it again.
He said, Bill, you got to bringback that talk.
So I you're so dead on.
And the uh the power ofnetworking and engaging and how
to win friends and influencepeople is the foundational

(54:30):
skills I learned through thatbook on how to ask questions and
how to listen.
Like these things are invaluableskills that are that are you
have to own how to listen.
Listening is a skill, right?
I mean, it's it's something thatyou have to practice, you know,
and and and most people don't dothat because when you connect

(54:54):
with people and you talk aboutempowering your employees or
finding the right people,because that's everything, it's
all about finding the rightpeople and then empowering those
people.
You have to learn how to be agood listener and really
understand their goals, youknow, not just their business
goals, but their life goals andwhere they want to be and really
connect with them and engagewith them and and help them

(55:17):
succeed in life.
And then then you really becomea family.
Like you really like we say thatat the Priesty Speed School,
like we're a family, ournetwork.
We mean that.
You know, it's not I'm Italian,I mean we have the family thing
going, but you know, I reallywant to help people succeed,
even people that say I want todo my own place, or that's fine,
you know, like just be honestwith us.
That's our core value.

(55:37):
And, you know, listen, we won'thave any problem you doing your
own thing.
Just if you're gonna do it, justbe transparent about what you
want to do, when you want to doit, where you want to do it, and
hopefully it, it's uh, you know,it aligns with us.
And if it doesn't, that's okay,then we can move in different
directions.
So, but it's it's it's reallyabout um, you know, mastering
those skills, listening andasking questions.

(56:00):
I've hired a guy 20 years ago,his name is Dr.
Paul Staples.
I hired him as a consultant, hehas his PhD in educational
psychology, and uh one of thebiggest things he's taught me
and what makes him a greatconsultant great consultants
don't always have the answers,but they know what questions to
a answers out of you.

(56:22):
They get the answers, and this,like I will say, man, I like
this book, this state of theindustry thing that you guys put
together, I I am really blownaway with what you created here
in terms of all the the nuggets.
And there are so many peoplethat get into this industry with
passion and you get into theright reasons and all the things
I just said about you want tohelp people and you want to

(56:44):
empower and you wanna and youlove fitness.
But guys, if you don't have theblueprint, if you don't have the
numbers, if you don't have thementorship, it it's really hard.
I've been very successful.
I've had mentors my entirecareer, just like Chris.
Now, Chris is one of my mentors,right?
I mean, I've had guys, realindustry legends, like people

(57:08):
like over the years, like MarkMastrof, guys that you know
founded 24 hours, guys thatbecame billionaires, right?
In industry, like billionairesthat I've had connections to and
been mentored by.
And I've I was able to grab allthese nuggets from all these
different people.
You gotta have that mentorship.
And I will say to this, Chris,I've been around a long time.

(57:30):
I've been, you know, dealingwith consultants my entire
career.
What you've built it to brings,we have a bunch of facilities at
your facility, you know, usingyour services.
And there's a lot of mentorshipsout there now.
There's a lot.
And people, just because theyopen up one gym and they they're
making$70,000 a month, and nowall of a sudden they're, you
know, they're a guru, and that'sgreat.

(57:52):
You know, I'm not saying, butthe reality of is what you've
done for thousands of gyms, thedata you're producing, this is
real.
This is not some slick marketingstrategy that you have.
Because I looked under thecovers and and I have you know
over a hundred facilities, andwe have facilities that have
different mentors, right?
We have a bunch now coming overto you.

(58:12):
We have some leaving, otherscoming to you.
Uh, because because of whatyou've what you've put together
and the structure you have andthe discipleship you've built,
right?
You're building you're you'rebuilding a discipleship with
your mentor network.
And that is powerful, man.

(58:33):
It's not just one guy trying todo it all.
You you've trained disciples,and that's the lesson, you know.
And these disciples are doingmassive numbers, and guess what?
They're fired up to helpeveryone else out there.
So, you know, I mean, uh no, I Isay it from the bottom of my
heart because it's real, youknow.

(58:55):
I like talking about real stuff.
There are a lot of phonies inthis industry in everything, in
every industry, right?
Yeah, and a lot of people, youknow, just maybe are perceived
to be a lot more successful thanthey are.
And that's all good.
I mean, that's all I don't careabout that.
But the reality of it is when Ifind someone that I know has the

(59:17):
goods, like they have the snake,not just the sizzle, I mean, I
get excited.
No, I do, I get excited.
You know, the people, whether itbe in business consulting like
yourself or people inperformance training, you know,
like an Eric Cressy, or just,you know, guys that are at the
highest of their of their field,you know.
So um that's what I like to rollwith, you know, and then and

(59:39):
then how do we come together andhelp the masses?
I've done a bunch of differentcourses with Eric Cressy, you
know, we've we've collaboratedon doing educational courses
together.
So finding the best of the bestand and and figuring out how to
help the masses.
And that's what we're doing,right?
I mean, we're coming togetherand working together to see how
do we help more gyms succeed,you know, by by maxim out these

(59:59):
needs.
Numbers and looking at thesenumbers and see where you fall
and tracking these numbers andgetting mentorship.
And then maybe adding youth toyour program if if you have the
space and if it makes sense.
But yeah, that's that's kind ofwhere I'm coming from.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:11):
Thanks, Bill.
I really appreciate that.
And and um we're gonna we'regonna end on that.
I I think there's a lot oftakeaways to this episode, and
we're gonna break them down overour um social and email the next
few days.
But Bill, thanks so much for forbeing part of this.
Thanks for being, you know, inthe industry.
It's it's you that really givesme hope that uh the great people
are still part of this industry.

(01:00:33):
And if we just stay focused onthem, we can block out all the
other stuff.
So thanks for that, man.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:37):
Yeah, my pleasure, Chris.
Thanks for having me.