In this series, I’ve been telling you how to solve any problem by breaking it down. Fitness coaches are good at this process, but business owners sometimes forget how to do it. And the overwhelming number of business books, ideas, podcasts and videos makes the path to wealth unclear.
But if you’re a fitness coach, you’re good at filtering out pseudoscience and crazy workout ideas to give your clients a clear path. I’m a business mentor, and I’m good at filtering out bad ideas and overwhelm to give my clients a clear path.
It’s taken us years and tens of thousands of one-on-one phone calls with entrepreneurs to do it, but we’ve mapped the path to wealth. Real wealth.
I wrote about the process of mapping the path here
First, we defined Point B: Wealth.
I wrote “What Is Wealth?” to give us clarity.
Second, we assessed thousands of gym owners to determine Point A.
From 2012 to 2019, I personally took over 1,000 free calls and 3,000 paid calls with gym owners. As our team expanded, we took more: We now book over 275 calls per week with gym owners. And we do them all one-on-one with a mentor for an hour at a time.
Then we worked backward to map the path. As I showed you in this video, we asked, “What’s the halfway point to wealth?”
The halfway point to Wealth is Functional Retirement. Basically, it’s the point where your business pays for your lifestyle but doesn’t require you to be there. You have security with your money and freedom with your time.
Then we chopped up the journey even further. We asked, “What’s halfway to halfway?” and “What’s halfway between Functional Retirement and Legacy, fixing-the-world status?”
Well, halfway between Startup and Functional Retirement is the Breakeven Point, where your business pays for itself (but doesn’t really pay you yet).
And halfway between Functional Retirement and Legacy is Financial Independence, where your wealth grows on its own. Your money has babies. You get paid in your sleep.
The spaces between each of those achievements (Breakeven, Functional Retirement, Financial Independence and Legacy) are the phases of the Entrepreneurial Journey.
I named those four phases Founder Phase, Farmer Phase, Tinker Phase and Thief Phase.
Founder Phase: from 0 to Breakeven
Farmer Phase: from Breakeven to Functional Retirement
Tinker Phase: from Functional Retirement to Financial Independence
Thief Phase: from Financial Independence to Legacy. (That means that your wealth creates opportunities for others after you’re gone.)
So the map looks like this:
Next, we have to break down all the steps necessary to get from one phase to another.
I wrote “Founder, Farmer, Tinker, Thief” to share those steps with everyone.
In our mentorship practice, we break those steps down into their smallest irreducible parts. That’s my superpower. There are many things you can do to get from Founder Phase to Farmer Phase. Seriously—there are over 400 things you can to do to achieve Functional Retirement. So now the map looks like this:
Then we built our service to move entrepreneurs from Startup to Wealth as expediently as possible. The key: A mentor tells you what to do when. No one can do everything. So our mentors tell you the right thing to do at the right time.
Our RampUp Program is a 12-week sprint from your starting point. We move fast. And then the Growth Program takes over to maintain momentum, continue development, reward victories and keep your eyes on the prize.
Our mentors help entrepreneurs do the exact right thing at the right time with personal guidance and access to all our resources. The net result is that gym owners can often become wealthy in three years (it took me 12!).
You haven’t heard about a map to wealth anywhere else. There isn’t one.
No one else has done it.
Other Articles in This Series
How to Achieve Any Goal
How to Solve Any Problem in Fitness
How to Solve Any Problem in Business
Mentors: Teachers, Guides and Therapists
