"Can't Afford Not to"

It had been about six months since I formally joined the team.? Having spent the first few doing just about anything possible to add value or provide solution to a problem (client, business, market), an inquiry resulting from a small listing in the yellow pages added fuel to a fire that had been smoldering for a while.

Side note for those born post 2007, the invention of the Iphone or after the world seemed to move fully on-line and mobile, the yellow pages were a directory of businesses with associated landline phone numbers and a few bullet points on what they did.

Truth be told, when I pleaded to join the Pro-Activity team in the winter of 2003 I was in a pretty dark place.? Having tragically lost my best friend to a motorcycle accident just three months prior, there wasn’t much that excited me.? Some days it was hard just to get out of bed, and while I’m certainly no expert, had we talked then as much as we do now about mental health, I’d almost bet that with the right resources at the right time, a diagnosis was probably not a far stretch.? Realizing all too well that life was precious… too short… and that I couldn't be my best in a cubicle, I knew I needed a change of pace… and so I quit a job I was lucky, post 9/11/2001, to have and plead for an “interview”.? The initial email to my siblings (founding? partners Amy Weller & Mike Eisenhart) went something like this;

“Guys, I’m proud of what you’re doing.? Ever since you started Pro-Activity, I’ve always wanted… and thought someday I’d be a part of it.? I believe in what it stands for, and am excited about what it can become.? I’m obviously not a physical therapist, and don’t have the formal training, but what I do have is time… actually, a lot of time, and as you know, when I believe in something…I won’t be out worked!? Plus, I’m living with Mom and Dad and they’re cool to keep a roof over my head and food on the table, so I can basically work for free.? Let me know when we can chat….”

The yellow page ad listed “Wellness Programming” as the final item on a very short list of services Pro-Activity provided as of 2004.? The word “wellness” hadn’t nearly achieved the buzz-status it would in the decades that followed, and so when the phone rang I think it caught all of us a little by surprise, and at least for me, with a great deal of excitement.? This could be the thing I was looking for… So when the inquiring party asked “Do you guys do wellness programming?”... like all good young entrepreneurs, we confidently said “Absolutely!”? I mean we did…. We just had never gotten paid for it..

You see in that darker time of my life there was only one thing I found myself looking forward to each day.? You might say, the only thing that got me out of bed…. Coaching those who needed it. I had been volunteering with the youth wrestling program, doing what I could to pay forward so many of the life lessons and skills I had learned, and help the next generation of athletes achieve their best, not just on the mat, but more importantly, in life and through athletics….

There’s something special about sports, and most especially wrestling.? It’s a special “breed of people”, and it’s one of the only sports where there is no room for excuses… no teammate or coach to scapegoat when underperforming…and different from many other individually-focused sports, no judge to convince or clock to “beat”... just you, your opponent and a test of who did what it took to be best that day.? As the saying goes, “If you know, you know….”

Among the most rewarding parts of any coaching or practice sessions were the strength and conditioning components I’d lead prior to the start of formal practice.? It was as if you could literally see confidence growing in the pre-adolescence and adolescent boys on the team.? And while some came in shy, an imposter in their own body, within a few short weeks one could witness them walking with heads held a little higher, handshakes a little firmer, and t-shirt sleeves..??... Well, what young man who is starting to feel good about his body has any real need for these in a weight room? :) Was it wellness programming?? I didn’t call it that at the time, but, if you believe that wellness requires optimal physical, mental, and spiritual health, we were definitely onto something and that smolder deep inside me began to grow its flames.

Whether you believe it to be serendipity, coincidence, luck, or God, the inquiry from a young father, on behalf of his family, that day came just about at the perfect time.? And upon agreeing to meet them for an initial conversation we were pushed into fast forward.? We’d need to discuss exactly what our “Wellness Programming” was…. Who was going to do it… when and how…. And how much?!?? We didn’t have a business plan.? We just had a few people with passion, a VERY small space with next to zero equipment, and a new prospective client.? It was time to get organized.

We went downstairs to the office kitchen (aka Mike’s kitchen in his house) began to discuss, and quickly blend a formula from many of the good things from physical therapy (goal setting, assessments, progressive and evidence-based loading principles) along with a lot of the positives I had experienced in the collegiate strength and conditioning space (team-based atmosphere, performance-driving and personalized programming, principles of nutrition and coaching accountability) and developed what we would call the “Personal Wellness Experience”.? We agreed I would lead it and serve as coach with the oversight and support of the clinical team, and that sessions would run 2-3 times weekly.? Our dad Tom (another founding partner) volunteered to buy a beginner set of dumbbells and rack at Costco the weekend before our initial session, and we felt we were gearing up to change the world… even if only one person’s world at a time.? There was just one thing left to decide.? How much should we charge for something like this?? I was used to doing it as a volunteer… it fueled my fire…. I had so much time… what was it really worth?....

Credit where due, Mike has a gift of making complex things simple.? His thought was, “Charge so much that they can’t afford NOT to do it”.? I’ll never forget that moment in his kitchen.? It’s never been about the money.? Yes, the price needs to be fair and we all have our bills to pay.? It was a premium offering, not quite personal training but definitely not a typical gym and we were about fifteen years before the fitness industry would be bursting with other “performance-training” or “group-fitness” offerings.? We thought long and hard and settled on a price that we believed was enough to be fair to us and low enough that any prospective client who understood the true value, couldn’t afford NOT to do.

The strategy worked.? Friends would tell friends…. Parents sitting in the waiting room (i.e. 2-3 chairs we had set on the side) would look-on and often ask, “hey do you think there would be room for me?”.... Kids would train alongside people their grandparents' age… teachers at the sametime as their students…. Traditional athletes and those who didn’t identify as such (yet) worked alongside one another with mutual respect and a drive to be better…for personal wellness…it was an experience that most couldn’t afford NOT to do.

Now twenty years later, we couldn’t be more grateful to see its continued evolution, nor pleased with the human achievements we’ve witnessed along the way.? Health is something for everyone…. It allows us to be strong and happy along our way….something we can’t afford NOT to do.

-Eric Eisenhart