Welcome to the The VICI Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory, one story at a time. Hello and thank you for joining us as we explore the science of purpose. From weight room dream to purpose-driven community, the evolution of elite personal fitness is an inspiring journey of purpose-driven leadership. Today's guest has combined expert science with genuine community to create lasting change. I'd like to introduce you to personal trainer, nutrition coach, and the former strength and conditioning coach at West Genesee High School, John Mossotti, owner, founder, and lead coach of Elite Personal Fitness. their mission to help busy, high-performing individuals become stronger, faster, and more confident through personalized training. So John and I actually know each other and we met in one of the best ways you can meet any human being on the little league fields of baseball. I was coaching the T-ball team and John's daughter was on my son's team. After the practice, I was giving my typical day one rah-rah to the parents, thanks for sacrificing your time to give your kids the experience of baseball, something that's near and dear to my heart. John actually personally thanked me after for volunteering my time. John's visibly a fit guy and he was wearing a t-shirt of a brand I personally support. And so I complimented on his shirt. The next practice, John brought me a brand new tub of protein from said brand. I had already kind of made up my mind, you know, that John was my kind of guy. But this gesture told me a little more about who John was. And I did want to know more. Using the email he had on file, I did a little research, found he was the owner of Elite Personal Fitness, which didn't surprise me at all, which is home of the Personal Group Fitness. Personal group fitness. That doesn't make sense. I did some more research. It actually makes perfect sense. And it's genius, in fact. And we will get into that a little later. I was intrigued to know more and eventually reached out to John to grab some coffee. The rest is history. And we'll never tell what was discussed over that cup of coffee, but I knew I wanted to share John's story on Absolutely. So I want to jump right in. You know, we love going over the origin. Then we kind of get into the breakthrough. Let's start with the dream and the 2000 hours. John, you said you had, you were addicted to how amazing exercise made you feel. And you started dreaming of a gym at a young age. What was the biggest challenge you faced in those early days, especially while You know, the hardest thing, I mean, I think, um, I guess it depends on which timeline we're in. Like, uh, I got into this cause I was a skinny, I was tall and skinny. And just like every kid, I've watched every anime and wanted to get jacked and see sports. And you're like, hey, I want to be jacked like those guys. And I didn't like who I was, so I wanted to change that. And I've always been pretty good at taking action. So I'm like, I can mope about this, or I can try to figure it out. So my sister, funny, my sister just started training for a figure competition around that time. So she brought me to a commercial gym. I started working out. I then, you know, pretty much kind of changed my life by myself by just working hard and just gaining confidence in the weight room. And it's all the stuff I ever researched. I wanted to learn more about it. And then, you know, you get to the end of high school and you're like, well, what am I going to do? And you're like, well, this is like really the only thing I've ever really been into. Do they have degrees where, you know, you can do stuff like this? And, you know, my parents didn't go to college, so I didn't know they, you know, we were all like, I don't know where you go for this. And my guidance counselors weren't too good either. But, you know, I ended up figuring it out and getting a degree essentially in, it's human performance and health promotion. Essentially, it's an exercise science degree. And during that time, you know, in college, you're learning the science behind exercise, but they don't really teach you like, well, if somebody has this hip pain, how would I coach them to squat? Or how do you coach them through this movement? Or if they have these motor patterns or these mobility issues, how would you get them to be moving better? They're like, you know, here's the beginning of a squat. Here's the end. It's just in a textbook, but it's more on what happens in the body during exercise. So my internships, which we were probably required to do, I think about 250 total, maybe 300. And that's where I started learning. And I've always learned better in person. The classroom, it's like, it's not as exciting. I kind of would daydream, then I'd come back, daydream, come back. But in person, I was always like, hey, I want to be the best intern that this place has ever had. I want to learn as much as I can. I'm actually getting the experience that I was looking to do. I wanted to change people's lives how I change my own. I'm like, hey, I know how good it feels physically, mentally, everything when you move your body. And I didn't care what kind of the tools were or how I had to get there. I was like, you know, I, I really want people to feel the way that I felt by pushing myself. And, um, that's where I started building relationships, getting better at talking to people in person, made a billion mistakes, you know, of like what not to do, um, you know, uh, talking about things maybe you shouldn't or not talking enough or whatever it is, learning the whole social aspect of, you know, meeting people and coaching them. Um, And then I just kept going. I would always ask the place and I was I worked my **** off. So they were like, yeah, you can keep staying. They wanted, they were like, oh yeah, you can do all this work for us like sure. So I was like, can I just stay and do some more and they're like, yeah, sure. So I'd stay to the end of semester or something and I just racked up hours and that's what I tell the kids because I've did, you know, I had internships in physical therapy offices. I had, you know, cardiac rehab. really, really, you know, geriatric patients, some athletes, you know, I had like the whole gamut from everywhere and you really learn what you do want to do and what you don't want to do. People you want to work with are people you don't want to work with. And people that I didn't think I wanted to work with, I ended up wanting to do more with them than you think. But until you have the experience, you don't know. So I always tell our college kids here, I'm like, it doesn't matter if you get paid or not, you need experience. And they don't care if you have a degree. When you're trying to get a job, they want to see what you did. And every job application that I had after, they're like, hey, what'd you do at Upstate? They weren't like, hey, what did you do when you got your degree? You know, so then I would, I would have a thing, Hey, I did this, I did this many hours. Like it was a big advantage for me to do that. And, um, going into the business, uh, things that were hard, um, figuring out a way to make your business different from everybody else's, why are they going to come to you over everyone else? And in my world, and I think a lot of people's world, but specifically in the gym world, everyone thinks, well, I'm the best. So they're just going to come to me because I'm the best. It's like, well, how do they know you're the best? Because also in this industry, if you just have a good personality, you can crush it, you know, because people will like you. even I was just gonna say, even if it's not good and we'll get into what makes you guys different a little bit later, but I just wanna interject like, so the 2000 hours, that wasn't the biggest challenge. That was actually the result of you taking on and getting outside of your comfort zone, right? You got outside and you took that challenge head on and you found that on the other side of those challenges was something special and something that like, pulled you in even further. And, you know, the more you got out of your comfort zone, the more time you spent there and the more you learned. And I think that's something that a lot of entrepreneurs that make it. Can relate to that, you know, you're going to you're going to hit you're going to hit barriers, you're going to hit, you know, areas of discomfort and, you know, you have to keep persevering through that discomfort to really, you know, experience the fruits of your labor. Was there ever a time when the dream felt impossible? What was the mental breakthrough that kept you pushing toward opening Elite Personal Fitness in I think the job that I had previous before I opened up the gym I had a lot of like, hey, where am I going to go? It was a good opportunity. I pretty much ran a sports performance franchise before I did this. I learned a ton. I got to learn from world-class coaches around the country. But it was kind of a job that was kind of going nowhere. We won most improved franchise the first seven months of being there. Me and one of my coaches who's with me now, we crushed it. But it was kind of like we were going to be very limited by our leadership, who was a nice guy, but just didn't have the end vision for us. And I was like, hey, if I want all these things in my life, I don't see how I'm going to get there doing it here. So it was like a lot of tough time being like, well, what do I do? Looking around at other places and gyms and being like, yeah, I could work there, but I don't like how they go about it. Um, or like, how do I even get into this place versus there? There wasn't now, now there's tons of gyms. You know, uh, 12 years ago, there really wasn't, there was just like a couple of box gyms and there was like Corey Parker down the road, you know, like strength and motion. And there really wasn't many other places, you know? And, uh, so I kind of did it out of necessity. I'm saying, I don't see where this is going to happen to where I can, you know, have a good, because the industry is tough where it's a lot of people do split shifts. You work at 5 a.m. in the morning, you know, a couple of classes, then you leave, go home, then you come back later, do the other class. I'm like, if I have kids, when, when am I going to take them to their sports? When am I going to see them? You know, I'm not going to see them in the morning or at night, you know, when they're, when they're home, you know, um, just quality of life. And usually there's not, you know, health insurance involved in these jobs. It's a service business. And if you don't work, you don't get paid, you know? So it was like, Hey, and then at the same time, It's like I was doing this little kind of mock personal group fitness, what I do now, you know, with a group of adults that all wanted to work out together. And, uh, but they all were extremely different in ability and goals. And, uh, but they all had a blast together. I was like, you know, it'd be real cool if everyone just had their own program. We all worked out together. It seemed like, duh, you know, but nobody was doing it. And I just thought, that's just a good idea. And we were kind of getting to the end of my rope there where I was like, I got to find a different job. I was applying everywhere, whether it was a college or anything. And I always was like, I want to have my own spot. And I had kind of worked at it in my head of like, hey, maybe I could do this program. And then he would then out of nowhere, he wanted to sell the business to a guy that I didn't want to work for. And I said, you know, I don't, uh, you guys can sell it, but I'm not going to stick around. And I didn't know what I was going to do. Um, so I left that. And then it's funny. One of my clients who's still with me now, and she was just like, it's just funny. She's like a fiery Italian. She's like, what are you doing? You idiot. You better go open up your own place. Like I need a place to work out, you know, was messing with me. And, uh, and I was like, you know, I really think that if he did this, right. Um, I think it would work. I think people would like it. It's different. Nobody has it. And that's where I was saying before, like, well, what makes you different? You know, it's like, why are people going to come to you? You're just another gym, you know? And, and if you follow that model where you're just like, Hey, I'm going to do high intensity workouts, and then we're going to do strength training. Well, well, someone opens up down the, down the street and it's cheaper. Why wouldn't they go there? It's kind of the same thing, you know, well, they might like you, you know, you're lucky they'll stay if they like you. But if you have a service, it's just does more for people and, and cares about them more and gives them more, you know, for just a little bit more expensive than what a regular group training would be. I think they would stay. I think it would work. And, uh, I don't, I was like, I think I've joked about it before. I was like, well, it was already broke. So if it doesn't work, I'm just still broke. Like whatever, you know, I'm going to, I knew I was going to try as hard as I could. It wasn't going to be a lack of effort, you know? So if it didn't work, it was going to kind of be like, Hey man, I, I did my best. Like I, I gave it all that I knew I could there. I wasn't going to hold back. So that was, that's kind of like the story of how it started and Half of it was a necessity for, hey, I need somewhere to work, but also down the road, I want to be able to bring my kids to a practice. And in this field, it's hard to not be working nights. You know, I don't want to miss stuff with the family. And I knew if I was young enough, cause I was 25 when I opened it. I'm like, well, by the time that I have kids and I'm married and, you know, hopefully, you know, thinking down the road. You know, I can make this thing work and give other people a place to where they can build a career because I always wanted us to be viewed more as professionals than kind of just the trainer down the road, you know, and I think I think you kind of highlighted something that you our prisoners to our own doubts, right? And we rather pursue copycat mode and copy paste something that's already been done successfully. And that works, but you took the path less traveled. You decided that, hey, you know, I see this opportunity, no one's doing it or no one's doing it exactly how you were doing it. And what do I got to lose, right? You know, right now there's not much to lose and like, let's just go. And, you know, that kind of led to the birth, you know, of personal group fitness. You know, your personal group fitness program is the core of elite personal fitness. It's an innovative solution, personalized exercise programs coached through in a group setting. What was the specific pain point or challenge you saw in the fitness industry that I think there was a lot of, you know, and there's different types of people that go to different types of facilities. And there wasn't a place that could kind of blend most of them together because like I had in my group, my real life example was, Hey, I got a 25 year old guy who wants to lift the house and can, I got a 50 year old guy who wants to lift the house, but can't, you know, and he's a little banged up. I got, you know, overweight woman, bad knees wants to get moving. Um, and then I got, I had a runner with no ACL. So it was like, all right. So I, and they loved working out together. Awesome community. Everyone was, it was a blast, but they're all completely different people. I'm like, well, if I made this place for just say the older, you know, 60 plus. Then you have only the 60 plus place. Then you have the place who's super fiery, competitive 25 to 35 year olds, you know? And then it's like, it usually ends up being like a hookup spot really. And then it's like, then you go to the kind of like, Hey, I'm just going to do personal training. And then you can get a kind of whole gamut of people. So I, everyone likes to suffer together, but. The cookie cutter approach, which it's funny, they use the cookie cutter approach to get the most people possible doing similar things, but it really doesn't cover almost anybody's base. You get a little bit of here and there, but everyone needs some modification. They're working out for themselves. They're not working out for the group. They like to be in the group, but they and I always thought I'm like, well, hey, I'd love to train with other people, but I want to do my own thing. Like I want to have something that's made for me and my goals is something that gets me excited about exercise. But I want to do it with my buddies, but they might be worried about, you know, back in the meathead days, you're like, hey, I got to get my legs up. And I'm like, well, I want my arms to get bigger. It's like you can work out together, but you're like, well, I kind of want to do this and that. And it's like, well, we can do that now. I made it so that it's, you know, I have people in wheelchairs next to people that can crank out weighted chin ups, you know, and it's like. Everyone can be together and gyms are weird by themselves. Anyways, you feel like everyone's looking at you, especially the commercial side of things, like the bigger box gyms, you know, cause you are, I mean, I don't feel comfortable going to those gyms and I own a gym, you know, it's like, everyone looks at you, whether you're in good shape or not. And, um, in here it's like, well, if you're doing something different, that's normal. Cause everyone's kind of doing something different. We're all doing very similar things because exercise works. Hey, you need to push, you need to pull, stuff like that. They're just different variations of what people can do. So somebody next to you, and it's funny, people in our class will be like, hey, what's this again? Like if they're too scared to ask us, or maybe they felt like they've asked me too many questions, they'll ask the person next to them, and they're like, no, dude, I'm doing something completely different. Like, and they're like, oh, OK, now I have to ask. Yeah, the, the hard part of figuring it all out was just figuring it all out. And it's, as long as you don't keep making the same mistakes and you don't quit, I think you're going to win in business. And there's a lot of things just from the backend side of things, how I used to do it. That's completely different now that it's just, you've changed how we do it. Even making the programs, you know, I have a whole system that took me years and years to do it. which also gives me confidence I'd like to visit that moment, right? You know, what was the breakthrough in program design that allowed you to successfully marry personalization with You know, I don't know if there was a specific like moment. It was just each, cause I make a program every four weeks. So it was like, you would make the program and then you'd feel all the pain of Because when you're making the program, like it's funny if I have a new coach who's coming in, he's like making programs and I'm like, Hey, this is an awesome program, but these people are going to get all jammed up here because this equipment or this space, you know, your space and the equipment really matters. And sometimes I just solve the equipment problem by just buying more or just, you know what I mean? Like you can solve it that way. But, um, A lot of it was like, oh, yeah, I messed up. I put these people wait. These things are set up in a way that does not work. And then it just in the next program, I'm like, all right, remember that and then go again. And then it's like, all right, well, then if I have people with a lot of these issues, they're going to have to have this modification. How am I going to build that in? And it's just like slowly every month I just learn more and more. And I mean, up to like two years ago, I was making everybody's program myself. So the real, I think, change was when I, you could only personalize 200 something programs every four weeks for so long without giving kind of a not as personalized as you should be doing. So I was at the point where I was like, all right, we need to change course. All the coaches now have a group of people say there's 200 people. There's four of us. Okay. Everyone's getting this amount of people, you know, divided between everybody. You're going to reach out to them every three weeks, ask them what they want on their next program. Then you're going to create it. And then you, they're going to be able to now get more personalization than I could have done if I was doing all of. So just maturing and being like, hey, you gotta delegate. And that's been my thing, especially the last couple of years, is getting better at delegating of Yeah, and I think, you know, iteration is important, right? Like, it's especially important when you just take that leap of faith and you're just following your heart. spoken like a true leader, you listen to your team. You let your team in and even your clients have may have mentioned that, hey, here's an area of where we can improve things. I think it takes a certain type of leader to make people on their team and their clients feel comfortable enough to approach you with that type of advice. And it shows the kind of leader that you are and the community that you're creating, that you're nurturing right now, that people feel comfortable reaching out and letting you know where things can do better. That's a big part of business. Leadership in general, there's a lot of people that are good at doing what they do. But once you add in the people element, people really struggle with making that leap to leader and delegating. So good on you. I do want to jump into more of the purpose and impact and the innovation. You know, insane focus on professionalism is kind of where this question goes. Your bio states elite personal fitness is insanely focused on being professional in our field. We can explain the why behind everything we do. In a saturated fitness market, what was the biggest challenge in establishing that high level credibility, especially as you grew from You know, I think it's one customer at a time. You know, I really think that, you know, a lot of people, they try to flood their business with, you know, and especially in the fitness world, and I get hit with ads all the time being like, we can get you 40 new clients tomorrow. And I'm like, that would be the worst case scenario, like ever. Everyone would be pissed at me. Like no one's gonna get a good service. And I think building trust and, you know, getting the experience, showing people that you have the experience, you have the knowledge, It just comes one good experience with each person at a time. And throughout the years, I mean, like in our software, like we've, we've worked with thousands of people and. You know, if the only thing that I was kind of focused on with, Hey, if they don't want to be with us, it's either going to be like, maybe the price is too high for them and that's okay. Maybe the service just isn't for them, but it's never going to be because they had a bad experience or that we like, we're pushing them too hard or, you know, it wasn't going to be a negative experience coming out of it. Like I always, they, they always can ask me for help. Like it was never, it was always open door. Like you can come and ask me whatever, any, anytime we always try to make everything the least resistance to do exercise because it's, it's always difficult. People are difficult for people to get into the gym. Like I said, gyms are scary. So I want to make it as easy as I can for every single person. Yeah. It was just like one person at a time, just giving the best experiences that we could. Okay. Next person. Hey, let's give you the best experience that we can. And then when people go out and talk about us, they're just like, Hey, they're the best. I don't have to think about it. They just take care of it. I don't feel dumb if I have to ask them for a question or if I want something, I just get it. Like they just, or, or if I can't get it now, they're like, Hey, let's work on some progressions to get you there. Cause if you say you want to get your first chin up and you're like nowhere close to it, it's like, Hey, yeah, we, I'm not going to program chin up so we can kind of work, get you there, you know? So like, let's build you up and go from there. And it was always about building people up and, and helping them out. I wanted people to like exercise. And even with my athletes now, I don't like using exercises as a punishment. You know, how many times in sports where somebody mess up and you're like, cool, we're running hills for till someone pukes or, you know, and, and everyone's had an experience where they did had a run or something. Usually running is the one that people end up hating. Cause they had to do it in sports when they messed up. But, um, I wanted to like, especially our kids, I want them training for the rest of their lives. I want them to be strong. I want a whole new generation of kids coming up, being tough and strong. I want, you know, my adults that feel weak. I want them living longer by being stronger. And then the compounding effect of affecting their families and their kids and their kids and making it more of a normal thing to go and get stronger and feel good. And I guess just what we've all, our kind of vibe too is very like, we're normal. We're not super pushy on anything. It's like, I have supplements for sale, but we're never like pushing them out. People be like, hey, tell me more about this. I'm like, all right, cool. I think this would be good for you and stuff like that. Um, the training and the nutrition, it's like, we're not zealots, which I think can push a lot of people away from doing it. And a lot of people will say, Hey, this is the only way. And once anybody says that to you, you go, that's not right. There's always a different way. And once you put it, pigeon it into one way, you're like, I don't know about that. So we've always just been real upfront with people and. Hey, let's choose the best route for you right now to get better. Yeah, I think that's such great advice. And that's just great business advice. I think a lot of small businesses and startups, they fall into that trap of like, cheap wins, you know, more clients. You know, there's a reason that one brick at a time is, you know, just a famous quote in life. you know, when you try to rush a good thing, it never works. I see more businesses, you know, go out of business because, you know, they, they have a good thing. They try to grow too fast and it usually becomes a money situation where you just run out of money. You've, you've just outkicked your coverage. And I think that philosophy of one client at a time is something that, you know, whether, whether you're in, in the, whether you're, you know, in it right now and you're in that startup mode and you're, you know, feel like, you know, you got to grow, I think, you know, just have to have faith in the process and, you know, just one client, one brick at a time. What was the tough decision you, decisions you had to make about who to hire or how to run the business to protect the I think I made one mistake. I hired a guy, I've pretty much had the same team for the majority of the time. There are people that I've worked with before, only a couple people that have come on board that I didn't know. I had one girl come in through an internship and she did well for a little bit and then she left. And then I had one guy who on paper, super nice guy, you know, and I'm not like throwing shade on him, super nice guy, very smart. I mean, dude, he remembers shit from like textbooks. I was like, dude, I know what you're saying, but I can't recite it like that. You know, like he just knew it. Um, but culture wise, it was a bad move. And that only took one time for me where I go, Hey, I hired somebody outside of the culture. And like I said, nice guy, but just didn't fit our crew. He could only talk to certain groups of people. And we have such a wide ranging group of people. It's like, Hey, you gotta be able to talk to adults, people that are like 30 years older than you. And then you got to talk to people that are 10 years younger than you. You got to be able to talk to all those people and be professional in all the settings. And also to like, say, for example, like we don't get in people's faces and yell. And he was like one of those guys and I'm like, dude, they came from work. They don't want to get yelled at. They're adults. Like they're, they don't want to get yelled at. They want to come here and have a nice calm. Like they're trying to come down from their day. They're getting stressed out. We don't need to increase it. You know? So it was stuff like that where I go, Hey, learn my lesson. I'm only going to hire core value wise now. And, um, I've only hired two people past him and they're both full-time now, you know, and, um, Some of them we had to do more interviews with, cause it's like, maybe they're just more shy. And I got to like, dig a little bit deeper and say like, Hey, I'm just trying to figure out, meet their husband, meet their girlfriend. You know, Hey, like, who are you people who like my kids come to the business. Like I want my kids to be around you guys. And I don't want to feel weird about that. And I want you to feel, I want everyone here. Cause there's a lot of, I think what happens in gyms, there's a lot of turnover in staff. and you'll love say a coach and then they leave and you're kind of like, Oh, I don't really like this place anymore. And that's happened so many times, or maybe they just changed careers or like, Hey, I'm not successful enough in this business. I got to go somewhere else. And then you're like, Oh man, that person was awesome. I wish they were still here. And I think a lot of bad, a lot of good coaches, either through bad experiences at other, at other facilities where they're just led I'd say wrong. Um, or, uh, or they, they weren't able, they weren't in a position to where they could really grow and make a career out of it. Um, maybe through the business limitations, maybe through their own, but, um, All my people were all culture picks where that was the main thing I was worried about. I can teach you all the, all the training stuff. I love nerding out on all that stuff. It's fun. And I can show you, I have, you know, I have the science of how we do it. It's like, Hey, we're going to stay within these walls. This is how we do it. This is who we coach. This is how you talk to people. That's how we coach. Come watch me. Like I can coach that. But if you're just not the culture fit where. Everyone, the big thing for us is we're all on the same team and how the business model is set up is everyone's involved in the business. So it's not like, oh, hey, I got a person who, you know, they just do programming coaching. They don't do anything else. They've never called somebody before, you know, or this one, like they have different jobs, but they're all in on the same mission because they know. Well, if I do my job correctly, she does her job and I know they're doing it, then we all get better and the business grows. And I'm just like, that's the one thing I've like slammed down their throats. And I'm very chill. I'm not like, you know, like, yes, we have high standards, but I'm not like in their face yelling at them all the time. Like, you got to clean this up. You know, it's like, guys, if we want Yeah. You got to, you got to protect culture ferociously. Like you got to protect that. That's something that, you know, at VG, we talk about that on a regular basis. From the people that we bring on, they say, hire slow, fire fast. You got to protect that like a mama bear protects her cubs ferociously. If you don't, that toxicity can spread and it leads to breaks in morale. And especially early on in a business, it's so fragile. You can't let somebody that doesn't fit in compromise your mission. And that's true for clients too. Some clients are not the right clients. They're not the right fit. And it's not easy, usually when you're starting off, every client's your client when you're starting off. And sometimes that's true. Exactly, that might be true. But once you establish some traction, you gotta protect your culture when it So- Yeah, with us, we're at a good spot where I'd say the last three years, We got our core group, everyone, like all the members are bought in. They all want this place to be a certain way. They're wiping everything down when they're done. You know what I mean? It's like, the only thing I battle everybody on is putting the weights in the wrong spot. I'm like, I go, I know it says 10 there, but you put two tens there. So now there's a two pairs of tens there. I go, I appreciate it, but we got to move this over here. And they're like, all right, sorry. It's usually newer people and you're figured it out. But, um, everyone's pretty on board with like, Hey, this is how things are done here. And we like it this way. And, um, it makes it easier for the coaches. And when I bring somebody on, like, I just got a guy probably started last November about all coming up on a year now. If you're a good culture fit, all my people are going to like you pretty much right away. And we haven't had a lot of turnover. So when I bring somebody on, everyone's really like willing to meet the new person. They're excited. Hey, who's the new one that you trust to bring in here? You know? And I think us protecting that is, is built the trust with them where they kind of trust these people out the gate. They can still got to meet. They still got to get to know them because it's a relationship business. They'll get to know his history or, you know, her history, whatever it is. And then they're like, Oh yeah, I really like him, you know, and then go from there. And it just helps me gain the trust of them by just being so Yeah. I think it's just as a leader, you know, you're, you're a good leader. You're a coach through and through from the beginning of the day to the end. And, um, It just takes educating team members and clients, like, hey, listen, we do it this way, and it may seem like it's a power, it's a control thing, but the reality is, is if these guidelines are followed, we're able to operate at the highest level, which benefits you and benefits the brand and the culture, and everyone benefits from sticking to these guidelines. Yeah. I want to kind of shift gears to future looking. You help busy parents and high performing individuals achieve their goal. What's the most common mental block or fear that keeps them from starting their fitness journey? And what's the accountability breakthrough you use to move them from aspiration to real results? Huh. I think, uh, you know, it's different for everybody, but I think a lot of people, it's funny. I get a lot of, uh, Hey, when I get in shape, then I'll come into the gym because they're like embarrassed to come to the gym. They don't want to feel out of shape. They're ashamed of where they are. You're not happy with what they look like, how they feel. And it's hard for people to kind of hit that, you know, point where they go, I am ready for a change. I'm not happy. It's not working with what I'm doing. I need outside help. And I think for anybody, that's tough to kind of even come to the realization and be like, I need help. And now who do I go to? And then they're nervous about going to a place. We don't have contracts for that reason. If you don't like it, I don't want you to have to keep paying me because you're just going to not like me. I'm only just making your life harder to go to the next place to try a different place. It's like, hey, we might not be the right fit for you. I just want people exercising. So like, that's our mission of like, Hey, I just want people feeling good. I want to help people. So if it's not here, like, I want you to keep going, like, don't give up now, you know? So, um, I think people get, get nervous or scared. They've failed probably a ton of times before. Like we all do with, with any time that we want to try and change a habit, no matter what the habit is, whether it's healthy or it's like health conscious or not, you know? So you're looking at your phone too much. That's hard to kick. You know what I mean? Um, and. coming to the point where they're like, all right, I need help, and then stepping in the doors. And it's real. You feel, again, gyms are weird. You feel like everyone's looking at you. It's hard to explain to them, well, I'm not really here. Because I could just sound like some guy being like, oh, no, not here, not here. No, sign right here. You'll love it. You'll love it. But it really is like that here. So I like people coming in when there's a class. I'm like, hey, come see the people. You see how everyone's completely different. You'll see somebody just like you. And they're just doing what they can do. So I just want people to come. Those people will say, hey, thanks. I'm like, hey, thanks for coming. It's very easy for you on your way home to go, hmm, do I just go home instead of going to the gym? It just takes one second for them to be like, nah, I'm just going to go the other way. And that's like with that. I mean, sometimes you might want pizza on your way home. And if you outlast driving past it, say you're going to Jamesville and you're passing Robbie T's. You're like, I could stop right here and get it on the way home. Or if I pass it, you're like, well, I'm not going to turn around. I'm on my way home now. But you just got to get past that little break. So I think getting people into the gym and just coming in for their first day is Shout out to one of the nicest guys we know, Robbie T, One of the best customer service. He remembers my Yeah, he remembers my football stats from high school, man. It's wild. My football number, everything. He's awesome. Shout out to Robbie. If you're looking on how to create a customer service culture first, that's the Absolutely. So, you know, we're, you know, we're getting towards the end and I just I just want to remind, you know, our guests that, you know, you guys are located in Camillus. Just stop in, just stop in. Like John said, if you're looking for a science-backed foundation, something new, something that's not out there, this personal group fitness model, it's got John thriving. He's got team players that have been there for years. There isn't that normal turnover you see. You can work out with your friend no matter what level your personal fitness journey's on. There's commitment to a supportive and professional community there. Thanks, John, so much for your time and sharing your inspiring story of turning passion for fitness into a purpose-driven business that genuinely transforms lives. I just want to also remind our guests that if you want to know more about the supportive community, you can visit Elite Personal Fitness. They're out in Camillus, New York. You can find them on social media if you're looking to do a little bit more deep diving the way I do. They're at Elite Personal Fit. I found the website very you know, very easy to navigate with lots of helpful information, more about John and, and that's at join elite nation.com. I like how you named that. That's very clever. Um, and yeah, you know, uh, I, I thank you, John, for your time, um, and your dedication to the community. Uh, I look forward to watching elite personal fitness continue to grow. Um, I can't wait to see what's on the future radar for Thanks for tuning in to the Vici Code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels