I've been coaching in some capacity or another for 7 years now, but I didn't actually formally create M2 until June of last year. Up until then, it was just me doing my thing pretty much all by myself. Man oh man has a lot changed in the last 12 months. I wanted to take some time to reflect on where we've come from, and then talk about where I see things going.
The metrics for success at M2 will always be defined first and foremost by the clients. Are we helping them to succeed in what matters most to them? Whether thats performance, body composition or overall health. Are we making people happier?
Power Monkey Camp. Just one of the many cool things from the past year.
At a performance level, its been an amazing year. In 2017, we sent about 22 athletes to Regionals and qualified 10 athletes to the Crossfit Games. In 2018 we had over 50 Regionals athletes, and will have 22 people competing at the Games in a few short weeks. Whats pretty cool though is that about 50% of those athletes accomplished something they've never done before. Its one thing to just help an athlete like Chyna Cho or Carol-Ann Reason Thibault stay at the high level they've already achieved, but its another thing entirely to help someone take that next step to Regionals or the Games for the first time. Those are some of the best memories and the ones I'll never forget.
How do we measure success with the other aspects of what we offer? How does one measure body composition, health and happiness in meaningful way? Don't even start with me about pounds lost... I don't have time for that BS.
That back tho...
The best way I can think of it is to look at our growth. Our advertising budget is exactly $0, so all of the new clients we're getting are coming through referrals in some capacity. Over the last year, we've grown the number of full-time coaching clients we work with by about 500%. I think this says we're doing something right, that we're connecting with people in a way thats different from what else is out there, and that its resonating with what people are really looking for. Of course, there's a laundry list of things I want to do better and if I'm being honest, I lose sleep obsessing over them every single night.
I want to help people be the best versions of themselves. Its what I'm passionate about and I think I'm pretty good at it. When I was just "Mike the Nutrition Coach" I was able to derive pride and happiness from seeing client's success on a competition floor, or winning a small battle against an eating disorder, or watching them brag about the new abs they were sporting (of course while eating more food than ever). The messages about changed attitudes and accomplishments just puts a smile on my face and makes every last second of work worth it.
I never thought anything would compete with that satisfaction... then I started hiring coaches. Its just amazing to me that I get to provide a platform for amazing human beings to do amazing things helping others. I LOVE all my coaches... literally I love all of them. We met for the first real time as a team in Chicago and it was like being surrounded by a warm blanket on a cold day. I could just tell that they cared about their clients, about each other and about the company.
Being a nutrition coach is pretty freaking amazing... but running a team of nutrition coaches with the people I have is just about the best damn job on planet earth. It is so freaking hard to choose just one of them to illustrate WHY this makes me so happy, but I'm going to do it anyway.
Jenny Sharp is one of the truly beautiful human beings on this planet. She's smart as hell, hard working, compassionate, intuitive, humble and honest. She's just a GOOD person that wants to help other people be better versions of themselves. I don't want to speak for Jenny, but I'm not sure that she really had an appropriate platform to truly use all those amazing traits until we connected and she came to work with me.
Fun fact: Jenny knows everything about the food scene in Chicago... literally everything.
Now... she basically gets PAID to be her awesome self. Its pretty damn cool to be able to provide that opportunity to someone, to create literal VALUE for their incredible traits in a way that wasn't there before. Multiply that by 11 other coaches, add in an amazing creative business team, and you can see why I think I have the best job in the world.
Side story: I took a Crossfit Weight Lifting class with Mike Burgener years ago. If you've ever seen or met Mike, you know that he has a larger than life personality and he applies it to his absolute love of weight lifting. At the end of his seminars, he always tells the class that they can email him ANY time with video to review of lifts, to ask questions, etc. So... about 3 months after taking his class, I did just that. I figured I might hear back with one or two cues. Ummm, no. I got a 2 page email telling me everything that I had done right and what I could work on. Then 3 more emails came the next day with video representations of drills and exercises to work on to help fix my issues.
A few months back, I was really forced to think hard about what I wanted M2 to be, and what I wanted for myself out of the business. It was absurdly hard to define a vision at the time, until one day I thought about Mr. Burgener. The man just LOVES to coach and gets fired up when his help results in a new PR. I want M2 to reflect that same passion in the "nutrition" community. No matter how big this thing gets, I'll never stop coaching and here's why.
- I want to CONNECT with athletes.
- I want to care so much that I cry tears of happiness when they succeed, and I want them to trust me so much that they can cry on my shoulder when they don't.
- I want to train other coaches to do the same things I do... but in their own unique way.
- I want to teach the broader community that there's more to life than the scale, and that the mirror doesn't easily reflect true self-worth or accomplishment.
- I want to have fun.
This past year has been one of the hardest, most exhausting, terrifying, amazing, exhilarating, satisfying years of my life. I can't wait to see what else is coming in year two.
Mike Molloy
Owner & Head Coach
M2 Performance Nutrition