The Business of a Cycling Coach - Look back at two years
On July 1, 2021 I made one of the biggest decisions of life…one of the hardest decisions of my life - I quit a stable, 401K paying, 6-weeks of vacation job as the Fitness Center Manager. On that day, I took a chance on myself to become Outdoor Fitness Coach full time. OFC started back in 2010 when I trained groups for one-day Mt. Whitney Summits and created Outdoor Fitness Coach Blog. And I continued to run my business on the side: before work, after work, and on the weekends any chance to squeeze in 1-2 hours or more wherever and however. Not only was it exhausting to carry on this way but I also had this deep pull - not just a voice in my head but energy in my bones to commit 100% to OFC. After a long conversation with my husband, and a longer one with myself, we came up a plan and I did the thing I had been waiting to do for years - I resigned. Hallelujah!!! What an extraordinary feeling full of adrenaline, joy, excitement, disbelief and yes fear. It was time for me to see what Outdoor Fitness Coach was all about.
I was no longer frozen in fear but moving through fear toward my dream.
I can’t believe it’s been two years and proud of myself for taking that leap of faith, my accomplishments, but even more.. to see who I evolved into to show up as Outdoor Fitness Coach. Much like climbing a massive mountain, it’s good to stop and look at how far you have come and how the steps do add up. Being OFC is equal parts coaching (see services below) and being business woman: making decisions and planning out strategies.
Outdoor Fitness Coach Services:
Elite Coaching - monthly personalized training plan, nutrition guidance, strength training and race preparation
Gravel Group Coaching
Dirt Skills Sessions
Coaching Consultation
Strength Training Workout Series
In-person personal training sessions
Here’s a look at my accomplishments in the last two years, how I GSD (get shit done), what I’ve learned, and what I’m looking forward to in the coming years.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PAST TWO YEARS
Controlled Chaos Cycling - non-profit to provide bike skills education.
Outdoor Fitness Coach is now a LLC and the company name is trademarked.
Certified Nutrition Coach
Certified Skills Coach and Ride Leader
Part of the Big Wheel Coaching team
Creator of Local Legends Podcast - now in its second season. Episode 1 with Victor Sheldon of Quick’n’Dirty was launched two months after making this decision.
Wrote my first book Climbing Whitney in a Day - a guide book on how to prepare for the one-day trek, full of stories of the last 15 years of training groups.
Strength Training For Cyclists - workout video series geared (no pun intended) for cyclists including Core 1.0 Series, Bodyweight 1.0 Series, Dumbbell 1.0 Series, and currently producing Strength Training 2.0.
B.A.R. Ride Leader - These Big Ass Rides are designed for cyclists to make them stronger, ride smarter and get faster/improve stamina and help get them ready for endurance events (e.g. BWR) but also offered to help maintain endurance.
Controlled Chaos Cycling - Non-profit - empower more people to ride bikes through bike skills education together with two other awesome cyclists - Tammy Tabeek and Jenn Kwai.
Other events that have evolved - No Drop Thursdays at Rouleur, Webinars.
Proud to be an ambassador to companies that I believe in - TASCO, Spinergy, Coureur, Athletic Brewing.
WORK HABITS that GSD (get shit done!)
Finding a peaceful part of the house to work in.
These accomplishments came from consistent work, showing up, pushing through, trial and error, and listening and observing. It took awhile to get into a groove and find my pace and routine being self-employed and working from home. I’ve come up with a handful of healthy work habits that keep me on track.. and believing in myself, because when you are on your own without anyone around to talk to, it can be easy to lose momentum and focus.
Goals. Business (and personal) goals are outlined for the year and broken down into seasons. Each month, I reflect on my goals and determine which ones to focus on and how to accomplish them. From there each week, I break down my goals to smaller chunks and give myself ONE main goals and 2-3 mini goals.
Monday Journaling. Each week starts off with journaling - first thing before opening any emails or reading texts. This time sets the tone for the week and helps me reflect on previous week and what needs attention, any struggles, recognize wins and anything else that comes up. I learned a lot from my job as the Fitness Center Manager, and one thing I took from it was every Monday, the Facilities team would have a Monday Morning meeting. The departments including Cafe, Fitness Center, Janitorial, and Facilities would come together to anticipate major events for the week and also to reflect on learnings from the prior week. It is similar to this - as the CEO - i have a conversation with myself, cycling coach, strength coach, skills coach, yoga instructor, nutrition coach and see what is coming up, what needs attention, what time looks like and how I am doing. I also do some brainstorming and get things out on paper and out of my head. I often look back and see what the theme is and notice any red flags - perhaps not giving myself more down town, maybe backing off in one area to get another area accomplished.
Financial Fridays. Financials and business tasks used to be scary as they consumed lots of time, I didn’t really know what I was doing. Instead of being scared, I created a day to dedicate to financials and business tasks and it has come to be a fun part of the week researching, budgeting, setting monthly goals and reviewing progress and making adjustments. It’s these Fridays when do my accounts receivable, monthly Profit & Loss, track mileage monthly, and ensure all is right in the business side. It’s because of these Fridays my books are up to date, my goals are aligned, how I was able to get registered as LLC and get the name ‘Outdoor Fitness Coach’ trademarked.
ToDo Bucket. This is a funny habit I created to help with my ‘to do’ list. I often get overwhelmed with my list of tasks and goals. So I have small pieces of paper and I write one task in each paper that I want to get done in a day. I also look at my day and try to anticipate how much time I have to dedicate to each. I fold each paper up and throw it in a bucket… then shake the bucket and grab a piece of paper and do whatever it says. Most tasks take 30 min (sometimes less..sometimes more) but 30-min is the default and I set the timer and work on that one task..done! and move grab the next piece of paper.
Dinner with my family is an important part of my day.
Clever Fox Planner. I trust my ideas, schedule, planning in my planner - it helps me set the goal for the week..and then I break it down to what needs to get done each day. I use the planner to write down family events and kids’ schedules, meal prep, and other habits that I’m working on. It’s because of this planner that I can go back and see what I’ve accomplished, what I’ve learned, what I want to improve on and track what things take up time and energy.
Personal habits that give me structure, balance and show up being fully present.
Aim to eat by 7pm. Which means I stop working at 5ish to get dinner started.
Spend time in the garden and watering my plants - simply joy.
Strength train twice a week plus yoga weekly.
Monthly massage and chiropractor visit as prevention.
Weekly walks
Block off training between 12-2pm to ride my bike, strength train, go on a walk and take care of myself.
What I have learned: SELF TALK
What I love about this process and being on my own, being my own boss, is the growth in myself to believe and be brave..be brave to believe..be brave to be myself. There was a lot of conversations with myself and honest self reflection which can be hard to do. Over the years (and through journaling) there were phrases I would often find repeating through the years - these phrases, mantras kept me going and pressing on..sometimes a good healthy pat on the back and sometimes I needed to get my head out of my ass.
Move the needle. Keep moving forward.
Keep the rhythm
Trust your line
Progress isn’t always linear. Just like in a long ride, it can be hard to see the finish but it really is the process and one pedal stroke at a time. Keep working and pushing forward.
Be strong in your conviction..
Trust yourself.
Chin up, back straight, believe.
Sometimes I question myself, my ideas.. and then I get paralyzed. Its about trusting myself and seeing it through. Easier said then done and often times I need to nurture these moments as they require more of my energy. This is also true when I try something new with not the results I want. For example, putting out a program with zero signups or leading a ride that didn’t go the way I wanted.. believing in myself gives me the strength to review what happened, what can I learn and what can I improve on. But this is the same energy and confidence it took to reach out to Izzy King and invite her to Local Legends. Very humbling and beautiful opportunity for growing into my shoes.
Watch your energy.
Whether it’s something that I need to work through, things happening at home, time with clients.. all these require my attention, my time and my energy. When I pack on too much, I tend to get sloppy or inattentive or lose the point of it all. This has helped me set boundaries for myself, schedule less appointments, and buffer more time in between to reset.
Slow your roll…
Tranquila
Ahh… sometimes my goals and tasks can overcome me and I get sucked into the process..which is a good thing. But sometimes too deep. Important to sloooowww downn.. Just like in riding a bike, you can’t keep pedaling at your threshold, you need to gear down a spin it out.. slow down a smidge and come up for air. Gives tasks value and time. Also doing less, is doing more. When I focus on one thing, I do that one thing well and it gets done. I also realize that some things take longer than you think, and a lot can get done in a little bit of time. Finding the balance in this paradox is an ongoing game. But now that I know I need 8-12 hours to publish a Local Legends episode, I can break up those tasks and reset my expectations that producing 1-2 episodes a month decreases a lot of anxiety.
Find your flow…
When I have space and time around me and I’m clear in my goals and task at hand, I am able to give proper attention, proper energy to whatever it is that I need to work on. It can vary from designing a route, to building a training block, to updating a sales page. But when I find my flow, I get lost in time and new ideas and solutions come to life and I get on a roll and the finishing product a piece of work. Something that I'm proud of and solid work that I can stamp my name on. That is the best feeling.
The last thought about self talk and one area that I’m still working on is keeping a steady confidence among the highs and the lows. It’s like having your home set to 70 degrees throughout the year even though it can be blazing hot or freezing cold. There are days that I get down when my clients are struggling with the process or when there’s some bad communication that could have been avoided. And then there are days that I get new clients and or compliments. Not letting my emotions get to me is a challenge because I’m an emotional person. And at first, I used to let the emotions take their toll, then I did the opposite and try to not let it bother me (like I don’t care). Neither worked. Trying to let the emotion and feelings be felt and heard and then move on. And not attach the feeling to my worth and carry on with confidence..keeping my temperature to a steady 70 degrees.
WHAT NEXT?
When I first launched full time, I went on a bike ride with Michael Marckx and he asked me something that I didn’t have the answer to. He asked me what my dream was. Quitting my job and being Outdoor Fitness Coach full time was my dream. “No” he said, “Dream Big”. Dream Big .. I thought to myself. It was something I wasn’t able to conceive of. Only now am I allowing myself the luxury of thinking bigger.
With two years under my belt as CEO of Outdoor Fitness Coach, I see a clear path - both accomplishments but also the steps to get there. This is my life, this is what I’m passionate about. Working closely with my athletes, listening to them and guiding them to be stronger, smarter athletes, guide them through the same process of learning and growing and being the best they can be. I’m on a strong roll with my business and coaching. I’ve only scratched the surface and have so much more I want to accomplish and learn. What a wonderful, powerful life it has been and I never knew I would be here writing all the things and what I have overcome and the person I have become, the shoes I have filled to be my own boss.
Trust yourself. Find your flow. Breathe.
