Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 55 - Jason Khalipa

Episode Date: May 21, 2018

After meeting with the CEO of Phillz Coffee, Jacob Jaber, Mark Bell and Crossfit Games Champ Jason Khalipa kept the podcast party rolling and recorded another episode in downtown San Francisco. The two Meathead Millionaires recapped their conversation with Jacob Jaber and covered fitness and business. ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Stitcher Here: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud Here: https://soundcloud.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow The Power Project Podcast ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarkBellsPowerProject Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz

Hello? Oh, wait. Now we got to be all serious? So Jason's here. Is that the opening line? What did we start with? All right. So we went to Phil's Coffee.

We got to meet Phil, and Phil's name is? Jacob. Jacob. So we didn't actually meet Phil. We didn't meet Phil. I thought we did. I felt a presence of phil but we didn't meet phil we met jacob who's a ceo who's phil's son did we get gypped we did not get gypped i

actually felt like that was a really cool conversation that was fun it was awesome yeah it was great and i think you know some of the some of the points that he was hitting on i could almost feel the excitement because you were sitting next to me i I can feel how fired up you were. I can, I was like, Jason's got to be like ready to jump out of his chair right now. Oh dude. When it comes to like business and strategy and scalability, I mean, that's, that's, that fires me up. What was something that he said today that really got you going? Well, I mean, there was a few things. One was, you know, I want to make it like a grandma's living room. I thought that was pretty cool in the sense that like it wasn't so much what he did say is what he didn't need to say. It was a cash register. So the fact that like money isn't a focus, it's just it needs to happen. It's all about the customer experience. And then, you know, basically, if you pay, you pay. If you don't, you can still get your drink. But it sounds like everybody pays. if you pay you pay if you don't you can still get your drink but it sounds like everybody pays so it was cool to see how it's customer focused it's customer customer first and then the money

second and it was also cool what he said that kind of you know for me it resonated was a i want to open up one store a thousand times for me that was pretty cool because what he was really relating to was this idea that um it's not like a cookie cutter approach. It's unique for the environment it's in. So if you're in Los Gatos, it's different than San Francisco. Right. Is that something you might implement or maybe you're already implementing in your business? Yeah. I mean, I think it was unique for him to say it because I think there's certain things that obviously need to stay consistent, right? Of course. But to be able to also kind of

identify with that specific area is pretty cool so as we expand that's something i want to remember is you know kind of and another thing he said i thought was kind of cool is that it's it's not you know campbell location in this location it's jake spot amber spot whatever that was kind of cool where he used the manager's name as an example for um the location name yeah i thought that was interesting an interesting spin on some of that you know when it comes to getting a gym membership there's kind of like some anguish over that too like it's sort of a pain in the ass when you go into most gyms you got to kind of sign up and sign and canceling and it just it uh it might just be one more block that somebody puts

up in their head, one more barrier. So they don't even go to go to the gym. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just like, Hey man, like, uh, you know, enjoy the workout for today. And if you like it, just give us your email address on the way out. Like if it could be less, you know, less painful. And we try that at our gym, you know, it's like, Hey, come in, try us out. All we need is a little waiver. Right. And if you enjoy it, then sign up. If you don like, hey, come in, try us out. All we need is a little waiver. And if you enjoy it, then sign up. If you don't, then... I have this theory where it's like, I want to earn people's business. So our new Campbell location just opened and we're giving the month of May for $99. And what I tell people is, hey, look, make us earn your business. Come in, try us out for $99 the month of May. If we don't earn the right to have your business, then cancel, right?

You could cancel anytime you want before your next billing date. And I just think as a business, similar to the way Jacob was talking, is that you got to, you know, customers first and you got to treat them right. In your CrossFit boxes, are people, do they have the opportunity to work out kind of by themselves or is they always getting coached or is it team or how does it work? So at most of our gyms, right, we have morning classes, afternoon classes, evening classes. So there's a break between like 10 and 11 and again from like one to three. And both of those times will be open gym, but we always have a coach on staff. So you can never really be in our gym by yourself. You'll always have a coach available. They might not be coaching a class, but they will be available. And I think it's important from a safety perspective and from a community perspective, but we always encourage people

to take classes because we think people push each other harder and it creates a deeper, you know, brand awareness, you know, deeper kind of brand tightness. I don't have a lot of rules in my gym, but one is, uh, just to not have headphones on because I want people to interact with each other and I want people to compete against each other. I, I always think that, um, you know, whatever voodoo magic program you got going on, uh, it might be great and it might benefit you really well. But I think that if you just go squat with all the other guys in the corner that you'll probably have a better workout, even if you weren't like programmed to squat that all the other guys in the corner, that you'll probably have a better workout. Even if you weren't like programmed to squat that day or whatever it is,

be, be competitive. That's right. I mean the competitive nature. I mean, I could speak from this, you know, in my own experience, I train a lot in my garage,

but when I get in the gym, you know, it just changes my dynamic. Like I feel like sometimes like I'm getting a little, little, you know, it's like I'm a little juiced up, you know?

And, and it makes a big difference when you're around other people because you start doing things that like later on when you reflect on the workout, you feel like you kind of, you pushed harder than you normally do, which is cool. Like right before we came up here, we had a little bit of downtime. And so I stopped and did a quick little 20 minute workout with one of the guys with bench press and pull-ups and, you know, it was getting a little tough, but I'm like, all right, let me see if I can keep this unbroken. Cause this guy is, you know, and, and little tough but i'm like all right let me see if i can keep this unbroken because this guy is you know and kind of that that competitive you know push is nice yeah it's almost like you're trying to one-up each other sometimes yeah a little bit in a friendly

environment and i think the headphones is a key thing right i think obviously if you're in a traditional gym and you want some internal motivation go put on some little wayne or eminem or whatever the hell it is and enjoy yourself but i think in a in a functional training gym and a strength training gym and a, you know, these different gyms, you don't really need to have headphones on, just have whatever music on. So you could, again, push each other, support each other and create that camaraderie. Right. And you know, what I always try to tell people at my gym, even though the gym model is obviously way different than what you guys have going on, is just that you're not going to have a bad workout. You know, you're not going to have a bad workout.

You know, you're not going to have a bad workout in this gym because we're a team. We all live together. Not everyone's doing the exact same thing, but there's different pockets of people around. So if you want to have a bad workout, I'm sure that you could figure out a way to have a bad workout. But in general, if you just hang with somebody for that day and let somebody else almost carry you through that, is that what your coaches are kind of programmed to do in some way? That's what they're there for, right? I mean, our coaches ultimately, you know, people ask me all the time, like, what's the secret sauce?

And it's like, well, it's a good program and good session plan. But at the end of the day, it's a good coach. It's someone who cares, someone who makes people feel like they care about them and then properly scales either up or down for them at that time in their life, right? And for that day, maybe the night before you went out, you party, maybe you got off a flight, who knows? But it's about having that coach to kind of give you that customized experience, similar to Phil's experience, right? He was saying there's like what, 4 million options or something like that,

something crazy that you could have because you want a custom coffee experience. Similar to that is our gym experience at NC Fit, which is come in, talk to a coach. We already kind of, there's a plan in place, but the plan needs to be adjusted based on the individual. He said best cup of coffee is the one that's customized for your taste, which I thought was great.

And that's probably something you implement in your gym too. It doesn't matter if somebody's 100 pounds overweight or if they're super fit, you're going to figure out something for them to be able to do. Right. And that's what we should be doing. Right. That's what we should be. What we as like fitness professionals are there to make it inclusive, make it inviting and to get people where they want to be. You know, I always say like each person comes in and you'd have a good time. If you're not having a good time, they don't want to come back. You need to learn something because I think when you learn, you get engaged for longer.

Like you could just come in and have fun and get in a good workout. But I think when you start learning, it adds another layer of like kind of respect for the program, respect for the coach. You probably think about it later on too. That's right. You're like, oh, I wonder, they told me this. I wonder about that. You reflect on it, right? It's like when our members walk away, I just want them to have a good time, laugh, smile, whatever, have a great workout, sweat, of course.

That's mandatory. But also just learn something. Even if it's just a little nugget, like in the warm-up or whatever it may be, at least they feel like every day they're progressing forward in all those different elements, right? The fun is a requirement. The workout's a requirement. But the education and the workout together is a nice way to make them feel like they're kind of on a trajectory.

and the workout together is a nice way to make them feel like they're kind of on a trajectory are you uh gonna try to throw your hat back into the crossfit games uh anytime soon or compete or that hat came off uh two years ago and ava got sick and it's not really coming back on for a little while it's not on the radar for now yeah i think for me you know i always want to be competitive i competed last week in a jiu-jitsu competition which didn't go my way but that's okay i learned a lot from that that was that was that was very uh very humbling probably really frustrating too right it was frustrating yeah so I mean I I competed once at white belt I won each one of my matches and won the overall event at blue belt I've been training out for about a year and I felt like I was ready I felt like I would go in there and do pretty good. So I competed in an adult category instead of master. There they have master, it's 30 plus.

And so I qualified for master. But man, this guy, you know, so him and I had rolled a couple weeks before this match at another gym. We just happened to roll with each other and he was good. Former wrestler, really good. So when I found out I i was matched with him it kind of got me a little nervous and i could have easily copped out and gone to master instead right but i chose just to stick with it right and he was my first match and i knew this guy was legit and i prepared as best i could and obviously i didn't perform the way i wanted to but what i liked about that experience was i got comfortable with uncomfortable i had an opportunity to back out and I didn't back out. So that in itself was a big win for me. Um, even

though again, I was frustrated, don't get me wrong, but it was cool that I knew who my opponent was. I knew they were really good. I knew more than likely I was going to get beat. I didn't want to tell myself that, but I knew like he, he had earned the right to be that good right he had been wrestling for years he'd been training four hours a day in jiu-jitsu like i can't just walk into the ring and think i'm gonna do well with that you know yeah it's tough uh when you're competing against somebody because sometimes uh sometimes people are just flat out better anyway like you might run into a brown belt or black belt who has uh just so happened he's only been training for a couple years and he just is awesome right and sometimes that's a really tough tough pill to swallow well i think it goes back to this concept like earned

versus perceived confidence and this was a phenomenal example of that it's like you know i could slap myself in the face and pump myself up as much as I want, but that's just perceived. Like I didn't earn the right to be that good with this guy because he had put in a decade of work to get there. It's the same thing like in powerlifting or CrossFit or whatever it may be, you know, to think you're going to go to the CrossFit games and win in a year, it's pretty unlikely to think you're going to go win a match in jujitsu at a black belt level. It's very unlikely because these guys have earned through hard work, dedication, consistency

for so many years. They've earned the right to kind of get out there and perform. In powerlifting, what I've learned is the more the guy hits himself, the more the guy gets fired up and yells and screams and plays his favorite song, the more likely he is to miss the weight. Yeah. And in jujitsu, it's all a matter of just experience. Yep. No matter how mad I get.

It probably is to my detriment. It probably makes it worse. Yeah. I could be like, I've lifted more than Jason. I should be able to get out of this hold. But it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way, especially when you start getting someone who knows a little something about a little something.

They use your body against you. It's tough. But I mean, something else that was cool about the jujitsu competition, I've never had to cut weight before. And so I was kind of cool to kind of have to see what that felt like so i was competing at 208 but i needed to weigh in at about 202 03 these guys were probably strong in that weight class very strong 208 so tough weight class yeah but i had to weigh in at 203 very fast i had to weigh at 203 because i was weighing a gi and a gi normally weighs like three to four pounds and so you know i got there and i was right on target for my weight at 208 flat but i felt like that was a little a little dicey because i was literally flat

208 so i went and ran around the block i lost like a pound just from running or whatever but that was a cool experience too because i got to see what it felt like to have to cut a little bit right before the event what is uh jujitsu taught you uh in terms of business well what it did teach you in terms of business? Well, what it did teach me in terms of business is that in the CrossFit world, in the fitness world, you see a lot of people who are passionate about fitness and business, fitness, but they're not necessarily very good business people. I see it a lot in jujitsu. The lack of professionalism is just there across the board.

And I just wonder if they just kind of took their passion and had someone just kind of support them on the business side to kind of, Hey, if your class starts at 12, start on 12, right? If you're going to do this, just do that. You wonder what they could do, you know, what's possible. I think that's, what's inspired me the most about being a part of it from a business perspective is aside from like getting comfortable, uncomfortable, it's, it's recognizing that these industry faults that I see in fitness transfer over in a lot of different industries where people are passionate about something but they don't necessarily know how to run a business do you feel that every day is a fight in some way yeah you mean when i'm there at the no just just

in general not even you know jujitsu aside yeah you feel every day kind of parallels that in some way yeah i mean well it's a fight like this morning. So, you know, Jaime came over to the house early to film some stuff. And I started my workout like 5.50, I think it was. I started the clock. And, you know, it's a fight to get on a treadmill and go push yourself. But, you know, when you get through it

and you feel like you got something out of it, it leads to a lot of rewards for the rest of the day. How is your fitness now? Now that you're removed from competitive CrossFit, do you feel like you're still within range of some of the spots you used to be in? That's a really good question. My, my mental side is not there. So what happens is let's just say you take a workout. Whereas before I had the mindset of like, I'm going to win. I'm going to dominate.

I'm going to push myself so hard that if I pass out, it's okay. I don't have that same like go switch right now. You didn't care about tomorrow. Yeah. Where now you kind of have to. Now I'm like, you know what? I want to stay fit. I want to be healthy. But if I get 10 more reps on this, it doesn't really matter to me. Right. That's where I'm at. So that's one of the biggest problems is that if I want to try and compete at regional level,

whatever, I would have to kind of push myself there. I'd have to have a reason to push myself there. And right now I don't necessarily have that desire. But as far as like physical capabilities, I mean, they're still there, just not quite where they were, but they're still at a baseline what I feel comfortable with. But I just don't push it to those same levels because I don't have that internal deep desire anymore. I have the desire to, you know, build a cool business special for my family. I have a desire to try and be the best dad and

husband I could be. Those are my focuses. And I'm sure for a lot of competitors who are at the top of the game right now, five years from now, their focus is going to shift too. And if it doesn't, then they're not progressing, you know, that's a huge mistake. Right. Yeah. And so, you know, five, 10 years from now, I'm sure it's going to shift and pivot for them just like it did for me. right yeah and so you know five ten years from now i'm sure it's going to shift and pivot for them just like it did for me yeah it's it's an interesting uh transition and it kind of uh when when you see your buddies competing and you see the guys starting to really get into their workouts how does that feel now when you you know jump into some of those workouts is it are you still comfortable enough to yeah i mean the other day or do you feel like you suck compared

yeah i mean the other day i was training with rich and uh and uh and matt frazier so they're you know arguably two best in the world right and you know we're training we're having a good time and i could hang on some stuff but i can't hang like for example we did a swim workout so i get to cookville and i was like oh i told rich i'm like yeah man i've been swimming a little bit because when i travel i like to swim man these guys were it was it just, they were clipping at a pace that was just so aggressive. And so, but I finished the work, I finished all of it, but it just showed me that there's a deficiency there because they've been training it consistently. And I'm training it like on vacation for a couple of rounds. There's a big difference. Right. And

then we got into the regular gym. Obviously there's certain movements that require some good stamina like muscle ups and things like that there's some weakness there but in just general like grunt work or cardio work it's still not bad i still hang on but they also know where i'm at so it's good vibes right like they know where i'm at i know where they're at like it's all good i feel like i'm in a similar spot where i think about tomorrow where before i didn't you know i didn't you, if I was going, you know, adding more weight to the bar, you know, as I was progressing, if I made it, I was like, I'm going to take another shot. You know, now I'm like, well, I don't want to be that sore tomorrow. I don't want to have stuff lingering. And you mentioned, you know, being a better dad and being a better businessman.

Well, it's really hard to be better at those things when you have, when you're annihilated from your lifting. Yeah. I mean, getting injured, getting injured isn't going to help you. I mean, the other day, so I was, again, I was traveling out to Malaysia, like, and maybe five hours before I got on the flight, I went in, did a workout with the class and we were doing, you know, like slow, what the hell am i working for like not pause tempo tempo sorry tempo tempo squats right so i was working tempo squats

i had you know 225 on the bar which is not heavy for me and you know i'm nice and tempo blah blah but i felt something on my back i'm just like i'm good and then i finished the workout but you know i felt it a little bit i stretched out rolled and i was all good but maybe me a couple years ago i would have been like oh let me put on a belt right yeah and and and still go for it but i think by by kind of knowing where i'm at right now it's been helping a lot and you know kind of gotta check your ego every now and then you don't want to overreach what's something you're doing uh with your business? I know that the goal is to have more NC fits, but what are you guys trying to work on? I mean, we just opened up Campbell. We're really happy with that. We think the model's there.

We're trying to just open up more in the Bay Area and provide for people to do what they love for living, like the coaches and our staff. And obviously then know, obviously then in turn kind of create this bigger network of people to go out and help the greater community from philanthropic stuff, from pediatric cancer to who knows what it is. That's kind of like the vision. So it's, it's expanding our corporate wellness when it's necessary and then expanding the Bay area and really kind of knowing what we know and knowing what we don't know. Like the Bay area is our backyard and let's focus on the South Bay. Let's focus on this area. And then if it works out, we'll go expand. But for now, we're really focused in the Bay Area. How have you been able to balance all this with a child with pediatric cancer?

You have your son as well. You're married. You got your business, got your fitness, your jujitsu. Well, we talk about the AMRAP mentality. I think I've just been doing a better job as of recently and for the last year or two, kind of segmenting out the day, right? Being present and focused, whatever we're doing. And then moving on the next one, I think, you know, like for example, I'm leaving for the UK tomorrow. I know you're heading out there too, but I leave for the UK. Body power, baby.

Body power. I'm bringing the family with me and it's gonna be a good opportunity for me to do some work, do some business, but also be able to spend some time with them. And so for me, it's just a constant reflection, you know, like we've talked about it's every night, whether I'm in Hong Kong, I'm in wherever the hell I'm at, where I'm at home. I just asked myself, you know, how am I doing? Am I, am I, where am I slipping? And let's try and do better tomorrow. And, uh, part of that is, you know, traveling with the family so I could spend more time with them because work is busy right now and we got to strike while the iron's hot but i don't want to have a huge regret in the future that i could have spent more time so i'm trying to do

the best i can with both of those right now does your wife directly help with the business at all she helps mainly events she's a phenomenal event planner she does all my travels so she books all that stuff and i can be a pain in the ass yeah so like i'm putting on seminars in europe pretty soon while we actually we're going out there for close to a month what do you usually teach at your at most of your seminars mainly business tools so you know i've done all the competition stuff and whatnot and i have no problem doing that but i think i could drive the biggest return for people from really trying to focus on the business and inspiring there just uh opening gyms basically yeah and like talking about you know best practices what we've learned here over the last 10 years what have we learned and trying to share with other people and you

know for the for me it's all about you know what could i be a subject material expert at and in this particular field in this particular day and age i feel like we're subject material experts at you know previously it was competing in crossfit and i still obviously have the expertise but now it's transitioned to, you know, entrepreneurial business ownership over opening all these locations. How do I drive the biggest value? Well, let me become a subject material expert here, share value. And then ultimately whatever these people are paying for the seminar, they're going to get tenfold. And that's the whole theory, right? Is that, you know, if you're a competitive CrossFit athlete right

now, you have sponsorships and maybe online programming that could build your business. But once you're done competing, sponsorships go away and online programming will probably go away too. And so you got to create something you're an expert at. And so for me, it's the business of fitness. What's Ava's status nowadays? I know like she, from what I remember, she's done with all of her treatments for now, right? Everything seems to be good.

That's right. So Ava finished her treatments March 29th. She went in for her first one-month blood work on like April 4th, or excuse me, May 4th. Did she have, is it leukemia that she had? Yeah. Okay. And blood work's all good. No leukemia cells present.

Wow. And so that's one month out. So we'll go every month for the next year or two. And then after that, it'll go every two months, every three months. So as of right now, you know, things are looking up. Um, it's, it's all good. I mean, I got nothing to complain about. That's really cool. That's been a long road. Uh, how many, how long, uh, you know, did she have to go under those treatments for? Yeah. Like a little over two years. Yeah, man. That was a crazy ride. And, and I I'm, I'm proud that I was, you know, did she have to go under those treatments for? Yeah, like a little over two years. Yeah, man, that was a crazy ride. And I'm proud that I was, you know, there with you to try to support

you the best my wife and I could, you know? Well, yeah, you know, you guys have always been great, you know, coming to Ava's Kitchen, supporting, of course. And then obviously we've done several podcasts on this particular subject. And the feedback's always been great from people talking about, you know, their support and their outreach has been phenomenal. And that's one of the big things that's helped. I mean, obviously family, friends, but you know, the support from the greater community has been awesome. And here we are two and a half years later, she's doing great. Got through that, that, and now it's just changed our perspective forever. We're going to keep helping other people. Awesome, man. I appreciate having you on. We've had you on a bunch and it's always,

always a lot of fun and we'll see you at Body Power. Dude, let's do it, man. You know know whether we're on podcast or just at home it's the same thing drinking coffee or whatever it doesn't matter yeah all right my man thank you