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Congratulations to our 2008 NFL Pro Day Class!
Here’s a quick list of where our athletes ended up…
Mackenzy Bernadeau gets drafted!
Mackenzy Bernadeau – offensive guard from small, Division II Bentley College - defied the odds and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the 7th Round!
Brian Witherspoon, Stillman College, CB/KR – signed free agent contract w/ Jacksonville Jaguars!
Dan Davis, UConn, DE – signed free agent contract w/ Indianapolis Colts!
Darrell Blackman, NC State, WR/KR – signed free agent contract w/ Detroit Lions!
Anthony Cotrone, Maine, H-Back – signed free agent contract w/ Jacksonville Jaguars!
Lance Ball, Maryland, RB – signed free agent contract w/ Green Bay Packers!
Joe Brockington, Notre Dame, MLB – signed free agent contract w/ Buffalo Bills!
Best of luck to these guys! Hopefully, you will be watching them on Sunday’s very soon!
Joe D.
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Q: Mr. Defranco – I have a business question for you, do you have a “defining” moment or moments that happened in the beginning of your career that you feel is responsible for your success? I think we all know your one of the best at what you do from a knowledge standpoint. But can you share 1 or 2 events, athletes, or something else that you feel propelled your biz to where it is now. I think many of your fans would really be interested in your response to this question. Thank you for your valued time.
Jason B.
Boston, MA
A: Jason,
It’s very difficult for me to think of one “defining moment” or one key athlete that has made the biggest difference in the growth of my business. There are so many people and factors that played a role during the early stages of my business.
With that being said, two key decisions that I made my first year of owning my business always stand out in my head. Although I’ve made plenty of mistakes, I always look back and I’m thankful for these two early decisions…
#1 - I followed my “gut” by sticking with my roots and opening a small, warehouse gym. You see, five to six years ago, “SAQ” (Speed, Agility, Quickness) facilities were the big craze in my area. The old, garage/warehouse gyms that were popular in the ‘80’s were a thing of the past. Savvy business men/health club owners didn’t think those types of gyms could make money. After all, people wouldn’t pay to train in an old, beat up gym, right? WRONG! My gut feeling was that serious athletes wanted to train in a serious gym that provided cutting-edge training methods in conjunction with an intense environment! These are the types of gyms I loved training at when I was an athlete and I wanted to bring them back! So I went against the grain and I opened the first warehouse gym designed specifically for athletes in my area.
Now, five-and-a-half years later, the “hardcore, warehouse gym” has become the standard in my area. There are about a dozen warehouse gyms within a 10 mile radius of my gym; these warehouse gyms now out-number the “SAQ” facilities. The recent popularity of these hardcore, warehouse gyms has helped my business tremendously because people know that ‘DeFranco’s Training’ was the originator in this area.
#2 – When I first launched my website in 2003, many people advised me to charge for my services. After all, I had spent the previous 10-15 years training, reading, studying, attending seminars and working with athletes; why on earth would I give away my knowledge and advise for free?! My gut feeling was that (in 2003) no one surfing “the world wide web” knew who the hell I was! Although I was known in the state of New Jersey, people from other parts of the country (and World) didn’t know who the hell I was…so why on earth would they PAY to hear what I had to say?! So I decided to “give away” my articles and advise for FREE! This enabled people to go on my website – at their leisure – and see what I was all about. I slowly started “winning people over” and gaining a worldwide audience. My website now averages over 3 million hits per month and it’s one of the most popular training websites on the net. Although I’ve spent thousands and thousands of hours keeping this website updated over the past 5 years and haven’t charged a dime for my services; I still feel it is one of the best business decisions I’ve made. Due to the popularity of this website, we have established a WORLDWIDE clientele of athletes that would have never known about us if it wasn’t for this website.
Hopefully you found these two “business stories” helpful. I will share some more info on this topic at a later date. But I gotta go because I’m LATE!!! Gotta catch a flight to Ohio for the EliteFTS VIP seminar!
Have a great weekend!
Joe D.
Copyright 2008
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| + | Congratulations to our 2008 NFL Pro Day class! |
| + | Joe reveals two key decisions that helped mold his business into what it is today! |
We will list past questions here so that you can go back if you miss any advice Joe has given
