“So many times it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive”

The above words, popularized by the movie Rocky III, are something you should strive to live your life by, be it your career, your hobbies, etc. Morals should never mix with dollars.

When we started the Endurance Project a few years ago, it started as an idea to create a mindset/lifestyle, not a business. Nearly 4 years later, that still holds true. In the beginnings, the entire purpose was to get people active and to help them reach their fitness/life goals, by way of coaching and motivating them into realizing that all dreams are possible, with a bit of hard work. Since then, very little has changed. While we don’t currently have a centralized group the way we did in Hampton Roads, we have continued to grow globally, with current athletes in 26 states, as well as several countries.

There has been countless people question why the Endurance Project charges “so little”, in regards to coaching and consulting and, the truth is, it’s NEVER been about the money. When we lived in Va. Beach, there were other local coaches there charging 3-5 times the amount that we did. While I understand that many of them are/were trying to turn a hobby into a business, the Endurance Project remains focused on our passion being the core of what we do. In fact, many of our members have been grandfathered in from back when we charged nothing for coaching and consulting. They were friends and ‘family’ first.

Of the 60+ athletes that we coach, there are nearly daily correspondence with all of them, be it via text, messenger, or email. Rarely does a day go by that we are not interacting with our clients. To us, they’ve never been a number, and most certainly have never been a dollar sign. In fact, most of them are an extension of family. Just this past week, one of our members who was coming into town to race, stayed at our house, went to dinner with us and even helped in taking care of Lillie for two days. Why? Because she is a friend, more so than a client.

As our numbers continue to grow, and as more and more athletes seek out Endurance Project membership, my biggest fear is having to turn people away because we are no longer able to handle that personal connection with every single one of our clients. Because of that, we are entertaining the idea of bringing on regional coaches to start their own satellite Endurance Project.

At the end of the day, we’ve always considered the Endurance Project to be a brother/sisterhood and not a business. The USMC always say “Once a Marine, ALWAYS a Marine”. That is exactly what we hope the Endurance Project is, or becomes. Long after a client is no longer seeking out individual coaching, we hope that they take what they’ve learned with us and spread the knowledge, by way of starting their own little clan of merry athletes.

Life has a way of sometimes being difficult and tough but, it seems that those tough times are far more enjoyable when you have the strength and support of your peers, friends, or family. There are far too many people out there who want to discredit your success, belittle your achievements, or discourage you in becoming better than they are. Those are the reasons that the Endurance Project was created. Our primary focus has been to build a team of members that are focused on the overall success and mission of the group, not their own individual success. If you don’t get as excited about your teammates success as you do your own, then I can assure you that the Endurance Project is NOT the group for you. We don’t do narcissism here and, we don’t encourage selfies 😉

While athletic coaching and consulting is what we are sought out for, we’d like to think that, after some time, our athletes stay with us more so because we have helped them conquer other obstacles in their life rather than just tackling a training program.

So, while we continue to grow, it looks like we are going to need more forks to share the pie. This is not my group but, OUR group. You’re a member, I’m a member, we are members. #DWEPstrong