Profitable Nutrition Programs - Rick Streb

As fitness professionals, we try to make things complicated, like you said, to show our credentials, show what we know. And all we're really doing is stepping on our own feet and making things more difficult for ourselves. This system of how I generate nutrition revenue is probably the simplest system anybody has ever seen. At the end of the day, would I rather something be simple and generate six figures or difficult and maybe not make me any money?

Hey Fitness fans, welcome back to the Future Fitness Podcast and Interview Series. This is your host, Eric Mal. And step number 80, I get to talk to Rick Dreb. So Rick is a legend within the fitness industry. He has uh spent well over three decades uh training people and working on uh what he now has as the CEO and founder of Nutrition Profitsystems.com. So let's just take a couple big steps back and let's look at the fitness industry overall. And I know there's a lot of people listening to be like, well, I don't do that. But the industry overall, the first thing we do when we get a client uh is we get them right into the exercise component, right? We start programming, we start teaching exercise, we start doing movement assessments, all these things. But what is the one thing? What is the one thing that if you got your client uh or clients to do, you would guarantee their results? Spoiler, it's nutrition, right? If you get them doing nutrition, uh most people come to us because they want to lose weight, uh, they want to look better, they want to feel better, they want to stave off disease, all these things. Um, and nutrition's the key. You know, why do we have it as a supplementary or secondary service? I don't know. I don't know why it started that way. I've done the same thing uh for many, many years, but um here's the thing is Rick's been doing it for a long time. He has a small gym out of uh Lake of the Ozarks, and he doesn't have a huge population to pull from uh in his town. So by necessity, he had to make pro uh nutrition systems profitable within his gym. He tells us all the secrets on how to do it, he holds nothing back. So this is a really, really valuable episode. Um listen to it once or twice, start implementing it because he gives you all the golden nuggets that you'll need. And uh he's just a great guy. So without further ado, let's get on to episode number 80. This is Rick Streb. All right, Rick Streb. Welcome to the show, man.

Hi, Eric. How are you today?

I'm doing great, man. Thanks for uh thanks for coming on. And um, you know, I uh really excited because you know, as as we talk about, you know, what the point of this this interview, these, these podcast interviews are, is to really elevate the fitness profession, right? And get us up there um with some of the more well-respected quote unquote uh professions. And I know what you do um is is so vitally needed. And I'm so excited to highlight here what you do and how you help fitness professionals um essentially make more money and and do more good, right? For lack of better English.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So we try to help them by making them realize the lot of money that they're leaving on the table every single day.

Yeah, awesome. So let's do this, Rick. You know, I know you've been in the industry for for more than a few days, right? Um, give us a little background, give us a little story on you, and then uh we'll get into um you know kind of the nuts and bolts of what you do now.

Okay. Well, I've been in the fitness industry, this is my 29th year. I think maybe the only person that might in the industry right now that might have more years experience on me is uh Greg Justice, yeah, who is a good friend of both of ours.

Yeah.

So I've been doing this for quite a while too, and ironically, I started doing it in the same town as Greg Justice in Kansas City, Missouri. So there's a lot of relationship there with Greg and I, so I love the man to death. Um, I've been doing it now for, like I said, 29 years. I live currently in a town in mid-Missouri called Lake Ozark, Missouri. Everybody probably saw the movie or the Netflix uh uh series Ozark. Well, Max was talking about where I live.

Okay.

So I live in a town of 1,400 people. So to say that this is a challenging um demographic for a fitness facility for a personal training facility is an understatement. But it taught me, I had to learn really quickly how to use all three facets of how to grow a fitness business. I couldn't rely on just uh tactics and bringing new people in, like a lot of facilities do. So I had to learn systems to um create, okay, there's three ways to make money in the fitness industry. Bring new clients, make more money from your current clients, and get them to stay longer. It's that simple. It really truly is. Well, I have to concentrate more on the latter two. Because with 1,400 people, if I just rely on tactics to bring people in, I've been here 19 years now, I would have run out of people to market to.

Yeah, right.

So the key is making more money per client, the lifetime value of the client, and getting them to stay longer. So retention is really important. So that's kind of what I have to concentrate on. And I learned really quickly that the way to do that is with nutrition. So, and that's how my program has evolved, the program that I use to coach other fitness professionals on how to add an extra six figures plus to their business every year, is through nutrition coaching.

Yeah, yeah. Six figures plus. That's awesome. I mean, that's um, you know, with the facility I ran, you know, are a half million dollar facility, but I know that the profit margins, especially on nutrition, are very, very high, right?

Absolutely. And to give you an idea, and I'm not throwing numbers out there to brag, but to show people the potential in their communities, is the last 40 years I've earned six figures plus in nutrition alone. Last year was just short of $245,000 in just revenue derived from it from nutrition income in a town of 1,400 people.

Right on.

Right on. So, like I said, it's not saying I'm better than everybody because there's a lot more, there's a lot smarter people than Rick Strebb out there in the fitness industry. But there is money that everyone is leaving on the table, and if I can do this, anybody can.

Yeah, yeah, I love it. And well, you're you you adapted, right? You adapted to what you had to do. I mean, there's a lot of facilities out there and in in you know, very large metropolitan areas who can churn, right? And can afford to do that with their business model because there's always a new shipment of people coming into LA, right? Um, but not not where you are. So you had to adapt and come through. And obviously, uh necessity is is uh you know it spurs innovation and uh you seem to have got some really good systems. So let me ask you this, Rick. So when I I'm gonna ask this as if, you know, this is Eric 2015 when I stole in my gym because I couldn't really, you know, nutrition was uh on the menu, uh, you know, for for no pun intended, but it was uh on the menu and we sold a few and things like that, but I ended up giving a lot of it away for free, right? Because I would do goal setting assessment uh meetings and things like that with my clients, and it was nutrition 90% of the time was the first thing that we we talked about. Uh it was either lifestyle or nutrition, right? Very few times I talked about program design or external internal rotation of the hip during a squat, right? It was never that stuff, right?

So when you that's not what people are interested in learning about.

Yeah, yeah. It's it's it's fascinating to me why why we we kind of beat our heads against the wall as fitness professionals. So, you know, if if looking at Eric in in 2015, 2015, what what what were the mistakes I was do you think I was making?

Okay, well, the first mistake you were making was you were not monetizing nutrition. First of all, you were giving it away. Right. Secondly, you were probably if you were trying to monetize it, you were probably trying to sell it as an add-on service or you know, bundling it separately. You you were not integrating it directly into your training programs. Okay. Okay. So, I mean, and think about the disconnected causes. Okay, we're all tell our clients nutrition is anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of the equation. I've even heard trainers say 90 percent. Okay, yet when it comes to our businesses, we concentrate probably 95% of our effort on exercise, the part that people really aren't as interested in, and only maybe 5%, if we're lucky, on nutrition. So there's a hypocrisy going on in the fitness industry with what we say and what we actually do. Yeah, and our clients are smart enough to see that disconnect. Okay, they realize that when you tell them nutrition is 60 to 80 percent, but all you concentrate out in your facility is on the exercise, they're like, wait a minute, he's supposed to be a fitness professional, he's really nothing more than an exercise professional. Okay, and that is a rude awakening for a lot of fitness professionals. But if I was working with you, this is what I would tell you. Because we have to change our mindset. That's the first key. Is we really if nutrition is truly 60 to 80 percent of the equation, we need to be nutrition professionals that also offer exercise, not the other way around. Right? And so that is the big thing is getting that mind shift. Then, like I said, making sure we integrate nutrition seamlessly into everything we do within our training program. It's not a standalone product, it's not something that they can come back and say, I don't want to pay for nutrition anymore, because that's what they're gonna do. Right. Okay, we build it directly into what we're doing with our training programs, and we add in a price tag for it on top of our training programs. Now it's a now you're an all-in-one service. Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah, it makes sense.

So now they can't come back and say, I don't want nutrition anymore. It's part of your program.

Yeah.

It's also the most important part of your program. Why don't you want it?

Yeah, yeah. So here's you know, going into that, because I think you nailed it, is the mindset of it. So what most people do, including uh Eric, the gym owner, was go in and I would sell my my training services, whether it be group training, small group, private training, at what I thought was a a pretty high ticket, right? And then I would feel, and then my mindset was, well, I can't go in and ask him for another 150 a month for nutrition, right? I just asked him for all this money for training. And that's the crux of it right there, right? Right. So I'll just be like, well, I'll just offer it for free because, but then they also don't value it because it's just free, right?

Exactly. That's exactly the problem. So the way you do it properly, okay, we're gonna dig a little bit deeper in this, is you have certain levels along the way that you can uh assign your clients to. Like I said, so when you build something into all your training programs, it's effectively what we're familiar with now, a low barrier of entry or a front-end offer. Right. So this is something that has to be high value because it has to add value to your training program. It can't be the typical one size fits all cookie cutter meal plans or ebook or list of approved and unapproved foods like everybody else is given. That won't work because that makes you just one of the many. We want to be a category of one. Okay, so it has to be something of high value. And now, whatever it is, I mean, whatever your style is, we figure out what it needs to be and we build that in. Okay, but we also now, because we're adding it into the training program, we're gonna increase the price of our programs. Be it's something that's gonna be simple for you, but be it 20 bucks, 30 bucks, 40 bucks a month, you're instantly gonna raise the price of your program because you've added value to your program. Yeah, how it's built in. You just gave yourself a $20, $30, $40 a month raise for every single person. That is where you start. Then the next problem we have with most fitness professionals, we they all everybody talks about accountability, how we're gonna hold you accountable, etc.

Yeah.

Well, we hold them accountable for their exercise again, right? But when somebody doesn't is not compliant with their nutrition, we just give up and throw up our hands. Yeah, that's a big mistake. That is an opportunity, one, to help your client more, and two, to monetize it. Yeah.

Yeah.

So you have to have a simple way to hold them accountable. And then when they're not compliant, because let's face it, Eric, we could have a hundred clients and give them all individually customized meal plans, and still anywhere from 40 to 80 percent of them are not gonna be compliant. Right. That's an opportunity. That's not something that we give up on. That is an opportunity to provide them more coaching, to dig in deeper and figure out what's going on, what the habits are that is causing them to struggle. But because it's gonna occupy more of your time, and time is something you can never get back once you give it to somebody, it also requires an investment because, like you said earlier, if you don't put a value on it, they don't value it. Yes. Okay, and then you leverage your time by doing it in a group setting. I actually do it, I used to do it in person, but now I do them on Zoom, and I could have 20 or 30 ladies on that Zoom call at one time.

Wow, wow. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. So, you know, with with the first the first thought I have is you know, um, especially if somebody like, you know, at one point, like the and I'm gonna keep talking in Eric 2015 terms. So, you know, I had a GM, you know, two over 200 members, right? That's a big ship to to redirect, right? In your systems, do you give people tools or approaches on how to do that? Like, how do I how do I make this sudden change, right? Or seemingly sudden, or is it sudden? Like, what what's what's the pro tip you have there without giving away the secret saucier of your program?

Because I know I I'm very transparent, so that doesn't matter. Don't worry about me not giving away this the secret sauce. I'll give it all away. I'm very transparent. Um what you yeah, you're gonna have people that you've been working with. Uh, this is what I have to do all the time. We have to sit down and figure out which is the best approach for every particular fitness professional. Like in my facility, when I made this shift, it was very sudden. I actually, all of my current clients, I gave it to them. I simply gave them my front-end nutrition offer. And here's the reason. They've been with me for a long time. They've been investing a lot of money in me. Yeah, I came to them and said, Look, here's the shift we're making in the business because I see this as something that everybody really needs, and we need to work on this. Okay, you've invested in me. I want to return to favor, and I'm investing in you as a client, and I'm gonna start providing this for you. Well, they feel, and I explained to them, now I am going to start offering this to everybody, but with everybody else, I am raising my prices to compensate myself for this. You're not, you've been with me so long, you know. You've been with me, I you're loyal to me, I'm gonna be loyal to you as well. Yeah, that's the way I did it. Now, some fitness pros don't want to necessarily do that, so we come up with other approaches for them with what works best in their facility and what they're comfortable doing. Right. But then with everybody moving forward, the price has already been raised. Yeah. Okay. Then, yeah, I explain when it comes to the accountability and how we're doing that, again, it becomes dependent on the tools the Fit Pro has and what and how what they like doing. Yes, I like in my case, I announced it to my clients that we are going to start doing this every week from here on out. Now, in my facility, all we do are weekly weigh-ins. Now, before anybody jumps on me or has an outcry, I understand the value of logging meals and I understand the value of body fat testing and measuring. However, our clients do not understand it like we do. Right. And that's where that's another big disconnect. And the key is if they can't learn the way you teach, you need to learn to teach the way they learn. Since most of us are working with weight loss clients, which means it's predominantly women, what does every woman understand?

Scale.

So that's what we do. And weekly, we just do weekly weigh-ins. But with that information, I have everything I need to find out when they're being compliant and when they're not. And then when they're not, is when we have the conversation with them, which ultimately ascends them into my higher price group programs.

Yeah.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, it makes total sense. And I think you hit on. I mean, we always want to push all the knowledge that we have as fitness professionals, right? But we forget we got to meet them where they are. We can't just, you know.

But we're not meeting them where they are. No. When we're telling them to log foods and they already think they have too busy a life. When we're wanting to do body fit bath testing, or you have a woman who's 40, 50, however many pounds overweight, she's already scared to death to come through your doors. Yes. Okay. So you sit down with her, you get her to commit to your program, she's starting to feel comfortable. Okay, which is where we want them to be. That's the key to selling them. So now the very first day she comes in, and what do we do? We start poking and prodding. And we make them feel uncomfortable again. Right. That's that's a huge mistake in my eyes.

Yeah.

So, like I said, I align with them, I get them to understand, and up front, I explain to them exactly what to expect their first day in. And then that's exactly what we do. I let them know we're gonna get your initial weigh-in, we're gonna take your before picture. It's literally gonna take us 30 seconds, and then we're gonna be off to uh getting our workout going. It's gonna be harmless. You don't have to be afraid of anything. Your hardest part was coming in that first day, walking through the doors. Yeah, and so they feel comfortable from day one instead of getting them to feel comfortable and then turn around and making them feel uneasy about themselves again.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, you make it sound really simple. And uh I have a feeling, yeah, I have a feeling, you know, that it probably is that simple, but we tend to make it a little bit more complicated than it has to be.

And that's it. A good friend of mine, one of my coaches, Pat Rigsby, yeah, he said to me one day, Rick, genius is in simplicity. Yeah, ever since that day, about six years ago, that's how I try to apply everything. As fitness professionals, we try to make things complicated, like you said, to show our credentials, show what we know. And all we're really doing is stepping on our own feet and making things more difficult for ourselves. This system on how I generate nutrition revenue is probably the simplest system anybody has ever seen. But at the end of the day, would I rather something be simple and generate six figures or difficult and maybe not make me any money?

Yeah. Yeah.

So God, I have I mean, I had so many questions, but I feel like we covered we covered it all. I mean, that's the thing. It's like it happened so fast. I was like, oh, this is gonna be a good 30, 40 minute conversation. But really, it's just it's so so I think the biggest hurdle, right? I would imagine is uh for a fitness professional is listening right now, they're like, okay, Rick just made the sound so simple, right? You know, he's got 29 years of experience. Of course it's simple for him, right? But I think the mindset is what's getting in the way of most, is and here what it comes down to is my clients will leave me if I raise the rates, right? Um, maybe uh I don't know. Like, what are what are the fears that you think it is?

That is the fears, and that's why I say so we're not gonna raise the rates to your current clients, we're gonna give it to them, we're gonna give it to them. Their rates aren't going up. Okay, if you've got something. And you've already got it built, and it's gonna be added value, charge and increase your prices by $20 or $30. It's a safe bet. Most fitness professionals haven't increased their prices in several years, and they need to do it anyway. Right. It's a very safe bet because, like you said, they're afraid of it. But if you can show people the value of what you're adding, they're gonna pay it. People want to pay for value. It's not always based on price, like people use. That's just the excuse they use when you haven't showed them the value of your program. Yes. I mean, I could even, if you would like, walk through kind of my sales script when I actually talk to a prospect for the first time. And it would show you how adding nutrition increases the value of my product to somebody over um another trainer down the road. I'd be happy to do that if you'd like.

Let's do that because I think that's really important. Because my next my next line of questioning was going to be about, you know, how does this differentiate a fitness professional in their local market? Right. And how do they how do they communicate that difference in that value? I think that's the big thing, which I'm gonna imagine is what you do in your sales.

Yes, absolutely. So when I'm talking to somebody, obviously, like everybody else, we first find out about them, what their needs are, what where they're struggling, you know, what the problems are, so we can agitate them, you know, and talk to them about them. Now we have to provide our solution. Every fitness professional, if you talk to them, tells their clients, we're gonna give you the guidance, the motivation, and the accountability. Everyone says it. So you're not saying anything different. Where with us, the way I do it is okay, Eric, here's what we're gonna do now that we understand everything and we talked about it. We are gonna provide you with the guidance, the motivation, the accountability, and individually customize registered dietitian design and approved meal plans. This isn't a one-size-fits-all cookie cutter meal plan like everybody else is offering you, but your meal plan is gonna be designed specifically for you, your age, your weight, your height, your health history, your goals, what you do for a living, foods you like. Because let's face it, Eric, if I tell you to eat something you don't like, you're not gonna do it, are you? So, what we're gonna do, Eric, is we're gonna provide you everything you need to be successful. I'm gonna serve it to you on a silver platter, and if you simply follow the instructions, your results are 100% predictable. Fair enough? Fair enough. So sign me up, Rick. Uh but you see how adding nutrition to that really increased the value of my service over everybody else's? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you see how it was positioned to do exactly that. Now, I don't care if you just break it in the business. Learning to do that is going to make you that category of one. It is going to separate you from everybody else. Yeah. And it was a very simple script. Now, obviously, everybody has to make something like that work to their personality. And that's something else I work on with these coaches when we do it. I mean, I make them role play their sales scripts constantly because I want to make sure because that's the key. This is a sales business that provides a service. It's not a service that we sell. So if they're not selling, they're not helping people.

Yeah. And I think it's even easier for a fitness professional to just get started to set everything up this way, right? There's less resistance from multiple angles. So, you know, when you look at, I mean, this it's so obvious, and you know, every person who's been in the trenches for more than you know, two or three or even one year realizes that if you can get into someone's nutrition, you're gonna get results and you're gonna get retention and you're gonna get referrals. Yeah, we do everything so bass awkwards, right? Like why? Why did that start? And you've been in the profession for 29 years. Why why did why did that happen? Why did it evolve that way?

Because somebody saw somebody that was being successful with their business, and they simply tried to copycant what they're doing, and it's just a trickle-down theory. Unfortunately, we've become an industry where everybody looks alike. Because everybody follows what they see somebody else doing that's successful, and they try to follow suit without necessarily knowing what's going on behind the scenes.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's what happens. And so, and then one you know, one person starts saying, well, you can't do anything about them if they don't follow their nutrition. Well, if that person is an authority, people listen to that person, they respect that person, they believe what they say.

Yeah.

And it's the truth of the matter is that person just found a lazy approach and found and made an excuse why they're not doing what they need to do to be the best coach for their clients. I mean, let's face it, think about this a second. If your clients realize that you have the one single thing in your arsenal that will guarantee them success, and you don't give it to them, how would they feel?

They would feel betrayed, I would imagine.

Exactly.

And what is the one single thing that will guarantee your clients success?

Nutrition.

Nutrition.

Right. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy, right?

Every one of those trainers, yeah, every one of those trainers you hear with the mantra, you can't out exercise bad diet. Right. Well, what are you doing about the diet? Yeah, nothing.

Yeah, well, I think what we're doing, we're we're we're circling around an underlying major issue with the industry or the profession overall. Um, you know, right now, because you know, we have a digital marketing agency that we do work, um, and everyone wants lead generation, and it's driving us crazy. Doug and I were talking about this morning. It's driving me baddie, right? Because everyone wants lead generation. What does this tell me? It tells me that, hey, people aren't investing in a business or brand, right? They're looking for short-term and they're not retaining, right?

If you're costing the problem is, yeah, the problem is they're looking for tactics instead of installing systems in their business that guarantees prolonged success. Right. And that's what I was saying when I was talking about where I'm at. If all I did was work on the front end and bringing people in, running transformation challenge after transformation challenge, or the next 21-day detox and all that. Those are simply tactics. Right. If there's no system to keep people and to get them results and to keep them long-term and to retain them, those tactics are gonna wear out. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, lead generation is quite honestly, yes, is it important? Correct. But it's not as important as the other things if you want a sustainable business.

Yeah. Well, what if you're in a market of 1,400 people? How many leads are you possibly going to generate before people have seen your ads three, four, five, six dozen times, and then they just can't stand Rick anymore because he's in this they're in their face all the time, right? I mean, it's exactly yeah, yeah.

Exactly. And let's face it, somebody who's paid you once, your current clients, are willing to pay you again. They already know you like you, trust you. Right. Where you have to build that no like and trust factor with people you don't know.

Yeah, yeah.

So it, you know, increasing the the lifetime value of every client should be a priority over lead generation, in my opinion.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. And it's so easy, uh, because lead generation is, you know, many people think, and then many times, you know, with the right type of lead generation, it's just a faucet that you turn on. And it is, you know, that's what six-week challenges do, right? That's what 21-day resets do is they turn on a faucet for lead generation. But what happens when um, because I know because I've done it, I've made all the mistakes, man. Made all the mistakes.

We've all been there.

Yeah. And what happens is you you scrape your market, right?

And then I ran my first three challenges and they exploded. And after the third one, I was like, I mean, they were still doing it, but I was like, oh, wait a minute. I've had 30 or 40 people in each time, I do this so many times, I have no more people to uh to um keep in my facility if I just let them walk out the door. I need to do things better within the four walls of my door, you know, to make what I do outside the four walls more valuable.

Yeah, and I think lead generation, like you said, is a tactic which has the right, the right place, right time is very, very useful. If you have your systems in place, you know your product and service works, uh, your retention is high, and you need an extra hundred heads in the bed, then you do some lead generation. But what happens often is we put that cart before the horse, and once again, I know because I've done it so many times, right? And then I'm like, well, you know, oh, my membership's low. Well, I just need more lead lead generation. What happens is your service doesn't your service is broken. Um, then people have a bad experience, they leave, which is 10 times worse, right? Because now they'll never refer anybody to you. In fact, if someone asks, they'll be like, Well, it was eh, it was okay. I didn't hit my goals, so I went over to you know, you know, Joe's gym next door.

Yeah, uh I went down to Anytime Fitness and decided to do it on my own. Right, right, because they found a blog, you know, that that is and it's all and what happens there, and honestly, the reason, and we're kind of getting a little bit off it here, but the reason I think that happens is because when we're also constantly thinking about lead generation, we're looking at each one of those people as a dollar sign, right? They don't become a relationship, and you build a sustainable business again. What's going on inside your four four walls, that's where the relationship is built. Okay. And people will realize if they feel like they're just a dollar sign to you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And when you're going from tactic to tactic, that's exactly what you feel like to folks.

Yeah, yeah. And once again, I made that mistake. So, Rick, where do you where do you see yourself in in two years? You know, I know you've been in the student for a while. Where do you see your your business and your um you know, your impact expanding over the next two years? I'm curious.

Where I see it expanding for me is in the coaching of other fitness professionals to help them make more money. Show them where they're missing, where they're missing opportunities in their business. Okay, here's a good analogy. And I learned this one from Chris Record, who's a brilliant marketer. I don't know if anybody follows him, but he's really brilliant. Look at your business like a bucket. And so we draw our bucket, and our business is about three quarters where it needs to be. But we want to get we want to fill that bucket. That's where we're talking about our revenue. But along the sides of the bucket where that water is, there's holes where we're just flushing out money. Yeah. We have to patch those holes, okay, before we can get that up where we need to be. Well, what I want to do is what I'm doing with my coaching program is helping fitness professionals patch those holes in their business.

Awesome.

Find them where the problem is. In two years, that's what I want to be doing predominantly. My daughter is a senior in high school this year. When she graduates, I plan on turning my physical business over to somebody else, enjoying my life a little bit more with a little bit more travel, and you know, going and visiting the fitness professionals that I work with, actually seeing their business. Again, it's a relationship thing. I want it to be a relationship, and I want to be able to get out there and you know, see what they're doing. I love connecting with other fitness pros. I love talking like this.

Yeah.

Okay. You know, I prefer this over writing emails or anything. I like talking with other fitness pros. That's what I really enjoy, and that's what I plan, I hope to do more of. And when it's all said and done, I want people to feel like I am helping taking the fitness industry into the direction it needs to be going forward.

Awesome. I love it. I'm right, I'm right there with you, man. Um, not as quite as much experience, but I want the same thing. And uh I travel a lot already, so uh just come find me. Promise me when uh when you get to that point, we'll we'll have to do that.

Yeah, I get the travel attitude now. I enjoy that. Um, but I plan on doing even more.

Yeah, awesome, awesome. So, where do people find you, Rick? Where if they want to get more information on you and your programs, um, which I highly encourage you to do because it's you know a good system that's already been worked out over 29 years, is uh way faster and easier than doing it yourself.

And there's other fitness professionals out there doing it now too.

Yeah.

Um being highly successful. Um, they can reach me at nutritionprofitsystem.com. That is the website. Um, they can reach me on Facebook at Rickstreb. I mean, if I see they're a fitness professional, I'm gonna go ahead and accept their friend request because I know we have a common bond that we can maybe help each other.

Cool.

Um, you know, they can call me, they can pick up the phone and call me. I literally put my phone number on any website I have. Um, like again, because I love connecting with fitness professionals, and I'm usually the one that picks up the phone. You know, that's one of the things that a lot of the industry uh influencers say. You call Rick, he's answering the phone. It's not like you have to go through his secretary and set an appointment. Rick picks up the phone and calls you back. Yeah, I love connecting. I in that respect, I'm still old school.

Yeah, I love it. And uh, you know, anecdote too is when I first started this podcast, one of my very first uh episodes was with Dan John, and when I emailed him and asked him if he would come on the show, he said sure, and he gave me a cell phone and said, call me tomorrow. Like that's it.

Exactly. Yeah, that's what that's what the pe the industry and influencers do because we want to build relationships with other people, right? We you know, we want to help people be successful. You you know, technology serves its purpose, but at the end of the day, we are a people business. It's called personal training for a reason. Yeah, so we need to be personal and not hide behind technology all the time.

Yep, I love it, man. Rick, thanks you so much, man. This has been really insightful, and I know for a fact um, you know, Eric 2015 would have got so much out of this and and probably have just, you know, by now have stopped the recording and just walked off and started writing how I'm gonna implement this and dates on how to do it and uh when it's gonna happen. So um, yeah, I love what you're doing. I know for a fact you're making an impact. And uh for that I appreciate uh you coming on and doing everything you do, man.

Well, thank you. I appreciate your time today. I enjoy again, like I said, I enjoy doing these things.

Yeah.

If I could do this all day, I would it would be my perfect uh come um, my perfect uh profession.

Awesome, awesome, awesome, man. All right, Rick. Ladies and gentlemen, Rick Strep. Hey fitness fans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I ask you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us. It's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh, I can't tell you how much it means and helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day, and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel or Fitness Marketing Alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge, that's a big deal for us. And when we put a lot of work into these episodes uh trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much. And uh if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Finnis MarkingAliance.com