Growing up in Winnipeg where Canadian winters are long and cold, Gavin McHale started to play hockey at the age of seven. He was a goalie by age nine.
And he’s never stopped playing. But Gavin says that for years he was always the skinny guy on the team, an athlete who looked more like a math nerd than a rough and tough hockey player.
But he hung in there and played in Canada’s Western Hockey League, Tier Two Junior A and Canada’s University Hockey Leagues.
Today, Gavin is a 30-year-old Certified Exercise Physiologist with a degree in Kinesiology who is now enrolled in the Hybrid Fitness Mentorship Program. His new goal: reaching out to beer league hockey players to coach them back to fitness.
“Basically, beer league hockey players fit the mold of who I would be if I wasn’t a fitness professional,” says Gavin. “As a former hockey player turned Fit Pro, I have a good handle on what these hockey players need to get their best body back and lose the beer gut.”
The Hybrid Fitness Mentorship Program is helping Gavin transform his business model to a hybrid in-person and online coaching business. One-on-one sessions over the phone or SKYPE are the foundation of this program.
Gavin says the Hybrid Fitness Mentorship Program is helping him target those hockey players with the right marketing on his website sales page.
“We basically stripped it down from start to finish. The sales page on the website evolved in a big way since starting with Daniel and Eric. We took a deep dive into exactly what my audience’s pain points were and what THEY were focused on – not what I thought they were focused on,” says Gavin.
“We tweaked and perfected every part of the funnel, from growing my overall reach on social media, to guest posting, to honing my sales copywriting skills and even mock sales calls.”
One exercise was to canvass 10 potential clients to find out what they were struggling with and what kind of program they would be interested in to help them get back into shape.
“From there, we hopped on the phone and brainstormed ideas of ways we could present this ideology to the world. How could we speak their language? They worked with me on the text for the website and made small tweaks to keep it concise and to the point,” he said.
Gavin spends an hour a day working on the program’s assignments. The feedback he gets from Daniel and Eric is what helps make it work.
“None of this is easy for me,” says Gavin. “It would all take MUCH longer if not for their deadlines. The amount of homework is fair, but they push me to get it done. And guess what? I get it done! They’re challenging me to reach beyond what I’m used to and comfortable with.”
At the halfway point of the program, Gavin says he’s already signing up more clients and generating more revenue.
“I already had a flourishing in-person business and about six online clients. Since starting the Hybrid Fitness Mentorship Program, I’ve doubled my online clients.
The writing coaching has paid off. Gavin has had one article published in T-Nation, a second pending and a third under review for publication.
“I cut my teeth in this business reading T-Nation articles, so seeing my name published on their site was a pretty exciting moment for me. As for my business, this put my name and expertise in front of exponentially more eyeballs than my site ever has,” Gavin says.
Gavin is in a better space now because of the Hybrid Fitness Mentorship Program.
“Eric and Daniel have both simply not taken any of my regular excuses. They know I can get this stuff done and pushed me to do so. They’ve also really pushed me to better understand the social psychology behind buying online, with specific regard to my target audience.
“I am now much more focused on who I’m speaking to and what they need. I also have more drive than ever to succeed, thanks to the challenges and triumphs I’ve received in this program,” says Gavin
Update:
90 days after completing the program, Gavin is taking five weeks off for his dream trip to Australia with this girlfriend.
It’s the sort of freedom he’s always wanted.
How is this posssible?
Easy.
Gavin is very close to achieving his goal: a six figure income.
And life good in other ways. Gavin is an emergency back-up goalie for the NHL. He had quite the adventure recently.
Click here to listen to Gavin tell the story to CBC Radio.