Fitness Professional Online Radio Show 007: Interview with Vito LaFata
Welcome to the Fitness Professional Online Radio Show where you get access to fitness industry news, tips and insights from professionals around the world. Visit us at FitnessProfessionalOnline.com and now, your host, Doug Holt.
Doug Holt: Hello and welcome to the Fitness Professional Online Radio Show. I am your host Doug Holt. Thank you for joining us today. We’ve got a special episode for you today. We’ve got a great guest. We have Vito La Fata on. Vito and I have been friends for about 4 years or so now and he was in a mastermind group with me. He has done a lot of amazing things. It’s been great to see his growth. So, we’re getting to that later on in the show.
First, I want to answer a few of your questions that we’ve had in today. One of the questions that we’ve gotten in, in the last week or so are people having questions on how to submit articles to our site. Well, we’d love to make the site better. If you have any suggestions obviously, please send those our way. But if you are looking to get more of your work online and expose to a broader audience, first what we’ll ask you to do is actually submit your articles to Darcy Curry. She’s our Director here and that’s darcy@fitnessprofessionalonline.com. You can also give her a call at (805) 500-6893.
Darcy will set you up. We’ll go ahead and put all your articles through our Editorial Team. Once you get approved, we set you into our Author status in our backend. And this means you actually be able to add and edit your own content directly on to the site which gives you obviously a lot more control on how that content looks and appears and you can actually regulate it and then we can set it to publish. After about 50 article submissions, we give those Authors ability to actually publish their own content because they prove themselves over time.
We do not take content that has obviously an advertorial or very ad product-focused driven. We do take independent product reviews and that something we will consider but again, this is not for promotion. You do get the SEO ability to link back to your website and your bio as well as just the benefit of helping the industry as a whole. So, if you are interested in doing that, please contact Darcy again, that’s darcy@fitnessprofessionalonline.com and she can get you setup in the back and talk to you through the whole process of how we can get you on there.
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As always, we’re releasing new articles on the website on a weekly basis as well as counters of events. So, if you’re looking for something in the fitness industry to continue your education either online or in-person, please check our calendar of events. There are a lot of things going on this coming week and as always, we have a lot of things going on here at FPO. We have Shannon and Darcy here on the studio right now with me. But without further adieu, I want to get in to the call with Vito. I know that’s going to be a long one. Vito always has a lot of information to share and is a wealth of knowledge. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Vito, let me tell you a little bit about him and read his bio to you.
Vito has been helping fitness professionals develop and improve process of weight loss and fitness programming for their clients, attract income, generate wealth, create impact, and achieve success with his fitness profit systems, business and marketing coaching and team beachbody opportunities. His road travelled in the fitness industry has been fast and furious. He started out on Wall Street as an institutional trainer. Later work for Calvin Klein but left the world of finance and fashion to pursue a life filled with his passion, fitness and wellness. From his early days that Crunched Fitness in New York City to Crunch Fitness in California, he has turned his passion to seeing people living healthy, fit and well into rewarding career.
He has opened a full-service personal training club at the age of 30 and is a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist and entrepreneur. He has impacted thousands of people with fitness programs, weight loss, sports training and challenges. His mission is to create healthier, happier community by inviting families and individuals to live an active lifestyle that has them living, loving, and mattering. He is an international presenter for IDEA, IHRSA and Mindbody Online. He has written for IDEA Health & Fitness. In just 6 years, he has built a solid business that continues to grow and add layers, that’s quite a bio. Now, without further adieu, let’s get into the call with Vito.
Doug Holt: Thanks so much for being with us today, Vito. How are you doing?
Vito La Fata: I’m doing well, Doug. Thank you.
Doug Holt: So, as I said, Vito and I met a number of years ago. It’s been about 4 years I would say, Vito. Yeah, something like that. So Vito always has been struck me as one of the leaders in the industry, a very passionate. Any of you have gotten onto his email about his group training, Money Machine know that it’s going to be video alone. That is not acting, that is Vito. He is a very passionate businessman, loves the fitness industry and I can definitely attest to that. So, I really appreciate you being on the call and take up the time. I know you’re busy. I know you have a lot of things jamming. So, thank you.
Vito La Fata: My pleasure. Thanks for what you’re doing out there, brother.
Doug Holt: Yeah, you got them, man. Tell us a little bit about your path in the industry and how did you get where you are today?
Vito La Fata: Are we going back like Wall Street days working for Calvin Klein or we’re talking like when I found fitness, I was working for the big corporate gyms and the day I got fired. We’re we talking from that? It’s all different story. Where do we want to go? Do you want me to go just fitness?
Doug Holt: Give us the whole scoop. Most of our listeners from the emails that we’re getting; most of the people have been in the fitness industry for a couple of years. You’re a speaker, you’re a presenter. I have known you for a number of years. You’re where most people want to get. So, paint me a picture of how did you start? Start with the brief New York days and how you started on Wall Street and what brought you to the fitness industry. Kind of give me the nutshell of how you got into day and we’ll delve into some of the other stuff but I’d love to talk a little bit more about what you’re up to.
Vito La Fata: Yeah, I love it. Okay. So if we go back, I graduated at SUNY Stony Brook. I was an Economic Sociology major. I went right on to Wall Street. I was an institutional broker but I love the work but not the most conducive environment for a protozoan heart and I wasn’t really finding. I call in, so I ended up like leaving there after a couple of years. I end up travelling too, I love fashion. So I was like, “All right. I’m going to find a job and there.” I was working for Calvin Klein for a couple of years and again kind of the same concept. Great work, not a great environment with the people and it just wasn’t doing for me.
I remember I did this exercise that I take people through this all the time without that white blank piece of paper and kind of attack that page and just be like, “What do I love doing, whether I’m going to get paid for it or not?” Now, if you work through that and you start also that comes from the things that you’re really passionate and love, and then you can go out and reverse engineer your career on that. I think, you will going to go out there and find a heart of what you do and I found out that the only thing I love doing was being on the gym.
I’ve been an athlete in my whole life. I was just like, “I love being on the gym, how do I create a career from there?” And I was like, “Right. Let me get my certification. Let me start there.” I became a personal trainer. I worked for Crunch back in New York and those are some of the best days of my freaking life. We had a great time there but then I come out to Orange County. I’m helping them to build that club out here which was awesome but at some point, value kind of stuffed and brought them out that right there started to change the whole dynamic.
And then there came a day where I found myself standing back outside those clubs and even being a top producing trainer, having always delivered. When you do it something outside the box from what they feel you should be in, I find myself standing outside those doors fired and out. I looked back at that day, Doug, and I’m really like, “It was the best day of my life,” because literally, overnight, I became a small business owner and then over time, that’s what led me to becoming an entrepreneur and I watched my business. I quickly rallied as many clients as I could.
I was looking for an independent gym to be able to get into and then not finding anything remotely conducive to work into or sort of gap in the market. I was like, “There’s a gap for studios and boutique style gyms but before I was ready to have to kind of get into a part of main complex for 6 months, a garage for 6 months before I finally had a business to open a studio. And from then on, that was going to about 6 years almost that I’ve had in my studio and here we are on the phone right now.
Doug Holt: It’s a great story, man. Way before you and I both like Simon Sinek’s book. We’ve talked about this before. Started with “Why?” but you’re a way ahead with the curve with that and I give you a plus because so many people find themselves in those worlds, in those jobs that they’re not fulfilled with, what would you say to that person that’s listening to this? Is thinking about, loves the fitness kind of like you do and thinking about entering a career personal training or in a fitness industry in general, not just personal training. They are just sitting in their desk right now in a cubicle and kind of not sure if they should make that next step.
Vito La Fata: On that note, I would definitely recommend, The Charge by Brendon Bouchard. It has this awesome part in it and I love the way you asked that question because it literally wrap into this like this strike back that of fear of literally like, “the loss of what you had to been doing.” For others who have been sitting up at their desk might be thinking, “What if I’m making this move? What am I losing? I’m losing all these friends, all the things I’ve learned and everything I’ve gotten to this point,” and there’s a fear there.
When they start this they’d be, “What if I go do this and I can’t do this? And I can’t do this and I don’t utilize people, I can’t achieve this next skill levels or whatever it is?” And then they’re like, “But what if when I get over the other grasses and grin over this?” So that was like thrice back the fear leaves the person in the negative mindset of “I can’t. I can’t. I won’t. What if I lose?” You just flip that mindset through all the things you can be and you just start pulling the trigger and just know… Here’s an analogy and I love this thing. Most dangerous people in the prison although [10:40] first. We’re the people that really like when they go in, they’re saw it decelerating. And they’re like, “This is like, you go there not getting out.”
Doug Holt: Yes.
Vito La Fata: So they’re literally like, “I’m committed. I ain’t going anywhere else.” So if we can change that mindset just like, “I want to make this decision and I go all in and I commit and I become a lifer,” you will make it work. You will commit yourself to that daily learning to come and make it that happen. I think, that’s where a few there, just make that commitment, say, “I’m going all in,” start to believe yourself and that’s all about it. So, we can talk about many things from having the right people around you to daily learning, to all the other stuff that I’ve talked about like when you’re starting on a non-even fitness business. You develop that environment, that skill-set, that mindset. You’re going to go out and pull the trigger and you will be successful.
Doug Holt: Absolutely. Burn all the boats, right? Burn all the ships so as back. I think that was Cortes trying to conquer the [11:32]
Vito La Fata: That’s exactly, right. Love that analogy.
Doug Holt: Yeah, great story. It’s so perfect, man. Great. Well, that brings me into my next question that I had cued up. What I was curious about is, “I’m entering the personal training. I know when I did this especially as an entrepreneur; you’re starting your own business. You don’t know exactly what the next steps are” and I’m guessing, so tell me when I’m wrong and give me more background but you started the fitness profit systems. Is that why you did that and tell me what’s going on with that?
Vito La Fata: Okay, why I started that? If you think when I actually stood and find those doors and I realized, guess what? I’m no longer an employee. I’m now a business owner. That’s when in daunt on me that this industry doesn’t prepare us to be business owners and entrepreneurs. It prepares us to work for somebody else real well – All of our training, all of our sorts, all of the things that we’re taught about, Human Anatomy and all of that stuff, that’s all great but that teaches us to work for somebody else.
When I worked at Crunch, I had a CEO. I had a Sales Department. I had a Marketing Department. I had Customer Service and all that. But that day, that all went away and also I’m like, “I’m all of things. I don’t know what those things are or how to do that.” Luckily, I’m like a learning donkey so I went all a lot it. I started to just learn all those things. So that made me realized, “Well, this is surely what’s missing in our market,” and when I look at conferences and conventions and all that, I still see a lot of it heavy towards the training, the toys, the tools, the programming.
And now, that’s not important, that’s absolutely valuable to being a quality trainer on the football. We’re talking about now the business from the marketing side. So, we’re sort of gapping that. And I started to just want to be like, “I want to step in for that role because there are a few people out there that are doing it well and some not doing it so well. I just saw that, as a role I wanted to step into.”
So, I started to develop Fitness Profit Systems because when I’m on the phone with people, I don’t get trainers from America, Canada, Australia calling me with “I don’t know how to do another push-up,” they’re calling me, “How do I get people in my door? How to improve my marketing? I’m trying to work on my leadership and my staff, all these different things.” So, that gap is what kind of made me start to say, “I got to create my own company based around that. So, I think, that’s something I’m obviously super passionate about, the one about kind of creating Fitness Profit Systems.
Doug Holt: Absolutely. I agree with you a hundred percent. I think that’s a major hole in our industry and I saw a lot of people stepping up the plate so I give you praise for doing that man. Love that and use that and keep them going. It’s kind of the hardest in the fitness industry. I think I believe statistically, that’s why most fitness business is anyway and they’re closing their doors is because they don’t have systems and they’re not sure how to do the actual business side of it and until the analogy of you here quite often as you can’t help people if you can’t get them on the door.
Vito La Fata: Right. You’re 100% right.
Doug Holt: Vito, did you always find yourself interested in the business side of the fitness industry or was that more of a newer revelation as you went to open your own studio?
Vito La Fata: Well, I mean I was always passionate about small businesses, I mean we’re on the restaurant for 35 years. So then I have small business my whole life. I was in economics major. So business was always in my mind. I work on Wall Street. So it’s always there but when I started to really like, it’s just I’m passionate about the idea of entrepreneurialism because it truly allows you to create whatever dream you want and truly it allows you to be the dictator of the vision in life.
So my mindset goes towards stirring that as compared to being in the trenches. Not that I don’t love it and I came from that, you do need that but we’re talking about what’s missing. If I could show you an e-mail I’d literally got right now from a trainer in Jersey that she realized, I’m overwhelmed, I can’t bring on other stuff, I’m still working 70 hours, 80 hours on myself and they’re like that’s what the trenches has thought us. That’s what it is at there. That I feel we got to go into the business from marketing side way more how to teach them how to be productive, manage their times. So again I don’t really see the problem in the training in the trenches, you should have problems in the marketing and the business.
Doug Holt: I agree with you 100%. And so, someone looking into working with you or give fuller background went deeper because you didn’t touch on that and I appreciate that. I know you’re not trying to promote what your products are on the phone or anything else but I’d like to know a little bit more about what it is that into your system.
So, someone is working with you, trying to listen this call up and says, “Hey. Look, great trainer. I’m passionate about this but frankly, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing to get people on the door?” What are they going to get with working with you and the proper system?
Vito La Fata: Well, if I was to go in on that, it starts with a process where I got to know what this trainer or fit pro is looking to accomplish because it could be that you’re always doing some sort of a “need analysis” because you want to make sure you’re buffering what’s relevant to that. If the trainer gets the level that they are just looking to be like, “I need to just get some marketing going.” I’m not going to approach them with an entire one year [16:38] and then try to open your studio which is something that I do for professional that want that. It might be just laser coaching on an area of focus that may have. Maybe they need a [16:49], they’re looking for additional revenue.
So, always, I would always start with social needs analysis, understand where they’re at. You quoted in the start with Simon Sinek that to me is everything. I got to make sure that the person I want to work with is aligned with that, has that courage, that purpose and that mission in there so we try to connect on that. And from there, I will provide them a couple of different ideas about like where you’re at? What level of investment can you do right now in your business and then progress them from there?
So, I try to screen my [17:20] and get them to profit now. If I can return their investment which almost always happen in 30 days, I feel I’m giving them capital to also begin to be like, “Okay, look at what happen when I invested in one system, one process. Now, I’ve got this. Now, I can leverage this into my next step of growth and maybe now I’m ready for this level,” and you kind of moving them where they’re at. So, I want to be able to give you more specific than that outside of like using [17:48], provide the right solutions and delivering the result. Does that make sense?
Doug Holt: Yeah, absolutely. So, I guess what I’m hearing is you’re doing it in an individual basis kind of like training where you’re actually sitting them down, going on what their goals in the history is and then developing a plan for them to get the success, stay somewhere. Is that right?
Vito La Fata: Yeah, that’s right. Now, that’s a trainer that couple be reaching out to me, has come in through some of the funnel that I have out there but hitting that analysis is one thing but then beginning a proposal from there. When you look at one-on-one time, just think about it the same way as training. One-on-one time is not having leverageable and obviously, is a big investment because you’re taking a lot of time out of that professional’s life.
When we can look at how do we leverage group, how to we leverage more things online via these home study courses that are now available, ways to put your content out there automated. Now we’re able to talk that sometimes, the person doesn’t even need to meet you. They might be following me and they came in through like an email campaign or something like that, they’ve been following my content out there that they’re like, “Hey, this might be my first step.”
So, there’s a way that and this might now answer or require all your time and the person if you did your marketing right, that person should have felt what you wanted them to feel seeing where you can take them and your marketing done right by leading them just to starting that when they even have to necessarily reach out to you. It really comes downs to that individual where they’re at. I want you done your marketing from there.
Doug Holt: Yeah, I read report today that talking about online education and be able to train somebody online with this automated information. The report was saying that all universities now were trying to offer all their courses online for free including quizzes and study notes. That’s where everything is going and they don’t want to be left behind. So, I think our industry is desperately behind the times in that.
Vito La Fata: I agree with you there. I was talking with somebody about this because talking about creating info products and this kind of stuffs and we’re talking about these things. And with the argument that two people still like to receive that physical thing on their hands and they have it and I’m like, “Sure” because that’s what they’ve known and that’s been business as usual. But, let’s take a system, like my group training, Money Machines. I might learn something new and tweak an email campaign or change a part of a thing because now I’ve got on a higher conversion out of it. I don’t want to have to be like, “I got to destroy a trade to rewrite a manual, to do this whole thing.
I can now go online, take down the file and put up a new file and send out an email to my followers and like, “Hey, we just figured out a new email campaign converting 10% better,” run with it. That is saving time, saving effort, saving money. That It is just so many ways to learn that and you can shoot a little video of yourself coaching it and you are right in the personnel’s office or right in the living room. On the session to get of that today that the sooner we catch up with that and educate our industry about those model of getting contact and coaching. I think we are going to start straying that.
Doug Holt: Absolutely. I think a lot of people you touched a lot in video is huge. I mean, the number one search engine in the world is Google, number two is YouTube. It’s just absolutely the next generation going out there, awesome stuff for you. Awesome! Well, who would you consider your target market or your target customer to be? Must start with kind of your personal training business, your studios and your fitness center, where would be your personal target market?
Vito La Fata: As far as my studio, I am in county California – in the rather “well to do” area. So it is mostly the “stay-at-home moms,” who control the households, got a couple of kids, we know pretty much their demographics. And that is something I will definitely suggest I learned that from Brendon Bouchard and Jay Walker, really creating the avatar, know your ideal client, use those consumer insight questions to make sure you know how to get into their heads that you market to them versus marketing what you think should be out there.
So, those moms are definitely looking for fat loss and weight loss so that they can claim their bodies back; get their energy and get their confidence back and leave the household, that’s number one. Where we get their husbands as a by-product of that but it definitely more centered around that 30 something to 50 something mom that pretty much crucial to that. So, that is what our main market. That’s what we master, that’s what we go after as niche. Sure you will get other people outside of that, but I don’t change my market message from there.
I really feel that when you can position and speak of something real well and you choose that mastery, that’s going to be part of your marketing effort because no matter what kind of sleek marketing you do, if your business sucks and you can’t deliver results, it doesn’t make a difference what you’re marketing is. So be damn good at what you do that that is part of your marketing strategy.
Doug Holt: I agree with you. Yeah, you have to be. You have to let your clients be your marketers, the only one person. Get more sales reps out there. On the side notes, I have seen some of your ads. I would definitely say, they are “edgy.” Would you describe them as edgy? They are very creative and I thing they are edgy at the same time. They attract you. You cannot help but look at the ads, the once that I’ve seen of your. They are awesome.
Vito La Fata: Appreciate that. You know what that comes down to? That comes down to a good team because we have a graphic design artist that have spent at least year. I think she should have been with us for a year. So she now is fully vested. She knows us. She knows our brand. She knows my message. She has been on the phone with me and she sees what is going on. So she can pick what I’m creating and give the visual graphics behind it and that really helps out where you are not trying to do all by yourself.
If I try to sit around and come up with those graphics, it could be snake figures, they’d be real weird, they’d be something odd. So you can really be like, I get you [23:57] get what you want them to be. Often I’m like, “I can go get more done and be more productive. But you know what, most people are afraid to get that out there. They are afraid of like, “What if I spend that money and what not?” you’re like, “Hey, I get that.”
There is nothing worse than putting out a campaign that you spend a lot of money but did not work. That’s why systems in my mind, plug that hole because when you can take that kind of stuff and leverage that to an industry that we’ve already tested it, we already proved it and this is how we are making profit now versus later. That’s is such a game changer, but I’m not after re-invent the wheel and be able to leverage what other pros are putting out there to help this industry ahead.
Doug Holt: Absolutely, a lot of people that are lock on the idea from trainers that would send us messages that don’t want to put systems because they feel it is too controlling. But I think it’s just the opposite. I think when you have systems in place because it allows you to free up your time and resources and actually do the things you enjoy and outsource to the graphic artist or perhaps someone in-house do it for you. Systems are really our key to freedom and not something that restrains you. I am really huge on systems on our business.
Vito La Fata: You are 100% right. I love it that you went there like that. Here is the thing about a system. You got to know system, it’s going to take 40 to 50 hours to probably create everything that you needed to go into that system that’s going to cost you several thousand, 2,000 to 5,000 to probably go create that from loss time, away from business and keep the resources around it and all the stuff where you can take the system and be like, “Here now, I might tweak this little things here, changes here, move this…”Awesome. That will take 2 to 5 hours to do and maybe $200 to $300 to just adjust or in where the value is being met.
Let alone this is an industry that steals or somebody steals something from me. What if [25:57], this is exercise, this is fitness, there is no brain science, and there is nothing proprietary to what we are doing. Its packaging, and it’s how your emotionally get somebody to respond to your marketing. That’s what matters, so on my mindset I’m like, “I don’t care if you take my stuff. Take my logo off and do whatever you want to do with it. Run with it,” because the mission is get this nation fit and with the combatant in the fight against obesity.
I don’t want the more facilities, more what trainers, and all these stuffs. I love to be like, “I can make a bigger impact helping other business get into their market deeper, get better result with their clients and throughout this nation we could spread that way. You may be like got to have 55 of this running around, absolutely not, because I’m going to try to be like kind of fund of people like you. I like people that having motivated entrepreneurs, trainers kind of like, “What can we do together as compared to when we’re alone?” Just watch what we are going to crush.
Doug Holt: Absolutely, I love it Vito. We could talk about this for hours. I definitely want to have you back on to delve in it a little deeper. But I know there are some questions that we commonly get and I want to talk to you about in particular because I know you had some struggles when you are starting up, but you basically turned this into gold. You have done a great job, you have been very successful. Someone listening to this right now tell them so they can relate to you. What were your biggest challenges when you started out? When you started you were like, “Oh crap. This is tougher than I thought.”
Vito La Fata: In my mind the biggest challenge that came to the forefront is “how to manage my time actually and how to be more productive,” because once again, the big complaint out there is I am so stuck in the trenches. I was afraid to let go clients, because I was afraid that, will other trainers do as well as I? That means I also have to pay another trainer? What does mean? I have to go out and create more money and will I be able to afford that with my budget.”
And I remember, this one we were kind of have a mastermind and you turn right, “Get over it.” If you have done a good job with your trainers and your staff and yourself, A. Your trainers will probably going to do a better job than you and B. You’re going to go out now, it was freed up hours. You’re going to go out there and create the revenue and create the extension of your brand that is going to allow you to go out there and actually create more. So when I got that challenge of just being like that fear factor there and then I started to learn how to prioritize the things I want my life and be productive as compared to busy, that was a big game changer right there.
Doug Holt: It’s great advice. Absolutely great. I must say, tying up with mastermind was the greatest investments in my industry when I was running a studio and that’s actually how you and I met, I think. Right, I think so.
Vito La Fata: Yes, that’s how we met. That’s the greatest thing. I can pin point the change in my career to the day I stood outside that Todd Durkin back when he announced the mastermind, and I put in my application. It was all of those people that have come into my life through that circle of influence that have brought here. I wouldn’t have met you. I would not have met Trina Gray. I wouldn’t have to meet half the resources I have out there – that have led to all the creation of these things.
All the stages I’ve been able to get on was because of the introduction to me, the skills you are learning, the way you are pushing outside the comfort zone. All these things started to pile up and all of a sudden you’re just starting to be like, “Man, look what I’m doing now?” because you are surrounded by those kind of people. This is absolutely the center part to the growth and in life in general.
Doug Holt: I agree. I think, mastermind groups are one of the best investments anybody can make. I’m in a couple of them and I think, you probably are too but most successful people that I worked with and I’ve had a studio for a decade or all over a decade all the successful people that I’ve run into they all have mentors and are in either what they call in mastermind groups or not, the same thing holds through. It’s a group of people working synergies to create together, to help each other raise the bar. Through that, everybody wins. It’s amazing. And anybody listening to this that’s not in a mastermind group, go get Napoleon Hill’s book right away, Think & Grow Rich and start one. [30:25] some mentors on that but they’re great. And Tood, obviously, you and I both think the world of Todd. And I think a lot of people out there, [30:32] anybody thats ran into Todd does. He is one of the most charismatic leaders I’ve ever met. He’s just fantastic.
Doug Holt: Vito, moving on. Just kind of going more about your business and kind of what things are out there. Besides the mastermind group itself and that kind of key turn, when Todd announced that he was going to do a mastermind group, there are probably a lot of people out there but you’re one of the person that actually filled out your application and was accepted at the mastermind group. So, what do you think was inside you or still is inside you that allowed you to be the person that actually turned in the application rather than probably the majority I’m going to guess that said, “No, I will do it later,” they had some kind of excuse come up. What was it inside of you that you can say, “It was the key at some point that lead to you success or lead to you to just even join the mastermind group?”
Vito La Fata: My commitment to put in like, I have a huge commitment to lifelong learning. I am an avid, avid reader and I am surrounded by that kind of environment. This is going to sound odd but I listen to really good freaking music with really good lyrics that challenge you always to start thinking about how you’re living your life, what you are going after from love to business to family to everything. So, I’ve always been that and I’m the writer. I’m the poet, I do all that kind of stuff so part of my evolution is always been that commitment doing that.
There is only one thing in life that matters in life and that’s taking action. With all the information in the world means nothing but dust on the shelf of life you don’t apply it in. I was listening to an interview with [32:08] where they said like, “what is the difference between a trainer and an entrepreneur?” You’re only truly an entrepreneur when take what you learn and apply and that stuck with me. And that was really kind of where I was like, always have to go and it’s not about taking and this is probably the crossing road. It’s not about taking perfection. So many people don’t take action because they’re waiting for this world to be portrait, I think, where they have to put out what their need to be. There’s this [32:38] that just doesn’t exist and so, you start to become a master and mastery takes time.
Instead, you go out there and put fast in perfect action into place, you’re going to get best thing that you can from the market which is “feedback” and feedback allows you to cross correct. And if you cross correct your conflict in tweaking and getting there right that and that’s all the market really deserves, all of those desires from you and you’re going to win out there. You’ll be that gorilla out in the market if you’re doing that. So, that was just part of culmination of all the time spent with mentors, coaches, reading, music that how it just gave me that life is truly about action. I don’t know how much long I got on this planet, I’ve got to push and pull the trigger off as often and just leave that kind of intensity, love that initially and that’s just quite a part of my DNA. So, if you don’t have that DNA, I would say, “You’re weary of owning your own business or being an entrepreneur.” The worst mistake I ever made, Doug, is when my business partner who was an amazing technician and an amazing trainer and I try to put her into the box of being an entrepreneur and a business owner and it tore us apart. It cost me $100,000 in buy-out, lost money. Just nightmares for years that know, whether you got the DNA to be an entrepreneur or whether you’re that awesome technician on those role and commit to freaking deals surrounded by the right both to give you the belief in yourself to go out there and execute on what you said.
Doug Holt: Absolutely. Ready. Fire. Aim. I love it.
Vito La Fata: Yes, that’s it. Love it.
Doug Holt: I really don’t have the time for a couple of questions, but I really want to have you back on a later time though because so much more I want to cover with you. But real quick, what’s next for you? doing in? I don’t really want to go two years at most people because I think you’re going to be out of this world but what’s six months then for you? You got so much going on? Where we will going to see you six months from now?
Vito La Fata: Hopefully you will be seeing me out in the circuit. I love speaking, so I am out there pretty much between America, Australia and all that stuff I’m out there on that. But what you are seeing right now, we will be developing more of those group training Money Machines because those are plug and play easy systems. And the project that I am working on right now is to take that coaching that I had to do one on one that puts us out of the stratosphere of the lot of trainers in the industry, people that are new and starting out need that direction.
I am always kind of been faced with I’m getting a lot of the same stuff. So what if I can take what I was doing one-on-one, and create it into a monthly coaching program that pretty much anybody can afford and start delivering those lessons monthly. And almost what I was doing in a year coaching program be like, I can take it virtual, put it and what I’m calling the “fitness profit launcher” monthly coaching program and I start delivering it that way.
So I am working on what’s accessible and make it accessible to everybody because I’m going to see this shift in our industry. Coaching can’t be just for the people who can afford it. I’m working how to make coaching always affordable for anybody that wants it. So, that’s where you will going to see me right now.
Doug Holt: That’s great, man. I am looking forward to that. My next and last question before I let you go, what was the last concert you went to?
Vito La Fata: The last one that I went to?
Doug Holt: Yeah. Obviously, I see you on Facebook all the time. You are always going to concerts, always secondary out of life drinking a good bottle of wine and I am jealous here working. What is the next one?
Vito La Fata: Next one? Or what’s the last one I went to?
Doug Holt: What’s the last one? Let’s start there. I want to know both, so that I know what going on.
Vito La Fata: I think the last one I went to was an event that was solo out in Long Beach and if you know obviously, my [36:39] my infatuation. So that was a huge one.
Doug Holt: Absolutely.
Vito La Fata: I think the next one I am going to catch is the Florence and the Machine up at the Hollywood Bowl in October.
Doug Holt: Good show, I saw them here in town when they came by. It’s a great show.
Vito La Fata: I’m fired up. They are awesome.
Doug Holt: Absolutely. Yes, they are. They bring the energy, there’s no doubt about that. Vito, man, thanks so much for sharing your time with us. I know you’re slammed. I know you’re busy, I really appreciate. I’d love to have you back on. I know there’s so much we could talk about and we could steal hours of this on there. Is there anything else you want to throw in there last minute?
Vito La Fata: First of all, I just want to say, thank you for what you guys are doing out there with this whole mission that you guys accepted out in the industry. So, thank you for that and I thank you for your time and I’m here to help out. Between all of us coming together, as I’ve said before, we are going to literally set this industry on fire. We’re going to turn this freaking nation around and we’re just going to start crushing things. So again, thank you for all that. It’s my pleasure to be on and I look forward to doing it again.
Doug Holt: Great, man. Thanks. And for everybody listening, you can find links to Vito’s websites more information about him in the show notes and hopefully we’ll talk to him to come back again.
Again a huge thanks to Vito for taking the time to talk with us. I mean, man, I could have talked to him for hours. Every time I connect with Vito, I come away charged, refreshed with a whole bunch of new ideas. He definitely has a passion for the fitness industry and helping other entrepreneurs and I love talking to him. So thanks, Vito.
For those of you there interested, we will put his website and contact information in the show notes. And as well he is an author for the Fitness Professional Online. So, go ahead and look him up there as well. And if you want to know a great bottle of wine or a great show to see, concert wise, Vito is the man. Check him out on Facebook. Next week we have Lisa Shaughnessy, she will be visiting here with us and that should be a great one on marketing.
That’s it for us at Fitness Professional Online Radio Show. On behalf of Shannon and Darcy here in the studio, we want to say thank you for listening. Go to our website and sign up for the Fitness Professional Online Newsletter to get latest industry news and what’s happening at FitnessProfessionalOnline.com. Thank you again for joining us and make it a great week.
Thank you for listening to the Fitness Professional Online Radio Show. You can share your thoughts and join the discussion on this episode by going through our website or on Facebook.com/FitProOnline. Let us know what you’d like to hear on future shows and please feel free to contact us via e-mail or give us a call at (805) 500-6893. We look forward to hearing from you.
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Vito La Fata
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