Where to find Dan: https://www.instagram.com/danielsan

Where to find Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-reyes21

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[:18] Why are business coaches important?

[1:31] Dan and Nick’s personal experiences with business coaches

[3:44] Canned advice is worthless

[5:20] You need to get value quickly

[6:09] Talk to critics of your potential coach

[7:58] Student-to-coach ratios matter

[9:36] Get the right coach for your current needs

[11:30] Match coaching style to your needs

[12:59] Don’t focus on vanity metrics

[14:03] Ask about their failures

[16:24] Check the coach’s pedigree

[17:48] Trust your gut

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Dan Uyemura: [00:00:00] And anyways, that's, that's who I voted for. Oh, shit. Welcome to the PushPress Podcast, where gym owners learn to dodge bad advice, crush the competition and actually make money doing what they love. Let's get after it. Welcome back the day before I shouldn't date this, huh? Election day. That's today's date for election day.

Dan Uyemura: It feels like this. And, um, you know, once we just got back from the Austin summit and one thing that always weighs on my mind is education because that's what these summits are about and I pretty much credit. Everything, you know, that has mildly even been successful for me around my ability, my desire to learn and continue to grow educationally wise.

Dan Uyemura: And, um, and so I was thinking on the plane over here, like a great topic to discuss with people isn't why you should have a business coach, because we all know you should have a business coach, right? It's because, I mean, sorry, the right topic should be how not to get fucked by a business coach. Or I shouldn't even say business coach because I would classify business [00:01:00] coaches as like ethical people, but a guru guru guru, right?

Dan Uyemura: There's plenty of people in the space that uh, you know, may not be the best fit for, you know, everyone out there and they're asking for huge upfront commitments and big large ticket things and I mean I've been on the other side of the equation. It's like you're faced with this uncertainty of uh, a $20,000, $30,000 commitment versus what you feel is very important for your business.

Dan Uyemura: So I figured, I figured let's chat about the debt, you know, like what to look for to not get fucked. 

Nick Reyes: I like this. Yeah. I like this. Uh, and maybe a stepping off one. I'm curious. How many business coaches have you had in your time of leaving PushPress? 

Dan Uyemura: Uh, including the gym? Let's include the gym, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 

Nick Reyes: I think I've had 4.

Nick Reyes: So, so we're not, we're not one coach and think that we have, uh, found the ultimate path here. We've, we've been through [00:02:00] interviewing and engaging with multiple coaches in our time. 

Dan Uyemura: Ooh, that just, that just made me realize there's a whole nother, uh, another bullet point, which I'm going to add to the list right now.

Nick Reyes: Sweet. Okay. Uh, side note. They did not sponsor this podcast, but big fans of the guys over at best hour. So representing their shirts today. 

Dan Uyemura: Oh, I didn't even realize,

Dan Uyemura: uh, 

Nick Reyes: make affiliates great again. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. Uh, yeah, no. So, you know, when I compare and contrast, like some of the things that I talked to with the best hour guys and, uh, coach some of the gurus in the space that I know been around, you know, rep bevels it. There's just a clear difference. And actually it was that contrast that made me think like, let's talk about, you know, the good, the, the, you know, how to gravitate, how to pick the right coach for you.

Dan Uyemura: I wouldn't even say some are good or bad, but like the right coach for you. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. I think it's a good way to frame it because there's, there's definitely a, well, and we'll touch on it later, but there's definitely like alignment with personality and things like that. That'll come into play for sure.

Nick Reyes: [00:03:00] Exactly. 

Dan Uyemura: Okay, cool. So we kind of set the stage here. We know that all, that all business people need to work with a coach. I'm just going to say that point blank as a fact. There's no way that you can run your business and know every corner, you know, that you're about to approach and every pothole that you're about to step into without working with someone who's been there and done that.

Dan Uyemura: And I think it's worth every penny that you spend on that. It's just expensive. And a lot of people until they've worked with the right coach, it's hard to see the value, the ROI of that. Go Sun. Okay. Um, so really it's like, how do we make sure we're not throwing our money away when hiring a coach? So we comprise a long list.

Dan Uyemura: I don't know if this list is going to fit on the screen on the, uh, the list of topics to cover, uh, but we'll just run right through them and we'll kind of rifle through it. Right. And so the first one, uh, which I think is really, so again, to frame this, these are things that you want to pay attention to look for, ask for when you're dealing, when you're interviewing, think of this way, your, your business coach, if you're going to be working with a business coach.

Dan Uyemura: And the first one that I've come up with is just candid advice. So [00:04:00] if you come to them with a business problem or a question that in particular to your business and the first thing they give you is an answer, then that's a red flag because every business is different, every market may vary, even regionally or country wise, like everything is different.

Dan Uyemura: There is no one size fits all answer. In fact, from my experience, you can do two completely different things and still succeed. So there is no one answer. 

Nick Reyes: It's funny when you put this one on here, I thought of Enoch. Chief Customer Officer at Gusto, uh, super intelligent guy. He never replies with an answer.

Nick Reyes: It is always a question, and then another question, and then another question. And we get deep into the, the root cause before he starts, you know, suggesting maybe some approaches. Right. 

Dan Uyemura: And this episode is brought to you by Gusto. Um. Which, which goes to tell you, like, imagine if you went to a doctor and you're like, Hey, my knee hurts.

Dan Uyemura: And they're like, here's some ointment. And you're like, yo, don't you want to know if it's like [00:05:00] my anterior or, you know, like, like, let me give you some more information. Don't you have some questions to ask me? So it's the same thing with like a coach or a guru guru. Hate that word. But same thing, like if they aren't prodding on like where the pain points are and poking at it and trying to understand more, huge red flag and they should be following up with questions immediately.

Dan Uyemura: For sure, a hundred percent. Yeah. 

Nick Reyes: And so next one, keep our speed going here. How quickly can they go deep? Right. So, uh, this kind of goes back to every question should have another question, but they need to be able to get to a depth where you can get value out of the line of thought somewhat quickly. Yep.

Nick Reyes: You know. 

Dan Uyemura: And for reference, you should be. When you're, when you're in the sales process with the business coach or guru, you should be testing them on these things. So say like, here's my problem and just see, like, are they asking questions back? And then are they going deep on it? Like going back to that Docker analogy, like if you have a knee pain or if you have pain in your stomach, dude, they're going to go deep.

Dan Uyemura: Like, where, where is that? Is that when I poke here, does it hurt? Is it feel more interior? Is it in [00:06:00] the muscle? Like make sure that they are trying to get, figure out what the root of the question is before they're giving you just a diagnosis. A hundred percent. Okay. Third one. This is one that I love. Um, talk to people who don't, did not succeed with them, right?

Dan Uyemura: It's a powerful one. Yeah. And, um, and you know, every, we're all businesses and we're all trying to, we all try to make everyone happy and it's impossible. Like you cannot. Be 100 percent with everyone. So no matter what business you're in, there's people out there who hate you. Uh, I don't know. What's the world's most loved brand.

Dan Uyemura: I mean, people hate Apple left and right. People hate Tesla. People hate Pathwalk. This, this episode is sponsored by Pathwater. Um, anyways, there, you just can't get away from it. So find some people that they did not succeed with and interview them. Right. Yep. And, and you really want to find out where things went wrong.

Dan Uyemura: So you can understand that lines of view. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. Finding out why things went wrong. It is really, to me, very important to understand whether or not it doesn't, [00:07:00] even if someone had a bad experience with them, it doesn't mean that they can't serve you in a, in a perfectly good manner, right? Because it's like, how do you filter out the negative noise?

Nick Reyes: And the same side is when you talk to people who did like them, why does your, does your business needs and your needs as a mentee? Align with the people who've had success with that particular, particular coach. Get the whole picture. 

Dan Uyemura: People are, people stop too short talking to the success stories. Cause if you ask the mentor or the, you know, if you ask any business like, Hey, give me someone to talk to, they're going to give you the best people.

Dan Uyemura: A hundred percent. You know, so you have to do a little bit of your own work and find the people that didn't work out well with and see, see why. I mean, the best thing is, and this goes back to another episode that we, we just did was like, if that didn't work out and even if it was a train wreck. If there was some type of, um, you know, connection on the way out where they were helping them, serving them, and not being, you know, a jackhole to them, the person would be like, hey, it didn't work for me, but I think they're great people.

Dan Uyemura: And that's a really strong signal. 

Nick Reyes: Yep. Absolutely. Uh, next one. Student to coach [00:08:00] ratios. So, you were talking earlier about public speaking. Uh, class that you are getting ready to get started. And what was it? Six to one. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. Six coaches. I think it might be, it might be three to one, actually, because I think there's two coaches in the class for six, six students.

Nick Reyes: Yeah. So if you're going to be able to go deep to solve a problem, look for, uh, I would say appropriate ratios because it depends on the level of coaching and what you're buying and the price and everything else. Right. But don't spend. High ticket money and then get a hundred to one ratios that you're not, you know, that if you have a question, this is not going to get answered once you have out of whack ratios.

Nick Reyes: Yeah. 

Dan Uyemura: And, and like further going deeper into that, there's like a, a little bit of smoke around the fact that if you ask, Hey, what's your student coach ratio? And they go like. Oh, uh, 50 to one or 30 to one. Like anytime it's around number, I would be like, how, where's that being rounded from? You know what I'm saying?

Dan Uyemura: Like, or do you even know like how many clients, how many clients do you manage exactly? Tell me. Yeah. Right. And how many of them report only to you? 

Nick Reyes: And again, I think the importance here [00:09:00] is when you need attention and that's what you're paying for is a level of attention that you can't get just by Googling how to get more fit or whatever it is.

Nick Reyes: Right. So this would be the same thing as if in your gym you have. Sixty people in a class and you're trying to teach them all to overhead squat. Like how many of them are going to learn in a 60 to one ratio with the gym. And so, uh, there's time and a place again to not saying 60 person class can't work, which it's all about the, the level of maybe the complication of what you're trying to do, right?

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. We, that actually segues pretty nicely over to the next one, which would be like one coach can't fit every stage of your business. Um, and, and I'll use that 60 person class, like, Hey, if all 60 people are advanced and one person is not. Maybe one coach is flying, right? If we're doing overhead squat, but if all 60, if all 60 are at varying degrees and have varying needs and have like one person who wants to go to the games and needs some very minute tweak on something very, very sophisticated, one person's like first [00:10:00] day.

Dan Uyemura: That coaches suck. Okay. So the other thing to think about is, and this is the reason you've had four coaches. I've had six is because like going from opening a gym all the way through whatever part of a gym into the software, blah, blah, blah. Like we have different stages, different needs. And so it kind of goes, and then this also kind of ties back, you know, into canned advice and how quickly can go deep.

Dan Uyemura: Um, if, if that coach is just like, Oh yeah, I got it. That's a red flag, right? Like they should be trying to figure out like, Oh, what stage are you at? How much revenue are you at? How many, how many members do you have or whatever? Like they need to ask these questions. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's a great one, right?

Nick Reyes: That, that a good coach will know their niche really, really well. Like I take CEOs of B2B SaaS companies from here to here. But I don't take them from here to there. And I, and I also, I can do this other part, the zero to one part. It's not like I'm right here. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. It's like the Goldilocks effect. Like this is too early.

Dan Uyemura: This is too late or this is too big. This is too small, whatever it is. But [00:11:00] like everyone should have a wheelhouse and maybe a bigger coaching organization or a better coach can expand that wheelhouse some, but there still has to be a wheelhouse where like people fall out of 

Nick Reyes: it. And that's where that interview process is so critical and you need to be forthcoming with like.

Nick Reyes: I need help from here to here. Can you help with this section? And then you also want to talk to those other people that are like, Oh, well, it didn't work for me. Why didn't it work? Well, because I was trying to do this. Okay. Perfect. Doesn't apply to me. Yes. Right. Uh, next one. Style. So, do they match yours?

Nick Reyes: This one is a, is, is a little tough to fill out at times, but I know that whenever I interviewed a few, a couple different coaches, uh, in the early Twitch press days, there was just something was amiss. They always wanted to go back to a certain framework that they knew that they had. I didn't like the delivery.

Nick Reyes: I didn't like the talk to listen ratio for both parties. There was just [00:12:00] something that fell off and I thought, I'm not going to vibe with this person. 

Dan Uyemura: And, and really that's super important, right? Like if you can, if for you to take anything from a coach, you've got to be able to sit down across them and feel like comfortable.

Dan Uyemura: You have to have trust, right? You have to have that vibe. So, yeah, I remember in some of these people you interviewed, I remember at the time going like, Damn, these are really good people that are not good enough for Nick. Who's this Nick guy? No, it's, but, 

Nick Reyes: but, but 

Dan Uyemura: it's good that you listened to your gut on them.

Nick Reyes: Yeah, and the flip side is that a couple of coaches that I have now, like they know everything about my life. Because I feel open to being able to say like, Hey, look, I'm like really freaking stressed right now. And how did you manage it? And let's, let's, let's just noodle in on how I can not take my work home with the embattas, right?

Dan Uyemura: Which is interesting because, uh, a lot of times people think the coach is there for the x's and o's of the job or the business, but really it's like he, he was just your bartender for that night. Yeah, I'm fucking stressed. Yeah, this is what I'm going through. Yeah, but yeah. Um, another thing too is if [00:13:00] they, if they hone in too much on like what feels like canned or vanity metrics.

Dan Uyemura: So again, every, every gym is different. Every gym has different objectives and goals. Every owner has different objectives and goals. Like some people don't want to make certain amount of money. Some people don't want to grow as big as others to hone in. Like vanity metrics are ones that kind of make us feel good, but don't really need a time, like how much, you know, how many members someone has.

Dan Uyemura: You have to dig deep into like what type of metrics they're trying to expose, you know, what does that metric actually mean? How do you measure it? This is one thing I've actually noticed with a lot of um, a lot of businesses in general, like the full float of metric out there when you actually ask a few questions about it.

Dan Uyemura: It's like they can't even answer What's the definition of the metric, why are they measuring it? Why is it important? Whatever. So make sure, like, as you're seeing metrics floated to you, just questioning them, like, well, why is that important? Like, do you try and get all gym owners to align on this metric?

Dan Uyemura: And, and, and how do you do that? 

Nick Reyes: A hundred percent of them, they get tossed out there as, uh, just [00:14:00] quick hits of marketing social proof is all they're trying to do. Yeah. A lot of different ways. Transparency and we we've noodled on this one, right? Like, but ask them who have they failed. So in your interview process.

Nick Reyes: You know, who have you, who have you, who have you failed? Can I talk to them? Why did you fail them? And see if you get an answer that feels us. Most of us can tell when we're completely being bullshit, right? But like, see, everyone's failed. If you are a coach in any capacity, you have failed people. You, and all of us who have owned gyms, we have failed at coaching someone to what we originally set out and agreed to, right?

Nick Reyes: So like, We should be forthcoming with those, with that as coaches. And we should expect our coaches to tell us the same. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. And, and even the double click on that, like you can ask them, well, what did you learn, right? Cause if they haven't learned something from it, then I would question how good, how good, how good can a coach be if they can't learn from their own mistakes?

Dan Uyemura: Right. That's kind of the point of a coach is to be able to, [00:15:00] A, not let you make some mistakes, but also make sure as you make them, they're keeping you within guard rails and make sure you learn from them as you go. So, yeah, like what mistakes have you made? What were your biggest challenges? What did you learn from that?

Nick Reyes: Yeah, that would be good. Yeah. Biggest challenges are a big one too, because I think for the most part, if you take your career seriously and your career is you want to coach others to a point of excellence that you've experienced before, the challenges were going to stand out to you probably more than the successes.

Nick Reyes: You know, the letdowns are going to stand out to you. So a coach will probably have a couple right off the top of their head. 

Dan Uyemura: Dude, that's such a good point. Um, can you just imagine like a real coach who has actually failed someone? Like, I just put myself, like, let's say I was a high school football coach and there's a kid that came to my program and I knew this kid is going to make college and for whatever reason, like I didn't connect with him, I didn't get him like academically correct, whatever it is.

Dan Uyemura: And it's like, didn't make it, does not go to college, do not pass, go. If you came to me and asked me, what is my biggest regret in life? [00:16:00] That would stand out. Right. But if I have to sit there and go like, Hmm, let me think about that. Like That's really fishy. 

Nick Reyes: If the answer feels like that interview question of, uh, uh, what's your biggest weakness?

Dan Uyemura: Well, you see, it's that I talk to, you know, yeah. I'm too confident. Yeah. Like that one actually should almost bring them to tears. If they're a real coach, that's an interesting one. Okay, I got a fun one, and it's only because we're in football season right now, and that is, uh, coach lineages. And it's only because you see, like, you know, I don't follow football deep enough to really do this correctly, but they always do this on the games.

Dan Uyemura: It's like, oh, this head coach used to be the defensive coordinator there, underneath Bill Belichick, who was the coach of the Browns, and they just, just spill the whole lineage. But the reality is, is like, great coaches are born from great coaches. There's a whole lineage of them, and the great coaches who are born from great coaches know that it's part of their tradition and their, their responsibility to pass that down.

Dan Uyemura: So I think asking, who did you learn from? Why did you learn that? What do you believe in that philosophy? Like starting to [00:17:00] prod into like, what is the lineage of where you came from and why? And tell me. Yeah. I was 

Nick Reyes: hoping that. Yeah. No, I, I don't think that that's one that's often discussed in, uh, like business coaching circles, right?

Nick Reyes: It's all, it's all more sports related, but I think if I, if I circle back to, you know, some of the individuals that I engage with now, you know, I can. We've had the discussion, I just never, I didn't think about it formally during like the interview process of where they each learned and, and, and what their path of careers exactly was, you know.

Nick Reyes: I 

Dan Uyemura: mean, if you, if you really think about it, like who a coach learns from is probably their, the most impactful thing to that coach. 

Nick Reyes: They all have an influence from somewhere, yeah. And probably, where do you continue to draw influence and learn from? It's another question. 

Dan Uyemura: Oh shit. And then, and then the follow up to that is like, what's your downstream look like?

Dan Uyemura: Are you developing a downstream? Yeah. You know? Yeah. So 

Nick Reyes: that's a good one. And last but not least, trust your gut. 

Dan Uyemura: Oh, the mother of them all. That honestly, trust your gut is the answer for every business question in the world, I believe. You know what [00:18:00] I'm saying? Okay. Like, I don't know where my gut hasn't ultimately been mostly right.

Nick Reyes: I can, I can get behind that. I never really could have off the top of that. Okay. So trusting your gut for a coach, it's like, you're, it's similar to what I mentioned earlier. You're on the call, you're talking to them. Conversations doesn't feel natural, but everything else Hicks is trusting your gut saying I'm abandoning that engagement.

Nick Reyes: I 

Dan Uyemura: mean, that's the thing about trusting your gut is I think your gut kind of knows. If it's 50 for 50, 50, 60, 40, that is just enough. Yeah, you know, yeah, you know, when there's, there's something enough, right? Or enough wrong to question it. 

Nick Reyes: Okay. That's fair. I can have it on that. 

Dan Uyemura: And I think, I think all of these, all of these tools that are all these things we just discussed, hopefully we'll weigh into part of that 

Nick Reyes: gut.

Nick Reyes: They all just stack and you, you know, as you kind of go, if you 

Dan Uyemura: really break down what trust your gut means, it's like all of your experiences, all the things you've experienced, you're, you're weighing [00:19:00] to some degree. But if you haven't experienced, if you haven't thought of, you know, half of these things we just talked about, you don't have, you can't even use that in the gut process, 

Nick Reyes: you 

Dan Uyemura: know, 

Nick Reyes: we should make a checklist, like a interviewing, a coach checklist.

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. Oh, good. Yeah, absolutely. Would that help you guys? If you would like a checklist printed for you and delivered to your inbox. Send a, send an email to podcast@pushpress.com requesting it. And we will, uh, make sure we can send it to you beyond that. Let's ask some questions to that. Huh? Or should we close up first?

Dan Uyemura: No, let's, uh, let's wrap it. Okay. Wrap it up. So, I mean, bottom line, uh, coaches are important. Obviously, if we didn't think coaches were important, we wouldn't even be in business because we are fitness coaches. We're providing accountability and structure and regimen to our clients. And like, if we didn't believe that that was necessary, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing, right?

Dan Uyemura: A hundred percent. Yeah. So coaches are necessary. Coaches are important. Business is complicated. And if you think you know all about business, you probably shouldn't be in business because you [00:20:00] don't, I'll guarantee that. 

Nick Reyes: Amen. 

Dan Uyemura: Uh, what else to wrap up? So, um, Make sure you're in actively interviewing your coaches.

Dan Uyemura: So when you're going out thinking about getting a business coach, again, we get it. $30,000, whatever that expense feels like a punch in the gut. Make sure you're spending it correctly. Make sure you come into your sales process with them, with your own set of interviews, because you need to get your questions answered more than don't just let them drive the conversation down the sales path.

Dan Uyemura: You know what I'm saying? Get to a point where you can make a good decision based on your gut. Uh, and shit. I mean, I guess if you're having a hard time with it, write it all down in an email to podcast@pushpress.com, send it off to us and maybe we can help you make decisions. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying?

Dan Uyemura: Thanks for listening guys. All right. Another good one. See you guys later. Thanks for listening to another episode of the PushPress Podcast, where we help gym owners, entrepreneurs, and fitness enthusiasts thrive with actionable insights, inspiring stories and strategies for growth. 

Nick Reyes: Don't forget to follow the show to stay updated on new episodes.

Nick Reyes: And if you're ready for more, [00:21:00] join our free Facebook community for gym owners, check the show notes for the link, and we'll see you next time. Keep raising the bar for your business and community.

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