This is a short list of support products we’ve provide to ALL of our 300+ athletes, most paying $99/yr (that’s $1.75/wk) in the four months since our founding in November, 2007:
- ENForum, with over 11,000 posts.
- Podcast, Planning Your Triathlon Season
- Webinar, The Basic Training Week
- Virtual Training Camp: MLK
- Webinar, Epic Training Weekends
- Webinar Series: Training and Racing with Power, 3 x 90′ sessions with expert panelists.
- The Endurance Nation Beginner Triathlete Project
- 17 podcasts recorded for our ENGroups Off-Season athletes, one for each week.
- 20 podcasts recorded for ENGroups Ironman program, one for each week.
- 35 videos uploaded.
- A series of race-specific training camps on the IMCDA, IMLP, IMLou, and IMWI courses
- We will be at IMAZ, Wildflower, Triple T, IMCDA, IMLP, IMLou, IMWI, Kona, IMFL, and IMAZ (again) to either race or coach/support EVERY member of the team.
So ask yourself: what has your $$$ coach done for you lately? Is it worth a 500-1000% markup on this list above? And remember, we are not over-night startups in this business. With 13+ years in the business between us, we’ve both been at $350+ per month, with full coaching rosters, for years. We’ve made a business decision to go a different route, reserving our 1:1 services for local athletes who we can create value for with our physical presence and leadership.
Below is an excerpt from the our Coaching Manifesto:
The Future of Coaching
Like other service-based industries, endurance coaching will eventually consolidate into two segments: expensive access to elite coaches and low-cost access to generic templates and very basic information. There are already coaches out there who offer 1:1 coaching @ $1500/month (that’s $18,000 a year). As you well know, there are also countless magazine articles and templates out there for free. The assumption inherent in this comparison is that the high-dollar, premium coaching is a “better service” because it costs more. You believe this because you are working with a “professional,” and because you have access to their attention and input.
The the media, industry, and culture founded on the 1:1 coaching model have conspired to tell you that you are special and unique, and that you need a custom solution different from everyone else out there. Yes, you are special, but not as special as these people (and your mom) have lead you to believe. We are all human beings, subject to the same laws of physics, physiology, and, as age group athletes, similar time constraints. As such, through our experience with well over 1000 athletes, we’ve learned that a library of training plans can provide a 95% solution for almost any athlete. The remaining 5% is the exception, not the rule. We’ve learned we can address these exceptions by:
- Creating learning tools to help you become a better self-coached athlete so you can figure out on your own what you need: the Wiki, podcasts, videos, articles, etc.
- Making ourselves available to you to help you when you get stuck, via forums, conference calls, webchats, and other highly efficient tools.
And so the role of the coach in a 1:1 relationship is to perform items #1 and #2 in a 1:1 environment. The very nature of this business model means that your coach has little time to learn, reflect, innovate and bring all of this to you — s/he is too busy reading emails, checking files, working a full-time job somewhere else, etc. The true power of the Endurance Nation model is that your membership enables us to provide you with more outstanding information and resources; we are not limited by the number of people in the house; in fact, we are incentivized by it.
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