Trish Evangelista (00:00):
I didn’t wanna do it in the affiliate cause we have classes going
Sevan Matossian (00:02):
On. Ah, okay.
Trish Evangelista (00:04):
And then, so I’m in my, my bedroom hiding from my husband and toddler as well at the same time. So if you hear things in the background, that’s the, the noise.
Sevan Matossian (00:12):
Perfect. Then we’ll know the show’s over. I’m kind of in the same situation. <laugh> your kitchen. I’m in the kitchen. I’m in the kitchen of some house that we’re staying at and um, and then I’ve closed a few doors to separate myself from the sleeping kids. That’s why we start the show so early. I’m starting the show this week, an hour early, hopefully to get some time in before everyone wakes up.
Trish Evangelista (00:32):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:34):
Uh, Trish do, do I sorry for I, I know you were on the show before. Do you have two gyms?
Trish Evangelista (00:41):
No. So I have Blon CrossFit. Right. And then I have the pregnancy and postpartum stuff underneath me.
Sevan Matossian (00:47):
Okay. Okay. Maybe that’s what I was confusing. Yeah.
Trish Evangelista (00:49):
So that’s what makes me separate, kind of like myself from my gym handle a little bit. So I don’t do all the pregnancy and postpartum stuff through the affiliate. Cause there’s some things, not all CrossFits wanna say versus moms wanna say.
Sevan Matossian (01:00):
Right, right. Although they all should wanna see it, God, because we all came from a mom.
Trish Evangelista (01:06):
It’s true.
Sevan Matossian (01:06):
Right?
Trish Evangelista (01:07):
It’s
Sevan Matossian (01:08):
True. Facts. Pretty sure I did. Although, you know what I saw, I didn’t look into the article, uh, much, but I, I heard that there’s a baby somewhere. I think, I think it was in the uk. I don’t even understand what this means. But basically it’s the DNA of three people, which I really don’t understand. Three. Yeah, three people.
Trish Evangelista (01:29):
They mixes scenes.
Sevan Matossian (01:30):
You know what, there’s something I, I, I used to know more about this, but there’s something weird about the mitochondria in human beings. That it’s a different DNA than the mom and the dad or something. Someone will say it in the comment, someone will unfuck me, <laugh>. But there’s something, there’s something weird about the mitochondria that lives in us. It’s basically like an alien. It’s like a parasite. Once you start looking into it, not a parasite. Like there’s some sort of symbiosis between us and our mitochondria. Almost like it’s a, a different creature. It’s a trip. It’s like an alien living inside of us. I’m waiting for someone. That’s, that’s
Trish Evangelista (02:00):
What it looks like when it bulges from your stomach too. So <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (02:04):
Oh, the baby. Right, right. Yeah.
Trish Evangelista (02:06):
You have the, like, that’s literally what I, how I learned what coating was when I was pregnant. I was like, what? What’s happening? Like, what is poking out outta me? <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (02:13):
Uh, squid Pro quo was the baby, uh, almost a twin? I don’t, I don’t know. No. No matter what. I didn’t, I didn’t like the, uh, headline for the article. I like a, I like a simple wife man. Woman. Make baby <laugh>. Um, you had, um, so how long have you had your affiliate, Trish?
Trish Evangelista (02:33):
Uh, this is my fourth year of ownership.
Sevan Matossian (02:36):
And you bought it And it was already an existing affiliate?
Trish Evangelista (02:38):
It was an existing affiliate. Two previous owners. Um, within the last year we moved locations. So we went from just like 800 meters down the road, but we switched locations. Um, the third owner, um, and this is kind of the first time the affiliate’s been successful and profitable, um, since I’ve had it.
Sevan Matossian (02:59):
And are you on a, on on like a Riverwalk or a riverfront? What?
Trish Evangelista (03:02):
We’re on the bay, so, or the ocean. Okay. So on the Great South Bay, um, I live on Long Island, so we’re about an hour outside of the city. Uh, the actual affiliate’s probably about a mile and a half from like the closest dock. Um, so yeah, we have access to the water. We are big boaters, big swimmers, big, I don’t know, it’s jets here, <laugh>, paddle borders. We have all active recovery.
Sevan Matossian (03:27):
Uh, Yani, I love Babylon. CrossFit from afar.
Trish Evangelista (03:30):
Thanks Yani.
Sevan Matossian (03:32):
And, um, it’s not, uh, you really put it a lot of effort in personally to make your gym a better place, to make you a better person, to make your trainers better. Like you, you’re, as I recall from speaking with you in the past, you really, this thing’s not running on autopilot. You, you do everything with intention.
Trish Evangelista (03:53):
Yes. Yeah, for sure. And I invest a lot into the people that support my gym, the people that are working for me. I really, I truly believe in that statement. Like, happy coaches and an affiliate is like the only way for an affiliate to be successful. Um, so that’s like my priority.
Sevan Matossian (04:10):
Uh, Audrey, you know, someone’s a northerner when they like boating. I wish I got that joke for <laugh>.
Trish Evangelista (04:19):
I say, um, and like, and all those great things you want me to say water for everybody have less water.
Sevan Matossian (04:26):
And, uh, recently and, and the highest sort of the, the, there’s kind of levels to, not levels in a good or bad way, I would say, but there’s levels to the education to being a, uh, a trainer gym owner, right? There’s, there’s, you do CrossFit yourself, you fall in love with it. Maybe you take your L one, uh, then you think, oh, you start having this desire to, uh, spread the message. I think that’s a pretty common thing, right? Someone’s so excited cuz of how it affected their life and their friends and family’s life. And then maybe they become a trainer or they open a gym or they start training the park, or they start picking up clients and then they take an L two and then maybe they take an L three and then maybe they sign up for some, uh, some, some two brain business or something like that. And they just kind of keep adding right to the, to the arsenal. Is is there any, what are some other, do you feel, what I’m trying to get here is what are some of the things you’ve done to um,
Trish Evangelista (05:22):
Well it’s the, it’s the continue Ed, right? So for me, like my personal journey journey, I’ve taken the L one twice. I’ve taken the L two twice. Okay. Um, I have taken the L three and I failed it. Um, I took it during the process of our move of the affiliate. So Matt, I don’t know if you’ve ever moved your affiliate, but it
Sevan Matossian (05:38):
I have. Yeah. It’s <crosstalk>. Yeah. To
Trish Evangelista (05:40):
Move your affiliate and then try to study for a pretty important exam was not a good personal best decision. But <laugh>, I didn’t plan on moving my affiliate at the time that I signed up for it. So that is on my future list of re attempting the L three, um, and properly preparing for it. So where I am within the place of the business, I needed to know like what was my next step in the year of 2023. Like, what was I gonna do for my personal education, my team’s personal education, um, what, what did we need in the affiliate? Like where did we have to level up and we coach, like, again, everybody could always be better, right? I can go to Matt’s affiliate, I can go to any affiliate in the world and, and give some type of feedback. But we run like a really good class, right?
(06:21):
Like we have great group management, we have great time management, but like all of a sudden my classes went from running at 10 people to 15 people to now 25 to 35 people in, in some classes. And every coach meeting over the last few months has been like, we need another coach. We need another coach. But when I step in and I coach the larger group classes, like I’m figuring it out. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and why am I able to figure it out? But my coaches are struggling and the only difference is, is experience and maybe a little bit more confidence cuz it’s my business and I don’t have the fear of messing up as much cuz I don’t, I’m only letting myself down
Sevan Matossian (06:53):
Totally. So
Trish Evangelista (06:55):
When Denise did come in, like the timeline or, or me deciding to do the coach development program, or why I decided to do it was we were struggling with like just leveling up our coaching in the affiliate. Like how could our coaches be better? And that’s seeing and correcting and the only way to be better at seeing and correcting is being uncomfortable in the moment and doing it often. And there’s no better person than the OG Denise Thomas herself to come in and do that. So I reached out to Denise probably about a year ago and it took her a while for her and I to like a line on it and figure it out together, what timeline would work best. But we made the decision on the first week of April and she came to the affiliate. Um, and that was like the decision I made for 2023 for my coach’s education.
(07:35):
Like next year, 2024 in my head, my next conversation that I’m setting up meetings for is having a pregnancy and postpartum certification and getting every coach certified in that because of how big pregnancy and postpartum is becoming in my life with all the moms that I’m helping. I want it to be that the moms can finish with me in a mom program and I can comfortably put them in every class afterwards with my regular coaches. So that’s the 2024 plan. So to answer your question, I’m, I’m constantly trying to figure out just like the continued education for them. Not just for myself, but for them as well.
Sevan Matossian (08:09):
So going back to this thing, tell me about the thing that you did with Denise Thomas. Cuz that’s what really got my attention because this is, I haven’t met anyone I, I think, who’s been through this program. This isn’t a, you didn’t just contact her like, Hey, by the way, I’ve, uh, I’ve met her a handful of times and I’ve never, I’ve, I’ve heard so many good things about Denise Thomas through the years and I’ve never heard anything negative. Yeah. Which is kinda, which is kinda crazy. Yeah. I mean, she’s, uh, people love her
Trish Evangelista (08:32):
And them doing so, like she’s taking over the best hour, like coaching feedback, which is great for those guys because they can focus more on the business side. And then now you have Denise Thomas in front of all these affiliate owners and all these coaches that are signed up for the coach development program. They’re gonna be exposed to her and, and get all this information, which is phenomenal for CrossFit in general. But,
Sevan Matossian (08:50):
Okay. Sorry, let me ask this real quick. Trish, are you saying that this isn’t a pro? So I just wanna go back a second. You reached out to her to come, how many days did she come?
Trish Evangelista (08:59):
She came for three full days. I’m talking 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM Denise and I were holding him
Sevan Matossian (09:04):
<laugh>. Okay. And, and, um, she doesn’t in this capacity that she was at your gym, she doesn’t work for CrossFit?
Trish Evangelista (09:11):
No. This is a separate program that she
Sevan Matossian (09:13):
Okay. So
Trish Evangelista (09:14):
It used
Sevan Matossian (09:14):
To be, I I totally thought that there was a CrossFit program. Okay. No,
Trish Evangelista (09:17):
It was though Sivan. Ok. It was one of those things that Sivan, um, that they had like with, it was like when they had the specialty certs underneath CrossFit, and then when everything was happening, they got rid of the specialty certs. And now I think they’re still teetering the line of what is a specialty cert and what’s not. Because at one point this was, I think, uh, a specialty program under them at some point. And then it was like a program that was started by her in Austin back in the day at, at One Nation. So when, the reason I wanted this program was I knew what she was doing. Like she was going into affiliates and she would pretty much be like, like she just, the first day was like evaluating. She would watch everything we would do, like see how we do it, kind of just like pick and choose, like where we need to level up as individuals, pick and choose where we need to level up as a whole as a team.
(10:01):
Um, and then it was like she was on the floor with us and she’s, you know, like seeing and correcting with us and, and teaching us different ways from, for example, like we would lay out lesson plans every day, but one thing we weren’t considering with the larger classes was like safety and necessarily the best room layout. And that was one thing, like she really focused on with our team in helping our coaches like establish a better layout. Um, or she would walk around with the room with us and she would see something and she would sit next to me and be like, do you see that? And I’d be like, no, I I don’t see what you’re seeing. And the reason I’m not seeing it is because she’s like that expert eye in coaching and just, it’s not a norm. Like what she’s seeing and correcting isn’t what your, your normal CrossFit coach is seeing and correcting. It’s the advanced seeing and correcting. Right. Right.
Sevan Matossian (10:43):
Um,
Trish Evangelista (10:45):
So she comes in for, she came in for three full days. Um, I have a 5:00 AM 6:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM class. We prescheduled my classes so she could see everybody, every single coach. Uh, now one thing to call out is I have
Sevan Matossian (11:00):
All my, let me, let me, sorry. I gotta, by the way, you’re fucking amazing guest. You’re saying? Yeah. She’s awesome, isn’t she? But yeah, but, but Trish, gimme one second. Gimme one second. Yeah, I dunno
Trish Evangelista (11:08):
If you want cut me off whenever, I don’t
Sevan Matossian (11:09):
Know. No, no. Yeah, yeah. No, I want you try not to forget where you’re at, but, um, I want to paint some bigger picture of some stuff I don’t understand. So Jason Ackerman is, he, he works for CrossFit Inc. But he also has a business called The Best Hour of the Day.
Trish Evangelista (11:24):
Ja. So Ackerman is on seminar staff, right? He works for Best Hour of Their Day, which is a business. Right? Okay. That’s ran by him, Fern and Marcus, gk. Okay. Best Hour of the Day is an approved partner, uh, affiliate partner, part of the affiliate partner network as a business coach. So you have two Brain, right? Who’s out, and then you have Best Hour, which is the only one that’s supported by CrossFit. So that’s Best Hour, how I’m,
Sevan Matossian (11:46):
Okay. And then, and then Jason has a business too, right? So these are all affiliate support businesses, like Two Brain Business, this, um, uh, this, this program, the Best Hour of the Day, the Best hour of the day has. And then Jason has one too, right? NC Fit, fit has one, doesn’t he do?
Trish Evangelista (12:01):
Yes. <inaudible>
Sevan Matossian (12:02):
Yeah. Has, so these are part of this, this ecosystem of businesses that help affiliates. Okay. And you and but the one that Jason Ackerman has that they, this is sort of a spinoff, CrossFit used to do it, and they don’t do it anymore. So Jason’s kind of taken it over.
Trish Evangelista (12:18):
No eliminate,
Sevan Matossian (12:19):
No eliminate.
Trish Evangelista (12:20):
The only connection to Ackerman right now is the fact that he’s my business coach and that they just hired Denise Thomas to be, to run their coach development program.
Sevan Matossian (12:28):
Okay. Okay. I God, yesterday on the show, I thought this was something that you bought from CrossFit for like 5,000 bucks where they send a, uh, no, but I, for three days
Trish Evangelista (12:36):
It’s directly $5,000.
Sevan Matossian (12:38):
Okay. Okay. <laugh>. But, but, but this is, is this <laugh>? Okay. So it’s, so it’s a serious investment, but this used to be something CrossFit had that they kind of put to rest and Jason’s like, fuck that. I’m picking it up and running with it. Well,
Trish Evangelista (12:51):
Like, I think that’s what’s happening. Yeah. Like, okay, so like, it was a program that Austin and, or I think it was like Austin and Denise together, Austin did the bus. Like the way Austin explained to me, like Austin kind of handled the business stuff. Denise did all the coaching stuff and then Denise acquired it from Austin when Austin started doing all the other stuff he’s doing. And now it’s Denise’s program. I believe that is still a separate entity currently from Beau. I don’t know if the plan, which I would imagine the plan is to inherit this in-person intensive visit from Denise under Beau, but I’m not a hundred. Sure.
Sevan Matossian (13:23):
Okay. Sorry. I thank you for taking the time. I just wanted to get a big picture because I had it totally misunderstood. I thought this was a, like a, so although it’s not a, it’s not owned by hq, these are people who have been immersed inside of HQ who are still immersed inside of hq, who have HQ’s blessings and who obviously including myself, are crazy well respected from, in all aspects, from running businesses to training to, uh, crazy people skills. I mean, she’s got crazy people skills.
Trish Evangelista (13:49):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And you can get CEUs outta the program.
Sevan Matossian (13:52):
Okay. Okay.
Trish Evangelista (13:53):
So if you are an L three affiliate owner or coach and you wanna do this, you, you can get the, the CEUs. This is actually, did you see like the most recent announcement of Christina Anderson, the L four? No. Like she was part of the reason I found this program, her and this other guy, Josh, they did it and they had Denise work with them or did, or, or I think Christina Anderson went to Denise at one point and or went to one read Na one Nation and I remember watching it and that’s how I found out about this.
Sevan Matossian (14:17):
Where would I find, where would I find that most recent announcement you’re talking about?
Trish Evangelista (14:21):
Uh, the L four one? Yeah, Christina, you can bring up her Instagram. Christina Anderson’s that she has like her L four CrossFit announcement on there, but she was somebody who I like met three years ago through Best Hour and the coaching development program there. And her journey has just been like, she got her L four now.
Sevan Matossian (14:40):
How, how much is the, um, uh, the, the program that you’re doing with Best Hour? Like the, what do you call it, the coach coaches mentoring or business mentoring?
Trish Evangelista (14:49):
I don’t know the exact price. Cause I signed up two years ago. Um, I, it it’s definitely around, they do it like monthly now, so you can sign up to pay monthly and do it like $1,000 a month so you don’t have to lay out the investment in front. Um, if it doesn’t work out, I think it’s like almost like a membership contract now. Like if it’s you paying month to month and you can break up if you need to kind of thing. But, um, again, for me, when I paid it, it was like $10,000 upfront and I made my money back within three months.
Sevan Matossian (15:17):
Gotcha. Yeah. That’s great. That’s really good, by the way.
Trish Evangelista (15:21):
And like, if anybody is like contemplating this and isn’t sure whether they should do this for their affiliate, like by all means I’m happy to have a conversation with you. But it’s like they, they give you the modules and if you’re willing to work, and to Shan’s point, like, don’t get me wrong, I put a lot of energy into my affiliate, but I love what I do. Um, but I worked hard, you know, I didn’t just make three the money back in three months easily. Like, I, I worked fairly hard.
Sevan Matossian (15:45):
Yeah. It, I, I remember the last time we talked, it’s like th this is your, um, this is your focus. This is your baby.
Trish Evangelista (15:53):
Yeah. I love it. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (15:55):
Okay. And, and those pictures that we showed a second ago, I dunno if you saw ’em, but those were the inside of your gym. It’s a big gym. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Trish Evangelista (16:02):
Yeah, that’s, um, this is the most one. Like yeah, this is the gym.
Sevan Matossian (16:06):
Okay. So the gym’s running, the gym’s running well, but for some reason you think you, you just can’t stop get, getting better. You want to constantly getting better. So you reach out and to Denise Thomas because you find out that, um, it’s available through the best hour of the day and she comes out for three days. Okay. And that’s why I cut you off. Sorry, I wanted to tell, get the big picture understanding first.
Trish Evangelista (16:26):
Yeah, no. Um, yeah, so then like we scheduled the time and she kind of like, she took insight to like what the coaches looked like before that, like what their positions were within the gym. Cuz I do have all part-time coaches. Um, and I called that out because, you know, after having coming in, this is something that I think everyone can benefit from, but like, you need to be in the right state of your business, in the right state of your affiliate in order for her to come in. Um, meaning like if you’re not, if your coaches didn’t take their L two, like I wouldn’t recommend doing this. It doesn’t make sense to, um, they need to know like how to lay out a room and, and, and know the general of seeing and correcting and then being vulnerable and being okay. Being uncomfortable because the first 24 hours, like, I actually did like a review with each coach individually. I made them fill out a survey and like every single one of them was like, the first day was so nerve-wracking, <laugh>, like,
Sevan Matossian (17:19):
It was terrified. What do you mean by part-time coach? How many hours did they coach a week to be part-time?
Trish Evangelista (17:23):
It varied. So the minimum is four hours per week. Um, and then the max that I have is about 15 hours per week right
Sevan Matossian (17:29):
Now. Okay. Okay. And and you’re basically saying if you want to, if you wanna get the most out of your investment, kind of like have tried your best already. Meaning, meaning that’s why you’re saying have an L two?
Trish Evangelista (17:43):
Yeah, like I, I still haven’t had my follow up call with Denise. Like she’s reached out to me weekly since she’s left. So she was here the first week of April and I personally still haven’t taken the call because I’m still reflecting on everything from that week. I’m making business changes, I am making, I’m adjusting approaches to staff. I am reevaluating, I’m hiring a whole new role to support my staff. Mm-hmm
Sevan Matossian (18:10):
<affirmative>, what role is that? What role is that? What do you mean by a whole new role?
Trish Evangelista (18:13):
So we’re calling it the gym hero right now, but that’s just like a random word that I think I gained from best Hour somewhere. But the reason I’m calling it the gym, how hours is one thing I realized when Denise came and I asked way too much of these guys. Like I want them to come in and coach a killer freaking class. Like I want them to put on a Broadway show, like just like they have in New York City, bring it to Babylon CrossFit and a CrossFit matter, right? I want them to spend the first 10 minutes of class before they start Googling the CrossFit power clean and re-looking at the points of performance before they get into the class just so it’s fresh. So like how can I ask them to do that and be better and, and coach the level that I want them to coach when I’m asking them to show up 10 minutes earlier to lay out 15 rowers because we have 20 people in class, how can I ask them to write an hour lesson plan when I’m telling them they have to sweep the floor at the end of the class?
(19:05):
Mm mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, like taking into consideration that the gym has grown, right? Like in the beginning it was okay to ask, you know, um, we’ll use Chris OB cuz he’s been here the longest. Like, it, it was okay to ask my coach OB to stay after and clean up the bathroom sink and put the paper towels in because he was only coaching like eight people in class. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and he can get away with a half-ass class. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, now you can’t, like we run classes. Like I first took classes when I went to go see Ben Bergeron across the New England. Like that’s how my classes are run. You’re walking into Blon. It’s not even like, there’s no uncertainty that when you, sometimes you walk into affiliates, you’re like, who’s in charge? What’s happening? Like, no. Like, you know, who’s coaching, you know, when class is starting. But for me, this new role, Matt, to answer your question is like I’m taking everything in addition outside of coaching, writing it down and hiring someone for that. Mm-hmm. So
(19:58):
What this role is gonna look like a little bit is they’re gonna come in at night, um, from five 30 to seven 30 and they’re gonna clean the equipment up from the 6:00 PM class and they’re gonna put the equipment out for the 5:00 AM class the next day. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then in addition to that, laying out the classes to help us there with the room layout, they’re gonna be cleaning. Um, and again, like know that, I don’t know if how deep you guys selected on my Instagram, but like I have really bad ooc d that like my dumbbells are color coded, my jump ropes are, you know, they are smart gears and I expect the handles to go back like,
Sevan Matossian (20:31):
Hey, there’s wrong with that. I’m the same way. Yeah.
Trish Evangelista (20:36):
Out numbers, facing
Sevan Matossian (20:38):
Numbers
Trish Evangelista (20:39):
Aren’t grab a Sharpie and color them in <laugh>. This was little shit that I was asking my coaches to do. Right? Like, I don’t, my coaches need to be professional coaches and having Denise come in and like remind me like, you know, like, like listen, like they can’t do this if you’re asking ’em to do this was really great for me in that moment and I needed it as a leader. Um, and, and that’s part of the reason I haven’t taken her call yet because like that I’m literally just trying to set them up for the best success before I go back to her to learn what she wants them to be better at as coaches to help them apply it to like, the new look of what class will look like and the structure will look like.
Sevan Matossian (21:14):
Um, it, it reminds me what you’re saying also, uh, taking my kids to a skateboard park or to a professional skateboarding instructor, like, I don’t know what you know about skateboarding, but there’s this idea of dropping in on bowls. It’s where there’s this, there’s like a swimming pool and you drop in on it and if you take your kid to a professional instructor and they don’t have the basic concepts of like just dropping into a bowl, then you’re gonna spend 200 bucks for them teaching your kid to do something that hopefully he would’ve already known before he got there, let’s say, so that he could get the most out of the instructor. So you, but basically what you’re saying is, is she, she, if you’re not, she’ll be doing stuff helping you with stuff that you’re not getting the best value out of her if you haven’t reached a certain level already.
Trish Evangelista (21:54):
Yeah, absolutely. And I don’t even know that she would come to you to be honest. Like she kept, that was one thing she kept saying to me. She’s like, she doesn’t just go to anybody.
Sevan Matossian (22:01):
Did you try to questionnaire or anything beforehand?
Trish Evangelista (22:04):
We, we, she emailed, we sent out the schedule to her beforehand. Like her and I adjusted my class schedule beforehand. I gave her like a little, like a little two or three blurb on everybody. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, that’s actually feedback I have for her when we do chat is for her to do like a deeper dive going into an affiliate, like with the affiliate owner. Like I can, I I’m gonna give her some feedback there, like with the guidance because I do wish she would’ve known a little bit more things about my business or my emotional feelings about my coaches beforehand. So she knew how to approach them the way I wanted them, her to a little bit
Sevan Matossian (22:36):
More mm-hmm. <affirmative> was it, was it too harsh or something where they was like, that fucking sucks. Why would you do that,
Trish Evangelista (22:40):
Matt? It’s been crazy since she’s left. Oh shit.
Sevan Matossian (22:43):
It’s been, wow. Wow.
Trish Evangelista (22:46):
Yeah, it’s been, it’s been, and that again, that’s like part
Sevan Matossian (22:49):
Of the, because it was so potent.
Trish Evangelista (22:50):
Yeah. Like it was hard. Oh shit. It was like, and it, and again like, you know, like if you, when you go to your, when you get, when you’re, when you’re getting evaluated, when you’re in the L two, like you’re sweating mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like you’re shaking <laugh>, like it’s so nerve wracking teaching a med ball clean in front of seminar staff. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and why, who cares? Like it’s Ackerman or like, now, now I feel indifferent about it. Like I said that to Austin cuz like the day after Denise came Friday and then Saturday morning I flew to DC or no, Friday night I flew to DC or Ry.
Sevan Matossian (23:18):
Did you cry during her, her visit
Trish Evangelista (23:20):
Four times, five times? I cry all the time, five
Mattew Souza (23:22):
Times. <laugh>, <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (23:25):
She drives in to start sobbing. God,
Trish Evangelista (23:28):
God, I think I cried the first minutes. I’m like, holy shit, it’s the first day I’m crying. I’m never gonna hear this. Um, but like, that’s like what I said, I was like, you know, the first day I think, and then my coaches realized like, she’s not, she’s not, first of all like we’re she, I don’t work her, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like I wanted this woman to come in. Right. She can do what she wants. None of us work for her. She’s here because she cares so much about CrossFit and wanting to make us better. So it’s hard to hear that things that you’re not great at things. And you know, I, especially me, I’m an emotional train wreck, but I know it’s what I needed and I know the fact that I haven’t taken her a co yet and how much I’m reflecting on how much I’m gonna change and implement. It was a great thing for me. You know? And when it comes to individual cases, there were a lot of things that were, that have come up individually that needed to come up and she forced them to come out a lot.
Sevan Matossian (24:20):
What do you, what do you mean by that? Like, drama was like one coach. Like there’s an issue and she’s like, there’s an issue there. I see it
Trish Evangelista (24:27):
There. So all my coaches are probably listening. So I do wanna be mindful of what I say <laugh>
Sevan Matossian (24:32):
Not after the coaches,
Trish Evangelista (24:34):
But, but I, I can like, I think it’s just like, you know, I think it made everybody realize like, if this is the level Trish wants me to coach, I can’t do all these other things for Trish and I don’t wanna let her down. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it happened in their own way for multiple of them. Like, again, like one was like, I’m getting overwhelmed and I’m burnt out. And another one was like, I don’t know if I can coach anymore. Um, and I’m sharing this. Wow. Yeah. Like it’s like it’s to that and I’m like, and I, and they said it had nothing to do with Denise. Um, weird
Sevan Matossian (25:04):
Timing. That’s all
Trish Evangelista (25:05):
<laugh>. Yeah, exactly. And again, they’re listening to this. So I I I I, I’m very forward, as we all know, I have no problem having these conversations to everybody, but it’s like, you know, just like, no, let’s just reflect on what just happened. Like, yeah, coaching’s gonna get a lot harder, but what I’m gonna do is like, I understand that I’m asking a lot more of you guys, but I’m not gonna ask more of you guys until I can make it better for you. And that’s where I think it got uncomfortable.
Sevan Matossian (25:28):
I, I wonder, um, it, it’s so, it’s so interesting. I I would be curious if Denise and the other people who do this, um, this type of mentoring, if you’re sort of a unique situation because what I’m, what I see and I’m hearing from you is this is a way over simplification. But they want you to ch they they want you to chill. Like, I pictured her coming in when I picture a mentor coming in, I pictured someone coming in being like, Hey, I noticed that you’re not saying hi to your, um, members when they come in. I notice that the gym isn’t as clean as it could be. I notice that you’re not offering a 5:00 AM class. That’s, that’s not what they’re saying to you. You, you’re like, you, you may be even doing too much <laugh>. Like, they’re like, yo girl, reel it back just a little bit with it. You know what I mean? Set yourself up for success. It’s it mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But on the other hand, anyone who’s willing to put themselves through this, what you’re doing must already be kind of, should be where you’re at. Did you expect this ki type of feedback? Did you know, did you, did it, did you expect other, like is it the kind of feedback you expected or were you expecting more things? Like, um, and, and maybe she gave you this too. Hey, your wall balls are in the wrong spot. Hey, you should accept a swipe.
Trish Evangelista (26:44):
It was exactly what I was looking for. It
Sevan Matossian (26:45):
Was, it
Trish Evangelista (26:46):
Was a two day inten, a three day intensive level two on steroids. Like, that’s the only way to explain it. Anybody who’s been to the level two hits the level two on steroids in such a deeper dive into it, like in a deeper dive into lesson plans and things like that also.
Sevan Matossian (27:01):
Wow. Did you say that you have classes with 30 people in them?
Trish Evangelista (27:05):
Yeah. It’s been crazy.
Sevan Matossian (27:08):
God, that’s a testament to the, uh, this is, that’s a testament to the community that you have there. This is off subject a little bit, but do people feel welcome when they come into your gym?
Trish Evangelista (27:17):
Yeah, I hope so. Yeah. That’s like the, I mean, again, like I I, the way I compare it is like just the people that visit, right. That aren’t from here, that people know them by name, they know where they’re from and things like that and mm-hmm.
Sevan Matossian (27:29):
<affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>
Trish Evangelista (27:30):
Again, I’m sitting on a podcast with you at nine 30 when I have my busiest class of the week going on.
Sevan Matossian (27:36):
I, I, I appreciate it. I, I, I, I keep, I, there’s this theme, um, it, it’s, it’s, it’s a, there’s the theme I hear and I was quick to judge it at first, and now I’m rethinking it where people come into gyms and they say that they don’t feel welcome. And at first my response is, well, that’s like your fucking problem. Make yourself feel welcome or don’t. That’s your problem. <laugh>. But more and more I think about some of the affiliates I’ve been into mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I think of some of the stories I’ve been hearing. And, um, and to be honest with you, I can’t think of any, I don’t hear any stories affiliates who have 30 people in the class. That’s huge, right, Matt? That’s a big class. Yeah. I mean, we get that, but that’s like events or something like Merr or like, you know what I mean? We get a lot of people funneled into three classes. How, how many total members do you have?
Trish Evangelista (28:19):
Uh, after this month we’re probably at like one 90.
Sevan Matossian (28:23):
Wow. So, so the people who, the people who go there are committed to the gym? There’s no,
Trish Evangelista (28:31):
No,
Sevan Matossian (28:31):
There’s no,
Trish Evangelista (28:32):
I mean, we have, we have people that bounce around and things like that, but no, it’s like, it’s, they’re, they’re all best friends, you know, like it’s one of my coaches’ birthdays on Monday and there’s a group of like, I think like 15 or 20 of them on a hike right now, you know, and then there’s, it’s just, it’s completely unraveled in the way that you would ever want a CrossFit community unravel in the best way possible. Yeah. That’s
Sevan Matossian (28:54):
Awesome.
Trish Evangelista (28:55):
Um, and it, and when I say it’s welcoming, it’s welcoming all on all kinds and types too, right? Like I have huge L G B T community, like, uh, huge part of my stress isn’t Merf Merck’s plan right now. I’m, I’m more stressed out about pride than anything because I need to make pride great for my community.
Sevan Matossian (29:11):
What, what is that? Is that so an event you do?
Trish Evangelista (29:14):
Yeah. So our village throws a parade. So what we do is I run a, a free tie dye event. So the, they just have to buy their t-shirt and then I hire someone to come in and run a tie dye shirt event, and then everyone wears my tie dye shirts at the village parade. Um, and then this year I’m trying to set up like a happy hour so everyone can like, just meet up after the parade for an hour and then go break off and do their own thing. But instead of investing money in the village parade this year, one of the things CrossFit has like been pushing is us for us to do like memberships. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So what I’m going to do, instead of paying like two grand to get in the village parade, I’m gonna spend and donate a scholar, a membership, a yearly membership to a local kid in the community. Because one thing that I had recently was a lot of families come up to us who are, have kids in younger school.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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