Below is a letter Sean and I received from 2010 MEGA TRAINING Scholarship winner, Trent Mitchell and his wife Vicki.

Trent and Vicki have been in the fitness business for decades - lots of knowledge and wisdom. Trent's a former competitive body builder and fitness model.

Trent writes about his 'rookie' experience at MEGA TRAINING 2010 - and what it meant to Vicki and him.

If you're new to NPE, or been 'hangin around' with us for a while, but haven't pulled the trigger to get started in one of our programs, this is a MUST READ.

Because I've known Trent for over ten years, way back before Sean and I ever met (at that time, Sean was still tearing up the professional wakeboard scene fresh out of college).

He is one of the most solid individuals I know. A family man. A man of principle. A hard working man. The kind of guy you root for to win.

Read his letter ...



It's Friday, 2am and Vicki and I've tossed and turned like a couple of hard core insomniac's. We've just spent day number one at our first NPE Mega Training 2010 (MT) conference held in beautiful Orlando Florida. For those who aren't familiar with the company NPE, allow me to give you the fast track version. As you read this article, you'll soon understand why we couldn't sleep.

NPE started with Eric Ruth and Sean Greeley in 2006 and they provide systems, tools, and coaching to fitness businesses. They could have easily provided these systems to any other top business model, but thankfully, they chose the fitness industry. Dick Chilton and Camelia Herndon provide the "glue" that has placed NPE in the top 500 fastest growing business according to Inc. 500.

Maybe the best place to start is telling you what NPE is NOT ...

• It's not a fitness conference for trainers having to garner CEU's
• It's not a get rich quick pitch
• And it's definitely not the usual business conference that weighs your eyelids down!

That being said, I'd like to take you through and share just what NPE was to Vicki and I. Allow me to regress back to our restless Friday morning. We basically laid there, eyes wide open and were about as confused as two "personal trainers" could be as we found out that we weren't actually personal trainers, but business owners.

In summary, Vicki and I own Mitchell Fitness Systems, Inc. in Torrance, California. We train mostly "Baby Boomers" doing private, semi-private, and have recently begun to incorporate small group classes. A typical day begins at 5am, having a quiet time to prepare myself for a ten hour plus day getting home around 10pm, only to start the cycle over again the next day. Vicki's routine, although only four to six clients daily, is much more stressful than mine. She does so much more with her other duties. We've both just turned fifty years old and know we desperately need a change and we need it fast.


Upon check in at the beautiful Renaissance Orlando Airport Hotel in Orlando Florida, who do you think we'd run into and meet first but my mentor and long time marketing Coach Eric Ruth! Back in the late 1990's I was introduced to this man indirectly through a very tiny space advertisement in one of the fitness magazine's I was reading (can't remember which one). I'll paraphrase the headline and it read something like this, "How to instantly attract 20 new personal training clients in 30 days, GUARANTEED!" I immediately called for more information, and thus my relationship with Eric Ruth began.

I purchased Eric's "The Ultimate Personal Trainer Marketing Program for Fast Profits and Serious Net Worth" and used many of the fantastic marketing campaigns he'd written and he delivered on his promise. I got numerous clients but not having learned how to track my results, I couldn't tell you how many. Since that time I've basically been trading hours for dollars: Many hours.

After check in with some really nice folks working the NPE event, Vicki and I went to our room and got ourselves ready for the evening reception. That's where I met Sean Greeley. Spending the last couple of years reading about Sean in the numerous NPE emails, as well as other periodicals about all his achievements made him a "rock star" in my eyes. Vicki was not privy to what was going on or who everyone was, but she'd soon learn. Vicki didn't initially want to come with me to MT, but that was an argument that I had to win and I did!

As we were meeting and greeting other guests, Sean introduced us to Jeremy Gritton, last year's MT Scholarship Winner. The winner got free MT registration, hotel, and $100 daily food expense! Now Jeremy and I had something in common as I was the winner of this year's contest. Connecting with Jeremy is not too difficult because he's about as down to earth as one gets and, he and I are both Georgia boys. Sean made it pretty clear that I had much to live up to as Jeremy was up for the coveted Member of the Year Award. I had no idea just what Sean meant until later on. Vicki and I met many more wonderful people before we decided to go up to our room and get ourselves ready for ...


< Day one began with theme music by The O'Jays we still cannot get out of our head. Money, money, money, money ...MONEY! We then met Dan John, the keynote speaker.

These are the five points Mr. John impressed us with in his talk ... Never Let Go.

1. Integrity (be yourself because you are okay, everyone's weird!)
2. You're going to be lonely at times and that's okay.
3. Keep journals on training and thoughts because it's powerful and tells a story.
4. Don't listen or hang around negative people.
5. Embrace the journey!

The above points struck a nerve with us but the main theme was to do little and often over the long haul. He was talking about habits. Positive habits that each of our journeys are made of. Dan held us both spell bound with his story telling skill that made his talk one in which we'll never forget.

Next came some successful marketing case study campaigns delivered by some awesome VIP members. Vicki and I feverously wrote as fast as possible all the great information we heard. And man, there was tons of it! The ideas we were getting excited us and we talked much about it during the breaks with those who've been there and done it. It seemed that whomever we spoke with gave us encouragement and hope. Who does this?

Eric and Sean delivered extremely great talks on being unique and different as well as how to make, save, and invest the money you earn respectively. Sean strongly suggested that everyone structure their money for paying yourself first into a savings account as well as paying into a long term entity like a Roth IRA, even if it's a small amount. The important aspect of this is that it starts to form a positive habit. Vicki's all over it Sean!

How much more fun and excitement could an NPE MT attendee have? It just kept getting better! It was time for movie night featuring "Secrets to Their Success" with a cast of NPE VIP members who are rocking it! Eating our free popcorn and movie candy (hope our clients don't read this) and washing it down with soda in an unconscious manner (you've been there haven't you?), we watched some riveting stories that got us super excited and yes, brought out the tissue (those weren't tears on my face personally, just dabbing the sweat). All this brought day one to its completion and as

my story started out, we didn't sleep from that point on.


Day two began with Dr. Eric Cobb from Z-Health Performance Solutions. Not only is Dr. Cobb smart, he is incredibly fun to listen to as his stage presence draws you into every word. Dr. Cobb's talk was about how our brain works and functions in order to control the three systems in our body, e.g. visual, vestibular (balance), and proprioceptive (movement). Vicki and I both immediately were excited about the Z-Health certification that Dr. Cobb offered and we got the process started during the break. This certification will help us to differentiate ourselves from other personal training businesses by offering pain relief methods in order to help and service our customers better.

After a quick break, we rolled up our sleeves and learned more from the VIP's.

Several excellent case studies were presented and again, Vicki and I were overwhelmed with the information. We were particularly interested in the campaign called "Push-Ups for Charity" that Brad Linder spoke about. This campaign struck a nerve with us because it not only got Brad three newspaper articles in thirty days along with his picture and business featured in The Dallas Morning News, but more importantly, he raised over $10,000.00 for the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping our wounded military veterans. We then went for lunch and were told that Mr. X would be presenting after the break.


Mr. X we soon found out was Drew Bishof, an expert in Facebook Fitness Marketing. Since Vicki and I are ignorant about using this media, we were very interested to learn more. Basically, Drew's knowledge would help us to avoid the mistakes that others have made advertising in this media and he gave us valuable information to reach more prospects for pennies on the dollar!

We were informed the previous day that if anyone wanted to get coached by Eric, Sean, Camelia, and Dick, to fill out a form to come up on-stage for the Lazer Coaching Q & A session. Again, I waited until the last possible moment to fill out my form and handed it in right before the lunch break. Who do you think was chosen to come up in front of everyone for the session? Yes, Vicki and I were called upon. We were nervous but these wonderful people set our minds at ease as we had a great on-stage conversation about our present business. We took the advice we were given and will implement it immediately.

Next, Sean delivered a talk on On-line Marketing Breakthroughs. Sean, who Eric calls the "Master of Systems", taught us about how to generate leads through various avenues of on-line and off-line media. His simple formula, Traffic + Conversion = Profits, was extremely helpful. Sean's advice, using a metaphor, was to not fish with one pole in the water but to have many poles simultaneously in order to catch many fish! Combining many of the systems like Auto Closer as well as others could explode our business by generating massive traffic using on-line and off-line media.

After the dinner break we were treated with the Awards Banquet and Member of the Year Presentations. Just when Vicki and I thought we'd seen it all, we soon found out different! We found ourselves walking on a red carpet (just like Hollywood), and had our picture taken by a professional photographer, and enjoying many tasty h'orderves prior to the presentations. The awards presentation was a live feed that was watched by many on-line. The top five "Member of the Year" presenters gave riveting talks on just what one year with NPE did for not only their business, but their personal growth along the way. All Vicki and I could think was that we'd be on that stage next year vying for that award! The winner would be announced tomorrow on the final day, also on a streaming live on-line feed.

If you're thinking that we'd finally get a little sleep, think again! It was much worse for us because, along with the money song tune in our brains, NPE and all we'd witnessed had been forged deep within us. We want what these incredible business entrepreneur's have. Peace of mind with the help of the best fitness marketing company ...NPE.


If MEGA TRAINING ended now, it would have been enough. However, true to form, NPE over delivers and over gives because that's the kind of organization it is. It's who they are and what they love doing. We're thankful and ready for day three.

Eric Ruth taught us about how to structure advertising blueprints for success. Vicki and I found the printed checklist handout extremely valuable and plan to make several copies to keep and use. Eric's advice about the details of this checklist, especially to write like you talk, was great information. Now, Vicki and I would find ourselves upon our return home, looking and studying other advertisements with a critical eye to see if it meets the criteria that Eric's checklist contained.

After the break and a few cups of coffee, Sean taught us about establishing Celebrity Marketing Foundations. Using the marketing results triangle of "Message (what), Market (who), and Media (how)", Sean spoke on how we as business owners need to develop our own celebrity niche within our communities. How to build this expert status using local media and events to build celebrity status so others will pursue and seek us out!

We broke for lunch and again Vicki and I were unsure whether we qualified for the VIP luncheon, but decided to fill out the application after speaking with Eric; another last second task for us that led to the biggest turning point of the weekend. We became two committed business owners after this meeting ready to start a new chapter in our lives.

Following the VIP luncheon, we were introduced to celebrity lawyer, Nick Nanton. Nick's talk, "Transforming You from a Fitness Commodity to a Fitness Celebrity" was awesome to say the least. Getting clients and other business owners to proactively seek you out with money in hand was a paradigm shifting talk that was mind blowing! Nick was fun and entertaining. His quick wit and smile pulled us into every spoken word.

The award for "Member of the Year" was handed to none-other than Audra Baker. Audra is the kind of person you just want to hang out with. Her enthusiasm is contagious and you can't help but smile big when you're around her. Audra basically took a floundering boot camp business and turned it into a thriving money making machine all in less than a year to garner this prestigious award. She's modest and gives NPE the credit for giving her the systems necessary to succeed. That's the kind of person she is and why she took this year's top award.

I could go on and on in this article writing about the other's vying for this top award because they're dynamic and awesome in every way. I kept telling Vicki that I wanted us to be just like Vaughn Bethell and his first class team of trainers of who were there. Our new friends have become our mentors and to say we're thrilled would be a huge understatement.


As I write this, we are jetting back home to Los Angeles, money song tune still jamming in our heads, jabbering away like two busy beavers about ready to build the biggest and baddest damn fitness business you've ever seen! We're brainstorming about our business and personal values, goals, and mission statement, doing the things that create real business stability. Things we just learned from Eric, Sean, Dick, and Camelia.

Vicki and I have a goal to be on that stage next year to win "Member of the Year". We plan on bringing our staff and family to enjoy it with us, go to Disney World, have fun and celebrate. Who would have ever thought that a few simple words so masterfully crafted in a tiny space ad over ten years ago would lead to mine and Vicki's ticket to financial freedom? We'll see you all next year!

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