This past weekend I flew to Dallas for a training conference hosted by my coaching team.
I know. You're probably thinking "work trip? yawn," but let me tell you that when you're a Beachbody coach, boring, stuffy, awkward work trips are a thing of the past. They're replaced with epic adventures that turn your dreams into reality, introduce you to people who instantly feel like long-lost family, evaporate all your petty self doubts, fears, and insecurities, and make you feel capable of taking over the world.
So yeah.
This was another one of those trips where you know that your life has shifted or aligned (in a good way!), but you’re still not quite sure how the shift is going to work itself out...so I’m going to try to give myself time to marinate and reflect.
I'm buzzing full of ideas, inspiration, and grand schemes and plans for my team and business, but I know that I'm not going to be able to calm down and focus until I process all my feels with a long and rambly blog post.
So here we are.
This weekend was a big full-circle moment for me because it was the second time I’ve attended this particular conference, The Platinum Edge. Last year it was my first official live Beachbody event. I bought the ticket while I was still working full time and had only been coaching a few months. I had absolutely no idea what to expect and joked around with my old co-workers about going to a "fitness cult convention," but I was blown open and filled with so much energy I wouldn’t shut up for weeks afterward (sorry Ben!).
You see, last year’s trip to Dallas ended up being one of the major turning points in my journey, the moment I truly knew I had found my purpose in life and realized exactly WHAT I was getting myself into with Team Beachbody and the bigger picture of what we do as coaches. I know that I'm going to continuously evolve, but I know for certain that I’m meant to share my story and help other women work towards becoming their best selves, and that Beachbody is the platform for me to make that happen.
If you want to see how far I’ve come in the past year, you can read my 2014 The Platinum Edge recap here. (Warning: extreme passion ahead…you may be inspired to take action on your dreams...you’ve been warned).
This year felt different because I have a year’s worth of perspective and experience, so I was able to relax and enjoy the trip a little more! I was mainly excited to get the chance to hang out with the seven coaches from my own team who joined me :)
We hadn’t all been together since our trip to Nashville in July for Coach Summit (the huge conference open to the entire Beachbody network), and I was also meeting one of my coaches in person for the very first time!
The power of social media to connect you with other women who share your exact same values, dreams, Meyers-Briggs personality (INFJ baby), and goals in life is pretty ridiculous, and I love explaining to people how I met my friends on Instagram. It’s kind of like love at first sight, or online dating for friends...you KNOW you’re meant to be together. You don’t have to spend time building a relationship because you already share so many similarities so you can immediately connect on an incredibly deep level.
My coach Sharayah lives in the Dallas area (this city confuses me so much, it’s like a vast sprawl of highways and sub-cities that are more satellites than suburbs), so I flew in Thursday to spend the night at her place.
We went straight from the airport to TJMaxx and Target for some shopping (priorities!) and then went into Dallas for dinner at HGSplyCo with one of her coaches, Shamira!
We split a delicious veggie and ginger hummus plate complete with bacon chips, then I ate an equally delicious Tex Mex bowl with pulled pork.
Sharayah and I stayed up way too late talking and hanging out, then got up early for a jog around the lake in her neighborhood. It was a perfect morning!
We spent Friday morning driving around the metropolis running errands and picking up food and supplies for the weekend, because apparently spending two nights in a resort means you need to be prepared for an Arctic expedition.
Then we finally made it to the Gaylord Resort to check in and meet up with the rest of our teammates before the conference sessions kicked off Friday afternoon!
Um, can we just talk about the Gaylord Texan for a sec? This place is crazy. It's like an indoor Texas-sized Christmas snowglobe.
Friday night Hannah, Katie and I grabbed cocktails at one of the resort bars (the Paloma is officially my new fave cocktail I discovered in Cabo!), then our bigger team hosted a pajama party...yup these are my people, and we crashed pretty early.
(There were 50 people in the hotel suite...my girls and I immeidately found our "introvert corner" hahaha).
Saturday was an early morning live TurboKick workout, and then a full day of sessions!
When you become a coach, you instantly become part of a network of teams, sort of like nested umbrellas or a big family tree. The team that I started is called Inspire Joy and we have about 140 coaches right now (as of November 2015), but we’re part of a larger team called ShredNation, which is then part of a massive team called Platinum Presenters. Platinum Presenters holds roughly ⅓ of all Team Beachbody coaches (there are approx 380,000 coaches in the entire network right now), and The Platinum Edge is our main event of the year. Still with me?
The great thing about a multi-level marketing business structure (which is NOT a pyramid scheme) is that everyone's on an equal playing field, no matter when you sign up. There's no ceiling or limit on the income you can earn or the success you can create for yourself, and so there’s no feeling of competition among Beachbody coaches. Our personal success only elevates the success of the entire network, so there’s a big culture of mentorship, sharing, training, teaching, duplication, and professional as well as personal development.
As my mentor Chelsea put it, "I felt like we were one big family and it was this feeling of, "I love what I do. You love it too? Here's what I do. Let's change the world together."
We got to hear from some of the top leaders in the network and basically hear their insider secrets to how they grew their businesses! Including Chelsea sharing her social media ninja strategies :)
Needless to say we were all pretty physically, emotionally and mentally drained by the end, so we gave ourselves an hour of “introvert downtime” to unwind before heading out to Sweet Tomatoes for an Inspire Joy dinner!
(My happy place!)
This was a surreal moment for me. Sweet Tomatoes is one of my favorite restaurants, and going there with a group of women (who also all love endless salads, baked goods, soft serve, and taking personality and Spirit Animal quizzes) who I didn’t even know 2 years ago was so much fun. Being able to find each other over the powers of the internet is kind of a miracle. This is how I feel whenever I meet a new client or future coach….like OMG another sister?? Where have you been all my life?
After eating way too many veggies, muffins, and soft serve, we went back to the resort and crashed early again.
Sunday we got up early for another live workout, PiYo with Chalene herself! This was the third time I’ve had the privilege of doing a PiYo class with Chalene and it’s pretty much my definition of happiness and joy.
The at-home version of PiYo is good, but it just doesn’t compare to the real deal, and I’ve been throwing around the idea of becoming PiYo certified ever since last year because it just feels too good not to share. Too many life goals...
After we finished sculpting our buns of steel, we went through our shower and Shakeology rotation and headed back for one last round of sessions to close out the conference! Sunday was probably my favorite day.
Chalene presented on using Periscope, and James Wedmore did an amazing YouTube training.
Sharing more videos is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately (and I LOVE learning and listening to presentations), so I was in my element!
I’ve officially started a (super awkward) channel on Periscope and am going to broadcast a video every single day, trial by fire style...feel free to download the app and follow me (annamarialocke)!
If there’s one thing I’ll say about Chalene, it’s that she is incredibly motivating and will get you to take action on pretty much anything, regardless of how terrified you are.
After the conference ended, I had a few hours before I had to catch my flight back to Chicago so I ended up just chilling and hanging out with three of my coaches who didn’t have to leave right away either. This was maybe my favorite moment of the whole trip, just chatting and decompressing, encouraging and inspiring each other to get after our plans and big ideas.
This fall I can tell I’ve been entering a new phase of my life and business, but I haven't been able to quite put my finger on what's changing. I’m letting go of a lot of my old fears and self doubts, and also facing a lot of resistance and insecurities in that process of release.
I do know that I’m exactly where I’m meant to be, and that big things are in store. I’m finally learning to be at peace with being a beginner, and not pressuring myself to instantly succeed (or beating myself up for moving slower than I think I “should” be).
I know for certain that the only thing holding me back is myself...but I’m not alone and I’m learning how to accept and receive help and support!
You aren’t alone either.
As coaches, we work for ourselves and it’s easy to feel alone when you’re stuck behind a screen, but when we have a chance to come together in real life it’s the most powerful experience.
(With the lady who sucked me into this madness, my gorgeous friend and coach Deidre! I can't believe I was so skeptical at first...it took me about 3 months of obsessive research to pull the trigger on coaching, can you believe it?)
Think about your secret dream or passion. I know you have one! You might not have ever share it with anyone because you’re afraid of sounding stupid or unrealistic...but think of that “too good to be true” vision for your life.
Now imagine being in a ballroom with 1000 people who not only share a similar version of that vision, but who are actively working on making it come true.
Are you with me?
Yup, it’s pretty powerful.
I wouldn’t say I feel unstoppable now, but I do feel completely aligned, confident, and supported with where I’m at and where I’m going.
Becoming a coach sounds scary, until you just do it and realize that it’s not a big leap at all.
It’s simply a small step into the person you were meant to be all along, and our team is here to welcome you with open arms (and maybe a crazy workout or Paloma).
xo Anna
You can learn more about coaching with Inspire Joy here! If you have any questions, please send me an email! There’s no such thing as a stupid question. I love sharing my experiences as a coach and would love to hear your story too :)
Beachbody does not guarantee any level of success or income from the Team Beachbody Coach Opportunity. Each Coach's income depends on his or her own efforts, diligence, and skill. See our Statement of Independent Coach Earnings located at https://images.beachbody.com/coach-office/downloads/statement_of_independent_coach_earnings.pdf for the most recent information on our Coaches' actual incomes.
