As I said last week, I am going to give you a review on my experiences over the past year both good and bad. Today’s Log is 2024 in Review: Never Give Up. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
I’ve written many times that you can’t beat a guy that won’t quit, right? You all remember me saying that? Well, it seemed like 2024 had it in for me.
Even worse than 2020 and all of it’s fuckery. That’s a bold statement Cotton.
No matter how many times 2024 tried to kick my teeth down my throat, I got back up. Never give up is something I live by. There is a difference between never give up and live to fight another day, or know when to walk away. As I say a lot, that’s a topic for another Coaching Log.
2024 in Review: Never Give Up-Health Issues:
2024 began right out of the gate with surgery.
Yup.
I had to get Quato removed (Quato was my hernia). I was relieved to get it done but not looking forward to all of the recovery time and down time from training. It seems like that’s all I did for the past few years. One training step forward, two training steps back. Oh well. Keep moving forward.
And then, I learned that I had HIGH blood pressure and needed medication to control it. I guess that the pre-op testing I did for the hernia surgery was a blessing.
I’ve always been proud that I don’t take any medication. A healthy diet and regular exercise go a long way. You can’t outrun heredity I guess. So, now I am on daily meds.
I kept pushing forward, and finally got to a place where I could train harder and more toward my goals of being unkillable. Things were going pretty good if I do say so myself.
Then, everything started to fall apart.
- I was exhausted all the time.
- Weak.
- Losing muscle mass at an alarming rate.
- Couldn’t remember anything, worse than usual.
- Focusing on tasks became very difficult.
- And, I lost my mojo.
A decision was made to see an endocrinologist and figure out what was wrong. As suspected, LOW T.
Low T is the cause of many, many issues and health problems in men. It needs to be addressed. Fortunately for me, my doctor gave me ONE medication to treat the cause and not eight medications to treat the symptoms.
Awesome!
Things were moving back on track.
There were a few more minor health issues and they are getting handled. Overall, I’m better off than many people so I’ll choose to look at that way. The purpose of this article isn’t to bitch, piss and moan about my problems. Rather, it is to teach you to get up after you get knocked down. Every time.
Never give up.
And don’t dwell on the past. The windshield is bigger than the rear view for a reason.
2024 in Review: Never Give Up-Training
I have nothing to bitch, piss or moan about here.
Once I recovered from the hernia repair and the LOW T, training has been GREAT.
I’ve identified some things (weaknesses) that I need to improve and am working on them.
I’ve also realized that I might have to hire one of my TEAM members to manage my programming. I feel like at this point I need someone to tell me what to do in the gym, and I just go do it.
We’ll see how that goes.
2024 in Review: Never Give Up-Business
Oh boy.
On a high note, I grew one of my companies, TPS Method Tactical: Boston’s Best Firearms Instruction (tpsmt.com) more than I thought we would. I can’t live off of it yet, but it’s growing as the word spreads.
Our motto is to build operator level skills in everyday people and we are doing it.
I’ve got a World Class team of firearms instructors ranging from members of US Special Forces, British Special Forces and Police/Sheriff SWAT-Response teams. And I am growing into a better instructor by teaching with them and learning from them.
TPS Method Tactical is also almost done with getting our state of the art firearms simulator running. Hopefully by Sunday! Sim training is the wave of the future, and we have an absolutely first class system.
This will help us grow!
And then the downside!
I lost a lot of time and money on a new business venture that fell apart, literally as you kids would say, as we were at the signing phase of the Purchase and Sale Docusigns. And it was 100% due to the dishonesty of the other side of the table.
Let me say that if you give your word, keep your word. Don’t be a lying piece of shit.
And don’t trust tinkers. Which I didn’t, but they effed me at the last minute somehow.
This endeavor had nothing to do with TPS but would have given me an alternate, unrelated stream of
revenue. Which I needed. Still do!
I’m going to make this as short as possible. 2024 was possibly the WORST year TPS has had in in it’s 25 years.
Yes, 2024 marked our 25th year in business.
WOW!
I cant believe it’s been that long.
Looking back at 2024, I have to go back to 2019.
In 2019, if things kept going the way they were for a year or so, I’d be telling you how great things were and how I need to hire more coaches. 2019 was an amazing business year.
And then 2020 happened. The COVID lockdowns not only were unnecessary and bad for our health, they destroyed much of the small businesses all over the world. And they almost killed us. As we approached 2024 we were getting close to digging out of the financial hole that the government put us in by shutting things down for two weeks to flatten the curve.
It never happened because of two reasons.
One, the economy. That’s all I have to say about that.
Two, the sale of my building.
I’ve written about this already so I won’t get too deep into it. When the building was sold my rent went from about $12,000 to about $18,000 in a month. And it was scheduled to go to almost $25,000 soon after.
You’re asking, why didn’t you buy the building?
I tried. And tried, and tried.
If you know anything about this industry, and the costs in the Boston area, you know we don’t make the kind of money to support that rent.
You also know that you can’t hemorrhage money for long before you have to CLOSE THE DOORS FOREVER.
TPS was at that point.
I had a drop dead date where if we didn’t have a signed lease for a new spot, the doors would close forever. Karma stepped in (maybe) and on the day of my closure announcement, I finalized a lease on a new space!
And we moved.
Fast.
I’ve written about how grateful I am to all of the people who volunteered to move us and get us up and running in under three weeks. I still am grateful.
Now, in the new space, we are doing just ok. A lot of members quit because of the move and logistical reasons related to road construction. To them I ask, come back and give us a try. We’ve got all the bugs worked out and the place is running smooth.
- We had a massive drop in revenue, but are we closing?
- Nope.
- Are we doing everything we can to increase revenue?
- Yes.
- Do we want to be her for another 25 years?
- Yup?
2024 in Review: Never Give Up-Wrap Up
The year 2024 was one of ups and downs health and business wise. It was a challenge. I like a challenge, but it would be nice to have a nice smooth 2025.
It showed me once again that if you run an honest and reputable business, people will help you.
And, It also taught me to take better care of myself than I thought I was doing. I’m not ready to drop dead from hypertension yet. I’ve got to lose a few pounds that I put back on from drinking too much and then eating too much of the wrong shit while drinking.
The past year taught me that I really need to do more of the things in training that I don’t like to do. Like steady state cardio and Met Con work.
Business wise it taught me to focus more on certain areas and less on others. And that I really need an alternate and unrelated to the fitness industry source of income.
Personally, it reinforced to me that I know who I can count on.
I learned during my divorce that as I suspected, I knew who my ride or dies were. They continue to prove it every fucking day. You know who you are and I love each one of you, and am grateful for you.
I heard this gem from my daughter’s friend the other day when they were discussing some issues she was having related to college.
Without getting into her personal business, here is what I heard:
Her friend said: Rejection is redirection.
That is brilliant. Especially from a 17 year old. B’s friend tried to help her learn to never give up. That the windshield is bigger than the rear view for a reason. To improvise, adapt and overcome adversity.
I hope I did too.
I’ve expanded on Rejection is redirection and coined adversity is opportunity.
At least I think I coined that phrase.
Maybe not. Either way, adversity is opportunity. If you let it be.
2024 tried to kill my business. TPS faced a lot of adversity. I’m trying to turn it into opportunity.
Let’s see how it goes.
Never give up.
Note:
I want to add that this Log might see like a list of mostly worse times and no better times. But that’s not true.
I faced some HUGE challenges and had some bad times.
But, the good times on a daily basis with family, loved ones, friends and the best dog in the world made 2024 so great on small levels.
After all, it’s the small things that count right?
Did you miss last week’s log?
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
December 26, 2024
