We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Garrett Conn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Garrett, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I am 100% absolutely, happy as a buisness owner.

Of course there are times when challenges are present and you are trying to navigate them that a “Normal” job would be easier and sounds enticing…but then again, that’s why myself and other buisness Owners chose to go our own path…because we are not and don’t want to be “normal”.

We feel and know that we can offer, serve, use our skill-sets and just DO more, that a “normal” job…would be a disservice.

“The Obstacle is the Path”

The road less traveled is often the most rewarding in many things other than just financial, time, ethos, connections etc. And I want my family to lean into that.

I want my children to grow up seeing an example of hard work, “get out what you put in”, problem solving…and all the other hundreds of lessons and morals that come along with owning your own buisness.

It wasn’t easy getting here but now that im here…im 100% Happy

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

StMy name is Garrett Conn, and “I help working professionals train, look, & feel like athletes”.

Whether you played at the professional level or not, or just like to stay active and need a coach to help guide you to the best version of yourself. Through my 15 years of coaching experience in the sports performance/strength and conditioning field, I’ll provide the steps and plan to get you there.

My training combines a lot of methodologies to then apply to you as an individual. I’m not traditional in that I will think outside of the box to achieve the goal that we are trying to achieve, as long as we are seeing results. I implement a lot of 3D movement patterns, neurological strategies, and both traditional and non-traditional strength and speed development work to get the athlete or the individual the results that they are looking to achieve.

I personally take on the responsibility for your results when you work with me. You are trusting me to get you to a certain “destination,” and I will not rest until we get you to that point, whether that is getting you NFL combine ready or getting you to lose those 20 lbs for an upcoming summer wedding. You will look, perform, and feel your absolute best through the strategies that we come up with together.

I PROVIDE/OFFER:
1) Online Coaching (1:1 Private or Teams)
2) In Person Coaching/Training (1:1 Private or Small Group)

My journey began with a promising athletic career in high school that was unfortunately cut short by an ACL injury in my junior year. Through this injury, my eyes were opened to what other opportunities my life and career could have had while still being involved in athletics and sports.

From here, I then shifted my passions to coaching and focusing on the forever elusive question of “How can I make this person or athlete, bigger, faster, stronger?”, and also a better person overall, specifically through strength and conditioning and sports performance.

I pursued this passion and completed my exercise science degree with a minor in coaching. Here I was able to even able to dip my toes into the world of gymnastics for four years (despite having literally zero experience with this sport) and really develop the foundation of my future skill set that I would need.

After college, I went on to be a head high school strength coach for six years, where we had great success (multiple state championships and appearances across multiple individuals and team sports). Here I was able to really “cut my teeth” here, “pay my dues” all while fueling my passion even more…except it was basically for little to no money at all…hard to pay the bills this way.

I then went on to work at some “big box” corporate gyms and franchises that really exposed me to the business side of things. What exactly does it take to own a company, run a team, hire/fire, get leads, and sales, keep your customers, and what the level of service that it takes to keep customers.

Over the course of seven to eight years in this space, I developed lifelong relationships, networking, invaluable experiences, incredible professional opportunities, hundreds of awesome client success stories, and even met my future wife…..but somehow still knew and felt like I could offer “more” and wanted to offer more. I knew that I could still be “better,” so I set out to pursue that.

I started “Conn Human Performance” from this pursuit, and as previously mentioned, am 100% happy and am never looking back.

This isn’t to say that this has been easy and that I’ve had success “overnight”. Since starting this journey, I’ve had to work longer, harder, be more thoughtful, and strategically think further ahead than just one month at a time, spend hundreds of hours self-educating…but I’m happy, and it has never “felt’ like work or a job. I’m in control of everything from what I offer to what my hours are, to who I work with, and everything in between.

Since I started my company and through my previous relationships, I’ve been grateful and fortunate to work with and have coaching opportunities/experience with:

-Minnesota Timberwolves
-Minnesota Vikings
-NCAA College Athletes (Div I, II, III)
-Minnesota Vixen (Women’s Semi-Pro Football)
-Met and have developed relationships with Industry leaders/Influencers
-Sponsor and a Volunteer Coach for 14 years of a former NFL player’s Annual Football Camp
-Hundreds of Middle School and High School Athletes
-High-Profile Business Owners
-Every day, people who are looking to be better for their families
-Clients who have turned into lifelong friends
-Partnership with a Veterans Foundation to provide training services to veterans.
-People who are going through a rough time and need to better themselves
-The list goes on and on…

I have big plans and ideas that I’m still pursuing each and every day with my clients and business, but it’s very humbling to stop and look back at some of the things that I’ve been fortunate to be a part of.

Not stopping here though, we are just getting started.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

“Conn Human Performance”

Started while I was still working a full-time job in a different town. I had about a 30-minute commute one-way to where I directed a facility and a team etc. I had built a personal gym in my third-stall garage at my house for myself and my wife (and kids eventually). We are pretty active in the community with sports and local business etc, so eventually word got out that I had a gym at our house, and a few of our friends had asked me about training them from the house.

As most things do, it started with one person, then three, pretty soon, I had previous clients from prior years reaching back out wanting to come back and train with me again.

I would work my normal day and then come home and train a few clients from my home gym each day. Pretty close to the same time that word was spreading around my home, the facility that I was working “9-5 job” from had decided that they were going to move locations, and so I saw the opportunity to take the leap and go fully 100% private and bet on myself and officially commit to

“Conn Human Performance”.

And here we are today…I have a booked client list of in-person private and group clients, a growing Online training business, and I’m able to connect with local businesses more and offer more to my wife, my kids, and anyone else in my life. Along with establish some incredible partnerships, connections, and relationships with some amazing organizations and individuals.

And we are still growing.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

“R & R” aka Results and Relationships (and Consistency with both).

These have easily been the “big rock” that I have been able to look back on and understand, learn, and hone in on why I have the clients that I do or have had the chance to work with. It’s also the reason that I don’t NEED to always be getting “100 new clients per month”, as I currently have extremely high retention (Mid-High 85% Month over Month).

RESULTS:
Is pretty self-explanatory as this is just like any other product or service-based business…customer has a problem, I have a solution…it needs to work, aka get results or they don’t come back or buy ever again…and never refer anyone either.

So it’s important in my field that I not only utilize the skills and knowledge that I have learned, but also to keep learning and staying on top of “new ideas” or training methods, trying them out and experimenting with them on myslef and clients and seeing if its valuable to implement or to throw away etc…

RELATIONSHIPS:
I have always been 100% honest, genuine, and truthful with my clients. Always telling them what they ACTUALLY need (not upselling just to get a bigger payday), give them what they actually need/want. People can ALWAYS feel when you are not genuine and don’t care or you view them as just your “10:00 am client” that day rather than “10:00 am is my client TJ, who is a Black Belt in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu who is a Pilot who has crazy hours and also volunteers for a Veterans Foundation. He has a 10-year-old son and a Wife whose name is…..”

Truly and 100% giving a shit about someone that you work with from the moment you have even just your first conversation to when they purchase all the way through till they have had their problem fixed (and beyond if needed) will always shine through and keep them coming back (or sending more people to you) for years to come.

Be real, be genuine, truly give a shit.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.connhumanperformance.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connhumanperformance/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conngarrett/