We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jordan Yaklin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jordan below.

Alright, Jordan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

We serve gamers. Our services are specifically tailored to empower sedentary gamers to reclaim their health, lose weight, and build the confidence to finally become the main character of their lives.

I have always been a nerd/gamer. I remember getting my first FatBoy gameboy when I was 3 years old and it was really game over when I received a green GameBoy Color with Pokemon Yellow for my 4th birthday. I’ve been hooked every since.

Flash forward to 7th grade and I discovered football, and more importantly, I discovered the weight room. I felt like the weight room was my place to be. A small sanctuary really. You learn a lot about yourself when it is just you and the bar.

A few years later I was playing high school football and our football coaches were also our strength and conditioning coaches. They were not qualified to teach proper lifting mechanics (read: they had no idea what they were doing). I saw many of my fellow teammates get injured in the weight room.

From then on, I decided to correct the wrongs of my forefathers in a way and learn the basic fundamentals and be able to properly teach those who are just starting off. I wanted to be able to help novices build a solid foundation so they could become the best versions of themselves possible.

I received my Bachelors degree in Exercise Science and my Masters in Exercise Physiology. I graduated on May the 4th, 2019 (Star Wars Day), and I was dead set on becoming a high school strength and conditioning coach. The world had other plans as less than a year later, the whole world shut down.

So, one night I lay in bed and I am staring at my book shelf. There are 4 shelves. The top shelf has all of my D&D books, the second shelf is all fantasy novels, the last 2 shelves were health and fitness and personal development books. I am laying there thinking, “These are my two passions, how can I blend the two?” Then it hit me like a lightning bolt, why don’t I actually blend the two and create an online coaching business that tailors their services towards gamers.

My mind was racing and let’s just say, I didn’t get a lot of sleep that night.

I knew from being in both the fitness and gaming communities, that the health and fitness community shunned everyone on the outside. Gamers often have a bad stereotype that they are overweight and unhealthy and in reality, they need help. But, when you look on social media all you see is shirtless influencers doing obscene workouts with overly strict diets saying you MUST do this in order to look like them, and oftentimes, they are on some form of performance enhancing drug they are not discussing.

So, this creates a literal unrealistic expectation and is extremely demotivating.

I knew I could be that bridge to show gamers that they can live healthy lives without sacrificing the foods and hobbies they love.

Thus the inception of Phoenix Performance Coaching!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Jordan and I am the head coach and owner of Phoenix Performance Coaching, an online health and lifestyle coaching business that empowers gamers to reclaim their health, lose weight, and build the confidence to finally become the main characters of their lives.

I really dove into online coaching mainly because the pandemic forced me to. With everything being closed, it allowed me to shift gears and explore what online had to offer (much like many people). I am glad I did because I have never looked back since.

I serve gamers specifically because I find that gamers are often neglected by many industries, including the health and fitness industry. They are largely neglected because gamers tend to neglect themselves. A lot of gamers have what I call “NPC energy.” They feel like they have no control over their own life and let life pass them by while they dive into some form of fantasy world. That fantasy world can be tabletop games, reading, video games, etc. Anything that gets them to forget about the real world.

I want to show gamers that they do deserve to be the main character of their life and I become the bridge to show them how that can be done.

We practice what I call a “deep health” approach. We not only tackle exercise and nutrition, but we also look at things like sleep, stress, work/life balance, how you cope with stress, etc. Being online, it allows us to really zoom out and focus on the client as a whole and not just an appointment from 5p-6p. It also allows us much more freedom in program creation. You don’t need to go the gym to see results. In fact, over half of our clients don’t go to the gym. We understand that gym anxiety is a real thing and we create programs based on your goals, preferences, lifestyle, and equipment. Additionally, our clients are active participants in the entire process. You are the master of your own domain so you will know what works and what doesn’t. We work collaboratively to make your program.

I am most proud of even just taking the plunge and starting my business. I was working as a full time coach for another online company and I didn’t like the direction the business was going. I was locked into a contract while employed there so I couldn’t coach any outside clients. I decided to quit my job on my 1 year anniversary of working there. It also happened to be the 111th anniversary of the Titanic sinking so I made the joke that I was also sinking my career… I was only half joking.

I quit my job and immediately started building my business. I didn’t get a part time job to make ends meet and I burned all boats. It was truly a sink or swim moment, but I knew I had to do it.

I knew that I would rather crash and burn knowing I gave it my all than be resentful in 10 years of playing the “what if’ game.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

First, I had to find my voice. Not only did I need to find out WHAT I wanted to say, but HOW I was going to say it in a way that speaks to my audience.

Additionally, I had to find out WHO my audience was. To do this, I created my “Ideal Client Avatar.” This is where you sit down and literally create a character. You are making the exact person you want to coach.

What is their name, gender, age, employment, goals, fears, hobbies, etc. Create a fully fleshed out character.

When that is done, create every piece of content targeting that character. That way, you know it will resonate with people like your avatar.

Finding WHAT I wanted to say wasn’t overly difficult, I like talking more about psychology and nutrition and I think that helps set me apart from most.

Finding HOW to present my material was/is a journey I am still on. I am constantly exploring different formats but I find that if I have content with nerdy stuff in the frame (cards, games, cool shirts, etc.) That tends to get better engagement. Even if I don’t mention it.

Now that I have all of that figured out, I needed to come up with a content strategy and the rule that helped me the most is always asking, “what’s in it for them?” Are you creating content to provide value to your audience where they are left a bit better than before? Or, are you simply bragging about how much you know or (even worse) constantly asking for a sale?

Value over everything when it comes to creating content.

The best actionable steps I can give someone who is just starting off with no experience on social media is:

1. Be as authentic as possible! People are starved of authenticity and in a world that is highly edited and filtered, authenticity really shines.

2. Give away all the secrets! You need to teach your audience whatever it is you do. For me, it’s teaching them the tips and tricks to improve their health, but it could be anything. Are you a wood worker? Teach them how to properly countersink screw holes so they don’t show. Are you a business coach? Show them how people can improve their sales skills by asking “this one simple question.” Those are just two examples.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

This piggy backs of my previous answer, but Instagram has been the source for approximately 90% of my clientele.

One thing I wished I learned earlier was how important social media actually is. Instagram is almost like the front page of the internet. It is more important than your own website. I have website that gets roughly 30-50 views a month but my Instagram gets between 50,000-60,000 views each month. Sometimes higher depending on how much I am putting into ads.

We’re strictly online, but this can go for brick and mortar stores as well. I see SO MANY small brick and mortar stores that use their social media as an announcement board. One post a month stating what’s going on sale or the changes in your store hours. The truth is nobody cares and that’s because you haven’t done anything to garner their trust. Going back to my previous question, you have to provide value.

There is a rule in psychology called the rule of reciprocity and that essentially means if you do me a favor, I have to pay you back in something of equal favor because we humans hate being indebted to others. With social media, you provide as much value as you possibly can to get your audience to finally say, “ok, this person is giving all of this away for free, I have to see what their paid service looks like.” This can work well for brick and mortar stores as well.

Plus, providing value shows you as an authority on the topic. Are you a local game store? Make posts teaching how to play certain games or breaking down the newest set of Magic the Gathering. Antique store? Make videos explaining the history of one particular item in the store. These are two good examples because as you are educating your audience, you are also showing you are an authority AND advertising that you have these products.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.phoenixperformancecoaching.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoenix.performance.coaching/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-yaklin-b962732b8
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@phoenixperformancecoaching
• Other: Twitch! (I am trying to become an affiliate and just need a few more followers.
  https://www.twitch.tv/phoenixperformance

Image Credits

All pictures are my property. There are a few client testimonials in there.

Jon is the 4 month update
Nick is the transformation with no text
Cameron is the one with sunglasses.
Cody is the one with his wife
Luke is the brain tumor survivor.