I am more excited about BFP in 2025 than I have been ever. So much took place in 2024 that led to us learning, improving, and dialing in what we do best at BFP.

First, we truly dialed in on and articulated what our vision, mission, and our core values are. We’ve always had these but at this point, in order to truly live those out, for every employee, they needed to be updated, simplified, and more regularly communicated.

Our Vision:

“By creating a place where people actually want to show up, we help people in Hampstead and the surrounding areas live a fun and fulfilling life beyond our four walls, empowering both our members and staff to thrive and enjoy life to the fullest.”

We want to create a place where members and staff want to be. It’s that simple. The members get the results and community to help them thrive outside the gym while our staff get fulfilling and stable careers with awesome people.

Our Mission:

“To help 5000 people in the Hampstead area gain strength, fitness, and confidence through a culture that drives consistency in ‘showing up’ over everything else.”

This doesn’t mean we help 5000 people all at once, or even try to have 5000 members at BFP. It means we want to help a small group of people for at least 2 years each until we’ve worked our way to 5000 total over the years. If we can help even one person for a full 2 years, they generally develop some great habits that will last a lifetime. Then, we will have done our job and we can continue to help those who we haven’t.

Core Values:

“Show Up and Show Out”

Show Up For Yourself: At BFP, we believe that the first step to success is showing up. Commit to yourself and your goals, physically, nutritionally, and mentally. Every day is an opportunity to get stronger, fitter, and more confident.

Show Up For Others: We’re stronger together. Whether it's cheering on another BFP Family member or encouraging a friend, we believe in the power of community. At BFP, we foster an environment where supporting others lifts us all higher.

Show Out: At BFP, we encourage our members to get outside of their comfort zone. We do this through progressive strength training, science backed cardio, and 1 on 1 accountability in nutrition and coaching. We also celebrate. We celebrate every effort, every milestone, and the consistency in showing up. Everyday and every season of life are different. At BFP, we understand that. We will be there to coach you through it all and make sure you get the most out of your efforts whether you are a "Rep Killer" or a "Show Upper".

You’ll start seeing these plastered everywhere at BFP soon. Our Vision, Mission, and Core Values are what drive us forward and help act as a filter to make decisions.

Our North Star: At least 12 sessions per month

In 2024, we learned how we could make the biggest impact in our members' lives: Get them to show up. We technically knew this but we hadn’t placed it as the priority until 2024.

This led to us adding several things to improve the experience and lead to more consistency among our members.

1st: We updated our “No BFP Family Member Left Behind” process.

Every single week, we pull a report to see who hasn’t been in 7 days, and we begin sending personalized messages to get you back in the door. If we can’t do that, we simply lend a listening ear for whatever it is you may be going through. We realize that we can’t make an impact in your lives, you can’t get results, and you can’t be a part of a community you enjoy if you don’t show up consistently. So, this is one way we focus on getting you in the door.

2nd: We updated our membership software to a company that aligns more with our values at BFP and shares our vision for providing the best possible experience for you all in PushPress. This allowed us to have our own branded app and in 2025, it will lead to us having 4 major things all in one place: Membership management, social engagement, gamification of your attendance, and tracking your training and progress. This makes the experience at BFP a much simpler one to enjoy and helps everyone more easily engage in being a part of the BFP Family. On the back end, the software simplifies being able to reach out to you, track anniversaries and birthdays, and updating your memberships.

3rd: We added personal training as an official service at BFP. We’ve always had this, but we had it as more of a “side gig” than a “main gig”. Now, it is a BIG part of what we do at BFP. One way is through our 4 Foundations Sessions that we require all new members to go through before they become a part of the BFP Family. First, this allows new folks to build relationships with the coaches. Second, it allows everyone to come into group or other training with knowledge and training on the main movements we perform in our group training program. Third, it provides an opportunity for our staff to work more, earn more money, and spend more time with our clients. Fourth, it allows us to focus on only bringing in folks who are always looking to grow. Willing to be coached, no matter what level they are at. If that’s not you, you aren’t a good fit at BFP. We are OK with that. We are always happy to offer other options around town.

Adding resources and training for private training at BFP also opens up the ability for our coaches to work with current BFP Family members when they have specific goals. Goals like crushing a Deka event, building a bigger butt, or even coming back from surgery, after physical therapy, private training is a great option.

4th: We put our Frequent Flyer’s Club on steroids! In the past, it was a monthly social media post with a list of names. Now, it's a social post explaining why it’s so important but it’s much more. Now, it’s a program where members get awarded a special sticker for hitting 12 sessions in a month. This may sound small but it blew me away how much impact it had. We went from averaging 50 people a month in our FFC to over 80 and have even had one month with 100! That's a massive increase in the results you as a BFP FM get! We also worked hand in hand with PushPress to add the Frequent Flyer’s Club into the BFP Mobile App! Now, you get rewarded and encouraged in the app through reminder messages, a monthly progress bar, a leaderboard, and even the ability to earn special badges for streaks!

5th: We got brand new turf! We removed the old green turf and added new, clean, and slightly thicker black turf! Not only did this update the appearance at BFP, but it provided a new, more easily maintained surface for all of your sled, core, and accessory work! It should also last longer and maintain its shape for years to come.

6th: We invested in our staff by sending them to conferences and increasing the number of inservices for our staff. We were able to send Coach Tyler to a 3 day event in Chicago on all things adult training. We were also able to send Tyler for a virtual youth fitness summit. Coach Joe and Coach Melody went to the same Two Brain Business Summit in Chicago except we went through the business owner’s tract while Coach Tyler went through the Coach’s tract. Melody and I were also able to attend the Healthy Steps Nutrition Gym Accelerator Summit to improve all things in our business but more specifically, the Nutrition Coaching Program. This year, we plan to add a 2nd nutrition coach as well! We were also able to hold a team CPR and First Aid training to keep us all up to date and to revisit our emergency action plan.

7th: We grew and added resources into our Semi-Private training program. This program is for folks who aren’t comfortable in a larger group setting and want the attention of a coach as well as personalized programming. This program nearly doubled in size this year and we plan to potentially add another timeslot in 2025! It’s been a great addition for retirees who have time to workout in the middle of the day but it also surprised us. It grew because folks who work from home and want to break up their day began to join. Exciting stuff!

8th: We added Goal Reviews into your memberships and completely revamped our 90 day new client onboarding process. Now, when a new person joins the BFP Family, they get offered goal reviews at 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days. After that, all BFP Family members are asked to do a goal review with a coach every 90 days. It took a bit of time but once we got it figured out, we now have an average of 20 goal reviews getting done every month. In 2025, we are working on a bit of follow up to be added to those goal reviews via text message to help hold you more accountable when you need it.

This year we are super excited for what’s to come. We are in the late stages of our 2025 annual planning and once it’s complete, we will be sharing all of our plans with you to get you excited and motivated to kick off 2025 with a bang!

Finally, I want to say thank you. Thank you to all of the BFP Family. I truly enjoy every single conversation I get to have on a regular basis with every single one of you. I never fully grasped how much energy I gained from having those conversations daily.

See you in 2025 with all of your plans for the new year!!