So Why Boot Camp Fitness?

...and why would I build a website about it?

My name is Bill Faustine.  That's me on the right.  This picture was taken just after my buddy Luis and I finished the Warrior Dash obstacle race.  Good Times! 

I created Boot Camp Fitness Guide to share one of the greatest forms of working out that I’ve ever encountered, boot camp workouts.  I've gained a LOT from boot camp workouts.  The benefits go way beyond the fitness gains I’ve made.  The knowledge I’ve gained will change how I approach working out for the rest of my life.  Most of all though, the people I’ve gotten to know is easily the biggest gain of all.

For a long time I lifted weights at the gym a few days a week and jogged a few days a week.  Not bad in the big scheme of things.  But I didn't realize how long it had been since I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone until I went to my first boot camp workout.  The light went on in a hurry that there was a whole different level of fitness out there that I could be shooting for.

There's a real fountain of youth in all of the running, pushups, running, squats, burpees, carrying heavy things, and running some more.

In addition to trying to spread the word and maybe give people some ideas to help them move toward their own fitness goals, I also decided to see if I could build a website from scratch that could attract an audience.  More than that, I wanted to see if I could build a site that would deliver real value to people, and in return, deliver some value back to me.

Everyone Starts Somewhere...

When it comes to health and fitness, my story is a little bit of a roller coaster.  Throughout most of my life I’ve kept myself in pretty decent shape.  When I say most of my life, I mean through high school, during my time in the Navy, and for a little while after that.  Some degree of physical fitness was always a part of my life. 

Then a shift happened – and not a good one.  Throughout the majority of my college years after the Navy, and for several years into my working career after college, I hit a little bit of a lull physically.  Actually I hit a BIG lull.  Like a lot of people, I had a very busy lifestyle between work, socializing, a busy travel schedule, and intermittent exercise at best. 

There were even several years in there of smoking.  Yep.  What can I say?  A poor decision that had to be corrected.

If you hung out with me at that time, you would probably be inclined to say “how is this guy going to tell me anything about exercising and being healthy?”  Physical fitness (or for that matter, physical wellness) just wasn’t a high priority for me.  It wasn’t until about 7 years after college that I finally quit smoking for good and started exercising on a regular basis again.

I started slowly (like I had a choice) and stuck with it.  It was humbling at first like a lot of things are, but still very worth it.  Tell me if you've ever heard this in your head: "Man I used to be in shape.  What happened?"

Change Happens

"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing"

- Harriet Braiker

Fast forward to now, and at this point in my life I love all kinds of workouts and physical challenges.  But like I said, it hasn’t always been that way. 

But at least now I can speak with some authority about going from pretty lousy physical shape to doing all kinds of great things that would have been effectively impossible a while back.  

Turning that corner has allowed me to run countless 5K races, several 10K races, 3 half marathons, and a few obstacle races.  Incidentally, the obstacle races are a great time.  If you've never done one and you think you might be AT ALL inclined to do it, find one and then get yourself and a few friends registered.  You won't regret it. 

So far I’ve gotten to run the Warrior Dash, Spartan Race, Marine Corps Mud Run, and The Tough Mudder. 

Don't get the wrong idea.  I'm not winning these races by any means - I'm running them and having a great time.  There's a big difference. 

It's All About Choices

What this site is really about is trying to equip people with information to make better decisions, and as a result, maybe even live a better life.  In other words, give you the control.  By sharing information about exercises and workouts that you can modify to any fitness level, take with you anywhere, and do any time, my hope is that people of all fitness levels can take something away from this site that they can start using immediately, and continue to build on in the future.

It sounds simple, right?  Who doesn't know how to do a sit up?  Well if it's so simple, why do most adults struggle as much as they do with being overweight and out of shape?  Many of them completely underestimate the amount of control they have over the situation.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says 69% of American adults 20 years old and older are overweight, and 36% of adults are obese [1].  Over one third of American adults are obese! 

Do they want to be overweight?  Who knows?  I’m not a mind reader.  But given the fact that weight loss is a multi-billion dollar a year industry, I would say a lot of people don’t. 

Do they choose to be overweight?  In most cases the answer is absolutely yes.  Each of us makes a lot of decisions every day that determine our direction in life.  And believe me, that’s good news

It’s great to come to the realization that if the choices I’m making now aren't giving me the outcomes I want, I have the power to make changes.  If I make new choices in some area of my life and I like the results I’m getting (or at least heading towards), I can choose to dump the old and keep the new.

If I Can Change This, What Else Can I Change?

Another goal that I’ve had for a long time is being able to generate my own income outside of a job.  Full disclosure, currently in 2013 I still have a full time job so I’m not the whole way there yet.  But I'm getting there, and I'm A LOT closer than I was last year at this time.

I’ve been working on this website for a little over a year (8 to 12 hours a week usually), and a little bit of income is starting to flow.  This site gets a little bit better every day, traffic and revenue are trending in the right direction, and I’m enjoying the heck out of the journey. 

But what would cause someone to start spending his spare time building a website like this in the first place in the hopes that it would mature into a real online business?

That question answers itself for a lot of working people, but here's a brief history on what finally pushed me into action.

For several years I was in a job that I was pretty happy with.  I had a great team (still do), an outstanding boss, and a promising future.  Then one day we were acquired by a behemoth, gigantic company.  When that happens, most of the good things about the old company you worked for get replaced by new bosses, new rules, and stupid policies.  If you’ve ever been in the same position, being part of the company that was acquired, you’ll probably agree that the vast majority of the new policies seem to be specifically designed to constantly remind you who bought whom.

What to do?  Three very traditional options came to mind immediately.

  • I could look for a new job.
  • I could stay in my current job, increase my cynicism, complain more, embrace mediocrity, and then finally get caught up in some future layoff.
  • I could stay in my current job, keep a positive attitude, and continue to do my best.

"Life... It tends to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our expectations."

- Richard M. DeVos

The new job choice is a natural impulse for the majority of us.  But for me, I started my career in consulting and spent some time contracting.  In other words I've been around enough in my line of work to know the grass isn't necessarily greener at the company down the street.

The second option would turn me into someone I would never want to hang out with.

I chose the third option.  But I added to it.  I decided to take on a project on my own that I would eventually build into my primary source of income.  Honestly, when I made that decision, I had no clue what it really meant.  I just knew it was what I wanted.

It has been a dream to be able to make myself financially independent for years.  The idea of not having to spend all one’s time working for someone else appeals to a lot of people – freedom, control, choices, possibilities... 

You’re either working to pursue your own dreams or you’re working to advance someone else’s.

Accomplishing this goal is about more than being able to quit my job so I can sleep in as late as I want and then watch TV in my sweats every day.  It wouldn't take long for that to get old.  It's bigger than that.  For years I’ve had a strong desire to prove to myself that I had the ability to be successful at something on my own. 

In addition, I’ve been unexpectedly laid off from a job before.  I’ve also been on the other side of the table telling someone that they are laid off.  Both sides are rotten.  Those experiences have convinced me that it’s just not smart to put 100% of the control of my livelihood in someone else’s hands.

I knew I had it in me to build my own successful business.  But unfortunately that’s about all I knew.  I needed help. 

Then I found Site Build It!

Site Build It! is a business that helps thousands of people turn their interests, passions, and skills into profitable online businesses.  Just about any topic you can think of can be turned into a money making website.  

If you're like me, actual case studies involving real people with actual before and after stories are incredibly helpful.  And I don't mean 1 or 2 anecdotes.  Every get rich quick scam has a few anecdotes.  I mean a LOT of people who have already done what I want to do.  Before getting into a lot of the in-depth case studies, here is a short overview video and a few examples of Sit Build It! before and after stories.  This is just a small sample.  There are plenty more where these came from. 

To get an idea of how they did it, this 30 minute Video Tour walks you through the process and the tools so you can get an idea of how Site Build It! works.  If you're short on time right now, take 10 minutes and read through the Quick Tour.  It does a great job of laying out the high level overview.

When I decided to start looking into Site Build It! I certainly didn’t hate my job.  Not by a long shot.  As a matter of fact, I still don’t hate my job.  I don't hate it, but I also don't trust that it will always be there for me - even if I show up and do my best with a good attitude every day.  I've found that in too many cases, critical personnel (i.e. layoff) decisions are made by people who don't even know you, and are making their decisions while looking at a budget spreadsheet.

On top of that I wasn’t satisfied pouring so much time and energy into something and the best endorsement I could offer was that I didn’t hate it.  Life is too short for that.

Now that my site is starting to gain some momentum, I’ve come to realize one thing.  Anyone can do this.

Anyone.

The thing is most people won’t.  (You know, there may be a parallel to being in shape here...)  It takes work, patience, persistence, and a lot of faith that you’re going to eventually reach your goal if you just keep pursuing it.  With all of the tools, training material, and support you could ever want, it’s just a matter of steadily making progress little by little until you get there.  If you do that, getting to your goal is inevitable.  

 “Lord, please continue to make me too dumb to know when to quit”.

- Bill Faustine

Has he ever!

How many times have I mentioned effective goal setting on this site?  If you have over 35% body fat, don’t make it your goal to have six pack abs in 8 weeks.  Set a goal of getting to 25% body fat, give it a date, make an exercise and diet plan that works, stick to it, and reach that goal.  

Then set the next goal.

Similarly, when I started this project not knowing ANYTHING about building a website, I didn’t set an initial a goal of making $15K a month within 6 months (although that would have been pretty sweet).  No, instead I figured out pretty early that any income on the internet is a function of traffic.  So I followed the SBI! methodology and worked for several months to get my traffic up to 20 visitors a day.

When I reached the goal of 20 new visitors a day, I raised the bar to 50 visitors a day and continued to do the things SBI! recommended.  Then I went for 100 a day, then 200, then 500 and so on. 

Hitting those kinds of milestones tells me that I'm on the right track.  I still have a lot to learn and a lot to get better at, and that's fine.  It's common to have to learn and grow to reach higher levels.

Part of my growth plan is to continuously get better at giving you the best information possible and presenting it in the best way possible.  I want to give you a lot of useful information, but not just for informational purposes.  I actually want you to try and do the things on this site - the things that are right for you that is.  Clearly, not everything on this site is right for everybody. 

Similarly, Site Build It! helps you find out if it may be right for you, i.e. if you are the kind of person who could be successful using their service.  That page goes through examples of all kinds of different people who use the service in all kinds of different ways.

If you are considering getting in the best shape you've ever been in, I invite you to keep coming back here to see new exercises, workouts, drills, and diet tips.  I'll be adding new and improved stuff for years to come.

If you've ever considered committing yourself to creating an income generating website, I suggest you take a look at Site Build It! and let them teach you how to do it right. 

Make no mistakes though.  It's a lot of work up front.  There's no such thing as a free lunch.  If it's something you want, you'll have to work for it.  But if you stick with it and see it through, the benefits could change your life.

One last thing.  I'm newer at this website building business than a lot of folks and I still have several miles to go before I reach my bigger goals for this site.  If you want to follow along with my progress, I will be updating how I'm doing from time to time on my page describing what SBI! is.

What Site Build It! Is All About

This Website Is Powered By SBI!

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