Meet Jason Scheff
April "Link to Success" Top Coach
Jason Scheff, In case you're wondering, yes, we're talking about that Jason Scheff,
lead singer of the rock band Chicago. Why would a star like Jason want to be a
Beachbody® Coach? Because Jason is like any other Coach—someone who wants
to be healthy and fit, and help others get there, too. He discovered, through his own
struggles with fitness, that Beachbody is the best way to do just that.
Drastic measures
"I had a back problem. The ends of my fingers were tingling every once in a while, which wasn't a good sign. I'd reached middle age," Jason explains. When he saw what people his age and older were doing via the Team Beachbody Message Boards, he says, "I did something drastic. I started doing P90X® in June of '07 and announced it to my fans on MySpace. I wanted to do something that I couldn't step away from. I worked hard for a couple of months and finally put some photos up."
Juggling tour commitments, family, and his workout routine was tough, but Jason admits, "My days were absolutely packed. But I got it all done because I was committed. For the first time in my life, I really scheduled and made goals."
Becoming a Coach
"I didn't think I was qualified to become a Coach," Jason says. "I was just getting my feet wet and I also didn't want to come off to my fans looking like I was trying to make a buck. In fact, I had this great relationship with my fan base that had nothing to do with money. Social networking really works for me and I love the fact that I'm connected to people.
"Carl Daikeler explained to me, 'We're not talking about training people. It's motivation, and you're doing that.' That made a lot of sense, so I paid my whopping forty bucks and now I'm a Coach."
Pitch perfect
Like many Coaches, Jason sees that one of the biggest problems facing a Coach is, "how to get our message across quickly and concisely without confusing people. Part of that is to not run on at the mouth, so I work hard to develop that skill. People need to get over their fear of talking about it. We're really working hard at making the presentation so simple so people don't have to do that much talking. 'Want to take the Scheffy challenge? Well, come on. Just sign up with a Coach.' A lot of people have been jumping in that way. That's how it started."
Spreading the word
Spending much of his time in the public eye, Jason faces unique challenges when talking about the Beachbody opportunity. But he's found a way to connect with people that puts everyone on equal ground. As he explains, "When you put yourself out there, no one's guessing or making up stories about you. I get a chance to experience that with Beachbody. I'm on the ground level so I can address the questions and doubts of people worrying about a multilevel marketing system. I've never been involved in a multilevel marketing company. Somebody said, 'People are talking that you're involved in a pyramid scheme and that you're at the top of it and you're making money off people.' I replied, 'What we're doing is getting healthy. All I did was start Pushing Play. I started exercising and my body changed, and people asked me about it. There's no product in my house. It's all virtual. I've offered my time as a Coach and a motivator, and as somebody to just show up and work out with them.' I just love that I'm in a situation where I can help people change their lives."
He continues, "You can walk, swim, or purchase whatever product you want outside of Beachbody, and you can pay forty bucks and be a Coach. All I'm doing is exposing you to a world that has proven success with a community and message boards. This company's vision is just so incredible that they're saying, 'You don't have to use our stuff. There are many ways to reach utopia here.'"
Coach Connection
"I went to the Coach Summit and I met people I'd gotten to know on the Message Boards," Jason says. "I think they might have been wondering if I was going to be this prima donna. I told them, 'You are the rock stars. You have what I want and that's why I'm here.' We're all equals. Being in the public eye a lot, it's great to have a place to get out into the community and show people who I am.
"I went to the great show that night. I saw all the Coaches going off to Hawaii. I looked back at Scott Ruppe and I said, 'We're going next year, man.' It pumped me up.
"I don't want to be over the top and aggressive, grabbing everybody on the street and going, 'You've got to check out this opportunity!' On the other hand, if I'm too careful and quiet and worry about how I'm being perceived, then I'm keeping the message from a lot of people.
"As Robert Hudgens said, 'I'm making up their minds for them by not even offering it to them.' Living half my life in the public eye, if you're not showing who you are and talking about what's going on in your life, they're going to make it up."
Following the beat
Rock Star and Beachbody® Coach!You might think being a musician and running a Beachbody business involve different disciplines, but Jason found a way to weave them together. "Since I was already connecting with fans in the MySpace community, all I really did was shift a lot of that focus and energy over to fitness. I show up, work out, and communicate with people online about what I'm doing, and put videos or photos up. My fan base turned into workout buddies.
"When I'm on the road in a hotel room all day, I can put a lot of time into the business. It takes work. But, it's good, fun work, and in the end, the benefit is that we get fit. You've got to go out and start talking to some people and spreading your word. It's worth it. It costs so little to be involved in something so life-transforming. It's the cheapest deal in town. And yes, there are bucks to be made and we have proof of that. All that takes is a little work. This last month, once we really started openly talking about it, I have been putting in maybe four or five hours into it."
Best Practices
"I start by assessing goals," Jason says about helping those he coaches. "If someone's already in decent shape and they want to try P90X, great. I don't give physical fitness advice. That's what the DVDs are for. They're training you. I just say, "You want to know your best chances of success? Go to my thread. Introduce yourself and get involved and start one of your own, and just watch what happens. People who had the hardest time taking that first step, all of a sudden they're in this community and they're addicted to it."
Priceless rewards
"The reason I do any of this is because it keeps me on course. It is literally the one thing I've found that has stuck for almost a year now. I'm so vocal about it because I want to protect it and I want to keep doing it."