 Hey, what's up coaches welcome back to the YouTube channel in today's interview. We have coach Harry Harry is a professional soccer player. He is from the UK and he's had an amazing career. He resides now in Southern California. And in this interview he shares how he started his soccer training business. And he said something I think in the middle of this interview that I really liked. He talked about how you never know who is watching and how that will affect your business. So watch this all the way through. I think you're going to gain a lot of value from this. And I'm excited for you to watch this interview. I started off obviously in the youth system in Austin Villa. So we have to do our coaching licenses there as part of the sort of academy program. So that's where it kind of started for me, which got put on the back burner for the rest of my playing career, if I'm honest. Then I got presented the opportunity to come out to America to play out in California. Obviously I was coming to the back end of my career. So part of the plan was to continue to play, but start to build a coaching business out here, you know, in a growing market out in the US. And I started that probably two years ago. Now I think probably around the beginning of COVID was when we really started to pick up and pick up clients. COVID was a tough time for everybody. Personally for us as a business, it was actually a good time because clubs had shut down and kids were stuck at home and we had loads of parents reaching out who were willing to let us train their kids and they wanted us to train their kids. And it sort of grew that way organically through recommendations and word of mouth. So that's where it really started to pick up my coaching journey and discuss to where we are today. That's awesome. So tell us a bit about your business then. What does your company specialise in? We specialise in technique training, I'd say. So we're trying to bridge the gap between sort of club practice and then going out and doing stuff on their own and just being that middleman to help really progress their techniques and understand the game more. I think club coach has got a difficult task of really nailing down a certain player's techniques and how they need to improve because they've got so many people to look after. And I think in the UK what I've noticed is there's more staff to actually take a kid to decide and work on that. Growing up through the youth systems of like I say I started at Watford, Aston Villa, went to Brentford, Doncaster, then Rangers before I moved here. So I've seen how the clubs in the UK actually have a good infrastructure and loads of staff to really concentrate on a certain individual's needs. Now out here there's not that sort of luxury of having that. So we started Prospect Soccer which is, like I said, a technique training-based company as you say. We specialise in that and we started to branch out into camps now. We done camps last year which have gone very well. But yeah I'd say we're just trying to bridge the gap between them going out and kicking up all and the club. Awesome, awesome. So how did you find that transition from the UK to the US then? It was quite natural if I'm honest. You know I knew what to expect when I come out here. It's a lot different than at home. You know at home you've got, I don't know how many clubs in London, you know from League 2 to Premier League or 15 clubs maybe. You know in California you've probably got, well around us you've got LAFC, LA Galaxy and San Diego and that's like a three hour, three hour distance you know. So there's a lot of kids and who aren't in academy setups who need help. So the transition's been good. We've got a lot of kids coming from all over. We've got kids coming down from LA and up from San Diego which has been great. And it's just implementing what I've learned through my sort of 20-odd year playing career. It's just learning how to manipulate the players and really change their mentality and get them to think about what they're doing on the field rather than just going out and kicking a ball. I love that, love that. So you've been in business for two and a half years, correct? Yeah, we'll take it. Yeah, so let me take you back to when you first started your business. What has been your biggest obstacle since you started? Field space, there's not a lot of field space around. The clubs take it. The high schools have sort of taken them for school programs and you know any good facility, you know, the big clubs around have normally taken that. So that's actually been our biggest hurdle was getting a nice little facility where we can train day in, day out. We don't want to be moving around. We don't want to keep trying to find new fields. We want a certain spot where people know we're there. And that's been the biggest struggle to be honest so far. Other than that, it was just finding the time to fit in all the clients because we've got a real surge of demand. And myself, I'm currently still playing. So it's, you know, we've only got a certain amount of hours in the afternoon and we can fit everyone in. So actually playing and coaching in the afternoons is proving difficult but it's just managing players and trying to group players and trying to get people on the same wavelength and going from there. But like I say, probably the biggest headache for me was field space at first. Yeah, that's a very common one with coaches we work with. So how have you gone about that obstacle then? We've got a nice one now. No, so we've got a nice one now. We've managed to sort of lock down that we're at 99% of the time, which is great. We're currently talking to a couple of higher schools as well now, just recently, very recently about using their fields that when they're not using them and helping out with their sort of soccer team and technique base. So give and take with a relationship there, which is working very well. But like I say, we've managed to find one and we've nailed that down. We've been there probably a year and a half now. And just from that, we get more and more clients because the same people will pass the same people see us and it's eventually they reach out and they say, we've seen your training and it's very good and how can we help sort of thing. So we got lucky with that obviously. And obviously being in Orange County, it's expensive. You know, it's very, very expensive. It's not like we can go and find a bit of land and build a field and sort of branch out that way because you're looking ahead of a lot of money. Awesome. Perfect. So where do you see private training going in? So you're currently based in the US. So I'll ask you, where do you see private training going in the US in the next two to five years from now? I think it's growing rapidly. I don't think it's as big in the UK, like I say, because you've got the academies and then anyone good gets sort of taken and then they look daft off from that moment forward. Here it's a little bit different. They have to go out and work on their own, which it was a different market. Although I've seen it sort of become more popular now in the UK, people we follow on Instagram and stuff, they're starting to do it out there as well. So it's quite good. But I think it's a huge market. And obviously once the World Cup comes here in a few years and kids start to see their heroes and witness the atmosphere and what it is, I think it's going to really take off, which was part of the reason why I decided to move and start to build before. I think there's going to be a big, big surge in after the World Cup comes to the US. For me personally, we want to start to really develop players and then send them back home to Europe. Like if we can get players where we work with them for two or three years and they're good already, but we really fine tune their techniques and game understanding. We do game analysis and stuff like that. So eventually once we get the one or two players we need to send home, we've got the contacts to really give them a chance to go over to Europe and try it there. Yeah, love that. So you've been, well, you're currently playing and also you've been coaching for a while now. So tell us, like, for you, what does the perfect training session look like? What should it include? So yeah, we start off with warm-up, real generic warm-up, glute bands, that sort of stuff, go into the SAQ, speed and agility, whether any balance work on a bozu, whether we use the bungee, you know, whether it's proprioception, whatever they do. Then we go into a sort of a basic passing drill to get them sort of fired up and lively. Then I go into specifics for the last sort of 40 minutes, depending on players' positions and stuff like that. But a lot of it's just to get their feet moving as fast as their brain. So we work intense for a short period of time, then they have a rest. It's never walking around. It's never sort of two or three minutes just talking. Like we try and get them moving, getting them working hard, and then we give them the rest after that. One part I specialise in, I'd like to think, is the attacking side, just because I've played, so that's my thought can hear. He wants to be an interviewer. The attacking field and on the wings. I like to help players that way. And just fine-tune their techniques. And it's funny because I learn more about techniques the more I coach it. So the more I teach people how to do it, and I do it myself, I kind of wish I'd have known that when I was playing. Do you know what I mean? There's certain things that are weak in players' games where I think, Jesus, if I'd have known that, I might be able to strike the ball better and strike from distance. But yeah, that's how a session would go. And we finish, obviously, depending on the player. We've just finished in or we don't need fitness. We do a little bit of fitness as well, just always just to keep them sharp and top it up. Awesome, awesome. So what's the journey that your client takes when they first join your company then? What's the end result you're looking for as a trainer? So first of all, we sit down with them and just get to know what they want to do. Where they want to go in their career. Because there's people that just come and they want to just come out and get better. And that's fine. There's people that come out and they want to go to Europe. Do you know what I mean? So there's a difference there in demands and how many sessions we need with them and how long it's going to take. So we go through all that program, sit down with the parents and understand where they're at and what demands I can place on them as a family. Then they come out, they train, whether it's once a week, twice a week. I like to try and include them into group sessions. The longer I've known them. So if I can pair one or two, or if I can get three or four into a group, that are at the same level. Then we really try and get a nice session in where they're challenged against their peers. And you always find out the ones that really want to compete and they want to impress. And the ones that kind of shy away from it and find it a little bit daunting. And like I say, we haven't yet got anyone to Europe. We had a guy come over. We've had a guy fly over from the UK for a month. He's found a club. He's going to be coming back out in July. We got a guy a year ago who come for a month around Christmas was going to go back to a USL club and we sat down with his parents and he had an opportunity to go to Miami. So we sat down and we just batted through it and what would you rather go back to a USL club where you're comfortable? You regret giving that opportunity up or would you rather go and see if you're good enough? And in the end, he kind of realized he was like, well, I'd rather go and see. And if not, I couldn't wait for me to drop back to a USL club. He went there, he ended up signing. He's been there for like two seasons now. So, you know, it's just the advice side as well where myself and my partner have been at a level where it's, I know what's needed, I understand what's needed and I try and give that advice as much as I can. And that was one example where I felt like our advice was pivotal in his decision and he took the tougher route and it paid off for him. That's awesome, that's cool. So you guys do one-on-one and you guys do small group training, correct? We do one-on-one, we do small group clinics and we do camps as well. We started camps last summer, which went very well. We're just starting now to launch our elite camps, which is going to be maximum 20 players who are really looking for that training of a high-high caliber, you know, sort of training you do at a pro-government pre-season, et cetera, et cetera. So that's what we're just starting to launch now. So some of the coaches we work with, they have a fear of moving into group training. And the fear is because they think that you can't provide that value to the client that one-on-one training has. So how do you sort of sell and promote the difference between one-on-one and small group training to your clients and to the parents? A lot of it depends on age. I feel like the younger they are, they switch off after 35 minutes, 40 minutes, they've gone, you know, they've been at school a day, they're tired, they tend to go, when they're with a partner or a group, they vibe off each other, they get energy off each other and they compete against each other and it flies. So that's one thing I do say is they tend to compete, they tend to challenge each other, no one wants to be the worst, someone always wants to be the best and it works like that. And a group of three or four, you can still manage it. It's not that you've got 10, you've got three or four, you can see who's struggling and who needs more work and we always balance it out with individuals as well. So we wouldn't just do groups. We do a group once a month, twice a month and the rest of it, you're back to individuals. One way we sell that, like I say, is the older boys, they get a lot out of it, to be honest. Because as you know, coaching older boys and girls, sorry, they challenge themselves. They know the levels. They know how hard they should be working. You're just putting a session on which challenges them mentally and physically. But like I say, they always compete against each other. Is they also find out where they're at amongst their peers. I've got parents come to me sometimes and think, no disrespect that their kids are well beat up. And I put them in a group and they're always like, you know what I mean? Like, there are kids out there as good if not better and they need more work. Which is sometimes a good thing to see. And also you have the opposite where they're humble when they come in and they're on fire and they get confidence lift from that because they all of a sudden see, hang on, I'm actually probably one of the better ones here. Like that. So what would you say to a coach, a trainer watching this video or listening to it? And they want to start a business but they haven't yet. What's one piece of advice you'd say to them to get started? I think just go out there and do it. Just go out there and get a couple of kids. Make sure that every session you do is what you want to portray as a business. Like you never know who's watching. We've had so many people just walk by and they're stopped for 15 minutes watching and they carry on walking. And then in two, three weeks we get a call and it's like, oh we watched you for like and you never know who's watching. So, you know, I've had days when I've been out there and I'm tired and it's hard to be honest. I've trained in the morning. I've had a game on the weekend. I'm tired but I know that if one person walks past and I'm sat there lazy on my phone or whatever it is, it's that one person who could go and tell someone else that, oh no, don't train with me. I've seen him. He's lazy, blah, blah, blah. Do you know what I mean? So your reputation is always on the line. So as long as you're getting people coming back for the right reasons, which is a good training session the kids are developing, I think it will organically grow. You haven't got to do too much work outside of that. So that's the only advice I'd give, is just make sure that every session is a good session because that's how you're going to grow in the end. Love that, love that. So let me take you back again to the beginning when you first started. How did you get your first client and how many are you currently working with right now? How did I get my first client? I think it was a hand me down actually. I got lucky from one of the boys at the football club. So there was a couple of boys doing on a smaller scale by that I mean just doing two or three kids in a week just for a little bit of pocket money or whatever. And I think he left and he'd give me the kid, give me a couple of actually at a time. I took them on, started doing it. And then it wasn't till probably COVID time when like I say we started to really pick up. So I said I'd have, for the first year I probably had eight or nine kids that I would do. COVID we really, really picked up. And I think now probably between myself and my two other coaches, we're probably near like 80, 90 kids, I'd say. On a rotation, obviously within that you've got your kids who come every single week, set times, blah, blah, blah. And then you've got your kids who come every other week. Then you've got the kids who come and come out of the woodwork every now and then. But I'd say between you and Arnie. So what would you look for when you bring on a new client then into your business? What are you looking for? The first thing, like I said to you before, is where they want to go and what they want to be and what they want to achieve. So I know what to demand from them. And if someone comes and they want to have fun and learn and get better but they don't see it as a career, I'm not going to demand as much from someone who really wants to push themselves. Also, the only thing we ask from them is just hard work for one hour. Like, you know, how long the session is? Just give me your attention, give me hard work. And if you don't understand something, ask me. And we'll go through it. It's just, you know, I'm there to get you better. But if you don't want to get better, it's going to be very difficult for me. And you make my life hard and you make your life harder. And your parents, your parents are paying, do you know what I mean? They're paying money and it's, money's hard to come by these days. Do you know what I mean? People work hard for their money. So I don't want you coming here, not working hard. And then it affects badly on my session as well. So the only thing we say is come in, work hard, you know, get better every day and that's what we ask. And what's your current sales and marketing process? How do you guys market your business? That needs work, if I'm being totally honest. We use Instagram ads and stuff like that. But the beauty of that, of my client base, honestly, is it's all been word of mouth and it's all been recommendations. Like it's not, I think we get the odd one through Instagram for our videos and stuff like that, which I believe if we were to really promote ourselves, we'd get a lot more. But 95% have been recommendations and just people recommended and seeing us training and stuff like that, which has been great. I think for us to really branch out and become bigger, which we've just hired a new coach because me and my partners can't take on all the players, we're going to have to start to look into marketing and stuff like that. That's cool. So a question a lot of the coaches in our program always ask is they want to partner with another coach. So you're obviously in partnership, a business partnership. So tell us a bit about what it's like to be in a business partnership and what does it require for it to be successful? My business partnership is very unique to be honest. So my partner Rob, he played with me about Watford when I was six. So I've known him, I've been the best friend since I was six. We went through the system at Watford together, end up at Brentford together randomly, end up at Rangers together for three years and now we end up at Orange County together. Although I played agent Rob in that one. But yeah, no, he moved out here to start with me. Obviously he doesn't do much now because he's still playing and he went for visa processes and stuff like that. So he doesn't coach at the moment, but he's just in the back end. But you've just got to have trust in your staff. We've had camps, our first camp with 80 kids and I didn't know what was going on. I thought we'd sell 30 tickets but I ended up selling out at 80. I was director of it and I've got Chris who's our head coach now who I trust and having him and having a couple of others that come along really took the weight off me. And you can't oversee everything. You're not going to be there the whole time. You need people that want the brand to grow as much as you do and want the brand to do better. They know if the brand does better or if we do better, they earn more money and it's better for everybody. So good staff is one thing, man. Like I preached that massively to Rob after our first two camps. It was like, we have to have good staff because if we're not, it's the whole thing falls apart. And as soon as one or two start questioning your reputation, it's very hard to win that back. So it's just having everyone on the same wavelength as you. Love that. So where do you see Prospect Soccer Academy in the next five years from Melbourne? To be honest, I'm going to be honest and say I don't know. We're working on a few different things, a few different avenues which we want to go down. There's a lot of routes we can go down. The camps are doing great. We're working on a pro program. We've obviously been lucky enough to grow up in England and around players that are now doing very well in the Premier League. I'm not going to name drop anyone, but there's probably five or six that are in the Premier League at huge clubs that come over here on holiday who we're going to work with and we're going to train. So we're going to build that up as well. There's the camp stuff that's obviously which is growing every single year. It's just branching out. I think we could be, definitely we are, if not in the next few years, we will be probably the biggest and the best individual training company in Orange County in Southern California. We've got two or three great coaches underneath me who we trust. And it's just going from there, like I said, the elite camps are something we're venturing into. So it's just trying to worm our way through it and see what really benefits us, benefits the player and benefits us as a business. So my last question for you, and this one's more of a personal one, which is something I've always loved asking trainers, is what does failure mean to you? Failure means do better for one, learning from your mistakes. I always think if I've made a mistake all the way, have I prepared well enough in the beginning? I feel like when I prepare, when I'm ready, when I've done all what I need to do, I don't really fail that much. When I've left it to the last minute or let other things get in the way, and I go into a session or I turn up to something, and I think that's not going as well as I like, it's normally because before then, I've not really done the work I needed to do. So I tried just to make sure that I'm prepared in everything I do in all my sessions and all my camps, so that if it does go wrong, great, I've done everything I could up to then, and I've learned from what happened after that. I think if I've gone into things where I've cut corners and I've failed, I've got myself to blame and I know why it's happened. Love that, love that. Perfect. All right, Harry. Well, first of all, thank you so much for sharing your story with us. I know our audience is definitely going to enjoy it. There's your dog. Can I be here? Now, if anyone's watching or listening and wants to follow Prospect Soccer Academy or wants to get in contact with you or you guys, what's the best way of doing that? Obviously, our Instagram's at Prospect.Soccer. Websites, ProspectSoccerAcademy.com. My personal email is Harry at ProspectSoccerAcademy.com, so we can be reached on any of them if coaches want to come out, want to collab, want to come and see a session. We always need coaches for camps of a high caliber, to be honest, so we're based in Orange County, so if anyone wants to hit me up, I'm always available. Perfect. So, Harry, I wish you and your business all the best. Thanks again for your time and look forward to at some point in the future connecting again. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. All right, take care. Take care.