 when I was in high school. It wasn't an official business, but I had a couple of kids that were in my community that wanted me to train them. I actually helped my dad coach. My dad was a coach for a little small club team in our area, so I would help them coach. And a couple of kids would ask me, you know, because I was still playing at the time in high school and whatnot, a couple of kids that were in my community knew who I was and watching me play and whatnot, and they would ask if I could train them. So I trained a couple of kids. This was back, I think I was a junior in high school, so around 2015-2016. And they asked me to come train them, so I not trained them. They liked it, kind of just stuck with that small little group. And I realized that this is fun. I really enjoyed it. Some of the kids were getting better. So I started getting a little bit more kids just through water mouth, and we started promoting it through the club. So I got a couple of kids from there, but it was, I lived in a small town in San Diego, so it was just my local area. So it wasn't really too big or anything. Didn't really have too many kids. It's a few. So that was from like 2015 to up until around 2018-ish. And then in 2018, I started my actual business. And I was in college and I was playing, and I ended up getting hurt. So I stopped playing. I decided, you know what, I don't want to play anymore. I had a lot of knee injuries throughout high school as well. And you know, I just didn't really want to start over again. And especially at the college level, it's hard, you know, at the Juco. I was playing at a Juco, and it was hard to, you know, just bounce back, get back to 100 and work my way back. So that was something, you know, I was kind of, didn't really want to do anymore. I wanted to really pursue training. So that's what I did. I started my business in 2018 and then kind of just went from there. Had a couple kids that I trained that were outside of my little area that I mentioned the small town that I was in. And just kind of started Instagram, had a couple kids through Instagram, and then it kind of just went from there. Well, sounds good. So tell us a bit about your business then. What's the business name and what do you guys specialize in? Yeah, so our business name is Game Time Elite Training. We are located in San Diego, California. And like I said, you know, we've been going since 2018. And something I've really tried to do over the past couple of years is really just differentiate myself from other programs out there, you know, because there's a lot of trainers out here, you know, and a lot of parents when you talk to them, they kind of just think sometimes that all training is the same. And so you really have to find a way to separate yourself from everybody else. So what I've done to separate myself from everyone else is first thing on the court, just we train a lot of decision making. When you're playing basketball, when you're playing the game, you're making a decision every single play. But when you see the traditional style of training, it's you're going doing stuff through cones versus trash cans, which is fine, you know, it's cool and all, you know, you kind of need to build a base and foundation. But ultimately players have to make decisions and you have to train those things, right? That's the missing pieces. You'll see kids that work on their game all the time and in the backyard doing homework. But when it comes game time, they don't really know how to execute those things in a game. And it's because it lacks defense, it lacks decision making. So where we come in is we do we teach players certain skills, you know, so they get they get the skill down, they know they understand kind of how to do it. And then we put defense on the floor, we put them in a situation where they have to make a decision. So we'll throw audio cues, perceptual cues out there. So that way they have to react, you know, like they would have to in a game. They do like a lot of small-sided games. That's pretty much I would say about 70% of our training is live. So we do a lot of small-sided games one on one, two on two things that really help players understand when they would use the skills that we're teaching them, you know, in a game. You know, they can actually kind of see how it works with live defense and kind of experiment and figure things out on their own. So that's one thing that differentiates us, you know, we're not going to just do a bunch of cone work or on air work. We'll do a lot of decision making small-sided game stuff. And then number two, my goal with this thing is to help teach life lessons through basketball. I think that there's a lot of life lessons that can be taught through the game. And so our biggest thing is to teach players, you know, how to be successful, you know, outside of basketball, you know, when they're done playing, you know, we want them to be successful in whatever else they do. So we have what we call like an accountability journal. I got this idea from Ben. Just give players an accountability journal, but what we do is every session, the last five to 10 minutes, is dedicated towards building the mental side of the game. So we're going to do different mental exercises that players can take away to, you know, implement to become more confident. We do pretty much something different every single day. So sometimes we might meditate, sometimes we might do some visualization, sometimes we write down, you know, things we're grateful for, or we know I'll read a quick paragraph and players will kind of write down what they took away from that paragraph. And we'll just talk about it and dive deeper into it, ask them more questions, really get them to just think about different situations and just help them build their overall confidence. Those are two things that we do to differentiate ourselves from others. And that's kind of what we build our brain and build our business on. That's awesome. Love that. So you've been in our program for a while now. So what has been your biggest obstacle since you started in our program? So I would say our biggest obstacle was kind of just putting myself out there, putting myself out there. You know, I had social media and I would kind of just do it through social media. Or I guess I didn't really use social media as I could have been, you know, marketing myself, promoting free sessions, promoting on there, you know, different promotions that we have going on. I never really liked to sell myself on social media, but that's something that I started to do, you know, because I have a bunch of local people who follow me and people even around the world, you know, so I started promoting our online course that started promoting our in-person sessions and talking to parents over the phone, you know, so I always did zoom, you know, sales calls when I'm, you know, kind of introducing myself to players and talking to parents about how our program works, but I would never really get on the phone after that, you know, sending text messages, update them, you know, and how things are going. But now, you know, I call parents, I talk to them at least once a month, twice a month, or every other month, you know, just letting them know how so-and-so is doing, but then also, you know, letting them know what promotions we have going on and what not to, so just putting myself out there and not being afraid to, you know, talk more to parents and to other people inside of our community in San Diego area. I like that. So what you do with parents is really good in the sense that you get on the phone call and speak to parents. So how important is that for a business owner? I think that's huge. Before, I used to just text parents and, you know, they would say, oh, how much is your training cost? I'd tell them how much my training cost? That'd be perfect, you know, sign me up. I'd sign them up, you know, and just kind of just do it that way. And then, you know, after a month, two months, you know, they'd probably drop off because they didn't really know who I was. They didn't know what was going on inside of our program. Like I said, they just thought it was your typical training session. So they didn't really know what, you know, our business consisted of and what our training consisted of. So, you know, they just dropped the kids off and leave. So I think the sales cost huge because one, they get to see you face to face and know who you are. They know what you're about. And then so you just kind of get to meet them and figure out what type of personnel you can kind of see if you even want them in your program, because that would just pretty much accept anybody. And sometimes, you know, parents, you know, would take advantage of me too, because I never really had any terms. I didn't have any, you know, terms in agreements or anything, you know, too. So I would have, I would just sell like packages and parents would buy like a four pack of training sessions or a pack of training sessions and they'd use it over the span of three, four months. And I'd be kind of screwed over, you know, and my goal was to always use it within, you know, 30 days, but parents would, you know, take advantage of it. You know, so that kind of screwed me over. So setting terms and conditions and then also just, you know, going over, you know, what we're about face to face or not face to face, but over Zoom call was huge for us and it changed, you know, the trajectory of our business. So was it hard to make those changes or did you find it quite easy? Yeah. So at first, it was more so just like me being nervous and like, I didn't really want to do it at first because I didn't know how parents would respond to it. And so I was honestly just kind of in my own head about it and just building up all these scenarios, which never actually happened. You know, once I actually did it, I was like, okay, actually, parents don't really care, you know, they like it better when, you know, their kid is able to get, because if you think about it, you know, if you have these terms and maybe you said, you go from selling packages to selling monthly memberships or selling long-term agreements, parents are going to give more sessions. You know, if they're just using four sessions in the span of three months, you know, that's not going to get, you're not going to get a lot out of it. But now when you're making it four sessions per 28 days, per 30 days, or you're making it, you know, 12 sessions in the span of, you know, three months, whatever the case may be. Now they're getting more out of that. So once I kind of just went out and did it and stopped being in my own head, I realized it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that hard. You know, parents actually liked it more and they liked it when it was, things were more organized and it was ran like a real business and not just, you know, Venmo, me or Pay Me Cashier or, you know, having to, you know, because what I used to do was, like I said, I sold packages, parents would take advantage of me. But after their package was up, I'd always text them and say, hey, you know, would you guys like to come back in for, you know, another four sessions, another eight sessions, whatever it was? And I would have to do that, you know, constantly. And it kind of got kind of annoying and I didn't really like doing it, just kind of selling myself every, you know, month, two months, whatever the heck it was. So it made it a lot easier when I switched over to reoccurring payments because I only sold to them one time and they're on and they're locked in and they're going to get better results that way too, just because, you know, they're coming more. So, yes, I was nervous in my own head about it, but it definitely wasn't as bad as I thought and it was a lot easier, you know, than I thought, for sure. So, yep. Yeah. And has, have you seen your business grow since you made those changes? Oh, yeah, like, I made those changes in 2020. So like late 2020, I went from just selling packages to reoccurring memberships. And I think, and I doubled my income within like, a year of just doing that, just because people were locked in, you know, so it was huge for me. And then now I don't really sell reoccurring like monthly commitments. I do like long term payments, like three months, six months, 12 months. So that's what I do now with all the new members that I have. I have my old members are still on the reoccurring payments, but everyone else is like on a three month subscription or six or 12. So it's a lot better. Kids are able to, kids get better results, players are getting better results because they're coming consistently. They know what my expectations are that we have, you know, an agreement that we sign or they have an agreement that they sign so they know what to expect, they know what they're getting into and they know what they need to be doing every single week. And now things are more organized, things are, you know, going a little, running a little bit smoother. So it's, you know, helping the, helping the players out a lot. And then, you know, it's also better for business as well. Love that. So talk to us. What would you look for when you bring on a new client into your program? Yeah. So I'm only working with fifth grade and up. So usually, you know, if it's anything younger, sometimes I'll take a fourth grader if they're, I guess a higher level fourth grader. And the reason that is is because I just honestly, I believe that if they're in fifth grade or younger, you know, they just need to be having fun with the game and just going out and playing and finding a passion for it. And then also wearing the game, you know, it's, I don't want to go anything lower because I don't want to just, I didn't set up my business to teach players how to play basketball. You know, I want players who have already played for a couple of years, they understand, you know, how to play a little bit. They're just looking to build their skill in their individual game. So I don't want like, you know, to start from scratch. Usually with someone, I have a couple of kids, but those, the kids that are more so beginners are really passionate about the game and they want to get better. In the past, I've had kids who were beginners, but it was more so their parents were making them be there. You know, they didn't really want to be there. So I don't really want to work with those kids anymore. But you know, if you're a beginner and you know how to play a little bit, you understand the rules at least, right? I don't want to have to teach a kid, you know, that you can't double dribble, you can't travel. Like, I don't want to have to teach a mat. But as long as they know that and they're passionate about the game, you know, I'll take it for sure and I'll work with them. But yeah, so that's how I kind of set it up. It's great enough. I would say right now, it's probably split between half middle school and then half high school players. It's probably going to split for me right now. But yeah, that's pretty much kind of who we accept and what not. Oh, and then we, I forgot one thing too. It's kind of already went over it, but serious players, you know, like serious players. I don't want players, like I said, who don't want to be there, you know, or the parents are making them be there. I want kids who actually want to get better and do results. Good. Good. I like that. And I like that you're very specific with the age group. Because I know a lot of coaches, what they tend to do is they want to just bring anyone in just to make a little extra bit of money. But then what they realize is that the people they bring in, the players they bring in, they end up hating working with them in the long term. And that affects their business because ultimately, you know, they lose passion for what they do. So talk to us a little bit. How important is it to be very specific with who you want to work with? Oh, yeah. No, it's huge because one thing I've noticed is I've made that switch about a year ago where I wasn't really just accepting anybody because I noticed those kids, they can hurt the culture. They can hurt the environment. You know, they can hurt other kids that are there and they're taking it seriously. You know, they can, it can bring the energy down in a session. You know, when you're seeing kids just kind of goof off or you're seeing kids that aren't serious and taking it, you know, it's hard. It's energy contagious. So it can go from one kid to the next and then now the whole freaking group is in that same mood. So it's huge, you know? So that's what I really noticed too is like when all kids are on board in a series of great competitive environment, high energy and kids are pushing each other. And then if you let, you know, one of those kids in there that's not like that, you can, you know, like I said, it can transfer to everybody else. So I think that's huge. You know, just setting your standard tie and sticking to those things as well. You know, don't let anybody take advantage of you. Don't let, don't let the parents try to talk you into training their kids. You know, if you feel like the kid's not a good fit, you know, don't take them. You know, I've had to make a couple of those calls over the past few months. You know, I had kids or parents who wanted their kids to come in and stuff, but I just felt like the kid wasn't the right fit, you know? And I just pretty much had to tell them, I don't think at this time, you know, so-and-so can, can, can fit into our program. You know, I just don't think it's the right fit. And I just pretty much told them, you know, they were beginner players who didn't really care to either. So I just told the parents, you know, just probably go put them in a rec league for now and see if they can develop that love for the game. And if they want to continue to take it seriously, then you guys, you know, can, can, you know, hit me back up and we'd love to have them come out and evaluate them again and see if they can fit into our program this time around. Great piece of advice. I like that. Cool. So where do you see the private training industry going in the next two to five years? That's a great question. You know, I think, like I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of trainers nowadays. And I think it's only going to get bigger. But I think the people who will succeed are the people who, one, you know, obviously love it and have a passion for it, but two, have their systems in place, you know, have their business organized and set up the right way. You know, if you're just one of those coaches who's taking Venmo, taking Cash App, Paypal, Cash check, so we know whatever, if you're just taking whatever payment parent gives you, I think that you're not going to be able to last and stay in the game. You need systems in place, you need to take, you know, payments, you know, online where, you know, things are reoccurring where you know exactly, you know, what you're going to be making each and every month. And, you know, also, you know, you have to make sure that, you know, you just kind of, like I mentioned, the system, you need to be automated, you know. So my business now, a lot of my stuff is automated. I have a process set up where if someone comes on my website, they fill out a form or they, you know, sign up for a free session, everything will be automated, you know. So they're going to get a response. I'm going to get a text letting me know that someone signed up, but they're also going to get a text where they know exactly where they're going to show up, what time it's at, the waiver they have to fill out, and then I don't even, the next day after they come to the session, there's an automated text that goes out that sends them, you know, pay so-and-so, you know, we love working with your child. The next step would be to book a Zoom session at this link here to learn a little bit more about how we operate and also so we can, you know, figure out a game plan for your child. So everything is all automated, you know, too. So that way I don't have to take time to go out there and do those extra things. It's just quick and they can, you know, take action and fill those things out right away too. So having your business automated and having systems in place and then payments also being under a reoccurring system is huge. And I think that's what all trainers need to be doing in the next couple of years, or not even next couple of years now, they need to be doing that now, like here today. So yeah. Good, good. So talk to us a bit about your sales and marketing process then. How do you sell and market your business? Yeah, so right now I'm doing a lot of referral programs, Black Friday promotions. Those are things I'm doing to kind of get my name out there. Dude, like I said, I talk a little bit more to parents. I put myself out there on IG a little bit more. I DM a lot of parents on Instagram, DM a lot of players on Instagram. If they're following me and they're in my area, I will reach out and try to get them in for a free session. Another thing that I do is I'm on, I don't know if you've heard of lessons.com, but I think every trainer needs to be on that. I get one to one to two leads literally a week. Like I already said, today I got two leads today and I already have like three leads earlier this week. So I think that's another thing that parents could or not parents, trainers and coaches could get on, you know, to market themselves and get their name out there. I'm trying to think of some, you know, I do a few things, I'm trying to think of, I can't think of the top of my head, but oh, then my website SEO Optimize, you know, so I'm making sure that it's the first thing parents find when they, you know, look for trainers or coaches in our area. So my website gets a lot of traction. I get at least one sign up a month free, free, our player coming in for a free session a month, just because the website SEO Optimize. Those are a few things that we're doing to market ourselves. Oh, we also do free clinics. So reach out to clubs in the area, different high schools in the area, middle schools to set up free clinics. So that way, you know, we can get more athletes in and whatnot. But those are just, you know, a few things I can think of at the top of my head right now. We do do a couple more, but can't think of those right now. Okay, cool. So are you currently doing the training yourself? Yeah. So I'm the head trainer right now. I have a couple interns that are helping me out right now. One of their goals actually in college, they're college players. So kind of hard with their schedule right now. One of them only comes on Sundays. The other one comes once or twice during the week, but definitely looking to build out and bring more trainers on, bring, you know, another marketer on a videographer, different things like that, just because I've been doing it by myself for the past four years. And it's hard, you know, it's hard to grow like that. I've realized I've had interns with me, I've had one of them with me for about six to eight months. And then I've had another one on for about two, three months, and they've been a huge help and they're helping out a ton. And definitely can't see myself without them anymore. It's a huge help for sure. Good. So a common question we get asked is about interns, specifically what you're talking about. So talk to us a little bit about when you want to bring on an intern, what things do you need to look for? And how can you make it work? Yeah. So honestly, I've wanted an intern for like the past year or two. At least for me, it was hard to find one. I just had to really need the past. Well, one of the kids was one of the interns, he's been actually training with me. He was actually one of the first kids I've ever trained. When he was, I was in high school, he was in sixth grade. He's a college athlete now. He has a, he's playing on a college team right now, but he would help me out in the off season. And now you only have to have a Sunday because he's in season. But he was a no brainer for me because he's been training me since the start. So he knows how I operate, he knows how things work. So that was a no brainer, you know, and he's always been interested. He's always, he's helped me out. I was actually actually, I think I only said six to eight months, he's been helping me out for almost two years now. Actually, I don't know why I'm blank on that. It was just kind of here and there. It was, it was kind of just here and there for like the first year or so. But now it's like it's been, I guess it's been consistent for the past six to eight months, I guess you could say, but he's been kind of helping me out for the past almost two years. But I've honestly, I've needed the one for a while now, you know. So I felt four or five months ago, beginning of summer, I put like a bunch of stories up on my Instagram just trying to get interns applications going. I had, you know, probably about like six to 10 applications filled out, I would say about half of them were actually in my local area. The other half were like internationally. And international ones didn't work, but the local ones, there was a couple we went through, they just want a good fit. So we chose, we ended up choosing one. He was actually another kid that we worked with a couple times. He came to a couple of our camps. He, good, good, good player, good dude. And definitely a huge help to our business now. But Instagram was the way that we promoted it. It was hard. We didn't really get a lot of traction the first time going around, but the second time we posted it and try to get more, we had a lot more applications filled out. So that was kind of the main way we did it. But you also just have to find the right fit too, you know, because like I said, there was a handful of guys who really didn't fit in a line with our vision. So we didn't accept them, you know. But I also think you could also look into maybe some older players that you trained, if they're interested too, that could be a huge help. Because I, you know, both the interns that we have now that they trained, one of them is a trainer that's for, you know, since we started the other one came with us or trained with us a couple of times in the past. So you could also, you know, reach out to maybe older players who have, you know, played through high school, maybe they're in college now and maybe they're just done playing. You can also reach out to them and see if they'd be interested to kind of throw that out there. But Instagram is Facebook, you know, you can post things on Facebook, Instagram, just see if you can, you know, give some traction. Okay, cool. So where are you currently training your clients? Do you train the indoor? Do you have your own indoor facility? Yeah, so I have my own indoor spot. I just opened it up back in November of last year. So it's been open for about a year now, exactly a year. I had, so it's not my spot, one of my friends, he's a sports performance coach and he has his own gym and it's full weight room. He had a turf field and whatnot. I was last year, I was supposed to get another spot next door, but things fell through, I wasn't able to get it. And so my friend, you know, he offered to allow me to put in, you know, put a court in where his turf was at. So he kind of, we just moved the turf outside. He does this, you know, speeding agility stuff outside and I was able to move in the court indoors with the turf with that. So huge blessing, you know, forever grateful for him. But yeah, so that's how I got my spot. Smaller, but it's doable. Awesome. So what piece of advice would you give to any basketball trainer watching that is obviously struggling to find an indoor space to train? Yeah, I would say, you know, I know it gets hard. I was struggling for a while too, you know, before I found that spot or the spot I was originally supposed to get. You know, I was looking everywhere, hitting people up and it took me a long time. You know, there wasn't, it was hard to find the perfect space. You know, I might have, I found a couple spots that were big enough, but the ceiling wasn't high enough and whatnot. And it was discouraging, but I didn't let it get to me. You know, I didn't stop looking. I didn't stop pushing and trying to find that right spot. You know, luckily I did, like I said, I had a good friend who allowed me to, you know, build out the court in his space. It doesn't happen all the time, but I would say just don't stop, you know, because there's going to be some rep passes, you know, even with training. There was almost times where I quit and almost stopped training players, but the biggest thing is the reason why people usually don't succeed or don't get to where they want to go is because they quit before it even happens. So, you know, that they give up before it even happens. And as long as you keep pushing, you know, I believe that, you know, you'll have a great chance of succeeding, but just don't stop. That's the biggest thing. Don't stop. Good. So where would you see your business in the next five years from now? Yeah, so I definitely want to have one of the not only most well-known and biggest training brands in San Diego, but just in Southern California for sure. I definitely want to make a bigger impact. I want to travel, you know, the world and run camps and clinics around, you know, not only the country, but the world, you know, and impact more players. So that's a big goal of mine. And yeah, just being one of the most well-known players, not players, trainers in San Diego and Southern California and just impacting and changing as many lives as possible through this game. You know, like I said, our goal is not only to help you on the court, you know, with your skills. That's part of it. But then the other part is just getting you ready for life and just teaching you life lessons through this game. Love that. So, Gabe, well, first of all, I want to say thank you for coming on here, sharing your journey with us. I'm obviously part of the group, so I see your successes every day and every week. So I just want to encourage you to keep going. And now if any trainer is watching this video and wants to either follow your business or get in contact with you, then what is the best way to do that? Yeah, so our tags are game family training under all social media platforms. So YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, all of it, it's all under game family training. That would be the best place to follow us. Okay, cool. Well, thanks again there, Gabe. And hopefully a plan of mine will be to, in 12 months time, bring you back on here and see where your business is at from the last time we spoke. Awesome. Well, appreciate you, Leonardo. I appreciate you having me on, man. It was a pleasure. All right. Take care and we'll speak soon. All right. Take care. Thank you.