Grow Sports Training Business: How Jae Taft Built Vision Basketball Academy

For coaches who want to grow a sports training business from scratch-with no facility, no trust fund, and no playbook-the path looks different than most expect.

For Jae Taft, founder of Vision Basketball Academy in Denver, it looked like renting a church gym with a crooked rim and a three-point line that barely misses half court. It looked like texting parents at odd hours to remind them to sign up for sessions. It looked like finally switching to a membership model and realizing, almost immediately, that it changed everything.

Now, five weeks into planning her own facility, Jae joins the CoachIQ Podcast to share how she’s building a sports training business with purpose-one that’s specifically designed to serve women and girls in the game.

In this episode:

• Why switching from per-session to membership pricing was a turning point
• How Jae structures her group training model-and why she’s moving athletes away from private sessions
• What training girls is really like compared to boys (and why coaches who make the switch rarely go back)
• How she found a $10/hour church gym and turned it into a client base worth moving into a facility
• The delegating mindset that’s helping her scale without burning out

The breaking point that led to memberships

Before memberships, Jae was doing what a lot of trainers do: chasing bookings. She’d text parents to remind them about sessions they said they’d attend. She’d schedule drop-ins, sell session packs, and mentally track who was coming and who wasn’t.

“It consumed me,” she says. “I would literally have a hard time falling asleep thinking, ‘I have these many people I need to text.'”

The shift to memberships didn’t just save her time. It changed how her clients showed up.

“The same parents I had to remind constantly-they’re now booking three weeks ahead,” Jae says. “My communication isn’t ‘reminder, we have a session tonight.’ It’s actually talking about their daughter.”

That’s the real transformation coaches describe when they make the switch - it’s the same shift Jeff Schmidt experienced when he went from spending five to six hours every Sunday managing schedules by text to running a 90-client membership business. When your automated payment processing handles recurring billing and your scheduling automation handles the booking, and your client communication tools send session reminders automatically, you stop being an admin and start being a coach again.

If you’re still on per-session or drop-in pricing and wondering whether the switch is worth it, Jae’s advice is simple: “The minute you can go to membership-based, please do it. It will save you so much time.”

If Jae’s story sounds familiar, CoachIQ’s membership and payment automation tools are built exactly for this transition - recurring billing, automated reminders, and self-service booking all in one place.

Why group training is key to a sustainable sports training business

Jae still offers private training-she’s not cutting it entirely-but her goal is clear: get athletes into group sessions.

It’s not just a business decision. It’s a development philosophy.

“Parents think because they spend more money, it’s going to be better for the kid,” she says. “But in a group, they’re competing, making real reads, playing against people their age. I can watch from a bird’s eye view and actually teach.”

She also points out the economics. Group sessions are more affordable for families and more sustainable for trainers. If you’re doing individual sessions all day, you’re trading hours for dollars with a hard ceiling. The group training economics only get better as you scale your sports training business.

And there’s a social angle that Jae values just as much. “Kids come in and have real friendships after a few weeks,” she says. They carpool. They come back. Retention goes up because the experience is about more than just basketball.

Training girls: what most male coaches discover too late

Ninety-nine percent of Vision’s athletes are female-not by design, but by demand. Families specifically sought out a woman trainer for their daughters.

Jae describes the difference between training girls and boys as a coaching tension: girls tend to want to do things exactly right. Boys tend to need reeling in. Neither is better-they just require different approaches.

“With girls, I’m fighting to get them to play more free, to not be so robotic,” she says. “With boys, I’m fighting to get them to focus.”

She saw this play out directly in practice when she gave her group ten minutes with no instructions-just a challenge to take initiative and lead a drill. They froze. “None of them said right-hand pounds or V-dribbles. They just didn’t know what to do.”

It’s a great reminder that as trainers, we sometimes over-coach. The goal is eventually to build athletes who can think and compete on their own-and group environments, structured thoughtfully with the right session management tools, help develop that independence.

The $10/hour gym that built a client base

Before Vision had the brand recognition it has now, Jae’s business partner cold-emailed over a hundred churches looking for court access. One responded.

The gym had a crooked rim. The three-point line was practically at half court. But it was consistent, it was hers from four to nine every evening, and it cost $10 an hour.

“We found a little gold mine,” Jae says.

Consistency is what makes a sports training business grow. Not flashy facilities-consistency. Once families know your schedule is reliable, they stop shopping around. That’s when you can build real momentum.

Now, after a rent increase at the church gym, Jae has done the math. The same money she’s paying in rent could go toward her own facility instead. So that’s the direction she’s heading.

What it takes to grow a sports training business with your own facility

Jae is five weeks into the process of opening her own gym, and she’s already ahead of where most trainers are when they sign a lease.

She’s already identified a strength and conditioning coach who will operate their own business inside the facility. She’s in conversations with physical therapists for recovery services. She’s run a survey and gotten strong interest in women’s-only pickup runs and leagues.

The vision is a space where female athletes can get everything they need in one place. Training, strength work, recovery, community.

One practical piece of advice she received that she’s passing on: negotiate a build-out period into your lease. If it takes four to five weeks just to get a court delivered and installed, you don’t want to be paying rent on an empty warehouse while you wait. Build that time into the deal before you sign. It’s the same lesson Tyler Leclerc learned when he opened TJL Training in Massachusetts - and if you want to understand the real costs of opening a training facility before you sign anything, that breakdown is worth reading first.

The mindset shift that lets you grow a sports training business beyond yourself

One of the most valuable things Jae has internalized from watching her parents run their own businesses: you cannot grow if you’re the only person doing everything.

“My business is never going to get to where I want it if I’m the only one doing it,” she says, echoing advice her father gave her.

She has trainers under her now-a post player, a shooting guard-and she’s deliberately working to teach them Vision’s training philosophy so the quality doesn’t drop when she’s not in the room. A point guard herself, Jae openly admits she doesn’t have the feel for what it’s like to play in the post. So she finds people who do.

That’s what building a team actually looks like. Not just hiring warm bodies-finding coaches who share your values and fill your blind spots.

When she’s traveling, clients can still train through CoachIQ’s virtual coaching tools, and she’s excited to expand her online training offerings as the platform grows. Her goal is to eventually train athletes outside of Denver-all through the same system her in-person clients use.

Where to follow Jae

Jae is documenting the full facility build process in real time-from warehouse walk-throughs to opening day. If you’re thinking about opening your own space, her series will be worth following closely.

Find her on all platforms at @CoachJaeTaft and Vision Basketball Academy for the business content.

Ready to make the switch to membership-based coaching? See how CoachIQ’s automated payment processing and scheduling tools help coaches like Jae stop chasing bookings and start building a business that runs on its own.

Full Episode Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the episode above.

Russell: Welcome back to another episode of the Coach IQ podcast. I am your host, Brandon Evans. We are here with Jay Taft. Jay, I won’t steal a spotlight from her, but she owns Vision Basketball Academy and I believe you’re involved in a few other things as well. with a little bit. Yeah.

Jae: Awesome. We’ll talk about that. But she is out in Denver, Colorado. I will hand it over to her. Let’s talk about I funny story. I am very good friends with a guy who owns a or he runs a sports performance facility here and I train with him. We work out together and he has sent me some of your dad’s stuff before.

Russell: Oh, really?

Jae: Yes. like that’s cool. when I was when I was getting ready for this episode, I was I saw the name. I’m really?

Russell: No way. so I bring that up one because it’s funny and two because you grew up around training facilities, Like that was

Jae: Yeah. You grew up around that. And before you started on your own, you were at a shoot 360,

Russell: Yeah. For like a little bit. Yeah.

Jae: Uhhuh. at what point you’re you’re on your own right now. Let’s talk about talk about where exactly you are at right now. Like what is your current state as of January 23rd, 2026?

Russell: Yeah. Well, you caught me at a really good time with that because I’m in the process now of opening up my own facility, which is super exciting. Like that you like it’s not even out yet. I haven’t really told anyone at all. you guys are like one of the first people to know

Jae: Release information

Russell: Which is like super exciting. And we are in the process of that. The Lord has been so faithful and so kind where the first conversation started five weeks ago and the earliest we’re opening up is in like four months if we can get the place going in that. it has been a I’ll say a quick process from the outside, but obviously this has been a dream for like

Jae: Five, six years now. how it is. You’re a facility owner. it’s like really cool to see it just come about and like take like inches every single day and then look back and see how much it’s grown in the past five weeks. Like the idea to, oh no, we’re like looking at warehouses or getting things done. Like those kinds of things. right now that is where I’m at. What is like what’s your day-to-day? Where are you where are you training out of right now? What’s like what do you do? What’s a day in your life look like?

Russell: Yeah, day in my life is I work from home, which is the biggest blessing of it all. I or from a coffee shop, I make my office wherever I want really. and then I rent out of a church currently, but it’s your classic church gym that doesn’t have a corner three-point line. The three-point line almost touches the half court line. We got a crooked rim, you know. it’s like one of those those situations. But like the biggest blessing of it all is that it’s consistent. Like I’m the only one that gets to use it. the church is like you get it from 4 to 9. Have fun, you know? And

Jae: Yeah.

Russell: That’s been like the biggest blessing with consistency and building the clientele. yeah, I just work from my computer all day. I get to the gym, train, do content, use that as my office as well. And then I also help with a little seventh grade team. So I’ll have practices a few times a week with that. So yeah, my day is involved in the gym, which is the best.

Jae: Right. Let’s let’s dive into because I know facility or court time, I should say, is one of the hardest things for a lot of people if especially if you don’t have your own facility. So I started out of a church, too. Oddly enough, it was a huge gym and it was a very nice gym,

Russell: But nobody used it. I am curious to hear, did you make a deal with the church? What how did you get involved with them? what was your how did you get that consistency? Like four to nine every day and then on the weekends is is a lot. Like so what I did I when I first started I was like hey somebody told me they needed money or they were needing people to rent out their gym and I was like hey I’m doing this I would I can’t afford the hourly rate right now but I would love to make you a deal for $5 a kid per hour so it helps me short term. It helps me long or helps them long term.

Jae: Which it did. And of course I ran I ran fundraisers and stuff for them and I really tried to nurture that relationship and it paid off for both of us. but until I got my own facility. What does your what does your deal look like with the church? How did you get involved with them? How did you even approach them on something like that? go over that for me.

Russell: For sure. Yeah. when vision started, it was one of my childhood friends that got vision started while I was in California doing my own thing and then just through like a bunch of stuff, I just ended up saying, “Hey, I’m going to move to Denver. I’m going to do this with you.” And so before that, she messaged and emailed like a hundred churches and the only one that got back to her was this one that we currently rent from. she has now moved back to Indiana and she’s doing some stuff in Indianapolis which is really cool. But that’s just how it started and they had no one using it. There’s like a like another little organization that uses it during like the school day. So from that 4 to 9,

Jae: No one was using it. No one asked to use it. it was really just up for grabs. And the gym rental was extremely cheap. It was 10 bucks an hour. And I was we are taking that now because

Russell: I’ve never I’ve never heard of that before because we’ll rent from a high school too with our bigger like high school college classes. And we get the discounted rate and that’s still 45 an hour. it’s okay, 10, we’re taking it. And how the, the facility talk started too is because they raised our rent for this year. And I was I want to I the same amount of money I’m paying in rent now for 2026, I could pour that into a facility, and so that’s how it got started was we got super lucky. No one was using it. No one even asked. Like it was a it’s a building too that a lot of the parents when they come for the first time and train like I have drove by this building so many times and I had no clue there was even a gym in it. So we just we found a little gold mine and now we’re like yeah we keep it and it’s ours and it’s really cool.

Jae: That’s funny but it sounds like you’re telling like the same story as me. It sounds like you’re just telling mine. All right. The same thing. So you mentioned your you didn’t start at Vision. So you were in California and moved to Denver, What was that like when your partner moved away? Like were you

Russell: Yeah.

Jae: Like were you ready for that? Like was it random? How’d you handle it? What was what was that like?

Russell: . Well, previous like the other like five years that I was training, I owned my own thing. I was doing what I’m doing here in California. it wasn’t oh, like a big shock to me. we we had a conversation for a really long time knowing that it was gonna eventually happen. so when I took over Foley, like it wasn’t scary. Like I love being a business owner. I love, the challenge of it. I saw my like my dad, my mom do it my whole life. it wasn’t anything like scary. In fact, I was really excited for it, like we had such a awesome we have such an awesome relationship and it’s really cool that we got to do it together for a season, but we both know like we had different journeys like for this upcoming year. yeah. I was super ready for it, super excited, and I was able to prep a little bit, okay, what would now that it’s like fully mine, like what would I do different or what what are some things that I want to change? which there were some changes which is a big reason like with coach IQ and and that stuff. So yeah, it wasn’t scary. It was it was exciting.

Jae: Awesome. Awesome. Speaking of changes, I want to get into your search for your facility, but first you just changed your business model to memberships, Correct me if I’m wrong. What why did you do that? What were you doing before? and how has it been since you’ve done that?

Russell: Oh, yeah. It’s I had a conversation with someone this morning on it has been life-changing to switch to memberships and I was on a call with another woman who wants to start training and I told her I was like I get it the startup you have more privates and more just like dropins to start to get kids in but the minute you can go to a membership based please do it. It will save you so much time. I I spent the amount of like I still obviously am texting and calling a lot of parents and stuff now but the amount of times I was just like texting parents to just like remind them like hey sign up classes tonight. You said you were going to come like like that thing was just like so much and so overwhelming like it was all I thought about like it consumed me. I was I would like have a hard time falling asleep being like, “Oh crap, I have these many people I need to text where I would text them like at night, but like do the little reminder or the text like time where you can send it like at 9:00 a.m. in the morning.” so I would do stuff like that because it just really does consume your mind because like I want to make money like the facility or the vision needs to make money, you know? So,

Jae: And it was a grind. but then now when I switched to memberships, like I’m now noticing those same parents that I had to remind constantly. They’re booking three weeks ahead and I’m that now my communication isn’t, hey, reminder, we have a session tonight. It’s, just like letting them know like if something changed or hey, like we’re switching to memberships and, switching everyone from the platform I was using to now like Coach IQ. So that’s really my communication now with parents or we’re able to talk more about their daughter instead of hey get in the class. So it’s been it’s been really a big help. Big help.

Russell: What were you on before

Jae: And like going through Squarespace?

Russell: Yeah.

Jae: Okay. That’s that’s what I had when I started. that’s funny. So something that other coaches will tell me a lot when I mention memberships and stuff like that. You were doing paper session before I assume.

Russell: Yeah. Paper session or like you can buy a 10 pack for private training.

Jae: Yeah. And using whatever something that other coaches will mention as like a concern is what are their existing clients going to think like am I going to lose clients? Am are they going to be annoyed? Is are they just going to go away for whatever reason for the flexibility of being able to do paper session somewhere else? did you have any issues with that or were any of the clients upset? I personally didn’t? I all of mine really liked it. what was your experience with that?

Russell: Yeah, all of mine love it now. I think it just it holds you accountable. It’s the same thing like when I was doing like Pilates or whatever, I’m like, “Oh, I’m buying this 15 pack or 15 session thing. I’m I need to use it.” Versus if I go use dropins, I’m probably not going to show up as much, you know? I was thinking that and I had those same thoughts because I think anytime you have any change, it is scary. I did have those thoughts like, “Oh my gosh, they’re going to go train with someone else now and like all these things, but like I have to think about like and be confident in the product and why people come to me to train.” And specifically, we train 99% girls. it’s like they’re coming to vision for like a reason, and I just got to hold to that vision. and like no pun intended with the name, but like just got to hold to the vision of it and know that they they trust in our training and that’s why they’re coming. They’re not coming because it’s drop in or

Jae: Right

Russell: Membership, they’re coming for the training and again there’s drop in options but it’s more expensive now because I want you in the membership, you know. But yeah, it’s been I would say if you have any doubt like just be confident in your product and what you give in your training and just what’s meant for you is meant for you.

Jae: 100%. 100%. When we say memberships, like I know how I structure mine. I I don’t do any individual training at our gym. What does what does your membership look like? Because there’s a million different ways you can structure a membership. What does yours look like?

Russell: . Yeah, we have, memberships where you can go one month, three month, six month, 12 month. We do still have private training, but my whole like thing is I’m trying to get people out of private training because I just believe in the in the in the group setting model of training and how like it it affects your athletes. Like I’m very much so because I get parents like I love them to death, but some of them are like, “Can you play defense on her the whole time?” And I’m like, “No, you’re my fourth session of the day and like I’m trying to do something like it’s it’s

Jae: My knees hurt.”

Russell: Yeah, my knees hurt. So like no. And and I I’m trying to specifically like teach her. Like of course I’ll do things where like I’ll give her some contact or whatever, but like that’s what group sessions are for, for her to play against people her age where she can compete and make reads, and I can watch from a bird’s eye view and then be able to teach. and also too, it’s cheaper if you’re in I’m that’s the thing with parents. I’m guys, it’s cheaper for you to be in group sessions and you get way more out of it. yes. Are there people who still do privates and I think they’re good for like certain things, especially being like a a woman, like there’s there’s certain things that with these young girls that I train like on the emotional standpoint, being able to connect with them that some of those privates help with or like for specifically breaking down a shot, but

Jae: I try especially with using like my new membership model to be like go to groups, go to groups, go to groups, go to groups. So yeah, that’s hopefully that answered the question.

Russell: Yeah, there’s it’s I’m sure you get it too like parents will want the individual because they think in their head it’s better because everywhere you go it’s 60 to 100 whatever and you think because you spend more money that it is going to be better for the kid, But in reality it’s it’s the gym time, it’s the trainer time plus whatever it is for the service that you’re offering, it’s just naturally more expensive because if you charge $20 like you would for a group, you’re going to lose money as a trainer. why would you ever do that? But like you mentioned, there’s a bunch there’s so many different reasons why groups are beneficial. And that’s another thing where people will have concerns from a trainer aspect of switching to that is they’re worried that it’s going to be less personal, which in a way, yes, but I no.

Jae: I agree.

Russell: And and that and that the kids aren’t going to get as much attention and everything, but in reality, like they get the social aspect is huge. Like one of the biggest things I’ve noticed since doing away with personal train or private training is all the kids are so much more connected. Like kids will come in and have real friendships after a few weeks because they continue to see each other in class and then all of a sudden they’re hanging out outside. They start coming together, carpool, all that stuff. So that is a huge reason like training philosophy aside why I like the groups. of course, and defense and everything, which is important important in making live reads

Jae: Because we we cannot play defense for an hour.

Jae: I’m sorry. I’m I’m really sorry, but we can’t.

Russell: Maybe if it’s one session, but that’s all I got.

Jae: No. Yeah, I got one in me and that’s it. you better come to that one.

Russell: Yeah. you mentioned in there that majority of your athletes, are they all female? Is like every single one female? I have right now two boys and they’re both fourth and fifth graders. Everybody else is is female.

Jae: Did that Did that happen on purpose or it just is?

Russell: It just is. And I think it’s just the feedback we get is hey we were specifically looking for a woman trainer for my daughter, and again I have again I’m a woman so I have such a heart for women and impacting that game. I know that’s my calling is the women’s game. so I love it. It’s the best. But yeah, we get feedback like I always would joke and I’d be I could be crap at what I do, but just because I’m a woman, people bring them and then they come and then they like the product, which is fantastic, you know? But yeah, it wasn’t designed that way. the we could talk about the facility too, but like the the way that the facility is being built is going to be designed for women and girls to have a space. I just see that there’s such a need for that in sports with the women’s game. And I think like again like the Lord’s been so kind and like given such a vision over this and just trying to steward it the best I can.

Jae: Yeah, that that’s very cool. I wasn’t sure if it was a purposeful thing or if it just happened that way, but I I 100% agree because the we have one trainer on board who she’s a woman and the watching the the younger girls like latch on to her so fast compared to like of course the girls like all the other trainers and everything, but specifically her like just seeing it changed my perspective on it a little bit. like I’m trying to find more girl trainers for our younger girls because we have a we’re probably more boys than girls, but it’s pretty close. like it’s it’s pretty close to 50/50 as far as who we have. I would really like more girl trainers. I think that’s a a very awesome little niche you have there. and I just from what I’ve seen, it’s super important. I definitely definitely agree with you on that. Do you on that point, do you think there’s anything different about training girls versus boys? I always am interested to hear people’s perspective. I have my thoughts. What are what are your thoughts on that?

Russell: 100%. 100%. Well, it’s funny because I talked to a lot of male trainers or coaches who have only coached boys and then they happen to find themselves like coaching like a girls team for the first time and all of their thoughts are like, “Oh god, like I don’t know how much I’m going to like this.” Like whatever. every single one of them goes, “The minute I coach girls, I’m not going back to boys.” every single one. Which is so I’m I know we’re the best. But, but it’s like the one big thing I noticed is and I saw this in high school, too, cuz I was a coach’s daughter. I saw my dad, coach and like his difference from starting with boys to going to girls is our in girls like our innate nature is to like please and do things right and like all those kinds of things. were boys, you’re probably fighting alpha male and you’re trying to fight like leader of the pack thing and and a little bit of ego. And I know girls like we have ego, too. But it’s just that’s like the big difference where you’re going to see maybe when you’re training like the like girls will ask more questions or maybe be a little more robotic or like really take what you say as like exact and not a whole lot of like leeway in that versus like a guys like when I train like for instance I have this young boy that I train and we’re doing a drill and like in between the drill he’s like trying to bowl the ball through like the chair as our cone and he’s like trying trying to throw up a half court shot as we’re doing this and I’m just like I love the kid to death but I’m like I’m going to like take this ball from you like

Jae: In between everything but like the girls it’s like they’re just like I got to do it right like that thing. I would say that’s like the biggest difference where I’m fighting with the girls to play more free and like not be robotic where the boys I have to reel them in a little bit more and say, “Hey, this is what we’re doing. We’re doing a right-hand layup, not a three/4er court shot.” So,

Russell: That’s that’s a big difference.

Jae: It sounds like that experience is pretty universal because I 100% agree. Like our, like I said, our groups are sometimes we’re 50/50, sometimes it’s a couple girls, bunch of guys, sometimes it’s all girls,

Russell: And typically it’s the girls standing in line and listening, and the guys just doing whatever.

Jae: Yeah.

Russell: And we turn around and we’re like, “All right, good.”

Jae: And we just res I know I’m gonna have to resay whatever I just said again.

Russell: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Jae: Yeah. 100%. So we mentioned in the very very beginning that you are also a part of another is it au is

Russell: It’s like a little club team. Yeah.

Jae: Okay. Okay. How does that like for me personally I try to stay out of the club scene and everything just a lot of stuff can go and can go along with that. How does that feed into your training business? How do you manage the two? like because my my I don’t want to get into AU scene. I’m not saying this AU or I don’t know how big your program is or what you do, but I don’t want people to come here and feel pressured that, they want they I want them to play for my team or whatever. how do you manage that? Because I know there’s a lot of a lot of coaches on the platform that are involved in both and that are very successful with both. I have not figured that out. So I’m curious to hear your perspective. Yeah, this is going to sound really backwards, but I’m more anti- club than I am club. the fact that I’m in one is insane, but the only reason, and it’s not my club team. It’s just a coach that I know. And the only reason I’m a part of it is because I believe in what they do and they care about development. It’s not one of these programs that you play every weekend, you’re playing eight games. We’re in a league, so we play two games, maybe four a month, so it’s very like

Russell: It’s managed. I know I’m very like I’m sure if you’ve seen my dad’s stuff, how much he speaks out about AAU and club and that stuff. And I So again, I’m very not for it. And I just a lot of the girls that I train are also part of this team. So it’s very like a family thing. And I get to coach them and have that hands-on impact with them. from both standpoints, which is really cool. But I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna do it. It’s just I love the directors. I love the girls. I love the parents. it’s a fun thing to be a part of. But, I’ve had a lot of conversations with parents recently who have flat out asked me, they’re like, “What should I do? I don’t don’t want my daughter to play club for the spring and summer.” And I was like, “Come train with me.” I was and and I’m not saying it from like, “Oh, it’s a business. come train with me.” I’m like, “No, like she will get better. I promise you if she comes and trains with me in group sessions and then goes to like their fall league or whatever.” or winter cuz in Colorado it’s all year round essentially.

Jae: Oh, yeah. Same here.

Russell: Okay. Yeah. Cuz I remember in Indiana growing up like you wanted to be on your middle school team. Like that’s what you did. But then now it’s like middle school teams are like they suck. So I’m like okay. So that’s backwards. But yeah. That’s why I like I tell them I’m like, “Hey, go to you’ll like when you get to winter, you’ll get better.” But yeah, I’m very like not for it for the most part. I’m going to separate myself here soon from it, especially when the facility opens up and just with training and those kinds of things. I just yeah, I tell parents and kids to limit their time with club. It’s use it really as a resource in the sense of, hey, go play a game or two, but you’re playing every weekend, or three weekends out of the month and that’s all you’re doing and you’re not really training, like I promise you, you’re not going to see a lot of growth. that’s that’s where I stand.

Jae: Yeah, you we agree on that. I could talk for hours and hours and hours on that subject and I have over the course of doing this to our my trainers, parents, everything. It’s just a very big misconception and it’s

Russell: It’s a wild it’s a wild scene out there.

Jae: I 100% agree. There’s there are ways to to maintain good relationships with AU clubs that you believe in. like we have a handful of clubs that we we really like what they do and we maintain a good relationship with them. Whether it’s just a a friendship relationship, a business relationship, we offer their kids a discount. there there are ways to support the clubs that you believe in as a training business without, affiliations or making people feel they have to they’re going to be pressured or anything. because I don’t know about clubs where you are but some of the clubs where I am they also offer training. So kids feel like they have to they have to be a part of that one organization which I understand it from a business perspective but it’s really hard in my opinion to be really good at team and AAOU and also be really good at training and developing a kid.

Russell: Yeah.

Jae: Absolutely.

Russell: Yeah. That’s it’s like a jack of all trades, master of none thing, you know. so I like the I like the partnership approach.

Jae: Yeah.

Jae: Yeah, exactly. I’m I’m in the same boat with you and I agree. Like I personally like more of the player development side. Like I’ve done it. Like I’ve coached high school. I’ve coached, those things and I and I get X’s and O’s, but where I really love is like being in the gym training, helping them be put in positions to make reads, like those kinds of things versus like right

Russell: On the sideline all the time. And it’s nice because this club team that I’m with again it’s very I say lowmaintenance in like a very positive way. Like it’s not we’re not traveling all the time and we’re not,

Jae: Whatever. We’re playing locally and our practices are very skill-based and game based. Like it’s not just like we’re doing layups for 30 minutes and then we’re

Russell: Whatever. Like it it is teaching. So that’s why I like to be a part of it because I believe in how they teach the game. But yeah, it’s just as a whole I hate it.

Jae: Yeah,

Russell: We’ll just say that.

Jae: Yeah, I can agree. We Let’s Let’s move on from this because I’m going to start ranting about it.

Russell: Oh, yeah. Same.

Jae: Let’s talk about where you’re at with your facility. You mentioned you’re potentially opening in a few months. You There’s a lot of trainers that want their own facility, whether it be basketball, whether it be football, soccer, whatever. How did you find the space you’re looking into? Where are you at with, making the the lease? What does that look like? Did you negotiate the process at all? just talk about a little bit about how you even found the place and where you’re at with that.

Russell: . right now we’re still like very baby stages. Like we’re still like the realtor is sending me the warehouses now. Like we haven’t even stepped foot in one yet, but they were just telling me like timelinewise they’re like, “Hey, I think where we’re at.” because they’ve worked on projects before with other like volleyball facilities and so they know the time frame of all this stuff. we’re still like baby stages of finding one, but it could happen super quick. you find one, you sign and

Jae: And you’re in. the process of that has been just a lot of prep work, spending a lot of time like like putting the numbers together like what would this look like? like even to making connections like within the facility. I want it to be a space where these athletes can come and get everything they needed once. we have a strength and conditioning coach that’s going to have his business in it so they can do that. Like we’re talking with some PTs right now to get in there and like have recovery processes for these girls.

Russell: And then like other things, Like we even got a ton of feedback. We put out a big survey and we got a ton of feedback that we’re going to start women’s only pickup and women’s only leagues and awesome. it was insane the feedback we got on that and how many people want to be involved with it and it’s just like really exciting. So it’s like we’re in that middle stage where I’m like okay like we’re getting the interest. I’m putting feelers out and just really doing all I can to prepare so that like when we do sign the lease like we get it moving, and meeting with people and

Jae: There’s a few people who want to invest in it and want to help and putting together the marketing plan for it. So everything right now has been

Russell: All the backend stuff, all the things that I can do now so that again, like I said, when we sign that lease, it’s not too much to handle. I’ve been prepared. I’m doing. And again, you’re going to have your hiccups. it’s going to be

Jae: Yeah.

Russell: Like anything, ? And and I’ve seen my dad do it multiple times. I understand there’s a lot of hiccups in the process, but again, I would rather be a few steps ahead and then h like quickly adjust than not doing anything at all. So,

Jae: 100%. Luckily, you are you are ahead of the game. Luckily, when when I signed my lease, I was able to work with my landlord on he started it three months after. my lease started technically three months after I signed it. it gave me that time because he he helped fix up the place a little bit because it was an old industrial place. but that’s something that I’ll definitely recommend to people is asking the landlord or whoever is the owner of the building if there can be a buildout time in there. Like I had three months to figure it out. So that way the the day the lease started, I was ready to go. Like the court was down. I had kids at in the gym the entire day the day the lease started versus me having to pay two months of that lease also having to pay the rent at the church I was at and effectively like losing money pretty much.

Jae: So that’s something.

Russell: Yes. Yeah.

Jae: Yeah. That’s great feedback because that was like when I was talking to the realtor like again like I’ve never done this before like I’ve signed a lease or for an apartment so I know that process so I’m like oh wow I didn’t know that like

Russell: You could have negotiation in there it’s just such a new process you don’t you don’t know those things so like when they were talking I’m like okay that felt a lot like a burden lifted a little bit because I’m like exactly you I’m like well what happens like the court ordering the court takes four to five weeks to get there minimum you so like how do I know when to order the court? How do I know where to ship the court? How do I know like all these kinds of things? And I’m sure I have to go in and paint and clean and all these kinds of things where it’s you’re right, I don’t want to lose money on on this facility because I have no kids in the facility yet because we’re doing all the groundwork of it. no, that’s great feedback.

Jae: Yeah, it it’s I’ve only opened one and I know there’s people that have opened a bunch, but it will take longer than you think, 100%. Like the the day before mine opened, I thought I was on pace and I was here till like 3:00 a.m. putting the wall pads up. It was rough. But like it will always take longer than you think and probably more money than you think. But you’re definitely doing a a great job marketing and building hype for it. And something that you’re also doing a great job of is you already have clientele. You already have revenue. You already have people coming in and you have the right model and you have everything set up to where as soon as you get that facility, it’s only going to grow from there because you have that space now, You can do your leagues, you can do all this stuff, you have more space. Something that a lot people think is they get a facility and then all of a sudden everybody’s going to come. It’s not how it works. you you already got it all figured out. you’re doing it the right way. what I really liked about that was you’re having a specific strength and conditioning person come in. You’re having a PT come in instead of what I’ve seen is one person offering all of that at once. It’s the same thing that we just talked about with the, the AU and everything and offering training. Like you cannot be great at all of those different things. I love the way you’re doing it, which is like you do basketball. you do strength and conditioning and then you do PT. It’s all inhouse, but you all are running your own individual things because so you all can be really good at those individual things and you can collaborate and maybe have your

Russell: All-inclusive packages however you want to do it.

Jae: But I think the way that you’re doing it is one smart business-wise and two

Russell: It does right by the kids and the families. I think that’s that’s awesome and like I said it’s another way for you to bring in extra revenue,

Jae: Decrease your rent. Exactly. Exactly. That’s like that’s exactly it right there. I’m like, “Okay, this is my lease. How can I get this as low as possible from my pocket?” that’s been the big thing. And and I think like one thing with that is I’m also too like

Russell: The people that I’m bringing in, of course, I want my lease, what I pay to be as little as possible, but I’m also valuing the people that are coming in. Like I’m not just bringing some like rando

Jae: That does strength and conditioning or PT in, Like I want to believe in their mission as well. And like I’ve said a few times like I’m very like faith-based, with everything that I do. And so like even the people that I’m bringing in, like that’s a very core value of them, and why they train and why they do what they do. So that’s just something like that’s very important to me that I want to surround the core center of the facility, and obviously we’re there to work. we’re get to get better, but like I the foundation, the morals of the facility, is faith-based. it’s the people that I bring in, I I also, want them to be on that path as well. And yeah, it’s just being picky too with who you bring in. And I want the best, I’m sure you do, right, for your kids as they come in and train. why would I bring someone that I don’t believe in, especially on the strength and conditioning side because I grew up in that world. And so I always say it’s a blessing and a curse because I know what’s really good and I know it’s really bad and sometimes it comes off like super knowit ally and I don’t mean for that at all. It’s just I I

Russell: Value Yeah, you might know it all. you got a pretty good pretty good person to learn from. So

Jae: Yeah, he’s he’s great. I might be biased, but he’s great.

Russell: Yeah, a lot of people think too. U it was such a funny connection when I saw that.

Russell: That is so funny.

Jae: Yeah. But very cool in the facility. I know you’re very new to Coach IQ. You’ve you’ve been with Coach IQ for what, like a month?

Russell: Yeah.

Jae: A month.

Russell: What going forward, if you’ve even been able to dive into it with all you have going on with the facility going forward, what are you looking to implement more of within Coach IQ? Have you had a chance? what are some things you’re looking forward to with that?

Jae: Hey, I just wanted to take a quick break. My name’s Russell. I’m one of the founders of Coach IQ. We put on this podcast here. Our goal is to interview top coaches and business owners in the youth sports space across the United States and give you guys insight on the ground floor, how are they running their business? What do they think about the current ecosystem? And what are their thoughts on where things are going? we’re super excited to bring this to you guys. If you don’t know about us, we are an all-in-one sports management platform. We run a lot of the businesses that we have on the podcast and we’re fortunate enough now to work with about a thousand sports coaches across the United States and it’s our goal to make your life as easy as possible in running the business itself. Website, scheduling, payment management, everything handled seamlessly on our platform. And really what separates us is we are built specifically for sports. We’re not powering nail salons. We’re not powering Pilates studios. Every second of the day we focus on you. if that’s something you need where you’re looking to get your time back or you’re looking to grow your business, Coach IQ is really the only platform thinking about you every single day interviewing and working with the top coaches in the industry specific to sports. if that’s something we can help you with, we would love to connect with you. You can visit our website, coachiq.com, schedule a free demo there. The demos are awesome. It’s really less about selling and much more about just walking through what we’ve learned and providing value on what other coaches are doing. And if it’s a match, it’s a match. absolute no-brainer. Go schedule a demo. worth the time. And thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you guys for watching. Thank you for customers who are working with us. It allows us to do all this make better product and the main goal help athletes all across the United States and the world get a phenomenal experience from you guys the coaches.

Russell: I’m just really looking forward to building memberships. I think that’s like a big thing. Then obviously to like online products and having those like those things will start rolling out soon. So using that especially with the app feature and stuff and having like the kids like they can obviously they’re going to have their phone with them. So if they can have the workout like on their phone or whatever, like obviously that’s like

Jae: A game changer right there. So I would say that because we’ve done

Russell: Like online I’ve done so many online programs right in the last five six years, but it’s always been like I’ve never truly like liked the format that was like what I was using and stuff. I was like h just doesn’t seem like it’s designed for sports like it’s just one of those like coaching courses or those things. I’m like it’s not very user friendly for like athletes. the fact that it’s obviously with Coach IQ is user friendly for athletes, that’s what I’m I’m also really pumped for as well.

Jae: 100%. Yeah, I I’ve dove into that a bunch. the the the programs feature and I like how you can like time release everything because I know me me as an athlete, I would just look ahead to see everything.

Russell: That that would be what I did 100% what I would do. I love that you can like you can’t see this until you until the next week or seven days after. I think that’s a really cool feature. And talking about building your memberships along with that, being able to offer that at home stuff is huge, So now, now the parents don’t think oh, I’m paying 200 for eight sessions. Each session is so much amount of money. Now it’s just I get up to eight sessions. I get all of the online stuff. I get shot breakdowns. whatever you want to offer, it’s now a a standalone product. It’s not per session.

Jae: Yeah, exactly.

Russell: And I think that’s it.

Jae: It it removes the pain of which is a very common pain in training of oh, I just lost $20 because I I only went to seven sessions this month instead of eight. So now they don’t feel like if they don’t make everything, they don’t lose money, Because they got that value outside of it and at home. And on the basketball training side, kids need to learn to work out on their own, too.

Russell: In my opinion.

Jae: Absolutely.

Russell: Yeah.

Jae: In my humble opinion.

Russell: I agree. Well, it’s so funny because I did in one of my practices, I put the timer on for like 10 minutes. And I did it purposely like challenged the girls like, “Hey, I’m not going to tell you what dribble move you need to do. 10 of you need to step up and be leaders and pick something to do.” And they were just they could not come up like with a with a move. I was you could just do like right-hand pounds or V dribble. I was none of them said that. They just were I don’t know what to do. And I’m that’s the problem is you’re coached too much. you’re you’re being robots right now, you know. But, with also too with like the online training, it’s like I’m starting to travel and train like people outside of Denver, in other states. it’s really cool where it’s hey, like you can access my training, not being in Denver or even Colorado. like that’s what I’m looking really forward to with that as well to be able to train people with that.

Jae: And for your kids that are in Denver, when you’re out of town, they can still be trained.

Russell: Absolutely.

Jae: Yeah. Absolutely.

Russell: Are you It’s just you right now, Are you looking to bring anybody on right now?

Jae: Yeah, I have a few trainers under me right now, but they have full-time jobs, so I I only get them a few days a week. And so hopefully with the facility and growing, I can pay them full-time. That’d be fantastic.

Jae: So because I I’m in a stage right now where I’m just delegating as much as I can. Like delegating is my favorite thing to do right now. So

Russell: As much as I love being hands-on, I’m like, “Nope, you got it. You you can take it.” So hopefully, yes, we can get them full-time, but really it is just me right now.

Jae: Yeah. talking about delegating, what there’s a lot of a lot of coaches out there that are afraid to do that. They’re afraid to delegate. What would you say to that if because I used to have that thought of like if I have them do it, it’s not going to be as good as me, blah blah blah, all that stuff. What What is your perspective on that now that you’re doing it?

Russell: Yeah, absolutely. my dad gave me this like thought and I like thought of it and and that’s like what keeps me going is like like my business is never going to grow to where I want it to be if I’m the only one doing it and and I’ve seen that where it’s like yeah like and again it’s like this is yes this is my business like this is like my training philosophy how I put into vision right so it’s like I I also want to teach my trainers that as well like hey like we’re very game based We’re very like competitive based. We’re going to put you in positions that really read the game. We’re not just going to do drills that look really sick on IG, but they in a game they can’t make a right-handed layup and or a left-handed layup, like we are going to teach. I find the responsibility of also like equipping my trainers with that as well, teaching what we want to, but also too like giving them the confidence of I hired you for a reason. Like I see that you’re good with the kids. I see the game. So also equipping them with confidence and I think that helps, that helps as well. But yeah, for me it’s hey, like I have a lot of computer work to do right now and it’s just it needs to get done. So like one of my trainers, she’s a flight attendant. So sometimes she will text me and be like, “Hey, I didn’t get picked up today.” I’m like, “Okay, come come train. I have a session 5 to 6:15. You can take it.” stuff like that until obviously we get a more consistent flow. But yeah, if you want your business to scale and grow, you can’t do it on your own, or like finding unique things. Like with this women’s league that we’re going to implement, like one of the trainers, she has connections to this. Like she’ll go sub and she’ll play, so she knows the girls and she’s good on the management side of things. So it’s hey, like can we work together here where like you got it. Like you can plan it. ? Like this is training time. This is when the gym’s open. pickup can happen these days, but like you’re in charge of like making the contacts, ? Organizing the leagues, like those kinds of things because it’s like to be honest with you, like I don’t want to do it. Like as much as it’s cool and as much I don’t like I’m already going to be there from, morning to sun down. So like if you want to take it, this is super beneficial. I’ll pay you some I’ll pay you more. You could take a profit of it and there you go. So I used to be that way though. very hands-on like controlling like no like like you said like they they know my name so it’s like they’re coming for me and I’m parents I promise you they’re they’re good like go train with them they’re good and then finally like it’s starting to happen now where the parents are like oh yeah we love we love the trainers I’m like thank God like thank God

Russell: Yeah I funny on that last point like I think some of the parents like the trainers more than me now

Jae: Oh yeah

Russell: Like I’ll be here the kids are like where’s Where’s Kylon at? I’m I’m right here.

Jae: Hello.

Russell: I know. But yeah, that was great perspective. I think it’s twofold. one, your time and expertise can be used on growing the business. you’re the one that’s getting the facility together. You’re the one that’s doing the stuff that grew it. And two, on the other side of it, how what good is your knowledge if you’re not going to be able to pass it down and teach somebody else, Like

Jae: If we’re doing basketball training, don’t we want a lot more good basketball trainers? Like,

Russell: Yeah,

Jae: How good is your knowledge if you’re not going to pass it down? Because then that person that might not be under your wing might go under somebody else who

Russell: Maybe they’re not as good or they don’t know what they’re doing or whatever and then they don’t learn the right way, Like,

Jae: So I just think for me it’s it’s like how

Russell: What good am I if I don’t pass on what I know?

Jae: Absolutely.

Russell: As far as training goes, especially to kid because like not every kid is going to love me, Like just

Jae: For whatever reason or another, not every kid’s going to love me or like maybe like like I said, the the girl trainer I have, they’re going to resonate with her a lot more than they do me most likely. yeah.

Russell: Or they might not like how I explain things, how I teach things, whatever it is. being able to have five or six other trainers on board and people that believe in what we’re doing is is an asset that I will pay a lot of money for.

Jae: Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Just like you said. And and two, it’s like the two other trainers under me, like one of them was a college post and one of them was a college shooting guard. I was a point guard. I was a college point guard. So like for me it’s like that is so valuable to me to bring in that because I’m 5 foot three. I don’t know what it’s like to be in the post. Like

Russell: I could teach the footwork. I know the footwork but like the actual feel of the game, they know and I don’t. So it’s like that value. And then too it’s like you have to think outside like you said like the bigger mission. And for me the bigger mission is to impact the women’s game, you know? And so with these two other women underneath me like they’re awesome people. So like why would I not want the women’s game to be impacted, with these two amazing women, you know? So it’s so I think about that as well and getting outside of myself and my ego and whatever and being no, it’s for the kids and getting and getting them better and prepared.

Jae: 100% 100% agree right there on that point. That’s that’s another one of those big leaps that that every trainer who who wants that bigger program, that wants a facility, not everybody does, and that’s fine. Like a lot of people just enjoy, having their own their own program and that is fine. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you do want the facility, if you do want to be able to make that massive impact, it is a lot of responsibility. But if you do want that, you have to you have to have other people on board. Like your own two hands can only do so much that there’s really only you can’t do a whole lot on your own. You can, but you can’t at the same time, you know? Very cool. Very cool. Is there anything else that comes to the top of your mind that you want to mention? I think we’re I’m all out of my questions. Is there anything that comes to the top of your mind? You can go ahead plug your socials where everybody can find you. yeah, I’ll leave it to you.

Russell: Yeah, the biggest thing is like following along with the journey of opening the facility, especially because it is going to be geared towards women. would be awesome. Like the support of that would be really helpful. I’m going to be dropping a series of like every day like hey this is what it looks like to building a facility from idea to opening day. So that would be awesome. all my socials are coach JTA Taft and then Vision Basketball Academy is like our actual company. But no like this was so fun Brandon thanks for having me on and being able to chat especially a fellow Hooser you know.

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