After many years of sitting in a cubicle for 40-50+ hours a week, working in corporate finance, and dreaming about a career that was truly flexible and allowed me to follow my passion for health and fitness, I sometimes have to pinch myself that I’m living that dream now. Beachbody has allowed me to stay home with my kids while also having my own business that fulfills me, connects me with likeminded people, keeps me accountable to my goals AND pays my bills.
My coaching business has a lot of awesome perks – complete time flexibility, free apparel & prizes, personal development, discounts on products – but one of the perks that tops the charts is our annual reward trip, call the Beachbody Success Club Trip. Each year it is held in a tropical location at a five star resort or a fabulous luxury cruise. In 2019, the trip was a 5 night Caribbean Cruise on the world’s largest luxury cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas. Beachbody filled the entire ship and I am so excited to bring back more coaches on my team with me next year when we head to Punta Cana!
I earned an invitation to sign up for the 2019 trip in January of 2018, while I was 6 months pregnant with twins. I decided to register for a chance to earn the trip, even though I wasn’t exactly sure if I’d be able to go. Not only was childcare a concern, but I had no idea how my Beachbody business would go after I had the twins – would I be too overwhelmed to even continue coaching?! But, if you know me, I love a goal and a challenge and I made it my mission that if I decided to keep coaching I would not only get the cruise fully paid for, but also earn the offered $1,000 on board credit so that I could enjoy the cruise in ultimate style.
As you know, I did NOT quit Beachbody coaching when I had the twins. In fact, coaching has been a huge part of my sanity over this last year. It has allowed me to have time for me, it has kept me accountable to my health and fitness goals, it has given me purpose outside of motherhood and it has allowed me to connect with SO many more new moms and twin moms who have become friends, whether they joined an accountability group or not. This past year was one of the hardest years of my life and coaching truly brought me so much happiness. On top of that, my coaching business actually flourished over the last year and my income more than doubled from the previous year AND I earned the cruise fully paid for (including my guest) along with a $1,000 on board credit.
It made me emotional when I came into our state room for the first time and saw the letter from corporate on the bed, congratulating me on earning the $1,000 on board credit. I brought my best friend Asia on the trip (my husband is a trooper for staying back with all 3 kids -with some help) and needless to say, there is NO WAY I would have gone on a 5 night girls trip with my best friend one year after having twins had I not earned this. I had moments of silly mom guilt over leaving them and my husband behind but I had to remind myself that I worked damn hard and I don’t get many breaks and I needed to enjoy every second!
What Happens on a Success Club Trip
The Beachbody Success Club Trip, unlike our annual Summit, is all about sitting back and relaxing and enjoying the fruits of our labor! There are no required activities, just all fun! Here are some of the things we did on the cruise:
Daily Workouts With Super Trainers
Autumn Calabrese (21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Extreme, Ultimate Portion Fix, 80 Day Obsession…), Joel Freeman (from LIIFT4 and Core De Force) and Jericho McMatthews (from Core De Force and the new Morning Meltdown 100 coming out this July!) each led a 30 minute workout each morning on the deck of the cruise ship. These workouts were totally optional and started at 6:30 AM, 7:15 AM and 8:00 AM. The first day we just went to Autumn’s workout, the second day we skipped all together because we had a shore excursion and stayed up way too late for the 6:30 workout, and the last two days we did both the 7:15 and 8 AM workout! I absolutely LOVED these and it was one of the highlights of the trip, even though it was tough getting out of bed after saying out having fun the night before (but I always knew I could nap if I wanted!!!).
The cool thing is that the super trainers are actually on the trip with you so you also see them around the ship! I got to meet Joel and saw him out with his wife on the last night.
Relaxation!
There are ZERO required events during the trip. There almost no scheduled meetings or events at all. This trip is truly meant to be a time of reward for hard work done over the course of the previous year. On the cruise, we relaxed with fruity cocktails (I love a strawberry daiquiri) in the sun or in hot tubs and pools on the deck of the boat, enjoyed shows (Grease!) and live entertainment (bands, DJs, karaoke, acoustic , and I got a hour long hot stone massage thanks to my on board credit!
For me, as a mom of three who is home with my kids most of the week (I have some help but do a lot of my Beachbody coaching during nap time and before/after they’re awake each day), just being away from the daily demands of raising children was a vacation in itself. I had no one to worry about but ME and it felt really good! I didn’t have to wash dishes, worry about what to feed anyone (or even myself!), do laundry, change diapers, clean, pack everyone up in the car…. Instead, I just got to completely relax and I definitely did!!! I let loose and enjoyed myself and didn’t worry much about what was going on at home. I was able to fully disconnect, stay away from work emails, and just truly be on vacation. It was absolutely what I needed after a tough year!
A Visit to 2 New Countries
I love to travel and was thrilled when I found out that the cruise would take me to two new counties – Haiti and the Bahamas. We spent a full day in each place and while in Haiti, I used my on board credit to treat Asia and I to an excursion which took us by boat to a private beach near a small Haitian village. We toured the village and relaxed in the private cove. It was wonderful! Royal Caribbean has a private resort in Haiti with three (crowded) private beaches, various restaurants serving free food and many bars (where you could use your all inclusive drink package) and we headed back there after our tour for more fun.
In the Bahamas, we took a tour of the major sites with our now very close-knit group of coaches (some of us knew each other well coming into the trip and some we met for the first time, but we all got along great!!). After the tour we had a really great lunch and then headed back to the boat for more pool time.
Yummy Food & Drink
Every night we had a 4 course meal at one fo the cruise ship’s restaurants. Asia and I had dinner alone two of the nights and with several of my teammates and their husbands on the other three nights. The food at dinnertime was definitely the highlight! For breakfast and lunch we went to the buffets on board which were decent and I was thankful they all offered healthy options as well (the mac and cheese was fantastic though, had to add a scoop of that when it was available!!!).
Friendships Are Formed!
The best part of the trip was the women I spent so many hours chatting with. As moms, we rarely get multiple hours (let alone DAYS) of uninterrupted time away from our kids and it was so great to spend quality time getting to know these incredible women on a deeper level (or for the first time!!). It felt so good to unwind and connect and talk about business a bit, but mostly, just get to know each other, swap stories of the past and laugh A LOT! Even though some of us had never met before or never met in person before, it felt like we were old friends by the end of the trip.
Where’s next year’s trip!? The Hard Rock Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic! This time we’re leaving the kids at home and I’m taking Mike along with me and I’ve already earned 70% of my trip fully paid for and it’s only April. And there’s still a way for YOU to join me, even if you aren’t a coach! There are a number of spots reserved for brand new Beachbody coaches and I would LOVE to mentor you and help you earn a fully paid vacation for you and a guest next year simply by sharing your love of health and fitness with others!!! This is a life changing business where you get to help others lead a healthy lifestyle on YOUR schedule.
If you know you want to be a coach OR you’d like to be a part of our no-obligation Coach Info Session next Thursday, April 25th, please email me at fitnessfataleblog@gmail.com or fill out this form (the info session will be recorded for those who can’t make it live).
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