Personal Fitness Professional - March 2009 - (Page 29) immediate 50% equity in the building. Uncomfortable with the change, he consulted several industry leaders and business people whom he trusted. He decided to accept the deal. “I can remember the evening vividly,” says Pastorelli. “My partner and I were in the parking lot of our newly built gym, watching the workers install the flooring and landscaping. We sat there well over two hours discussing our dreams and visions, and I agreed to his proposition of merging the two companies. We shook hands on the deal and agreed to get the paperwork started ASAP.” Weeks later, with the gym already open, but with no paperwork, the partner once again sought to change the agreement. Pastorelli says his partner wanted to give him one-half the lump-sum payment he was supposed to receive. After much debate, the two men arrived at another new agreement. Still, there was no paperwork. Dates with the attorney would be cancelled. Emails and phone calls went unreturned, even though Genesis far exceeded expectations. The partner offered new propositions and continued to try to restructure the deal that had never been finalized. Business boomed, but the partnership deteriorated. Pastorelli’s passion for his career had dissipated, and he didn’t like the person he had become. “I became this career monger,” says Pastorelli, who continued to work harder and harder to prove to his partner, his clientele, his professional associates and anyone else who he thought was watching that he was a success. “I had no family time; I was not happy. I think, in a way, I sabotaged myself. Trying to be the person I thought I should be, I forgot who I was.” Two years after Genesis opened, Pastorelli walked away, leaving behind more than $175,000 in sweat, equity and the dream that had become a nightmare. Time for a Do-over Pastorelli had to start over in a new area due to contractual agreements. He says the transition felt like it set his career back 10 years, but it allowed him to return to his roots. He took anything he did not enjoy out of his work-life equation. He began teaching boot camps, training clients at a gym in Tampa and enrolled in the University of South Florida to finish his degree in exercise science with an added focus on marketing and advertising. No longer as concerned with building a national reputation or being defined as successful, Pastorelli aims to impact the lives of those around him. “My goal is to help people again,” he says. Creating real change in the lives of his clients is fundamental in the new and improved life of Frank Pastorelli, but so is helping other trainers. Even though he no longer leads the staff of trainers he did with Florida Fitness Pros or at Genesis, Pastorelli’s Body Evolution system is utilized in 70 facilities throughout the country. And his current training position appears to be fast-tracked to a management position. “I have met a lot of great trainers that have all the knowledge in the world on the how the human body works and how to create physical change, yet they starve,” says Pastorelli. “They starve because they can’t sell themselves or are simply uncomfortable doing so.” As he surrounds himself once again with new trainers, Pastorelli says the number-one thing he seeks out is coach-ability. “I want to help local trainers — those I impact daily — realize they can make it in this business. I want to show them how to have great careers and support their families.” And Pastorelli leads by example. “Now my priority is to work on my marriage and balance my business as well,” he says. “I don’t live to work. I work to live.” ● MARCH2009 · www.fit-pRo.CoM 29 http://www.fit-pRo.CoM
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