November Athletes Camp at Invictus
Unintended Consequences of Doing the Right Thing
Written by C.J. Martin

I should be in Maui right now. Every February about 14 of my friends and family members meet up in Maui for a week of fun and relaxation. This year my girlfriend Courtney’s parents and sister flew out from New England to join us. But just four days before we were to fly out, we learned that we wouldn’t be going.

Courtney is now 19 weeks pregnant with our first child. On Thursday she saw her perinatalogist for what seemed to be a routine check-in after a very good report 4 weeks ago. Unfortunately, she learned two things at that appointment: (1) our baby is a “chunker” – a little bigger than expected at this stage, a good sign that baby is getting the better set of our genes; and (2) her cervix is shortening more rapidly than it should – a common cause of premature labor and miscarriage. The doctor was concerned enough that she scheduled Courtney to undergo a cerclage – an operation to stitch the cervix closed and keep our baby put to grow strong and healthy until July. So Maui was off, surgery was on.

Why am I sharing this?

Because I woke up today in San Diego rather than Maui feeling as blessed as ever, and with the clarity to understand that sometimes it’s the unintended consequences of our actions that are the most important. Let me explain.

Courtney is not only my girlfriend, but she is also an employee of Invictus.

I am not in Maui because Courtney has excellent health insurance and a great doctor who recognized early on the need to involve a specialist. That small detail, that Courtney is insured, is exponentially increasing the chance that she will deliver us a beautiful, healthy baby this summer.

The fact that Courtney is insured was an unintended consequence of simply doing the right thing.

Since I left the law to open a gym I have been fighting to reshape how fitness professionals are viewed and treated. I knew from personal experience that I worked just as hard (harder actually), researched just as much, and had a far greater positive impact on others’ lives as a coach than I ever did as a lawyer. Yet most fitness professionals aren’t accorded similar respect, and don’t even have basic professional benefits – like health insurance.

I wanted to change that. I committed to creating a culture of treating our employees like professionals. We started small – livable wage, reasonable hours (no early AM/PM split shifts). But to me, health insurance is a basic need. That was a big goal for me as an employer, and by the end of 2011 we were able to accomplish our goal of providing our employees with group health insurance.

At the time that we secured group health insurance, Courtney wasn’t an employee and we weren’t considering babies. I wanted to secure health insurance because it was the right thing to do for my employees, and for our profession. The fact that it has come full circle and helps to protect my life’s greatest joy from tragedy is a consequence that we never could have foreseen.

I don’t typically share this much about my personal life in a public forum, but this is my call to action to all of my friends who own gyms. Providing group health insurance to your employees is not nearly as expensive as you might imagine. You don’t need 20 employees or millions of dollars in revenue. If you have a few dedicated employees that you care about, PLEASE LOOK INTO GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE! The unintended consequences alone will make this investment a no-brainer, and you’ll be doing your part to engender respect for an industry that receives only a fraction of what is deserved.

If you have any questions about how to set this up, email me. I can refer you to one of the most amazing professionals I have ever worked with, Karen Winters of Benefit Pro Insurance (karen@benefitpro.com). She has been a Godsend to us and was able to set us up with everything we could have asked for in a benefits plan – and all within our budget.

Please don’t gloss over this and assume your gym isn’t ready for that step until you have done a bit of research or contacted Karen. Trust me, you won’t regret the investment.

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Cherie
Cherie
February 21, 2013 5:32 pm

One of the proudest days of my life was the day we announced to our staff that we were now providing health care options! So important and wonderful to see others caring about this detail!

Thanks C.J.

John
John
February 20, 2013 12:18 pm

Awesome CJ and congrats! Glad to hear Courtney and your baby are safe. I agree wholeheartedly with what you said and we offer health ins and an IRA plan for our employees. Feels great to give a great team access to great benefits. Keep rockin and good luck with the pregnancy!

Cheers,

John

Chris Barton
Chris Barton
February 19, 2013 6:41 pm

I finished reading “The Man in the Arena:
Citizenship in a Republic” for the first time today while researching “Invictus”, the poem not the gym, and on a study break came across your post on fb. An enlightening day for a cloudy San Diego afternoon.

Diego Centeno
Diego Centeno
February 19, 2013 6:24 pm

Golly guys! Keep up the great work!

Katherine O'Donnell
Katherine O'Donnell
February 19, 2013 2:44 pm

Couldn’t agree more- it is a fundamental right. Thank you for sharing! You guys are awesome-more people jeed to follow suit! Glad Courtney and the little one are okay 🙂

Erin bridges
Erin bridges
February 19, 2013 11:22 am

CJ – you are amazing! And so is that girlfriend of yours! 🙂 love ya Court!

KG
KG
February 19, 2013 9:44 am

Thank you for sharing– more than the importance of insurance and taking care of our peeps, it is also about the facts of life and those things outside the box (which includes interesting pregnancies at times),…and our ‘nephew’ (or niece?) to be !!! 🙂 We ( or I) amd tracking the arrival – such an exciting time! Once again, Invictus *is* family.. so blessings, good energy definitely in full effect (especially to chunker and mama), to a coach and family that subscribes to “right-doing”. Full-circle. Right on

Yvonne Zylan
Yvonne Zylan
February 19, 2013 9:29 am

This is one of the many reasons why I love this guy. He’s *always* trying to do the right thing.

Brandon Henry
Brandon Henry
February 19, 2013 8:21 am

Well said and well done CJ! Thanks for sharing and congrats on your new addition.

Mary DeHart
Mary DeHart
February 19, 2013 8:11 am

Thank you CJ for showing how much you value your employees. It shows in the quality of coaching at the gym. Take care Courtney!!!

Kim McLaughlin
Kim McLaughlin
February 19, 2013 7:27 am

CJ gave me Karen’s name a week or two ago to look into health insurance for my own small business and she has been AMAZING. I want to second CJ’s recommendation to contact this woman for help in this area. When I was researching health insurance options on my own, everything I was finding was far too expensive and not at all user freindly. It seemed that if I was rushed off in an ambulance something would be covered but that was about it. Karen was able to show me affordable health insurance options that I would actually be able… Read more »

mike ford (NW masters)
mike ford (NW masters)
February 19, 2013 6:41 am

Agreed…we provide as well and even a 401k to boot. Our peeps are worth it!

Jaimie Bougie
Jaimie Bougie
February 19, 2013 6:51 am

So happy to hear that, Mike! As an Invictus employee, I can tell you that what you and CJ do for your staff is EXTREMELY appreciated.

John Britton
John Britton
February 19, 2013 12:53 am

Amazing post Mr Martin

As a coach working for a gym, this is the type of model I hope all gyms worldwide look up to. I’m lucky enough to be at a gym that provides insurance as well (in South Korea).

Congratulations on the new one.

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