The Better Side of Me - Jerry Cole Page 0,6

When Lance walked into his office, Abraham was sitting behind his desk, hands folded in front of him, staring at the door in waiting. “Lance, you’re late,” he said with a smirk as Lance walked through the door.

“Hey, Abe.” Lance gave a small nod, a nervous smile and took the seat across from Abraham. “Thanks for... ah meeting with me about – well, I’ll get to that in a minute.”

“You look nervous.” Abraham held the smirk. “This is Hercules Gym, and we don’t get nervous.”

“Oh...” It was a cryptic comment that Lance didn’t really understand. “I didn’t mean to—”

“You said you had an idea you wanted to show me” Abraham cut in.

“What— Oh, right. Yeah.” Lance laughed nervously. “I have an... there was an idea I had. And I really wanted to pitch it to you to see if... I thought it was something that might be right up your... alley.”

“I know,” Abraham smiled. “You told me that already. That’s why you’re here, for this meeting. So, come on. What is it? The idea that’s going to – and these are your words, ‘Blow me out of the water.’ Or have you forgotten it already?”

“Did I say that?” Another nervous laugh. Lance could feel the sweat dripping off him now. “I was probably exaggerating a little.”

“So, the idea isn’t that good?” Abraham’s frog-like face turned into a frown.

“What? No! It is! I mean... like, it’s a good idea. I know it’s a good idea. But to blow you out of the water... it’s not like I’ve invented the bench press or something.”

“I’ve got to tell you, Lance. Most people don’t start pitches by saying how bad the idea is. I’ll assume you’re just setting the bar low.”

“Ha... ha, ha, ha... setting the bar low. Right.” Lance could feel his brow begin to drip. And that wasn’t to mention what was happening in his stomach! In almost any situation imaginable, Lance was the guy you would want in your corner. Cool. Collected. Confident. There wasn’t much that rattled Lance. But when it came to his actual smarts, to putting himself out there in a way that might actually challenge his intelligence and thus him as a person, he was useless.

“Well?”

“Yes... the idea...”

What made Lance’s nervous demeanor even more frustrating than usual was that the idea he was pitching was actually a really good one. Everyone else he told it to agreed. All he had to do was speak clearly and concisely to Abraham, lay out the points he had gone through a million times, and he’d be in. The idea was too good for even spiteful Abraham to pass up.

The idea was for a smoothie bar to be set up directly inside of Hercules Gym, but for it to be one that dealt exclusively in protein-based smoothies. Where a lot of gym’s had smoothie bars already, or some variant of this concept, Lance’s idea went one step further. And beyond!

Lance had an intimate knowledge of diet, especially where it came to diet for muscle growth and fat loss. For him, knowing what to eat and when was as common as breathing. But what he had come to realize over time was that for most people, this simple bit of knowledge may as well have been rocket science. And even when Lance had managed to break it down for his clients in as simple a manner as he could, they still had a hard time incorporating everything into their own personal diets. The protein-smoothie bar was designed to help with this.

He would start by setting the bar up inside of the gym, just off the weight floor. Next, he’d learn the nutrient needs of not just his clients, but others that worked out at the gym, both new members and old. And then, once he had this information at hand, he would be able to create protein shakes tailored to the individual person’s workout needs and plan. They’d finish their workout, come to him after and he’d whip them up a shake designed just for them. And that was just the beginning!

Lance also saw this as a chance to expand his and the gym’s client base. Finding out one’s dietary needs was the hardest part of working out. He could use this smoothie bar as a chance to sit down one on one with clients and develop a diet for them, so that they could pursue their fitness goals when they weren’t even at the gym. A small fee is all it