CEO’s Blog

I had a lot of people asking me questions about Bodybuilding.com and about my life on the forum, so I took some time to answer a bunch of them in true "Misc. forum" style. =)

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=7224141

Press release!  Don’t worry though… the entire Bodybuilding.com executive team is staying on board and our company strategy is staying the same. Nothing will be changing. We will continue to work on making Bodybuilding.com even better for you!

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. and MERIDIAN, Idaho, Jan 07, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ — Liberty Media Corporation (Nasdaq: LINTA, LCAPA) ("Liberty") and Bodybuilding.com today announced that Liberty has acquired control of Bodybuilding.com, the leading sports nutrition electronic retailer and most visited bodybuilding and fitness site in the world. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Liberty’s interest in Bodybuilding.com will be attributed to the Liberty Interactive group.

Founded in 1999, Bodybuilding.com is a two time Inc. 500 Company and was named Internet Retailer "Best of the Web" top 50 in 2006 and top 100 in 2007. The company had over 100,000 daily and 3,100,000 monthly unique visitors in November, 2007.

"Bodybuilding.com is a fast growing leader in fitness nutrition e-commerce and the authentic voice of the bodybuilding community, as demonstrated by the success of BodySpace, the social network for body building athletes," said Michael Zeisser, Senior Vice President of Liberty Media. "We are pleased to welcome entrepreneurs of the caliber of Ryan DeLuca and his team into the Liberty family. We look forward to driving collaboration among Bodybuilding.com and Liberty’s existing e-commerce and television companies.

"We are thrilled to join the Liberty Media family and to partner with their other top-notch commerce companies," said Bodybuilding.com CEO Ryan DeLuca. "Bodybuilding.com is a community-centric, search driven commerce business that is highly complementary with many of Liberty’s other properties. We believe our strength in social networking and our well established brand relationships will be highly relevant to Liberty. We are committed to working with Liberty and its affiliate management to pursue numerous mutual, highly definable and actionable growth opportunities."

About Liberty Media Corporation

Liberty Media Corporation owns interests in a broad range of electronic retailing, media, communications and entertainment businesses. Those interests are attributed to two tracking stock groups: the Liberty Interactive group, which includes Liberty’s interests in QVC, Provide Commerce, IAC/InterActiveCorp, and Expedia, and the Liberty Capital group, which includes Liberty’s interests in Starz Entertainment, News Corporation, and Time Warner. For more information, please see http://www.libertymedia.com .

About Bodybuilding.com:

Bodybuilding.com (http://www.Bodybuilding.com) manages two websites. Its "Supersite" is a vibrant and active community of content, social networking, and advice containing articles, personal pages, videos, and chat rooms. Visitors learn about gaining muscle, losing fat, competing and staying motivated. Bodybuilding’s "Store" is an e-Commerce and product information site containing over 6,000 products including supplements, clothing, tanning supplies, accessories and other bodybuilding products that represent more than 450 brands.

SOURCE Liberty Media Corporation

I found the following in the current issue of Men’s Health:

"A University Of Washington study found that when men performed three "big" weight lifting exercises (squat, bench, chin-ups, etc.), their metabolisms were elevated for 39 hours afterward. In fact, scientists in the Netherlands calculated that men who lifted weights twice a week for 18 weeks burned an average of 9 percent more calories a day beyond what they expended during exercise… enough to lose 25 pounds in a year."

Woah! So the point is obviously to focus on weight training for losing fat, and also to focus on the bigger compound exercises (using barbells more than machines).

I recently read a new book by uber-marketer Seth Godin called "The Dip".  It’s a very short book and you can even listen to the audio book version in your car in about an hour.  Full details on Amazon.com.

The main idea behind The Dip is summarized here:

“Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all.

And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you’re in a Dip-a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it’s really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.”

It was short but had a lot of “truth” packed into it. It’s something we all know, but putting it so bluntly and showing graphics really made it hit home.  We’ve all been there (in the dip) and we can all think of times when we fought through it and times when we gave up at that point.

WHY YOU DON’T SEE ME ON TV PLAYING IN POOL TOURNAMENTS

As an example, I used to play pool quite a bit.  I read books on it and practiced constantly. Each day I was getting better!  I was moving up in tournaments and feeling really good. I loved it!

Then I hit a period where I stopped getting better. I still practiced all the time, but I seemed to have hit a wall. In fact, some days I felt I was getting worse!  It was unbelievably frustrating. So frustrating that I eventually quit playing.

I now realize that I was in The Dip at that point.  If I would have stuck through it and worked even harder, I most likely would have broken through to the other side, and then moved up and joined the truly great players.

THE DIP APPLIES TO BODYBUILDING AND FITNESS

An interesting note is that this applies to working out and dieting BIG TIME.  We all get fast results in the beginning and are super motivated. Then our results slow down a little (or we take steps backwards from time to time) and it gets a little boring and frustrating. So we give up.  Then we spend the next few months losing the gains we made and trying to get back into our routine. Then we go through the exciting period again (fast results, body weight changes, lifting more each workout), etc.  It’s a cycle that keeps most people from reaching their bodybuilding and fitness goals.

THE UNDERGROUND SECRET TO BODYBUILDING AND FITNESS SUCCESS?

The biggest “secret” to bodybuilding and fitness success is so simple, it’s deceiving:

“Stick with it over the long term.”

That’s it. That’s IT!  Workout, eat right, and take the right supplements for years without stopping (or with SHORT breaks) and you’ll have the body you want.  That’s the big secret that everybody is looking for on our site, in the news, in the latest fad book, etc.  Like the message of “The Dip”, it’s also simple and obvious when you think about it.

HOW BODYBUILDING.COM HELPS OUR VISITORS GET THROUGH THE DIP

So I think our main job at Bodybuilding is to make it so people can get through The Dip.  Here are the main ways we do it:

1. BodySpace Progress Tracking - Tracking progress each day/week is a huge help here. It’s hard to see the 1.5 pounds of fat you lost over the last two weeks if you aren’t closely monitoring it. It may seem you are plateauing, but if you can see the small progress, it’s motivating!  At least you are moving forward!  Also, you can learn from the times when you really do completely plateau, get advice, change things up, and start progressing again.

2. Proper Supplements - Not only do supplements help you get better results (which is motivating by itself) but they are also fun and exciting.  You also make sure you do not skip your workout when you’ve been popping pills and creatine for the past 48 hours. If you skip your workout… all that supplement taking and money was wasted!  Also, pre-workout energizers can give you the energy you need so you are always in the mood for working out. And besides, you’ll never get the promised results if you are at home on the couch eating edamame and Otter Pops and watching "So You Think You Can Dance".  (Trust me, I’ve tried it.)

3. BodySpace/Forum Friends - They keep you motivated and accountable.  The social side of life and bodybuilding is big.  You are more likely to make it to the gym today knowing that your friends will be asking about it later.  Do you want to give them an excuse or do you just want to go to the gym and get ‘er done?  Also, you don’t want to look like a failure to your friends and family.  That’s why I recommend telling EVERYBODY that you know about your new quest to transform your body. Won’t it be great to show them your results? Wouldn’t it suck to have to explain why you quit?

4. Transformation/Motivation Stories - Seeing how others stuck through The Dip and reached their goals is very motivated. "I can do it too! It’s worth the effort!"  This is true in our articles and on the forum and BodySpace.

5. Helpful Articles And Forum Posts - Learning HOW to do it right is motivating, since you feel more confident and get better results. Nobody likes to do things that make them feel stupid or make them think that everybody else knows a better way. Are they just spinning their wheels using a program/diet/supplements that aren’t that effective?

6. Entertainment - The more they come back to the site just for fun, the more likely bodybuilding and fitness will stay at the front of their mind, instead of behind all the latest stresses in life, like work, relationships, and that stupid credit card bill that keeps getting bigger each month.  These things make it hard to stay focused on fitness.  Next thing you know you are skipping workouts and eating trash.

These are just a few ways that we help people reach their goals! We’re constantly working to do more and improve our existing services.

Let me know your thoughts!

This is a message to our employees that I just sent out with some great news:

 Congratulations! In the 2007 Edition of Internet Retailer’s list of the Top 500 e-commerce companies (based on online revenue) in the USA, Bodybuilding.com moved up to #152!  (Last year we were #163, which means we not only kept up with other top retailers in terms of revenue growth, but faster than many.)

As we get closer to $100 million (a magical, wonderful and unbelievable number), I can’t help but be amazed at what we all have done in such a short time. You have helped us get here and should be proud of your contribution to something great that is not only successful financially, but more importantly, is something that is helping an amazing number of people to reach their health, fitness and appearance goals. 

To put this in pespective and to show how our little Idaho company is doing in the big leagues, the following notable companies are near us in size and ranking:

Barely above us:

121. Hallmark Cards
122. Sharper Image
124. B&H Photo
125. Audible
126. Backcountry.com
130. Bed Bath and Beyond
131. Bluefly
132. LEGO
133. Dick’s Sporting Goods
142. NFL
146. Brookstone
151. Linens ‘n Things

152. Bodybuilding.com (YOU)

BELOW us:

154. The Finish Line
155. Shoes.com
157. Urban Outfitters
158. Panasonic
160. Vitacost.com
161. Furniture.com
162. The Sports Authority
166. Frederick’s Of Hollywood
170. PetSmart
171. Coach, Inc.
177. The Vermont Teddy Bear
178. Cooking.com
179. FrangranceNet
181. RadioShack
182. Petco
186. Discovery Channel
187. Safeway
188. Nascar
197. Franklin Covey
198. Fossil
199. Wine.com
201. Burlington Coat Factory
203. GameStop
219. Kohl’s

And many more.

I have no idea how many of these companies are profitable like us or not.

When I look through this list, I see a lot of big companies with a lot of smart people, all trying to figure out how to get the most online sales possible. We are beating thousands and thousands of companies at this, and we are right up there with many of the top companies in the world!

I have no doubt that we can move into the top 100 over the next 2 - 3 years.  That is our goal!  If we can continue to improve while staying true to our mission and "wowing" each individual customer, I have no doubt that this team has the ability to do it. Thank YOU for what you have done.

I wrote this up today for our developers and figured I might as well show you all as well, in order to get your feedback. It’s important that we design these things for YOU so let me know what you think!

BodySpace Next Steps

We have a LOT of great ideas for making BodySpace better for our users.  The main focus is to make it easier to use, add more features to encourage daily use, closer user relationships, more user-contributed content, and better progress tracking. The next steps are below.

Progress Photo Uploading Upgrades And User Administration

We need to add the following features to our progress photo front-end and back-end modules:

1. The ability to upload multiple photos at once (all for same date taken).
2. The ability to choose which “pose” this photo is. For example, is this a front view, relaxed, certain bodybuilding pose, side view, random, etc.? This way we can show similar photos next to each other when being displayed (like showing a front view next to a front view from different dates, or a front double bicep next to a front double bicep, etc.).   Also, this may help teach users which types of poses they should take photos of for best results.
3. The ability to manipulate photos online with basic ImageMagick methods like rotating the photo, resizing, etc.
4. The ability to choose which photos to show in their main BodySpace profile page if they want.  Otherwise, intelligent choice based on date/pose.

Goal Tracking Upgrades – Better Tracking Of Progress/Reminders/Graph Overlays

We’ve got the basics online for goal tracking, but for it to be really useful and popular, we need to add the following:

1. Overlay their goal on top of their latest progress updates on their graphs. For example, on their Weight graph, we would show their actual weight over time, with their goal weight and date (and needed trend to reach their goal on time) on top of it with a different color line.
2. We need to show better tracking and analysis of how they are doing on their goals.  The graphs will really help with this, but we should also give them details like whether they are on track to reach their goal, what their projected “weight” will be on their goal date based on their results so far, etc.
3. As part of the reminders functionality, we need to set up methods to remind people when they are “due” to update their body stats or outdated goal, based on a set time interval that they can set, or we can set automatically.  They should get notified (on the sidebar, on the BodySpace control panel pages, by e-mail) when something is due.  This way they will stay motivated and on track, rather than forgetting about it.

More Commenting Ability By Modules/Photo, Etc.

Right now, users can comment on a user’s overall BodySpace profile (or on their photos in PhotoPost or their BodyBlog entries). To encourage even more feedback from users (and more targeted feedback), we need to make it so that users can comment on more parts of the profile, like individual modules, progress photos, etc.

BodyHacks – Start Small With Extended Profile Questions

We want to create the full BodyHacks section of our site, but it’s a big project. Right now, we can at least get moving in that direction quickly by adding extended profile questions. We can add another module that shows their answers to all sorts of questions (and user-defined ones) that we ask them. They can answer whichever ones they want.

Then we can have a side page for each question that shows everybody’s answers to each one, ordered by most popular or most recent, etc.  We can let people rate and comment on answers.

Better Product Reviews And Ratings

We need a more detailed module for people to rate and review products. We should look at other Product Review sites to get some ideas. They can give the product a 1 – 5 star rating, put why they like it, who they would recommend it for, etc.  Try to keep it as positive as possible!

Rankings/Percentile Rank On Many Different Parts Of Profile (Plus “Top” Lists)

We need to make it so people can see how they stack up compared to the community.  We can show their percentile and overall rank on many parts of their profile and more.  For example, next to their weight, it can show that they are in the 85th percentile (or 1,345 overall) for males.  We can do this for all body and lifting stats, profile visits in last 24 hours, forum posts, BodyPoints, sign up date, number of photos uploaded, etc.

Integrated “Pre-Defined” Searches On Profiles

To make it so people can find other members easier, we can link parts of a person’s profile to the BodySpace search engine.  For example, we can link their Country to a pre-defined search that shows all users from their Country.  We can link their height with all users who are the same height, etc. 

“Start Your BodySpace” Wizard

We need to make it easier for people to get started with their BodySpace profile. We can create a “wizard” that lets them go through a multi-step process, which lets them create an account (if they haven’t already), fill out the basics of their profile, set some goals, upload some photos, etc.  Any step can be “skipped for now”.

Member-Created Groups

Our forum members have already self-created a bunch of unofficial groups.  They put their group name in their signature.  To take this to the next level, we need to create official club/group functionality.

To start, we can make it so that a user can create a group online.  They can name it what they want, write a description, set the group’s goal, and more. They can then invite members to join, or they can approve/deny members who ask to join.

A group will have their own BodySpace page, a community BodyBlog, and their own mini-forum that is private and for group members only.  There should be some private “what are the other group members up to” pages that they can see to keep up with everybody else who is a member.

There should be public-facing pages that show details about the group and what they are up to. The group owner can decide how much is public or private.

This should focus as much as possible around reaching a goal together, like gaining muscle, losing fat, prepping for the Emerald Cup, and more.

We need to give a lot of power and incentive to the group owner to make them really feel like “owners”.  They need to take pride in their group. Their name should be all over the place so people know they are the owner. Let their ego grow and they will work to make sure the group will be successful.

Groups should be compared/ranked versus other groups to create competition between groups.  Later, they can challenge other groups to contests.

Group members can be ranked among each other (“number 5 for body weight in this group”, “number 235 for most forum posts in this group”, etc.).

Group owners can assign group members to be group moderators or leaders or have special privileges.

Group members should have the groups that they belong to showcased on their BodySpace profile and on their forum postbit.

Login With E-mail Address Option

We can easily make it so that users can log-in to our site with their username OR e-mail address. So let’s do it and make it easier for our members!  This is one less thing for them to remember and/or mess up on.

Latest Goals Set Or Updated On BodySpace Main Page

To highlight the goal setting/tracking features and the people that are using them, let’s add a module to the BodySpace main page showing the latest goals set or updated, just like our latest body stat updates module.

Update Your “Progress Pics/Body Stats” Reminder Program (Auto And User-Defined)

We need a complete reminder/scheduler program for BodySpace.  This info will then be fed into the BodyFeeds and the BodyCalendar.

Right now, members just have to remember to come back and update their body stats, lifting stats, goals, progress pics, BodyBlogs, etc.

To encourage our members to stick with it, stay on track, and visit often, we need reminders.

An example: A user enters their latest progress photos.  We tell them that for best results, they should take progress photos at least once per month. We ask them if they want to be reminded when their next progress photos are due.  If they say yes (or they don’t opt-out), we set it up. A user could also set their own schedule using flexible options, but it must be recurring.

When they are due to take and upload their latest progress photo, we will notify them using the methods that they choose. They can reminded by e-mail, in the sidebar, on the BodySpace control panel, on the BodyCalendar, by PM, by RSS using their BodyFeed, or on their My.Bodybuilding.com main page.  If they go past the date it was scheduled, we will continue to remind them for a certain period (depending on the delivery method… everyday up to 14 days on the sidebar, once three days later by e-mail, etc.).

Check Availability For Desired Username

This is a simple feature that will help make registrations less frustrating for users.  Since we have so many members, many usernames have already been taken. We need to make it so that when a member is signing up, they can check the availability of the username they desire right on the that page.

“You Have Filled Out 64% Of Your BodySpace Profile!  See What’s Missing!”

To encourage complete BodySpace profiles, we should let users know how much of their profile they have filled in.  We should then also quickly show them which parts are missing for them so they can get busy filling them in!  Also, if a user previously had 100% filled out, and we add a new feature, they will know about it by seeing that they are now at 98% all of a sudden.

 Virtual Workout Partner

Having a thousand friends on BodySpace is great and motivating and helpful, but nothing can replace a one on one connection that you have with your gym partner.  I remember days when I wanted to skip the gym, but my partner pushed me to go, and I later thanked him for it. This type of thing makes a huge difference!  Since virtual reality gym technology is not yet here, we’ll have to settle for faking it.

We need to make it possible for users to create a one-to-one connection with another member. You can only have one Virtual Workout Partner and it must be mutual.

The idea is that you will help this one person as much as possible to reach their goals. You will help them stay motivated, you will remind them to update their progress pics when they are due, you will give constructive feedback, you will make sure they do NOT miss any workouts, you will monitor their progress, you will answer their questions if you can, etc. They will do the same for you!

We need to create a page where people can quickly see all of this to make it easy. It needs to be front and center.  They need to get reminded if they haven’t checked on their Partner in over X days.

Contests/Challenges

The key to bodybuilding success is sticking to your program over the long term. That’s it!  The key to sticking to it over the long term is MOTIVATION.  One of the keys to motivation is having a competitor that you are up against or creating a clearly defined challenge.

We’ll facilitate this on our site with our contests and challenges.

Contests

The idea is that you can join a group of people participating in a contest like you can join a group. You can search through available contests and find the one that matches your goals.  For example, you can join the “lose the most weight by June 1st” challenge.

Once you join a challenge, you have to follow the challenge rules for how to participate and/or how to submit your results.  You can see how you rank out of everybody else doing the same contest, and how you have done so far.  You can see who is in the lead and what you need to do to overtake them.

Winning or placing in a contest will earn you the pre-defined rewards. It could be free products, money, a feature in Flex magazine, or BodyPoints from the other members.  BodyPoints should be the main focus. To join a challenge, you “risk” 5000 BodyPoints (or whatever is decided for this contest), and if you win or place, you win the BodyPoints from the other members. If you lose, you lose your 5000 BodyPoints and they go to the winners to redeem.

Users can create contests by themselves. Like the groups, we need to give the contest starter a lot of control and power.  They need to feel like owners, and their ego needs to be attached to it to make them really care. They need incentive for creating a successful contest (BodyPoints, gifts, products, money, etc.).

The contest-owner will be the admin of the contest.

We should allow all sorts of different contests. They can be based on body stats, progress photos, lifting stats, not missing a workout, most forum posts in a certain period, most friends in a certain period, etc.  They will mainly be based on improving their body, but we can have fun with them as well.

Making it so that users can’t cheat will be a tough one.  To verify weight loss for example, they may be required to go to a gym and have a personal trainer do the measurement.  Or they can take a photo of the scale to show.  We’ll need to figure that out. Cheaters will be banned from the site.

Challenges

Challenges are very similar to contests, except instead of it being open to all who want to enter, challenges are one on one or one group against another group. You can challenge a single user to most size added to your biceps in 30 days (risking BodyPoints or something else), or the Big Dog group and challenge the Small Pig group to most weight gained overall, etc. (Kind of like Celebrity Fit Club teams fighting against each other for most weight lost. This adds peer pressure as motivation.)

Much, much more is planned, but these are the things that I think we should focus on next!

Ryan

Below is a little rough draft write-up that I put together for my quick speech at our recent Bodybuilding.com Boise Fitness Expo. (View info, pics, video, and more from the event!)

First of all, thanks to everybody for coming! Vendors, Pros, Athletes, Models… and of course everybody else that showed up.  The vendors and athletes that come from out of town are always surprised that so many of us Idahoan’s took time off from potato farming to come to this event.

2006 was a great year for Bodybuilding.com. Another record year in terms of revenue, profit, visitors, and more.  2007 is starting off great.  Thanks to our loyal customers!

I would like to talk for just a minute about a few things that weren’t so great.  A month ago my two year old niece, Jayden DeLuca, passed away from a heart defect that she was born with. This was my brother Jeremy and Karalie’s beautiful daughter. I appreciate all the support from friends and family that we have received. So far we have raised over $35,000 for the American Heart Association to help with their research in this area. Jeremy and Karalie set a goal to raise $100,000. You can donate and view her page here.

I’d like to announce that Bodybuilding.com is donating $65,000 to the American Heart Association in her name. This will bring the total raised to over $100,000, meeting their goal.

Recently I also received the news that one of my best friends and high school lifting partner was diagnosed with inoperable, stage 4 (the worst stage) brain cancer, and they expect him to only live another 12 - 18 months. He’s 29 years old. His name is Rendell Wilkinson and he graduated with me from Capital High School in Boise.

These recent events have made me think a lot about my life and my family.  I see these things happen and I couldn’t help but feel worthless since I’m not doing anything to help prevent these types of tragedies from happening in the future by figuring out how to cure diseases. What could I do? How could I just go on with my normal life, watching American Idol (go Sanjaya!), playing sports, and not worrying about it.

I realized something recently though.  Although Bodybuilding.com is mainly focused on helping people look better, whether it is from bigger biceps on the guys or helping girls look better in their bikini (which the guys appreciate), the effects of a good diet low in fat, weightlifting and cardio exercise, and the right supplements can help actually prevent a lot of diseases in our customer’s future.  These things help anything from cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, depression, stroke, and much more… Preventing somebody from getting cancer or having a heart attack is much better than figuring out how to cure it once they have the problem.

At Bodybuilding.com, our employees work hard everyday to help people get the information they need to reach their goals and stay motivated enough to stick with it over the long term. We’ll never know how many of our customers would have had health problems in their future if it wasn’t partly for the work our employees are doing each day.

That’s our company mission, which is by far more important that how fast we grow or what our bottom line looks like. I think each employee deserves our thanks for their hard work in these areas.

Just remember that there is not a lot that is more important than your health.  When was the last time you got a physical checkup? Seems like most of the people I ask say it was back in high school, and they only remember they had to drop their shorts, turn their head and cough. (And why can’t hot nurses do this part instead of some old guy?)

It’s always much better to find out early if something is not right in your body. Don’t just wait until it is too late. Get annual checkups and make sure your entire family does to. I know you are probably just thinking… “Yeah, I need to get a checkup one of these days”.  Don’t just think about it… Do it. Tomorrow morning, call your doctor, or find a general health or family practice in your yellow pages and schedule one. It will take you 10 minutes, and the checkup will take you 20 - 30 minutes.  Do it. Encourage your family to do it. You are the CEO of your own health and nobody will take care of it for you. Don’t wish you had listened to me later.

So! On a better note, it’s time for me to give out the employee of the year award.  This year it was tough to pick the winner… so tough in fact that we decided to pick two this year.  We have so many great employees, and they are the reason for our success over the last eight years. Every week when we get together to have meetings, I look around the table and I can’t help think about what a great team we have.  Everybody is not only smart, creative and hardworking, but dedicated to being the best that they can for our customers. That’s truly hard to find. I feel lucky to be able to work with them each day. I consider each employee to be a friend and a part of my family.

This year, the employees of the year are Joe Guilliams and Josh Brouse!

Joe Guilliams is the manager of the store side of our site, so that’s kind of important.  He is also our FDA Compliance Officer, so he’s in charge of whether we are compliant with the many rules and regulations in our industry, and if he messes up, we could be shut down.  He has taken our compliance programs to new levels, and always cares so much about doing things the right way. He has the hard job, having to work with big-wig Washington DC lawyers, which nobody ever likes to do.

View Joe’s BodySpace!

Josh Brouse is our General Operations Manager.  He started in the receiving department in our Idaho warehouse, and now runs both our Idaho and Florida warehouses, overseeing this vitally important area of the business, and nearly 70 employees. He is constantly working on figuring out ways to get shipments to our loyal customers in record time, while being productive and without errors. It’s tough to manage one team, but he is managing two teams, and one of the teams is over 2000 miles away. He cares about reaching our goals, since he knows how important it is to give the absolute best service to our customers.

View Josh’s Profile!

Until next time! Schedule that physical!

One of my most important duties as CEO of Bodybuilding.com is to provide the vision, strategy and direction for the company. Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time writing up plans and documents for new company initiatives, while helping to put out the inevitable fires that come up each day and meeting with many of our 132 employees throughout the day.

I realized recently that it is getting harder and harder to communicate face to face with all of our employees (especially the ones in our Florida warehouse), and when I hear from some of our customer service reps that they hardly ever even see me anymore, I realize that I’m failing at that important part of my job.

So I’m starting this CEO Blog as a way to help me stay connected to each employee (and customer, vendor, and all of the great people from around the world that we work with on a daily basis).

I’m a very open person, and I don’t believe in hiding anything. My goal with this blog is also to share with the world more about our company and our people. We have a lot to be proud of and some things that are embarrassing, but I’m going to be open and share with you what goes on behind the scenes of Bodybuilding.com.

Hope you’ll subscribe (via RSS, located on any BodyBlog) and/or check back often!

Ryan DeLuca

As you probably know, we had some major database issues over the last 24 hours. Everything should be fixed now. We were working around the clock to fix the problem. We apologize for the problems!  Thanks for understanding. We’ll work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Ryan DeLuca
CEO, Bodybuilding.com

Here is my first post. I plan to put all of my workout information and journals here. More info coming soon!