Mike and I have been in it 24/7 for the fight of our lives to save our business, serve our community, and protect the jobs of our employees.

What I have learned:
- When it's do or die time... you just do. We had plans to bring our training program online... We thought it would take us 12-18 months - we made it happen in 72 hours.
- You just have to show up. Show up in a dirty house, with screaming kids, jet-lag, and dirty hair. Just show up.
- What is most important in my life: (1) the health, safety, and happiness of my family; (2) serving others through this difficult time.

I am thankful for...
- Our amazing team who have been training their hearts out this week.
- Technology that has allowed us to bring our training experience online.
- Our community - so many people have reached out to offer help, support, and encouragement.
- Mike - you are always the calm in the storm, you bring such great perspective to every challenge, and there is no one I would rather be stuck in a crisis with.
Lots of love for you all! Let me know how you are holding up or if there is anything I can help with! I think I am out of house arrest April 2nd.
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<3 <3 

Paige


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Our business plan covered a lot of things - a global pandemic was not one of them.  In this interview with Cary Weston, we talk about innovation in the midst of a pandemic - how our business is adapting in real-time.

We definitely don't have it all right but we are learning on the fly, making it work, and letting our commitment to helping people guide us through this uncertain time.   

Hope you enjoy the interview.

Lots of love!

Paige & Mike




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​Necessity is the motherhood of innovation.

Mike and I have been working 24/7 to bring our training program to an online experience. My children are ferrel. My house is a disaster. But I am really proud to say that we are now LIVEStreaming our training sessions for our clients.

We were LIVE yesterday in 2 locations and we trained over 85 of our clients via webcam.

I am so proud of our team for delivering excellence today and trusting us to make this happen. I am so proud of our community for embracing this format in this difficult time.

These sessions truly feel like you are right there with the trainer... less the travel time to the gym.

We planned for a lot of things in our business plan - a global pandemic was not one of those things. But I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that what doesn’t kill us will make us stronger. And I believe we will all get through this together.

Stay strong friends. Stay healthy. Stay safe.

❤️❤️❤️

Paige & Mike



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I am so ready to slip into a slower pace of life, spend my days with my kids in nature, and work on building our business poolside.

Costa Rica has been named one of the happiest countries in the world, mostly because its inhabitants don’t stress about things the way most foreigners do. Ticos have a very relaxed, simple way of looking at life. No worries, no fuss, no stress—pura vida, to them, means being thankful for what they have and not dwelling on the negatives.

Want to follow our journey?  Be sure to connect with us on Social Media both on Facebook and Instagram.  We post mostly for motivation, inspiration, and helpful tips, tricks, and strategies for healthy living but we also share a little bit of the behind the scenes of our life.

Hope to see you there!

Lots of love,

Paige & Mike Wilcox 



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In just a few days, my family and I are headed to Costa Rica for an ENTIRE MONTH.  This has been a dream that my husband, Mike and I have been working on for the last 3 years since we got serious about setting a vision for our life and our business.  

We have been asked so many questions about our trip, why we are going, if we are scared of leaving our life and business or a month (spoiler alert: yes - we are scared but we are doing it anyway), who will be in charge while we are gone, and what we are hoping to get out of the trip so I am sharing it all here.  I hope our story will inspire you to make the decision to #goforit even if you are scared in your own life.

For anyone that doesn't know my story - my name is Paige Wilcox and my husband and I are the founders of Wilcox Wellness & Fitness - a private personal training business that we recently franchised.  We have 2 locations - one in Bangor that we have been running for the last almost 8 years and one in Brunswick, Maine that has been in business for about a year.
 
We are franchisors of the Wilcox Wellness & Fitness brand and it is our goal to open up one new Wilcox Wellness & Fitness location in New England for the next 5 years. 

I met Mike 14 years ago on a blind date and married him 5 years later. I definitely married up - Mike is my best friend and partner in all things and I absolutely love spending every minute of every day with him.  Not kidding!  Together, we have two wild and crazy kids - Hazen is 5 and Brooklyn is 2. 

​I am originally from Rangeley, Maine - a super small, beautiful town in the western part of the great state of Maine. I come from a family of small business owners - my parents ran a convenience store when I was growing up and I always knew that I wanted to own and run my own business. Not for the typical reasons of ‘being my own boss’ but more for the lifestyle freedom that you can build when you own a business.

I love travel, I love adventure, I love immersing myself in new cultures.  It has always been my goal to be able to live and work from anywhere in the world.  (Don’t worry - Bangor, Maine will always be my forever home.) I have always made travel a priority in my life and I been lucky enough to do a lot a lot of travel in my lifetime.  I have backpacked through Europe, been in the Amazon jungle, and traveled through India.
 
I love the way travel opens you up to view the world in a different way and provides immense amounts of perspective. For the last 3 years, my husband and I have been working on our #lifegoals and planning a month-long live / work trip to Costa Rica with our 2 young kids - ages 5 & 2. We leave in just a few days - it is terrifying, exciting, and super epic. It’s going to be an amazing adventure!

​This trip will be our second experiment in ‘working from anywhere’ - wish us luck!  We feel very confident in the team, processes, and business that we have built in order to physically leave the building for a month.  Thanks to technology, we will still be very much connected to the business.

It is scary to leave our business for an entire month – and our business is our baby.  And our franchise business is our newborn baby. But - our real babies - Hazen and Brooklyn are only going to be this little for so long.  And I am so excited to have this adventure with them - to connect with them through travel - to see the wonder on their faces - to see monkeys in real life - and to open up their minds to the greatest possibilities.  It is scary - but anything worth wild is scary so do it anyway.  We only get this one life and we get to decide how to live it. 

I feel so lucky.  I absolutely LOVE my work.  A lot of people have asked me why I don’t just want to disconnect and totally be in #vactationmode for the month.  The truth is - I love running the business. I love the team I support. I love the clients we serve. I love brainstorming new ideas.  I love creating things to serve our clients better. To me full on vacation mode isn’t desirable - it would be like saying you can’t watch your favorite TV show, or eat your favorite food, or talk to your best friend or your mom, while you are on vacation because you need to disconnect from that thing.  But the truth is, doing those things would enhance your overall vacation experience.  I hope that makes sense.

I think having the opportunity to get away for a solid chunk of time really gives you the opportunity to look at your life, your family, your business, and your priorities with a new perspective.  I think that when we are at home, working, grocery shopping, meal prepping, shuttling the kids around, and doing all the things we can lose sight of the bigger picture. I strive to live a really intentional life.  I know that life is what you make it and I think that sometimes you need to get out of your daily routine in order to really be able to truly figure out what you want out of life.  Things like... How you want to feel on a daily basis.  The relationships that you want to have with the ones you love the best.  The impact that you want to create in the world.  The thoughts that float through your mind.


​I remember one time I was going through a particularly stressful time with an old job (I was an account manager for a scientific distribution company) Mike and I went on vacation together.  It was just a week - we were in Puerto Rico and I was having a hard time disconnecting from work - or work was having a hard time disconnecting from me back in the days where disconnecting was my goal.  I had to be on a conference call on vacation in Puerto Rico on the way to the boat for our snorkeling adventure. I had a lot on my mind after that call and boarding the boat. I remember then putting my snorkel gear on and putting my head in the water.  There was a whole beautiful world down there that I hadn’t even considered moments prior. It made my problems feel so small in the best way possible. The fish would still be swimming, the seaweed would still be swaying, and the waves would still be rolling regardless of what was going on in my life.  And I feel like that is what travel does for us. It puts our life into perspective.

I am really excited to have the opportunity to step back and really assess where we are and gain a lot of perspective going forward.  I hope that our experience inspires other people to fully go for it in their life and do something that scares them. It may not be travel related but really finding the thing that will set their soul on fire, light them up, and make them excited to jump out of the bed in the morning.  Maybe that means applying for a new job, starting a new business, going back to school, or asking that special someone out on a date. Whatever it is, I say throw caution to the wind, go for it - especially if you are scared. What is the worst that could happen? Malaria for the whole family…. Eek - maybe - hopefully not - don’t think that way, Paige!  

I am confident that our whole trip is not going to be rainbows and butterflies, monkeys and waterfalls.  We have a big travel day with a layover in PANAMA with 2 kids under 6 and 2 adults who don’t like to sit still. Our strategy is to bribe the 5 year old with a various assortment of gum (solid, right?) and pray that he entertains the 2 year old.  [Now accepting responsible parent travel advice - come at me!]

​Outside of the challenge of the travel day, I will have the challenge of figuring out how to balance the family time with working time.  I will still have phone calls to support our franchise business and our team in Bangor and other work to do to keep the momentum of the business humming.  I love my work - my challenge will be dialing that back enough to really let the amazingness of our trip and extra family time sink in.

Last year I was really scared of what it will mean to have my kids 24/7.  I had never had my kids like that 24/7 outside of my maternity leaves. I was really scared that I wouldn’t have what it takes to be the very best version of myself for them every minute of every day.  And then I was really scared that I would spend my time beating myself up on that.
 
What I found with our first trip is that it is so much easier to be with our kids 24/7 and I think the big reason for that was that we know what their day is like from start to finish and can adjust according.  Back home, in the daily grind there are plans and school and activities and we can adjust as quickly.  The Pura Vida life surely is much more simple.

I have less fears about being away this time.  But… my expectations are through the roof.  We have been counting down this trip for the last 97 days.  Literally, every morning for the last 97 days our family has woken up and asked Alexia ‘Alexia, how many days until February 27th?’
 
I have learned the expectations are so important to manage and I am doing my best to remember that we are bringing two different kids this year – they are a year old and our business is in a much different stage. 
 
My hope for this trip is that it brings our family even closer together - that our kids see that you can do anything in life that you decide to do - and that life is meant to be fully enjoyed.  I am so excited to play full out - embrace the adventure and the challenge - and be transformed in the process.  

I hope that we bring home a new perspective from Costa Rica that we can use to serve our clients and our team better.  

I hope that the moment we get home, we start planning our next adventure!  

So tell me - what is your next adventure?  How do you want it to make you feel?  What scares you about it?  I want to hear it!

Much Love,

Paige Wilcox

The passion and focus that Mike brings to his training sessions is really incredible.  Mike has the heart of a coach - someone who sees more in you and strives to help you get even better.

He has a really unique way of helping you really focus, work hard, dial-in, and believe that you are capable of more than you could ever imagine.

How do I know this?  I am his wife and he does the same for me.

A couple of years ago we pulled Mike out of the day to day training so that he could focus on building our training team and our training program as we prepared to franchise our business.  

I was the one who pushed for that and although it was the right decision to help impact more people, the fire and passion inside Mike dulled just a little bit.  

Helping people in the one to one hands-on face to face training sessions lights Mike up, fuels his fire, and gives him the energy and perspective necessary to push our business forward.  It keeps that fire burning hot and is something really special to witness.  

Mike trains a few sessions on Wednesday morning at our gym in Bangor and it is so fun to witness.  This video is a little preview of that.  I hope you enjoy it!

Lots of love,

Paige & Mike




WANT MORE OF THIS? Be sure to connect with us on Social Media. We post daily on both Facebook and Instagram for motivation, inspiration, and helpful tips, tricks, and strategies for healthy living. You can join our private Facebook group to go even deeper with us or book a call to see how you can get started training with us in person. We can't wait to connect with you and support you along your journey with healthy living!
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We are so incredibly honored to receive the Bion and Dorain Foster Award for Entrepreneurship tonight.  Thank you, Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce for selecting Wilcox Wellness & Fitness for this amazing recognition.

Thank you to the amazing coaches that we have on our team.  Thank you for seeing our vision and trusting in our mission for the future.  Thank you for being the kind of human whose passion is to help others.  You are all incredible people.

We are humbled and grateful to be able to do the work that we love in a place that we love.  The Bangor Region has been so incredibly good to us.  Bangor is our home and we feel so privileged to be able to create a positive impact and give back to our community in a meaningful way. 

Since we opened our Bangor location in 2012 we have realized steady growth - with a franchise location in Brunswick, a meal prep service, and helping feed those in need through our Burpees for Turkeys fundraiser that benefits the Good Shepherd Food Bank.

Thank you to all who have become a part of the WILCOX community.   Thank you, Allison, for trusting us to support you in opening the first WILCOX franchise location.  Thank you to our parents for encouraging us to be fearless in the pursuit of our dreams.  

And thank you to the many people who have allowed us to help make their lives better one training session at a time.  

To announce the awards, Sutherland Weston operates a covert mission to surprise the awardees.  Leading up to the event we were grilling our team and our clients asking questions like 'have there been cameras in here? what do you know? anything fishy?' 

And we were met with stone faces - we were positive they were fibbing.  

We weren't sure what to expect for the video - would it be a song and dance of all of our clients doing burpees?  Would they put our name into Paradise City?  Would it be something to spoof our training business?

Then - Mike's mother came on the big screen.  She told the story of our business and our love story.  We stood stage left in shock, trying to hold it all together for our acceptance speech.  

Her words left us breathless.  

Thank you, Susan.  You are incredible - you made Mike the man he is today with the great vision for this incredible business that I am and so many others are privileged to be a part of.

At the age of 22, you were a single mother of 3 crazy little boys.  You taught Mike strength, determination, grit, and selflessness.  You taught him how to do whatever it takes to follow my passions.  

We can't imagine how you did it back then, but we know that we are here today, with this great business, because of the traits you instilled in Mike.

Thank you, Sutherland Weston for this amazing memory.  It is perfect and we will love it forever.

Lots of Love,

​Paige & Mike Wilcox
 

I wanted to give you an inside look at what I am working on here.  So often we only show the polished and perfect sessions but thats not what it looks like on a day to day basis.  

We are constantly learning and evolving and pushing the envelope and that means living outside our comfort zone most days.

This training session is a little peek at that.  
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The struggle makes you stronger.  

This is an inside look at my struggle learning new moves inside a training session.  I am certainly our trainers' biggest challenge!  

I was not born with the gene that controls any coordination or grace. 

But I do embrace the struggle and the challenge of learning new things.  I know it is slow at first but I am making progress and training my body to move better.  

PS: I feel very uncomfortable punching Bob in the face.

Hope you enjoyed this look behind the curtain.

Paige



WANT MORE OF THIS? Be sure to connect with us on Social Media. We post daily on both Facebook and Instagram for motivation, inspiration, and helpful tips, tricks, and strategies for healthy living. You can join our private Facebook group to go even deeper with us or book a call to see how you can get started training with us in person. We can't wait to connect with you and support you along your journey with healthy living!
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Just ran into this beautiful soul in the waiting room at the dentist. Ann started training with us earlier this year due to lots of encouragement and gentle nudging from her daughter who is also a client. In the waiting room today, Ann gushed to me about how her whole summer was transformed because of her commitment to training with us. Best of all, she is now hopping in and out of the boat at her family’s camp without the assistance that was required last year.

Amazing.

Ann - you are getting younger every year. Congratulations to you my friend - we are so very proud of you.

For me, this is what it is all about. Encounters like this in the dentist office give me LIFE. knowing that the work that we do makes other people’s lives better makes it all worth it.

It’s not about what you do or can do in the gym that matters. It’s about what you do in the gym that prepares you to live your life to the absolute fullest.
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❤️Paige
Wilcox Wellness & Fitness


WANT MORE OF THIS? Be sure to connect with us on Social Media. We post daily on both Facebook and Instagram for motivation, inspiration, and helpful tips, tricks, and strategies for healthy living. You can join our private Facebook group to go even deeper with us or book a call to see how you can get started training with us in person. We can't wait to connect with you and support you along your journey with healthy living!
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