Kris Hampton is a hustler in the modern world of climbing. For decades he’s kept himself close to the action—not only with his own impressive climbing achievements—but, more importantly, his intense presence as a figure in the climbing world. Kris challenges the status quo and wants you to get uncomfortable. As such, he makes for an interesting guest interview. After all, we want to look at this life differently, right?
Kris has a colored background from his early days in Cincinnati, rising from the ashes of family turmoil, criminal convictions, and even a stint in prison. He discovered rock climbing upon his release, setting the path towards personal growth that would lead to his business ventures today. The story of Kris Hampton’s early years is worth exploring, but is not the focus of this post.
I wanted to discuss with Kris what he’s done in creating his business, Power Company Climbing. I recently reviewed my experience with a Custom Training Plan from Power Company, and I wanted to dig a bit more into the roots of this organization and its founder.
Changing the Training Game
There are any number of trainers and podcasters who will jaw endlessly about how to get stronger, more powerful, or increase endurance. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But Kris and his team of coaches bring a unique perspective focused largely on building better climbers with plans rooted (inside joke) in movement drills and deliberate practice. Anyone can train, but stepping back and actually practicing is a real chore. I assure you.
Kris also blends his background in old-school hip-hop and art to bring some right-brain flair to textbook-heavy training principles. In essence, Kris and his team are making training cool. Love it or leave it.
So what’s the connection here with this site? The ability to step into a zone of discomfort—whether it be physical or mental—is absolutely fundamental to personal growth. Have you been in the gym running the same 4-speed, 15-minute treadmill routine for 10 years? Do you immediately spend any money you make because that’s what you’ve always done? A change requires discomfort, and Kris knows this sensation all too well.
Kris Hampton: The Climber
Kris: My history as a climber is backward. While I started in a gym in 1995, I quickly became a die hard traddie, and didn’t clip bolts for many years. It took more than a decade to really discover sport climbing, and now I’m more focused on bouldering – in my 40’s. Backward.
I’m most proud that I’m a fairly diverse rock climber, with 5.13 trad, 5.14 sport, and V10 bouldering under my belt. If I had to choose a highlight, it’s that the 5.14 and first V10 came after age 40.
**CC Note: To joke about the typical progression of young climbers, it goes something like this: young and powerful teenagers will exclusively boulder (wearing lots of neon colors and listening to rap). Then they’ll eventually get into roped sport climbing, which requires a blend of power and endurance. Decades later, having grown old and gray, traditional climbing takes over, requiring 20 pounds of gear to protect low-angle cracks.
Power Company Climbing, The Early Days
CC: Prior to starting PCC, Kris was a mural painter and decorative artist for nearly 20 years in the Cincinnati area. He wasn’t so different from most of us, working Monday-Friday, with a meager two weeks of vacation per year. He trained for climbing in the gym and would get after it at Kentucky’s glorious Red River Gorge (“The Red”) on the weekends.
Kris began training himself and putting down harder routes in The Red, gaining notice from local climbers. Folks wanted to know what Kris was doing to be making such drastic improvements in his climbing, so he began writing training plans for a select group.
Kris: Power Company Climbing was originally a blog that documented my own experiments into progression. I had a small crew of friends who followed training plans I wrote for them, and I mentioned that on the blog. I was eventually swamped with requests to write plans for people across the country. Those plans were all distributed via PDF and a phone call, but I knew there must be a better delivery and communication system. That’s when I began plotting to turn it into a business.
As a blog and just a crew of friends, there was no money exchanging hands. I think it took 6 years of blog posts to get a $100 check from Google Adsense. However, as soon as that first surge of PDF training plans happened, I decided to make it official. Six months later I quit my painting job. Not long after, I was moving with my wife to Lander, Wyoming.
A New Way of Looking at Training
When Kris started PCC, training for climbing was not a new concept. Granted, there has always been a tendency more toward the “lifestyle” participant in this sport. But folks have been putting in hard work to get better for decades.
CC: What did you think was missing in the world of training for climbing?
Kris: There is an absolute mountain of information on training out there. However, it’s never been easy to assimilate it all and put it into an actionable plan. Most people are busy and don’t have that sort of extra time for research and programming. They would rather be told what to do and go do it. I get that, and that’s what we intended to do.
We soon realized that communicating with those folks throughout the entire process was incredibly important. We also knew that creating a community space for all of our clients to interact would be a key part of our growth.
Basically, we’re trying to build a community of climbers who are passionate about progressing – whatever that might mean to each of them.
Building the Business
Dropping away from a steady paycheck is always a daunting task. I wanted to get a sense of the timeframe to profitability and the foundational elements that led to success of this business. So how quickly did things come together?
Kris: Nearly day one, actually. I remember saying that I couldn’t imagine a time when I’d need more than 15 slots for clients in our training app. We started small and scaled up quickly. Now we have 200 slots and are regularly pushing the boundaries.
There wasn’t much overhead, and I’d spent 7 years writing blog posts that had built a following. Financially it made sense to go for it. In the first months I made a few lucky good decisions with passive income that have helped carry us through any of the lower volume times.
Frankly, I didn’t have time to be negative about the business. It’s grown faster than I’m able to keep up with. If there is negativity at all, it’s that the structure was never meant to handle a business this big (which is still very small, actually).
Growth Mindset and Pushing the Comfort Envelope
In recent years, I’ve been mildly obsessed with the concepts of learning and growth mindset. The message is simple: If you’re not fumbling, feeling very uncomfortable, or totally out of your element, you are probably not maximizing your capacity to learn and grow. Kris and his team at Power Company are far from the first to address these issues in climbing, but they’ve brought them in an easily digestible form via the podcast.
CC: Kris, many of your podcasts appear to have an underlying theme of growth mindset, learning, deliberate practice, etc. What were some of your early inspirations in bringing these concepts to the climbing world?
Kris: Much of my athletic background is as a gymnast and skateboarder. Both athletes will try a single skill or trick for months on end—sometimes thousands of attempts—just to land it once. But they aren’t satisfied. They’ll practice the skill until they’ve mastered it enough to put it into a routine or run and land it repeatedly.
This idea of mastery is something that climbers practice during redpoint campaigns. But often once we squeak through a move, we never do it again. We’re content with possibly getting lucky. That doesn’t make me content.
Putting Money to Mouth
CC: On a scale of 1-10, how good are you at pushing your own comfort zone? I think we often can recognize that we may be avoiding a weakness. But when it comes down to it, actually taking real action is a serious challenge. What are your recommendations from lessons learned on yourself or working with other clients?
I’d say I’m about a 7 on a scale of 1-10 at pushing out of my own comfort zone. For the first part of the struggle, I’m a 9, but I often wait too long to reassess, choosing instead to continue pushing toward the same previous “weaknesses”.
My best two tips for getting yourself out of your comfort zone are first to reframe, and then second to not default. Learning to reframe obvious weakness as an opportunity has been revolutionary for my climbing. It excites me to know that there is still low-hanging fruit.
When looking for your weaknesses, don’t default to the typical answers of “strength”, “power”, “endurance”, etc… Those are qualities we’ll always train and can always use more of. Instead, look at your mental, technical and tactical habits. If you find things in those areas that need adjustment, it’s entirely possible you’re already physically strong enough to climb much harder.
I constantly, and stubbornly, look for a better option.
On Being a Successful Entrepreneur
Kris: This is a tough one because I think it can be done all sorts of ways, and it depends on the definition of “successful”. For me, it hinges on passion and stubbornness, as cliche as that sounds.
Making a business work is hard, and if I didn’t WANT to help people progress, I just wouldn’t do it. I’m never satisfied that things are already being done the best way possible. I constantly, and stubbornly, look for a better option. Being able to operate on very little sleep, while I don’t recommend it, is a pretty good trait to be able to tap into as well.
Sharing What You’ve Built: Hiring Others
CC: What are the complications, both financial and even personal, of sharing what you’ve built?
Kris: This is actually a tough one for me. I always knew that I wanted the input of others and people to bounce ideas around with. But didn’t know how that would look when it came to sharing the vision. I now have four other coaches (just hired the 4th – more on that soon!) and an office manager. We all believe in the same core principles, and we all trust each other. In a business this tiny trust is very important.
Honestly, the biggest complication might be that everything can’t be done completely democratically. If Nate has an idea that I can’t see the future for, I have to play devil’s advocate. I have to trust his intuition enough to put some time and money behind it. And they have to do the same with the ideas that I come up with.
Lana, our office manager, was a great addition. She’s forced us to not undersell ourselves, which is a struggle for me. I’d give it all away if I could. She yells at me. I yell back. I fire her but she never leaves. Thank goodness.
Personal Time: Are You Climbing More Now?
Kris: In the beginning this all gave me more time to climb. As things got busier and I made the choice to put my focus on the business, time has dwindled. That said, I’ve been able to take trips longer than 2 weeks for the first time in my life. I’ve spent 12 of the last 24 months on the road. I’m about to head to Texas for 6 weeks, followed by Australia for 5 weeks. So that “less time” is changing again, as I figure out how to better manage my time and energy.
A few months ago I might have written something cautionary about building a business around your passion, but now I won’t. It’s hard – there’s no question about that. You might very well have less time to pursue your passion for a while. But you’re more likely to succeed in business when you’re passionate about it, and if you can keep that passion, you’ll find a way to balance it out.
Put it out there instead of constantly second-guessing yourself. I can’t stress that enough.
Parting Thoughts…for building a business or otherwise
Kris: Build it and put it out there. Until you push it out into the world, you’ll never know how it might do. Then be patient and open. It may not go exactly how you expect, but if you’re open to exploring new ideas it will be far less stressful.
And don’t skip part 1. Put it out there instead of constantly second-guessing yourself. I can’t stress that enough.
Getting in Touch
Contact Kris via Power Company
Below are a list of some KH-recommended podcasts from Power Company. I double recommend the interviews with Trevor Ragan and Dan John, for climbers and non-climbers alike. Check em out!
Episode 50: A Coaching Masterclass with Lantien Chu
Episode 66: Now What? with Dan John
Episodes 64 and 108: Both with Trevor Ragan of Train Ugly
Nearly all of the Board Meetings: The first full-team Board Meeting
Kris = Krusher! I’ve seen him in action and he practices what he preaches. Training with Power Company will up your climbing game… no doubt!