Mark Kokocki is a Vancouver, B.C. life/business coach and personal trainer who works primarily with a certain type of client – people living with hiv/AIDS and other chronic health problems. His business is provocatively named "dropdeadhappy.com"

dropdeadhappy.com grew out of a need Mark saw during the late nineties. He noticed that there was a new challenge facing people living with hiv/AIDS: though they had once believed their life was over, they were now suddenly being told, “The drugs are doing their job, get back to work.”

To address this challenge, Mark started a coaching program called “On Our Way” in 2000.  This program supported people living with hiv/AIDS who wanted to get somewhere: back to school, back to work, or start a business. For a few people, the “get somewhere” was learning how to live again. These challenges became opportunities for learning, self-discovery and healing.“On Our Way” remains one of Mark's proudest accomplishments to date, and provided the starting point for his current business "dropdeadhappy.com".

Innovative pricing structure

Mark has structured dropdeadhappy.com as a social entrepreneurship project to provide health, fitness and coaching support to those in financial or physical need. A secondary goal of his business is to promote a dropdeadhappy attitude in the pursuit of individual, professional and entrepreneurial achievements. The business model is simple. Everyone pays 1% of their gross monthly income or budget per coaching call. The result is Mark can offer services to people who otherwise could not afford it, volunteer time to nonprofit service providers and be a financially successful enterprise.

Perhaps surprisingly, the idea of 1% of gross monthly income per coaching call was not a hard sell. Lower income clients felt included, and higher income clients often welcomed the opportunity to help others. In fact, some wealthier clients offered to pay more than "the norm" (some clients pay $250 or more per call) in order to help others reap the same benefits. Mark points out that AIDS has taught a lot of people the value in sharing and giving.

Marketing challenges and surprises

Mark told me that the most difficult part of starting his business was converting the "On Our Way" model into a broader market. It took nine months of hard work to get the word out and start seeing some steady referrals coming in. His big break was with a hiv/AIDS service provider in California which over time has turned out to be his biggest source of referrals (now the majority of his clients are from California, even though he lives in Vancouver).

With 25 years of active involvement in the fitness industry (as a manager, presenter, group exercise instructor, personal trainer and coach), 20 years of frontline involvement with hiv/AIDS service providers (as a personal trainer, shiatsu practitioner, counsellor, coach, cheerleader, and friendly face on a hard day), and 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, Mark brings a wealth of talents to his work. And as he says with a smile, "I’m always open for a collaborative adventure with a social message".

What's a "dropdeadhappy day"?

I asked Mark what a "dropdeadhappy day" would look like for him.

A typical dropdeadhappy day for me includes: a morning run and work out, a couple of coaching calls with situations like a client working to get from social assistance to self reliance and beyond, then a baby boomer transitioning from being an employee to entrepreneur. A healthy lunch and a walk with my now 15 year old dog balance out a few more coaching calls and administrative nick knacks.

A few hours a week I put on my personal trainer outfit and help someone sweat, make time for writing an article for myself or another party and spending time with someone living with hiv/AIDS who just needs someone to be there and who understands. I live my dropdeadhappy day helping others live theirs. I can’t think of a better life and enterprise I could have.

What would a dropdeadhappy day look like to you?