Success, At What Cost ?

I was seriously questioning writing about this, my anxiety rose as I thought about it.

It’s going against the grain on what has been saturating our social feeds, written in books and seen all over the internet.

Grinder harder.

Hustle more.

Sleep less.

At what cost?

Depression and suicide are at an all time high.

Divorce has skyrocketed.

Hospital stress visits have increased.

Hearing the word balance is like taboo, heck some even think you're lazy.

As technology advances, addiction has skyrocketed.

Why is this important for fitness entrepreneurs?

We are leaders in helping others understand health, vitality and living an optimal fit life.

To be transparent, I’ve faced addiction at different levels, hospital visits due to high stress, depression, even a close call with ending my relationship all due to: grinding harder, hustle more, sleep less, do whatever it takes at all costs.

My wife and I have discussions about this.

A relationship can’t be neglected.

Would you neglect your business or your body?

If you did, what would happen?

Even with kids now and a family, my responsibilities have taken a whole new level.

There is the RIGHT stress and then there’s DESTRUCTIVE stress.

Then we think, what if I don’t work hard enough, go fast enough, beat my competition, get my third car?

What will they think?

Will I fall behind?

Strategy will win over hard work anyday.

Don’t get me wrong, repeated hard work will make you win.

What would happen if you trained in the gym 7 days a week, 3 hours a day, eating 1200 calories long enough?

Your body would get so broken down, your health would deteriorate and things would eventually catch up to you.

This is why TRM is so valuable to fitness professionals in growing successful businesses. Any trainer can work hard and make $3 to $5K a month with no life.

I spoke with one recently, who is earning $4.5K a month, working 7 days a week, been coaching for 7 years and he said he wants to have a life outside the 4 walls of the gym.

Unfortunately, fear kept him in his comfort zone as he decided he wanted to keep slaving away and not optimize his business.

I had another conversation with a coach earning 25K a month who is hungry for more, although wants to build the business in a way that has systems, structure and positive impact so they can enjoy more freedom and change more lives.

This individual joined TRM.

So how can a fitness professional have a thriving business and still have a life?

1. Find basic habits, a routine that works and stick to it.

2. Spend time each day planning and prioritizing.

3. Keep a tight inner circle of the right people and spend time with them on a consistent basis.

4. Exercise limitless thinking, get away from mediocrity.

5. Understand flow and incorporate it daily.

6. Understand boundaries and stick to them.

7. If you want to grow, talk to the right people and the right prospects consistently.

8. Never stop being curious, although don’t be a professional student who doesn’t act.

9. Do the right work, that moves things closer towards your goal.

10. Ask for help, learn from those who have already done it.

If you want to have a successful fitness business and still have a life, you’ll need to be a part of some kind of community that consistently levels you up, which could be Trainer Revenue Multiplier.

I’m not going to sugar coat it, building a business is tough work, it takes a lot of patience, grit and perseverance.

I’ve learned over the years in building, creating and growing businesses now for 18 years, always playing the long game. I tried the short game, it worked for the short term, always biting me in the butt afterward.

There is one statement from an experienced man of 20+ years we did business with when I was involved in our beverage company many years back. The 4 of us were in the room all excited to tackle the next thing on the product line and we hadn’t even successfully got the first product off to market yet, he then said.

“Quit trying to always make it a race, there will always be something new, don’t play that game, but if you take the time to create a world class product and do it right, you will always win.”

I’ll leave you with this analogy below:

Build, Apply, Leverage, Serve, Expand, Impact

NOT:

Build, Busy, Keep Busy, Get Busier, Repeat

Hope this served you today.