The coach must be placed back in priority within fitness.

More and more it is ONLY communication between the “establishment” and the consumer where the coach is nowhere to be found.  The marketing ploys of the establishment are based on economics and efficiency…think “what is hot now.”

The coach does KNOW that marketing can get them clients, but they can’t capitalize like the larger companies can.  They are set up for failure which makes them feel like they are handcuffed.

Clients now come in with a perception of how they are should or want to do things, NOT a trust that the COACH knows how to help them.  If the coach creates a challenge for that client to recognize that it may take awhile for them to achieve their goals, often the finds the client leaving to find the solution that will give them what they want (not unlike a better application they will find on their phone).  The coach has merely pointed out REALITY for the client but the client is conditioned to want here and now

Everywhere you look today, you see MANY versions of what people would consider SUCCESS in the fitness world.

• Coaches ONLY posting their top performers and clients in success stories – You ONLY see people who improve, you never the 50% that don’t get improvements or actually go backwards. It isn’t wrong in a marketing sense.  Why promote that right?

• Businesses posting how they are growing by leaps and bounds. “20 more members this month, up to 300 now!!”  What you don’t hear is the back room talk with the owner and they are losing money hand over fist daily.

• 25,000 Instagram (IG) and Facebook (FB) followers because you wear tiny clothes and market yourself well yet you speak to an audience of 100, your message resonates with 3, and you give inspiration to 1.

It’s a concept of digging deeper under the hood.  It’s not pessimism, its reality versus fantasy when we want to speak about success.  Success CAN be drawn up many different ways. And the ONLY person that holds the key to success is YOU, through your OWN eyes.

Some coaches, businesses, and public speakers BELIEVE they are successful, and no one can take that from them.  BUT if we are being honest, we want movement, and truth with positive debate, SOMEONE has to be “that guy” to ask the question, “Really, how successful is that in whose eyes?”

I am going to be that guy.  I know what it is like to believe your own bullshit.  The one thing that changed that for me and my business was surrounding myself with people who would challenge me on those beliefs I held so dearly.

If you don’t measure things like whether or not your clients ACTUALLY improving, what is the measure of improvement, or how are you determining WHAT improvement is, you will “play the game mindlessly” until someone DOES challenge you. Those are tough times, believe me.

When it comes to success in a fitness business, I believe in measurable success for:

• The coach

• The owner

• The client.

There HAS to be a winning solution for all 3.

Success for a client means an enjoyable experience in which they are taught how to become self-responsible in fitness for a sport or a lifetime.

Success for a coach means earning fulfillment from teaching others what they know to be true and have experienced as well as creating security to ensure they can do it forever.

Success for an owner means creating a system that supports everyone within the model, and THAT WHICH contributes back to the business, to the owners, and to the future.

In the eyes of the coach, you have a true life cycle of a career –

• You learn things (technician)

• You embody the role (craftsman)

• You transcend and teach others (master)

The holdup occurs when the coach WANTS to embody the coach role, but they cannot. They cannot for many reasons. One of big reasons comes when the market’s values are NOT aligned with that the coach KNOWS to be the best path for fitness for their clients in the market.

The more the coach KNOWS, the more AWARE they become. When you gain awareness, for only a SMALL amount of time can you be inauthentic when you sell something that you do not believe in. The more serious it gets and the more aware you become, the harder it becomes to “put the coaching face on” and stand up to coach something you know isn’t the best option for your clients.

There needs to be a place for a coach to survive, grow, exercise, and teach – EVERY DAY! That is what a coach does.

• Where you have clients surrounding you that wants to learn and who is ON JOURNEY.

• Where you have a business that you are in that has security and is doing things for the right reasons.

• Where you, yourself, are feeling like every day was a growth step and that you are no longer taking steps backwards time and time again.

THIS is success.

When you measure how well the clients are doing, check.

When you measure how the business is doing, check.

When you measure how the coach is feeling, check.

All things pointing forward.