Getting 'Personal'
with EIF founder and CEO Darren Tebbenham, BSc, MSc
My Blog
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12 STEPS TO BUILDING A BRILLIANT PT BUSINESS
Step 12 Personal growth and development.
So here we go the final step. First up. How are you developing your mind-set, your skill-set and your knowledge? How much time do you spend working IN your business? How much time do you spend working ON your business? Actually answer these questions out aloud right now.
Answering this question alone might help.
But then the thing is your mind is not set and your skills aren’t set either. Far from it these are variables in the equation.
Indeed, this is so for your clients too. Isn’t our role to expand and grow our clients' mind and skill set round health and fitness? Even in the case of a client who wants “to lose weight” isn’t it true we try and help them expand their mind and skills around changing their Identity not just their body helping them become that healthy and fit person who also loses the weight they wanted to lose but became the person they wanted to be?
YES / NO?
This step is, however, about YOU not them. It is about your commitment to ongoing personal development and identifying ways to grow the person who is the personal trainer some more. Which is why choosing the right personal training course is so important.
Of course you have heaps of resources in EIF Connect, you can call in at any point and get help. But I don't mean just this I mean how can you grow You Ltd some more?
In a world wrapped around CPD and REPs registrations about marketing gurus and social media enterprise can we dump all of this for this last step!
Getting CPD points is overrated. Growing You Ltd is not!
Have you thought recently who you could become?
I mean really sat down and thought what are you really about?
Who are you, what do you want and how are you developing and growing as a wonderful human being? Do you know your own strengths and are you building upon them? Have you read Marcus Buckingham’s Go put your strengths to work?
Personal development isn’t just about “going on courses” but can include reading, professional exchanges with other fit pros, self-reflection, keeping a personal journal, mentoring, coaching and so much more.
Let me finish these 12 steps by talking about the three things I believe and have believed since getting into this industry some 20 years ago about success as a Personal Trainer.
I think there are three components - Fitness, Business and Coaching.
Therefore there are 3 primary targets for your resources in terms of professional development.
You can grow your fitness skills.
This shows up in terms of TRX skills, boxing skill development, nutrition education etc.
Then there is business development. This shows up in attending business training events, getting coaching and mentoring support and working on your business not just in it.
It is integral to success. But it isn’t about copying someone else’s “blue-print” but creating your own!
As a Personal Trainer YOU can’t fix your clients. One because they aren’t broken and two because you believe in an expert-expert model where your client is an integral equal in the whole equation of making lasting changes in their lifestyle.
As a business owner I then like to think you also get someone else can’t install THEIR blue-print into YOUR business. The trick is to work with someone who will grow You Ltd and enable you to take control and become that successful entrepreneur. But please this is no different to the way you work with clients.
As their coach not just “trainer” you help them on a journey. A journey of exploration. This journey helps them become more aware of what they really want for their life. They grow with the programme and weight loss occurs almost as a by-product for the real work was in helping them become more accountable and deal with “stuff” that otherwise gets in the way of them achieving the results they desire.
Of course a part of Personal Training is also training people. And I know you will do this well (assuming you are EIF trained of course). But training people is relatively easy I mean you must have noticed the market is full of trainers who aren’t really trained very well themselves but never the less can “train” someone.
So I know you will stand out. You will offer people the whole package.
Providing your ability to coach people through their journey and providing you can grow your business to where you want it to be the future is bright.
Then let me finish by expressing that immersive training at our PT school could be the difference between success and failure. To set out under-trained in the first place and perhaps not with your best foot forwards could be harmful. It's funny most people want a great future for themselves but fear the cost of doing so, and I don't just mean financial but the personal commitment needed to stand out and be successful.
Keep researching thoroughly if you are not yet qualified - become a freelance PT and be your own boss and love your new life as a personal trainer.
PS Imagine a future you can get excited about :)
We are committed to helping the small amount of trainers we teach, make a big impact in the lives of others.
We make training with EIF an experience.
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