Who Motivates The Motivator?

Know what shits me the most about the personal training industry? The bad rap that personal trainers get.

I know that there are some bad apples in the bunch (hey, bad apples are everywhere) but as a whole – personal trainers deserve more respect.

We do an amazing job, one that not many people would put their hand up for if they found out what it really entails. Just from my own experience, here are some of the funkier aspects of being a personal trainer:

• Working everyday with smelly, sweaty people who mostly don’t want to do what you are asking them (that’s why they hire you).

• Getting up every day before the guy who delivers your local paper and getting home at night after House has finished.

• Taking in A LOT of other people’s baggage (why don’t they have a module for that in cert 4?)

• Being at the mercy of your client’s life circumstances – at least 20% of your monthly turnover is written off to cancellations with notice.

So why is Rick being such a grumpy bastard today and focusing on all the negative things about our job?

BECAUSE I THINK YOU ARE BLOODY BRILLIANT.

All personal trainers do an amazing job (even just the intent to help is a great thing) and I respect each and every personal who decides that they would like to spend their days helping others improve their lives (no matter how shitty the work circumstances).

BUT (uh-oh)

There is one type of person that I respect just that little bit more than your regular trainer and that is the self-employed personal trainer. Trainers who run there own business have (for some reason or another) come to the conclusion that they can provide a service and put there own unique stamp on it. Running your own business is a feeling like no other but it also comes with a myriad (word of the day) of responsibilities.

When The Excitement Fades And Reality Sets In

Let’s break it down…..

As a personal training business owner you have MANY different hats to wear. When you are wearing your personal training hat, you need to have all of your attention focused on the needs of your clients. Ensuring that you are delivering the best possible session in the safest and most effect environment (that all sounded a bit professional didn’t it?). But true…..

When you are wearing your business hat, you have to concentrate on getting new clients, ways to keep the ones you have and how to get them to spend more in your business (while telling their friends). That’s without looking after the finance, admin and systems of your business.

So, when you combine the two roles you are now looking at the personal training business owner. All the excitement, the big goals, the amazing ideas……they are great things to have. But please don’t under-estimate how hard it is to run your own personal training business. I just want to say “well-bloody-done” to you for having the will and the desire to make it happen (in an industry full of obstacles). Hats off :-)

But, the headline of this post doesn’t say “Ricks PT Business Owner Back Slapping Party” does it? Today, I really want to talk to you about the big “M” word – motivation. In our game, motivation is a funny thing. We deal it out on a daily basis to people in need, we get hired because people think that we can provide it to them because they have none and it is just assumed that we all have plenty of it.

How Can The Motivator Lose Motivation?

As this is a PT business blog, I am going to focus primarily on the personal training business owner. Let’s have a good look at some of the reasons why we might “misplace” our motivation and what we can do to fix it:

Problem #1: Business Isolation “I feel like no-one understands what I am going through”

As a personal trainer running their own business, there are going to be a number of times along the path when things don’t go right. These are unavoidable and they suck considerably. It is times like these that PT business owners feel the most alone because there normal support network (parent, friends etc) don’t really understand the real issues (both physically and emotionally) of running your own PT business (while also managing your PT clients).

Many times I have heard trainers state that they feel very alone in there business and it is at these times that there motivation falls to a low point.

Solution: Hook-up with some other PT business owners and regularly meet. This can be face to face or in an on-line supportive setting like my FB fan page which is full of business owners. There are enough clients for everybody, so the fear of talking to your competition should be lowered and you should feel supported by other people in your industry. Worst case scenario; find just one other trainer that you can swap stories with….

Problem #2: All Talk, No Action “I am planning to do……”

You have heard it all before but I have no problem sounding like a broken record when the message is a good one. Sitting down to write a detailed business plan is a waste of time and at the end of the day – talk is cheap. When you plan to do something and you don’t actually motivate yourself to do it, no one knows about it – EXCEPT YOU.

You are letting the most important person in the world down. How many let-downs are you going to take before you break-up with yourself? Seriously, YOU know when you don’t act and you are letting yourself down.

Solution: Just do something. There is enough information and good people out there who are prepared to help you with your business. Just start focusing on taking little steps, small actions to achieve small outcomes. Seeing these results will re-motivate you keep moving forward. Start small to re-ignite the fire.

Problem #3: Work/Work Imbalance “If I just get this done everything will be OK….”

You may recognise this one. It is where you put the health of your business well before the health of yourself. We have all been there. You want so badly for your business to be a success that you will do anything you have to for it to work. Work nights, weekends, think about your business during your PT sessions, when you are at home – it consumes you.

Eventually this consumption will eat you up completely and something will break. Most of the time, it will be your motivation to want to drive your business any further. Why would you when it has taken over your life completely? But hard work equals results right…..

Yes, hard work is important but if the balance is not there then it is going to do you a lot more harm than good.

Solution: Breath. Relax. Smile……….alright that’s a bit better. How long can you sustain a life of all work and no play? Identify what it is that makes you happy (outside your business) and do it often. DON’T get too busy – that is a shit excuse. It is your life and if you cant find time to do some things that you enjoy then you need to sit down and have a good hard talk to yourself.

So as you can see, the life of the personal training business owner is a challenging one but one of many rewards. To keep YOUR motivation levels high, make sure that you surround yourself with positive, understanding people, don’t over-plan instead of act and keep a healthy work/life balance.

That’s just my 2 cents, what do you do to motivate yourself when things get tough?

Cheers

Rick :-)

Tagged as: Bad Apples, Bad Rap, Bastard, Business Owner, Cancellations, Cert 4, Excitement, Fades, Hats, Helping Others, Life Circumstances, Little Bit, Personal Trainer, Personal Trainers, Personal Training, Reality Sets, Running Your Own Business, Turnover, Word Of The Day, Work Circumstances