I think in all of my working life that taking that first step into personal training really gave me freedom and a sense of my true self. 

I've always been entrepreneurial - you know the holiday neighbourhood cat minder, the kid who made stuff and tried to sell it, the student who always had a job or a crazy idea to improve the beer money kitty.  But it wasn't until I left my secure low paying university job to go into PT again, this time for a longer period without any 'fallback' options, that I got to know that I could do what was necessary to run a business of one.  And with that came freedom.

In my first month I made rent, flat rent, food, and even had a bit spare which surprised me and enthused me also.  And it all started to feel natural quite quickly because I guess looking back I was supposed to be doing it.  I didn't start PTing to get rich, live the life of Reily (whoever he is), get recognition, get 'the ladieees' (no luck there!), or any of that - I sort of did it because it was by far the most attractive career I could possibly think of. 

When I think back now about what got me over the many hurdles that confront a trainer it was most likely that I was reasonably confident, I'd made a lot of mistakes in my time and was happy to get knocked about a bit, I really believed in what I did, and I was prepared to just prove that to anyone who was interested enough to spend a few hours with me (no charge by the way - I worked from the premise that kiwis like to try before they buy and then tend to stay on and be loyal if they do). 

In mid 2008 myself and a very good friend and colleague helped a new and substantial club implement a PT system and as part of that system we started with 'selection criteria' for the PTs the club were looking to offer contract opportunities to.  The key criteria that came out of several hours of 'chin-wagging' and several cuppas were; resilience, focus, care, skill, determination and willingness to learn.

That last quality is really the first thing I now look for followed by determination.  Because, when I think back to when I took that first step it was probably the fact that I really knew I was not the 'shizzle' and I was willing/desperate to learn and acknowledged that the faster I learnt the faster I'd succeed.  And this is where I see some significant issues today.

In the last decade (crikey I'm getting on) I've trained and inducted into clubs about fifty trainers - not that many but enough to come up with some thoughts that seem to hold water when sprinkled elsewhere again.  Those trainers who were willing to learn from the cumulative mistakes that I'd made, and had seen other trainers make, and from the trainers around them, prospered - provided that they had the determination to stick at it.  Those who didn't simply didn't change and died or were eaten up when better trainers came along and clients did the migration on them.  It seems it is good to be successful but it's much better to be smart about being successful.  And you don't get smart unless you are willing to learn.

So, here we are in 2009.  Clubs are still crying out for trainers who can 'do the business' and clients are plentiful for those who take the right approach.  My question is; why are we no better now at developing successful PTs than we probably were five years ago?

One key aspect seems to be that we are not selecting trainers who are willing to let down their 'I know what I'm doing' guard, give up the 'I must not show weakness' stance and actually embrace the fact that when you start out at something (anything) you are usually - well - quite crap at it.

That, coupled with the fact that at the exact time you are most 'crap' you are meeting a significant volume of precious 'leads' and you are displaying all your strengths and weaknesses in front of the whole 'shop floor' (your target market) it's not a wonder that trainers aren't always nailing their new found business despite usually having a long held passion for fitness.  Add to that that PTing is about skills and understanding - which is underpinned by base knowledge as a precursor in my book.  And that skills and understanding are most significantly developed  through experiences - which means time bumbling about cocking things up is necessary but should be kept to a minimum.  So, if you wanted a tip, go in trying to learn to become great at what you do rather than taking the first step with some glorious end in mind. 

I'm an advocate of 'good before greedy'.  And anyone I've met who is really good at something usually has a few years of it under their belt and sucks the life out of every opportunity to learn.  I know a chap called Mark Buckley who is just such a character.  He is likely the smartest exercise / movement specialist I have ever met.  I can't really sit in a room with him without feeling embarrassed about what I know (or don't know yet), but significantly I can also tell you I never leave a room that he's been in without learning at the very least 2-3 new things and knowing where I could apply them to something I'm doing.  Similarly, Mark displays this fervent curiosity for all things he comes across and all opinions he's exposed to.  No, he isn't shy of a theoretical stoush, as the rigour of all things is built by the number of brains prepared to contest them.  That said, he is very permissive and accepting of everyone's right to think and explore ideas.  He recently said to me (and others in a workshop) it's not what is right or wrong because there are no absolutes, but more when would you do this or that with someone and why would you do it.  This is a statement about understanding things and being skillful with your tools, not getting out a Jack Hammer to take the lid off a jar.

So where to from here for new trainers coming into the sector?  Well hopefully some of you already in the business will read this and want to help them by posting to forums or commenting on these blogs.  Tell them what you feel is important, what head-space allows you to be good at what you do.  And, for those coming in to the sector, realise it's okay to fess up that you need to learn - shivers we all are just some of us are learning different things now.  I have a vision that if all the good trainers in the sector shared some of the stuff that they've learned with all the new trainers and those new trainers came in willing to learn, that we would have more success across the board.  One thing is for sure, we would go forward as an industry more quickly with this approach.

A final word.  There is this mumbo - jumbo about competition in the market place amongst PTs and linked to that something of a 'don't tell the new guy/girl their undies are hanging out' - that is don't help them get from crap to good.  Yes, you may prevent one of the new trainers from getting a client that you may have got in three months from now but, by letting the new trainer fail you are just reinforcing that PT is an average product delivered by average people who can't build good businesses because at the end of the day THEY ALL are jocks with magic in their genes.  By the way, if you missed it, the global view of PT is 'THEY ALL' - the potential client/gym member does not know you so you are actually treated as the nett average of the group of practitioners you are labeled with.  Real estate agents suffer this.  It wouldn't matter if Barack Obama was selling real estate right now - he'd still be painted with that stereo-type.  The sooner we share, the sooner we'll prosper.  For the old approach to work you have to believe there is a fixed market in play here and I can tell you gyms are a tiny bit of the health and fitness (i.e. personal improvement) market.  By trodding on each other we simply stay small as a sector.  We get eaten alive by the Weight Watchers and Jenny Craigs,  heck the latest diet sells more copies than we take PT sessions in a year between all of us, the local pharmacy can purport to be better at helping people lose weight than we are, the newest exercise machine on late night TV sells more units than we sell memberships nationwide.  The pie is huge, we are just eating into far too little of it.  And, we definitely deserve better.

So, bury the hatchets, let's help each other out.  As they say on Jerry McGuire, "help me to help you" and once that's done you can then shout "show me the money".  Let's learn, share, get good, then enjoy our rewards.  God knows I'd put my money on a good personal trainer being of more use than any other practitioner when it comes to making a difference in someones life.

Feel free to comment on this blog - I know as little as I know because you are yet to talk to me...

Thanks

SG