In my first year as a business owner, I have to admit that I was completely missing the point. As a Trainer, I simply looked at my job as exercise programming and instruction to monitor for safety. While these are very important aspects of what I do, they have absolutely nothing to do with why my clients train with me. I learned this lesson from a few years ago when it finally sunk in and I had my “aha” moment.
One day, our refrigerator decided to stop working all of a sudden. We’d had it maybe a year and it was bought brand new. Like anyone, we were annoyed and tried to find out what the hell was going on with our new fridge! Of course, it was no longer under warranty, murphy’s law right? After some unsuccessful Google searching, we relented and called a company to send a repair specialist to the house. He looked at the fridge and after about 20-seconds knew exactly why it wasn’t working. He explained that the normal vibration of the fridge had jostled one of the cooling lines out of place so it stopped cooling. He then produced two zip-ties, secured the cooling line and that was it. We paid him $100 for about 60-seconds of work. Of course, time was expended driving to us but the company was only about 10-miles away.
To most, this would sound silly. $100 for two freakin’ zip-ties! Let me explain why we didn’t mind paying this.
- The repair specialist was immediately able to diagnose the issue, saving more time and heartache (I LOVE food). He provided VALUE by not wasting our time and fixing the issue very quickly.
- He then produced us with a SOLUTION to that problem, fixing something that we needed for our daily living.
- He provided a great deal of VALUE by solving our problem, ensuring we’d be able to continue storing food in our fridge. This kept us from having to revert back to being hunter-gatherers, which would have definitely taken away from precious gym time!
If you’re an entrepreneur or have a job, the concept is exactly the same. Think about more than simply selling a product or service in exchange for money. Don’t just show up for work and trade a few hours for a few dollars. It’s so much more than that. For the first four years of my fitness career, I focused solely on great workouts and a positive/uplifting environment. I did a great job but was missing the point. When I focused on using my skills to solve problems and create value for my clients, my career started to really take off and my value as a trainer increased. Solve problems, add value and you’ll have a flourishing business and career regardless of your industry.
To your lifelong health and success,
-Demarco
