Foundations for Success: 30 Key Questions for Fitness Professionals with Chris Liddle

You're listening to the PT Profit Podcast. I am your guest host, Chris Little, and today I'm talking to you about foundations for success. 30 key questions for fitness professionals. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement, package and position their products and services, and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

Before we get started today, I want to explain how I'm going to do this episode differently than any podcast episode that I've ever done done before. So if we haven't met yet, my name is Chris Little. I am guest hosting this episode of the PT Profit Podcast hosted by Beverly Simpson. Every so often you've seen me or heard me pop in and do some guest episodes where often times I've talked about the soft skills of personal training or perhaps some technology, maybe some like organic lead generation, et cetera. This time I'm going to kind of unpack some of my own career, some of my own lessons through the lens of some of my go to book recommendations that I actually dove into fairly early in my career, let's say like the first one to two years of my time as personal trainer. I found these books to be especially helpful. And what I would tell you is this list isn't the end all be all. There are better books, there are worse books, there are books that might suit you better, there are books that I may not have heard of yet, but I can stand by these recommendations because of the takeaways that I've gotten from them. Now what I have done is I've compiled a list of 30 questions that basically aligned with the key concepts from these books. And throughout this episode, I'm going to be answering those questions individually, as concise as I can. Which if you know me well, you know, that might actually be a challenge. Before I get started, I'm actually going to tell you about the books that I'm basing these questions off of. So the list is, first and foremost is Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. Then we have Atomic Habits by James Clear, Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, Good to Great by James C. Collins, and the Leader who Had no Title by Robin Sharma. And I have to say, these books can kind of contrast each other. Some are geared towards some kind of people and some are geared towards other kind of people. Some might help you at some points in your career, and some might help you at later points in your career. It all depends. But what I can say is I've learned lessons from each of these, and I'm going to share with you what those are. So, as I said, I was going to go through a series of questions, so you're going to hear me read out the question to you. And if you get value in any of this and you want to have the questions for yourself so you can kind of unpack your own journey or maybe get a bit introspective with your own career, let us know. Send me a message chrisimpsonfitness.com and I'll get that list right to you. First question, being as a personal trainer, how do you incorporate vulnerability into your coaching to build deeper relationships with clients? And I'm going to answer this question through the lens of some of the people that I have helped as part of Beverly's team. Oftentimes what I find is that somebody's new to the industry and they're scared to lead by example because maybe they aren't in the exact position that they want to be. Maybe they aren't as fit as they want to be. Maybe they aren't as confident as they want to be. But something that I think is important to remind people is that you don't, you don't get to that level overnight. Like, some people are very athletic. Some people embody what they think that a fitness professional would look like. But in a lot of cases, everybody has room to improve, and you can't improve dramatically overnight. Like, it's going to take some time and commitment. What I have experienced is by leading by example. It's a great way to build strong connections, to be more relatable, to build deeper relationships, and to really understand what kind of struggles people are going through. A lot of times, my life experience outside of the fitness industry has been what has set me apart in, in different rooms where a person has choices between me or that other person. My experience is working in a bar, my experience working as a camp counselor, my experience working in a warehouse. All of those things have played into my ability to connect with my people. So what I would say is you can find similar crossover for your own career. Next question. Here is, what strategies do you use to step outside your comfort zone in fitness training or business development? Something that I like to reflect on is that we can get very comfortable in our own little echo chamber. We can kind of like look for things that confirm our beliefs to be true. So what I try to encourage myself to do is to see things from other people's perspective. Early in my career, I actually was fortunate enough to be in a position where I could try all the different fitness modalities. Then I'm not in this situation where I feel like I'm going to dispute the validity of another modality. Like I have tried Pilates, so I know Pilates is an effective solution for people. I've tried spin classes so I can understand the community and that almost like cultish, like sense of like addiction that people have when they're part of that group. And I can take that and I can integrate it into the spaces that I occupy. Whether that's like a group coaching program, whether that's an in person thing, whether that's just how I greet people, the things I notice about them, the things that I remember about them. I can take the things that I've learned from one thing, insert them into another. I can understand where another fitness modality might get somebody through a barrier that they may find in their fitness journey. Like if they have movement restrictions or they can't do certain things because of an injury or something, I can give them options so that they can continue to progress. Very much along the lines of knowing when to refer out for the best interests of the people that you work with. Because we can't help everyone, but the people that we do help, we can change their lives. Sometimes we can change their lives through the network that we have. Very similar to how you would refer out to a physical therapist or physiotherapist, depending what country you're from. For context, I'm from Canada, so we call them physiotherapists. But with that said, next question is how do you envision the legacy you want to leave in the fitness industry and how does it shape your daily actions? So for me, the, the footprint that I want to leave, and this shows up in my brand, is that when I'm working with a person, I want fitness to help their whole life. I don't want it to just be something that helps their physical appearance. I don't want it to just be something that helps with like the amount that they can lift. I actually want it to contribute to progress in their career, progress in their personal life. I want it to be something that wards off bad instances, like particularly lot the, the loss of abilities as you age, like if you start to have trouble walking because you're deconditioned. I like to introduce strength training to give people Their quality of life in their 70s, 80s, 90s, even if met them in their mid-30s. That's the philosophy that I have. And with that said, I'm also kind of mindful of my daily interactions. So my, my presence on social media, I try to keep it pretty positive. If I have a bad day. I'm sure there's been times that I have felt very angry on social media and that's come through. But generally speaking, I have sort of like this internal rule that if I'm going to take up space on social media, I'm going to try to be kind and I'm going to act with a sense of abundance. Like there's room for everybody to be successful. There's rooms to, to, to promote people who offer the exact same thing as you. You can even help them, you can help make their offer better. Because at the moment there are more people who need help than people who are prepared to provide that help. So there is definitely room for a lot of successful and passionate and smart, hard working fitness professionals in this industry. That would be how I would summarize the legacy. The other key things that I'd say is just always, always remember where you came from. So if, like people have helped you along the way, I'm a big proponent of showing gratitude if somebody's helped you, provide them a testimonial. If you've been on somebody's podcast, go and review it. If you've learned from somebody's podcast, go and review it. There is no cap and I'm sounding like I'm younger than I am. No cap to the amount of benefit that you can get from showing your appreciation of a person's impact on you and your career. It can pay back in dividends. Next question here is how or can you share effective techniques for active listening that have improved your client consultations and coaching sessions? This one's cool because I have always enjoyed talking. I'm good at talking. This is partly why I structured this podcast the way I did because I could tell you stories for three hours straight, but I might not help you with what would be most valuable to you. So what I have learned, when I get somebody on a consultation call, my mission is to almost like in my brain, turn it into a podcast. So I want to be able to relay back to the person that I'm having on this consultation call all of things about them. This isn't about me. This isn't to prove to them that I'm good enough for them. They're on the call. They know That I can help them. They've made that conscious decision. Now where I can bring us closer to a working relationship is by understanding, like, what struggles they've had in the past. What aspects of fitness do they like? What do they not like? What are their previous health concerns? What is the actual reason for them reaching out to work with me? How did they hear about me? Little things like that, what's their dog's name, what's the birthday? All these little details make a huge difference in the retention in just how they will see you as a person. Like, maybe you don't sell everybody on your offer, but they might still support you in some way, shape or form. They might listen to your podcast, they might refer people to you because you showed that you cared and you're good at connecting. And the only way to do that is to listen for those little details with the intent that you would be able to write a story about them. When the call is done, with nothing left omitted. Next question here is what role does positive communication play in your fitness classes or team interactions and how do you cultivate it? So for backstory, this actually works pretty well because sometimes I've done some group fitness type stuff. I used to be a spin instructor. I've done a small handful of group fitness stuff, like group strength training stuff. I've done some one off group things for school groups, for air cadets groups. And I find you got to get people in the right headspace. So something I borrowed from public speaking. When people are anxious, you take them through some breathing exercises. The way I like to play it up is I look silly to help other people feel at ease. So I'll be like, okay, we're going to take like 10 deep breaths and I'll explain one of them for you so you can understand what I would cue to that person. Basically I emphasize everything and I'm. I take a big inhale and when I exhale, I make lots of noise. And then I do that 10 times. And what I do is I get them to join me and puts them at ease. They're more receptive to what I'm going to explain to them after. And this is just for like anxious people, people who are nervous, people who this is the first time they've ever done fitness and they almost talk themselves out of it. This is something that's worked also when I put people on a podcast for the first time. The other angle of this is when you are providing a service and people are looking for like what that service could look like if they chose you, your whole personality online, your presence online makes a difference. So if somebody can search your name and they see you being cruel to other people, whether it's your peer, whether it's somebody that's wrong, whether it's somebody that's right, that does make an impact. And that may or may not affect you. But from my point of view, I would say be kind. Like there are ways to make the industry better by just simply leading by example. If you have a concept that really works, or if you know that somebody explains something poorly, go out there and explain it the way it should be explained. That's why you get to make content. That's why you get to make your own brand. That's why you have a phone camera where you can make your own posts and stuff. And when people resonate with you and agree with you, and if you are truly the, the better lens, the better angle on that concept, you could increase your reach. Maybe that would be the catalyst for your social media presence. Next question here is how do you integrate continuous learning into your fitness coaching to stay ahead in the industry? I actually talked about this on my own podcast today with Aram Gregorian, who will be on the PT Prophet podcast in the future. Not exactly sure on when. We're still working on the date, but what I can be totally honest with you about is that ever since I've started in this industry, I've had this intense fear that I was too dumb, that I would get fired if I made a mistake. And so that has been incredibly motivating for me to continue to always have some kind of stream of continuing education. There have been times when I've done in person seminars, and there have been times when I've done online workshops, online webinars, online mentorships. I purchased a lot of books to dive deeper into certain material or to kind of get a better handle on a person's sort of realm of explaining the exercise science. But generally speaking, it's I want to leave my clients better than they found, better than I found them. I want to provide a good experience. And I know that if I am stagnant, if I just don't refine myself, then I'm letting my people down and I should be scared of like my career if I'm not improving myself. So I generally try to go to at least one continuing education fitness conference per year. I usually purchase a training related book once a year. And in most cases I exceed this sort of baseline benchmark that I've set. I go to way more than enough different Continuing education qualifying events, be them online or in person. So I exceed any of the sort of like the benchmark to keep a certification relevant or to meet any minimum standards. And a lot of it is just understanding what my clients need me to be better at, understanding my weaknesses and addressing them, finding people who are equipped to help me where I struggle, because I know that I will make mistakes, I'm going to have to own some of my mistakes along the way. I know that I'm not the smartest person in the room, and if I was, that would be a problem. I like to surround myself with people with more experience than me, people with more intellect, people who just really understand the concept. And I listen, I take it in, I learn, I apply it to the people that I work with. I, for me personally, I maintain a smaller o driven person clients just to continue to refine my skills as a personal trainer and online coach, despite the fact that I work in a lot, lot of other areas as well. I can make it work. I really enjoy working with people. So that's what works with me. Next question here is what's your approach to building and maintaining effective teamwork within your fitness business or among your clients? This is great because for context, I actually work on the team of three different businesses and I have a wide range of different personalities that I have been the trainer or coach of both in person and online. And I found that learning about the other person, sort of understanding, like, their personality makes a huge difference when there's any kind of, like, ruffling of feathers or any instance where, like, we're not on the same page. I think kind of giving the benefit of the doubt is important and just like digging deeper or being very patient with communication. Because sometimes if you make assumptions with different communication, you can completely jeopardize, like, a working relationship. You could sabotage yourself by not having that patience, not having that understanding of, like, maybe this isn't what they meant or how they meant to deliver it. Maybe I could ask them to rephrase themselves or maybe I could give this some time to kind of like, understand why I feel the way that I feel. A phrase that I use often that many people will hear me say is teamwork makes the dream work. And I learned that from an old colleague when I used to work in the warehouse. We would have lots of situations where people would butt heads. But when he would say, teamwork makes the dream work, it kind of brought us all together. And so I've kind of carried that over into my fitness career when there's like a tough obstacle to overcome or something within a business that we're like, what, working on structuring to get to our goals. I like to really focus on the fact that, like, you can't do anything by yourself and it takes a diverse selection of people to make things work. So my next question here that I'm going to answer is how have you adapted your training methods or business strategies in response to recent trends or challenges in the fitness industry? So this is kind of cool because I recently was talking about this with one of the accelerator clients, or actually one of the formula clients. I've talked about it with both for context. But when the pandemic happened, one of the shifts that I did, and I did a number of shifts, I started basically beta testing online trading at the start of 2020, before I knew the pandemic was going to be a thing. So for beta testing, I took what I thought would be the rate that I would charge people and I charged my first clients half that amount. And I just made sure they had a minimum commitment so that I could have them in my program long enough that they would be able to give me a solid testimonial. And I was able to see what platforms worked. I was able to ask them for feedback because they're getting the beta test promotion and I was able to build out my exercise library, fix the bugs, etc. Etc. So that's how I kind of got into online training. I use a platform called PT Distinction, but before that or for a period of time, I used Google Sheets just to kind of cut down on costs. In the end, what I found is that app delivery works a little bit more seamless for a broader range of people, simply because it's less complicated to download the app and press buttons than it is to kind of go through a sheet without messing up the sheet. But, but this is like a personal preference thing. One of the other things that I did that I was talking about with the formula client was that I used to do live workouts. So it was on a Saturday, I believe I put it out at 9 or 10am and I positioned this for my Facebook followers, my Instagram followers. And it's basically like, workout with me. I'll take you through a full body, 30 minute workout, follow along, minimal equipment, dumbbells, if you got them, we'll make modifications if, if you don't. And we would go through it. It was like a circuit based training session. And each of them, during that period of time, I had each of them pay $10 but I get up to like 8 people in there and it was a pretty good use of half an hour of my day. Because if you think about it, the like, if you ever scaled that out, it could get very lucrative for some people. It's not for everybody if, but if you're just starting out and you need a little bit more experience and you're limited to what you can do, it's an option that you can do. Another one that I'll just toss in there. When I started as a trainer, I struggled to get in on the box gym. So I actually led my first sort of group strength circuit workout with a colleague who had a bit more experience. We kind of teamed up on it, but we hosted it at a bar. And because the bar gave us permission to operate there, it had the insurance to cover us. But I wasn't able to get practical experience unless a gym hired me. And so after I got that practical experience, that's how I kind of kick started my, my career as a trainer at a gym, which actually turned out to be a private, fancy, boutique gym. So next question here to keep us rolling along is can you discuss the importance of passion and striving for excellence in every task from training sessions to client interactions? Absolutely I can. This is prob. One of my strengths. Not to say that nobody else has it, but this is just something that I can totally own. Your passion to be in this industry will make or break your career. If you don't want to be here, like, good luck. But if you like helping people and you're passionate about helping people and you're open to feedback, open into learning, you're willing to work your butt off. Like, I've worked in numerous different industries and this is the industry where I've had to work the hardest. You can build yourself to a point where you can start to get your time back. And that's one of the benefits of hiring a coach. But sometimes in the growing phases or in the implementation phases, the building phases, you really do have to work pretty hard. You have to be pretty committed to your goals. If you have a huge goal for yourself, that's going to require a huge amount of work. Nothing builds itself. We haven't figured that out with AI quite yet. So you really have to love this stuff. You got to love making positive impacts in people's lives. You got to love connecting with people. You got to love talking to people. You can't have any hesitation to start conversations because that's a huge part of this job. When. When you are reluctant to meet a new person, be it online or in person, that is going to hold you back. So that might be the best advice that I have for you. Get over the introvertedness. I too am an introvert. I figured out ways. Get over the reluctance to talk about what you do, talk about how you help people, talk about what it costs, and just get your. Get your feet wet, get in there. Be. Be who you said you were going to be. You want to be a successful online trainer? Get out there and do some online training. That may require answering people's questions, asking if people have questions, setting them up with some kind of a question as to, like, what's their favorite protein powder? And then helping them, maybe as a nutrition coach on how to stay on track with their protein goal or what are the benefits of that protein goal. Dive down the rabbit hole and help them out with your passion. With every interaction that you have with people, it's of utmost importance to make them feel like the most important person in the world. And like, why not? Like, they. They pay for your time, they pay for your energy. So make them feel special because they are. They bet on themselves and you are the expert that they want to be on their journey. One of the things that I did recently, I have a couple that trains with me in person. It was just after coming back from a fitness summit that actually featured some celebrity trainers who work with some celebrities who are in movies and stuff. And so I told my clients about this and I told them about it very briefly and shortly I was like, you know, I met some very cool trainers and they actually work with celebrities. But the thing is, I work with you guys, and just in doing that, I got the opportunity to make them feel pretty darn special about themselves. Our next question is, what does authentic leadership in the fitness world mean to you and how do you practice it? Usually when I'm thinking about this, I think of people that I admire in the industry and the things that they do and lead with are just like always doing what you say you're going to do and leading by example. So for me, sometimes in order to practice authentic leadership, that means enrolling myself into all the things that I preach. So for myself, I do jiu jitsu several times a week. I actually pay for a gym membership in addition to the gym membership that I use to contract for my clients that I serve. My living room is filled with fitness equipment so people can clearly understand that I am putting the things in my environment so that no matter how busy I get with online work, that I'm still embodying everything that I preach in the industry around maintaining an active lifestyle. I make a point to also make time for my immediate family and close friends, go for walks with them. So everything in my social media posts is authentic. And if somebody was like, you aren't exhibiting the things that you preach, I could outline how I do that. Sometimes we fall back, sometimes we struggle, but if we're able to lead by example, it makes it a lot easier to kind of stand in your integrity. Which is a good segue for the next one is how do you balance practicing self compassion with pursuing challenging fitness goals or business objectives? And Beverly actually talked about this in a recent episode where she talked about her million dollar goal for the year and she talked about how she didn't quite meet it at the time of the recording. And lots of people are going to come across things like this. You set a target for your monthly revenue or maybe you're really hyper focused on something with your own fitness and you're like, I want to hit this number by this day on my deadlift, or I want to win this competition. Maybe it's like a certain number of clients and honestly, like, if you beat yourself down, you're only going to sabotage yourself. What I would say is like, progress in the fitness industry is kind of like an up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. You look for the trend and you see when it trends up. If it's trending down historically for decades on end, that might be a problem. But chances are, if you're doing this for like five years, the point that you're at on year one is going to be beginner, in contrast with the point that you're at at year five. You'll ideally have progressed both in your confidence and in your income and in just like your legacy as a fitness professional. So just be kind to yourself, look for the lessons, get back up, try it again. Don't let one failure take you out of the industry because anybody who's anybody has failed multiple times, dusted themselves off and gotten after it again, sometimes they just have to ask for some advice on how to do better for next time. Sometimes they got to own their mistakes. But if you just stop because you like failed once, like, good luck. So I say this with love. Make sure that you just keep getting after it. Understand you're not going to be perfect the first time that you ever do something. And your first 10 times might not go the way you want them to. And that's why you got to do it a Hundred times. So next thing here is the question asks if I could share examples of habit stacking that have been successful in your fitness routines or business operations. So with myself, I use a software called Wave for my invoicing, for my in person clients, and for some of my online contracting stuff. What I do is I'm actually able to complete the invoice, send it out after services are rendered, before services are rendered, but in the moment on my phone. So when I talk about admin work, I'm not sitting at the computer, right? Note invoices after, before like a whole month of services. I'm usually doing that invoice in the moment or getting them to pay on the spot. I don't have like a card reader or anything, but they can pay through the online platform just the same. And so I just try to make the most of my time. I have all the contacts updated into all my systems so that if I ever have to bill anybody, it's all ready to go. And I set that all up the first time I meet them, when I'm onboarding them, when I'm having them on a consultation, that's when their name goes in my system, that's when it's in my invoices. They got their email, I put their birthday in my Google calendar so that it reminds me so that I can send them a message on their special day. These are the ways I have it stack. So what's your method for maintaining discipline in your fitness programs without relying on strict rules? And the best way that I can frame this is you get to know your people like you want to know the real reason that they want to get fit. And a lot of people are scared of aging. Some people are tired of things, of being in a state of discomfort. Whether it's physical discomfort or emotional discomfort, people hate staying the same. They don't want to feel that sense of stagnation where it's like same year over and over, just deteriorating. Things are just getting worse and worse. So if you can provide a positive experience for them using fitness and nutrition expertise as the tool, that is what keeps people on the path. Like if they are getting positive outcomes that align with what they want out of life, then they're going to be a lot more on track than if you just kind of get them, get to know them on a surface level. Oh yeah, you want to lose weight and that's all you know about them. And so you're just like looking at the scale and you just got them to eat less. And yeah, they they made some progress, but they're not really dialed into it because they didn't really get a sense of community or they didn't learn anything new, or they didn't feel like you kind of knew much about them, like you don't know their dog's name. All these little details matter, and it's going to kind of depend on the offer that you have. Some people work with thousands of people, some people work with dozens of people. So whatever level of communication or connection that you have, I think think it's important to get those little details right. As to what is the why behind why they joined you. And then as you're delivering the things that are helping them, what is the why behind why they have to do this stuff? Like, why do they have to train legs? Why do they have to eat protein? Help them explain that, educate them, empower them so that they are fully equipped to walk away from you with a sense of autonomy. And they stay with you because the. The connection that you have brought to their life. So the next item here is how do you strategically use technology to enhance your training programs or client engagement? This is where all these training platforms can come into play. If you have a training platform that notifies you when they've done a workout, that is extremely helpful because then you can send them a text and be like, I saw you did that workout. Good work. If you have a training platform that has in platform messaging, sometimes that can sort of give them an environment where, like, this is where I talk fitness and the rest of my life is outside of this app. And it gives them a sense of boundaries. For some people, it's just a matter of having something that they know how to operate like, they know how to go and see, like the workout demos and they know what the workout names are, and they know how to tell you that they did something so that you know how to say when they did good. You can do that with Google Sheets. You can do that with a lot of platforms. You can also do that with the Compound app. It's a great one if you want to delve into some of the intricacies of maybe some performance programming or some powerlifting programming. But with that said, we're going to go into the next question here, and it is, what techniques do you use to build and sustain momentum in your fitness career or business growth? For me, I like to set big goals. One of the goals that I've shared with many, many people, and so I might as well share it here is one day I want to have A barn gym. I want to have a barn gym with majestic big pasture. I want to have a space in there for jiu jitsu mat, jiu jitsu mats. And I envision having a helicopter pad and, like, an port Runway, something small, low key, just so that, you know, if anybody that I personally know happens to have a plane or a helicopter, they can pop on by. I don't see this gym being like a public gym. It'd be somewhere where I can work remotely, where I can produce content, where I can do some consulting, where I can do maybe some, like, group events or seminars or summits. And for me, I just feel drawn to, like, the solitude of a rural lifestyle. That's where I grew up. And I like to set big goals because it gears me to work that much harder. It provides me a sense of urgency that I think some people struggle to have, like, deadlines and looking closer at numbers, looking closer at revenue, looking closer at cost, looking closer at, like, what I need to do to achieve the goal. It just drives me to keep growing year after year. It's worked quite well for me. And this goal, it evolves. But at this present moment in time, the things that are in my control is that I can one day have a barn gym. I don't need anybody else to really make that happen. I just need to work really hard and look for the opportunities to grow as professional. So set yourself a big goal and as they say in Lululemon, a big, hairy, audacious goal. Next question. Here is, how do you identify and leverage your personal values and beliefs in your fitness coaching business decisions? For me, I just like to be very transparent with who I am and how I show up to make everybody else comfortable with being transparent with who they are and how they show up to kind of give a bit more context to this. Everybody I work with is comfortable being themselves. And when we say this, there's a lot of different kind of people out there. There's a lot of different ways to identify. There's a lot of different appearances. We may have a lot of different ways we can dress. And if somebody looks at me and they're like, that's the trainer for me. They're here in my. The way that I talk about exercise, they're seeing that I'm interested in jiu jitsu to. And I have a podcast and sometimes I get called out for being bald or too hairy and stuff. If they resonate with all that stuff, I'm going to make sure that they feel comfortable being themselves. And I'm not going to make them fit into a box. I'm just here to help improve their life, improve their confidence, make them stronger and harder to kill. That I think is very important and I think that has helped me in my career. Next question is in what ways do you visualization to enhance client motivation and performance? I'll give you an example of this. I have a client, his name is Carl. What would often happen is I would set him up with a weight that he had done weeks prior, and he would be very apprehensive about lifting this weight. And what I started to do did a couple things. First, I actually had a bit of a chat with him during one of his rest periods. So 60 second little hype session. And I talked about how you actually have to be able to picture the weight coming off the ground. Like, that's a major component to, like, success. You have to be able to see yourself doing the thing before you can do the thing. You can't just see yourself not doing the thing and expect yourself to do the thing. So that's one concept. The other one was I switched out the colors of the plates and actually progressed him in a sneaky way where I just used 20 kilogram plates instead of 25 kilogram plates. And then I tossed in a couple smaller plates to make up the difference. And he didn't know what way it was at that point because we didn't have time to do the math. But I had done the math in advance and I knew it would be a progression for him. And I was like, yep, easy peasy, just lift her up. And acted all casual about it. He acted all casual about it. And off the floor it went. So in a lot of cases, you got to be pretty good at like, hyping people up and getting them to reframe the situation, at reminding them of what you've literally seen them do before. Sometimes you can't settle for the low standards people set of themselves because people are their own harshest critic. And I've seen this both on the training floor, but also in the fitness business world. So don't, don't go popping your own balloons, Hype yourself up, pump your own tires. Next question is, how do you manage and address feelings of shame that might arise in your fitness journey or business setbacks? Well, let me tell you, sometimes in my career, I've gained some weight. I've gotten a little fluffier. What I do is I own it. It's uncomfortable, takes a lot of courage. But the major instance where this came up is the Gym closed. I was completely isolated. I didn't have access to the workouts that I used to do. I felt very discouraged, very defeated. And I didn't have the body composition that I had a year prior to that. So I owned it. I was like, yeah, well, this is what happens when you're isolated and you don't have access to heavy weights. And then as time went on, I got access to heavy weights. I did something about it. I made a point to just get out of the house and walk. Figured out what I could do with the situation I was in and I did something about it. But when I got called out for it, I would either prove them wrong or just be like, yep, yep, you're right. And I'm working on it. An area where I pull from in times of feeling like self conscious about this stuff is I always think about the 8 mile movie where and I've talked about this so many times, I may have shared this with you guys, but I think about the 8 Mile movie and how Marshall Mathers, aka Rabbit, talks about all the things that are wrong with him, all the things that have gone wrong, everything that he could possibly feel insecure about. And he basically takes that away from his competition where they can't call it out because he's already called it out. And that gives him a sense of closure where he can, like, use that as a stepping stone to move on and keep growing and be better. That's what I would do. Just own it with the intent to better yourself going forward. Next question. What practices have you implemented to foster honesty and openness in your fitness community? Your team? With my clients, Something that I do especially with in person interactions. Gym's noisy and stuff. I'm like, okay, if I ever say anything to you that seems off or out of character, or you're just like, did he really say that? I encourage them to get me to repeat myself because it's usually not my intent to upset anybody. And sometimes I mumble, sometimes I can be taken out of context. Sometimes people hear one thing, but I actually said something else by giving that sort of like clearing or disclaimer that helps me to keep a clean slate with things. And if I am late for something, I own it. I like, if I have ever been late for a session because I got stuck in traffic, I'm not going to short people on that. I'll either adjust what I charge them or I'll extend their session to go past the hour to make up for the time that they lost. Some cases. I'll do that and then I'll get them a gift for the next session. A book that really resonated with me. I try to do right by the people that I work with and I try to exhibit that same thing for people who I contract for within the fitness industry. If I can ever over deliver, I try to do that. That's a big inspiration for this podcast. With my opportunities to help Beverly in the way that I've helped her, it inspires me, motivates me to try and curate the best podcast that I can. So that's why we're here. Next question is how can you describe how you cultivate resilience in the face of fitness challenges or business obstacles? And it is just simply owning that people make mistakes, knowing that nobody is perfect. Why compare yourself to a whole bunch of other imperfect people if you know that nobody is perfect? You're not perfect, I'm not perfect, nobody's perfect. We're just all a work in progress. The only way to improve is to be self aware of where we're at, where we struggle, what we need, work with, get help from the people who are doing the thing that we want to do, and dust ourselves up off, get back up again, Keep going, keep pushing, keep moving forward. What are your strategies for nurturing connections and building relationships in the fitness industry? Just be kind. Some people use the expression, you want to be somebody who you'd have a beer with. So whether you'd have a beer or whether you'd have like a Coke Zero, be someone pleasant. Do things that improve a person's situation. So like, if you're gonna DM somebody, DM them with something nice to say or DM them with a way to support them them or just straight up support them. Like if you've got a colleague that is doing their first presentation or something, go show up. Even if it's for like the general population, show up, show them some support. If you have a way to like give people a platform where you can be the first podcast that they ever got to be a guest on. I love doing that and it's built a lot of relationships for me in the fitness industry. I've been a lot of people's first podcast where I was the host that had them. And then in turn, I've also connected people with other podcasts along the way. So just look for opportunities to help other people. How do you help clients set realistic fitness goals and let go of the pursuit of perfection? I share my own experiences and I give them context as to why certain things are tough and what is a realistic goal. Sometimes people just need to know that alone. And I answer all their questions along the way. If you leave people in a sense of uncertainty, they're going to think that you don't know how to help them. If you're able to answer every question that comes up in a way that they can relate to and understand, then they're going to have trust in the process and they're going to understand that everybody's timeline is a little bit different, but that they're doing everything that they need to be doing to be successful and have the outcome that they want. And what advice do you have to clients to help them focus on identity based habits in their fitness journey? You gotta be surrounded by at least one or two people who are like minded with fitness journeys. It can be very isolating. As soon as you start taking care of yourself, you can distance yourself from people who might like to party more or people who just like don't value strength training in the same way. So you might find that your circle shrinks a little bit. So find like a go to training friend. For a lot of people it is their trainer or their coach like that is a huge value of this fitness space is we provide the connection necessary to make a healthy lifestyle realistic and sustainable. Because they always got somebody in their corner, they got somebody who's got their back, they got somebody who asks questions, they got somebody who can relate to them and they're equipped, they're set. And as time goes on, their identity will become so much a part of who they are that they're probably going to make new friends as a result. I've been the catalyst of a lot of my clients making new friends because I introduced them to an aspect of their life that made them more confident, that put them in different rooms than they would have otherwise been, put them in situations and environments where they kind of put themselves out there and found other like minded people to be build their empire with. Next question is what small consistent actions have you found most effective in achieving significant changes in fitness or business success? I think staying positive, no matter what happens in my life, in my day, in my year, I always reflect back on what my fitness career was like when I first quit my old career. Like that. The doubt, the things that people would say like why don't you get a real job, are you making a mistake or you're going in the wrong direction or you're gonna fail, you're gonna be on unemployment insurance. A lot of things that I can reflect on and so I start to think about like, who was my first client? Because that's pretty profound. Like that makes a huge difference. And what were some things about my first client, like what makes them special? And then like, what, what stands out? What do I admire about how they showed up as a person? And I think about people who have mentored me, I think about people who have recommended different Instagram accounts to follow, who kind of connected me with further continuing education where you could kind of sign up for the things that they offer, buy the book, go to the seminar. I think about my colleagues who pushed me to, to push myself to take bigger risks, to invest in things that bettered my education, my confidence, etc, And I think about the people who have helped me refine certain skills that now pay the bills in this industry. So this is how I kind of work on, on achieving that, that success. And it's funny because like the next question is, how do you incorporate gratitude and joy into your daily routines or client interactions? I just preach gratitude all the time. Preach gratitude. End of the day, finish up your day. Think about the people close to you that you're grateful for. Think about your mentors, your coaches, think about your family, whoever you've got that makes your life special. Always, always be grateful for your clients, people who choose to work with you. There's no point in your career at which you can take those people for granted because you changed their life in some way. But I'm pretty sure they change your life even more. They make you a better trainer, coach, they allow you to do what you do, they help you learn. It's endless. And then the next question is, how or what boundaries do you recommend fitness professionals set for their well being and work life balance? I'd say we are void of structured boundaries, where it's like, okay, nine to five, we done now, can't text me. Like things are gonna come up. Whether it's like lead acquisition or customer service related things or illness, or just being a compassionate person where it's like you're gonna be out and about somewhere and you might have to answer a message or something like in the middle of something that you're doing to unwind. The ways that I set boundaries are I plan things that are for me. So usually once a week I'll plan time with family. My nieces play ringette, I, I plan time to go to their games. I structure my work around that stuff to ensure that that stuff happens at least once or twice a week. If I have dates or anything, it gets blocked into the calendar so that people can't book calls with me. My phone will often mute notifications while I'm in a meeting, as it were. So all of my personal interactions and stuff, it's in the Google calendar as a meeting. Like if I have ever gone for coffee with somebody, it's in my Google calendar. And I just know that sometimes I'm just gonna not respond as quickly. I'm gonna be very present with the people in my personal life. And that just is what helps me from like getting super obsessed with the career. But it also positions me to be competitive and growth minded because like there will be times when I'm in a grocery store trying to do my shopping and I answer like 12 questions in like the frozen food aisle. And that's just the way it goes. And it enables me to do what I love and be successful. And so that's a trade off that I'm a okay with. And it's just something that you might have to take into account when you are looking at growing your career. Some people might think differently. This is how I think. Next question here is how do you encourage adaptability? Embracing change in fitness routines or business models? Pivot. As Ross Geller and friends says, pivot, pivot, pivot. Like technology changes all the time, society changes. People feel more isolation now than they would have felt in the 90s. So obviously your service is going to have to change. Your business model is going to have to change. Sometimes as you're growing a team, you might need people who specialize in one thing instead of the other. Sometimes you need to have somebody that has different strengths and than you do to complement what you might struggle with. So just understanding your needs, understanding different personalities, understanding different archetypes and just ensuring that you are not leaving opportunities on the table. What methods do you use to identify and focus on strengths in your fitness clients or team members? And a lot of times you can use personality assessments. I know that a lot of people that I work with have used those and that just can kind of tell you how a person would communicate, maybe how sensitive they might be, how likely to make change in their lifestyle they'd be, how open to new ideas they'd be. There's a lot of different ways that you can set this up with. I do some coaching for a team fitness and we do personality assessments with, with pretty much everybody as we're onboarding them. And it's just basically they get a series of questions and based on their answers we're able to decide how to best serve them. How to best communicate them, how. How to best communicate with them. And it's just, it gives us a lens to look at through the ways that we program their workouts and how we tell them updates. Everything like that matters. And it's what sets real coaches apart from just a bot or AI. And AI is going to change and it's obviously going to get more and more advanced, but you just want to be able to connect really good with your people. The next question here, as we're bringing this to a close, is how do you motivate yourself and others? By considering the legacy and influence in the fitness realm, I tend to bring it back to what kind of, what kind of a life do you want to live? Do you want to live a life where you're proud of everything that you've been able to achieve to. To travel? You need to be fairly fit and active and make good nutritional choices to connect with people. You got to be confident. And you can't just like, live a life where you pay bills till you die. You do have to enjoy your work. And this is something that many people won't agree with me on. Many people that do the nine to five. But my personal stance is you should enjoy your work. Work is tough, work is demanding, work isn't always fun. But you should be passionate about what you do because otherwise we're just kind of sentencing ourselves to a fairly subpar existence on earth. And the final question as we wrap things up here for this extra lengthy episode is that what steps, what specific steps do you take to ensure your communication positively impacts your fitness, community or workplace? I think the most concise way that I can position this is that I hear people out when they tell me something that feels uncomfortable to hear. Sometimes the way I write a caption, I might not have considered everybody that read it. And you pick your moments. But like, just to be clear, it's just sometimes you have to be sensitive to people who might not have the same experience as you. And when you're open to listening and learning and adapting your approach, that's how you can ensure a positive impact. If you're completely tone deaf to how other people might perceive you, then it probably has a negative impact. Now, with that said, nothing that we can do is going to please everybody. And you do have the ability to be yourself. So I think the main rule here is be kind, be a good person. If you don't have anything particularly positive to contribute, maybe don't put it on the Internet, maybe find another way to unwind. But that's a personal opinion of mine. I tend to be a positive kind of guy sometimes. Sometimes I get a little salty, but generally not too often and usually if I do, it's for good reason. With that said though, I do have an ask for you. I did mention earlier in the episode if you wanted to the list of questions or even the book list, send me a message. Chris BSimson fitness.com and I'd be happy to send that over to you. And I'd also love to see the PT Profit Podcast, get some reviews, go over to Apple Podcasts or itunes or or the Apple Podcast app and type out a review for Beverly's show. Show some support. We really appreciate it. From an analytics point of view, it makes a dramatic difference in the reach of the podcast and helps Beverly help more people. And if you enjoyed this particular episode, you can reach me hristianlittle on Social Media if you have questions for Beverly@BSIMsonFitness on social media and I will let you go to get back to whatever it is that you were doing before you tuned in. Happy Friday.

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