Mike: [00:00:04] Hello, welcome to episode 15 of the How To Become A Personal Trainer podcast. We’re your hosts, Mike Vacanti.
Jordan: [00:00:11] My name is Jordan Syatt.
And apologies from the very beginning for the poor audio, if it’s not as good as usual. We’re this episode quarantined right now, through Skype.
Mike: [00:00:22] That’s correct. And this was a really fun episode, a lot of high energy. Jordan and I talk about the hits that our own businesses are taking and what many of you are likely going through right now.
Jordan: [00:00:35] We also want to make sure you have a plan, so you know what to do during this very difficult time for everybody, so you can still work to improve yourself as a coach and improve your business and help as many people as possible
Mike: [00:00:47] Enjoy the episode.
Hello Jordan.
Jordan: [00:00:58] Hello Michael. We have very different circumstances today, huh?
Mike: [00:01:03] Yeah, we’re breaking our one rule of always doing our podcast in person together because quarantine life has forced our hand, and so we apologize if the audio isn’t pristine, but we tested it and it should be at least a 9 out of 10.
Jordan: [00:01:18] At least a 7 out of 10, hopefully. Just trying to set realistic expectations.
Mike: [00:01:25] What you’re hearing right now is what the episode will be, so hopefully this works, but Jordan and I aren’t together, per quarantine rules.
Jordan: [00:01:35] Yup. And still going to make content, still gonna make the podcast, and today– well, do you want to start off with anything before we dive into the main topic? I mean, how are you doing?
How’s quarantine treating your, Michael?
Mike: [00:01:47] I think that is the main topic ,’cause I think that’s going to bleed into, you know, you and I are coaches and we are dealing with this pandemic and, you know, my business has taken a 20% hit in the last 10 days, which is, in a way, I know that it should be scary, but in a way it’s invigorating and exciting and motivating just because as I know how temporary it is.
And I think I, maybe like many, have been waiting for a little bit of a kick in the ass.
Jordan: [00:02:27] It’s actually really interesting you say that. Today was probably the busiest– and by busy, I mean the most jam packed my schedule has been with work that it’s been in a very long time. And I think one of the reasons for that is because the Inner Circle has taken a pretty significant hit over the last, really, mainly over the last week or so.
And I’ve been like, “I gotta do work,” like, this is the time to really go hard. And it’s so interesting because I haven’t woken up and spent this much time throughout the day, this motivated and this excited and this focused to do work and make content in a very long time.
And I think that’s sort of what happens when you get comfortable. When you get comfortable, a lot of times that really invigorated drive can dwindle and right now it’s like I’m focused to do more work than ever to make sure that I can make the best content I possibly can as consistently as I can across as many platforms as it can.
Because I think right now the response for many people when their business gets hit is, they get anxious, they get worried, as you know, you should. If you didn’t, I think that’d be very weird and abnormal. But I think when that happens is, they almost cave inward and they stay to themselves and they have this paralysis-analysis and they don’t know what to do so they don’t do anything at all.
Mike: [00:04:01] Which is arguably the worst thing that one can do right now.
Like, your version of turning the jets up, which is somehow more content on top of what you’ve already been making, which is insane. But my version of that is, there are probably people listening to this podcast who emailed me, about anything, in the last six months that are getting emails back from like October, December, January.
Because priority one right now is take care of coaching clients. Priority two is I’m replying to every single email that I haven’t in however long, and that inbox is going to be at zero by the end of the week, and then who knows what the next project will be. But like you just said, it’s not just sitting still and letting this happen to us. It’s taking whatever action we can.
Jordan: [00:04:54] I think, there’s a lot– I have a lot of thoughts right now.
I know you and I have spoken about this. We actually, literally, just made a video on this for the Mentorship yesterday. I think– one of the memes I see going around among fitness professionals lately has been to the effect of, “everyone always says if they could just stay home all day and not work, then they would be the most fit, in-shape person because they could just work out all day,” and meanwhile now people are in that situation and they’re not doing anything.
And I think it’s sort of funny. I don’t think it’s a very accurate depiction of how things are going right now.
But I also–
Mike: [00:05:33] That’s a popular meme right now?
Jordan: [00:05:36] Yeah, I’ve seen that a bunch. I’ve seen it a bunch. And I think it’s funny, ’cause, you know, in some sense, yeah, there is some truth to it. Like, we’re more home and I think people are spending a lot of time not really knowing what to do. But if we bring this over to fitness professionals, the number of fitness professionals who say like, “you know, if I wasn’t on the gym floor all day, or if I wasn’t working all day, then I’d be making more content, I’d have more time, more creative space,” and here we are, a lot of fitness professionals are in a position in which this is literally the best time to make content and not just because there is more time, but because people need it right now. People really, really need it right now. I think now more than at any point in my entire life, not just career, but in my entire life, people are more focused on their health than ever before.
The questions that I’m getting on fat loss are few and far between. The questions that I’m getting on health and strength and fitness are more than ever and now is the time to really put forth effort into helping people for free as often as you possibly can because number one, it’s the right thing to do. Number two is it’s really going to help people stay healthy and improve throughout this timeframe.
And then from a business perspective, when this is all over, because this will be over eventually–
Mike: [00:07:05] Explain your slingshot metaphor.
Jordan: [00:07:08] So, the way that I thought about this yesterday when we were talking for the Mentorship discussion was imagine I’m holding a slingshot in my hand right now, and the band for the slingshot, when it’s just laying still, that’s how things were before the coronavirus hit, before things really went bonkers in the United States, at least. It was going bonkers elsewhere, but in the United States, the band was just right in the middle, standing still. There was no tension on it.
Right now, the band is being pulled back. There’s tension building. There’s a lot of tension, there’s a lot of anxiety. You might think that the band is going to snap, you might think that the whole slingshot is going to break.
We’re still being pulled back and we’re not as far back as it’s going to go. It’s going to get more tension, it’s going to get more scary, it’s going to get more dangerous. The slingshot might feel like it’s going to snap in your hand and it’s all going to go to S. H. I. T. you know?
But eventually, things are going to rebound and you’re going to shoot the slingshot and it’s going to go far beyond where the status quo used to be.
We’re going to go far beyond where things were and things are going to get better, and I have a feeling I could be wrong, could be naïveté, but I have a feeling they’re going to be better than they were before, for many reasons.
Mike: [00:08:29] And at the core of that, on the back end of this, the average person is going to have a greater appreciation for their health, or I guess the value of their health and how important it is and how quickly it can be taken away and want to do whatever they can to maximize their health.
Jordan: [00:08:51] Correct.
Mike: [00:08:52] And I’ve noticed that in the type of emails I’m getting, I’ve noticed that with client questions, I’ve noticed that with people getting more consistent with taking certain supplements, vitamin C, vitamin D, people caring more about aerobic health, people being more consistent with eating micronutrient dense foods rather than specifically focusing on being in a deficit or getting leaner. I’ve noticed it in myself and in where my priorities and my thought process is.
So, yeah, you and I are on the same page with the hypothesis that after this, there is going to be even more demand.
Jordan: [00:09:28] Not to mention, and I know I mentioned this yesterday as well, I’ve gotten a bewildering number of messages from people — far more than usual — from people saying, “when all of this is over, I’m good joining the Inner Circle immediately,” because right now I don’t have the money, I lost my job, my in my husband or wife was laid off, whatever it is. “I don’t have the money right now, but when this is over, I’m joining the Inner Circle. If for nothing else to say thank you for everything you’re doing for me right now.”
Mike: [00:09:58] Because you are sending daily text messages with workouts to your text list.
Jordan: [00:10:05] That’s exactly right. Daily workouts and then also, in the Inner Circle, Susan and I are doing Lives every day. We’re doing a live video for the Inner Circle every single day. We’re doing two live workouts a week, we’re doing other Lives, I mean, we are going far above and beyond what we normally do in order to make sure that people know they are cared for right now.
That is so unbelievably important. And I see a lot of people trying to sell their programs right now. And I think that’s the natural response: when business takes a hit, when the economy tanks, when you’re hurting, you’re like, “well, how do I make money?” And it’s sorta like the response that people have when one of your clients eats a ton of carbs one day. Maybe it’s Superbowl weekend, maybe they go on vacation and they eat way more than usual and their initial response is, “how do I lose this weight immediately?” And they do something stupid. They do the juice cleanse, they do the rapid fat loss, and then of course, they might see something quick, they might lose weight very, very quickly, but then they regained it right back and they’re in the exact same problem they were in before.
Coaches are doing this right now with like, “how do I sell a program? How do I do this? How do I sell something? How do I make more money?” They do things that normally they wouldn’t do, things that go against their core beliefs, their morals, their ethics. Not to mention just in a market that is just not ready to buy right now because people need to save their money.
Maybe they make a sale, maybe they don’t. Then they regret it and all the while, if they had just done this thing that was more sustainable, done the thing that was actually right for this point in time, then when all of this is over and again, and I don’t know when it’s going to be, maybe it’ll be a month, maybe it’ll be three months, maybe five months, who knows?”
When it’s all over, it will pay off to have been the person giving everything away, as much as you can, for free. Not to just stop charging people, but to spend a considerable amount of your time giving things away for free.
This is such a unique time in all of our lives. It’s like, do not treat this as though this is the usual. You have to do unprecedented things in unprecedented times.
Mike: [00:12:09] Very well said.
And just so that you can understand that Jordan and I are not immune to the type of reactions that most of us experience: there was about a three and a half second window where we were like, “should we put the Mentorship on sale?”
And then we immediately were like, “wait, that goes against everything…” and instead, you know, decided to add live streams and add more new courses. So, we went the other way with free content there, but it’s a natural impulse to want to “get back,” immediately in the short term to get back what you just lost.
My mind goes to poker. Like, after losing a hand, you know, say you’re playing, you’re in Las Vegas, you just lost $100. And maybe you got unlucky. Maybe you should’ve won the hand, but you didn’t. The right thing to do is, on your next hand, play it normally. Play it without emotion. Play it as you normally would.
But the natural instinct and impulse is like, “I’m going to get my $100 back.” So maybe you play cards that are worse than you would normally play to try and hit a hand. Maybe you act more aggressively, maybe you call a bigger bet than you should, but human’s natural instinct is to try to make up for lost ground, and we both just caution you to fight against that impulse and instead keep your eyes on the long term, right?
We need to weather this storm right now. And whether that means keep your head above water, keep the lights on, pay the bills, minimize expenses as much as you can, and that’s weathering the current storm, but then helping yourself and everyone else in the long-term means putting in the work on free content, on helping people for free, on coaching people for free, doing whatever you can, not only because it’s the right thing, but because on the back end of this, there will be financial upside, business upside, all of that good stuff.
Jordan: [00:14:10] Yeah. I couldn’t agree more. 100% with you.
Mike: [00:14:14] Isn’t it kind of funny that that we had 2.7 seconds where we were like, “should we do a sale?”
Jordan: [00:14:20] To be completely fair and honest, that was more so me than you, and you are the one to be like, “ah, I don’t think that’s right.”
And I said, “yeah, you’re right. You’re right.”
But I’m glad that you brought it up because it’s a normal human response. The natural instinct is, listen, this is scary as hell. Like, this is super scary, like, to go from a place of things seemingly being better than ever. The economy being the best it’s been in an a very long time and seemingly overnight to go from everything normal to almost, essentially, losing our freedom, not being able to leave your home. Like, it’s a very scary time for many, many reasons, not least of which being financial and if you don’t have fears or worries or anxieties, I think that you’re either a psychopath or you’re making a lot of money selling soap or whatever. Like, right now is the best time to be in the soap industry.
But it’s normal. And this goes back to what we talk about and not letting your emotions dictate your actions, a lot of the things that you instill within your clients. Probably in the same way that right now, let’s say, if you have a client decide to cancel right now. If one of your clients says, “Hey, I need to cancel,” you’re not going to say, “well, if your workout frequency goes down–” or if you, let’s say you have a client who maybe they stay with you but they can’t go to the gym anymore, you’re not going to say, “wow, like, you’re going to lose all of your progress, everything is going to go down the drain.” Of course. Because, number one, it’s not accurate as long as they stay up with something, they do something. But same thing goes for your business.
It’s, without question, going to take a hit right now. Again, unless you’re selling latex gloves or soap, it’s going to take a hit, but it will not be the end of the world. It will not go down the drain, it will not be ruined.
I cannot wait to listen to these episodes in 10 years, 15, 20 years, whatever it is, because there will be a handful of people who actually do what we say right now. There will be a handful of coaches who actually go as hard as they possibly can right now.
And the content they make now will continue to benefit them for the rest of their life. This isn’t only content that will benefit you now. This period of time is so historical. Every day, we’re playing a part in history, but right now this is something that our kids and our grandkids will be learning in school.
They’ll have projects about this in school. There’ll be required to ask us, “what were you doing during this time?” People will be researching this forever. And the content you make now could stand to benefit you and hundreds and thousands and millions of people down the road that you can’t even begin to comprehend.
And I’m so excited to listen to this again in 10-20 years because there’ll be people who follow these instructions, who their entire career, their foundation was them taking action now.
Mike: [00:17:31] Very well said. I’m excited to look back too.
We gave the real big practical to-do right now, which is, “be making content, help people for free.”
How about on like a mental, emotional, kind of day-to-day level? Do you have any thoughts or tips or tricks or hacks or any, like, basically routine ideas around, let’s call it minimizing fear and increasing wellbeing, productivity, like good stuff?
Jordan: [00:18:09] Yeah. I literally just spoke about this on a podcast 30 minutes ago.
I think number one is to understand that fear is normal right now. Like, I’m super scared right now. I am absolutely scared. But I think the difference is one of the reasons I can mitigate my fear is through doing so many different things. And I think I sorta like reverse engineer it, right? So, what am I doing?
Okay, well, so every day I wake up and I write out exactly what I’m going to do that day. I make a plan. And then point by point, I go and I cross each thing off as I do it. And just doing that– this is the reason why I did the 300 pushups a day. I’m not doing 300 pushups a day, which by the way, I haven’t done it any of them yet, so far. I did a live workout for the Inner Circle and there were pushups, but I’m not counting those towards them, so I have a lot to catch up on.
But I’m not doing 300 pushups a day to improve my physique. It is completely and utterly beside the point. I’m doing 300 pushups a day, number one, because it’s very difficult and I want to have something throughout the day to accomplish that is very difficult because I know as long as I’m accomplishing something each day that is difficult and I don’t want to do, I’ll be going to bed more proud and I’ll have something to challenge myself with and improve on.
That’s a habit. And the more you make that a habit, the more you’ll do it. The whole reason I’m doing 300 pushups a day is so that now I have some form of schedule. I have something I must do. Physiologically, it’s not the best program design, but I don’t care. It’s just something very difficult that I don’t want to do.
Not to mention the benefit of making that public on social media, making that something other people can join in on. Some people are saying, “well, listen, I can’t do any pushups, so I’m doing them from the knees and I’m doing 10 pushups a day.” Other people are saying, “I don’t like pushups. I’m doing a hundred squats a day.”
It doesn’t matter what it is, and I’m not dogmatic about it, but I’m getting people moving and having people join along with me. So, I think having some type of a challenge for yourself right now and, sort of as an aside, but on the same point, if you look at some really viral YouTube videos, a lot of them are challenges.
Someone does something for a week, for 14 days, for a month, this could make amazing content for you. “Your 30-day coronavirus challenge,” whatever it is, “your 30-day pushup challenge,” your “30 days squat challenge.” Like, I told you this the other day, I’m thinking about literally trying to walk a marathon in my apartment throughout a day.
Like, “I walked a marathon during the coronavirus.” Whatever it is. Who knows? It’s just things to do.
Mike: [00:20:49] Yeah. It reminds me of a quote that I texted you very recently from Connor McGregor, which is, “doubt is removed by action.”
Jordan: [00:20:58] Yes. Yup. That’s exactly right.
Mike: [00:21:00] And it really is.
This is slightly on a more personal level, but I’m just curious.
You said you are fearful right now. I’m sure many people will share your fears. Like, what specifically are you afraid of right now?
Jordan: [00:21:16] I’m scared of everything. I’m scared that my mom’s going to die. I’m scared that, uh–
Mike: [00:21:24] And she’s staying at home?
Jordan: [00:21:27] Oh yeah, she’s staying at home. She lives by herself, but I mean like–
Mike: [00:21:33] So, you’re taking the appropriate action to help minimize that risk as much as you possibly can.
Jordan: [00:21:39] Exactly. Yup. 100%.
I’m scared my brother’s gonna die. I mean, these are two people who are very at risk based on their health issues and everything they go through and they both live alone and they both live very far away from a lot of friends and family.
I’m scared that my business is going to take an irreparable hit.
Mike: [00:21:56] Are you scared of that, though? Because that goes back to you and me on the subject of, we’re never afraid of competition in fitness because we feel like the average work ethic is something that we can choose and anyone can choose to surpass.
Jordan: [00:22:18] So here’s the thing: I think that a lot of times fear isn’t logical, right? You are arguably one of the most, if not the most logical person that I know. You’re very good, especially with numbers and being like, “but like logically, you know you’re going to work harder, so why would you be worried about that?”
I think for me, I’m definitely not as like– I like to think I’m magical, but I also notice, and I feel that fear, but it’s not that I– if I’m thinking about it logically, it’s like, yes, I know it’s going to be fine and I know everything that I said and I believe it, but I still can feel the fear.
The difference is that fear lights a fire under me to work harder than anybody I know. Not Gary. Gary works harder than I work, but like, I work very, very hard, and I think a large part of it is due to that fear. And I think that’s sort of what– it’s using it in a way that benefits you rather than allowing it to become a justification for doing nothing at all?
Mike: [00:23:19] Yeah, very well said.
Jordan: [00:23:20] It’s like, I was super scared about my mom, so I was like, “all right, we’re leaving super early in the morning, we’re going to Boston and getting a place nearby just in case you need something.” Action. Cool. Doing something to solve the problem.
Mike: [00:23:30] Exactly. Like, that’s all you can do in a situation like this.
And the reason I was asking is I’m sure a lot of people are experiencing the same types of fear.
Jordan: [00:23:42] Do you have any fear throughout all of this?
Mike: [00:23:48] I feel guilty saying no.
I feel selfish saying no. I mean, I understand and am saddened by the negative impact this is having on many people and I’m very hopeful and taking what action I can in praying and talking to and encouraging the people in my life who I think might need help.
But I just, I don’t know if it’s like a little bit of stoic philosophy embedded in me or just like that comes very naturally for me, but I intuitively really focus on what I can control and block everything else out and I’ve broken that down even further into really trying hard to only focus on what I can control within a single day and not even looking past the day.
So right now, I have a normal day for myself, I mean, except for the fact that I’m coaching Gary on FaceTime instead of in person. Like, it’s not completely normal given the circumstances. I’m not leaving my apartment, but I have my normal list of things to do, emails, programs, Mentorship things with you, but then I’m adding a couple, one or two extra things.
So today was reply to 50 emails, and 50 additional emails on top of what I normally do, and they aren’t short emails. As you know, when you’ve gotten your inbox backed up, the ones you leave are always the longer ones.
But trying to hack away at something new to give myself a project, give myself, a little focus, but something I can bite off in a single day and execute on. It occupies my attention, which is time that I can’t be fearful because I’m doing something and I know it’s also leading to something good.
And, you know, I’m fortunate that we were able to get some dumbbells before all of this really hit, and so being able to get workouts in, even if it was just body weight, but being able to get workouts in has been helpful for me and has made me realize how much fitness helps me personally and keeps me grounded and focused and better in other aspects of my life.
And so, I guess I’m just trying to look at what’s in front of me and not more than that.
Jordan: [00:26:23] I think that makes total sense. I think, you know, going back to the quote that you sent me from Connor– what is the actual–
Mike: [00:26:32] I think, “doubt is removed by action.”
Jordan: [00:26:34] Doubt is removed by action.
So, doubt might be another form of fear, right? And so essentially, you’ve filled your day with action to remove the fear, to remove the doubt. And it might literally be something where you don’t have any doubt, you don’t have any fear, but it might also be because you’re taking so much action, you don’t have time for the fear, you don’t have time for the doubt to creep in.
And I don’t think it’s– for anyone listening, I’m not saying don’t ever have free time or don’t think that it’s abnormal to have fear because I have fear. I think the difference, it goes back to if you’re self-aware enough to know that you’re fearful and anxious, like I am in many ways, you have two options.
Either allow that fear to prevent you from doing something that will help you and help others or do what needs to be done. And through doing what needs to be done, oftentimes the doubt will go away. The fear will go away. It doesn’t mean it will just completely be eliminated, but at the very least, it will be diminished as you do something good.
Mike: [00:27:42] I think something that we’re both also doing during this time that maybe many people aren’t, is minimizing some of the inputs that are throwing gas on the fire of fear. News is by far the number one for me. Like, at the beginning of this, I was constantly Googling “coronavirus update” and I was clicking stats and I was watching little charts grow and I was like– it wasn’t time well spent for many reasons. But right now, I wake up, I have one new source. It’s an email compilation that hits my inbox at 6:00 AM every morning. It takes me two minutes to kind of read and see where things are at, and then I try not to look at news for the rest of the day because I know it’s just going to– having more information isn’t going to benefit me or those around me, but it’s going to put me in a worse place.
Jordan: [00:28:38] Man, I could not agree more. I told you we got to the new place, just near my mom’s, and there was a TV here. We don’t have a TV in our regular apartment. And my girlfriend turned it on, just like, “all right, cool. We’re gonna turn the TV on ’cause we have one.” And the first thing that came up was the news.
And within seven seconds my stomach dropped, just like, it was just the most doom and gloom you could ever imagine. And I was sitting in that chair right over there and I, felt my stomach just drop right through my butthole. It was like, I just felt just– like, that’s an image. But like, it was, and I immediately, I was like, “we gotta turn this off. We can’t watch the news.”
And I think some people are like, “well, if you’re just ignoring the problem…” we’re not ignoring it. You have to remember the news is a business in and of itself. And the news makes money off of getting you to increase your time watching it. And the way they get you to do that is by scaring the living hell out of you and making you think you need to be watching it over and over and over again.
I don’t think ignoring the problem is a good idea, but I think if you’re going to inform yourself, at least inform yourself with educated opinions, of which some of them might be scary. But the educated opinions are doing things in a very logical, non-emotional, clear, straight-forward, focused way to inform you properly.
I know Dr. Nadolsky does a wonderful job of it. I’ve found a number of great scientists on Instagram. I would encourage you to follow those people if you’d like. Don’t spend your time on news and following a lot of people who are really just trying to scare the hell out of you. Because yes, this is a very scary time, but sort of going back to you said, Mike, you have to focus on what you can control. No matter what happens, you can’t control this. So, what can you control?
Mike: [00:30:33] Exactly.
And if you’re quarantined in your home, what is 10 minutes of news recap from someone you trust compared to six hours of continually letting the news come in?
Let’s say you gain more information in those six hours. You get a more comprehensive understanding, you know more numbers, you see what’s going on Italy, Spain, and as a result of that, what are you going to do? You’re still stuck in your home.
And I agree, like, we’re both on the same page. You don’t want to be uninformed, but if it is having a negative impact on you — best to be smart about your consumption.
Jordan: [00:31:15] I think you bring up a great point.
And I think a lot of people will get a little bit upset, which is normal, whenever something goes against what you’re doing, oftentimes you’ll dig your heels in. People are like, “well, we need to watch the news, we need to watch the news.” Like, okay, well, number one, why? what has the news taught you that has seriously benefited you in a way that you couldn’t have learned outside of the news? Right?
And maybe you have something, maybe “well, they told us to stay quarantined,” or whatever it is. I’ve seen that in many places outside of the news, like very many places. But going back to the basic example of– and we say this even when it’s not a pandemic, but pay attention to how things make you feel.
Just be mindful of how you feel when you’re consuming content. This isn’t just consuming content– people you hang out with, people you talk to, things you listen to, TV shows you watch, foods you eat, certain exercises, whatever it is. Absolutely.
So, I’ve seen a lot of people essentially saying, “well I’m binge watching Netflix and watching the news,” and I have a feeling what’s going on is they watch the news, they feel hopeless and helpless and scared and worried. So, then the quickest fix to that is to watch a TV show, something funny, something to take their mind off things. And then when they’ve watched enough of that to feel awful, then they go back to the news and they feel awful again. And they go back and forth and back and forth. And that’s most people’s days right now. And it’s not doing anything for you.
I think the most beneficial thing– and it’s, again, it’s the very hard thing to do: making content, make your own. Make a workout, make a challenge, do something. It’s the easiest thing in the world to watch the news. It’s the easiest thing in the world to watch Netflix, and I’m not saying don’t ever do it, it’s the same thing. It’s easier to eat a donut than it is to make a freshly made salad.
I’m not saying don’t eat a donut, I’m just saying the better option, generally speaking, is the salad that takes more effort.
Mike: [00:33:30] Have more salads than donuts.
Jordan: [00:33:32] That’s it.
Mike: [00:33:33] Take more action, do some Netflix.
Jordan: [00:33:36] Exactly. That’s it. And do your best to not overthink it. Do your best to make any content. Some movement is better than no movement. If a client doesn’t know what to do, you’ll say, “walk. Walk in your apartment.” If you don’t know what content to make, film yourself doing a squat and teaching people how to do it.
Film yourself teaching people how to do a pushup. Make a challenge for yourself and make it publicly known. Like, just get stuff going. Start talking, making your voice known and public.
Mike: [00:34:06] I have some action items, and this is a combination of talking to you, talking to my dad, and watching Gary right now is– and me being an introvert myself, and the three of you all being very extroverted, quite extroverted. But set up your day so that you have interaction. And what I mean by that is when you’re in quarantine, you can have Zoom calls with family and friends, you can go Facebook Live, Instagram, Live, YouTube Live, with your community, even if there’s one or two people on there or zero people on there, and just talk because that will stay up afterwards.
But go on podcasts, start a podcast, have people on your podcast, find ways where you can interact with other people. Because if you’re quarantined, heaven forbid you’re quarantined alone, but even if you’re not and you’re with the same, maybe one person or a couple people, having more interaction, especially if you’re extroverted, is necessary to build momentum and to derive energy. Right?
Because too much news and Netflix is bad for anyone, but for me personally, if I shut off the news and Netflix and I go to a book for a little bit, and then from the book, I’ll transition into something more productive like computer work, that works for me.
But I know, on Saturday morning for example, Gary was doing an 11:00 AM workout on FaceTime with me, and he was dragging. And he was still warming up, you know, taking a little bit longer warm up. And he said something along the lines of, he said, “I think I’m going to go live for a little bit later today just cause I need some stimulation.” And I just said, I was like, “you are so extroverted.” And he laughed. Because just to get it going, having that interaction with other is very important.
Jordan: [00:36:03] You said something that made me think about the Q & A we were doing for the Mentorship last night.
One of the questions, that was actually great in the Mentorship, someone asked to the effect of, maybe you take someone on for free, “how do you take on a free client? How do you improve their ability to actually stay consistent?”
‘Cause a lot of times you’ll take on a client for free and because they don’t have skin in the game, because they’re not paying you, they won’t be consistent, they won’t get the best results. Whereas oftentimes paying clients, they’ll get better results. And we spoke a lot, we gave different answers, but one of the things you just said, you were like, “listen, get on Zoom calls with clients,” whatever it is. It made me think that, let’s say you have clients right now who are saying, “Hey, I got to cancel. I can’t work with you.” Right now, the worst thing you could do is just be like, “okay, cool. See you later. Be well.” Stay in contact with them. Be like, “Hey, I don’t care if you can’t pay me, I’m still going to coach you. In fact, let’s hop on a Zoom call. Let’s talk.”
Like, right now, if you just let your clients just go and they just say, “well, I can’t pay you,” and you just, “cool, all right. Well talk to you later.” That’s almost guaranteeing or significantly increasing the chance that they won’t come back. But right now, if you stay with them and you coach them through this process, number one, I would bet a lot of them be like, “you know what? I can still keep paying you. At least maybe we can work out like a deal where maybe we cut it down a little bit,” and then when it’s all over, they’ll come right back and they’ll get back on.
Doing the Zoom calls, I think is a really, really good idea. It’s one of the reasons why Susan and I are doing Lives every day in the Inner Circle. It’s one of the reasons why we’re doing more Lives now in the Mentorship Facebook group. It’s like, people need us now more than ever, and if you just use, “they’re not paying me anymore,” as a justification to stop communication with them, it’s a very, very bad place to be. You’re going to feel bad.
Find a way to increase interaction with people and find a way to help people more. Go onto your Facebook, your personal Facebook page, go on your Instagram page, be like, “Hey. I’m going to take 10 clients on for free right now.” “I’m going to work with 10 people for free right now.” “I’m going to give one month of free coaching way to 10 people and we’re going to hop on the phone or we’re going to do one phone call or Zoom call a week.” So now you have, like, if you take on 10 people, that’s an average of a little bit over one call a day with each person.
It’s like, now you’re at least having a call every single day with one person, you’re coaching people, and when it’s all said and done, let’s say three of those people sign on with you for paying, that’s amazing. Now you have three new paying coaching clients and more referrals from that.
Mike: [00:38:52] And it helped you in the short run and it helped them in the short run. So, it’s a win, win, win all around.
And you make a great point: not only in these times, but in general when a client has to cancel for whatever reason, when a client’s done working with you, it isn’t just goodbye. It’s, first, hopefully it’s celebratory. Hopefully it’s they feel good and can go on their own, but do whatever you can in that situation to make yourself available to help them with the transition going from coaching to on their own.
Because one, it’s the right thing to do, and two, it makes sense from a business point of view to do the right thing and to help somebody even when maybe it wasn’t expected or maybe it wasn’t within what you were offering.
Jordan: [00:39:46] So funny, I haven’t done a significant amount of one on one coaching in a long time because I’ve been mainly focusing Inner Circle, but I remember– this is sort of like flashback memory from something I used to do: if I had a client who had to stop working with me, which by the way, just so you know, clients stop working with you after a certain period of time. Like, that’s normal. It doesn’t mean that you’re a bad coach. Like, people, it runs their course. That happens.
A lot of times what I would do is if I had worked with someone for a little while and they had to stop or they canceled, whatever it is, a couple months later, I’d just shoot them an email and say, “Hey, just checking in, see how you’re doing.” And sometimes the response would be like, “you know, we’re not working together anymore?”
They’d think that I had forgot or something and I’d be like, “no, I know. I’m just seeing, as a friend, how are you?” And they’d be like, “Oh my God, that’s so nice.” Other times they would immediately go to, “wow, that’s so nice of you.” And I would say 2…1.5 times out of 10 times, they would say, “you know what? I’ve been thinking about you a lot, I want to come back on as a client.”
It’s just so interesting just how letting people know that you’re there for them and care for them, it’s like, it’s pretty amazing how just doing something as simple as, “Hey, asking how you are,” checking in on someone will often turn into doing something great for them and them doing something great for you.
Mike: [00:41:10] Weird. Work really hard, help people, be a good person, and good things happen.
Jordan: [00:41:14] It’s crazy how that works.
But you know what? I think, you know– I’m having a lot of different ideas right now, but one of the things that I know a lot of fitness people struggle with, like people who want to improve their health and fitness or lose fat, they’re always looking for the best program, the best diet, whatever it is. They just want to do the best, the best, the best. And looking for the best prevents them from doing anything at all.
I see a lot of coaches, being like, they just want the best way to get more clients. They want to make the best content. They want to have the best business strategy. And looking for the best and over analyzing it prevents them from doing anything at all. It’s like, whatever happened to just messaging someone and saying, “Hey, how’s it going?” “Hey, can I help with anything? What are you doing during this time?”
What happened to messaging an old friend from college or an old high school friend, “Hey, I was thinking about you. Want to hop on a call and just like catch up?” Like, you know, humans do?
And then it’s so funny how reconnecting with people can lead to really amazing opportunities.
Mike: [00:42:17] Yeah, man. It’s absolutely right.
Jordan: [00:42:20] So, anything else you want to add to this?
Mike: [00:42:25] I don’t think so.
I think, you know, if there’s something more you want us to talk about, if there’s something you want us to talk about on next week’s podcast, leave a review and write that in — ideally, five-star would be great — and Jordan and I are happy to, you know, maybe we’ll do a full Q & A episode if we get several questions in there.
That’d be really fun. But we’re here to help and we plan on continuing to make these episodes every single week, despite not being together, despite being quarantined, despite whatever’s going on.
Jordan: [00:42:57] Yeah. I’m going to add one more thing as well, ’cause I just had something pop in my head: I have nothing against reading and studying.
I couldn’t recommend it more, especially if you’re a new coach. I think now it’d be a wonderful time to spend time learning more. Invest in research. Alan Aragon’s Research Review is a tremendous place. It’s only $10 a month. This is not a paid ad. This is just, I’ve been a member of Alan’s research review since I think like 2011 or something.
But what I wanted to say is, if you are a well-educated coach and you’re looking for books right now to study, your time could probably be better spent–
Mike: [00:43:43] And you want more clients.
Jordan: [00:43:46] Yes. Yes. That’s a good clarification.
If your business is great and you don’t want more clients and you just want to learn more physiology and kinesiology and exercise selection, then read, read, read, read, read.
If you have a great educational background and you know you can help people and you’re comfortable with helping people, spending all of your free time now studying is probably your way of avoiding what you know you need to do.
Split your time. Take some time to study, take some time to learn, take some time to research. But if you’re avoiding making content, that’s probably worth having a discussion with yourself about as to why you’re avoiding making it and realizing that oftentimes the thing that we’re avoiding is a thing we need to do most.
Mike: [00:44:38] Well said.
I think a lot of people need to hear that.
Jordan: [00:44:42] That’s it. And we wish you nothing but health and happiness and success, and if we can help with anything, please let us know and have a wonderful day.
Mike: [00:44:52] See you next week.
