#270 Mini-Wins and Goals
Where Do You Start?
Things can be quite overwhelming when you’re just starting out. It seems like the mountaintop is so far away. It seems damn near impossible to get there.
But you have to remember that there’s an entry point to everything.
What did Rocky say? "Everyone's a contender before they're a champion."
I'm not saying I'm a champion. I'm just saying that I’ve been in the game so long now that I have put thousands and thousands of quality reps in.
What's Your Entry Point?
What's the mini-win number one?
Maybe mini-win number one is interning or working at a facility in the area you’re interested in. For example, my entry point was folding towels for $8 an hour at a tennis and fitness club.
Why did I choose this route? I wanted to learn and watch from one of the personal trainers there that was making six figures. I wanted to see what six figures looked like as a personal trainer. That was my goal.
I’m from the Ohio Valley, and coal mining is one of those professions where you can make six figures by working countless hours, but that’s not what I wanted for myself.
Applying the Coal Miner Work Ethic
I thought, “What if I could take the coal miner work ethic I learned and practiced, and apply it to something I love to do?”
Once I saw under the hood of what it took to be a personal trainer I was sold.
Mini-win number one: get in the building, get exposure, and be the fly on the wall. P.S. I was able to get my swole on while on the clock too.
“I Want to Own My Own Gym”
I get this all the time. “I want to own my own gym. What do I need to do?”
Start in your garage. Start personal training your family. Start practicing on your friends. Start a crew. Start training the local high school kids coming in after school. Get 20-30 people coming through your garage before you even consider getting a spot. Then, see if those 20-30 people would pay you $30-40 a month if you opened a spot.
Zero to One
That same personal trainer I was learning and watching eventually said to me one day, “Hey man, I don’t have time to work with this lady. Do you want to work with her? Her name is Irene.”
SIGN ME UP. I didn’t have any clients yet, and I didn’t care who I was going to be training. I just needed to get off the ground. I needed a mini-win.
I had just got out of the coal mine, making $14 an hour. My overtime pay rate was $21 an hour. I'd work 70-90 hours a week in the mine. But when Irene handed me that $20 bill the first time for one hour of personal training, my life and outlook changed forever.
