What Do You De-Serve?

A Different Type of “Year End” Article

By Phil Kaplan

Each year as we prepare to post new calendars, as the countdown from 10 to 1 rings in the resolution to be better than you were in the year that we’re putting to bed, authors nationwide are asked to write articles about reflection and planning.

I’m an author.  I’ve written my share of reflection and planning articles.  I’ve traversed the topics of “preparing to make next year more prosperous,” “helping clients make effective resolutions,” and “capitalizing on America’s renewed January promise.”  This year I’m going to do something different, something necessary if you and the personal training profession are going to find unprecedented achievement in 2007.  I’m going to help you determine if you are an able servant.

Here’s where a trainer with 19-inch upper arms stands up, veins bulging from his neck, magazine crumpled in his white-knuckled hand, and yells as if I can hear him, “Kaplan, how dare you!  A servant?!?!?  I am not a servant, I am a trainer!”  Somewhere in another part of the country another trainer blares out a similar condemnation and like dominos unknowingly caught in a contagious tumble, venomous assaults upon my second paragraph echo through the personal training nation. It’s a typical reaction. 

Yes, if you were to stop reading the article here, like the trainers who were offended by my suggestion of servitude, you would believe me to have a flawed and condescending perception of what a personal trainer does and what personal training is all about.  That’s why you’re not going to stop reading here.  You know me better than that.  You know I care, you know I take extreme pride in what we do for a living, and you know that I walk the talk every day of my life.  You know if I’m referring to any fitness professional as a servant, the word servant must need to be re-examined.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ll prove to you in this very article that the idea of “serving” is noble, and to take it a step further, if we nobly serve others and position ourselves to prosper by doing so, we can collectively form the happiest organization of servants on the planet.

Unlike other articles that show up around December, I’m not going to ask you to look ahead . . . not yet.  I’m not going to ask you to reflect on the past, at least not immediately.  I’m going to ask you to explore the moment, explore the here and now, and assess whether you are positioned for excellence.  Determine whether you are ready to marry the idea of “serving” with the reality of achievement.  It’s a scary exercise.  You might find out you’re not as well suited for being a personal training leader as you thought.  On the other hand, you might gain some new insight, some new perspective, and some new motivation that will kick things forward without any need for sitting down with a pen and paper and making those all-too-familiar resolutions.  Rather than setting goals, let’s focus on positioning yourself to land precisely where you want to be.

Suppose you entered an arena and a very confident speaker was brought to the podium to discuss “what personal trainers do.” 

“Personal Trainers earn their living by taking people through workouts.  Their tools are clipboards and dumbbells, their strengths are motivational ability and the ability to sound commanding when they yell, “C’mon . . . TWO MORE . . .,” and they’re usually young men and women who haven’t yet found precisely what they want to do in this life.”

The speaker didn’t refer to trainers as servants.  In fact, he used words such as “motivational ability” and “commanding”

If you were in the audience on the receiving end of this speech, would you (A) agree, (B) raise your hand and question the speaker, or would you (C) run up to the podium, grab the microphone away, and give the audience a more realistic glimpse of your career reality?  I’d be inclined to choose “C.”  Unfortunately, there are many men and women who wear shirts that define them as trainers who would agree with the speaker’s assertions.  They’d be offended if they were asked to be servants, and would find unity in the idea that they are workout leaders first and foremost.

Part of the challenge of trainers seeking excellence rests upon the paradigm that’s already been solidified.  Public perception is formed from that paradigm.  People believe trainers earn their living by taking people through workouts.  That’s analogous to saying “pest control professionals earn their livings by spraying bug spray,” or “surgeons earn their livings by cutting people open,” or “teachers earn their livings by giving homework.”  Those are all truisms, but are clearly unfair if they’re presented as global statements without additional explanation.

Pest control professionals earn their livings by ridding homes and offices of unwanted pests and insects.  Perhaps they spray bug spray at times, but without inspection, knowledge, and follow through, they leave happy pests and unhappy customers.

Surgeons earn their livings by performing life-altering operations, surgical procedures that are preceded by extreme examination and are a part of a therapeutic process to restore or improve health.  Perhaps they make incisions, but that’s only to gain access to the area that requires their professional expertise.

Teachers earn their livings by preparing children to become self-sufficient adults who contribute to society and enjoy productive and fulfilling lives.  Is homework a part of the process?  Sure, just as workouts are a part of “what we do.”

Personal Fitness Professionals earn their livings by using their exercise knowledge and appreciation of the pliability of the human machine in order to better the lives of others.  Personal Fitness Professionals, if they are to serve adequately, have to go way beyond “the workout.”  They may begin by assessing strength, endurance, and physical capacity, but even that would best be described as the tip of the iceberg.  Personal Fitness Professionals, if they are to nobly and proudly serve, have to assess and uncover emotional elements including goals, false beliefs, limiting thoughts, motivational triggers, and lifestyle obstacles that may interfere with adherence.  Personal Fitness Professionals are true professionals who have learned to take a baseline of knowledge combining exercise science, nutritional fact, and some level of understanding of human reaction and response, and have become adept at using that knowledge to help others gain control over the way their bodies look, feel, and function.  Personal Fitness Professionals are committed to their work, are passionate about their commitment, and are comfortable asking for the fees they deserve.

Wait . . . there’s a phrase we all like.  “The fees they deserve.”

Let’s pause there. The word “deserve” is an interesting word.

de·serve (dĭ-zûrv') - from Latin dēservīre, to serve zealously

If, based on that definition, we are to command the fees we deserve, than clearly we increase our value by being of greater service to others.  Don’t mistake the idea of a “servant” being synonymous with one who is enslaved.  You “serve” of your own free will, and the measure of your service is assessed by the value you provide.

If we are going to serve the majority of our clients, “taking people through workouts” isn’t enough to justify significant fees.  “Bringing people the power to achieve the fitness and weight loss goals they hold dearly” is a completely different story.

So, the question in assessing your worth is, “how valuable is the service you provide?”

A noble servant, one who helps others achieve all that they desire, can amass power, influence, affluence, and respect, and there are few if any limitations on the potential for growth in any of these areas.

In assessing the here and now, answer the following three questions, and summon up all of the honesty you can find.  Nobody will see your answers unless you opt to share them.  This is an exercise for you.

1. Do your clients REALLY achieve the results they seek when they first retain you?  Some may say, “a few do,” and that would actually be better than most of the field.  Others might say, “most of my clients achieve the results they seek,” and that would place these trainers in the top echelon of fitness professionals.  I’m going to suggest you should be able to make the statement, “all of my clients achieve the results they seek.”  Those who can boldly make that statement, and stand behind it, are the future leaders and role models for our field.

2. Do you empower your clients thoroughly so they no longer need you?  I know the apprehension that many trainers have related to this idea.  If they empower clients, the trainers become obsolete.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  When you truly empower your clients to understand precisely how the human machine works, and how this process of stimulus and adaptation can lead to continued and ongoing improvement, your clients become more than fans, they become evangelists.  Clients leave because they become discouraged or dissatisfied.  If you “serve” your clients, they will enjoy the time they spend with you, treasure the impact you’ve had upon their lives, and if you so choose, follow you to the end of the earth to help you promote your “service.”

3. If you were to write down what you believe one hour of your time is worth for a one-on-one session, would that equal what you actually command hourly?  I’ve asked this question in many workshops, and even with trainers who earn $80,000+, in most cases the answer is eye-opening.  Free sessions, discounted packages, favors, and discounted group offerings often play into trainers creating a rift between what they believe they deserve and what they’re willing to ask for.  With a new understanding of the word, “de-serve,” it should become crystal clear.  Whatever you believe your time is worth should unequivocally equal your rates.  Your real rates.

In a recent teleconference where I worked with high level trainers to help them recognize key elements of thought that lead to powerful adjustments in mindset, I chose to share a quote from Albert Einstein.  “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”

If you recognize that your chosen profession can be one of the most worthwhile pursuits our society offers, here are the thoughts I suggest you approach the New Year with:

1. There is extreme power in mastering servitude

2. If you ask for the fees you “de-serve,” you control your financial destiny

3. To “serve” as a fitness professional, you must take a holistic view of each client, recognizing that they are more than the body that reflects in the mirror.  They are each a result of experiences, physical, emotional, and mental, and shifts in those experiences will dictate their outcomes.  While “mind, body, spirit” may sound hokey or a bit too esoteric, its implication is appropriate, as our clients are manifestations of all three. 

Position yourself to prosper without limit by serving others, and the equation becomes simple.  Serve more people, justify greater reward.  If you decide to now go the route of setting new goals, making resolutions, and evaluating the year past, feel free, but if you do it with a recognition of the value of the “service” mindset, 2007 will become the year you are unstoppable!

Written for the end-of-year 2006 issue of Personal Fitness Professional.