I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.

Write down what I believe are, for me at least, the 10 most important things that any fitness professional who’s serious about achieving amazing success in both their business and in life in general.

Obey these 10 unwritten laws and you’re 100% certain to achieve the exceptional during your career in fitness. Fail to do so and…

Law #1: You MUST Love Your Work and Work Your Love

This isn’t just metaphysical mumbo-jumbo as marketing guru Dan Kennedy often states. Working in a profession that you love is a CRITICAL part of achieving true success because, quite simply, you’ll only work long, work hard and continue to produce your very best work if you’re in love with it.

It’s too hard to keep on going at something you hate if it’s ‘just’ for the money. Sure, you may have a big bank account but your life will be crap if you feel no pleasure or fulfillment from your daily efforts.

If you don’t get out of bed on most days feeling like you’re looking forward to the day ahead then quit and find something else that’ll keep the smile on your face.

Law #2: You MUST Be Bloody Good At What You Do

I think it’s ridiculous whenever I hear fitness marketing experts telling the industry that ‘you’re not in the business of fitness, you’re in the business of SELLING fitness’. Come to think of it, I think I was once guilty of spouting that crap too, but it’s just not true and both they and you know it.

Sure, we all have to learn to market our services but that’s not what we’re about. We’re fitness professionals and should concentrate the bulk of our efforts on being bloody good at that. ‘Bloody good’ should be decided by the users of the services you provide based on both the experience and the results you provide rather than just on the hype you’re able to create around it.

If you want to BE a marketer, get an MBA and let some top firm pay you a couple of hundred grand a year for it. If you want to be a fitness professional then make sure you’re as good as you can be before you complain of not earning enough.

Despite what the marketing guru’s claim, few truly great coaches are struggling. Their results speak for themselves and attract all the clients they need.

Law #3: Don’t Try To Lead Until You’ve Outgrown Being A Follower

If you’re not capable of predictably and consistently producing outstanding results in your clients, you don’t have any business in writing an ebook or producing workshops and seminars that position you as a guru or leader.

Sorry.

Leadership doesn’t come that cheap.

The military know this. They know that the best leaders are those who have been the best followers and who have outgrown each rank they’ve attained before being promoted up the ladder.

You’re not a soldier so this promotion doesn’t have to take you years. It can happen quickly, but the principle should still hold.

Earn your stripes. Make sure that you truly know your stuff before you position yourself in the guru mold over anyone else. Fail to do this and you’re guaranteed to fail in whatever endeavors you undertake.

Law #4: Give, Give Then Give Some More

Don’t be a taker.

Takers don’t get known, they don’t get liked and they don’t get trusted. In fact, their reward for going through life with their hand out is the exact opposite.

So give.

Give great service. Give great advice. Give great results. Give a great experience.

Give articles. Give videos. Give free reports and free advice. Give workouts. Give talks. Give free assessments, bootcamps and more.

Give!

And your success is assured.

Law #5: Money Can Be Your Goal But Never Your Purpose

We all want to be wealthy and experience abundance. We all want the cars, the houses and the vacations we dream of to fall into our laps and we’re all 100% entitled to have that happen as the result of the service we give in return for those things.

No-one need ever feel bad about becoming financially successful and, in fact, we should all have as our goals some exciting and challenging financial targets to attain during our lives. They keep things interesting, exciting and focused.

But…

Life shouldn’t be ABOUT making money. Money is not the purpose of your life’s work, it’s a by-product. Remember that. Use money for the things you want from life, don’t let money hypnotise and use you.

Law #6: Grow or Get Out

This is true of everything from business to relationships and everything in between.

Give 100% of yourself to what you’re doing and commit to continually growing in your knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes and your results will grow in tandem. Fail to do this and you’re choosing to keep things the same as they are now, living a daily ‘groundhog day’ over and over again.

Don’t do it to yourself.

Law #7: Stop Doing The Grunt Work As Soon As You Can

You never set out to be a web designer, SEO guru, graphics editor, copywriter, adwords advertiser or any of the other stuff you probably find yourself on a day to day basis at the moment did you?

You got into the fitness profession because you love helping people and seeing them achieve their goals.

Right now you probably have to do a fair bit of this other ’stuff’ because you’re not earning the money you feel you need to be earning in order to live the life of your dreams but understand this; you’ll NEVER earn that money as long as you’re diluting your true passions and skills by doing all this other stuff.

Learn it then let it go as soon as you can.

Use whatever profits you make in other areas of your business to outsource everything that you’re not truly excellent at or passionate about and get back to doing what you do best.

Remember, jack of all trades, master of?

Law #8: Leverage Yourself And Your Skills As Soon As You’re Able

If you’re already following the first 7 rules you’re more passionate, more focused and more educated than the bulk of the fitness profession. This means that you’re already getting great results for your clients on a consistent and reproducible basis.

Now leverage that.

Write up your system and train someone else to deliver it. Create that ebook (yes, now’s a good time!), create an online program that shares your knowledge with people around the world. Do any of these things or all of them but do something to remove the burden of delivery from you alone.

The reason is simple.

If it’s 100% dependent upon your physical presence you don’t truly have a business. You have a job, no matter how well paid.

If you take a vacation or get sick or just want to have a lie in tomorrow morning then you earn nothing. Leverage yourself and your knowledge and skills and money hits your account regardless of where you are or what you’re doing.

Don’t delay on this. As soon as you’re getting remarkable results, leverage yourself.

Law #9: Learn From The Best To Be The Best

You know the old saying “you pay peanuts, you get monkeys” right?

All the more reason why you should seek out the best people in the world at what they do and pay them whatever they ask to accelerate your learning in whatever skillset they’re masters of.

In the last 3 years I’ve spent over $100,000 on mentoring, coaching, consulting, private seminars and workshops and purchasing high-end products that have dramatically changed the way I work and the results I’ve attained both for my clients and my business. That money has been worth every single penny and has come back to me over and over again.

The same will happen for you when you stop attending the low level industry events and start investing your money with experts. Just one hour with someone who truly knows their stuff is worth weeks, months or even years with those who know less.

Sure, not everyone has $100,000 to spend, I appreciate that, but don’t be stingy when it comes to your education. It’s a false economy that will bite you in the arse if you don’t outgrow the habit.

Education is an investment that always yields a profit. That being the case, your aim should be to spend the largest number you can afford on it in order to reap the largest possible return.

Law #10: Listen To No One and Believe Nothing (Even From Me) Unless It Agrees With Your Own Reason and Common Sense

Yes, I know that comes from a Buddha quote but nonetheless it’s 100% true.

Everyone (myself included) has their own agenda for everything they do, even if that agenda is a positive one.

Everyone is trying to get you to buy into their products, their services, their ideas, their philosophies and yes, you should open yourself to learning something from them all, but not at the expense of losing yourself in the process.

The most important questions you can ask about any new idea you come across are “does this work?” and “can I make this work?”

If you can answer yes to both then go ahead and test out the ideas in your ‘real life’ to see how they perform before you make up your mind about them.

If you answer no then no matter who or what the source, give it a miss.

Adopt the Bruce Lee methods of assimilating only what works and discarding the rest then make those new philosophies uniquely your own in the way you deliver them.

Whatever you do though, don’t follow the ‘my guru can beat up your guru’ chain of thought that most people seem content to follow. It’ll get you nowhere… fast!

Well, there you have it. My 10 Unwritten Laws Of Fitness Business Success in all their biased, brash and contrarian glory : )

I know they’ll go against a lot of what the popular marketing guru’s are teaching and I concede that I may be completely wrong. You’ll have to decide upon that for yourself : )

I’m not saying that marketing is unimportant. Far from it, it’s an absolutely vital part of creating something truly special from your ideas but I promise you, without ever adding another marketing skill to your current skillset, these 10 laws, if followed, can and will completely change the way that your business operates and the rewards you get from it.

Get this right and the addition of specific marketing skills will create a dramatic impact. Get it wrong and even the best marketing won’t help you… as many fitpros have found to their detriment.

To your success!

Dax Moy

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** A Note From Dax**

All of my coaches are required to complete a full reading list as part of their education at my studios along with essays, dissertations and practical exams that demonstrate their understanding and ability to apply what they’ve been taught.

One of my junior team, Dominik Zaerin has recently been reading ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People‘ and just completed the first part of his report and I thought it would be pretty cool to share it with the community as it pretty much sums up the secrets of success in this and any other profession.

Read through it and apply : )
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I’m sure that many of you may have read this book before, and the messages within it are not new to you, but they are timeless, and definitely effective.

So I thought I would take the opportunity to remind you of some things you guys already know! : ) enjoy!

First published in 1937, this book is a timeless, easy to read and re-readable, gem of social wisdom that anyone, anywhere can apply to their lives. The principles shared in this book are not tricks or techniques; rather, it is an assortment of essential concepts of being a charming, emphatic and highly effective social human being.

My view of this book is positive and I enjoyed it thoroughly. In the following report, my aim is to condense, highlight and emphasize the major points that Carnegie discusses and to share my understanding of what it really takes, for you to become an effective, popular and influential person in a socially diverse world.

As Coaches, these principles must be recognised and embodied even more than the average professional. I am not saying that others should not be like this; every human being should try their best to harness true social excellence and skill. The world would become a fantastic place.

Our job is to being out the best in people, to evoke the power, potential and energy in all of our clients, and help them win at the game we call life.

Egotism is self-destructive, lonely, and desperate.

Selflessness is self-nourishing; people will love you and care for you.

You reap what you sow.

Therefore you must nurture the self interest of the people around you and live generously, skilfully and lovingly; and show genuine concern for all humans and life. The World will recognise your intention and provide you with gifts aplenty.

FUNDAMENTALS ON HANDLING PEOPLE

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain about anybody to anybody! You will only create and nurture resentment immediately or over time. It is very easy to whinge and moan but it won’t get you anywhere, and people will see you as weak and bitter, even though they will probably never say it.

2. Give honest and sincere appreciation and encouragement – there is a difference between praise and flattery, and the magic word is sincerity! Most people can smell a fake, so unless you are a real piece of work, I wouldn’t insult the other person’s intelligence by thinking cheap, and empty flattery will get them on your side, rather they will not take your word seriously and you will lose your authenticity, really quickly.

3. Arouse in others a deep, eager want – let’s be honest – hardwired into the human instinct is the will to survive, to fight, scrape and claw and to become healthy, wealthy and happy. People always want to know what’s in it for them, what are they going to get out of it? Show people that ultimately, your suggested method or idea will benefit them greatly in some way, and you will have a loyal and eager participant.

Nutshell: nobody cares about you, they only care about themselves. So dangle the carrots in front of them – portray possibility of ‘self gain’ and you will have a willing, highly motivated individual at your side.

“It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring”. – Alfred Adler, famous Viennese psychologist.

6 WAYS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE YOU

1. Become genuinely interested in other people – imagine talking to somebody and constantly hearing stories them, listening to them repeat words like, “I”, “ME” over and over and over again.

You may become extremely bored or annoyed. So think about how you communicate with others. People love to talk about themselves and their lives, so show genuine, sincere interest in them and they will love you. Simple.

2. Smile ☺ An ancient Chinese proverb: “A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.” A smile is a universal message of good will, happiness and joy.
Especially in today’s miserable, corporate cities, when almost everybody is wearing a frown or glassy expression, a smile is like a beam or sunshine in torrential rain. A smile costs nothing, but creates a lot!

3. A Person’s name is to them the sweetest, most magnificent word in any language – the average person is more interested in their own name than all the other names in the world put together!

Realize that if you truly remember a person’s name and make a point of remembering it from the very first time you meet them; you have a magic bullet to making people feel really special

4. Be a good listener, encourage others to talk about themselves – give the person your absolute full attention, there is nothing worse than speaking with somebody who is watching something or glazing up at you occasionally whilst engaging in another activity.

Listen with your ears, but also your eyes, hands, posture.

Do not interrupt the person and shatter the flow.

Show enthusiasm, respect, patience, empathy and do not be critical of their opinions, simply try to understand them. And you don’t require any of that piercing ‘soul gazing’, just respect eye contact and do not shy from it – it will show the speaker respect, attention and charm.

5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interest – show interest in the person’s ambitions, life achievements, hobbies, or any other defining subject that is close to that individual’s heart.

I have said it before, but the key is to communicate genuine and sincere interest and enthusiasm about that person.

Some people are hidden treasures of knowledge, wisdom and experience – so let them tell you about themselves, who knows, you may end up making a good friend or learn something new?

6. Make the other person feel important, and do it sincerely – it is one of the defining aspects of what makes us human. We all want to feel important in some way or another, Everyone in the whole entire world wants to feel respected, loved, appreciated… even feared?

As William James once said; “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated”.

The truth is, deep down, the person you are talking to will feel superior to you in some way, and they will size you up and try to find out what they are better at than you.
So the trick is to acknowledge their importance, in any situation, by highlighting their strengths and abilities. Show them that they are valuable, interesting and attractive in some way and let them know about it.

“Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn from him.” Emerson

“Do onto others as you would have others do onto you.”
Jesus

Dominik Zaerin is a level 1 coach at Dax Moy Personal Training Studios, Islington.

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Isn’t that great?

I think we ALL need to remember Dale Carnegie’s lesson and try to apply them daily.

You see, winning friends and influencing people IS in every sense of the phrase what marketing is about. Especially fitness marketing where those friendships and influences can literally change every aspect of a person’s life.

Master Carnegie and you master marketing. Period.

Thanks for the report Dominik, I think this’ll get people thinking : )

Dax Moy
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