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Welcome to The Figuring It Out Podcast.
At 22, I took the plunge to go on the entrepreneurial journey and start a fitness business, 7 years later I’d been the nutritionist for 2 elite sports clubs and private coach to some of the worlds best sportsmen and women.
Now it’s my mission to show fitness coaches how you can put yourself in a league of their own, become the go to coach, and finally eliminate the self-doubt and imposter syndrome that's holding you back from building the business of your dreams.
This podcast will help you figure out how to thrive and conquer the fear that comes with the lonely entrepreneurial journey.
If fear is the only thing stopping us from achieving our dreams and we only fear what we don't understand, then the antidote to fear is knowledge.
Speaker 2:All we have to do is find out who
Speaker 1:has the knowledge that we need to conquer our fears and achieve our entrepreneurial dreams. My name is Callum Walker, and welcome to the podcast that will help you figure it out and conquer this lonely entrepreneurial journey.
Speaker 2:Hello, everyone, and welcome to the podcast. So we are in the middle of the sleep series at the moment, but what I'm trying to do is just make sure that as well as all of the information from a sleep point of view, I'm also sharing with you just some little tips that you can use within your own coaching, but then also just within your own life performance from an entrepreneurial point of view. We've had a fabulous weekend. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous weekend. So, I had four, four, five, four or five, five.
Speaker 2:No, four. Four of my clients' coaches, my coaches on the elite coach program. On my program, they came down this weekend. We did a Friday and Saturday stint and yeah, it was so good. It was so, so, so good.
Speaker 2:I think that, do you know what it is? It was really good. Like, you know, we really, we had a clear focus for the day. I really, really like to make sure that when it comes to the, the actual weekends themselves and the actual event, that there is a clear, almost like, not necessarily just process, but outcome. Because I find that when we're all together, the process kind of takes care of itself, but the outcome was really around kind of reviewing like what's, how everything's gone over the last three months, but then also establishing a clear roadmap as to where we want to go over the next quarter and then breaking that down into very, very clear actions.
Speaker 2:And I think that the big thing that really came to me in terms of my own experience over the weekend was understanding. I looked around. I was like, right. I've got four coaches there. One is I've got three of them who are either in or going into their second year with me.
Speaker 2:And I had another one who is now going into his third year with me. Unfortunately, a couple of the others couldn't make it on my top tier one to one. And yeah, I the fact that I've got some clients I've been working with for two, three years, I really started to kinda like dig deep into asking the question like, right. What is it that has caused them to stay in the program this long? What has caused them to stay so long?
Speaker 2:And in terms of retention, because I think that's pretty good retention, to be honest. And I think it comes down to two things. Two things and two things alone. I think that the first one is progression. Coaches make the mistake that when it comes to a client staying on their program, they assume that what their client wants is the results.
Speaker 2:The problem is that actually, if you just go and give them a result and you get everything towards one finite result, that's actually going to harm your retention because they don't need you anymore. And that's my problem with going like, right, I'm just selling weight loss. So mine's a little bit different because I coach coaches to really level themselves up. But if you're working with a client from a weight loss perspective or a performance, sorry, from a weight loss point of view, not necessarily a performance point of view, but if you're working with a client from a weight loss perspective, the problem is, let's say that you're like, you're positioning your program to like, right. The whole goal of working with me is to lose two stone.
Speaker 2:What do you do once they've lost two stone? What happens after that? Now I am certainly not one for going like, right. Okay. You need to keep someone onto the program for longer than they need to have.
Speaker 2:So in terms of a retention strategy, I really don't believe that there are like, Hey, do this to boost your attention because yeah, you might like squeeze an extra month or two months out of someone, but people aren't stupid. I think eventually people come to a point where they're like, I actually don't need this person anymore. And I really do believe that it's kind of against our moral compass to keep someone paying for something that they don't need. Like you wouldn't want to do it. Imagine if you were like paying for something that you really don't need, and then someone's like forcing you to stay on.
Speaker 2:You'd like, Hey, like why are you taking the piss out of me here? Versus I really feel that what we need to do if we really wanna kind of level up our attention is give our clients a reason to fucking stick around. Give them a reason to stay with you. Why why is that retention important? Well, I I've just, you know, got five clients there that I don't need to keep signing up.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the biggest headaches for me, one of the biggest challenges really, really was this. I was constantly having to sign people up just to fill a hole of the client that had left me. And I think one of the big problems that when you, when your retention isn't great, and I promise you I've been there is it's that like, it's that feeling of taking it personally, but only taking it personally when they leave you, you can't help but feel that they're leaving you, not just the program and you question whether that's a reflection of you, but also the, you can't help but take it personally in the terms of that, like they're leaving your business and that fear of the, I've just lost a client and now I've got to go sign someone up just to fill the hole of the client that's just left me, which leaves me feeling like crap because now, like I've got to muster up all of that energy, which is the hardest thing to do to go and find a new client. I've got to muster up all of that energy just to get a new client in, just to fill the financial hole of the client that's just left me.
Speaker 2:Like it's soul destroying and really, really demoralizing. So I do feel that like, you know, in the fitness industry that there is very much just a soul, like almost like a push and drive solely towards sales and marketing, which I think is vital, but they're nowhere near as effective when you've got leaky bucket, like your sales, your marketing, it's not effective when we've got clients leaving me. So in terms of ensuring that you have a solution to your retention, in my opinion is probably the biggest thing that you can do, which will make the biggest impact on your business because you can get clients coming in, but if you've got clients leaving you, then it's kind of pointless. And it's a lesson that I learned from my dad. My dad's been in business for over forty years and you know, he always said to me, he's like, count 85% of my business comes from customers I've had for thirty five years.
Speaker 2:You can't not succeed when you have customers for thirty five years. So what is it that I've done to have retention rates of like that sort of level? Well, the first one is progression. It's getting away from that finite result. It's I looked around the room at, you know, all of the clients and I look at who they were when we first started versus who they are now.
Speaker 2:One, they've dramatically evolved as coaches. They've dramatically evolved as entrepreneurs, but we're solving new problems now. So the problems that we were solving at the start are very different to the problems that we are now solving at the moment, which is progression. And that's why I think that in terms of, you know, really, really being able to maximize your retention, to keep a client for as long of a period of time and have that progression, you have to get clear on progressing towards what. And that's where I think it is about getting away from a goal, getting away from an outcome, getting away from an end destination.
Speaker 2:And actually what you're doing is you're not taking a client to somewhere. You're taking them on a journey. You're taking them on a pursuit, a consistent pursuit that they're moving forward on. So yeah, that's where you then, I think to be able to do that, we have to define what does it mean to be part of my program? And this is where, Russell Brunson talks about this really, really well.
Speaker 2:He talks about it that when it comes to your clients, they're gonna go on two journeys. They're gonna go on the journey of achievement, which is the achievement of a set goal. So for you, in your case, that could be a client losing weight. That could be a client doing a high rocks or whatever it is. So the achievement of a specific thing, but the longer, deeper, more powerful journey that they're actually going on is the journey of transformation.
Speaker 2:Who they're consistently evolving into. So, you know, I look at one of my clients, she's amazing. She really, really, my God. Mean, talk about inspirational. So Sam, she, you know, when we first started only twelve months ago, no, fourteen months ago, you know, she was genuinely going to close her business down.
Speaker 2:She was in a place where she was just like, I don't know if I can kind of do this anymore because the results that I'm getting, you know, my clients are leaving me. I feel this imposter syndrome, this self doubt. And yeah, she was genuinely going to close her business because the problem wasn't getting more clients. The problem was that she, she almost felt that like dirty getting more clients because she wasn't able to fully deliver on the result that they paid for in a way that sat well with her. And that's when we first started.
Speaker 2:So the first problem that we needed to overcome was giving her a step by step process to be able to deliver a result on a scale that she never thought possible. That was the initial journey that we went on. But then once she'd done that, she then got herself fully booked. So within the space of about probably seven months, she'd gone from wanting to close her business down because she was scared that she would, she couldn't get results to fully booked. So the next problem was like, what do I do now?
Speaker 2:So she went and opened her new facility. So she's got like this massive gym. It's honestly unbelievable. And she opened it with, so it's a semi private personal training facility. And the question was then, how do I deliver this same level of service on a group basis to scale it to forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty people without compromising the service?
Speaker 2:And then how do I grow this thing? So So we've got a new problem and I can help her with that. So I think that again, like the, the key thing within this is making sure that when we're looking at that, that element of retention, get clear on the progression. So for you, how does this apply to it? I get away from being a weight loss coach.
Speaker 2:Get away from being a weight loss coach. Yeah, absolutely. Weight loss is a part of what you're doing. You are helping people lose weight, but don't have the weight loss as the end goal. You're helping people lose weight to perform better in life.
Speaker 2:So really, feel that as a coach, the key way to take advantage of that progression is to stop selling weight loss and start selling performance. What does that mean? I mean, through life. So it's showing people how you can use health and fitness as a vehicle to become the best version of themselves so that they can start exercising better, sleeping better, eating better, you know, being more mindful at a higher level so that they can improve the quality of person that they can be for their family, for their friends, for their profession. And the thing is that weight loss is finite, but performance is infinite.
Speaker 2:You can always perform better. You can always eat better. You can always sleep better. You can always train better. You can always be more mindful.
Speaker 2:You can always perform better, which means that you can always progress. So I think really that that's where we need to kind of get deep and really, really get clear on like, right. Why does this person actually want to get healthy in the first place? What is it that I want to stand for? What do I want my program to what's the journey that I want my program to be for someone?
Speaker 2:That's what it needs to be for me. What is the journey that whether it's on my next level coach membership, whether it's on my elite coach, private one to one coaching with me. It's all about becoming the best version of yourself that you can be as a fitness entrepreneur. It's about being that individual growing your business by becoming the best coach you can possibly be by having absolute bulletproof confidence in the coaching that you are delivering. Having bulletproof confidence in the stuff that you actually want to be talking about your client journey.
Speaker 2:And you're building that, that program that you want to build. And that is never ending. So I look around the room at all of the people that, have been with me for so long. They've all massively progressed. They've progressed in that and they are constantly getting better and better and better and better.
Speaker 2:So I think the first secret to retention is progression. Progression. Absolutely. And the second one, which comes down to my clients. Again, she articulated it perfectly for me.
Speaker 2:She articulated it for me on her first ever group call And she articulated it perfectly for me on the most recent, well, they used to be called team success weekends, but now they're called get shit done weekends because it's all about just getting stuff done. And she articulated it then when she was up for renewal for the second year. And the best ever bit of feedback I got, which is why my retention is so good, was she jumped on the call and I asked for some feedback. So it was a a group drop in session. So my, on my elite coach private coaching, but also, on my second tier of my next level coach program, there is I do, drop in sessions.
Speaker 2:So we have a weekly drop in session. So where everyone comes on and they can just get their problems answered, they can mingle with, everyone else. And I asked her on her first one. I was like, what what feedback have you got? And she said, it's the best bit of feedback I ever got.
Speaker 2:It is so nice to see I'm not the only person experiencing this problem. Boom. Boom. That is what your people want. Because you know this as a coach.
Speaker 2:You know this as an entrepreneur. It's fucking lonely, man. That is so lonely. Running a business is lonely. Running a coaching business is lonely.
Speaker 2:Finding your tribe of individuals is hard. You know, I've got a few a few of the coaches, the majority of coaches who are on my program, they've been in mentorships beforehand, and they found that it just wasn't their people. It wasn't their people. Which brings me to the second retention secret, which is community. They stay, they come for the result, they stay for the community and the progression.
Speaker 2:But they progress together as a community. That's the secret. Because she then said when she was up for renewal, she's just like, I just couldn't think of ever leaving this group. Like, this community, these weekends are so valuable to me. I'm with my people.
Speaker 2:I'm helping others out and I'm being helped by others who understand me. Because that's the real secret to coaching. That what people really want is they wanna feel understood, understood by the coach. So first of all, we need to connect with our clients in a way that they feel understood. The only way to do that is to actually understand them.
Speaker 2:And then secondly, they need to be around other individuals that understand them. How do you do that? By making sure that everyone's in the same boat. Yeah. Everyone has their own personalized, personalized program, but we're all on the same journey.
Speaker 2:So really I then come back to what does it mean to be part of my program? What it means is that, yeah, you are all here fundamentally to better your business, but how do you do it? By becoming the best coach that you can possibly be by removing that self doubt, that imposter syndrome, by knowing that I really am good enough. And the reason why I know that I'm good enough is because I am good enough. Not because I've done loads of mantras saying you're good enough.
Speaker 2:You're good enough. You're good enough. Like those are important, but they're important as a trigger to get you to take the actions to make you good enough. That's how that stuff works. So in terms of the the real secret is progressing as a community, progressing with the community, how you do that, getting clear on who you wanna work with, getting clear on what your program stands for.
Speaker 2:Because there's a third reason why this is so important. It's not just about the money. It's not just about the self doubt that comes with clients leaving you, the the financial impact of clients leaving you. Oh my god. Like, as soon as my guys left on Saturday, I had Marvin Gaye.
Speaker 2:I had I had Diana Ross. Like, they were so loud in the office. I was dancing like a I was a maniac. I was like, fling around. It's like, if you've ever seen Love Actually, you know, when Hugh Grant's like doing the dance.
Speaker 2:I was literally like that. Why? Not because my clients had just left. If any of you are leaving, I promise you it wasn't for that. I'm listening.
Speaker 2:I promise you it wasn't for that reason. But it's because I was like, yes, this is it. And if you've listened to any of my podcasts when I have come on off the back of a weekend with my clients, I've always said the same thing. This is what reminds me of why I do this. That's the thing that gets me on fire.
Speaker 2:That's the thing that gets me so excited. And I was like, yes, because you have your people because you are lonely. We are lonely. So not only can we overcome that loneliness by surrounding ourselves with other people, but making sure that our clients are on the same journey and our clients are our people. It's a secret.
Speaker 2:That's the secret. And I promise you, I'm going to say out of all of the things I've done in business, whether that be, speaking on stages, working with professional athletes, leveling up my sales and my marketing, getting clear on who I want to work with and then working with them in a way that I want to work with them is the best thing that I have ever done in my business and the most important thing by far. Because I think that there comes a point where you can lose your mojo. That's not that I think. You definitely, definitely do.
Speaker 2:You lose your mojo, you lose that momentum and I think that the momentum and the mojo goes when you lose excitement And whenever I've lost excitement, the work that I'm doing with the people that I'm doing it with hasn't excited me. So what has always got me back on track, got me out of the hole, got my momentum and mojo back, is really thinking, like, how do I wanna spend my time in my business? Who do I wanna spend my time with in doing that? So there we go. Alright.
Speaker 2:Don't forget, if every one of your clients gave you just one new client, you've doubled your business.