Do you ever think about your limitations?

Do you think there are important aspects of your business you’ll just NEVER be good at?

Selling…Marketing…something else…

You’re just hopeless there, right? 

I talk to gym owners all the time who are convinced that there’s some crucial aspect of their business they’ll just never get…until they do, and their business flourishes like a flower that just started getting water.

Thanks for the water…FINALLY!

These are called limiting beliefs. 

It’s when you believe something to be true that may not be, and that belief causes you to act in a way that limits your potential.

Like when a client believes they’ll never be able to lift a certain weight even when you know they can.

If left to themselves, that client will never push past that belief and will never actually lift that weight. As a trainer, you can easily see how that belief may crush their progress.

They won’t push themselves as hard…

They’ll subconsciously sabotage themselves…

They’ll do whatever it takes to confirm their internal belief because when we strongly believe something, we wrap our entire identity around it…

…Even if doing that hurts us in the long run.

“I’ll never be strong enough to lift that.”

“I’m not a leader, I just run a gym.”

“I shouldn’t have to sell.”

“I suck at marketing.”

These thoughts create a huge gap between where you are and where you want to be.

They can be incredibly hard to spot within ourselves, but if you want your business to fulfill your dreams, it is crucial for you to recognize what they are and how they prevent you from building the business you really want. 

Yesterday in All problems are leadership problems – Part 1, we showed you three aspects of leadership you may not have thought of.

Today you’ll learn how to identify and crush 2 of the most common limiting beliefs we hear from gym owners. 

1. I Suck at Marketing

This one is a primary indicator of the “All Or Nothing” approach. Just like the client who eats one cookie and thinks she destroyed every bit of progress she ever made.

The term “Marketing” is just like the term “Diet”.

You know how your clients think their diet has to be some crazy 1000-calorie plan that requires them to eat 6 times per day at very specific times even though they have to work till 5:30 then take one kid to soccer practice and another to piano lessons? 

What happens to the people who think like that about their diet? 

They never stick to anything if they ever start in the first place and never get any results because they’re too overwhelmed even before they try anything.

Too often gym owners think the same thing about “Marketing”.

Take a look at this clip of Jonathan Price talking about his marketing approach. Pay attention to how he talks about working with his coach, Asa, through his belief that his “marketing sucks” and he “doesn’t do enough”. 

Last month Jonathan had over $30,000 in revenue. Uuuuhhhh…his marketing is f**king working! 

How to Address it

I know of people who do incredibly well with Facebook ads, in-house challenges, and Lunch & Learns and I know others who do very well with none of those things. 

A good leader finds out what works for their business, not someone else’s.

2. I Hate Selling!

You know when a kid hates broccoli and their parents tell them they have to eat one piece and the kid cries and cries but his parents don’t give in and the kid finally realizes he has to eat it and so he verrryyyyy slooooooowwwly picks up the piece of broccoli and before he even puts in his mouth he looks like this:

How to Address it

The key is reframing what you think sales really are. If you believe in the value of your service (and you’d better) then you’re not trying to sell someone a crappy used car. You’re trying to get someone something that is going to HELP THEM! 

I assume that’s why you got into this business in the first place. 

The key is finding a framework for how to talk with people about what you can do for them.

This clip from Joe Rouse of Breakaway Fitness and Performance in Hampstead, NC talks about what he does to highlight how he can help his prospects, instead of blindly following some pre-made script.

These are just two examples of how limiting beliefs can negatively impact important aspects of your business, and how a little thought and self-reflection can allow you to reframe those thoughts into something that can help your business in ways you can’t even imagine.

Justin Hanover
Success Coach, Fitness Revolution

P.S. One consistent truth about limiting beliefs is that most people don’t actually want to know about theirs. 

It’s easier to stay just where they are, think what they think, and do what they do.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably the type of person who DOES want to know. Real leaders and successful business owners actively try to find theirs so they can fix whatever problems they may have caused. 

That’s how businesses grow.

We have a really short questionnaire that will help you find out where yours may be. 

You can take it here –>>>