One of the reasons I love being a business owner is the accountability.
The path of fitness business ownership is tough, it’s uncertain, and your ability to make decisions is crucial.
Your success all comes back to you and your decisions along that challenging, uncertain journey.
So it goes without saying that you’d want to work on being a better decision maker, right?
Here’s something I fully believe: Being a good decision-maker is the real secret sauce for fitness business success.
And some people are better decision makers than others.
But it’s something that everyone can work on. Everyone.
Build A Fitness Business Support System of Truth-Seekers
Last week I was re-reading one of my favorite books, Annie Duke’s ‘Thinking In Bets’.
And as it happens with great books, a particular point stuck with me more this time than it had before.
Among other things, she writes about ways for us humans to combat our individual cognitive biases to be better decision makers.
One very powerful strategy (which I really love, maybe even too much) is surrounding yourself with what she calls ‘truth seekers’.
Which is just a snazzy term for people who share feedback with each other in order to help recognize and overcome their biases and reach their goals.
Finding a network of individuals who share and commit to that practice – even when it gets a little uncomfortable…
But it’s for the greater good.
That’s a team. To me at least.
From my experience, it’s just not all that common.
That open, honest, truth-seeking, feedback-sharing team culture has always been very important to me. I have to be able to trust the people around me to be willing to tell me what I need to know, not what they think will make me feel good or what I want to hear.
And I’m going to do the same for them.
Build a Fitness Business Culture of Delivering Kindness
One of our Core Values is ‘Deliver Kindness’. It just means that we have a responsibility to tell one another what they need to know, even if it’s uncomfortable.
It means we have to care enough about someone to be willing to go through the discomfort to look out for their best interests.
I’ve always been a little surprised at the number of people who have come to work for us after working in or with other companies and say they’ve never been in a work culture like that.
They’re mind-blown.
And I’ll tell ya this – it ain’t for everybody. I’ve been in business for close to 20 years, and have employed hundreds of people and worked with thousands.
And I’ve seen that not everyone wants feedback. Or wants to give feedback if it makes them uncomfortable.
That’s ok.
They have to find that somewhere else though.
Your Support System Becomes Your Gym Owner Reality-Check Squad
I believe that it’s essential to have a support system of ‘truth-seekers’ to be the best decision maker that you can be, and by extension, the best fitness business owner you can be.
Your own personal reality-check squad.
Do you want to truly understand your gym’s target audience?
I don’t think you can do that until you’ve got some clients (and even former clients) who are willing to be truly candid with you.
Can’t figure out what it is about a service/offer/position that just isn’t clicking with people for some reason?
Your gym’s staff & clients know a lot more than they get credit for. They tend to have some key insights that could help you recognize an assumption you’re making that’s keeping you from solving that lingering challenge – if it’s safe for them to share it with you.
You need people who can question your assumptions, give you honest feedback, and help you see things clearly. Everyone needs it, IMO.
But especially us as fitness business owners.
That’s what good fitness business coaches provide. I’m sure that’s at least part of why Annie’s perspective resonates with me so much.
You know what the main characteristic we look for in vetting our fitness business mastermind members is?
#RiseandGrind vibes.
Ha ha ha…JUST KIDDING! I couldn’t pass it up…
I’m sorry…
It’s truth-seeking. That’s the #1 factor that makes a good member in our system. By FARRRR.
Great members are looking for help spotting their blind spots and weaknesses. They want to be around people who will help point them out. They want to be surrounded by truth-seekers.
Fitness business ownership is tough. And it’s not a road meant to be traveled alone.
And what I mean by that is you’ve got to have a support system that’s heavy on truth-seeking and accountability.
That’s how you, as a business owner, stay sharp. ‘Mentally agile’ as one of my former coaches called it.
That’s how you work on being a better thinker and decision maker.
And that’s what helps you prepare to handle the uncertainty that comes with your position.
Want to grow and develop your own support squad of truth-seekers? Talk directly to a Success Coach to find out how to do that.
