I was recently a guest at an entrepreneur event here in Phoenix with a small group of high-level business owners. A mastermind for all intents and purposes.
What I thought was interesting, yet not surprising, is that not just anyone can join this group. You can apply, but there are a number of qualifications that their board looks at to deem inclusion. Things like business revenue, community contributions, mission/vision/values, etc.
They pride themselves on helping all of their members significantly increase their personal and professional growth…
So much so, that it makes sense that they’d want to find the right type of members whom they’re confident can succeed within their model.
If they let in just anyone willing to pay, they’d be left with a bunch of tire kickers and a bad reputation.
As a young personal trainer 15+ years ago, I realized very quickly that it was in my best interest to be somewhat selective about who I took on as a client. The last thing I wanted was to work with someone who talked incessantly and/or was physically/mentally incapable of pushing themselves in the gym.
Even worse were the clients whose energy was so negative and depressing that they always left me in an awful mood. We called these “energy vampires”.
Now, we have a thorough interview process prior to enrolling a client.
This qualification process has been an important part of how we’ve grown our business as a way to make sure that we’re doing three things:
1. Ensuring that we have the tools to support you and can clearly envision the roadmap for how we’re going to work together to get great results. If we don’t think we’re right to help, we simply refer to someone whom we know is better suited.
2. Ensuring that you’re the right type of person for our program: that you’re actually committed to making change, willing to put in the work, are positive and fun to work with, and willing to invest in your success.
3. Ensuring that we’re the right fit for you. You should feel confident and comfortable with your coach and excited about the connection and your future success.
Most initial conversations I have with prospective clients don’t lead to a follow-up call because I can tell it wouldn’t be the right fit.
In fact, here’s a follow-up conversation I had with a gentleman just a couple of weeks ago who didn’t end up being the right fit for our program.
He was a referral from a current client, and could absolutely afford our services, but had canceled multiple calls with me at the last minute.
That’s a huge red flag for me that he’s just not ready for the type of commitment that we require to ensure success. The last thing I want is for him to sign up, never show up for himself or us, and then complain about the results he didn’t get from the work he didn’t do.
We only want to get the best results which requires a certain type of person as we guarantee those results – we call these individuals “Invested Improvers”
An invested improver is someone who is driven to leverage education, experience, and efficiency to increase the velocity of achieving what they want.
They know what they want, they’re willing to work hard for it, and they value their time (and our time) and energy enough to expedite the process by hiring the right people to help them expedite the process.
I’m curious…do you have a qualification process in place for choosing who you work with?
What about who you choose to surround yourself with?
Since we can probably agree that we all deserve the best…
What if we all took the time and effort to qualify more people and things in our lives? Our friendships? Our job? Our partners? Our food?
What if you actively removed some of the “energy vampires” from your life and/or considered only surrounding yourself with people and things that you know will help you succeed?
Get intentional about what you want and who can help you get there and then execute relentlessly and unapologetically…
And don’t hesitate to let me know if we can support you along the way.
Your Coach,
Ben
