Fitness Industry Challenge

Here’s the conclusion to Dax and my conversation. He’s issued a challenge and I accepted…
…will you?

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“Why not?” I asked, worry evident in my voice as he continued. “Well, because I’m going to ask you to do the very same thing that you want the rest of the industry to do… take action!” “Not a problem my friend” I replied “I’ve gotten to the point where I regularly take action on my ideas.”

“Yes, but most of those ideas and actions are now well within your comfort zone, correct?”

“Well… I guess. They certainly don’t scare me the way they used to.” “And that’s the problem mate.” Said Dax “You see, compared to the industry we’re trying to influence, you, I and the other six-figure earners are now seen as ‘comfortable’. You know, the people who read our stuff or who listen to our audios and attend our seminars think that we’re rolling in money and that everything we touch turns to gold.” “But that’s not true!” I replied “Yes, I do very well for myself by comparison to the rest of the fitness  industry, but I’ve worked hard to get here and every new project is a flight into the unknown. It’s the same for all the guys I know.

None of them has their success handed to them and all of them take a lot of risks and soak up a lot of failures too.” “I know that and you know that, but the truth of the matter is, compared to most of this industry, we’re seen as super-successful, privileged and ‘different’. To most, whilst our pay-packets are much bigger,they see the risks we take as somehow smaller than theirs” He went on, “So, if we’re going to ask the industry to take action on things that are outside of their normal comfort zones, I think we’re going to have to do the same.” I now knew why he said I wasn’t going to like it. Dax was planning something that, in all likelihood, was going to stretch me more than I’d become accustomed to recently. But what was it? “What is it you want me to do, Dax?” I asked.

“Not so fast Pat. A little background is needed first if you will…” was his reply. He then proceeded to ask me about my various products, how much they cost, how many had sold, what my profit was and in no time at all had almost as good a profit and loss statement of my business as I had. “These aren’t B.S figures?” He asked. “What do you mean?” I replied. “You know, those magic marketing dollars that appear on websites and such ‘I earned $50,000,000 in 3 hours selling a little known secret left to me from a favorite aunt’ type of thing” he said “I mean are these honest-and-for-true dollars that you ACTUALLY made?” I ‘got’ him now “Yes, they’re real. They’re not hype-marketing dollars” I replied.

“Good! We can’t afford for hype and B.S to come into the test. If it’s going to be a fair one, we need to accurately measure responses based purely upon the facts. No hype, no marketing crap, just a plain and simple assessment of whether or not the fitness industry will take action or if they’re too lazy to do so.”

By this point I was getting a little frustrated and said “But I’m still not clear on what you want me to do!” I’m not ashamed to say that what came next, shocked,stunned and, well, terrified me. “Ok Pat, here’s what I want you to do my friend… give it away.” was the simple statement that got me.

I thought I’d misheard. “You want me to do WHATT??!!” “Give it away mate.” he repeated. Now, for those of you that know me personally, you’ll know that I’m a pretty calm, even, centered person, not given over to outbursts but I guess the shock, no,the utter stupidity of the idea just got to me. “Are you nuts??!! Why would I want to give away the very stuff that has already made me over $125,000 and is likely to make me even more in the next year or so.

You call this marketing?” “No Pat, I don’t” he replied “I don’t call this marketing at all. I call this walking your talk.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “Pat, I’ve only known you for just over six months and in that time I like to think we’ve become pretty good friends. You’ve told me time and again what’s wrong with the industry and you’ve told me time and again that ‘something has to change’ in order for it to grow right?” “Yes, but how it THIS change?” “I learned a long time ago that whenever someone says ‘they ought to do something about that’, that they use ‘they’ to mean someone other than themselves. In essence, they absolve themselves of the responsibility for change by creating a ‘they’ who, in some fictional world is responsible for the problem. We all do it from time to time, but some more than others.” “Go on…” “Well, the ‘they’ in the eyes of the industry are us.

The very people who’re writing the books, giving the talks and making the money. It stands to reason then that if the industry is going to change that it needs to start at the top and filter down” “But how does giving all my stuff away create the kind of change you’re talking about?”

I asked “It doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that’s going to lead to action.” “You’re right, but remember our first aim here was to see if PT’s were too lazy to take the action required to be successful. If you lower the hurdles to the floor and they still don’t take action then you know that it’s laziness and nothing else that’s holding them up. At the very least, you can use what you learn to create a ‘Too damned lazy to get off your ass’ PT marketing guide” he joked. “But giving it all away, that’s a big step Dax. I’m not sure what it’ll actually achieve. Couldn’t I just write a report and give that away?”

I asked. “C’mon Pat, that’s not the way to grow… besides, I’ve got a plan!” He said cheerily. “You’re not actually going to give it away for nothing.”

“Oh, I got it, a sale!” I said, cheering up slightly myself.

“Oh no mate, not a sale. That’ll serve no-one. That’s just marketing. A money-making process. No, you’re going to let them name their own price.” I still can’t believe it but I was stunned for the second time in 5 minutes. “Name their own price?? But some of these products are selling for hundreds of dollars! I can’t just let people name their own price!”

“Can’t, or won’t?” he asked and brought me crashingdown to earth. “The truth of the matter is that you CAN let people name their own price my friend, it’s just a case of WILL you? In essence, it’s the same question we’re asking the fitness industry isn’t it? WILL you take action on your success?

There’s no ‘can’ or can’t’ about it is there? Every single trainer out there CAN, but will they?” So here I am at this point in the proceedings trying to actually ‘walk my talk’ and taking part in Dax’s little experiment.

I’ve got to say that I’m more than a little uncomfortable with the idea and worried about what the outcome may be, yet at the same time I’m intrigued to find out whether Dax’s assertion that most failure is merely a result of ‘lazy thinking’ is correct or not. But I guess there’s only one way to find out and that’s to take the leap right?

So here’s what I’m going to do. For the next 48 hours I’m going to let my all of my subscribers email me directly at pat@fitnessconsultinggroup.com and name their own price for the entire bundle of products on the fitness industry including:

Fitness Riches – the best selling book on the business of fitness of all time ($49).

The PT Business Action Plan – the same tools that we use with all of our coaching clients and in our own business ($49).

The Referral Manual – 23 referral systems that you can plug into your business today ($27).

There’ll be no haggling, no bartering, no back and forth emailing, I’ll (I still can’t believe this) accept your ‘bid’ for the lot and send you the link for the downloads. Those who take action will be getting a bundle of tried and tested personal trainer success systems that are worth over $125 for whatever they feel is a fair price.

There’s another cost too.
I want you to include in your email EXACTLY how much you intend to make in the next 12 months as a result of USING (not just reading) what I send you.

Remember, this ‘experiment’ is about action, so it’s important to me to know that those who get their hands on the materials will actually do something with what they read rather than sticking it on their shelf and forgetting about it. So that’s it!

That’s all there is to do. It’s the lowest possible hurdle you could imagine really. Name your own price for an entire library of materials that have already helped over a thousand trainers around the world to generate new business and greater profits, send me an email with your bid and method of payment at pat@fitnessconsultinggroup.com before midnight on Saturday and I’ll send you the whole lot for that exact sum, no haggling. Well, that’s it.

That’s all you have to do. But will you? We’ll soon see! : )

Pat

P.S – Dax reckons that I won’t get more than a handful of emails as everyone will be waiting for some kind of ‘catch’ or upsell or, well, something. There’s none of that ‘waiting in the wings’. Just send me the email, name your price and it’s all yours.

P.P.S – I’ll be reporting back on Monday to tell you whether Dax’s ‘Lazy Ass’ theory was right or not…