“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

-Winston Churchill

Over the past two decades I have worked with four different personal trainers. Three of the relationships were relatively short-term, and one has been long-term and continues to this day.

At first glance, this seems typical. After all, service providers tend to vary in their training and approach – it doesn’t seem unusual that I might tap the skills of more than one to find a good fit.

What is unusual, though, is that all four of the trainers are highly knowledgeable, highly qualified and to a large extent have me do many of the same exercises!

So why did the first three relationships not last while the fourth has lasted for years? To a large degree they all produced decent results – why do I have no interest in supporting the first three?

The reasons is this: Even though they were great people and I enjoyed them, I knew that they simply wanted to do the time and collect the money.

The Difference Intention Makes

Of course they never said they just wanted to do their time, but they didn’t need to say it for me to know it. The difference was all in their intention.

My first three trainers did their job, but not much more. They showed up, trained me, cracked a few jokes and left. I never really felt like they wanted to make a difference. They did what was expected, going through the motions with the primary intention of getting through the hour, making some money and getting on to the next cash cow.

Let me be clear: there’s nothing wrong with making money. In fact, I’m a huge fan of money. As Zig Ziglar said, “Money isn’t everything, but its ranks up there with oxygen.” But when money is your primary motivator, your business always feels like running on a treadmill – to make more money you must continually turn up the speed, always looking for the next customer, the next sale, the next deal.

When your primary motivator is about truly making a difference and about delivering extraordinary results for the people you serve – when you really care, in other words – business becomes a real pleasure. When your intention is right, the rest of the world wants their friends to enjoy the experience that they got to enjoy with you. That’s when the excellence of your work become not only your brand, but your primary business development source.

Even after years of working together, my present trainer Mike Finigan trains me with the same intensity as the day we started. He constantly challenges me to set fitness goals, and inquires about my diet and any medical appointments. He gives me books to read to deepen my knowledge. He shops on my behalf for supplements and exercise equipment. He creates written training programs for when I’m on the road, and always wants to know how many workouts I’m going to do while traveling. He’s even created fitness and exercise videos that he provided at no charge to our coaching members.

Of all these which activities, though, which does he get directly paid for? When he is actually training me.What does he indirectly get paid for? All of them. Mike has the right intention. He’s trying to make a difference. He cares about me, and is passionate about his business. As a result, he gets my referrals.

Why can two people do the same thing and produce substantially different results? One is trying to earn a living and the other is trying to make a difference.

“If you want more from your customers… give more to your customers.
If you want more from your business… give more to your business.
If you want more from your life… give more to your life.”

-Richard Robbins

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