Aug 11
18
Write Your Own F*****g Rules
“I’m starting a new (insert name) class, what time would suit you best?”
Sound familiar?
“Hey (Insert YOUR name) I know you’re busy but…..”
“Oh I can’t do that time, can you do the weekend? as that suits me better”
Nodding again right?
Yup, I thought so. You see, in this wonderful profession of ours I hear and hear this waaaaay to often and it makes me a little sad.
Why?
It’s the fastest way to burn out and the fastest way to get drained of your energy and your passion.
We have the GREATEST job in the WORLD right?
Yet it pains me, in fact, scratch that- it HURTS me to see so many trainers BITCHING and WHINING when I’m both on tour, at other events and on social media platforms.
Like seriously whining, like they’ve had the shit kicked out of them.
So is it your fault that you’re tired, stressed and pissed off?
Normally (you know me, I say what I think) I’d say yes, but in fact it isn’t really. O
Or is it?
Yes- it is, because you’re letting it happen and NO- because NOBODY teaches this stuff.
The REAL problem?
You let other people (your clients and prospects) control your life and when you can have one.
So much so, that if you think about it- you don’t actually run a business at all- your business runs you.
Don’t start cursing me yet, I’ve been there and want to help you.
You plan your holidays around classes; you don’t get paid when you’re on those holidays.
You start a class on a Friday night –‘ due to requests’, when you’d rather be spending your time with friends and family.
You take on a Sunday morning client or lass when you’d MUCH rather be having a lie in with your partner because you could ‘do with the extra cash’.
You get pissed off when people don’t listen to your advice but then complain when they don’t get results.
You answer texts about nutrition and stuff on a Saturday night or when you’re out with friends because you ‘want to help’
You seem to constantly dish out free advice that the same people then go and do the complete opposite to what you told them.
When Friday comes you’re totally shattered and you haven’t even started your ‘admin’ yet.
Some of those HAVE to sound familiar right?
How do I know all this? Am I just a bigheaded asshole?
PROBABLY.
No really, I know this because I’ve been there too.
Its tough.
I’ve worked from 6am till 9pm (in fact sometimes I still do, I’ll explain later)
I’ve missed out on things I wanted to do because I ‘had a class’ or I ‘had a client’
You know the deal.
Sure you have bills to pay but I promise you, there’s a better day.
It’s as simple as this.
WRITE YOUR OWN RULS.
Sounds easy enough right?
Yet I know most of you wont do it, in case you ‘lose clients’
I can guarantee that if you do, do it though, that it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
It really is that powerful.
You wanna see mine? Rules that is!
Okay here they are J
Now I must warn you, you might not agree with some of them, they may come across as arrogant and self centered, you may dislike my for it (if you don’t dislike me already) but they’re my rules and I work my ass off to be able to provide my family and myself with the lifestyle that I DESIGN.
So if it makes me a few enemies, so be it. I can handle that.
PAULS RULES OF BUSINESS
IF I DON’T ENJOY OR I’M NOT GOOD AT IT- I DON’T DO IT
Sounds good right? The way I look at it is like this. I’m good at teaching, motivating, writing and creating. I SUCK at all of the other stuff.
So if I get someone else in to do the other stuff then it frees me up to do the things I LOVE, the things I’m GOOD at and the things that take me closer to my perfect day (earn money and give me more time with my family)
If you HATE doing your accounts? why not just get someone else to do em? they’d be better at it too 
I SET MY SCHEDULE
I want to spend as much time as I can with my son. But I LOVE training people and coaching trainers to create a kick ass life. I find a balance between these two to work like this:
Wednesday and Friday are ‘stuff days’ this is when I teach sessions, do consults, do calls, write and do videos. NOTE- I chunk these together IE do all my calls back to back.
Thursday is ‘development day’ this is when I do things that BUILD my business to move it forward.
Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are ‘daddy days’ here I do what the hell I want, and I spend time with my boy. MOST of the time.
Sometimes in building my dream I have to travel. But 90% of the time, my week looks like that
MY PHONE IS OFF AFTER 5PM and is OFF all weekend.
That’s just the way it is. I need to recharge my brain and I’d HATE to be the dad/husband that’s always on his phone.
Wanna piss me off quickly- text me on a weekend about ‘work’ when I’m with my friends and family 
I recently went 3 MONTHS with no phone at all- VERY liberating.
I CHECK MY EMAIL TWICE PER DAY
It makes me more productive
IF AN EMAIL TAKES MORE THAN 3 SENTENCES OR DOESN’T HAVE A TEMPLATED ANSWER- IT GETS IGNORED
UNLESS IT’S FROM A PAYING CLIENT.
Nothing worse than people wanting LOTS of free advice then ignoring it. I’ve experienced it too many times.If i answered all of of my emails i SERIOUSLY wouldn’t have time to do anything else.
NO DICKS
I spoke about this already but let me recap:
Yup- if you’re dick, I wont work with you REGARDLESS of how much you offer to pay me. That goes for ALL ASPECTS of my LIFE. Not just business
Dicks include negative people, whiners, people who think the world owes them a living, lazy people, rude people and just plain dicks.
EVERYTHING I DO MUST FIT IN WITH MY VISION OR BIGGER PICTURE.
No exceptions, it NOT about money at all. Its about being able to do what I want, with who I want whilst HELPING AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. If it doesn’t fit with me both on a ‘I ENJOY DOING THIS’ basis and a ‘IT FITS WITH MY PERFECT DAY’ then there’s no way i;m doing it- regardless of how much money I’m offered
ALWAYS DO THINGS THAT I ENJOY OUTSIDE OF BUSINESS
For instance I LOVE watching football. I planned my last 2 tours around me being able to watch my team. That’s my VICE.
ASK FOR HELP FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BETTER THAN ME
I ALWAYS email/phone people if I’m stuck. I DON’T know it al, believe it or nor . I’m lucky to count some of the top names in the fitness world as friend so if I have a client with a problem I cant fix, I ask. If I have a problem in business or personal development- I ask.
DON’T WASTE ENERGY ON PEOPLE FOR MONEY
If someone wants a refund- give them one. Regardless of whether they’ve followed the plan- they’re gonna bad mouth you if you don’t and you don’t need the negativity of arguing.
NEVER THINK I’VE MADE IT- CONSTANTLY IMPROVE
I LOVE reading and I LOVE learning. This is super important to me, especially since I help make people better at what they do and I help get people in phenomenal health.
PAY IT FORWARD
If somebody helps me out and I can’t help them in return, I’ll pay it forward to someone else. I let someone on my mentoring program for free this year after Dax Moy helped me out with something for free.
ALWAYS LOOK TO ADD VALUE- NEVER DISCOUNT
This is huge for me. Blow people away with better service and better quality. Don’t devalue what you do.
CHARGE WHAT YOUR WORTH
Don’t charge what everyone else is. SIMPLE. EVERYTIME you do a course or workshop that makes you a better trainer, raise your prices.
NEVER READ FACEBOOK MESSAGES
If I answered all of the FB messages I got, I’d spend 23 hours day on it. This is the NO 1 place for people looking for free advice they can ignore. CAN IT.
NEVER EVER TRY TO BE SOMEONE I’M NOT
Sure I may offend people, I may piss them off- I have bad language but it’s who I am. You gotta stay true to yourself. Some people maye remove me from facebook or bad mouth me, but they’d never be a good fit for me business wise or personally, so I don’t worry about it.
I hear of people having a pop at me all of the time, usually those that are struggling to make any money, but hey I cant let that affect me right?
NEW RULE AS OF JULY 2011
Dont let business get in the way of my health. I don’t want to be a fat dad. I don’t want to be a fat trainer. Its tough to balance success business wise with being in shape but I’M DOING IT FROM NOW
NEW RULE AS OF AUGUST 2011
WAKE UP IN THE MORNING AND DO THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY
I used to wake up to be productive. Sure, I love training people but being with my son makes me happy, taking care of my health makes me happy, reading makes me happy. So I spend the first 3 hours of my day doing that instead of chasing money.
I have more but this article is getting a little long and my fingers are hurting J
I hope its inspired you to take actions- GO WRITE YOUROWN RULES!
