Community Builders Speak Series: Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe

This Community Builders Speak Series was inspired by the first article I wrote a couple of weeks back on The What, Why and How of Community Building. I have had the privilege to meet amazing people in the fitness and wellness space in the last two years and I wanted to highlight what these self-employed individuals understood as Community Building and how they were building Community in their respective businesses.

I am hoping that by speaking to these entrepreneurs/business owners and sharing their story, it can bring greater relevance to others, and will inspire and motivate others to understand the true meaning of Community Building, from a non-social services and non-sales angled approach.

Many are already building Community with their client and follower base, but they do not even know it! This series is for you to learn from different individuals in different practices, and apply it to our own situations, and hopefully reap the benefits from it.

Farreez Rosman — Personal Trainer

Today I speak to Farreez Rosman who is a Personal Trainer. I first met Farreez when I was General Manager at Core Collective. First impressions were great, where his personality, drive, and code of conduct towards training his clients struck me as outstanding. He was also evidently one of the hardest working trainers on the gym floor. Fast forward two years and we’re having this conversation on building Community!

Below is our conversation that has been transcribed and edited for you.

Tell me more about yourself

I have been a Personal Trainer for nine years already. I have always loved sports since my school days, where I played competitive rugby in school and represented Singapore in my youth. My first job was in a commercial gym and this role was someone responsible for cleaning the gym and putting weights back for users if they were not returned. Hours were long depending on the shift, and I could start at 6am and end at midnight. But I worked hard and put in the hours for a larger paycheck at the end of the month.

It was actually my manager who encouraged me to be a personal trainer and he told me that if I worked just as hard and put in the same number of hours with clients, I would be able to upgrade my lifestyle and have a comfortable salary. I always compared how well paid the different staff at the gym were by what they ate during their meal breaks. While I was eating plain bread brought from home, there were others eating fast food, which to me was a luxury. This motivated me to want to change my life and to upgrade. I enrolled to take the personal trainer certification but failed twice before only clearing the third time. This was after much coaching and mentoring (and scolding!) from my then manager.

My first year as a personal trainer in the commercial gym was game-changing because my monthly income doubled and tripled. My manager continued to mentor and coach me on how I could be a better personal trainer. In fact, he was the one that convinced me that sales was a skillset I needed to work on if I wanted to get more clients.

Everything paid off well because within a year I was already consistently the top three performers in the gym. I spent a total of four years in the same commercial gym and another three years in a large boutique outfit, before I left to be on my own.

Clients that have been with me from day one, have been with me through thick and thin and are still training with me, even though my price has almost doubled from when I first started.

Why do you think clients have stayed with you all these years?

I am a very reliable person, so naturally I am also a very reliable personal trainer. I am honest in what I tell my clients and in everything that I do with them. This means to say that if there is something that I do not know, I will say I do not know. And if they want to achieve an unrealistic goal or target, I will also be honest and tell them it is not possible. My clients trust me because I am real and genuine.

Many of my clients have been through hard times in their career and personal life, going through thick and thin with me all these years. If they were financially unable to commit to my sessions, I would still train them for free until they cleared their rough patch. I am willing to take that leap of trust with my clients, the same way they trust me.

Also, I like to call myself a “Yes-man”. Because I feel that it is important for building relationships and I have since been able to build this Community of clients. I am more than a personal trainer. I am a confidante, dog-walker, house-mover, baby-sitter and more. I make sure that I bring more to the table because I know that there are hundreds, if not thousands out there who could fill my spot any minute.

How do you think you have been successful in building Community so far?

My clients on-hand are my Community.

The way I have approached this personal trainer and client relationship from the beginning has always been a very open and transparent one. My clients know of my personal life and some personal struggles. In fact, many of them were at my wedding to celebrate with me and my wife. Clients are also open, and they share whatever they feel comfortable to share with me. I have been to all their homes before either to train them or to help them with a home errand, so that physical barrier also has been broken. We are able to communicate on a deeper level.

One thing I am very proud of having started and maintained is a whatsapp chatgroup of close to fifty (every single one) of my clients. All my clients know each other because my bootcamp sessions and online group training sessions give them more avenues to connect and chat.

The Community stays connected and strong because they are engaged not just when I meet them for their private sessions, but also when information is pushed out in the chatgroup and when I have my group sessions.

Have you thought of branding a company instead of branding yourself for your personal training business?

It has always been my goal to build a team and to be able to have more trainers who share my same personal values and code of excellence towards training clients. These trainers could be employees, or they could be partners, but whatever it is, we will have to always start off by talking about common goals, working and communication styles, and to align expectations and values. It is not good enough to say, “let’s go with the flow and see where that takes us”. I have seen too many partnerships go wrong because they did not start on the right footing and it ends up being a waste of everybody’s time. Time is a resource and time is money.

I work seven days a week, from 6am to 9pm on weekdays and 6am to 2pm on weekends. Having the right people to also share in this diligence is something that I am looking to build. Once that happens, I will be able to teach and train them everything that I know, from nutrition to mindset, and I will be able to take a more strategic role and grow the projects that we will start and lead in this fitness/training space.

How did you figure these were the things you needed to do to be successful in building Community? When did you find the “magic formula”?

The moment I made the decision to leave full-time employment in the gym to be on my own, I already knew it was me against the world. I needed to make myself stand out from the crowd and to take myself to the next level. I invested in myself by attending motivational seminars and also equipped myself with social media marketing and branding skills.

Clients come to me for various reasons. Some are looking to change their lifestyle, some are looking for transformation, some for weight loss, and some just for a training partner and a weekly fitness maintenance programme.

Since day one, I have always made sure that the time I have with my client is the best experience every single session and every single hour. That’s when word-of-mouth come in because they have such a good experience that they want to share it with their friends as well.

I managed to move from 60 hours per month to 150 hours per month because my focus was on the client. Clients feel taken care of and happy because they meet the goals we set together. Personal training is not just the one hour I spend with them on the gym floor. It goes into consultations, and the “behind the scenes time” which make the difference. From remembering clients’ children’s birthdays to helping clients shift house or move office, it is the little things that count and what clients remember and appreciate you for.

There is no “magic formula”. It is pure hard work and understanding my clients that has led to the organic growth of my Community.

What challenges did you encounter along the way?

Seeing the numbers not increase in the initial stages was stressful. But I am way past that stage, and I have hard work, an excellent work ethic and perseverance to thank for that.

Circuit breaker was a challenging period because I could not have my face-to-face time with my clients. The amazing thing was that some clients continued to be supportive and were still paying me during Circuit Breaker because they knew personal training was my livelihood. I am extremely thankful and blessed to have such wonderful clients.

I also took the time to reinvent myself and to ask myself what more I could do. This of course included more self-help seminars and workshops that I attended online.

I think my next challenge would be on growing the team and the challenges that come with management of a team.

How important is building Community to be a successful PT?

Your Community are your clients and for some, your potential clients as well. It is THE most important thing to do and make sure you get right.

Firstly, take your time to understand your value. Be self-aware to know what you can (or cannot) do. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Only then can you define the unique value that you can bring to the Community that you want to build.

The economy can be bad, but why are some trainers still doing just as well or maybe even better? It is because they have the Community that they’ve built over the months and years.

Tips to begin for any self-starter and personal trainer wanting to be self employed

Before you make the decision to leave full-time employment in a gym, you must look into your existing client database and set realistic goals. Ask yourself difficult questions of where you are at the moment and where do you want to be and how are you going to get there.

Write things down and work the numbers before taking the plunge to be self-employed. I always write things down because I feel it helps me put my thoughts together in a mind map.

New clients will come as referrals from the core clients if you are doing a good job. Learn about social media platforms and tools. Learn how to sell, negotiate and close new clients. These are all skills that you can improve on.

I sometimes choose to put myself in uncomfortable situations and Invite myself to social gatherings or business meetings of my clients so that I can meet their friends who could be my potential clients. I also attend events to network to help generate more leads for myself.

At the end of the day, your vibe attracts your tribe.

Parting Words

Personal training is a people profession. You need to love people and you need to enjoy building relationships. Only then can you actually care for the business and most importantly your clients.

The value you are able to provide for must be many folds the value your client pays for your time and service.

Be well read and well informed so can discuss current affairs, trending topics, and even politics!

Read about and understand what successful people are doing. Mirror their actions and decision-making process. At least even if you don’t get there you will improve yourself!

About Alex Loh

I am a business and life coach, business owner, loving husband and doting father.

My compass is guided by the desire to help people. I coach individuals and business owners to find purpose. Together we unlock fruitful solutions, experience growth and achieve targeted success. Having successfully built and maintained communities over the years, my focus is to help businesses and organisations harness community as the vehicle to connect, and build credibility, trust and authentic relationships.

Come speak to me about Finding Purpose, Building Communities and/or in Optimising your Life!

Photos from www.pexels.com.