by Adam Menner
In the realm of private sector sports performance, you will soon learn that your education is not enough.
The time you spend trying to educate yourself will soon by met with the wall.
The wall?
You know, the coach/owner paradox that we refer to often here at Business of Strength.
This is where you realize that you have outgrown your training knowledge. You are working for your business and not on it.
This happens in your career as well. I had to take a step back and create a game plan for how I wanted to achieve my career aspirations.
I map these steps out (from my experience) of what lead to the partnership and opportunities I have now.
STEP 1 Become a Master Problem Solver
Everything that you do from this point forward will consist of solving problems that are all around you. My father was an engineer turned consultant.
He worked long hours for extremely little pay in the early years. However, he had one skill that separated him from the pack, the power of observation.
Since I was young, I heard it all the time, “everything you see has a fault, if you can provide a solution – you will become irreplaceable.”
When you change the way you see things, the things you see change.
Whether you’re an athlete, an intern, a coach, or a business owner – change the way you see things, and you will open your eyes to new opportunities that will move your career forward.
Identification is only the first step. You must provide solutions, speak up, and execute on your ideas.
STEP 2 Identify Your Skills & Master Your Craft
Everyone deep down, has the innate desire to be great. It’s human nature. We want to be superior to our peers. We want others to tell us how great we are.
Greatness is a vague term that everyone uses as an excuse to blanket their lack of skills.
The hard truth is deafening on the ears.
If you truly want to be recognized as a world leader in a particular subject, you need to have an honest conversation with yourself.
I tell our team all the time, “in order to achieve something nobody has, you must be willing to do what nobody wants.”
Early in my career, and still to this day (VH I’m sorry when you read this), I’m striving to be better than everyone including mentors, colleagues, and co-workers.
You must be able to distinguish yourself in the industry. If you do, say, and provide the same value as everyone else, why should anyone be inclined to listen to you?
So, how do you go about this process? You need to have a detailed system and execute on it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
Social Media has provided a jaded view of what it takes to be successful. Make cool videos, gain influence, and sell your services.
Here’s the truth, these guys are not working as many hours as you, got a HUGE break, and have an entire team to social marketing that they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to. A lot of these guys are colleagues of mine, and they straight up tell me the truth.
Check out my article series here: https://varsityhoopstraining.com/i-wanted-to-train-elite-athletes-and-ended-up-creating-a-basketball-performance-company/
For a step by step process on how to do this.
STEP 3 Serve & Provide Value
Many industry leaders will tell you to NEVER provide your services for free. I couldn’t disagree more.
People don’t care what you have to say until they see how much you care.
What’s the best way to show you care? Do things for free.
However, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. You know how to smile, be nice, and provide good service to your clients, unfortunately, that’s not enough.
Again, you’re trying to become world class. You need to find ways to provide service to your employers, co-workers, and to the world.
How can you provide value to your employers? List 1-3 ways
How can you provide service to your co-workers? List 1-3 ways.
How can you provide service to those who don’t know of you yet? You have to seek it.
Social media, writing for major publications, hosting free online events, and networking at events will create the framework.
STEP 4 Understand There’s No Plan B.
This can be intimidating for some. The long hours, little pay, and lack of long term vision can be mentally daunting.
Hang in there. If you adhere to the aforementioned steps, you will become successful.
However, on the opposite side of the coin, you must be willing to accept that it will be hard.
If you TRULY want to be great, you must make sacrifices.
You must sacrifice personal time and habits that you enjoy for work that will move your needle forward.
This is the easy concept to comprehend, but the most difficult to execute.
Friday and saturdays when everyone leaves and you have free time: work.
Early mornings when everyone sleeps in and or has other obligations: work.
Late nights when you get home and are tired: work.
When your friends ask you to hang out: you guessed it, work.
The idea of balance in the initial stages is non existent. Passion does not carry you through fatigue. Your habits will.
You must commit to being the best and seeing it through. Furthermore, you must evaluate your game plan constantly.
If you feel you are working hard and not reaping the rewards, you may be wasting your time.
Create pre-determined metrics for yourself THAT YOU deem as successful. If you keep checking these boxes, you’re on the right track.
STEP 5 Systemize Everything & Execute
My favorite.
You MUST have a system for everything. Otherwise, you’ll get nothing done.
This will take some time as it is very nitty gritty. However, when you see the bigger picture broken down into daily actionable tasks, your ability to execute becomes stronger.
Here are some examples of systems I have used to great success. If you have any questions about how to properly put these together (email me personally: [email protected]) I will gladly help you out.
A system for your schedule
- A personal system on where you spend your time
- How you spend your time
- What you accomplished within these time parameters
- Where do you have mini breaks and free time
A system for your projects
- When do you get things done
- What days and times do you dedicate to certain tasks
- When do you not focus on certain tasks
A system for your business
- Business schedule
- Operational schedule
- Meeting schedule
- Marketing schedule
- Training schedule
- Social media content schedule
To name a few that you may or may not already know.
I happened to find the harder I worked, the luckier I got. I had to make sure everyday I was truly doing things that were going to benefit my career.
As a result, I was humbly asked to become a partner in our online business called the Business of Strength/VH Education. It was the accumulation of all the steps listed above that lead me to this end result. The real work has just begun, and now I’m going back to the drawing board to create a new plan of attack for the years to come.
