In this episode of Industry Change, I sat down with long time fitness industry expert, Geoff Jowett. Geoff was involved as an original founder of Vision Personal Training, where he saw great success in building boutique personal training studios. He went on to have major success with the BodyTrim brand. And yet even after all the fame, all the money, all the ego – he hit rock bottom. After going through rehab and alcoholics anonymous he realised that he needed to find his true north again. And so set out to discover that what he was really passionate about, what lit him up inside was building communities and seeing people succeed in those communities.
You see communities are a game changer. In a world where we have more ‘social’ interaction than we’ve ever had before – we’re actually more lonely than we’ve ever been, we’re more disconnected than we’ve ever been. Communities, whether it be online, offline or a hybrid of the two – create a place where people realise that they are not along. That other people are on the same journey as they are.
Geoff shares with me his three rules for building winning tribes:
1. Communities Need to be a safe place.
‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,’ right? That’s exactly how communities need to be built. Everyone needs to know that the tribe is a safe place to share – that what they share will not go outside the group.
2. Leaders must lead.
If you want people to be open, vulnerable and honest in the group, then you as the leader must exhibit that behaviour first. No exception. You can’t just tell people what to do you have to lead by example.
3. Share the wins.
Make your communities a place where people can share their wins. Because, unfortunately we live in a ‘tall poppy’ world, where you get cut down quickly if you share your wins. So communities MUST be a place where everyone is able to share their wins.
Geoff has been around the personal training industry for a while and believes that even on a small budget personal trainers can have real success through building communities, creating social proof through before and after photos, testimonials, etc. weight loss challenges (everyone loves a bit of competition) and bringing people together online and offline.
To find out more about Geoff’s new method – The Jowett Method. Visit his Facebook Page here.
