What Kind Of Trainer Are You?

There are no secrets. It's the main theme behind 'Kung Fu Panda' and the a driving principle in the internet technology space. As you may have heard me say over and over, the internet has leveled the playing field for experts to either do their work and serve at optimized levels never available before, or it forces the charlatans to climb under the rock from whence they came.

But even still, too many trainers worry about protecting their secrets, their art or their lessons and wrongly assume they must hold on to their intellectual property for fear of it being stolen.

Daily I hear quality trainers and coaches, who could be serving at an extremely high level, posing an argument that their stuff is unlike anyone else's and they don't want it to get ripped off. So for this reason, they refuse to openly teach, share and serve.

Yes, they are all extremely well intentioned - yet their business mind still exists in the black and white world of non-disclosure agreements and whispers at the coffee table.

The reality is that anything you think you can hide from me, I can find elsewhere, and very likely at a higher caliber in lesson quality, from someone who is serving people online.

Regardless if it's simply logos and campaign advertisement pieces or performance based movement exercise videos.. makes no difference, I can find it.  

I will pay for it and I will never look back at you. You weren't there when I needed you.

So many of these amazing trainers can serve at levels that can change lives by the multiples, but continue to misunderstand the rapidly changing landscape of the expert space, and crawl back into their cave in fear that the light may expose their 'secrets'.

Then there are the trainers who are maximizing their message and are serving at levels they never imagined. These trainers are teaching students around the world daily, creating life changing results and bettering their lifestyle by the week.

So what are the differences?

In my opinion there are currently two types of trainers. And for the record, I use the word 'trainer' to represent any person who is a qualified expert in their field or craft and have dedicated a certain portion of their life to preserving and sharing their work so that others may benefit. These trainers can include coaches, instructors, teachers, mentors - makes no difference.The two types are:

The Micro-Trainer is any individual who shows up to teach. Yes, they may be super motivated, extremely skilled and consistently deliver exceptional lessons. They change lives daily as their work is localized and limited to their personal schedule.

Their school or gym work with local students within a micro-environment. This trainer has no ambition or knowledge to move them into a larger role that they are most lilely very capable to fulfill.

The Micro-Trainer fundamentally teaches from the moment, to the immediate people existing within the moment.

The Macro-Trainer (I also refer to as the eTraianer) continually works to synergize their entrepreneurial strength with their expertise. In other words, they are always in a state of optimization, reflection and willingness to take risk in order to serve at a higher, more effective level.

Where the Micro-Trainer teaches class to a room of twenty students, the Macro-Trainer will,

They will capture the teaching in video or audio and multipurpose that content to serve multiple consumption modalities and syndicate it on platforms that their audience groups regular.

The Macro-Trainer, or the Entrepreneur Trainer, is not only concerned with the moment, but also the value found in creating the experience prior to the moment, supporting the learning experience long after the moment, and capturing the moment and converting the lesson experience in as many formats as reasonably possible to serve audience groups beyond the reach and timeframe of their lesson delivery.

So now I ask you; which of the two are you?

Quiet possibly a little of both, and that's ok - but too often we may struggle with getting caught up in the routine of showing up, teaching, closing the doors and going home. Repeat.

Our passion and why we began this journey becomes a distant memory and the routine of teaching just becomes another job. Is this where you are?

If so then I'd encourage you to take that next step to discovering how you can serve at a higher level, how you can progress your expertise forward and away from the micro work you've been doing. Begin taking small steps to capturing your lessons, promote them online to your audience and you will witness an old fire of mastery be rekindled.

Once the flame ignites, your opportunity becomes limitless - so long as you keep at it. Just don't be another trainer with smoldering time away.

Adam