“I’m accountable TO you… not FOR you.”

The quote above came from a business mentor of mine…and he said it directly to ME. I had attended a weekend long mastermind seminar he and his wife put on in California in 2010 and there was the opportunity to sign up for a 12-month private business coaching group (yes even coaches hire coaches). He and his wife had revolutionized the personal training industry and the entire model. They had the most profitable facility per square foot in the world. I wanted to emulate them, so I jumped at the opportunity that weekend and signed up.

As I got into the coaching, I started coming up with every excuse and objection imaginable to their actionable strategies and road map.

“But you have a bigger facility than I do.”

“You have a staff.”

“What if I lose clients and income if my current clients don’t want to change to this new model?”

“Do you think I could just try parts of what you are doing?”

“I can’t afford direct mailings.”

“I didn’t meet the goals you set for me 2 weeks ago, but let ME just TELL you why that wasn’t possible….I’m an anomaly.”

And on and on it went…

And he eventually said “Look, I’m accountable to you but not for you. You hired me but I have no control over you. Do all of it, some of it, or none of it. If you do 10% of what I’m saying, you’ll likely be better off. I was once in the exact same situation you were. You paid a lot of money to get my recipe, and now you are telling me my recipe won’t cook for you when you haven’t even pre-heated the oven. I’m giving you a road map and the foundational principles of what has made me successful. You signed up for this. You can apply it or not. If you have a better way, by all means, go do it.”

I probably ended up doing about 30% of what he said, and got 30% of the results, which still drastically improved my business, BUT, I didn’t t take full advantage of the opportunity. It was easy, in the PRESENT (at that time) to only see barriers, make objections, show frustration, etc…because change is scary and uncomfortable! I wanted the results-NOW. What I didn’t want to admit was that it was going to take time (looking back it took years, and it could have been much faster) for my mentor’s advice to bear fruit. At the time I hired him, I wanted a protocol…NOT A process.

And I think you probably see where I’m going with this and how it relates to LBC. All the other coaches here have posted brilliant posts along the same lines. Whether you are a client or just a member or follower asking for and receiving general advice, no one is telling you you HAVE to do this or follow our philosophy.

If you are paying for a coaching service (or just asking for help and advice), it likely means you were or are not having optimal success doing it your way, someone else’s way, or maybe you were or are having success but want to take things to another level.

No one here is imposing their will on anyone. We simply have a philosophy centered around PRINCIPLES (not methods) which are based on legitimate science and practical application. The results…

-hundreds of transformation pics

-stories of changed lives and mindsets

-improved relationships with food

-multi-year clients

…speak for themselves and are undeniable. BUT you ultimately have the freedom of choice.

We are not in the business of telling people what they want to hear. I’ve seen other professionals in this industry over the years get away from their foundational principles and what they truly believe to be correct to keep a client paying them for another couple months. We just don’t do that here.

We understand that our philosophy is simple to understand. We also understand the application of these simple principles is not always easy. We are here to help you work through some of the mental aspects involved in training and nutrition, BUT we will not enable you. We would be doing you a disservice if we did. We stick to our guns BECAUSE we want to see you get the results you desire…we want, more than anything, to see you succeed. We don’t and won’t challenge your thought processes to be “difficult” or argumentative, but, instead, do that to drive your long-term success.

Take a lesson from an old stubborn “me”.